Chapter 6: Memory Flashcards
Memory
The ability to store and retrieve information over time
(constructed not recorded; like a recipe)
Encoding
The process by which we transform what we perceive; think or feel into an enduring memory
(Like typing on a keyboard)
Storage
The process of maintaining information in memory over time
(Save it on a computer: long term memory)
Retrieval
The process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored
(Retrieving document ==> goes back in storage)
Semantic Judgments
Requires participants to think about the meaning of the words
(Best way to remember)
Rhyme Judgement
Require participants to think about the sound of the words
(Middle best way to remember something)
Visual Judgement
Require participants to think about the appearance of the word
(“Worst” way to remember something)
Elaborative Encoding
The process of actively relating new information to knowlege that is already in memory
Brain Activity During Activity
Increased activity in lower left part of the frontal lobe and the inner part of the left temporal lobe
- More activity = more more likely memory
Visual imagery encoding
the process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures
- You relate information to knowledge you already know
Organizational Encoding
The process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items
Survival Recall
Survival recall resulted in high levels of recall them several other non-survial encoding tasks
Sensory Memory
holds sensory information for a few seconds or less
(3 seconds or less)
- unattended information is lost (forgetting)
Iconic Memory
A fast-decaying store of visual information
- Class Definition
- a transduced/encoded visual snapshot or “icon” and lasts <1 second
Echoic Memory
A fast decaying store of auditory information
(Lasts for several seconds)
- Class Definition
- to last for at least several seconds
Short Term Memory
Holds nonsensory information for more than a few seconds, but less than a minute
- Unrehearsed information is lost
- Maintenance rehearsal required
- Also refered to as the Working Memory
- typically holds up to 7 (+/- 2) items for up to 30 seconds
Three Part Working Memory
- Visuospatial sketchpad
- remembering something visually and spatially (taking people’s orders)
- Phonological rehearsal loop
- speech and auditory rehearsal
- Central Executive
- managing all the activites occurring in the STM (managing memory)
Rehearsal
The process of keeping information in short term memory by mentally repeating it
Chunking
Combining small pieces or information into larger clusters or chunks that are more easily held in STM
- helps consolidation of information into the LTM
Working memory
Long Term Memory
Hold information for hours, days, weeks, or years
- hippocampal region of the brain is critical for putting new information into the long term store
- some information may be lost over time
Multiple Forms of Memory
Explicit and implicit memories are distinct from each other. Thus, a person with amnesia may lose explicit memory yet display implicit memory for material that she or he cannot consciously recall learning.
Recall
intentionally bringing explicit information to awarenss (example: flashcards)
Recognition
encoding an input and matching it to a stored representation
(i.e. reading something over and over again)
(typically easier than recall)
Semantic Network
mental grouping of concepts that share similar properties
- leads to easier retrieval of similarly related ideas
- easier to remember and retrieve things if they are organized into semantic networks
Anterograde Amnesia
the inability to transfer new infor from the short term store into the long term store.
Retrograde Amnesia
The inablity to retrieve infor thtat was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an injury or peration
Consolidation
a process by which memories become stable in the brain
- a boost from sleep
- thinking, recalling, and talking about it contributes to consolidation
Reconsolidation
Memories can become vulnerable to disruption when they are recalled, thus requiring them to be consolidated again
- Memories aren’t given perfect tenure after all
“Cells that fire together wire together”
sending signals across the synapse strengthens the connection between neurons
- happens in the _hippocampus _
- which is crucial for storing long term memory
Long-Term Potentiantion (LTP)
a process whereby communication across the synapse between neurons strengthens the connections making further communication easier
- Properties
- Occurs within several pathways of the hippocampus
- induced rapidly
- lasts for a long time
NMDA Receptor
- influences the flow of information between neurons by controlling the initiation of LTP in most hippocampal pathways
Retrieval Cue
- external information that is associated with stored information and helps bring it to mind
Encoding Specificity Principle
A retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the specific way in which information was intitally encoded
State-Dependent retrieval
The tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval
- lose keys drunk? get drunk to refind keys
Transfer-Appropriate processing
Memory is likely to transfer from one situtation to another when the encoding context of the situations match
- taking a test in the room where you learned the information
Info about Retrieval
Retrieval can strengthen a retrieved memory, making it easier to remember that information at a later time
Retrieval-induced forgetting
a process by which retrieving an tiem from long-term memory impairs subsequent recall of related items
Sucessful vs. Unsucessful Recall
Sucessful: High levels of recall = hippocampus increased activity
Unsucessful: Low levels of recall = the left frontal love showed increased activity
Explicit Memory
Occurs when people consciously or intentionaly retrieve past experiences
Implicit memory
past experiences influence later behavior and performance, even though people are not trying to recollect them and are not aware that they are remembering them
Procedural Memory
the gradual acquistion of skills as a result of a practive or “knowing how” to do things
Priming
an enhanced ability to think of a stimulus, such as a word or object, as a result of a recent exposure to the stimulus
- associated with reduced activity in various regions of the cortex that are activiated when people perform and unprimed task
- perceptual priming
- reflects implicit memory for the sensory features of an item (right cerebral hemisphere)
- Conceptual Priming
- implicit memory for the meaning word or how you would use an object (left hemisphere)
Semantic Memory
a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our knowledge of the world
Episodic Memory
The collection of the past personal experiences that occured at a particular time and place
Hippocampus info
the hippocampus is not necessary for acquiring new semantic memories
Transience
forgetting what occurs when later learning impairs memory for information acquired earlier
- shift from specific to general memories
Retroactive Interference
Occurs when later learning imparis memory for information acquired earlier
- example: work on monday, keep working until friday and then forgot what you did on monday
Proactive Interference
the situations in which earlier learning impairs memory for information acquired later
- park in the same parking lot every day, one day you go to get your car and you can’t remember where you parked it because you’ve done it so often
Absentmindedness
A lapse in attention that results in memory failure
Frontal Lobe info
Greater activity in lower left frontal region during encoding is associated with better memory
Prospective memory
remembering to do things in the future
Blocking
A failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it
- damange to parts of the left temporal lobe on the surface of the cortex, most often as a result of a stroke
- Strong activation of regions within the temporal lobe when people recall proper names
Memory Misattribution
assigning a recollection or an idea to the wrong source
Source Memory
recall of when, where, and how information was acquired
True or False: the frontal lobes play a significant role in effortful retrieval processes
True
False recognition
a feeling of familiarity about something that hasn’t been encountered before
Suggestibility
the tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections
Bias
the distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs, and fellings on recoolection of previous experiences
Persistence
the intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget
Flashbulb Memories
detailed recollection of when and where we heard about shocking events
- Damaged amygdala patients do not remember emotional events any better than non emotional events
Shollow process vs. Deeper Processing
Shallow = leads to little memory
Deeper = leads to greater memory
We are better able to remember things if there is a deeper processing of it
Three Stage Memory Model
- Sensory Memory
- Hear, smell, see something
- Short Term
- stores in short term
- 30 seconds or less
- Long Term
- After you think about it
- relatively permanent but not necessarily accesible
- Info goes from LTM to STM to be used
The Flow of Information through the Memory System
Information moves through several stages of memory as it gets encoded, stored, and made available for later retrieval.
Elaborative Rehearsal
memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, which leads to the creation of a semantic network
Various Areas of the Brain and their relationship to Memory
- Amygdala
- Emotional Memory
- Basal Ganglia & Cerebellum
- Creation and storage of basic memory and implicit memories
- Hippocampal Formation
- Memory Recognition
- Implicit/Explicit Memory
- Declarative LTM
- Thalamus
- Formation of new memories
- spatial and working memory
- Cortex
- Encoding of explicit memory
- Storage of memory
- Skill learning, priming, working memory
Confabulation
Honest Lying
people with alzheimer’s or damage to frontal lobe make up stories to compenstae for loss of memory about certain facts
7 Sins of Memory
- Transience
- Absentmindedness
- Blocking
- Memory Misattribution
- Suggestibility
- Bias
- Persistence
