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Psychology 111 > Chapter 6 Memory > Flashcards

Chapter 6 Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

Is memory a place or a process?

A

-not a simple answer; it is a process but there is a “place” for it in the brain.

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2
Q

Definition of memory

A

-an active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage.

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3
Q

what are the 3 processes involved in memory?

A
  • getting the information into the memory system
  • storing it there
  • getting it back out
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4
Q

what is the process of getting information into the memory system called?

A

-encoding

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5
Q

What does encoding involve?

A
  • getting the sensory information into a form that the brain can use.
  • it is a set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that information into a form that is usable
  • it not limited to turning sensory information into useful info, it can also involve rehearsing info over and over or elaborating on info
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6
Q

What is the second process of memory?

A

storage

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7
Q

what does the storage process of memory involve?

A
  • holding onto the information for some period of time

- it will be different lengths depending on the system of memory being used.

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8
Q

what is the third process of memory?

A

-getting the info out—> Retrieval

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9
Q

What is the move influential and comprehensive model to explain memory?

A

-the information-processing model

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10
Q

what is the information-processing model?

A
  • it focuses on the way information is handled, or processed through the stage of encoding, storage, and retrieval
  • it assumes that length of time depends on the stage of memory in which it is stored.
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11
Q

what is the parallel distributed processing (PDP) model?

A
  • seeing memory as a simultaneous process with the creation and storage of memories taking place across a series of mental networks “stretched” across the brain
  • many aspects of memory can be retrieved at the same time
  • it is related to connectionism (the use of artificial neural networks to explain the mental abilities of humans)
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12
Q

what is the levels-of-processing model?

A
  • proposes that the memory’s duration depends on the depth to which the information is processed or encoded
  • thinking about the meaning of something is a deeper level of processing and result in longer retention of the word.
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13
Q

Which model to explain how memory works is backed by research? Which one is used the most right now?

A
  • All of them in some way, because each one speaks to different aspects of memory
  • Information-processing looks at the big picture (used the most right now)
  • PDP is less about mechanics and more about the connections and timing of memory processes
  • levels-of-processing about the depth of understanding
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14
Q

what are the three stages or types of memory systems?

A

-sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

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15
Q

What is sensory memory?

A
  • the 1st stage; the point at which information enters the nervous system through the sensory systems (eyes, ears, and so on); a door that is open for a brief period of time)
  • encoding of sensory memory occurs as neural messages in the nervous system
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16
Q

what are the two kinds of sensory memory?

A

iconic (visual) memory and echoic (auditory) memory

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17
Q

What is iconic sensory memory?

A

-it is visual sensory memory that only lasts for a fraction of a second

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18
Q

Who was iconic memory studied by?

A
  • George Sperling (1960)
  • partial report method=a method where he showed a grid of letters while immediately sounding a high, medium, or low tone after the grid was shown
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19
Q

What is the capacity of iconic memory?

A

A large chunk of information may be accessible through the iconic memory; all the information can be seen at once. (the participants could recall one of the lines of letters…they were all in the memory briefly

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20
Q

What is the duration of iconic memory?

A
  • very brief: if Sperling delayed the tone for even a second, the participants could not recall the information anymore
  • the information will be easily pushed out for new information
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21
Q

what is masking?

A

-a process when information that just entered iconic memory will be pushed out very quickly by new information, after only a quarter of a second

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22
Q

What is eidetic memory?

A
  • the ability to access a visual sensory memory over a long period of time
  • not the same as having a photographic memory
  • the visual memory lingers in their head longer, but it is not helpful information if the information is not understood
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23
Q

How does a photographic memory differ from an eidetic memory?

A

-photographic is having an extremely good memory but not that the memory is a eidetic imagery memory

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24
Q

what functional purpose does iconic memory serve?

A

-in spite of the tiny movements called microsaccades that keep vision from adapting to a constant visual stimulus so what is stared at doesn’t slowly disappear, the iconic memory helps the visual system to view surrounding as continuous and stable in spite of the saccadic movements. giving the brain the opportunity to decide whether the information is important enough to be brought into the consciousness

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25
Q

What is the echoic sensory memory?

A
  • the brief memory of something a person has heard
  • the seconds it took for the process of 1. something was said 2. it may have been important 3. you’d better try to remember what it was
  • duration of echoic memory is four (4) seconds
  • capacity is limited, smaller than iconic memory, yet it lasts longer (2 to 4 seconds)
  • allows musicians to tune an instrument
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26
Q

what is short-term memory?

A
  • if the sensory message is important enough to enter consciousness, it moves from sensory memory into short-term memory
  • these are memories that are stored for up to 30 seconds or more
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27
Q

how does information enter the short-term memory?

A

-selective attention

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28
Q

What is selective attention?

A

-the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input

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29
Q

What is Dr. Donald E. Broadbent’s original filter theory?

A
  • a kind of “bottleneck” occurs between sensory memory and short-term memory…only a stimulus that is “important” enough will be selected from sensory memory to be consciously analyzed for meaning in STM
  • if actively thinking about information, it is said to be conscious
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30
Q

what can’t be explained by Dr. Bradbent’s theory?

A

-“the cocktail-party” effect=even when you are filtering everything out, you will hear your name be called

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31
Q

what did Dr. Anne Treisman propose?

A

-that selective attention operates in a two-stage filtering process

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32
Q

what are the two stages of the filtering process in selective attention?

A
  • 1st stage=incoming stimuli in memory are filtered on the basis of simple physical characteristics, similar to Broadbent’s original idea; there is a lessening (or attenuating) of the “signal strength”
  • 2nd stage=only the stimuli that meet a certain threshold of importance are processed (attenuated info is still present)
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33
Q

does short-term memory encode-visual or auditory?

A

It encodes mostly in auditory form

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34
Q

what is working memory?

A
  • some use it to refer to short-term memory
  • is more correctly thought of as an active system that processes the information present in short-term memory
  • thought to consist of three (3) interrelated parts
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35
Q

What are the three interrelated parts of the working memory?

A
  • a central executive that controls and coordinates the two other parts (acts as an interpreter to visual and auditory info that is acutally the stuff in the STM)
  • the visual sketchpad
  • and a kind of auditory action “recorder”
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36
Q

What did George Miller learn about STM’s capacity?

A
  • the capacity of STM is about seven items (+) or (-) 2 items
  • research finds that younger adults can hold three to five items of information at a time if not employing a strategy
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37
Q

how can you fool your STM?

A

-break the information up into chunks-if have 9 numbers break it up into 3 chunks of three numbers each.
it is called chunking

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38
Q

what is chunking?

A

-the process of recoding or reorganizing the information

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39
Q

how short is the short term memory?

A

-lasts only 12-30 seconds
-in mice they found that old STM needed to be erased to make room for new memories.
The hippocampus can only hold so much

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40
Q

What is maintenance rehearsal?

A
  • continuing to pay attention to the information to remember it by repeating it over and over again.
  • when it stops, memory decays quite rapidly
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41
Q

Important things to remember about STM

A

-interference in STM can occur because the STM is at full capacity.
-improved working memory can help increase intelligence,
can help with math problems, but decrease creative problemsolving

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42
Q

What is the third stage of memory?

A

Long term memory

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43
Q

what is long term memory (LTM)?

A
  • a system into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently.
  • appears to be unlimited for all practical purposes
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44
Q

how long does LTM stay?

A
  • long term; there is a relatively permanent physical change in the brain itself when a memory is formed (throughout ones life)
  • not all memories are stored though
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45
Q

Why do some memories go into LTM?

A

-we only store long-lasting memories of events and concepts that are meaningful and important to us

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46
Q

How does one put something into long term storage?

A
  • it may be rehearsed enough times to make its way to LT storage through maintenance rehearsal or rote learning but it not he most effective way
  • LTMemories are encoded as images that are in a meaningful form of words, concepts, and events
  • elaborative rehearsal is the most effective way.
47
Q

what is elaborative rehearsal?

A
  • a way of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way.
  • in this case, connecting the information with something that is already well known
  • it is a deeper processing of the information than maintenance rehearsal and so leads to better long-term storage
48
Q

what are the two types of LTM?

A
  • nondeclarative memory or implicit memory

- declarative memory or explicit memory

49
Q

What is nondeclarative/implicit memory?

A
  • e.g. tying shoes or riding a bike
  • the fact that a person knows something is based on them demonstrating how to do it; demonstrated in the performance of the task (procedural memory or through priming or memory associations)
  • nondeclarative memories are not easily retrieved into conscious awareness
  • it is rare to have found someone that has lost nondeclarative memory
50
Q

what part of the brain is most responsible for emotional associations?

A

-the amygdala

51
Q

what part of the brain is most responsible for storage of memories of conditioned responses, skills, and habits?

A

-the cerebellum

52
Q

what is anterograde amnesia?

A

-when a new long-term declarative memory cannot be formed

53
Q

what is declarative/explicit memory?

A

-it is all about the things that people know-the facts and information that make up knowledge
-there are two types: semantic and episodic; they are easily made conscious and brought from LT storage to ST storage
can be forgotten but always have the potential to be made conscious

54
Q

what is semantic memory?

A
  • the awareness of the meanings of words, concepts, and terms as well as names of objects, math skills, and so on.
  • they are relative permanent
  • used on Jeopardy
55
Q

what is episodic memory?

A
  • a kind of autobiographical memory that represent things that happened to people each day.
  • they represent episodes from their lives
  • they tend to be updated and revised more or less constantly and are kept in LTM if they are especially meaningful
56
Q

how is long term memory organized?

A
  • in terms of related meanings and concepts
  • information exists in a kind of network, with nodes (focal points) of related information linked to each other in a kind of hierarchy
  • think of the internet and its relation to more info on the web
57
Q

what is the semantic network model?

A

-it assumes that information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion with concepts that are related to each other stored physically closer to each other than concepts that are not highly related

58
Q

What helps people remember?

A

-retrieval cues

59
Q

why is maintenance rehearsal not a good way to get things into LTM?

A

-Because it creates only one type of retrieval cue (the sound of the word or phrase)

60
Q

what is a retrieval cue?

A

-a stimulus for remembering

61
Q

what is priming?

A

-it can occur where experience with information or concepts can improve later performance. (often not aware that it occurred)

62
Q

what is encoding specificity?

A
  • the connection between surroundings and remembered information
  • the tendency for memory of any kind of information to be improved if retrieval conditions are similar to the conditions under which the information was encoded.
  • they can be external or internal
63
Q

What is context-dependent learning?

A

-may refer to the physical surroundings a person is in when they are learning specific information (e.g. taking a test in the room you learned it; walking back to the room to remember what you sent to get; scuba divers remembered words learned underwater better when they recited them underwater.

64
Q

What are the types of encoding specificity?

A
  • context-dependent

- state-dependent

65
Q

What is state-dependent encoding?

A
  • memories formed during a particular physiological or psychological state will be easier to remember while in a similar state
  • e.g-remembering all the bad things about someone after fighting with them; listening to a certain type of music-recalled happy is the music was happy
66
Q

what are the two kinds of retrieval of memories?

A
  • recall (retrieval failure and serial position effect falls under this one)
  • recognition
67
Q

what is recall of memories?

A
  • retrieved memories with few or no external cues, such as filling in the blank
  • ‘tip of the tongue’ phenomenon can occur
  • serial position effect can occur
68
Q

what is recognition of memories?

A
  • looking at or hearing information and matching it to what is already in memory
  • usually easier than recall
  • tends to be very accurate for images (human faces)
  • e.g. a word-search puzzle, multiple choice, matching, T/F tests
69
Q

what is the ‘tip of the tongue’ phenomenon?

A

-when someone finds themselves struggling for an answer, recall has failed but it is very close to the surface of conscious

70
Q

what is the best solution to ‘tip of the tongue’?

A

-forget about it

71
Q

what is serial position effect?

A

-when memories are subject to a kind of ‘prejudice’ of memory retrieval in which information at the beginning and the end of a list, such as a poem or song, tends to be remembered more easily and accurately.

72
Q

what is primary effect?

A
  • words at the very beginning of the list tend to be remembered better than those in the middle of the list
  • it is due to the fact that the first few words, when the listener has nothing already in STM to interfere with their rehearsal, will receive far more rehearsal time than the words in the middle.
73
Q

what is the recency effect?

A

-it is usually attributed to the fact that the last word or two was “just heard” and is still in short-term memory for easy retrieval

74
Q

what is a possible negative outcome of recognition?

A
  • a false positive can occur
  • when the person thinks that he or she has recognized something or someone but in fact does not have that something or someone in memory
  • causes the wrong person to go to jail.
75
Q

what has Elizabeth Loftus studied?

A

-she is a professor of social ecology, a professor of law, and a professor of cognitive science and a leading researcher in the area of memory retrieval.

76
Q

What has Elizabeth Loftus found?

A
  • that memory is not an unchanging, stable process but rather is a constantly changing one.
  • people continually update and revise their memories of events without being aware that they are doing so, and they incorporate information gained after the actual event
  • e.g study about the people interrupting a lecture
  • what people hear and see about an event after the fact can easily affect the accuracy of their memories of that event.
77
Q

what is automatic coding?

A
  • when certain LTMs seem to enter permanent storage with little or no effort at all
  • e.g passage of time, knowledge of physical space, and frequency of events
78
Q

what are flashbulb memories?

A
  • a special kind of automatic encoding that takes place when an unexpected event or episode in a person’s ilfe has strong emotional associations, such as fear, horror, or joy.
  • highly emotional memories are often vivid and detailed, a “flash picture”
  • e.g. 911, micheal jackson dying
79
Q

why are flashbulb memories so vivid and exact?

A

-the answer lies in the emotions felt at the time of the event. Emotional reactions stimulate the release of hormones that have been shown to enhance the formation of long-term memories.

80
Q

are flashbulb memories that accurate?

A
  • there is a degree of accuracy in memories of major events and others have found them convincingly real
  • but they too are subject to decay and alterations over time as other kinds of memories.
81
Q

are memories accurate

A

-well they are revisited, edited, and altered on an almost continuous basis

82
Q

what did sir frederic barlett think (1932)?

A

-he saw the process of memory as more similar to creating a story than reading one already written

83
Q

what is constructive processing?

A

elizabeth loftus found that memories are literally “built” or reconstructed from the information stored during encoding.

84
Q

what is hindsight bias?

A

-the tendency of people to falsely believe that they would have accurately predicted an outcome without having been told about it in advance

85
Q

what are types of memory retrieval problems?

A
  • the misinformation effect

- the false-memory syndrome

86
Q

what is the misinformation effect?

A
  • if one person tells the other about something she has seen, the other person may later “remember” that same detail, even though he did not actually see it at the time
  • when the misleading information can become part of the actual memory, affecting its accuracy it is the misinformation effect
  • it can be information from a entirely different format
87
Q

what is false-memory syndrome?

A
  • the creation of inaccurate or false memories, through the suggestion of others, often while the person is under hypnosis (where it is easier to create false memories, but also increase the confidence of their memory)
  • e.g. memory suppression stuff
88
Q

how are false memories created in the brain?

A

-fMRI shows they are created much in the same way that real memories are created; pulling up both real and imagined memories

89
Q

what else do studies show about false memories?

A

-they have much in common with the confabulations of people with dementia-related memory problems, and that both forms of false memories involve a lower than normal level of activity in the part of the frontal lobe associated with doubt and skepticism.

90
Q

Can we trust memories?

A
  • the memories must at least be plausible to become a false memory, but
  • it the experimenters provide feedback telling of implausible events happening to people, they can become false memories too.
91
Q

What two things must happen for a person to create a false memory and believe it is true?

A
  • the event must be made to seem as plausible as possible
  • Individuals are given information that helps them believe that the event could have happened to them personally.
  • (also the personality of the person matters)
  • other variables include-hypnosis, symptoms of depression, and the tendency to exhibit odd behavior and unusual beliefs.
92
Q

what is hyperthymesia?

A

ability to remember everything and the inability to forget

93
Q

what is a mnemonist?

A

-a memory expert or someone with exceptional memory ability

94
Q

who is hermann ebbinghaus?

A

first person to study forgetting (1913).he created the nonsense syllables that were pronounceable but meaningless. he memorized, waited a time, and then recalled. when graphing,, he created the curve of forgetting

95
Q

what does the memory of forgetting graph show?

A
  • that forgetting happens quickly within the first hour after learning and then tapers off gradually.
  • forgetting is greatest after learning
  • it is important not to cram or do a massed practice
96
Q

what is distributed practice?

A

-spacing study sessions

97
Q

what are reasons for forgetting?

A
  • encoding failure
  • memory trace
  • interference theory
  • proactive interference
  • retroactive interference
98
Q

what is encoding failure?

A

simplest is that some things never get encoded in the first place—called encoding failure: the failure to process information into memory

99
Q

what is memory trace?

A

older theories of forgetting when there is a trace of some physical change in the brain, but there is decay if it not used; information that is not brought to attention in sensory memory or continuously rehearsed in STM will fade away, (it is called disuse if it is LTM decay)

100
Q

what is interference theory?

A
  • a possible explanation of LTM forgetting that thinks that although most long-term memories may be stored more or less permanently in the brain, those memories may not always be accessible to attempted retrieval because other information interferes.
  • can come from two directions
101
Q

what is proactive interference theory?

A
  • when I go through the motions of driving the car when I am driving the truck
  • the tendency for older or previously learned material to interfere with the learning (and subsequent retrieval) of new material
102
Q

what is retroactive interference?

A

-when newer information interferes with the retrieval of older information

103
Q

where are memories formed in the brain?

A
  • procedural memories=cerebellum
  • PET show that STM=prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe
  • fear memories-amygdala
  • semantic and episodic LTM=frontal and temporal lobes
  • Long-term declarative memories=hippocampus
104
Q

how are memories formed?

A

-it is not one physical change but many: changes in the number of receptor sites, changes in the sensitivity of the synapse through repeated stimulation (called long-term potentiation) and changes in the dendrites and specifically in the proteins within the neurons

105
Q

what protein controls the production of new nervous-system proteins?

A
  • 4E-BP2

- it is modified to affect its normal function called consolidation (which can take a few minutes or many years)

106
Q

What happened to H.M?

A
  • he had a seizure disorder and they removed his hippocampi and adjacent medial temporal lobe structures.
  • his ability to form new declarative memories (both semantic and episodic) was profoundly impaired
  • without the hippocampus, he was completely unable to remember new events or facts. Consolidation had become impossible
  • his procedural memory was intact.
107
Q

what are the two types of severe memory disorders?

A
  • retrograde amnesia

- anterograde amnesia

108
Q

what is retrograde amnesia

A
  • literally without memory; loss of memory from the point of injury backwards
  • the consolidation process is interrupted
  • it occurs when people have ECT, electroconvulsive therapy
109
Q

what is anterograde amnesia

A

-loss of memories from the point of injury or illness forward
-experienced by H.M.
often seen in people with senile dementia (can also be retrograde amnesia)

110
Q

Alzheimer’s

A

most common type of dementia 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases

111
Q

what is infantile amnesia?

A
  • the memories when we are infants.

- they are implicit and hard to bring to the conscious

112
Q

what is an autobiographical memory?

A

-the memory for events and facts related to one’s personal life story

113
Q

how does sleep affect memory?

A
  • memories that rehearsed during sleep as well as when awake or more likely to be consolidated.
  • you cannot learn something NEW while sleeping
  • sleep deprivation interferes with the functioning of the hippocampus

Psychology 111 (3 decks)

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