Chapter 6: Memory Flashcards
Memory
Stores and retrieves information, complex and fragile
3 key functions of memory
Encoding, Storage, Retrieval
Encoding
Transforming what we think, feel, or perceive into an encoding memory
Three types of encoding
Semantic
Visual Imagery
Organizational
Semantic Encoding
Process of relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already stored
Visual Imagery Encoding
Process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures
Help remember double the amount of info
Organizational Encoding
Process of catagorizing….
Different kinds of coding involve different regions of the brain
Know this
Storage
Maintaining memory over time
3 kinds of storage:
Sensory
Short term
Long term
Sensory
Incredibly short, lasts for seconds
Short term
Less than a minute
Holds 7 unit of info
Long term
Forever
Iconic
Visual
1 second
Echoic
Hearing
5 seconds
Henry Molasion
27 years old, had seizures all the time, after removing hippocampus he couldn’t remember anything after surgery
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to transfer new information from short term to long term memory
Hippocampus critical for putting new info into long term storage
Retrograde amnesia
Can’t remember anything before
Inability to retrieve info acquired before a particular point in time
The hippocampus acts like
An index that links info together
Links together little pieces to make one big one
Memories are stored
In many parts of the brain
Hippocampus index is crucial when…
Memories are first formed
After time, indexing seems less necessary
We _______ memories, not ______ them
Reconstruct, recall
Consolidation
Process by which memories become stable in the brain
Reconsolidation
Process that occurs when memories are retrieved
Memories Can become vulnerable to disruption during this process
Benefits of reconsolidation
Disrupting reconsolidation of traumatic memories reduces trauma of that
Memory storage depends critically on _____
Synapses
When ____ cross synapses, the _____ changes
Signals, synapses
Hebb
Cells that fire together, wire together
Long term storage
Growth of new synaptic connections between neurons
New memories produce:
Actual physical changes in nervous system
Retrieval
Retrieval ques
Encoding specificity
Taking exams in the same room
State dependent retrieval
Matching encoding and retrieval context helps improve recall
The act of retrieving information can
Change the memory
Implicit (long term memory)
Past experiences Influence later behaviour and performance without awareness
(Think of walking)
Explicit memory
Conscious intentional retrieval
2 types:
Semantic
Episodic
Semantic memory
Networks of facts about world
Episodic memory
Past personal experiences
3 sins of forgetting
Transience
Absent Mindedness
Blocking
Transcience
Passage of time-> forgetting (specifics to genralities)
Absent mindedness
Lapse of attention (not wearing pants)
Blocking
Failure to retrieve something when trying (it’s on the tip of my tongue)
3 sins of distortion
Misattribution
Suggestability
Bias
Missattribution
Assigning recollection or idea to wrong source (can bill chuck bob)
Suggestability
Tendency to incorporate misleading info from external sources into personal recollects
Bias
Reconstructing past to fit the future “we always knew that”
One sin of intrusion
Presisitance
Persistence
Intrusive recollection of events we wished to forget emotional experiences usually
Long term potentiation
A process whereby communication across the synapse between neurons strengthens the connection making further communication easier
