Chapter 6: Memory Processes Flashcards
Levels of Processing Theory
Memory thought to depend on initial encoding of info to be remembered
Does not suggest there are different memory stores
Focuses on different kinds of cognitive processing that people perform when they encode and retrieve information
Levels of Processing: Retention & Coding
Processing done at a shallow level does not lead to good retention
Deeper (meaningful or semantic) processing improve retention
Improvement in memory comes from greater depth of analysis of material
Levels of Processing Memory Test
During study session each word was preceded by a question that participants had to answer as quickly as possible, surprise test
Physical processing: asked whether the word was printed in capital letters
Acoustic processing: asked if target word rhymes with another word
Semantic processing: asked if the word fit into a particular sentence
On surprise memory test semantic processing led to best memory results, followed by acoustic processing
Critiques of Level of Processing Theory
Without more precise and independent definition of depth of processing the theory’s usefulness is limited
In certain conditions there is greater recall of info processed acoustically over semantically
Modal view can explain some of the typical levels of processing findings
Schemata
Frameworks for organizing information
Memory largely uses world knowledge and schemata
Schema
Large unit of organized information used for representing concepts, situations, events, and actions in memory
Autobiographical Memory
Memories in everyday life, events that occurred in personal past
Autobiographical Memories: Linton
Linton recorded her memories on cue cards and tested herself later about when they happened
Real world memories are much more durable than those of lab experiments
Use markers to help us infer when something happened
Autobiographical Memories: Brewer
Participants wore beepers, when they beeped had to record what they were doing at the time
Tested recall of events recorded at end of data acquisition, 21 months later, and 41 months later
Participants recognized more than 60% of events
Memory better for actions than for thoughts, and better for memorable events over the beeper events
Events in unique locations or unique actions were better recalled
Flashbulb Memories
Accurate and exceptionally vivid long lasting memory for circumstances surrounding learning about a dramatic event
Parts of brain involved in emotional responses become activated (amygdala)
Cognitive effects of activation result in storage of great deal of information
Flashbulb Memories & Retelling
Emotions produced by the event prompt people to retell their own stories in relation to the event
Flashbulb memories are then a result of retellings of stories, and can become distorted over time
Often inaccurate
Eyewitness Testimony
Misleading questions can alter memories
Eyewitness testimony is likely to be believed by jurors, especially when offered with high level of confidence
Participants abstract and reorganize information, leading to incorrect recall
Repressed Memories
Memories of traumatic events can be buried in unconscious mind for long periods of time
Recovered/False Memory Debate
Participants told a concocted story about getting lost in a shopping mall 29% of participants recalled the false memory
Human memories are malleable and open to shaping by questioning or added information
Participants took shorter time to recall true memories
Memory rated as clearer for true memories
Amnesia
Profound impairment of LTM
Can result from damage to hippocampal system (includes hippocampus and amygdala) or midline diencephalic region
Amnesia Causes
Oxygen deprivation
Blockage of arteries
Herpes
Closed head injury
Alzheimer’s
Korsakoff’s
Tumours
Bilateral electroconvulsive shock treatments
Memory Consolidation
Storage of info requires hippocampus to link different aspects of event to retrieve later
Over time the need for hippocampus to retrieve info lessens, accounting for temporal gradients in retrograde amnesia
Blows to head disrupt this process
Patient HM
Surgery to remove medial temporal lobe bilaterally, most of hippocampus and amygdala
Suffered from profound amnesia for events after surgery (anterograde) and within a few years before surgery (retrograde)
Patient KC
Head injury caused amnesia, almost complete hippocampal loss bilaterally
Anterograde and retrograde amnesia on explicit tests of episodic and autobiographical memory
Semantic memory intact
Lacked episodic memory for entire past
Memories that he did recall had little personal meaning
Retained skills and semantic facts from prior to accident
Anterograde Amnesia
Memory deficit extending forward in time from initial point of memory loss
5 Features of Anterograde Amnesia
Affects LTM but not working memory
Affects memory regardless of the modality (e.g. visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, gustatory, tactile)
Spares memory for general knowledge but impairs recall for new facts and events
Spares skilled performance (e.g. skilled musicians may retain abilities even with amnesia)
Hyperspecific memory when learning a new skill (e.g. can only express learning in a context similar to conditions of encoding)
Retrograde Amnesia
Loss of memory for information acquired and stored before onset of amnesia
All amnesic patients show at least some retrograde amnesia (sometimes only minutes or hours before injury)
4 Features of Retrograde Amnesia
Temporal extent can vary (time span for which memory is lost)
Episodic memories that are compromised
Spares information that was overlearned before onset
Does not affect skill learning (even if can’t remember having practiced the skill)
Retrograde Amnesia Temporal Extent
Korsakoff, Alzheimer, Parkinson, or Huntigton diseases likely to exhibit temporally extensive amnesia (several decades)
Other patients suffering head injuries show temporally limited amnesia (losing months or weeks before injury)
In many cases patient can recover some or all lost memories
Retrograde Amnesia: Overlearned Info
People with Korsakoff, anoxia, encephalitis have intact knowledge about the world, preserved language, perceptual, and social skills, as well as general intelligence
Only extensive retrograde amnesia (progressive dementia, Alzeimer/Huntington) impairs this info
Cognitive Economy
Properties and facts are stored at the highest level possible
Reduce redundancy
E.g. ‘has a liver’ stored under all mammals instead of individually under each type of animal
Semantic Network
Collection of nodes associated with all words and concepts one knows about
Participants took less time to respond to sentences whose representations should span two levels (e.g. a canary is a bird) than they did to sentences whose representations should span three levels (E.g. a canary is an animal)
Lexical Decision
Participants see series of letter strings, asked to decide if they form real words
Saw two words one above the other, had to decide if both formed real words
If one word was real, participants were faster to respond if other string was a semantically associated word (e.g. butter) than for unrelated words (e.g. chair) or nonwords (e.g. rencle)
Spreading Activation Theory
Excitation spreads along connections of nodes in a semantic network
No hierarchy
Concepts represented in web like fashion
Concept = one node
Back Propagation
Connectionist networks are taught to develop patterns of activation through trials
Initially connections between units have weights set at random and neutral levels
Explicit Memories
Consciously recollected, aware of recall, may be deliberate
Implicit Memories
Memory that is not deliberate or conscious, but shows evidence of prior learning and storage
Semantic Priming
Facilitation of cognitive processing of info after a recent exposure to that same info
Repetition Priming
Facilitation of cognitive processing of info after a recent exposure to that same info
Word Stem Completion Task
Participants given brief millisecond exposure to word button, soon after given a new word completion task (u_to)
Increased responding button
Nonwords typically show no or little repetition priming relative to real words
Priming is greater for words that share the same morphology (roots of meaning)
Amnesia & Implicit Memory
Amnesic and non amnesic participants perform comparably on implicit memory tasks
Implicit Memory Explanations
Two memory systems:
Explicit memory tasks rely on declarative memory and implicit memory tasks rely on procedural memory
Two kinds of memory tasks require different cognitive procedures:
Implicit memory tasks require perceptual processing, while explicit memory tasks require conceptual processing
Process Dissociation Framework
Implicit memory tasks are not pure measures of any memory system
Any task relies on combination of abilities
False Fame Experiment
Participants shown a list of names, none of whom were famous
Some participants asked to study this list with full attention, others in a divided attention task
Later participants given new list which do include names of famous people, names from previously studied list, names never before seen were non famous
Asked to judge the fame of each name on the list
Participants in divided attention more likely to falsely attribute fame to names previously studied
Participants in full attention condition new names from list where non famous and had better recollection of what names had been studied
Participants in divided attention unable to consciously elaborate and learn list of names well, did not have clear memories for names
Sense of familiarity with the same caused them to judge the name as a famous person
Reconstructive Memory
Present people with word list with conceptually related words
People recognize related words that weren’t on the list, say that they were
E.g. words glass, door, screen, view, shutter, curtain, etc. (participants recall window even if not said)
Amnesia: Semantic Memory
Issues with episodic memory being lost but retained semantic
E.g. Gene
Encephalitis & Memory
Damage to front temporal lobes
Lost semantic memory
Retaining episodic memory
Problems With Semantic Network/Cognitive Economy
Typicality effect: people respond to robin is bird than turkey is bird even though they span the same distance on the network
