Chapter 6: Short Term Working Memory

Question 1

Memory is a product of ___-

Answer 1

learning

Question 2

T/F: Memory is a limited capacity

Answer 2

true. Memory storage is effortful and must be selective. Forgetting is a necessary part of memory.

Question 3

3 phases of the modal memory model

Answer 3

sensory input first goes to:

1) sensory memory. If you pay attention to the input, then it can go to
2) short term memory. If it’s rehearsed, then the info can go into
3) long term memory, where it can be stored or retrieved.

Question 4

long term memory is defined as memories that last over :

Answer 4

30 seconds

Question 5

visual sensory memory

Answer 5

iconic memory.

Question 6

Who proposed the modal memory model?

Answer 6

atkinson-shiffrin.

Question 7

the sperling task tested ___ memory. What did this task entail?

Answer 7

tested iconic memory. Two variations: whole report or partial report.

A grid of letters flashes onto the screen and then the participants recites as many letters as she/he can for the whole report.

For the partial report, when a specific pitch of tone is played, you need to rcall all letter from a certain row. (aka, the partial report used an auditory signal).

When whole reporting, there was only a 4 letter recall. For partial reporting, there was a 75% accuracy regardless of row that was asked to be recalled.

Question 8

When doing a partial report sperling task, why was an auditory signal used instead of a visual signal?

Answer 8

a visual signal would cause interference with the visual letter recall.

Question 9

the partial sperling test found that accuracy erodes as the delay between seeing the display and hearing the sound ____

Answer 9

increaes.

Question 10

conclusion of the sperling test:

Answer 10

iconic memory is time-dependent. people only have time to recall 4 letters before memory starts to decay

Question 11

how long does iconic memory typically last for?

Answer 11

2 seconds

Question 12

after the normal sperling task, a vowel/consonant differentiation task was implemented. A low tone signalled the participant to report vowels, and a high tone signalled the participant to report consonants. What did they find?

Answer 12

they found that there was no change in accuracy. Determined that info that comes into sensory memory is UNDEFINED. The participants cannot categorize sensory memory into vowel type.

Question 13

Averback and Coriell studied:

Answer 13

masking

Question 14

what is masking?

Answer 14

when a test stimulus is quickly presented, and then a neutral image that quickly follows the initial target image is presented.

Question 15

what does the mask act as?

Answer 15

a mask (either a neutral image or circle covering the test stimulus) essentially acts as an eraser. People could no longer recall the object that was originally presented before the mask. You can essentially erase sensory memory.

Question 16

Auditory sensory memory

Answer 16

echoic memory.

Question 17

explain the full and partial report of an echoic memory task.

Answer 17

echoic memory was tested using a 4-eared listening task: 4 channels of incoming info came from different directions. Each channel had a mix of letters and digits.

For full report: person reports all the letters that were heard
partial report: a visual signal using LIGHT CUES to subject which direction they needed to report from was given.

Question 18

what is the suffix effect and when does this happen?

Answer 18

happens in echoic memory partial reporting when auditorily telling them which direction to monitor causes INTERFERENCE (like what happened in iconic tasks). Therefore, to do this listening task, partial report uses visual signalling using light cues.

Question 19

how long does echoic memory last for

Answer 19

2s

Question 20

T/F echoic memory lasts longer than iconic memory

Answer 20

false. People always say this but it hasn’t been empirically proven

Question 21

information that is attended to at the sensory level enters ___ ___ memory

Answer 21

short term memory.

Question 22

T/F: short term memory has a limited capacity store

Answer 22

true

Question 23

is STM time dependent?

Answer 23

yes. it can last about 30s before information begins to decay. In order to enter long term storage, info must be “rehearsed”

Question 24

What is the serial position effect?

Answer 24

people remember things from the first and last position on a list. Lower accuracy for recall of words in the middle.

Question 25

primacy effect

Answer 25

remembering the first items on a list

Question 26

recency effect

Answer 26

remembering the last items on a list (most recently said items)

Question 27

the brown peterson task measures the ___ effect. Outline what happens in this task

Answer 27

recency effect. 3 consonant trigrams are presented as stimuli. There was also a math task in which the participant had to count backwards by 3’s. They measured the time that the trigram can last in short term memory with no reheasrsal. (no rehearsal because the people were doing the math task).

Found rapid decay in accuracy. After 15s, many people could not recall the trigrams.

Question 28

In the brown-peterson task, why was the trigram only made of consonants?

Answer 28

to prevent any word-formation that would help the participant remember the trigram as they were counting back digits.

Question 29

Delaying recall while preventing rehearsal affects _____, but not ___. what does this show?

Answer 29

delaying recall while preventing rehearsal affects affects RECENCY but not PRIMACY effects.

This is probably due to interference. It shows that Primacy items are no longer in STM. After the delay, they are in LTM and can be recalled, which is why there is no decay in primacy recall.

Question 30

2 methods of STM retrieval

Answer 30

1) Parallel (simultaneous recall). Doesn’t matter how many items, and is a fast search
2) serial (step by step recall). Search time increases as the number of items increases. Typically is a slower search.

Question 31

The Sternberg Scanning tasks tests the 2 methods of STM retrieval. How does this test work? what would happen if the person used either parallel or serial (exhaustive or self terminating techniques)?

Answer 31

the participant views a memory set: 1-6 letters long. After a pause, the participant is given a probe letter: “was C in the list of letters I just gave you?”

The participant needs to go into short term memory and look at their “list”.

If they are a parallel retriver: it would take the same amount of time to either answer Yes or no, because all letters were evaluated at the same

In a serial self-terminating technique: each letter analyzed one by one. Answering NO takes LONGER than YES because you had to go through the entire list.

Serial Exhaustive: you go through the entire memory set, regardless if the probe letter was already found. Answering yes or no takes the same time.

Question 32

Which type of STM retrieval technique is the most efficient? Which one is the most commonly used?

Answer 32

most effecient: serial Self terminating search. You’d stop your search early as soon as you saw the target letter.

The most commonly used technique is actually the serial EXHAUSTIVE retrieval method, which is the most inefficient.

Question 33

George Miller coined the ___ ___ ___; the STM storage capacity

Answer 33

Magic Number 7

Question 34

chunking

Answer 34

grouping individual items into larger chunks, so that each chunk becomes an item. the memory capacity for the “chunked items” remains the same, but you techniically remember more “individual” items because smaller components make up the chunked items.

Question 35

What were some limitations of the modal model of memory?

Answer 35

the idea that simple rehearsal of information in the short term allows for transfer to LTM was too limited. There are multiple types of rehearsal, and multiple types of information that enter short term memory that they can’t all be possibly encoded into long term by the same method.

Question 36

Everyday memory requires juggling multiple pieces of short term information. The idea of ___ ____ was proposed; a more “detailed” short term memory

Answer 36

working memory.

Question 37

Alan Baddeley

Answer 37

made refinements to the modal model of short term memory.

The original modal model made no distinctions between verbal or visual inputs, and made no rehearsal specifications. Baddley included capacity, and noted that visualization is a very powerful tool. He also noted that some items are more activated in short term memory than others. Also suggested that items and events can be ordered and organized in this short term store, suggesting that we have WORKING memory.

Question 38

Different methods of rehearsal:

Answer 38

1) maintenance rehearsal: repeating the sequence or item list.
2) depth of processing: making item more meaningful in some way.

Question 39

Reading Span task tested ___. What were the parameters of the task and why was it better than number lists?

Answer 39

working memory capacity. Goal is to remember the last word of each sentence. the number of sentences increases, the tasks become harder.

RST is more realistic than number lists.

Question 40

What is working memory capacity?

Answer 40

the ability to remember certain pieces of info while keeping track of others. (ability to focus)

Question 41

the model of working memory includes a ___ ___, which adds the concept that the person cognitively makes decisions about what to pay attention to:

Answer 41

central executive.

Question 42

Role of the visuospatial sketch pad

Answer 42

imposes a visual image to a stimulus, regardless if the item was visual or auditory. Includes flashcards.

Question 43

Role of the phonological loop/subfocal loop

Answer 43

the inner voice, repeating auditory stimulation to yourself.

Question 44

Role of episodic buffer

Answer 44

the order of working memory is kept chronologically.

Question 45

Working memory mainly involves the:

Answer 45

frontal, temporal and parietal lobes.

Question 46

the frontal lobe has ___ ___ in working memory

Answer 46

executive function. Especially activated when info is being manipulated.

Question 47

when the visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop is activated, ___ and ___ lobes are also activated

Answer 47

temporal and parietal lobes are also activated.

Question 48

T/F the brain regions that are activated during working memory are indicative of where the memory is being stored in the brain

Answer 48

false. It is not reflective of storage but rather of status of the memory trace.

Question 49

relationship between working memory and age

Answer 49

working memory gets more developed as you mature because it is correlated with frontal lobe development.

Question 50

Why do adults have better working memory than children from a physiological standpoint?

Answer 50

there is more myelination and synaptogenesis.

Question 51

what is depth of processing?

Answer 51

a method of rehearsal. Elaborative reheasal is more meaningful.

Question 52

Shallow processing

Answer 52

maintenance rehearsal.

Question 53

how was depth of processing tested?

Answer 53

a list of 24 words was read one at a time. there were 4 groups of instruction:

1) explicit learning (learn the word)
2) implicit learning (do something else which forces you to learn the word).
3) implicit: counting the letters
4) implicit leaning: how pleasant is the word? (FORCES YOU TO ACTUALLY CONSIDER THE WORD)

Question 54

which type of learning is most effective? (explicit or implicit)

Answer 54

implicit learning. People remember the best if asked to consider the word or learning something else.

Question 55

people recall most words with ____ elaboration.

Answer 55

people recall most wordst with INCREASED elaboration, ie/ a bigger depth of processing. The MORE EFFORT you’re putting into elaboration in the short term, the better the recall from long term memory.

Question 56

When using the implicit learning strategy: does the word fir in this sentence?; the more elaborate the sentence becomes:

Answer 56

the better the recall.

Question 57

Generational effect

Answer 57

you can recall a word better if you generate words that are associated with it.

Question 58

Production effect

Answer 58

physically voicing the words solidifies the stimuli more rather than repeating the info in your head (better to say your flashcards out loud)

Question 59

Enactment effect

Answer 59

adding physical actions to something makes it more memorable

Question 60

How can you use your visuospatial sketchpad for better recal?

Answer 60

you can do cue overload. If you’re given a list of words to remember, you can make an object more memorable by visualizing a bizzare scenario using your visuospatial sketch pad.

Question 61

Mnemonic strategies

Answer 61

strategies that create meaningful associations between items. Can reduce the number of items to remember.

Question 62

the ___ of ___ combines visual imagery to spatial locations.

Answer 62

Method of loci. It is used by superior memorizers to remember long lists of items.

Question 63

analysis of people with superior memory shows no structural difference compared to a normal brain. What does this mean?

Answer 63

may indicate that memory is a learned skill with strategy.

Question 64

tests of encoding specificity indicates that;

Answer 64

it is easier to retrieve items in the location that they were learned.

Question 65

What is narrative elaboration and how does it help encode?

Answer 65

when given a list of words, a story involving all the words is made.

the people who used narrative elaboration remembers more words than people who just rehearsed.

Question 66

What is the testing effect?

Answer 66

its easier to memorize and then test yourself gradually at various points along the way. It’s easier to recall info that’s been tested.

Question 67

Metamory:

Answer 67

a person’s knowledge and self awareness of their memory.

Question 68

What is the labor in Vain effect

Answer 68

when you try and try to study and memorize material but you just can’t get it.

Question 69

How can you counteract the labor in vain effect?

Answer 69

do proximal learning. Just learn a little bit beyond the concept