Chapter 7 Flashcards
What is memory?
capacity to get knowledge and skills via storage and retrieval of information
What are retrograde and anterograde amnesiacs?
- retrograde amnesiacs- can’t retrieve memories. Many times, they can’t retrieve episodic long term memories, but they can retrieve semantic long term memories
- anterograde amnesiacs- can’t encode memories
How can successful memories be made? What 3 steps?
- encoding- information processed into neural signals
- stored- encoded information becomes stored in memory. Consolidation occurs here (neural connections supporting memory become stronger or synapses made)
- retrieval- brain recalls and remembers stored information
What gets encoded?
vivid or important events
What are the three levels of processing?
- Shallow- structural encoding, like noticing presence of physical features
- Intermediate- phonemic, what something sounds like or rhymes with. Like creating a song
- Deep- applying it to self-knowledge “self-reference effect”
What are the three different types of memory and how long do we hold the memories for?
- sensory memory- 1/3 second, sensory information
- Short term/working memory- 20 seconds, limited in capacity
- long term memory- infinite in capacity and amount of time
Short term/Working Memory Elaborate
- 20 seconds
- can only remember 7 item + or - 2
- can use chunking- to create groups of meaningful material that’ll be more likely to remember
- we have multiple short term systems: one for remembering visuospatial information, and another for holding auditory/verbal information
Long Term Memory- Elaborate
- unlimited in capacity and time
- organized
- can be organized in semantic networks, where one piece of information can lead you to remembering another piece
What are the two types of long term memory?
- Declarative (explicit)
- Procedural (implicit)
What is declarative long term memory?
- semantic- remembering facts, like the 1st president of the US
- Episodic- memory of specific events that have happened to you. Ex- what you had for dinner last night
- retrograde amnesiacs will los ability to form episodic memories, while semantic memories will be spared
Procedural long term memory
- motor memory- how to ride a bike
- habitual patterns- dinner manners
- untouched by amnesia
What are the different theories of how memories are stored?
- Lashley- found the more cortex removed, the less likely the participants could recall memories
- Penfield- stimulated the temporal lobe and led patients to recall memories. But also stimulated other parts of brain
- Now- believe that memories are stored everywhere in the brain
How is the hippocampus important in storing memory? What happens if we remove it?
- plays a role in explicit/declarative memory consolidation (storing a long term memory)
- important for spatial memory
- if you remove it, you can’t store memories, so you’re an anterograde amnesiac
How are frontal lobes important for memory?
encoding and working memory
Amygdala
emotional memory
