Chapter 7: Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
the nervous system’s capacity to retain and retrieve skills and knowledge.
What are the three phases of memory?
Encoding, storage and retrievial
What is encoding?
information is transformed into a format that can be stored in memory.
What is storage phase ?
the retention of the encoded representation.
Through storage, what is consolidation?
Neural connections that support memory become stronger, and new synapses are constructed
What is retrievial ?
This stage consists of reaching into memory storage to find and bring to mind a previously encoded and stored memory when it is needed.
What is reconsolidation?
When memories for past events are retrieved, those memories can be affected by current circumstances, so the newly reconsolidated memories may differ from their original versions
What is Hebb’s model?
Memories are stored in multiple regions of the brain that are linked through memory circuits. “cells that fire together wire together.”
What does potentiate means?
It means to strengthen, to make something more potent.
What is long term potentiation?
It’s the strengthening of a synaptic connection, making the postsynaptic neurons more easily activated by presynaptic neurons. As the synapse between two neurons strengthens during consolidation, the two neurons become better connected,
What is an important receptor in LTP, and why?
NMDA receptor on the postsynaptic neuron. This type of glutamate receptor responds only when large amounts of glutamate are available in the synapse and when the postsynaptic neuron is sufficiently depolarized.
What blocked enzyme is increasing memory?
HDAC (histone deacetylases), which inhibit gene expression. HDAC serves as a molecular “brake,” which has to be released for memory to occur
What does Lashley’s term, ‘‘engram’’ means?
It refers to the physical site of memory storage
What does equipotentiality means ?
memory is distributed throughout the brain rather than confined to any specific location.
Which part of the brain contributes to working memory?
Prefontal cortex
What part of the brain contributes to spatial memory?
Hippocampus
Which part of the brain contributes to declarative memory?
Temporal lobe
What part of the brain contributes to fear learning?
Amygdala
What part of the brain contributes to motor action and learning memory?
Cerebellum
What is special about H.M case?
He learned new things, but did not know he learned them?
What did we learn from H.M case ?
that regions within the temporal lobes, such as the hippocampus, are important for the ability to store new memories. The temporal lobes are important for being able to say what you remember, but they are less important for memory involving motor actions. The cerebellum is involved in memory for motor actions.
What part of the brain is responsible for the formation of new memory?
Medial temporal lobes (middle section of the temporal lobe)
Where does the actual storage takes place in the brain ?
It occurs in the particular brain regions engaged during the perception, processing, and analysis of the material
Where does the visual information is stored?
Visual information is stored in the cortical areas involved in visual perception
Where is sound stored in the brain?
Sound is stored in the areas involved in auditory perception.
When does the medial temporal lobes become less important for memory?
Once the connections are strengthened sufficiently through consolidation
What is the fonction of sensory memory and sensory systems?
Our sensory systems transduce, or change, that information into neural impulses.
What is visual sensory memory called?
Iconic memory?
What is auditory sensory memory called?
Echoic memory
How long does the visual sensory memory last ?
1/3 of a second
What is the fonction of short term memory?
an active processing unit that deals with multiple types of information.
What is the working memory?
It is part of the short term memory. This storage system actively retains and manipulates multiple pieces of temporary information from different sources
How long does information last in the working memory?
20 to 30 seconds
How do you prevent information exiting the working memory?
Think about it or rehearsing it
What is memory span, and what is its capacity?
It’s the limit of working memory and is generally seven items (plus or minus two)
Is ‘‘brain training’’ helps with memory or intelligence ?
No, they get better at the task, but does not improve cognitive habilities or intelligence.
What is the process of chunking ?
Breaking down information into meaningful units
What are the two important differences between working memory and long term memory?
It has a longer duration, and it has a far greater capacity
What are the two effects in the serial position effect ?
The primacy and recency effect
In which memory the primacy and recency effect takes place?
The primacy in the long term memory and recency in the working memory
If a delay occurs for rembering items, wich effects between primacy and recency is gonna be affected?
Recency, cause it did not enter in the long term memory
What is one way to strenghten memory?
Through rehearsal. Memories are strengthened with retrieval, so one way to make durable memories is to practice retrieval.
Why do we loose some information?
Cause it could be discriminated as irrelevant. We store information that could be important for reproduction and survival.
What is mental representation?
A concept that place something in a category that shares similar features
How does mental representation are stored ?
By meaning/sementic
What is the levels of processing model (Craik Lockhart)?
the more deeply an item is encoded, the more meaning it has and the better it is remembered.
What are the two types of rehearsal ? How do they work?
Maintenance rehearsal is simply repeating the item over and over. Elaborative rehearsal encodes the information in more meaningful ways, such as thinking about the item conceptually or deciding whether it refers to oneself
When you do a judgement, weither it’s visual, auditory or sementic, which one is the best to store information?
A sementic judgement
What are schemas?
These are cognitive structures in long-term memory that help us perceive, organize, process, and use information
Give an exemple that can make your shemas biased
Your culture can be a bias on your schemas.
What is the theory of network associations?
An item’s distinctive features are linked so as to identify the item.
Each unit of information in the network is a node.
Each node is connected to many other nodes
Activating one node increases the likelihood that closely associated nodes will also be activated
The closer the nodes are, the stronger the association between them.
The stronger the association, the more likely that activating one node will activate the other
What is the spreading activation models of memory
Stimuli in working memory activate specific nodes in long-term memory. This activation increases the ease of access to that material and thus makes retrieval easier
What is a retrievial cue?
Can be anything that helps a person (or a nonhuman animal) recall a memory
What is encoding specificity principle (Tulving)?
Any stimulus encoded along with an experience can later trigger a memory of the experience
1) What is context-dependent memory? 2) What is a state-dependent memory?
1) When the recall situation is similar to the encoding situation
2) Memory can be enhanced when a person’s internal states match during encoding and recall (also drugs and alcool).
What is prospective memory? What can help this kind of memory?
It’s future oriented. It means that a person remembers to do something at some future time. is future oriented. Retrieval cues can help prospective memory
What are Mnemonics?
Learning aids or strategies that use retrieval cues to improve recall
What is the mnemonic of the method of loci or the memory palace?
It consists of associating items you want to remember with physical locations
What is implicit memory? (Peter Graf and Daniel Schacter)?
Unconscious memory. Memories we acquire without conscious effort or intention—memories we do not know we know
1) What is explicit memory ? (Peter Graf and Daniel Schacter)
2) What is the cognitive information retrieved from that memory?
3) Explicit memory can be divided into two types of memories. What are they, and explain their differences (Tulving).
1) The processes we use to remember information we can say we know
2) Declarative memory: knowledge we can declare
3) -Episodic memory: consists of a person’s past experiences and includes information about the time and place the experiences occurred
- Semantic memory: is knowledge of facts independent of personal experience. You might not remember where or when you learned it, but you know it
What type of memory classical conditioning uses ?
Implicit memory. Associations are implicit !
What type of implicit memory , or motor memory, involves motor skills, habits, and other behaviors
procedural memory
What is the false fame effect, with Larry Jacoby studies ?
People knew they had heard the names before but probably could not remember where, implicit memory led them to assume the familiar names were those of famous people.
1) What is the methods of savings (Ebbinghaus)?
2) What does savings means in that context ?
1) It examine how long it took people to relearn lists of nonsense syllables
2) The difference between the original learning and relearning is called savings. In other words, you save time and effort because of what you remember.
What is the main reason memory is forgotten?
Interference: competing information displaces the information we are trying to retrieve
What is proactive interference?
Old information inhibits the ability to remember new information.
What is retroactive interference?
New information inhibits the ability to remember old information
What is blocking?
When a person is temporarily unable to remember something
What is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, and what is the mechanism behind it (Roger Brown and David McNeill)?
The experience of great frustration when recalling specific, somewhat obscure words. Blocking often occurs because of interference from words that are similar in some way
What is absentmindedness? And what is it’s major cause?
The shallow encoding of events. The major cause of absentmindedness is failing to pay attention
What is amnesia? What are the causes?
The loss of the ability to retrieve vast quantities of information from long-term memory. Amnesia results from disease, brain injury, or psychological trauma.
What are the two basic types of amnesia?
1) Retrograde amnesia, people lose past memories for events, facts, people, or even personal information
2) Anterograde amnesia, people lose the ability to form new memories
Your best friend growing up now likes to be called Kathleen rather than Katie, which is what you always called her. Now when you see her, you forget she likes to be called Kathleen. Why?
Because proactive interference has caused forgetting, as old information inhibits the storage of new information
What is Persistence? Name one example of that phenomenon.
When unwanted memories are remembered in spite of the desire not to have them. PTSD is a good example.
What is the role of amygdala in Persistence?
Emotional events are associated with amygdala activity, which might underlie the persistence of certain memories. Indeed, the release of hormones associated with emotional states strengthens memory consolidation and thereby enhances memories
What is propranolol and how does it affect persistence?
It blocks the postsynaptic receptors for the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. If propranolol is given before or right after a traumatic experience, the hormonally enhanced memories and fear response for that event are reduced, and the effect lasts for months
Why might you remember more information from an exciting speech than from a dull one?
Emotional states, such as being excited, are associated with stronger memory consolidation.
What is memory bias? Give a common example.
The changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes. People tend to recall their past beliefs and past attitudes as being consistent with their current ones
People also tend to exaggerate their contributions to group efforts, take credit for successes and blame failures on others, and remember their successes more than their failures
What are flashbulb memories (Roger Brown and James Kulik)? Give an example
These vivid memories are of the circumstances in which people first learn of a surprising and consequential or emotionally arousing event.
For example, people remember where they where, what they ate, etc. During september 11.
Why do inaccurate flashbulb memories stay consistent over time?
People keep repeating the inaccurate version and become confident in it.
What is Source misattribution? Give an example.
When people misremember the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory
The sleeper effect. Here, an argument initially is not very persuasive because it comes from a questionable source, but it becomes more persuasive over time.
What is Source amnesia ?
A form of misattribution that occurs when a person has a memory for an event but cannot remember where he or she encountered the information.
What is childhood amnesia?
The absence of early episodic memories, due to early lack of linguistic capacity as well as to immature frontal lobes.
What is cryptomnesia?
A form of source misattribution : a person thinks he or she has come up with a new idea. Instead, the person has retrieved an old idea from memory and failed to attribute the idea to its proper source
What is Suggestibility?
People can develop biased memories when provided with misleading information
How does false memories can be induced? What population is more prone to those kind of memories?
When a person imagines an event happening, he or she forms a mental image of the event. The person might later confuse that mental image with a real memory.
Childen are more prone to false memories.
What is the debate over repressed memory?
On one side, some psychotherapists and patients claim that long-repressed memories for traumatic events can resurface during therapy.
On the other side, little credible evidence indicates that recovered memories are genuine or at least sufficiently accurate to be believable
Which memory model can explain why people falsely believe they read a word when they read a series of semantically related words?
The spreading activation model, since reading a word activates words with similar semantic content