Chapter 7: Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
The nervous’s systems capacity to acquire and retain usable skills and knowledge
What are the 3 phases of memory?
- Encoding (processing information)
- Storage (retenting of encoding representations over time)
- Retrieval (recalling information)
What brain regions are involved in learning and memory?
Prefrontal cortex (working memory); hippocampus (spatial memory); temporal love (declarative memory); amygdala (fear-learning); cerebellum (motor action learning/memory)
Define: engram, consolidation, reconsolidation
Engram - physical site of memories (where they “live”)
Consolidation - immediate memories become lasting (long-term) memories
Reconsolidating - pull a memory out, and it gets restored (slightly damaged each time)
How does attention determine what we remember?
You can only pay attention to one thing at a time; tiredness, boredom, impulsive control disorders (ADD, ADHD), multitasking - all affect attention
Define: selective attention, change blindness
Selective attention - focusing on one thing while a series of others happen simultaneously
Change blindness - a failure to notice large changes in one’s environment
What happens when you multitask while studying?
You really can’t - attention is limited (especially difficult if they rely on the same sensory or mental mechanism); leads to shallow learning, incomplete work, mental fatigue
How are memories maintained over time?
Memories are kept in LTM (assuming they make it there)
What’s the difference: sensory memory, short-term (working) memory, long-term memory?
Sensory memory - about 1/3 of a second; based on sensory info
Working memory - about 20-30 seconds; briefly holds a limited amount of information
LTM - relatively permanent and virtually limitless (the amount of information we can hold)
What’s Miller’s magic number? Define: chunking
7 +/- 2 (aka 5-9)
Chunking: organizing information into meaningful units to make them easier to remember
What evidence supports the difference between working and LTM?
Primacy - better memory for items at beginning of the list (part of serial position effect; reflects LTM)
Recency effect - better memory of items at end of the list (reflect working memory)
How is information organized in LTM?
Perceptual xperiences are transformed into representations and stored in networks of neurons; mental representations stored by meaning
What is the levels of processing model? Define: schemas
Levels of processing model - the more deeply something it is encoded, the more meaning/better it will be remembered
Schemas - mental maps/shortcuts; help organize, process, and use information
What is the spreading activation model of memory?
Stimuli in working memory activate specific notes in LTM
What are retrieval cues?
Anything that helps to access the right information in LTM
Define: episodic, semantic, implicit, explicit, and prospective memory. How do they differ?
Episodic - events
Semantic - facts (“saber”)
Implicit - things that have become habitual; not consciously aware (ie. skills/habits, emotional responses)
Explicit - things you can tell others (semantic/episodic)
What is the methods of saving model?
Forgetting occurs rapidly over the first few days and then levels off
Define: transience, persistence, and memory bias
Transience (forgetting) - caused by interference (proactive = old information blocks new; retroactive = new blocks old, retro - can’t remember the good ol’ days)
Persistence (unwanted remembering)
Memory bias - changing of memories so they’re constant with current beliefs/attitudes (collective memories distort the past; we remember things as better than they were)
Who is HM? What were his memory deficits?
HM - had anterograde amnesia, could not form new memories after he had his surgery
Define: retrograde amnesia, anterograde amnesia
Retrograde: lose past memories
Anterograde: no new memories (50 first dates)
What are flashbulb memories?
Vivid memories of things that people first found surprising or emotional; can be biased/inaccurate
What are source misattribution and suggestibility?
SM - memory distortion when people misremember the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory
Suggestibility - different wordings/questions alter someones memories of an event; bias information
Are people good or bad eyewitnesses? Why?
Bad - often fail to pay attention to the incidents and people they observe; suggestible to misleading information
What are false memories? Confabulation?
False memories - distorted memories (children very susceptible)
Confabulation - “honest lying” - unintended false recollection of episodic memories
