Chapter 7 - Memory Flashcards
Freudian model of memory
- All memories remain permanently intact but may be “repressed”
- Some therapists claim to gain access by hypnosis, dream interpretation, etc, which can cause false memory implants (suggestibility), and other negative effects
- No scientifically acceptable evidence to support it
Videotape model of memory
- Some memories remain intact for a long time, or forever
- Can be played back like videotape
- No scientific evidence and lots of contradictory evidence (our memory declines over time)
Eidetic memory
- Known as “photographic” memory, although there’s no evidence anyone has ever had memory that’s instant, passive, effortless, like photocopy.
- We actively reconstruct our memories
Simple biological model of memory
- Memories are stored in brain
- Not stored in single cell, therefore not susceptible to “decay” if some brain cells die
Role of Amygdala in memory
- Associated with emotional memory
- Emotional memories tend to be stored for a long time
- Damage to amygdala: patients remember facts but not emotion (esp. fear)
Role of Hippocampus in memory
- Significant for LTM
- Injury impairs explicit memory
- Injury causes Anterograde amnesia more commonly than retrograde amnesia
Define: Anterograde Amnesia
Inability to form new memories (ie, after injury)
Define: Retrograde Amnesia
Inability to remember memories in the past (ie, before accident)
Define: Flashbulb memory
- Extremely vivid memory of emotional memory
- Tend to be way less accurate than we think, because of intense emotions and rehearsal
Cognitive model of memory (in relation to older models)
- Takes good/useful stuff from common sense, videotape (ff, rewind), Freudian (some memories can be difficult to access), biological models.
- Adds emphasis on practical problems, accounts for anomalies, recognizes physiology
Per cognitive model of memory, how is memory reconstructed?
- No individual brain cell for each memory
- Memories are result of reactivating the pattern of neural connections
Define memory distortions
- Info loss and false addition caused by loss of cells and pattern overlap
- Eg, volunteers waiting in office remembering book but there were none
Three memory stages
- Encoding
- Storage
- Retrieval
Define memory Encoding
- Transferring information into a form that can be stored in memory
- Requires selective attention
- Use mnemonic devices (First-letter technique; method of loci; pegword method; keyword method)
Define memory Storage
-Involves consolidation and long-term-potentiation (LPT)
Define schema
- Organized knowledge structure or mental model, stored in memory
- Allow us to retrieve examples, make inferences, draw conclusion
- Are one expl. for paradox of memory
- When something doesn’t fit schema at encoding: info stands out
- When something doesn’t fit schema at retrieval: prone to distortion and reconstruction
