Chapter 7 part 2 Flashcards
retrieval and forgetting
what is the last step in memory?
retrieval
what are retrieval cues?
means by which people retrieve information from long term memory.
the more cues that are associated with the memory ____________
the easier it will be to retrieve
what is context-specific memory?
people will recall information better if the context in which the information is learned is the same as when it is being recalled
what is an example of context-specific memory?
it is easier to recall information on the exam if you take it in the same seat you learned the information in class
what is the serial position effects?
the order you learn things in makes a difference in ability to recall the information
what is the primacy effect?
a type of serial position effect where you remember the first few items in the list very well because you rehearsed them long enough to put them in long-term memory
what is the recency effect?
you just heard/saw the last few items in the list, so they are still in short-term memory
what happens to the items in the middle of the list (serial position effect)
you forget them because they weren’t rehearsed enough to be stored in long-term memory and weren’t said recently enough to still be in short-term memory
why do people remember the words at the beginning and end of the list, but not the middle?
the beginning items are in long-term memory and the ending items are in short-term memory
what would happen if you were distracted for about 30 seconds just after I finished reading the list, and then you tried to recall the list items?
it would eliminate the recency effect (the last items are no longer stored in short-term memory and you have forgotten them)
what are flashbulb memories?
vivid memories for highly significant, traumatic, or emotional experiences or events
what is an easy way to remember flashbulb memories?
it is like someone took a picture of that event in your brain
why are flashbulb memories so easy to encode and seem so vivid?
the amygdala is working with the hippocampus
how does the amygdala work with the hippocampus to produce flashbulb memories?
the amygdala is activated when there is a lot of emotions, and it senses the event is meaningful and tells the hippocampus to record the event, and the hippocampus records better and more vividly when the amygdala is turned on
what two things did Ebbinghaus do with forgetting?
1) he created the forgetting curve. he memorized 100 unmeaningful words and tested himself to see how much of the words he forgot.
2) he studied the same 100 words each day, and tested himself each day. determined that, the more repetitively you study, the more resistant you become to forgetting the information you studied
what did Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve show?
without studying, you forget much of what you learned, but not all. you always can remember some of the information
most forgetting occurs _________
in the first hour after learning
why can’t we always retrieve everything that is stored in long-term memory, especially older memories?
interference
what is retroactive interference?
new information interferes with our ability to remember old information
what is an example of retroactive interference?
your new phone number interferes with your ability to remember your old one
what is proactive interference?
old information interferes with our ability to remember new information?
what is an example of proactive interference?
all of the times you took your daily thyroid pill in the past interfere with your ability to remember if you took it today
are any of the episodes and events that we experience recalled with complete accuracy?
no, memories are reconstructions based solely on sensory input that was successfully encoded and successfully retrieved
what are reconstructions?
your brain “fills in” gaps in memory by making up things that may have happened – basically making an educated guess
are reconstructions accurate?
most of the time they are pretty accurate, but sometimes your brain makes mistakes called inaccuracies
why are our memories very faulty?
we can only fully attend / pay attention to one thing at a time, so the only information that gets encoded is what you are paying attention to at that moment, and as time passes, it gets harder to access that memory
what are false memories?
inaccuracies and distortions of our reconstructed memories that occur over time
when we retrieve a memory, it is susceptible to ________
contamination
what is contamination?
our brain takes what is happening when we retrieve the memory and puts it with the memory we retrieved, causing inaccuracies
the more times a memory is retrieved, _________
the more contaminated it can become
can we tell the difference between a real and a fake memory?
no, because the real and fake memories both feel the same (both feel like real memories)
can you implant a completely fake memory into someone else’s brain?
yes, by using the power of suggestion
are flashbulb memories more accurate and resistant to contamination?
no, sometimes they are even more susceptible to contamination because we retrieve them so often
what are the three types of amnesia?
infantile amnesia, retrograde amnesia, anterograde amnesia
what is infantile amnesia?
everyone has this. we don’t remember most things from early years (0-4) because the memories are too old and we can no longer access them, or because, as we grow up, the way we record memories changes so much that we can no longer play back the old ones (trying to play a vhs tape on a dvd player)
what is retrograde amnesia?
loss of past memories. an event happens and we loose a chunk of our memory from before the event
do we gain the memories back that we lost due to retrograde amnesia?
we can regain most of them back, but usually the events in the hour or so before the event are never gained back
what is anterograde amnesia?
no new memory formation. you remember everything up until an event, but after that event, you can’t form new memories, like you skipped ahead in time
what is amnesia?
when we forget large chunks of memory that, under normal circumstances, we would be able to remember
is amnesia the same as normal forgetting?
no, it is extremely different
