Chapter 8 Flashcards
Memory
Flashbulb memories
Some unusual, shocking, or tragic events hold a special place in memory
The term captures the surprise, ilumination and photographic detail that characterized them
Flashbulb Memories can have ERRORS and BIASES
Example of Flashbulb Memories
9/11 Attack:
Memory 1: during the attack the president say “Jordan you’re not going to believe what state i was in when i heard about the terroritst attack. i was in Florida actually i was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works and i was siting outside the class
Memory
Recalling past events and past learning by means of encoding, storage, and retrieval
Three Processes of Memory
- Encoding: Putting information into a form the brain can understand and get it into the memory
- Storage: Process of retaining information in the brain for later us
- Retrieval: Recovering stored memories
Role of Attention
Attention: focus on a stimulus
Short-Term Memory
The information that you are focusing on at a given moment
Has LIMITED capacity
Can hold around 5-9 at a time
Rehearsal
The process of repetitvely verbalizing or thinking about the information
Long-Term Memory
All of the information we have gathered that is available for use such as accquired skills, people we know, etc
Spaced Rehearsal
Facilitates moving, working memories into long-term memory
DON’T CRAM
Two Ways to Encode
- Automatic Processing: when you automatically remember something with NO effort
- Effort Processing: when you have to work to memorize something
Contents of Long-Term Memory
Explicit Memory: Memory that a person can consciously bring to mind
Implicit Memory: Memory that a person is NOT consciously aware
Semantic Memory: Long-term memory for meaning
Schemas: Knowledge bases that we develop based on prior exposure to similar experiences or other knowledge bases
Procedural Memory: Long-term memory for actions, skills, operations and conditioned responses
Episodic Memory: Long-term memory for information tied to a particular time and place especially memory of the events in a persons life
Parallel Distributed Model: Theory of memory suggests that information is represented in the brain as a pattern of activation across entire neural networks
Serial-Position Effect: The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list and to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list
How Do We Remember: Rehearsal
Maintenance Rehearsal: Rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory
Elaborative Rehearsal: Association of new information with already stored knowledge
How Do We Remember: Processing
Encoding Information: The processing of meaning rather than simply the physical or sensory features of a stimulus
How Do We Remember: Chuncking
Chunking: Grouping individual bits of data into meaningful units
Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory
Cues in retrieval
Using context to aid retrieval
Misinformation effect
Context
Physical or emotional backdrop associated with an event
Misinformation
Witnessing an event, receiving misinformation about it and then incorporating “Misinformation” into one’s memory of the event
The Misinformation Study
Misinformation Effect Study: researchers showed subjects sludes of a traffic accidenct. One slide showed a car stopped at a STOP sign
Half of the participants were asked leading questions about the car being stopped at a STOP sign
Participates were later shown 2 pictures – one with the car next to a YIELD sign
Implications for credibility of eyewitness testimony
- When police officers ask [mis]leading questions witnesses may incorporate incorrect information into their memory for the event
Decay
The theory that information in memory eventually disappears if it is NOT accessed; it applies more to short term than long-term
Interference
Similar items interefered with one another
Retroactive Interference: Forgetting that occurs when recently learned material interferes with the ability to remmeber similar material sotred previously
Proactive Interference: Forgetting that occurs when previously stored material interference with the ability to remmeber similar, more recenelty learned material
Cue-Dependent Forgetting
The inability to retrieve information store in memory because of insufficient cues for recall
What happens in the brain
The PREFRONTAL CORTEX: important in working memory
The HIPPOCAMPUS: Important for the transfer of memories into long-term memories
Long-Term Care in Potentiation
A phenomenon where repeated stimulation of certain nerve cells in the brain greatly increases the likelihood that the cells will respond strongly to future stimulation
Memory & Age
Before 4 Years Old: Memories pf faces, places and skills but no EPISODIC Memories (Memories of life)
Early EPISODIC memories are emotional
Prospective Memory
Ability to remember the content from the FUTURE
Reotrospective Memory
Ability to remember content from PAST
