Chapter 8 (final) Flashcards
Most of the way we talk about memory in day-to-day life uses what is called what
a search metaphor
give examples of search metaphors
“bring it to the front of your mind” “finding a solution”
we might describe the inability to remember something as what
failure of search
Because memory is more about the present than the past, a much better metaphor for memory is not search, but what
reconstruction
why is Reconstruction a better metaphor
is a better metaphor because rather than specifically searching for information, you create a useful response given the situation at hand and what you’ve stored
what is encoding
The process for how our brains commit an event to memory
the problem our brains have to solve in order to encode information is called the what
encoding problem
The first step of the encoding process is simple, what is it
The information out in the world simply needs to be translated into the electrochemical language of the brain
what is Sensory memory
is a system that keeps information translated by the senses briefly active in a relatively unaltered, unexamined form
Further, researchers believe that sensory memory is what allows us to perceive the world as a unified whole rather than a series of staggered images and sounds. Sensory memory holds on to information in our nervous systems long enough for us to stitch one moment of our experience to the next. Additionally, sensory memory is thought to feed into the more general immediate memory, a system that actively holds on to a limited amount of information so that we can manipulate and process it`
what is iconic memory
close your eyes briefly. In each of these cases, we see afterimages on our retina—the “stream” that a sparkler leaves behind when moved, the fleeting image of your shoes in the dark, and the outline of your computer screen that you still see when your eyes are closed are all evidence of a swiftly-fading signal of neuronal activity
the auditory system, the lingering neuronal activity is called
an echo, while the process in general is called echoic memory
While sensory memory performs the job of bridging the gap from perception to memory, immediate memory is the system that does what
actively holds information at the front of your mind
Immediate memory is a more general term for what researchers often call what
“short-term” or “working” memory
Many students ask whether immediate memory is really “memory” if you’re only holding on to information rather than actively remembering it, what is the answer
Researchers who favor computer-driven metaphors for memory often compare immediate memory to the RAM (“random access memory”) in a computer; RAM is a place where currently active programs are operating, much like immediate memory is where currently active information is being manipulated
Immediate memory has three main properties, what are thy
representation, duration, and capacity
To address immediate memory’s representation, we ask what
“What kind of information can immediate memory contain?” This question is answered most powerfully through experience. Count to ten silently
What did you do when counting silently? Most people report saying the words “ONE, TWO, THREE,” et cetera to themselves in their heads. Psychologists call this phenomenon the inner voice. Note that counting to ten silently can be done in any number of ways—perhaps your native language is something other than English, and you counted to ten in that language. You can count faster or slower as well, or drag out individual numbers if you like. Critically, the inner voice is evidence that information in immediate memory can be represented verbally
we also have an “inner eye”
what is Duration
best talked about in terms of forgetting: How long can information stay in immediate memory before it is forgotten? The answer is surprising—forever. However, there’s a caveat. In order for information to remain in immediate memory, you have to engage in rehearsal
what is Rehearsal
a process of repeating information to yourself, helping you “re-hear” the information over and over. You can probably think of a time when you used rehearsal to help you remember something: Often, we use rehearsal to remember something for a brief period of time, such as a phone number or access code. In theory, you could continue to rehearse information indefinitely, or at least until you became distracted.
what is memory span
how many items can be kept actively in mind at a time
general answer is 7 plus or minus 2
what is a method to help increase memory capacity
chunking (like chunking information into groups)
what is The working memory model
is popular largely because it argues that immediate memory is not simply a place for the storage of information, but primarily a place for the manipulation of information (thus why they call it working memory rather than short-term or immediate memory). In Baddeley’s model, information that exists in working memory is managed in one of two places: the phonological loop or the visuospatial sketchpad. These names are metaphors for the kinds of information that are manipulated in each portion of the model
what is the phonological loop
where auditory and verbal information is temporarily stored and manipulated. Essentially, it is the manifestation of the inner voice in the working memory model
what is the visuospatial sketchpad
the representation of the inner eye in the model, and represents a place where visual and spatial information is stored and manipulated
what is central executive
To oversee these different functions, Baddeley & Hitch proposed that a mechanism called the central executive exists. It is the job of the central executive to direct the flow of information not only to and from the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad, but also to and from long-term memory. If you imagine yourself sitting in your bedroom at home, any sights you might imagine are processed by the sketchpad, any sounds you might imagine are processed by the loop, and the central executive is what calls up the memory of your room from long-term memory and allows you to manipulate the information
For roughly how many seconds does information persist in immediate memory without rehearsal
2
what is episodic memories
form of long term memory
The key feature is that they are based on a specific event that you experienced and encoded.
what are semantic memories
form of long term memory
Semantic memories relate to meaning devoid of a specific context, whereas episodic memories are all about specific context
wha are the forms of long term memory
episodic
semantic
procedural
what is procedural memory
Procedural memory is about process. While episodic memory recalls what happened and semantic memory recalls what something is, procedural memory recalls the process of how a task is completed
what is elaborative rehearsal
Generally, the best way to ensure that new information is incorporated effectively into what we already know is by meaningfully relating the new information to what is already stored
As we know, rehearsal is a process used to keep information active in immediate memory. Elaborative rehearsal refers to a process of actively manipulating information in immediate memory so that we can meaningfully connect it to other information that we’ve already stored in long-term memory—elaborating on the new information with connections to old information. In many ways, elaborative rehearsal is an answer to the encoding problem, although researchers disagree about the finer points of this process
what is Deep processing
involves making meaningful connections to existing knowledge—such as making the decision about whether or not the word “CHIPMUNK” is a living thing. Another way of phrasing this is that deep processing encodes information semantically, based on meaning
what is shallow processing
which is encoding information based on only its surface characteristics—like simply asking whether “CHIPMUNK” is written in capital letters. When we compare the effectiveness of these two different encoding strategies, people who encode information meaningfully tend to remember more information than people who encode information based on only its surface characteristics
Which two types of elaboration are often seen as the most complementary to one another?
organization and distinctiveness
what is Massed practice
cramming
what are the 4 ways of encoding memories
massed practice
spacing effect
mnemonics
adaptive memory
retrieval practice
what is spacing effect
spacing out your studying over multiple hours, days, weeks, or months is the key to long-term learning
The spacing effect works not only for improving episodic and semantic memory, but also for procedural memory.
what is Mnemonics
For example, the peg-word technique is a mnemonic that provides both order and imagery to a list of items, like a grocery list. In this technique, you relate the items in your list to a pre-determined rhyme: “One is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree,” et cetera. If the first three items on your grocery list are socks, wine, and steak, you might imagine each of these items interacting with the phrases in succession: A sock inside a hotdog bun, wine pouring over your favorite pair of shoes, and a steak hanging from a tree branch. When you try to remember the list later, you have a built-in structure for doing so—“One is a bun” triggers the vivid memory of socks inside a hotdog bun, and so on
phrases, acronyms and initializations can also be mnemonics by providing us with cues to the to-be-remembered information’s organizational structure
what is adaptive memory
to engage processes that are believed to fit naturally with the way our brains are structured
While it may seem difficult to integrate these ideas into strategies, many of the “memory experts” described earlier incorporate some of these ideas into their memory strategies, consciously or not. For example, one common strategy for remembering ordered information (like decks of cards) is called the Person-Action-Object (PAO) strategy (Foer, 2011). In this strategy, memory experts assign to each card in a deck a person, an action, and an object. For one person, for example, the queen of hearts might be “Taylor Swift – Shaking – CD,” the seven of clubs might be “Michael Jordan – Dunking – Basketball,” and the ace of spades might be “Brad Pitt – Running – Bowtie,” and so on. To remember three playing cards in sequence, the expert would then just remember the person, action, or object associated with that card in the proper order. Thus, to remember “Queen of Hearts – Seven of Clubs – Ace of Spades,” they would remember “Taylor Swift – Dunking – Bowtie,” and create a single, unique image out of these three objects: Taylor Swift dunking a bowtie into a basketball net
what is retrieval practice
Retrieving information is actually beneficial for trying to remember the same information later. While seemingly paradoxical, the phenomenon (known as retrieval practice or the “testing effect”) is thought to occur because when we retrieve information, the relationship between the memory and the cues that help us retrieve it is enhanced. In other words, we have improved the distinctiveness of the information by improving how effectively certain cues help us retrieve it
Which effective encoding strategy is an attempt to help us encode information in ways that our brains are designed to use
Adaptive memory strategies
what are Cues
pieces of information in the present that help us remember events from the past, and they are central to remembering
what is free recall
asking participants to recall studied information without help
what is encoding specificity principle
A natural consequence of the importance of cues is that how we encode information affects how we are able to retrieve it
Put another way, a retrieval cue is only useful as long as it matches how a piece of information was originally encoded
you will remember things better when you are in the place you learned them
what is Transfer-Appropriate Processing
Related to the encoding specificity principle is the idea that not only should we attempt to match the context that occurs at both encoding and retrieval, but we should also attempt to match the physical and mental processes that are occurring. In essence, you should try to engage in the same processes when encoding that you will be expected to engage in when testing in order to ensure that the appropriate cues are available to you
what is explicit memory
intentionally trying to recall information
what is implicit memory
remember information without consciously realizing or intending it. In these cases, we say that the information was recalled implicitly, and that the information recalled is an implicit memory.
what are the two types of seven sins of memory
Errors of omission and errors of commission
what are Errors of omission
are memory errors where information cannot be brought to mind
what are Errors of commission,
in contrast, are memory errors where wrong or unwanted information is brought to mind.
what is The first error of omission
transience
what is transience (sin of omission)
describes how the memory for any particular event or piece of information tends to degrade over time, often simply called forgetting. When we commit an error of transience, we simply can’t remember the information we’re trying to recall. Memory theorists believe that most forgetting is caused by lacking appropriate cues to aid recall, as we’ve discussed throughout this chapter. In theory, providing the correct cue would trigger the information to be remembered
what is decay
(sin of omission)
You might think that memories simply fade away due to the passage of time, which a memory researcher would call memory decay. A wealth of evidence suggests that decay can’t explain the vast majority of forgetting, however—much like how time alone isn’t what causes a mountain to erode (water, temperature, and other factors are what actually cause erosion, not the passage of time itself), time alone isn’t what causes memories to degrade
what is Retroactive interference
(sin of omission)
when newly learned information makes it more difficult to recall older information, and happens all day, every day. It isn’t time that causes forgetting, but instead the constant flow of new information that bombards us every minute
what is Proactive interference
(sin of omission)
happens when old information interferes with new information
what if interference isn’t to blame for the inability to recall information
In many cases, the problem lies not at retrieval (trying to figure which memory to recall), but at encoding (elaborating on the information in the first place).
(sin of omission)
what is absent-mindedness. (sin of omission)
Quite simply, absent-mindedness is when information is not encoded to begin with, whether due to attention or a failure to elaborately rehearse the information
what is blocking (sin of omission)
Blocking relates to whether the cues we have available are enough to help us remember a piece of information.
what are Errors of Commission
While errors of omission simply cause information to go unremembered, errors of commission are more insidious. Errors of commission allow for information to be remembered, but with pieces altered or missing
what is The first error of commission
misattribution
what is Misattribution
occurs when we incorrectly recall the source of the information we are trying to remember. These source errors range from the innocuous to the egregious. While many of us have experienced a friend, parent, or grandparent calling us by the name of another friend, sibling, or cousin instead of our own (a simple source error—the name doesn’t belong to us, the source), few of us have experienced misremembering big, important events in our lives…or have we
what is Déjà vu
French for “already seen”) is likely an example of a relatively simple source error. In the case of déjà vu, we simply can’t remember the source of the information, rather than misattribute it
what are flashbulb memories
A more impressive example of misattribution in action can occur in what are called flashbulb memories (named after the flashbulb on a camera). Flashbulb memories are memories for events that are both surprising and particularly significant. Examples of flashbulb memories throughout American history include events like the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
are flashbulb memories accurate
not really
what is the second error of commission
suggestibility
what is suggestibility
requires the information that is misremembered to have been suggested by an outside source.
what are the errors of commission
misattribution, suggestibility, bias, persistence
what is bias
Bias in remembering can take many forms, but one of the most common biases in remembering is caused by what are called memory schemas
what is Memory schemas
highly organized sets of facts and knowledge about specific kinds of information. Generally, schemas are actually highly useful for remembering, as they allow us to remember new information by fitting it into a set of knowledge that is already highly organized
example where they asked how fast the car was going when it “hit” or the it “smashed” and go different answers depending on which was used
what is persistence
Less common than the previous three sins of commission, sins of persistence occur when the memory system fails to prevent the recall of a memory that is unwanted (and typically negative or traumatic). In post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for example, people who have a traumatic experience (such as sexual assault, living through a wartime experience, or other threats on one’s life) often experience intrusive and disturbing thoughts and feelings that force them to think back to the original event(s). Stated differently, people who have PTSD often have memories that are difficult to suppress, despite conscious effort to do so
Fill in the blanks:
_______ are complex knowledge structures that help us put information in context. However, they often lead to __________
Schemas; over-generalization
Why does forgetting occur?
Forgetting not only helps us smooth over unpleasant events in our lives, but also helps us to keep in mind only information relevant to our present circumstances. Remembering too much can make it difficult to function in daily life, if the memories interfere with our activities. According to a woman with a condition known as hyperthymesia—an exceptionally rare medical condition that leads to near perfect autobiographical recall—this is exactly the case. For her, remembering everything is more of a curse than a blessing. The woman, “AJ” (real name Jill Price), says that she remembers every time her mother criticized her for her weight, every regret over the course of her life, and the day her husband died as clearly as if they had happened moments ago. Of course, she remembers happy moments too, but she describes her memory as being a “nonstop, uncontrollable, and automatic” force in her life
what is amnesia
Memory researchers refer to any memory loss due to physical damage or problems in the brain as amnesia
what two primary forms can amnesia come in
Retrograde and anterograde
what is Retrograde amnesia
the kind often portrayed in films and popular culture, when someone hits their head and forgets everything about themselves. With amnesia, the direction of forgetting is particularly important. In retrograde amnesia, some portion of the events prior to the incident which caused the amnesia to develop are lost, typically only temporarily (Cermak, 2014). In many cases, the only events that are lost are those leading directly up the event that caused the amnesia, which could be an accident or a blow to the head. However, sometimes the memory loss can be more severe, with patients losing access to months or even years of time. Luckily, most people who experience amnesia eventually recover
what is anterograde amnesia
is an inability to make new memories—information that occurs after the injury is lost and never encoded or stored. Unlike retrograde amnesia, anterograde amnesia only develops as a result of specific brain damage to the hippocampus. This kind of brain damage can occur in multiple ways, such as from a particularly nasty viral infection, the chronic abuse of alcohol over many years (Korsokoff syndrome), or as an unintended consequence of brain surgery, as was the case for a patient known as H.M. Often, patients who have anterograde amnesia have some degree of retrograde amnesia as well
What forms of amnesia did H. M. have?
both
Milner demonstrated that H.M. could remember a number for up to fifteen minutes by repeating it to himself constantly. This best demonstrates what
The ability of rehearsal to maintain information
According to the reading, what one-word response is NOT responsible for the sin of transience
time or decay
What physical attributes appear to explain hyperthymesia?
Additional connections between the amygdala and hippocampus
Frank is a former alcoholic who seems to have some kind of amnesia. What kind is he more likely to have
Anterograde amnesia
Hyperthymesia is primarily ____________
Near perfect autobiographical memory
