Chapter 8: Memory Flashcards
Memory
-process that allows us to record and retrieve experiences and information
Information Processing
-memory encodes, stores, and retrieves information
Sensory Memory
-holds incoming sensory information for long enough so that it can be recognized
-visual sensory is processed in the iconic store, auditory in the echoic store
Short Term / Working Memory
-holds conscious memory, a mental workplace
actively processes, codes, and works on information
most people hold from 5-9 meaningful items in short-term memory
Chunking
-combining individual stuff into larger units of memory
Maintenance Rehearsal
-simple repetition of information
Elaborative Rehearsal
- focusing on the meaning of information and relating it to pre-existing knowledge
4 Components of Working Memory
1: Auditory Working Memory (repeating information to myself)
#2: Visual Spatial: temporary storage of image information
#3: Episodic Buffer: temporary storage space where info is also processed
#4: Central Executive: decides how much to allocate to mental imagery and auditory rehearsal
Long Term Memory
-vast library of durable stored memories
-Serial Position Effect: recalling information that is influenced by a word’s position
-Primacy Effect and Recency Effect
Types of Long Term Memory
-Declarative: involves factual knowledge
-Episodic Memory: concerning personal experience
-Semantic Memory: about the world, language
-Procedural: memory reflected in skills and actions
-Explicit: conscious and intentional memory retrieval
-Implicit: memory influences our behaviour without us knowing
Encoding
-entering information
Effortful Processing
-intentional information process that requires conscious effort
Automatic Processing
-requires minimal attention
Levels of Processing
-Structural encoding: based on structure
-Phonological encoding: based on sound
-Semantic encoding: based on meaning
-the more deeply we process information, the better it is remembered
-semantic encoding is the most meaningful
Organization and Imagery
-chunking hierarchies uses associations between concepts to widen capacity
-mnemonic devices help improve memory (ex. acronym)
-long-term memory is stored either by verbal or non-verbal codes
Dual Coding Theory
-encoding info with both codes enhances memory
Schema
-a mental framework of organized patterns of thought
-memory is like a network, it is enhanced by rehearsal, and by forming associations between old memories and new information
Associative Network
- a massive network of associated ideas and concepts
Priming
-activation of one concept thanks to another (fire truck primes red)
Neutral Network
-each concept is represented by a pattern/set of nodes
Retrieval
-memories are accessed
Retrieval Cue
- a stimulus to retrieve a memory, multiple that work together work best
Flashbulb Memories
-recollections are so vivid and clear
-accuracy of memories fade over time
Encoding Specificity Principle
-memory is enhanced when retrieval conditions are similar to encoding conditions
Context Dependent Memory
-it’s easier to remember something in the same environment it was acquired in
State Dependent Memory
-easier when our internal states are the same
does not extend to mood
Mood Congruent Recall
-tendency to recall events that match our mood
Encoding Failure
-information was never encoded into long term memory
Decay Theory
-with time and dis-use, memory fades
Reminiscence
-more material is recalled during second thinking than first
Interference Theory
-other items in long-term memory impair our ability to retrieve a specific one
Proactive Interference
-past interferes with learning new material
Retroactive Interference
-present interferes with remembering old stuff
Motivated Forgetting
-repression that protects us from remembering bad memories
Amnesia
-partial or total loss of memory
Dementia
-impaired memory as the brain degenerates
Alzheimer’s
-abnormal amounts of plaques and tangles that hinder memory
-Plaques: clumps of protein fragments that build up outside neurons
-Tangles: fibers get twisted and wound together
Prospective Memory
-concerns remembering to do something later
Misinformation Effect
-distortion of a memory by misleading post-event information
Source Confusion
remembering something familiar, but not knowing where it is from
Engram
-the physical memory trace that is stored somewhere in the brain when a memory is formed
-memories are formed in the Hippocampus and Cerebral Cortex
-Hippocampus and adjacent tissue help encode and retrieve long term memories, and change short-term into long-term (memory consolidation)
-Cortex encodes information from sensory registers
Thalamus
-brain’s major sensory relay station, damage to this causes amnesia
Amygdala
-encodes emotional arousal and disturbing events
Cerebellum
-forms procedural memories
How is Memory Formed?
-synaptic changes is the basis of memory formation
-Long-Term Potentiation: enduring increase of synaptic strength, occurs in the hippocampus where neurons send and receive messages
-glutamate is the most abundant neurotransmitter in the brain
