Chapter 8: Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

-process that allows us to record and retrieve experiences and information

Question 2

Information Processing

Answer 2

-memory encodes, stores, and retrieves information

Question 3

Sensory Memory

Answer 3

-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

Question 4

Short Term / Working Memory

Answer 4

-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

Question 5

Chunking

Answer 5

-combining individual stuff into larger units of memory

Question 6

Maintenance Rehearsal

Answer 6

-simple repetition of information

Question 7

Elaborative Rehearsal

Answer 7

• focusing on the meaning of information and relating it to pre-existing knowledge

Question 8

4 Components of Working Memory

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Long Term Memory

Answer 9

-vast library of durable stored memories
-Serial Position Effect: recalling information that is influenced by a word’s position
-Primacy Effect and Recency Effect

Question 10

Types of Long Term Memory

Answer 10

-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

Question 11

Encoding

Answer 11

-entering information

Question 12

Effortful Processing

Answer 12

-intentional information process that requires conscious effort

Question 13

Automatic Processing

Answer 13

-requires minimal attention

Question 14

Levels of Processing

Answer 14

-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

Question 15

Organization and Imagery

Answer 15

-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

Question 16

Dual Coding Theory

Answer 16

-encoding info with both codes enhances memory

Question 17

Schema

Answer 17

-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

Question 18

Associative Network

Answer 18

• a massive network of associated ideas and concepts

Question 19

Priming

Answer 19

-activation of one concept thanks to another (fire truck primes red)

Question 20

Neutral Network

Answer 20

-each concept is represented by a pattern/set of nodes

Question 21

Retrieval

Answer 21

-memories are accessed

Question 22

Retrieval Cue

Answer 22

• a stimulus to retrieve a memory, multiple that work together work best

Question 23

Flashbulb Memories

Answer 23

-recollections are so vivid and clear
-accuracy of memories fade over time

Question 24

Encoding Specificity Principle

Answer 24

-memory is enhanced when retrieval conditions are similar to encoding conditions

Question 25

Context Dependent Memory

Answer 25

-it’s easier to remember something in the same environment it was acquired in

Question 26

State Dependent Memory

Answer 26

-easier when our internal states are the same
does not extend to mood

Question 27

Mood Congruent Recall

Answer 27

-tendency to recall events that match our mood

Question 28

Encoding Failure

Answer 28

-information was never encoded into long term memory

Question 29

Decay Theory

Answer 29

-with time and dis-use, memory fades

Question 30

Reminiscence

Answer 30

-more material is recalled during second thinking than first

Question 31

Interference Theory

Answer 31

-other items in long-term memory impair our ability to retrieve a specific one

Question 32

Proactive Interference

Answer 32

-past interferes with learning new material

Question 33

Retroactive Interference

Answer 33

-present interferes with remembering old stuff

Question 34

Motivated Forgetting

Answer 34

-repression that protects us from remembering bad memories

Question 35

Amnesia

Answer 35

-partial or total loss of memory

Question 36

Dementia

Answer 36

-impaired memory as the brain degenerates

Question 37

Alzheimer’s

Answer 37

-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

Question 38

Prospective Memory

Answer 38

-concerns remembering to do something later

Question 39

Misinformation Effect

Answer 39

-distortion of a memory by misleading post-event information

Question 40

Source Confusion

Answer 40

remembering something familiar, but not knowing where it is from

Question 41

Engram

Answer 41

-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

Question 42

Thalamus

Answer 42

-brain’s major sensory relay station, damage to this causes amnesia

Question 43

Amygdala

Answer 43

-encodes emotional arousal and disturbing events

Question 44

Cerebellum

Answer 44

-forms procedural memories

Question 45

How is Memory Formed?

Answer 45

-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