Chapter Seven - LTM (Encoding, Retrieval, Consolidation) Flashcards
What is encoding?
- process of acquiring info
- transforming it into LTM
What is retrieval?
-transferring info from LTM to WM
What are 2 ways of getting info into LTM?
- maintenance rehearsal
2. elaborative rehearsal
What is maintenance rehearsal?
- repetition of stimuli that maintains info
- does not transfer it to LTM
What is elaborative rehearsal?
- using meanings + connections
- results in better memory than maintenance rehearsal
What is the levels of processing theory?
-memory depends on how info is encoded
Memory depends on the _____ of processing
depth
3 characteristics of shallow processing
- little attention to meaning
- focus on physical features
- poor memory
2 characteristics of deep processing
- close attention to meaning
2. better memory
What were the 3 types of questions in the Craik + Tulving experiment?
- physical features of word (shallow)
- rhyming
- fill-in-the-blanks (deep)
What is a problem with the levels of processing theory?
- depth of processing has not been defined independently of memory performance
- circular reasoning
What is visual imagery?
- “images” in the head
- can connect words visually
What is the basis of paired-associate learning?
- list of word pairs presented
- first word of each pair presented
What was the design and results of the paired-associate learning experiment?
Group A: repeat pairs
Group B: form mental picture of 2 items interacting
-Group B remembered twice as much as Group A
What is the self reference effect?
-memory is better if asked to link words to yourself
What is the generation effect?
-generating material yourself, rather than passively receiving it, enhances learning
What is a retrieval cue?
-a word/other stimulus that helps a person remember information
What did Bransford + Johnson find?
- if organization helps memory
- preventing it should reduce the ability to remember
What was Bransford + Johnson’s experiment?
- presented participants with difficult-to-comprehend info
- Group 1 first saw picture (help explain info)
- Group 2 saw pic after reading passage
- Control: no pic
What was the result of Bransford + Johnson’s experiment?
- group 1 (picture before) outperformed other groups
- mental framework of comprehension aided memory encoding + retrieval
What is the testing effect?
enhanced performance due to retrieval practice
-methods that increase richness of representation sin memory by providing _________ between material to be remembered and other material in memory aid encoding
connections
What must happen to material that has been encoded before it can be used?
-retrieved
What is retrieval?
-process of transferring info from LTM back into WM
Most of our failures of memory are ______
failures to retrieve
What are retrieval cues?
stimuli that help us remember information stored in our memory
What are 2 types of recall procedures?
- free recall
- cued-recall
What is free recall?
-subjects simply asked to recall stimuli
What is cued-recall?
cue presented to aid recall of previously experienced stimuli (increased performance)
According to Mantyla (1986), retrieval cues are most effective when created by ______
person who uses them
EX: banana experiment
How can retrieval be increased?
-by matching conditions at retrieval to conditions that existed at encoding
What are 3 different ways to achieve matching between retrieval + encoding conditions?
- encoding specificity
- state-dependent learning
- transfer-appropriate processing
What is encoding specificity?
matching context in which encoding and retrieval occur
What is state-dependent learning?
matching internal mood present during encoding and retrieval
What is is transfer-appropriate processing?
matching the task involved in encoding + retrieval
What was the “diving experiment?”
two learning conditions:
- underwater
- on land
two testing conditions:
- underwater
- on land
What were the results of the diving experiment?
best recall when encoding + retrieval occurred at the same location
What was the noisy/quiet learning experiment?
two learning conditions:
- headphones
- quiet
two testing conditions:
- wearing headphones
- quiet
What was the result of the noisy/quiet learning experiment?
best recall when test condition matched the study condition
What is state dependent learning?
when learning is associated with particular internal state
What is the happy/sad learning experiment?
two learning conditions:
- pos thoughts + merry music
- neg thoughts + sad music
two testing conditions
What is transfer-appropriate processing?
-phenomenon whereby results of memory task will be better if type of processing used during encoding is same as type during retrieval
What were the two encoding conditions of Morris’s transfer appropriate processing task?
- meaning: answered based on meaning of word
2. rhyming: answered based on sound of word
What does the levels of processing theory predict about the transfer appropriate processing task?
- predict that meaning group should’ve gotten higher recall
- thinking about meaning results in deeper relations
What were the results of Morris’s transfer appropriate processing task?
- rhyming group performed better
- deeper processing at encoding does not always result in better retrieval
What is consolidation?
-process that transforms new memories from a fragile state to a more permanent state
What happens to synapses during recall?
-synapses cause NT to be released on to the next neuron
What are 2 types of consolidation?
- synaptic consolidation
2. systems consolidation
What is synaptic consolidation?
-occurs at synapses, happens rapidly
What is systems consolidation?
-involves gradual reorganization of circuits in brain
What did Hebb find about information storage at the synapse?
- learning + memory represented in brain by physiological changes at synapse
- neural record of experience
How can repeated activity strengthen the synapse?
by causing
- structural changes
- greater transmitter release
- increased firing
What is long term potentiation?
- enhanced firing of neurons after repeated stimulation
- structural changes + enhanced responding
What are neural records of experience?
-changes that occur in hundreds/thousands of synapses that are activated around the same time by a particular experience
What are the 5 steps of the standard model of consolidation?
1a. incoming info activates number of areas in cortex
1b. cortex communicates with hippocampus
1c. hippocampus coordinates communication between different regions in cortex
2. reactivation
3. form direct connections between various cortical areas
What is reactivation?
hippocampus replays neural activity associated with memory
Retrieval depends on the ______.
hippocampus
retrograde amnesia
loss of memory for events prior to trauma
graded amnesia
memory for recent events more fragile than for remote events
What does the standard model say about graded amnesia?
-gradual decrease corresponds to changes in connections between hippocampus and cortical areas
What is the hippocampus’s overall role in the standard model?
- strongly active when memories first formed
- less involved during consolidation
What is the brain processes for remote memories?
-connection between cortical areas are sufficient (no necessary for hippocampus)
What is the multiple trace hypothesis?
-questions assumption that hippocampus is important only at beginning of consolidation
How has the hippocampus been show to be activated during retrieval of both recent/remote memories?
- subjects saw pics of themselves
- some recently, some past
- hippocampus active during both conditions
response of hippocampus can change ______
over time
How can the response of the hippocampus change over time?
- hippocampus remains involved in retrieval of episodic memories
- not in semantic memory
When is reactivation particularly strong? Why?
- during sleep
- elimination of environmental stimuli
- consolidation enhanced during sleep
What was Wilehm’s experiment showing that some memories more likely to be consolidated than others?
-2 groups learned task
Group A: tested on this task
Group B: tested on different task
Both groups: sleep
What did Wilehm’s experiment show?
-group A showed better memory for task
What happens in terms of consolidation during sleep?
-selectively consolidate memories for things that might be most useful to remember
Are memories permanent?
- we update memories
- constantly learning new things/modifying info stored
When a memory is retrieved it becomes ____
fragile
What happens when a memory is fragile
- needs to be consolidated again
- reconsolidation
- updates can take place during this process
What was Nader et. al’s experiment?
-antibiotic that prevents changes at synapses responsible for formation of new memroy
What was Hupbach’s experiment?
- 3 day experiment
- “reminder group” no “reminder”
What is a practical outcome of reconsolidation?
possible treatment of PTST
what are 2 methods of improving learning + memory?
- elaborate
- generate and test