Cognition Flashcards
Describe the different areas that make up sensory memory.
Iconic (visual) and Echoic (Auditory senses)
- Visual (what is seen), Accoustic (what is heard), Semantic (meaning of things), tactile (what is felt psychically), olfactory (what is smelt), gustatory (what is tasted).
Describe the difference between procedural, episodic, and semantic memory.
All forms of Long Term Memory
- Procedural: unconscious memory about how to perform different actions
- Episodic: Memory about events involving personal experiences, about the context and state you were in.
- Semantic: General knowledge and facts about the world. Stored without the information about where or when you remembered them.
Research has determined that culture helps shape memory. Describe two examples of how culture influences what is remembered and how it is learned.
- Examples could include Aboriginal history being passed verbally through dreamtime stories, or European history being written and passed on through writing. Could also discuss how different ‘sides’ will pass on their own version of events (eg German history tells war events differently).
Describe how mnemonic strategies can be used to improve memory.
Any strategy or learning technique that aids in information retention or retrieval.
- Linked to elaborative encoding eg: BEDMAS for remember order of operations, DRSABCD for First Aid response etc.
How is memory different from learning?
Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge, where memory is the process of recording, storing and retrieving the information.
Learning allows for concepts to be applied to different contexts where memory is pure facts.
Learning occurs slowly, has long term retention, utilized in practical applications.
memory occurs quicky, short of long term retention, expressed or regurgitated.
Name and describe the three stages of memory
- Encoding, storage and retrieval
- Encoding: Information coming in is converted into a form that the brain can accept and use
- Storage: Information is stored in the brain, generally in a system that is categorised like a library
- Retrieval: Process of locating and recalling information stored in memory so that we are consciously aware of it. Involves both recall and recognition.
You have just started working at a local McDonalds. On your first day you are introduced to 15 other employees, one after the other. Explain, using appropriate psychological terms, which names you are likely to remember and why.
You are most likely to remember the first 2-4 and the last 2-4 names you are provided due to the serial position effect. Primacy effect describes that the first names you hear may have enough time to be moved into Long Term Memory so you are more likely to remember them. The brain also places more importance on remembering the first information in a situation. The last names on the list are better able to be recalled ude to the recency effect. They are still likely in Short Term Memory which has a capacity of 7 + or- 2 pieces of information.
Describe the process of ‘chunking’ and how it is used in memory.
Clustering of smaller bits of information into larger, more meaningful chunks so that more information can be stored in Short term memory at once.
What is the definition of memory?
- The process of recording, storing, and retrieving information.
What are the differences between memory recall and recognition?
- Both are part of the process of retrieval.
- Recall is when information is retrieved from memory with little to no cues
- Recognition is when you are able to correctly identify or select previously learned information from a set of alternatives.
How is maintenance rehearsal different from elaborative rehearsal?
Maintenance rehearsal: Repeating information over and over without adding new meaning e.g. repeating a phone number
- Elaborative rehearsal: Reorganizing new and existing information in a meaningful way to aid retrieval e.g learning definitions before a test using cue cards.
What is the capacity of short term memory compared to long term memory?
- Short Term: 7 + or –
- Long Term: limitless capacity
Explain the concept of Serial Position Effect.
You area more likely to recall information at the beginning of a list due to the primacy effect. There has been enough time to move them into Long Term Memory. The items at the end of the list are also likely to be higher than others due to the recency effect. They are still in short term memory.
Fill in an Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of memory.
Sensory memory - A
Short-term memory - D
Rehearsal loop - C
Long-term memory - B
what is cognition
mental processes associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating.
what are concepts
they act as mental filing cabinets where ideas are stores. they can be emotions, objects, people.
what are the two types of concepts and what are they
formal concepts: have clearly defined characteristics and agreed upon rules governing what is included in that concept. e.g. triangles, elements, animals
natural concepts: do not have clearly defined characteristics no agreed upon rules of what is included in the concept. e.g. chair, mum, anger.
what are prototypes
a mental image or best example of a concept. has all of the most typical features of an item within a concept.
what are exemplars
any example of an item within an overarching concept. robins, blue jays, penguins, for bird.
what is memory
the ability to take in information, store it and recall it later.
what is the modal model of memory
a model that proposed that memory consists of three stores- sensory, short term, memory and long-term memory.
what is the capacity, duration and function of memory
capacity: how much information can be stored
duration: how long information can be stored for
function: what is done with this stored information
