Cognition Chapter 6 (Learning And Forgetting) Flashcards
Definition of learning
The process of acquiring information for mental storage
It is always the development of a memory trace and mental representation (schema)
Why is simple rehearsal not sufficient for learning
People cannot describe simple things that has been presented to them like the logo of the Dutch railway system
(Superficial/shallow rehearsal) Looking at stuff is not good for learning
What is a elaborate rehearsal and how is it different from shallow rehearsal
Processing information with emotion and depth
The deeper you process information the better it will be stored (it is about meaning)
(Experiment with control, rhyming and sentence group)
Does the intention to learn make any difference
No it doesn’t. You can learn just as much if you are not intending to learn.
Having an intention can make you process stuff on a deeper level
In what cases are deeper levels of processing better and worse
If the question is about superficial features (capital letters) deep processing is not better
But generally brining meaning to the learnt stuff is better for long term memory storage
What are mnemonics and 5 big categories of it
They are techniques to enhance memory performance
- Chunking (making meaning to associations)
- Categorization (grouping words into familiar categories (hierachy))
- Method of loci (using visualisation and location)
- Interacting images (visualisation interacting images (between words)
- Pegword method (memorysing a rhyme)
What is the dual coding hypothesis
It says that visualising images or verbalizing them is better to memory
This works best for concrete words compared to abstract ones
Explain cue dependent memory
If a cue is present while learning, this cue will inflict a lot better recall when presenting it.
This is because of encoding specificity, which states that strenght of memory is defined how similar encoding and retrieval is
What is Context dependent memory
If there are similarities between external learning context people could retrieve words better in the same external context
What is state dependent memory
If you have an similar state (mood or level of alcohol) when retrieving to when you are learning you retrieve better
What is the spacing effect and its 2 principles
Information is learned better when learning periods are spread in time over couple of days (spaced learning) compared to one big study session (massed learning)
- Deficient processing says that there is less attention given to later information
- Variability in encoding says that in spaced learning there is more variability in how data is presented
6 points for Learning in sum
- Elaborated rehearsal helps to learn
- Add meaning and organization to information
- Encode information in different ways
- Retrieval from memory depends on cues
- Spaced learning
- TEST YOURSELF
Explain the forgetting curve
The longer the retention interval increase the less was remembered.
This can be fixed by the spacing effect (spaced repetition)
What are the two forms of interference
- Proactive interference (information from before disinhibits your learning now)
- Retroactive interference (information now disinhibits your remembering of information earlier)
What is decay and consolidation and the experiment with cockroaches
Cockroaches who had time together with others performed worse compared to cockroaches who were in consolidation in a memory test
(Because of interference in processing)
This also explains why sleeping after learning is better (after 2 hours sleep it stays as good than more)
