Cognition wk 5

Question 1

availability vs accessibility of memory

what are they

which counts as true forgetting

Answer 1

availability = is it still in the memory store?

accessibility = is it accessible for retrieval

both denote forgetting

Question 2

Factors that Discourage forgetting

Answer 2

• Better learning at the beginning
• Repeated attempts to retrieve (testing effect/generation effect)
• Effect of testing personal memories (Lenton 1975).
  found that even one single test of a memory in 5 years is enough to reduce dramatic decline of no testing.

Question 3

Jost’s law

Answer 3

When all else is equal, older memories are more durable and forgotten less rapidly than newer memories.

new memories are initially more vulnerable to disruption/distortion until they are consolidated

Question 4

Do we forget at a constant rate over time?

Who studied this

Answer 4

Ebbinghaus studied his own memory and discovered the Forgetting curve.

• the curve has a logarithmic relationship. (not a constant rate).
• Forgetting rapid initially
• Less additional forgetting at longer intervals

Question 5

superior autobiographical memory

Answer 5

• uncontrollable remembering
• feels like they relive the events
• remembering is automatic and effortless
• can’t forget unpleasant memories
• memories can be distracting

Question 6

Forgetting rate

Ebbinghaus found

Answer 6

• forgetting increases as time progresses, but rate of forgetting is different.

There was a forgetting curve.
- logarithmic rel between time and forgetting
- Forgetting rapid initially
- less additional forgetting at longer intervals

Question 7

experimental evidence for forgetting curve

Answer 7

• forgetting of public events follows principles
• Bahrick highschool grad study. recognition + match ups remained in tact. BUT recall name from picture cue was similar to Ebbinghaus curve
• Forgetting knowlege. foreign language model. rapid forgetting, then levels out after 2 years. same for both good and poor knowledge.

Question 8

consolidation vs reconsolidation

Answer 8

process that transforms new memories from a fragile state (can be disrupted) to a permanent state

reconsolidation:
process by which a reconsolidated memory restabilizes again after being reactivated by reminders

Question 9

causes of incidental forgetting

Answer 9

1. Trace decay- memories weaken due to passage of time
2. Context shifts- diff cues available now than encoding
3. Interference- similar memories hinder retrieval

Question 10

trace decay

Answer 10

memories gradually decay due to passage of time

Priming and familiarity especially prone to decay

How does decay affect memories?
either

• a memories associations fade while memory remains intact
  OR
• memory itelf and its elements degrade along with its activity level

Question 11

Trace decay: biological basis

Answer 11

synaptic neurons degrade and neurones die as time passes by. memories may fade in same way.

ALSO
the Opposite biological mechanism may explain decay (Frankland et al., 2013).

= Neurogenesis (growth of neurons - especially in hippocampus) means that structure is remodelled and its connections gradually modified. (happens at expense of already stored memories).

• Good fir new learning :)
• Bad for older memories retained in hippocampus

Question 12

why is it behaviourally so difficult to measure trace decay

Answer 12

2 factors that can’t be controlled

• rehearsal
• Interference from new experiences

Question 13

correlate of time:
Contextual fluctuation

Answer 13

how similar encoding context is to retrieval context.

incidental context differs more between retrieval and encoding over time

incidental context is less similar to remote paste than recent past

Question 14

correlate of time

interference

Answer 14

• similar memories accumulate more over time
• whenever the cue that can be used to access a memory becomes associated with other memories

Question 15

Competition Assumption of interference

Answer 15

Memories associated to a shared cue
automatically impede retrieval when the cue is presented.
▪ A cue activates all associates (more or less).
▪ The activated associates compete for access to consciousness.
▪ Competitors hinder access to target memory.
▪ Interference occurs due to the negative effect of having competitors.
▪ It increases with the number of competitors a target memory has.

Question 16

part-set cueing example

Answer 16

tendancy of recall to be impaired by the provision of retrieval cues drawn from the same category of items in memory.

providing similar cues strengthens their association to the cue.
competition for non - cues increases + memory worsens.

impairment may be more severe with increased number of cues

e.g. looking for colleagues name, someone tries helping by saying Gary, Bob, Ted
these extra cues are part-set cues

part set cues are strengthened, thus weakening target memory

Question 17

Retrieval induced forgetting

Answer 17

Selective/partial retrieval can harm recall of other
memories related to the retrieved item
▪ Compared to baseline items for which no related items had
been retrieved

▪ Selective retrieval may contribute to more severe forgetting
for information that is not practiced/retrieved

Question 18

RIF (retrieval induced forgetting) implications

Answer 18

• retrieval is beneficial

BUT

selective strenghtning may lead to diminished benefits as it causes forgetting of other related things

Question 19

2 possible mechanisms of interference

Answer 19

Associative blocking: cue elicits a stronger competitor, so cue fails to elicit target trace.

Associative unlearning: associative bond linking a stimulus to a memory trace is punished by weakening it after being retrieved in error.
e.g. want to retrieve A but retrieve X. so X is punished and unlearned.

however, difficult to demonstrate empirically

Question 20

Functional account of forgetting

Answer 20

• we forget in order to deminish competition in our mind.
• things we rehearse less often we don’t need in our mind.
• facilitates daily functioning, serves our goal directed behaviour and decision making thinking

promotes flexibility, increases cognitive efficiency