CogPsych Exam 2 Flashcards
what is memory
the processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information when the original information is no longer present
all other cognitive functions _____
depend on memory
the modal model of memory
sensory, short term, and long term
sensory memory capacity
holds information for 200ms, very large capacity
two types of sensory memory
visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic)
if we don’t attend to this type of memory, we forget it
sensory memory
short term memory capacity
holds information for 15-20 seconds, 5-7 items
long term memory capacity
holds an infinite amount of information for an indefinite period of time (anything over 20 seconds)
which type of memory is constantly being overwritten by new information
sensory
proactive interference
previously learned information interferes with learning new information
short term memory “decay” is actually due to
proactive interference
retroactive interference
new learning interferes with remembering old learning
short term memory is better with
numbers > letters > words
chunking
small units of information that can be combined into larger, more meaningful units
working/baddeley’s model of memory
a type of short term memory between long term and short term
parts of working memory
phonological loop, central executive center, episodic buffer, and visuospatial sketchpad
central executive center function
focuses, switches, and divides attention between the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad; suppresses irrelevant information
episodic buffer function
holds information longer than the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad (communicates with LTM and WM)
phonological loop function
short term memory for verbal and auditory info (including written)
visuospatial sketchpad function
short term memory for visual info
murdock serial position curve
explains how our memory is affected by the position of information in a sequence (i.e primacy and recency effect)
primacy effect
we tend to remember information we heard first better (they get more time for rehearsal)
recency effect
we tend to remember information we heard last better (they are just more recent)
____ is encoded into our long term memory
meaning
damage to the hippocampus means people cannot form
long term memories
there is a double dissociation between
hippocampus and LTM and parietal and STM
episodic memory
personally experienced events
semantic memory
basic facts and knowledge
damaged hippocampus means
no episodic memory
damaged encephalitis
no semantic memory
semanticization
the process by which episodic memory slowly becomes semantic
explicit memory
conscious memory where we KNOW we are remembering something (aka declarative memory)
implicit memory
unconscious memory, we DON’T REALIZE memory is influencing our actions (aka nondeclarative memory)
explicit memory tasks
recall (people remember as much as possible w/o help) and recognition (people decide if prompts are old/new)
types of implicit memory
procedural, priming, and classical conditioning
types of explicit memory
episodic, semantic
deep encoding has an impact on
episodic memory more, not semantic
mere exposure effect
people like things that they see more (leads to the propaganda effect)
encoding
transferring info from working memory to long term memory
maintenance rehearsal
repeating something over and over to keep it in short term memory
elaborative rehearsal
memory rehearsal that transfers info from short term to long term
retrieval
transferring info from long term memory to working memory
shallow processing
focus on physical features, leads to poor memory
deep processing
focuses on meaning and actual comprehension
forms of deep encoding
visual imagery, self reference effect, organization (and generating information)
forms of elaborative rehearsal
organizing information (minimizes the effect of proactive and retroactive interference)
retrieval cues
make it easier to pull things from long term memory
transfer appropriate processing
studying in the same way you will be tested = better retrieval
consolidation happens in
long term memory
synaptic consolidation
happens QUICKLY at the synapses
systems consolidation
happens slowly over months/years
steps to system consolidation
1) strong interaction between hippocampus & other parts of cortex
2) reactivation; interactions are replayed
3) interconnections between the cortex areas grow, hippocampus no longer needed
retrograde amnesia
supports the idea of consolidation; things that happened far before an accident are remembered better than right before it (see GRADED AMNESIA)
are memories permanent
not really, they consolidate over long periods of time but retrieving them makes them fragile and vulnerable to being altered
episodic memory is
constructed; we make inferences about what happened as we remember
metacognition
thinking about thinking; judgements about your own memory
autobiographical memories have
more/better dimension
reminiscence bump
between the ages of ~10-30, people produce the most memories during free recall tasks (most likely because they are tied to identity)
well remembered events tend to have
emotional meaning
flashbulb memories
memories of traumatic events; CAN be changed and are NOT necessarily accurate
cryptoamnesia
not recognizing the return of an old memory as a memory, but instead regarding it as a new or original thought or idea (leads to unintentional plagiarism)
source monitoring errors/source confusion
how errors in memory appear, people forget where information they heard came from
pragmatic inferences
thinking something happened based on past experiences; “filling in the blanks”
misinformation effect
misleading information presented after witnessing an event can change later recall (MPI- misleading post event info)
false memories
people can believe fake memories happened (esp if theres a photo)
errors in eyewitness testimony
can be prevented by not having the perp in the lineup, showing photographs, and include fillers in the lineup
errors due to attention
weapon focus (dont look at the perpetrator and instead focus on the gun)
errors due to suggestion
suggestive questioning and confirming feedback
inattentional blindness and change blindness
not knowing a change or something obvious because of a lack of attention (gorilla basketball)
inattentional blindness and change blindness suggest
selective attention; we are not aware of what we don’t attend to
necessary
a is necessary for b if b cannot occur without a
sufficient
a is not sufficient for b if a doesn’t guarantee b
it is widely believed that attention is _____ for stimulus awareness
necessary but not sufficient
cognitive control
the ability to voluntarily switch a response to a stimuli
jacoby’s process dissociation procedure
all memory has both conscious and unconscious aspects; nothing is process pure
jacoby’s findings
unconscious memory exists and is not controllable, cognitive control could be a correlate of consciousness
jacoby’s equation
inclusion - exclusion = conscious memory
