COGS 101B Final Flashcards
Types of knowledge/LTM
Semantic Memory Episodic Memory Procedural and declarative memory Implicit and explicit memory
Semantic memory
memory for categorical, factual information
Three Primary Characteristics of semantic memory:
- organized by CONTENT. Similar concepts are more likely to cue one another through association [lexical decision task] 2. it allows us to make INFERENCES. There appears to be a logical, hierarchical order to the categories. 3. Information is not tied to a single instance. Semantic info GENERALIZES beyond a single episode
Semantic memory is organized by ________
content
Semantic memory allows us to make _________
inferences
Semantic information ______ tied to a single instance. It ______ beyond a single episode
is not generalizes
One way of testing semantic information is using _______
Lexical decision task
Lexical decision task (Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971)
It is used to test ________
A string of letters is presented (e.g. PRINTER or PROGER) and you judge if it is a word or a non-word
The letter string is PRECEDED by a related or unrelated word
Related primes (e.g. nurse–> DOCTOR) were FASTER than unrelated primes (e.g. butter–> DOCTOR)
This is one way of testing semantic info
What does the speed of retrieval (for related and unrelated primes) say about the internal structure of memory?
Suggests a possible structure to LTM
Collins & Quillian (1969) proposed a _______ model of LTM. This model contains nodes and ____
Hierarchical model nodes and links
Hierarchical model of LTM contains these two elements
nodes and links
Nodes (in the hierarchical model)
concepts or ideas (e.g. bird, animal)
Links (in the hierarchical model)
are labeled (“is-a” or “has-part”) and directed. subordinate categories point to superordinate categories
_____ help verify inferences in the hierarchical network
Activation Tags
Three problems with the hierarchical model
- typicality effect 2. violations of the hierarchical order 3. How do you respond with “false”?
typicality effect
A problem of the hierarchical model people verify typical instances of a category faster than atypical examples
How can we fix the problem of the typicality effect?
Some links need to be stronger than others
Violations of the hierarchical order
A problem of the hierarchical model some activation seem to go around the hierarchical order We need to add a link, but this violates the hierarchy
“is a canary a bird?” is faster than “is a canary an animal?”
“is a penguin a bird?” is slower than “is a penguin an animal?”
How do you respond with “false” (in the hierarchical model)
a problem of the hierarchical model speed to respond “false” should only depend on “is-a” and “has-part” links. However, people also seem to consider similarities. is a bat a bird? gets a slower false response is a bat a plant? gets a faster false response how related the nodes are determine how fast we can make the distinction
Relatedness effect
If two nodes are more related to each other, it takes longer to compare them is a bat a bird? they are similar so we compare them where as is a at a plant? they are not similar at all so theres nothing to consider.
–fan effect
Episodic Memory
Detailed information for specific autobiographical events (things that happened to you)
Episodic memories are _______ organized
temporally “mental time travel”
In episodic memory there is an association between the memory and ______
its source
Amnesia
a loss of memory function
Amnesia is characterized by these four symptoms:
CAR crash = amsesia 1. Confabulation 2. Antereograde 3. Retrograde 4. other intellectual functions remain in tact
Anterograde Amnesia
New info cant be learned episodic + semantic HM was an example
Retrograde Amnesia
Old episodic memories cannot be retrieved and are patchy “TV amnesia”
Confabulation (in relation to amnesia) occurs _____
around time of injury
Both episodic and semantic memory are effected
Evidence from amnesia, as shown in Korsakoff’s Syndrome, shows that ______ memory and _____ memory work together.
Amnesia in Korsakoff’s syndrome shows that episodic and semantic memory work together
episodic memory builds semantic networks
In Korsakoff’s declarative mem declines (which encompasses episodic and semantic)
Korsakoff’s syndrome
marked by severe anterograde amnesia usually retrograde amnesia as well, but it is temporally graded. Patients have greater deficits for more recent events and faces -older memories are preserved better due to the effects of alcohol on encoding and storing those memories -both episodic and semantic info are affected
Korsakoff’s syndrome is marked by _______ amnesia and usually ________ amnesia as well, but it is _______ graded.
Anterograde Retrograde temporally
Based on some neuropsychological evidence in _________ amnesia patients, there may be a double dissociation for ________ and ______ memory.
retrograde episodic and semantic memory
how is semantic memory strengthened?
by repetition
Episodic memory may build up and ______ over time in early childhood to give you a base for _______
generalize semantic memory
Once you have some semantic memory established, ________ _________ will be stronger when they are more novel or unusual
episodic memory
Declarative Memory
knowing that something is true knowing what you had for dinner last night (episodic) knowing whether or not it was nutritious (semantic)
Procedural memory
Knowing how to do something hard to verbalize, easy to do
What kind of amnesia did HM have?
Anterograde amnesia for declarative knowledge (both episodic and semantic)
HM and mirror tracing tests
as with normal controls, HM imporved over time, however he had no memory of having done the task before
HM and the mirror tracing task demonstrates a difference in _____ and _____ memory
declarative and procedural memory
Explicit memory
conscious awareness of an event or meaning
implicit memory
change in performace without conscious awareness of the cause (think latent learning) –may be a skill, not always –classical conditioning –priming may activate a word meaning without awareness
How can you test implicit vs explicit memory?
repetition priming test
Repetition priming
Presented a list of words twice and then tested subjects for recall (explicit) or word completion (implicit).
- At test, asked to recall a word that started “mar—-” or fill-in “mar___” with the first letters that come to mind.
- Subjects were amnesic patients and two groups of control patients.
- Amnesic patients did worse on the recall test, but equally well on the implicit memory task
shows that _implicit and explicit memory are separate _
propaganda effect
People are more likely to rate statements as being true if they have read them before statements are more likely to be believed even if they were stipulated as false on the first representation
the propaganda effect targets ______ memory
implicit because people will rate the statement as more likely true even if they don’t remember seeing it or hearing it before
We need models of memory to ______
make testable predictions
Adaptive control of thought (ACT) theory
information is discrete and modular based on hierarchical model of memory built as computational/symbolic model (including software), but more recently includes data from cognitive neuroscience The representation of declarative memory includes episodic and semantic elements
Parallel distributed processing (PDP) model
information is distributed and has more plasticity
Each model (ACT and PDP) has its own form of _______ _________ and ________ of those representations
own form of mental representations and processing
ACT- spreading activation
PDP- changing strengths between excitatory/inhibitory links between units
the basic representational unit of the ACT model is
proposition [originally chunks] has two elements: nodes and links
How does processing occur in the ACT model
through spreading activation
Propositions encode _______
declarative facts
The _____ model requires a type-token distinction
ACT
A type-token distinction is between ______ memory and _______memory
semantic and episodic memory
Propositions must have two elements:
Nodes and links links: semantic association between nodes (agent, relation, or object)
Both semantic and episodic memories are part of the ACT model. This requires ________
type-token distinction
type= semantic
token= specific instance (episodic)
Type (in ACT model) a type is ______memory
a general concept (node) or class of objects semantic
a token is a _____________ memory
specific instance of a type episodic
Processing in the ACT model is done through
spreading activation
In the ACT model, nodes with the most activation are made available in ______
working memory
In the ACT model, activation spreads along the links, with ____ passing more activation
stronger links
To test the ACT model, you can look at
the speed at which propositions are verified priming words spread activation to related nodes and decreased reaction times faster RTs to things you have seen before
What are the propositions in this statement: Sally thinks her neighbor, Bob, is left handed (Bob is actually right handed)
- bob is left handed 2. sally thinks bob is left handed 3. bob is sally’s neighbor each of these statements can be falsified
How many nodes does the following statement contain? Sally thinks her neighbor, Bob, is left handed.
Five sally thinks neighbor bob left-handed
The ACT model assumes that more activation of associated nodes will lead to _______ _______
stronger links
The amount of activation leaving a node is _______ by all the links exiting that node
divided
More links should lead to a _______ of activation, leading to _______ reaction times
dispersion of activation slower reaction times
Fan effect
it takes longer to recognize sentences that include concepts included in many other sentences. (the more distractors you learn, the slower you are to retrieve the right information)
In the ACT model, memories are stored at ________
propositions
In the ACT model, when a concept is activated in working memory, _____________ is sent to associated concepts via the links. The more activation over time, the stronger the link becomes.
spreading activation
In the ACT model, _______ in a current situation is determined by historical activation patterns
relevance
In the ACT model, _______________ is reduced because not all details will be activated equally and _______ is limited
computational complexity is reduced working memory is limited
Proposition
A statement that can be falsified
Parallel distributed processing (PDP)
Neurologically inspired and presumes that meaning is distributed over layers of many units
–adding a concept in ACT adds a local node; adding a concept in PDP changes a network of existing units
–processing is accomplished by changing the strengths of excitatory and inhibitory (valence) links between units)
Wells & Bradfield (1998) showed how eyewitness testimony can be affected by feedback.
This is known as the ________________ effect
Subjects watched a video of an actual crime.
- They pick out a suspect from a set of photos, though the actual criminal is not present.
- Feedback given is either confirming or disconfirming.
- Subjects had higher confidence in their choice if given confirming feedback.
- This is the post-identification feedback effect.
Post-identification feedback effect
Subjects had higher confidence in their choice if given confirming feedback
Stanny & Johnson (2000) looked at the role of an __________ stimulus (gunshot) on memory
Emotional stimulus
Participants watched a video of simulated crime.
- A gun was always present. In half of the cases the gun was fired (“shoot”), in the other half it was not (“no shoot”).
- Memory for detail was significantly worse if the gun was fired.
- It is thought that the s_trong exogenous cue causes an emotional reaction that interferes with attention and encoding._
- Note: the participants were full-time police officers.
An eyewitness can sometimes musidentify a suspect based on _____. This is a _____________ error in which a recent or familiar person is recalled instead of the actual suspect.
familiarity
this is a source monitoring error
Participants watched a video with a female or male teacher. They then saw a video where the female teacher is robbed. They are asked to identify the robber.
- If the robber was not in the photos, the male teacher was identified 60% of the time. If the robber was present, the male teacher was identified 18% of the time
- This familiarity effect is a source monitoring error
Talarico & Rubin (2003) compared a ______ memory with an ______ memory from the same time period
flashbulb vs ordinary mem
Subjects were asked to recall details of their experience immediately following the attacks on 9/11/01.
- They were also asked to recall an ordinary event that happened a few days before.
- In both cases, they rated their belief in their accuracy.
- Accuracy declined for both memories over time, but confidence remained high for the flashbulb event.
Is it even possible to have a firm belief in something that could be objectively false? Deese (1959) and Roediger & McDermott (1995) tested this with lists of words.
A sequence of words was presented to participants (e.g. nurse, syringe, shot, vaccine). • Later, they see a list of words containing old (syringe), new related (needle), and new unrelated (table) words. They judge which were seen before
Cahill and colleagues suggested that the emotional nature of the events lead to _______ _________ of the narrative.
(story told about boy who went to the hospital–story diverges to either neutral middle or emotional middle while begining and end of story remain the same.)
deeper encoding
This could be similar to the inaccuracies of flashbulb memories. We tend to forget (make source monitoring errors) when the details are less important.
Can neurologically typical subjects be induced to show savant-like skills?
When participants were given TMS, they became more accurate in the numerosity judgments compared to sham treatment.
- In other experiments (Gallete et al, 2009), TMS over LATL reduced false memories in lists (like CogLab 33).
- It is thought that TMS temporarily deactivates LATL and impairs topdown information. Subjects become less able to apply schemas and semantic information. Judgment becomes more bottom-up and literal
Snyder et al. (2006) applied transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the _________________ of participants. Other were presented with sham (fake) TMS
left anterior temporal lobe (LATL)
People were presented with 50 – 150 items on a monitor for 1.5 sec and asked to estimate the number.
• They were tested before and after TMS/sham administration.
When participants were given TMS, they became more accurate in the numerosity judgments compared to sham treatment.
- In other experiments (Gallete et al, 2009), TMS over LATL reduced false memories in lists (like CogLab 33).
- It is thought that TMS temporarily deactivates LATL and impairs topdown information. Subjects become less able to apply schemas and semantic information. Judgment becomes more bottom-up and literal.
Nelson & colleagues (1994) tested metamemory in people learning Swahili
- Subjects made judgements of words in a list that would be best remembered (best-learned) or worst remembered (worst-learned) on a subsequent test.
- one group could select which words to re-study (they mainly picked worst-learned items); a computer selected for the other 3 groups (worst-learned, best-learned, and most difficult)
- subjects showed the highest accuracy when they re-studied the worst-learned items, showing that they were aware of what they didnt remember (metamemory).
