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
In the ACT model, retrieved information may be incomplete and open to _________ based on associations
confabulation
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)
PDP is a form of representation that is _________ inspired and presumes that meaning is ________ over layers of many ______
neurologically inspired distributed layers of many units
Processing in the PDP model is accomplished by ____________ of excitatory and inhibitory _____ between ______
changing the stregths
links
between units
—-networks of neurons (concepts) that fire together wire together —>the broader tern is the connectionist model
Hidden units in the PDP model add _____
computational flexibility
In PDP models, __________ information builds the _______ network
episodic information builds the semantic network
In the PDP model, as each event/episode provides inputs to the network, it changes _________________ between units
it changes the weights of connections between units
In the PDP model, __________ __________ __ ___ _______ ________strengthens the connections, forming a conceptual network (semantic)
multiple encodings of the same events
(episodic events strengthen the semantic networks)
In the PDP model, encoding is ________ to damage (compared to the localist ACT model)
very resilient
In the PDP model, the same network of units can represent ___________
different semantic content
–weights for each link change in response to input and feedback
–you might see similarities in activation for categories
Should PDP models also have fan effects?
yes; a PDP model trained with many different instance may have weak connections between units. This would lead to slow (and incorrect) responses –with increase inputs (expertise), the weights between links should change and the responses should get faster
What are the problems with the PDP model? How can you fix the problem?
overwriting; if you change the weights between units, you are essentially erasing the original memory. You can fix this by adding more UNITS
What are the advantages of the PDP model? (may be same as the advantages to ACT model)
PDP offers many of the same advantages as ACT, but uses a more flexible (Plastic) and resilient architecture.
- memories are stored over many units, with layers of a network. The loss of some units does not seem fatal to maintaining the concept —biologically inspired system, with the operation analogous to neurons withing layers of cortex
- Processing is accomplished by activation of links (connections) between units —links can be trained over many instances/inputs. the resulting semantic concept is built from episodic info —WEIGHTED links can be excitatory or inhibitory —computational complexity is reduced because contextual cuse activate the relevant units
Memories of similar/relvant instances in the past reduce the ______________ of the present situation
cognitive complexity
Memory is a _________ process, using _____ input and top-down knowledge
constructive process uses current input and top-down knowledge
A study by Anderson et al (1977) used the same text, but asked different groups of students what it was about. –physical edu majors vs. music majors What type of priming is taking place when a descriptive title is added?
64% of physical education majors interpreted the passage as having to do with wrestling.
- Only 28% of music majors thought it was associated with wrestling.
- Most interpreted it as a prisoner planning escape In a similar study by Bransford and Johnson (1972) using passages of complex text describing a scene, r_ecall for events in the story doubled_ (32% vs 16%) when a descriptive title was provided. clearly some SEMANTIC PRIMING is occurring
Schema
general knowledge structure used for understanding complex situations –they include the RELATIONSHIP between facts –they provide relevant top-down knowledge
A schema is general for a ______ of situation, and helps give __________ to a _______ event
type of situation gives organizational structure to a specific event
Based on an accumulation of events, you build schemas for different situations. This build ________ for specific elements during some episode.
expectations
Each schema has ______ that are placeholders for expected (typical) items. Each slot can be filled with ______ from the current situation. If no value for a slot is provided, the schema may have a _________
slots filled with appropriate values default assumption
The default values in schemas can lead to characteristic mistakes. Brewer and Treyens (1981) examined schemas for places.
• Participants waited in a graduate student office for 35 seconds. • They were then taken out and asked to recall the items in the office Subjects had good recall for items that fit a graduate office schema (i.e. desk, chair). However, 30% of subjects reported seeing books, even though none were present. Books are a default expectation, so that are recalled even though they were not present in that instance
People in the same _____ tend to share the same slots in schemas, but your _______ ________ may vary based on personal experience and preferences.
same culture
individual defaults
Script
specific type of schema they are more structured and have a specific order of events often embedded in a schema there are causal links between events in the script. Changing an event (outcome) changes the script.
There are _________ _______ between events in a script. Changing an event (outcome) changes the script.
causal links
Bower and colleagues (1972) did a number of experiments regarding how people produce and use scripts.
Participants were asked to free-associate and write a list of actions that they think people do in various situations (e.g. go to a lecture, get up in the morning, go to a restaurant, etc.).
- They found great uniformity for “basic actions” described in scripts (e.g. out of 730 total actions for ‘restaurant’ only four were completely unique and were given by a single person).
- This suggests that people encode and later recall similar elements from a type of event.
Bower and colleagues (1972) also asked (different) participants to recall facts about stories.
[order/organization of a story]
- People were presented with passages that contained six ordered events/actions. They each had a title (e.g. “The Doctor). − Stories could be in typical order or scrambled.
- They were later (after a 20 minute delay) provided with just the title and asked to recall each line from the story.
- Stories presented in the correct order were recalled with 50% accuracy. Stories in scrambled order can 18% accuracy.
- Recall was better when the items followed the typical script, suggesting an organization role in understanding and memory.
- Additionally, people added 1 fact (on average) that was plausible given the context.
Although schemas seem to be made of __________ facts, much of the activity appears more ________ and hard to state. The rules and dependencies seem like post hoc confabulation
declarative facts appears more proedural
Schemas/Scripts: How are the dependencies established, particularly when slots can be filled with new items?
PDP may be a way of addressing this, as experience forms the dependency
Schemas and scripts should break down when ________
defaults are violated
Just as we use schemas to understand (encode) events, we also use them later during ____
recall
Source Monitoring
process of determining the origin of some memory or belief
Sometimes we use ______ (a schema for a person) to reconstruct a memory
stereotypes This can be very useful–a with all schemas you dont need to recall every detail, but can fill in with defaults, but this leads to many errors.
Marsh, Cook, & Hicks (2006) examined the role of gender stereotypes on source attributions.
Subjects read statements (e.g. “I like baseball.”), that were attributed to one of two people: Chris or Pat. • Sentences were masculine, feminine, or neutral. • Subjects were given a puzzle (delay) and later told the gender of the people (Chris is a heterosexual male, Pat is a heterosexual female). • They then re-read the statements, and asked the source (who had said them). • People were more accurate when the statements matched the stereotypes (schemas).
Source monitoring error
when we attribute a remembered item to the wrong source source monitoring: determining the origin of some memory or belief
Reconstructive memory
the use of what was likely, given the schemas if you use a cue to probe part of a memory, you may rely on default values when you cant remember precise detail
The schema you use to recall an event may act as a set of cues (i.e. the slots to be filled) for your memory. Anderson & Pichert (1978) asked participants to read a story from the perspective of a burglar or home buyer
The story contained many descriptions of rooms and the valuables located in them. • When asked to recall details from the story, 64% of perspective –relevant details (e.g. burglar) were remembered, compared to 46% from the other perspective (home buyer). • However, if asked to then switch perspectives (e.g. from burglar to home buyer), participants remembered 10% more detail. • Your working memory for the story was reconstructed based on the schema activated.
- This means that the schema you already have in your head, you are able to adapt that and change perspective to pull up new info from LTM to reconstruct WM
your __________ memory can be ______ based on the schema activated
working memory can be reconstructed
Because memory is _________, eyewitness accounts can be systematically distorted.
reconstructive
Loftus, Burns & Miller (1978) examined how misinformation may alter eyewitness memory.
• Subjects were shown slides of a car accident. Half saw slide A (with stop sign). • Later asked, “Did another car pass the red car while it was stopped at the (yield sign/intersection)?” • Then given a recognition test: “Did you see slide A or slide B originally?” • If given neutral information (intersection), they chose A 85% of the time. • If given misleading information (yield sign), they chose A 38% of the time. • This is called the misinformation effect.
Misinformation effect
If given misleading info, you believe it
Three main explanations suggested for the misinformation effect.
Overwriting: the new information erases and replaces the original memory
Source confusion: the new information competes with the original memory during retrieval. Both are present in memory, but it is difficult to chose.
Misinformation acceptance: you dont notice the difference between the two episodic memories or recall the sign at all; you just assume the misleading information is correct
Evidence for the misinformation acceptance hypothesis
McCloskey & Zaragoza (1985) tested the misinformation acceptance hypothesis with a modification of the Loftus et al. (1978) experiment. hammer vs screw driver (hammer primed with “tool” and screw driver was the misleading info) modification: asked hammer or wrench –if misleading info overwrote original memory (hammer), then both responses would be equally likely but hammer was the more frequent response, indicating that it hadnt been erased. (so it cant be overwriting)
Lindsay (1990) tested the effect of awareness on misleading information. If you can discount the misleading information, does it still have an effect? (Evidence for source confusion hypothesis)
• Subjects watched slides of a man stealing a computer. • They then read a narrative with misleading information. • 48 hours later, they are given recall questions, but were first warned to disregard the narrative because it was wrong. • Under the misinformation acceptance hypothesis, participants should not report anything from the narrative. However, subjects still reported items form the narrative. This is consistent with the source confusion hypothesis.
We’ve seen how eyewitness testimony can be affected by misinformation. Well’s and Bradfield (1998) also showed how it can be affected by _______
Feedback
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
Familiarity Effect
A source monitoring error in which a recent of familiar person is recalled in place of the actual suspect
The familiarity effect is a ________ _________ ________
source monitoring error
Name 4 reasons eyewitness testimony is unreliable
- it is affected by MISINFORMATION
- confidence can be manipulated by FEEDBACK
- EMOTIONAL events may decrease ATTENTION AND ENCODINGof detail
- SOURCE MONITORING ERRORD allow FAMILIAR information to interfere with events
Flashbulb memory
Coined by Brown and Kulik in 1977 to describe your memory for where you were and what you were doing during a highly emotional event
They are highly vivid, highly emotional, and tend to be very detailed memories. They are remembered with great CONFIDENCE.
Brown and Kulik (1977) asked 80 people where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the Kennedy assassination in 1963. (asked them 13 years after the event)
All but one person had memory of hearing about the assasination.
- This shows that people still have a memory of the event even though they were asked to recall it 13 years later.
- highly emotional event = good general memory
Brown & Kulik argued that a distinct biological mechanism exists for highly surprising and consequential events.
- This would give an evolutionary advantage as these events would be remembered and avoided by those who survive.
- The more detail you accurately remember, the better your chances
Neisser & Harsch (1992) examined the accuracy of ________memories following the Challenger disaster in 1986.
describe the experiment
flashbulb
The morning after, they gave college undergraduates a questionnaire asking how they had heard about the accident. • Asked for explicit detail: who told you, where were you, doing what, etc.
- 2.5 years later, they asked the same people what had happened.
- This is a procedure known as repeated recall.
- The later reports were compared with the original baseline details
- Only 25% remembered the original questionnaire after 2.5 years.
- Only 3 out of 44 people’s 2nd account matched their original questionnaire responses.
- Only 50% got one or two important details (e.g. where they heard about it), correct.
- Interestingly, the 13 people with the highest confidence were only average in the accuracy.
- Perhaps what is “special” about flashbulb memories is the degree of confidence they give a person for their memories?
Repeated recall
recall a memory sometime after an event (2.5 years in the case of the challenger exp)
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.
Recovered Memories
memories an adult uncovers of a traumatic childhood event
Some remembered events are of a criminal nature and should be prosecuted.
- In many cases, the only evidence is the memory of the event. The accused will often offer a different account of events.
- Some of these memories may be accurate, while others may be false memories – memories for events that never happened.
False memories
Memories for events that never happened
Some recovered memories may be accurate, while others may be ______________
false memories
Why weren’t recovered memories remembered earlier?
- the person represses the information because it is too difficult for a child to process. [Lack the schemas to make sense.]
- Sometimes the child is actively told that they events never happened, so they forget for a time. [Misinformation effect.]
Once the memories are recalled/recovered, the details seem extremely vivid. However they are hard to verify.
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
Wade et al. (2002) examined if we can have false memories for detailed childhood experiences with a post-event misinformation paradigm.
Doctored photos were presented to adults, showing them doing something as a child that never happened.
- Participants were asked to recall details about the event.
- With repeated presentations, about half of the participants would recall additional details (false memories) not seen in the (fake) photos.
- This is relevant to the recovered memory debate because some therapists have been accused (and convicted) of implanting memories of abuse.
It has been shown that people will sometimes confess to actions they haven’t committed. This can be due to ___________ and ___________ (feedback).
misinformation and suggestion
False Confessions:
Nash and Wade (2009) took videos of people playing a computer game. When they received a green check, they took money from the “bank.” If they received a red cross, they had to return money.
After playing the game, they were shown a doctored video which made it look like they cheated. • While some subjects were surprised by the evidence, they all admitted to cheating. • A different group was told the video existed, but it wasn’t shown. 73% admitted to cheating.
Recovered memories are problematic because they ofen lack ___________ ________
independent verification
Why would anyone admit to a horrific crime they hadn’t committed?
(ST RE SP M/F)
High emotional STRESS of interrogation and lack of sleep makes some people say anything to make it stop.
- SOCIAL PRESSURE, including feedback and misinformation, can make people doubt what they believe.
- Just as some people believe traumatic recovered memories are repressed, you might think it possible that you REPRESSED the memory of having done something terrible. (You feel confused, and think its possible you repressed the mem, so you admit to it)
“Why is my memory for names and dates so bad?”
[leaning tower of] PISA <3
- A name is an impoverised stimulus. Unless its rare (like Oprah), it won’t stand out.
- Common names (Steve) will have a lot of PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE (a lot of people have that name)
- FAILURE OF ATTENTION. We don’t encode the info during a brief encournter and there is no opportunity to rehearse it.
- In extreme cases, people with word-finding difficulty may have proper name anomia. This is a type of aphasia in which you can’t produce specific types of information.
- Your memory for names is good when you have an _emotional connection to the source _
In extreme cases, people with word-finding difficulty may have _________ __________ __________
proper name anomia
This is a type of aphasia in which you can’t produce specific types of information
Some (5) tips for remembering names:
Pay very close ATTENTION to a person’s name when first introduced.
- ELABORATE the encoding with some specific detail of the person’s appearance or personal background.
- REPEAT/REHEARSE the name immediately.
- Ask them to repeat the name. This will give you an additional auditory CUE.
- Imagine the name printed on their forehead. VISUAL ASSOCIATIONS help encode the memory. (What is “rabbit” in Spanish?)
Can emotion ever help memory?
• We saw earlier that _______ ________ learning gives an advantage if the internal state at recall matches the internal state at encoding
- Flashbulb memories are often wrong about _____, but the basic structure of the episodic memory seems strongly encoded.
state dependent learning
details
Cahill et al (1995) did a series of studies which examined the role of ________ during encoding on later recall of detail.
The emotional nature of the events leads to ____________
[EX: boy’s trip to the hospital]
Emotion
Subjects were told a story (with pictures) about a boy going to the hospital.
- The boy’s trip to the hospital was either (1) as part of a disaster drill (neutral control) or (2) following a traumatic accident (emotional stimulus).
- Both stories had the same beginning and ending, but the story diverges in the middle.
- Participants read the stories and viewed the pictures. Two weeks later, they are shown the pictures and asked to supply the narrative.
- **Those who had heard the emotional narrative had superior memory for the middle photos. **
- Details at the begining and end were not remembered as well
- The emotional nature of the events leads to deeper encoding of the narrative
- The total number of items recalled for each group were about the same
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.
Cahill and colleagues (1995) examined the role of an emotional story (with images) on memory. They argued that memory for a narrative with emotional context was similar to _______ memories in that the most ________ events could be remembered, but less ______ details were less accurate
Flashbulb
emotional
emotional
Emotion interacts with ______ memory
episodic memory
autobiographical memories (Episodes) for emotionally-laden events seem enhanced
Amnesiacs with no ______ ______ of recently studied items will show enhanced recognition memory performance for ________ items.
no free recall
emotional items
Items with ________content (e.g. words such as death, kill, joy, tickle) are more likely to be recalled in laboratory memory studies, relative to _______terms (Kensinger & Corkin, 2003).
Interestingly, the effect seems to be larger for ______ words.
emotional
neutral
negative
Why might you have better memory for emotional events?
You may be more motivated to rehearse/retell emotional events.
you may also ENCODE these items differently
The _______ modulates the encoding of emotional memories
amygdala
fMRI studies show that ________ events increase activity in the _______. (Especially for ______ stimuli.)
Emotional
amygdala
fearful
Patients with ______ damage do not the the memory boost for emotional events in a story.
amygdala
Blocking stress hormones (epinephrine) decreases __________ ________ of memores. This has important consequences for _______ and related conditions.
emotional encoding
PTSD
Hyperthymesia
Natural tendency to link EPISODIC info with strong emotional content.
The ability to recall incredibly detailed accounts of personal events.
Jill Price (patient A.J.) has near-perfect autobiographical memory of events since age 11.
- Her semantic memory is average.
- Given relatively simple temporal cues (e.g. a date), she can recall vivid memories of what they were doing or what she saw.
- It seems like flashbulb memory, but with accuracy.
Hyperthymesia seems like flashbulb memory, but with _____
accuracy
Hyperthymesia seems to be associated with changes in amydgala ______ and __________
size and connectivity
Patient HK was the second diagnosed case. He is blind and has near perfect memory for events after about age 10.
- Structural MRI show his right amygdala to be 20% larger than controls (Ally et al, 2013).
- When tested on false memory paradigms (like CogLab 33), people with hyperthymesia make the same errors as controls. This suggests that their semantic associations are the same as others’.
Structural MRI show that Patient HK’s ______ amygdala is 20% larger than controls
right
When tested on false memory paradigms, people with __________ make the SAME ERRORS as controls. This suggests that their ______ associations are the same as others’
hyperthymesia
semantic associations
Savant Syndrome
A small subset of people affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate exceptional abilities in highly selective areas of cognition
Though they may score below average on standardized intelligence tests, they may have remarkable abilities in the areas of mathematics, declarative memorization, or music.
Daniel Tammet is a savant with synesthesia. He has a ______________ of 11.5 digits, compared to typical 6.5. He memorized pi to 22,514 digits. • A very small subset of neurotypical people have
memory span
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
Numerosity
The ability to instantly estimate a large number of items.
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.
One of the central tenets of ______________is that some aspects of ‘thinking’ can be accomplished though the use of external artifacts.
distributed cognition
• Your smartphone, calendar, computer, note pad, etc. are all external memory aids. You ‘retrieve’ a memory through a manual procedure, rather than mental recall.
Many ___________ – techniques that help memory retention – use interactions with the physical world as memory cues.
mnemonics
One of the best strategies for building exceptional memory is through the use of _______
How should you organize information?
Chuncking
Chase & Ericsson (1981) trained individuals to chunk lists of numbers.
- A runner was able to chunk numbers into recognizable running times and develop a memory span of 80 items.
- A non-runner was trained in the same method and progressed to 40 items. The experiment stopped, but the rate of improvement matched the runner.
- Mnemonist chunking strategies organize information in terms of top-down schemas. This makes encoding and retrieval easier
One of the central tenets of __________ is that some aspects of “thinking” can be accomplished through the use of external artifacts.
- ex: smartphone, calendar, computer (cognitive artifacts)
distributed cognition
many _______ (techniques that help memory retention) use interactions with the physical world as memory cues
mnemonics
One of the oldest mneumonnics is the ___________
the method of loci
Method of loci
- Ordered sets of items are imagined in a familiar place (your house)
- You think of a vivid and EMOTIONAL, visual image at each location. This acts a the cue for the memory,
- During retrieval, you rehearse going through the scene
- all these become cues that are brought up again and again in retrieval
- they are put into a familiar place (a schema)
- you walk through the schema
- walk through a spatial understanding of something that is really familiar
What are the elements from learning, memory, and attention used by the method of loci?
alPACA named FOE
- The method of loci (or any mnumonic) _organizes _the indormation and establishes a **retrieval plan **
- attention is **focused **on the elements & retrieval cues to be remembered
- the visual imagery is a type of **elaboration. **it helps create a *deeper, *richer memory during encoding. Images are placed within your house **schema **
- the memory and the locatino is **paired associate learning **
- the method creates a **consistent mapping **between the item to be remembered and an image/location. THis will assist in making the retrieval _automatic _
- **automaticity **
*Autistic savants *are thought to use which of the following methods to recall items from memory?
A. chunking
B. mnemonics
C. emotional cues
D. method of loci
E. none of the above
E. none of the above.
it is not understood how exactly they do this
they probably dont use emotional cues… (autism makes it hard to understand emotional cues)
People with hyperthymesia are thought to use which of the following methods to recall items from memory?
A. chunking
B. mnemonics
C. emotional cues
D. method of loci
E. none of the above
C. emotional cues
They emotoinally charge every event that directly happens to them
Purely episodic, not semantic
They would remember exactly what happened a year ago–they rem that they read a book, but not what they read in that book
______ is your awareness of *how likely *you are to remember something and *how strong *the memory will be,
metamemory
- We’ve seen cases (eyewitness testimony and flashbulb memories) where confidence is higher than accuracy
- in general your metamemory is fairly good
- _this is useful because you use your metamemory to choose what to study, _
- Your awareness of how likely you are to remember something and how strong the mem is
You are good at guessing how well you will remember something
Metamemory
Your awareness of how likely you are to remember something and how strong the mem is
You are good at guessing how well you will remember something
- this is useful because you use your metamemory to choose what to study
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).
**Metamemory **can be led astray by ______ and _______
feedback and familiarity
“You’ve got this, you don’t need to study,” say the friends who want you to go out with them… Confidence increases (like eyewitness testimony feedback), but accuracy for detail may remain low.
- Massed practice (i.e. cramming) may lead to familiarity with material. You recognize answers, but may not be able to recall them later on the exam.
- Trust, but verify, your metamemory. Make a judgment of remembering after a delay. Ask someone to quiz you so you aren’t simply re-reading things that may look familiar, then re-study the items that are most difficult to recall.
Emotional cues seem to enhance memory for _______ information. This appears to be largely mediated by _______
episodic information
the amygdala
Individuals with **hyperthymesia **have amazing autobiographical ______ memory, but average _____ memory. Though not understood, it may be partly due to greater activation in the _______ __________
**Savants **may have increased _________ ________ (working memory), but specialization seems to be highly restricted. This may be due to some difficulty in forming or using _______
increased memory spans
difficulty in using schemas (top-down info)
- they use more bottom-up info, and therefore interpret things more literally
- neurotypical people experience this when TMS is applied over the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL)
Savant-like behavior can be seen in some individuals who have TMS to the _____________
_LEFT _anterior temporal lobe (LATL)
More typical memory experts use _______** **(method of loci, chunking) to perform feats of memory
mnemonics
your _______ is the ability to be aware of what you are likely to remember. It is fairly accurate, but may be biased by _feedback and familiarity . _
metamemory
General study tips (SORE TUFS)
- when studying, only study [reduce task load and exogenous cues]
- use outlines [organize material and use retrieval plan]
- distribute your study time (dont cram) [rehearsal = deeper encoding and more cues for retrieval]
- elaborate [create more cues, use mnemonics]
- test yourself [context effects, rehearsal]
- understand of specific examples express abstract principles [see how examples fit into schemas]
- sleep! [sleep consolidation, sleep is good mroe attention span, consolidation, and retrieval]
