exam 1 Flashcards
Who was Hermann Ebbinghaus, and what were his important contributions to memory science?
He was the 1st person to use the scientific method to study memory. He developed the savings score. He also came up with two methods of studying: over-learning and the spacing effect.He also discovered the forgetting curve.
Savings score
The reduction in time required to relearn a previously mastered list.
Over Learning
studying even after something is mastered
Spacing effect
Distributed practices; studying over a series of days.
Forgetting curve
when information is lost over time and there is no attempt to retain it
How can the spacing effect be used to improve memory?
Because it allows a person to learn over a period of time, it helps them to remember nd learn more efficiently, rather then cramming everything they learn into one period of time, which then would lead to them forgetting it quicker.
How did the contributions to modern memory science of behaviorism(John Watson) and cognitive psychology differ?
Behaviorists didn’t believe memor was appropriate to research because it couldn’t be observed directly, whereas cognitive psychologists believed it was appropriate because they believed accessing the inner mind was do-able.
What are the key components of a memory experiment?
Applying the scientific method, and having a dependent and independent variable
What is the difference between recall and recognition?
Recall produces a memory, and recognition matches it to a presented choice.
What are source judgments?
where or from who you learned something from
What are metamemory judgments?
our own knowledge of our memory process
What are the 3 techniques of neuroimaging?
EEG, PET scan, and MRI
What are the four themes of the book?
1) Learning and remembering are active processes
2) Learning and remembering have a biological/neurological basis
3) Memory has multiple components; which act in different ways
4) Learning and remembering can be improved
Semantic memory
long-term memory processes: ie, common knowledge, such as the names of colors, the sounds of letters, the capitals of countries and other basic facts acquired over a lifetime.
Episodic memory
the memory of autobiographical events (times, places, associated emotions, and other contextual who, what, when, where, why knowledge) that can be explicitly stated. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place.
Procedural memory(muscle memory)
a part of the long-term memory that is responsible for knowing how to do things, also known as motor skills. As the name implies, procedural memory stores information on how to perform certain procedures, such as walking, talking and riding a bike.Feb 22, 2014
Implicit memory tests
Tests that draw on unconscious aspects of memory (previous experiences aid the performance of a task without conscious awareness of these previous experiences)
Reaction Time
amount of time it takes to complete a task
Neuropsychology
study of patients with brain damage and correlate with cognitive or behavioral deficits
Memory defined
- Being able to travel into our pasts
- mental capacity of retaining and reviving facts. events. impressions. etc or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences
3 essentials to memory(in order for it to function)
1) Encoding
2) Storing/Consolidating
3) Retrieving
Encoding
ability to create new memories
Storing/Consolidating
maintaining information within our brain (process of going from short term to long term)
Retrieving
recall/recalled memories
War of ghosts study
Memory recall is influenced by our pre-existing knowledge, or our schema, which is influenced by our cultural background.
systems of memory (Endel Tulving)
1) Semantic memory
2) Episodic memory
3) Procedural memory
Paired associate learning (Mary Calkins)
when unrelated words are paired together (associations between stimuli and responses
The processes by which newly formed explicit memories are transported from the hippocampus to neocortex for retention is called
Consolidation
The term “cornu ammon” and the terms CA1, CA2, CA3, CA4 refer to
parts of the hippocampus
The Petersen and Posner model of attention asserts that there are/is
three attentional systems, consisting of five brain networks
The dentate gyrus of the hippocampus
- projects primarily to area CA3 of the hippocampus
- generates new neurons throughout the lifespan
- receives cortical input through the entorhinal cortex
The hippocampal complex includes
-the perirhinal cortex
-the hippocampus
-the postrhinal or parahippocampal cortex
- the entorhinal cortex
The attentional system that reflexively turns our head or eyes toward an unexpected sound or sight is known as
the orienting system
The attentional system that focuses attention on one task, one problem, or one stimulus and enables a person or an animal to suppress a dominant response and select a subdominant response is
the executive control system
Grid cells are found in ____________ and fire as an animal ___________.
the entorhinal cortex; moves through the environment
The distinction between episodic and semantic memory was made by
Tulving
The current depiction of attention includes three systems:
orienting, executive control, and vigilance systems
Bartlett’s approach to the study of memory was experimental and included
- asking subjects to draw and name, from memory, a list of objects that had been shown as line drawings
- Asking subjects to write down, from memory, a story or argument that they had read in the past
- asking subjects to describe a list of faces from memory
The modern distinction between explicit or declarative memory and implicit or procedural memory was made
after reports of Henry Moulson’s devastating memory loss following bilateral brain surgery became widely known in the scientific community
A rat is learning, through a number of trials, that if a T-maze smells of basil, he should turn left to find food, but if the T-maze smells of rosemary, he should turn right. This is analogous to _____________ in humans
episodic memory
An experimental subject reads many sentences. One is: “The painter tried for days to mix pigment to capture the color of the ripening tomatoes.” At test, the subject is presented with single words and asked to indicate if the word was in a sentence. If a subject indicates that “red” was in a sentence, this implies
The subject stored an inference, rather than the exact wording
Alan is being assessed after a head injury. The examining physician reads a list of six numbers and asks him to repeat these back, in the same order. The doctor is testing
Digit Span and short term memory
In immediate free recall of a long list of words or numbers, the last one or two items _______ and this is called _________.
have a high probability of being correctly recalled; the recency effect
The ten letter long strings “cragetters” and “towersible” are third order approximations to English. Which would be easier to remember: a list of five ten letter strings that are third order approximations to English or a list of five five letter strings that are random sequences?
the five ten letter third order approximations will be easier to pronounce, easier to rehearse, easier to recall
Craik and Lockhart’s view of memory stressed the role of
semantic processing, or deeper levels of processing, in leading to longer term retention of material
Last month Bonnie’ comparative neuroanatomy course focused on rodent brains. This month the focus is on avian (bird) brains, next month the focus will be on primate brains. Bonnie is likely to experience some
proactive inhibition
Telephone numbers have 10 digits but are fairly easy to remember, even though 10 digits is beyond many people’s “span of immediate memory”, because
the 10 digits are chunked or grouped into 3 units
If people study a supra-span list of words (10 words or more) and are given a verbal task to perform during the retention interval (the time between studying the list and being tested on it), what happens to serial position effects seen in immediate free recall tasks?
the recency effect disappears, but the primacy effect remains
In a classic study, Brooks showed subjects block letters that were to be remembered or had them read a sentence that was to be remembered. Then subjects performed a task requiring a series of yes or no responses to each line segment or word in the remembered stimulus. The yes/no response was indicated by speaking, tapping, or pointing to the response. The key finding was
response times for the imagery task were slowed much more by pointing than were the times for the sentence task
Some children can read aloud fluently, but have difficulty with reading comprehension. The most likely explanation is
low working memory span
Scanning students’ brains as they looked at pictures of faces or of familiar places, O’Craven and Kanwisher found
patterns of activation similar to those produced by just THINKING about the places or faces
Place cells were first discovered in _________ of the ______ of rats, and exhibit maximum firing rates when rats are __________.
area CA1; hippocampus; in specific places
The most primitive of the attentional systems is probably
the alerting system
The orienting system, in the Petersen & Posner model, includes
- a ventral bottom up network important for disengaging attention from one location and shifting it to another
-two networks - a dorsal top-down network that includes the parietal cortex and frontal eye fields
Very recent research demonstrated that precisely targeted brief repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TCS) in human subjects
-reflected specific treatment effects rather than placebo effects
-strengthened correlated activity between the hippocampus and the targeted area of the parietal lobe
-increased memory performance
The German researcher who began the systematic study of memory was
Ebbinghaus
Bartlett’s important and influential studies of memory had one or more major flaws. This was / these included
-lack of systematic control of experimental conditions
-no quantitative analysis of results
-small sample sizes
The Atkinson & Schiffrin “modal model” of memory posited that human memory
consisted of three separate memory stores
In US telephone numbers, the first three numbers are area codes specific to parts of states, the second three numbers are local exchange codes, typically specific to parts of towns, cities or counties. This organization makes phone numbers easier to _____ because of __________.
chunk; predictability
Some contemporary neuroscientists suggest the the hippocampus, evolved for spatial memory and navigation, serves also as
a search engine for stored explicit memories
In his book Remembering, Bartlett reported that subjects in his memory experiments for stories and arguments
changed passages by eliminating detail and substituting familiar ideas for unfamiliar ideas
A rat has learned that vertical stripes on the walls of a T - maze mean run to the left to escape, but horizontal stripes on the walls mean the escape is to the right. Placed in the maze, the rat’s -performance is rapid and error free; he escapes in seconds. This is analogous to _____ in humans.
procedural memory
Evidence that mental imagery evokes brain responses similar to those of perception
supports the idea that visual thinking and vision share common mechanisms
In the working memory span test, researchers
have the subject read four sentences, then recall the last word in each sentence
Pre-school children’s ability to repeat back a series of non-words predicts
vocabulary growth
What is Semantic Memory?
Memory of meaning. Underlies the conscious recollection of factual information and general knowledge about the world
Explicit/ Declarative Memory
Based on facts or events (previous experiences). Learning based on conscious recognition or recall skills. Modern distinction was made by reports of Henry Moulson’s devastating memory loss following bilateral brain surgery became widely known in the scientific community. Intentionally try to remember something
The perirhinal cortex is particularly important in ________ and receives more input from ________ than from ___________
visual recognitions; the occipital lobe; other cortical areas
The alerting system is part of the reticular activating system. It consists of the brain nucleus known as _________ and its projections throughout the brain.
locus coeruleus
The typical person has a digit span of ________
4 to 10
In Baddeley’s model of working memory, the central executive
directs the maintainence of information in the phonological loop and/or visuo-spatial sketch pad and performs operations on the information
implicit / procedural memory
One who cannot recall the procedure of having learned a task, yet shows the ability to perform the task is said to be using implicit/procedural memory. They are able to perform procedures without having to recall learning them. Learning based on priming, indirect learning. Observation that when a word or object is seen or heard more than once, it will not be seen or heard more readily on second and later occasions. Not asked about earlier presentations of material to be learned, their influence is reflected indirectly in the speed or nature of subsequent performance, typically in a non-memory task. Not purposely remembered
Skills ; ex. typing, handwriting
Mary Calkins
Completed requirements for doctorate, but not granted PhD because she was a female. Had subjects study lists, then tested them for recall in response to the cues. The greater the semantic similarity between a pair, the better they could be remembered. She also documented the recency effect.
Memory Consolidation
Can occur during sleep. Memory consolidation involves the transfer of information from STM to LTM, and can occur during sleep. Rehearsal over spaced intervals is a very good strategy for memory consolidation
Memory for skills
Perceptual motor tasks, learned by practice, imitation. In normal learners, early stages may be mediated by the declarative memory system. Amnesiac patients are capable of learning new perceptual motor skills but may not remember episodes of learning and practice
Neissers Contributions
Interest in understanding how people remember the things that matter to them. Said that the academic study of memory lacked ecological validity. The Ecological Validity of a study means that the methods,materials and setting of the study must approximate the real world that is being examined. Neisser is the “father of cognitive psychology”.
Which of the following is not a principle of memory efficiency?
A. Process for meaning
B. Use metamemory
C. Use distributive learning
D. Employ visual mnemonics whenever possible
D
In studying, that you may want to reorganize the information given to you and make up your own organization is known as?
A. Self-retrieval
B. The self-testing effect
C. Subjective organization
D. Inferential reorganization
C
Roedinger and Karpicke (2006) asked participants to read short prose passages concerning scientific information. One group of participants simply restudied the items several times. A second group read the same passage but then was asked to recall information about the story on three practice tests. They found that
A. The group that recalled information during study did best on final test
B. The group that restudied information during study did best on final test
C. Only groups that received encoding variability improved on task
D. None of the above
A
Which of the following would he considered encoding variability?
A. Engaging in retrieval practice immediately after first studying info
B. Using technical mnemonics, such as acronyms, to help learn arbitrary info
C. Studying the same material when you are in a number of different moods, so that one of those moods will match the one you will be in when you are tested
D. Rejecting technical mnemonics and avoiding distraction
C
The theory of metamemory that advances that an adaptive learning strategy is to study those items that have not yet been learned but are not too difficult - those at leading edge of difficulty is
A. Judgement of learning theory
B. Region of proximal learning
C. Strategic agenda theory
D. The labor-in-vain effect
B
Cameron has been studying for an exam. After considerable study, he attempts to evaluate his learning. Because he does not think he is benefiting from continuing to study and is confident he knows all the items that he will be tested on, he stops studying. What issue of memory efficiency should he be concerned about?
A. Stability bias
B. The Kornell effect
C. The region of proximal learning
D. People’s preference for massed practice
A
Kornell (2009) asked participants to study difficult, GRE-type words and their more common synonyms. He found that
A. More than 90% of students did better with massed practice
B. More students preferred distributed practice to massed practice
C. Students learned about the same using massed and distributed practice
D. All of the above are false
D
Two trials produce better retention if they are separated by more time than if they are close together is known as?
A. Massed practice
B. The judgement-of-learning effect
C. Stability bias
D. The spacing effect
D
What are the four broad principles of memory improvement?
- Process for meaning
- Retrieval practice
- Metamemory
- Distributed practice
Why is distraction considered an example of divided attention? What is the effect of divided attention on encoding?
In both performance is reduced because participants are no longer able to direct their attention to the meaning of the to-be-learned material; when not focused on meaning, ability to encode decreases
What is subjective organization? What evidence exists that subjective organization is superior to other forms of organization?
Reorganizing information into your own groups; it helps you relate to content better because its personalized ; Mannes and Kintsch (1987) showed that when students had to organize information themselves they had a deeper learning
What is encoding variability? How can it be employed to improve memory?
If you study in several mental and physical states you will be more likely to remember it in whatever condition you need to retrieve info in; it provides many different cues to be taken advantage of at time of retrieval
What is retrieval practice? How can it be employed to improve memory?
Generate and practice the items you need to remember from memory rather than simply read or restudy them; self-testing
How can students use judgements of learning to improve the efficiency of their study? Why are the potential drawbacks of relying on judgements of learning?
They help you decide what you already know and what you need to study more so you spend your time more wisely on material you need more practice with; stability bias: underestimating future forgetting and overestimating future remembering
When is massed practice helpful? Why is distributed practice generally a better study strategy?
Immediately before an exam, it leaves info highly accessible; better for long term retention of material
Kornell (2009) conducted a study to examine the differences between massed and distributed practice. What was his methodology, and what did he demonstrate?
Used GRE-type words and common synonyms, 1 group mass studied w/ 1 big stack of flashcards & 1 group distributed practice w/ 4 smaller stacks of flashcards; distributed practice group had 50% more items recalled
What is the difference between distributed practice and expanding rehearsal? When might expanding rehearsal be superior to distributed practice?
DP: spacing study out over time, ER/ERP: study close together at first then spaced out; vocab of another language
What is a mnemonist? How do the memories of mnemonists differ from those of normal individuals?
People with extraordinary memories; some have synesthesia or innately good memories, some practice a lot and some have both/all three
What is meant by the term engram? What did Lashley hope to achieve byidentifying it? How does the Quiroga et al. (2005) experiment relate to theconcept of the engram?
Engram is the hypothetical physical unit of storage of a memory.Lashley suspected that there might be specific cells or groups of cells that transform when the newinformation has been acquired. His entire career he searched for these cells but could not find them.Quiroga took Lashley’s original research a step further, using fMRI technology (which wasn’t available toLashley) and claimed that specific areas of the brain seem to support very specific knowledge structures.
What is a traumatic brain injury?
TBIs are sudden and devastating brain injuries. TBIsoccur when the brain suddenly and violently hits a hard object. Most TBIs are closed-head injuries.Closed-head injuries often times result in greater damage than open-head injuries.
Describe the flow of information through the neuron, including howinformation is transmitted through the axon, dendrite, and synapse. Includethe purpose of neurotransmitters.
Each neuron has one axon, which transmits messages toother neurons. Transmission in an axon is an electrochemical process called an action potential. Betweenthe axon of one neuron and the dendrite of another is a small gap called the synapse. Here, transmissionoccurs via neurotransmitters. Once the electrical signal reaches the terminal buttons, neurotransmittersare triggered.
What is the relation between the drugs we commonly take and the brain?By what mechanism do these drugs, such as caffeine, affect brain function?
Drugs can alter the functioning of many neurotransmitters. Many of the drugs we consume affect thefunction of the brain by changing the chemistry at the synapse. Caffeine, for example, affectsneurotransmitters in the neurons that innervate our muscles. It also causes the release of theneurotransmitter dopamine in the prefrontal cortex.
Describe the functional significance of each of the following brain regions:(1) hippocampus, (2) amygdala, (3) diencephalon, (3) temporal lobe, and (4)frontal lobe.
Hippocampus: subcortical structure associated with learning and memory; damage cancause anterograde amnesiaAmygdala: connects features of memory with aspects of emotion: also associated with fear conditioningand emotional learningDiencephalon: part of the brain that includes the thalamus and hypothalamus; serves as an importantrelay point in human memory circuits; damage can incur tremendous costs in terms of memory deficitsTemporal Lobe: audition, language, memoryFront Lobe: higher emotion, metacognition, decision making, memory
How does EEG measure activity in the brain? What is EEG good for?
EEG uses electrodes to measure the electrical output of the brain by recording electric current at the scalp.Sensitive electrodes are placed on the subject’s skull. As electrical activity moves from one area of the
brain to another, it can be measured as distinct waves of electrical activity
What is amnesia? What is the difference between anterograde andretrograde amnesia?
Amnesia: memory deficits acquired through brain damageRetrograde amnesia: an inability to retrieve memories of events prior to brain damage.Anterograde amnesia: an inability to form new memories following brain damage.
How do benzodiazepines affect memory? How do cholinergic affectmemory?
Benzodiazepines are drugs that are used usually because of their effects on anxiety,insomnia, and muscle relaxation. They are also strong amnesia-inducing drugs, especially within theepisodic memory domain (memory for individual events from a person’s life). They also affect semanticmemory (our memory of the world. Cholinergic are drugs prescribed to patients with Alzheimer’s disease that are mean to alleviate memoryloss in early phases of the disease. They do so by providing chemicals that act as precursors to theneurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Why is the olfactory system so tied to emotion and memory?
The olfactorybulb is the primary organ in the brain for processing odors. It is heavily connected neutrally to twoimportant memory centers in the limbic system, the hippocampus and the amygdala. These strongconnections provide the neural basis for the connection between odors and both memory and emotions.
Why is working memory considered to be the active contents ofconsciousness? How does the concept of working memory differ from theconcept of short-term memory?
The goal of rehearsing is to keep information in workingmemory, the active contents of our consciousness, so we can make use of that informationimmediately. Working memory systems are the neurocognitive systems that allow us tomaintain information over short periods of time. Working memory used to be called Short-termmemory but for several reasons is no longer used short-term memory is more often used todescribe a stage in an information-processing model rather than afunctional neurocognitivesystem.
Describe three main differences between working memory and long-termmemory.
A short-term memory system. Working memory’s function is to temporarily holdinformation over a short period of time. A limited capacity system. Working memory can onlyhold so much information. The current contents of working memory are thought to beequivalent to conscious awareness.
How does the digit span task measure working memory? How is it modified by the pronunciation time effect?
Pg. 63-64a.Results in the digit spanexperiment show that average (arithmetic mean) performance is just about 7 digits.like trying toremember a phone number. an experimenter reads a list of numbers to a willing participant or group ofparticipants. as soon as the list is read, the participants must repeat back the numerals in order. resultsin a digit span show that average performance is just about 7 digits, consistent with Millers magicnumber. capacity of wm is about 7 items. this is modified by the pronunciation time affect, because if aword is harder/longer to pronounce, it will be rehearsed fewer times
How did Naveh-Benjamin and his colleagues demonstrate the importanceof pronunciation time on the capacity of working memory?
Page. 66a.They useddifferent la gauges to confirm this finding. They also made the use of the fact that digits take a differentamount of time to say a different language.
- How is the serial position curve measured?
Page. 72a.It is measured by free Recall.
Describe one variable that affects the primacy portion of the curve andone variable that affects the recency portion of the curve.
Page. 73a.Primacy andregency effects can be seen under a wide range of conditions in which people misspell words or otheritems immediately
What evidence supports the idea that the visuospatial sketchpad and thephonological loop are separate subsystems in working memory?
Page. 76a. For allintents and purposes, what he proposed is that we have separate working memory systems for eachmajor perceptual modality.
- What is the role of the central executive in working memory?
Page. 76a.Central executive in working memory is the attentional mechanism of the working memory. That is, theycan be successfully do two working memory tasks at the same time without interference.
What neuropsychological evidence exists to support the notion that working memory is a distinct memory system separate from long-term memory?
Page. 84a. The phonological loop task was associated with activity in Brocas area of the leftfrontal lobe. In contrast, the activation is in the right occipital lobe.
- How is working memory related to reading ability?
Working memory plays a crucial role in reading ability because it allows individuals to temporarily store, process, and manipulate information while reading. It helps with decoding words, understanding sentences, and maintaining coherence across longer texts.
