Exam 2 Flashcards
1
Q
What is working memory?
A
Brief immediate memory for material we are currently processing.
2
Q
What is long term memory?
A
Has a large capacity, it contains your memory for experiences and info that you have accumulated.
3
Q
What are the 3 subdivisions of long term memory?
A
episodic, semantic, and procedural
4
Q
What is episodic memory?
A
Memories for events that happened to you personally.
5
Q
What is semantic memory?
A
Organized knowledge about the world: knowledge about words and other factual information.
6
Q
What is procedural memory?
A
Refers to your knowledge about how to do something.
7
Q
What is encoding?
A
Processing information and representing it in your memory.
8
Q
What is retrieval?
A
Locating info in storage and accessing the info.
9
Q
What is autobiographical information?
A
Your memory for experiences and info that are related to yourself.
10
Q
What is the level-of-processing approach to encoding?
A
That deep, meaningful processing of info leads to more accurate recall than shallow.
11
Q
What is distinctiveness and how does it affect encoding?
A
Distinctiveness means that a stimulus is different from other memory traces; it makes it easier to recall the information.
12
Q
What is elaboration? How does it affect encoding?
A
Requires rich processing in terms of meaning and interconnected concepts; leads to easier recall of info.
13
Q
What is the self-reference effect? How does it impact encoding?
A
You remember more info if you try to relate that information to yourself; If when processing info, you relate it to something in your life, you are more likely to remember it.
14
Q
What is meta-analysis?
A
The statistical method for synthesizing numerous studies on a single topic.
15
Q
What is the encoding-specific principle? How does it effect retrieval?
A
Recall is better when the context during retrieval is similar to the context during encoding; ex. bedroom (encoding)—kitchen (retrieval) forget until returning to the bedroom.
16
Q
What is a recall task vs. a recognition task?
A
Recall: you must reproduce items learned earlier.
Recognition: Judging whether they saw a particular item at an earlier time.
17
Q
What is the difference between emotion and mood in psychology?
A
Emotion: a reaction to a specific stimulus
Mood: more general, long lasting experience
18
Q
What is the Pollyanna Principle?
A
Pleasant items are usually processed more efficiently and more accurately than less pleasant items.
19
Q
What is mood congruence?
A
Recalling material more accurately if it is congruent with your current mood.
20
Q
What is an implicit memory task?
A
You see the material and then later during the test phase you are instructed to complete a cognitive task that does not directly ask for recall or recognition.
21
Q
What is an explicit memory task?
A
A researcher directly asks you to remember some info, you know your memory is being tested, and it intentionally requires some information.
22
Q
What is a repetition priming task?
A
Recent exposure to a word increases the likelihood that you’ll think of that particular word when given a cue
23
Q
What is dissociation?
A
When a variable has a large effect in test 1 and little effect in test 2.
24
Q
What does research show about the memory of those with anxiety?
A
Those people are more likely to remember threatening words very accurately.
25
What is Amnesia?
Severe deficits in the episodic memory.
26
What is retrograde amnesia vs. anterograde amnesia?
Retrograde amnesia: have difficulty remembering things that happened before the accident
Anterograde amnesia: have a hard time forming new memories after the accident.
27
What memory can amnesia patients complete?
Implicit memory tasks
28
What is a characteristic of those who are experts on memory?
In general those who are experts at memory are really good at one particular subject.
29
What is the own ethnicity bias?
We are generally more accurate in identifying our own race.
30
What is ecological validity?
When studying autobiographical memory, it is important to test it in conditions similar to the natural setting.
31
What is a schema?
the general knowledge you have on one topic based on previously obtained knowledge.
32
What is consistency bias?
We tend to exaggerate the consistency of our feelings and beliefs of the past to those of the present.
33
What is source monitoring?
The process of trying to identify the origin of a particular memory.
34
What is reality monitoring?
Trying to identify whether an event really happened or if it was imagined.
35
What is flashbulb memory?
The memory for the situation were you first learned about a very surprising and emotionally arousing event.
36
What is post-event misinformation?
People view an event and then are given misleading info about the event and believe it even though they just watched it occur.
37
What is proactive interference?
People have trouble recalling new material because of previously learned old material.
38
What is retroactive interference?
People have trouble recalling old material because some recently learned new material is interfering.
39
What is the constructivist approach to memory?
We construct knowledge by integrating what we know as a result, our understanding of a topic is coherent.
40
What is the recovered-memory perspective versus the false-memory perspective?
Recovered: individuals who experience sexual abuse forget the event for many years.
False: Most recovered memories are actually incorrect memories (never occurred)
41
In eye witness testimony what is the correlation between confidence and accuracy?
confidence does not equal accuracy
42
Where are the structures that control memory in the brain?
Memory is spread out over the brain surface.
43
Where is procedural memory mostly located in the brain? Can amnesics have procedural memory?
In the cerebellum: amnesics can still have it.
44
When we store memory, how does it change?
It changes contexts episodic-> semantic, loses context
45
What are the three stages of memory?
Encoding, storage, retrieval
46
How can repetition effect encoding?
Repetition and longer time spent with the material is not enough to have good memory.
47
What are the three levels of processing and how do they affect memory?
Visual, acoustic, and semantic: semantic provides the best memory.
48
How does elaboration effect recall?
It makes the memory bigger, making it easier to find.
49
What determines whether or not we encode something?
The importance and whether we attend to it, and also the emotional significance.
50
What is consolidation and when does it occur?
The storage of information and it takes place during sleep (wakeful rest).
51
Does wakeful rest aid memory?
There is a reduction of the loss of memory.
52
What is retrieval?
Remembering where information is brought up from long-term memory to working memory.
53
What is declarative memory?
Explicit memory (intentional)- experiences
54
What is non-declarative memory?
Implicit (unconscious) memory- tasks
55
What is priming?
Activation of associations in LTM (unconscious): faster at processing the info a 2nd time.
56
Where is explicit long-term memory processed?
In the hippocampus
57
Where is implicit long-term memory processed?
Other brain areas besides the hippocampus: includes the cerebellum.
58
What are the two types of memory under explicit memory?
Episodic and semantic
59
What are the types of memories under implicit memory?
Procedural and priming
60
Rank the ways we remember information based on difficulty: free recall, recognition, and cued recall.
Free-recall is the hardest; Recognition is the easiest.
61
What is available versus accessible?
Available: Somewhere in memory with the right cues.
Accessible: Retrievable with cues.
62
How does body position effect recall?
Body position is a cue to the memory you are trying to retrieve.
63
What is the adaptive nature of forgetting?
Not a failure of memory: based on what is important and for how long it will be important.
64
What are the three theories of forgetting?
Decay, interference, and context change.
65
What is the decay theory of forgetting?
It isn't all about the passage of time, maybe the original strength of the memory or maybe the size of the brain is changing.
66
What is the interference theory of forgetting?
When other memories get in the way of remembering a new or old event.
67
What is the context theory of forgetting?
Context change emphasizes the importance of cues for accessibility: ex. home town =old memories come back.
68
As we get older how does the categorization of information change?
Older: spatial categorization (ie. rooms)
Younger: categorical representation via objects.
69
What are the 3 types of context change that can occur?
Environmental, state-dependent context, and changing your personality.
70
What are traumatic memory?
Involuntary reaction to a similar situation.
71
In amnesia, which memories are more likely to be forgotten?
Those that are closest in time to the trauma.
72
What is the temporal gradient?
New memories are fragile (haven't been consolidated yet), whereas, older memories are more stable.
73
What is David Marr's theory on new and old memories?
Hippocampus feeds memories to the cortex (damage to it does not effect memory).
Consolidation is important.
74
How can context binding affect amnesics?
Amnesics know something is familiar but they do not know where they saw it (binding deficiency)
75
How can a normal individual have difficulty remembering where they heard or saw something?
deficit in binding because of divided attention.
76
What are some examples as to how people become so good at remembering things?
Chunking information into meaningful pieces.
77
How can autobiographical memory be tested?
Diaries, interviews with the family, repeated testing.
78
What is the reminiscence bump?
A lot of memories are kept from the age range of 15-25.
79
What is childhood amnesia?
The first 5 years of life have very few memories.
80
What was Johnson's theory of reality monitoring?
- Vivid perceptual detail higher for real events.
- Memory of thought processes higher for imagined events.
- Real memories are embedded in others.
- Low plausibility
81
When is self-recognition formed?
18 months
82
What are the failures of reality monitoring?
- More vivid, unusual
- Sleep deprived
- Repetitive= less attentive
83
How can planted memories occur?
When a false stories is embedded in real events.
84
What can increase false memory?
Doctored photos, a way to visualize the event.
85
What are the necessary things to create false memory?
- Plausible
- Form image or story
- Source monitoring breaks down.
86
What could make someone more susceptible to false memory formation?
If the person is more dissociative.
| People with "recovered" memories
87
What are the problems with memory recovery techniques?
Suggestive: symptoms, and diagnosis.
88
What is wrong with hypnosis being used for recovering memory?
Hypnosis makes people more susceptible to suggestions.
89
What is guided imagery and what is wrong with it?
Patients are told to imagine something and then asked if it happened to them; imagery can enhance false memories.
90
How accurate are flashbulb memories?
Not accurate. Most of the time the memory changes dramatically over a few years.
91
What is the misinformation effect?
Words used to describe an event affect later memory reconstruction (changes memory).
92
What happened in the Ronald Cotton Case?
Problems with eye witness testimony.
93
How often is someone wrongly convicted based on eye witness testimony?
2,000-10,000
94
What effects eye witness testimony?
Own-race bias, weapon focus, stress, biased instructions ("we believe the person..is present"), structure of the line-up.
95
What is a fair-line up versus a biased-line up?
Fair: 4 or 5 innocent people who closely match the suspects description.
Biased: Anything distinctive about the suspect is bad.
96
What is a memory strategy?
Performing mental activities that can help to improve your encoding and retrieval.
97
What is the foresight bias?
When people are over confident on how they will perform on an exam.
98
What is the total time hypothesis?
The amount that you learn depends on the total time you devote to learning
99
What is the retrieval-practice effect?
Trying to recall important concepts from memory, your learning is enhanced
100
What is the distributed-practice effect?
You will remember more material if you spread your learning out over time. (spaced versus massed learning)
101
What are desirable difficulties?
Learning should be somewhat challenging but not too hard.
102
What is the testing effect?
Taking a test is actually an excellent way to boost your long term recall.
103
What are mneumonics?
Mental strategies designed to improve your memory.
104
What is mental imagery?
We mentally represent object, actions, or ideas that are not physically present.
105
What is the keyword method?
You develop a word that sounds similar to the one you want to learn; then create an image that links the meaning of the word.
106
What is chunking?
Combining several small units into larger units
107
What is the form of organization called hierarchy?
Items are arranged in a series of classes from general to specific.
108
What is the first letter technique?
The way I think of mnemonic devices.
109
What is the narrative technique?
Create a story line that links a series of words together.
110
What is prospective memory?
Remembering you need to do something in the future.
111
What is an example of an external memory aid?
A shopping list.
112
What is metacognition?
Refers to your knowledge and control of your cognitive process.
113
What is metamemory?
Refers to peoples knowledge, monitoring, an control of their memory.
114
What do people believe about the font size and their memory?
People falsely believe that a larger font size will allow them to remember the information better
115
What is the tip-of the tongue effect?
Subjective experience of knowing the target word for which you are searching, yet you can not recall it right now.
116
What is the feeling-of-knowing effect?
The subjective experience of knowing some information but you cannot recall it right now.
-Pretty accurate and is better with more partial information.
117
What is embodied cognition?
A perspective that emphasizes how our abstract thoughts are often expressed by our motor behavior.
118
What is metacomprehension?
Refers to our thoughts about language comprehension.
119
What is imagery?
A mental representation of stimuli when those stimuli are not physically present.
120
What is visual imagery versus auditory imagery?
Visual: The mental representation of visual stimuli
Auditory: The mental representation of auditory stimuli
121
What type of processing does imagery rely on?
Top-down processing
122
What is perception?
Uses previous knowledge to gather and interpret the stimuli registered by the senses. (Top-down and bottom-up processing)
123
What is analog code?
A representation that closely resembles the physical object.
| - Not an actual image
124
What is the propositional code?
An abstract, language-like representation; neither visual nor spatial and does not physically resemble the original stimulus.
- Not in English
125
When researcher look at mental imagery, they examine what?
The reaction time it takes for a participant to tell whether or not a letter is the same or not.
126
What did researchers find about visual imagery and distance?
There is a linear relationship between the mental time it takes a person to scan from one place to the other and the distance to be scanned.
127
What is different about how ambiguous images are represented in the mind?
Sometimes they use propositional codes sometimes they use analog codes.
128
What is the analog perspective?
There is a mental image of an object that closely resembles the actual perceptual image on your retina
129
What is the propositional perspective?
mental images are stored in an abstract, language like form that does not physically resemble the original stimulus.
130
What is a cognitive map?
It is a mental representation of geographic information.
131
What is a heuristic?
A general problem-solving strategy that usually produces a correct solution.
132
What are the 3 things that can effect people's distance estimates?
1. number of intervening cities
2. category membership
3. whether the destination is a landmark
133
What is the border bias?
People estimate that the distance between two specific location is larger if they are on different sides of the border.
134
What is the landmark effect?
The tendency to provide shorter distances to a landmark.
135
What is the 90-degree heuristic?
We represent angles in a mental map as being closer to 90 degrees than they really are.
136
What is the symmetry heuristic?
We remember things as being more symmetrical and regular then they really are.
137
What is the rotation heuristic?
A figure that is slightly tilted will be remembered as being either more vertical or more horizontal.
138
What is the alignment heuristic?
Separate structures will be remembered as being more in line than they really are.
139
How can eye-witness confidence be increased?
When the tester says something along the lines of that person was correct.
140
What is the difference between an overloaded cue and a distinctive cue?
Overloaded cue: too heavy of a cue for retrieval
| Distinctive cue: leads you directly to the information that you want.
141
What is the method of loci?
A way to remember information (a list) of like grocery based on their made-up locations.
142
What are the 3 things we examine to understand monitoring?
1. Cue use
2. Cue validity
3. JOL accuracy
143
How did people adjust their judgements of learning when the time before recall was changed?
The JOLs did not change.
144
What was Sheppard's interpretation of imagery?
Imagery was the relationship between parts that are preserved.
145
What provides evidence that there are no "mental pictures"?
Ambiguous pictures: you could see one way, but when asked to interpret it another way, it was impossible. (no mental image)
146
What does imaging do to perception?
Priming will increase the perception time.
147
In an fMRI scan, what was the difference between perceiving visual patterns and imagining them?
Brain activity was the same but not as strong in imagery situations.
148
What is spatial cognition?
Our thoughts about spatial issues (cog. maps, memory of navigation)
149
How are things the same or different in cognition between sexes?
Gender similarities except in spatial ability.
