Exam 2 Flashcards
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories after an event.
Korsakoff’s syndrome
Disrupts explicit memory and creates confabulation.
context-dependent learning
an increase in retrieval when the external situation in which information is learned matches the situation in which it is remembered. May be more effective than overall deep processing
context reinstatement
a way of improving retrieval by re-creating the state of mind that accompanied the initial learning
deep processing
encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention
double dissociation
The phenomenon in which one of two functions, such as hearing and sight, can be damaged without harm to the other, and vice versa. Implicit or explicit memory can be harmed without harming the other.
shallow processing
encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words
Fisher & Craik (1977)
Found that when the conditions during encoding match the conditions during retrieval, recall is much better.
encoding specificity
phenomenon of remembering something better when the conditions under which we retrieve information are similar to the conditions under which we encoded it
source monitoring
Occurs when a person attributes a memory to a particular source. May not always be accurate.
What does the hippocampus do?
consolidates encoded information, memory, spatial navigation,
basal ganglia
a set of subcortical structures that directs intentional movements
cerebellum
A large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills.
associations or associative links
Functional connections that are hypothesized to link nodes within a mental network or detectors within a detector network; these associations are often hypothesized as the “carriers” of activation from one node or detector to the next.
subthreshold activation
Activation levels below response threshold. Subthreshold activation, by definition, will not trigger a response; nonetheless, this activation is important because it can accumulate, leading eventually to an activation level that exceeds the response threshold.
spreading activation
Occurs when one item brought into working memory triggers an activation of related memory
lexical-decision task
A procedure in which a person is asked to decide as quickly as possible whether a particular stimulus is a word or a nonword.
semantic priming
A process in which activation of an idea in memory causes activation to spread to other ideas related to the first in meaning.
recognition
a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test
Spaced Repetition
A technique that involves studying and practicing whatever information you are trying to retain over several days. This technique builds neural connections over time, moving information from your working memory to your long-term memory.
source memory
recall of when, where, and how information was acquired
“remember/know” distinction
A distinction between two experiences a person can have in recalling a past event. If you “remember” having encountered a stimulus before, then you usually can offer information about that encounter, including when, where, and how it occurred. If you merely “know” that you encountered a stimulus before, then you’re likely to have a sense of familiarity with the stimulus
word-stem completion
A task in which research participants are given the beginning of a word (e.g., “TOM”) and must provide a word that starts with the letters provided. In some versions of the task, only one solution is possible, so performance is measured by counting the number of words completed. In other versions of the task, several solutions are possible for each stem, and performance is assessed by determining which responses fulfill some other criterion.
explicit memory
memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”
direct memory testing
A form of memory testing in which people are asked explicitly to remember some previous event. Recall and standard recognition testing are both forms of direct memory testing. Often contrasted with indirect memory testing.
implicit memory
retention of knowledge independent of conscious recollection, like knowledge of how to ride a bike
indirect memory testing
A form of memory testing in which research participants are not told that their memories are being tested. Instead, they are tested in a fashion in which previous experiences can influence current behavior. Examples of indirect tests include word-stem completion, the lexical-decision task, and tachistoscopic recognition. Often contrasted with direct memory testing.
illusion of truth
an effect of implicit memory in which claims that are familiar end up seeming more plausible
source confusion
a memory distortion that occurs when the true source of the memory is forgotten
processing pathway
the sequence of detectors, and the connections between detectors, that the activation flows through in recognizing a specific stimulus
processing fluency
the ease with which something is processed or comes to mind
amnesia
memory loss
retrograde amnesia
an inability to retrieve information from one’s past
anterograde amnesia
an inability to form new memories
intrusion errors
Memory mistakes in which elements that were not part of the original information get mixed into (“intrude” into) someone’s recall.
DRM paradigm
A common procedure for studying memory, in which participants read and then immediately recall a list of related words, but the word providing the “theme” for the list is not included.
schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
misinformation effect
incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event
retention interval
the time that elapses between learning and retrieval
decay theory of forgetting
The hypothesis that with the passage of time, memories may fade or erode.
interference theory
the theory that people forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember
retrieval failure
the inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues
Tip of the tongue phenomenon
the inability to recall a word, while knowing that it is in memory
autobiographical memory
the memory for events and facts related to one’s personal life story
consolidation
the process by which memories become stable in the brain
flashbulb memories
detailed recollections of when and where we heard about shocking events
family resemblance
features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member
prototype
the best example of a category
typicality
a measure of how well a category member represents that category
graded membership
the observation that some concepts appear to make better category members than others
sentence verification task
An experimental procedure, used for studying memory, in which participants are given simple sentences (e.g., “Cats are animals”) and must respond as quickly as possible whether the sentence is true or false.
production task
An experimental procedure used in studying concepts, in which the person is asked to name as many examples (e.g., as many fruits) as possible.
rating task
A task in which research participants must evaluate some item or category with reference to some dimension, usually expressing their response in terms of some number. For example, participants might be asked to evaluate birds for how typical they are within the category “birds,” using a “1” response to indicate “very typical” and a “7” response to indicate “very atypical.”
basic-level categorization
A level of categorization hypothesized as the “natural” and most informative level, neither too specific nor too general. People tend to use basic-level terms (such as “chair,” rather than the more general “furniture” or the more specific “armchair”) in their ordinary conversation and in their reasoning.
exemplar-based reasoning
Reasoning that draws on knowledge about specific category members, rather than drawing on more-general information about the overall category.
anomia
inability to name certain objects
hub and spoke model
A model of semantic knowledge that proposes that areas of the brain that are associated with different functions are connected to the anterior temporal lobe, which integrates information from these areas.
connectionist networks
Proposed systems of knowledge representation that rely on distributed representations, and that therefore require parallel distributed processing to operate on the elements of a representation.
associate net theories
Explains how our brain organizes and retrieves information through a network of interconnected ideas and concepts. It suggests that memory operates like a web, where recalling one idea can trigger related thoughts and memories.
parallel distributed processing (PDP)
A system of handling information in which many steps happen at once (i.e., in parallel) and in which various aspects of the problem or task are represented only in a distributed way.
morpheme
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
like un- or dog
phoneme
in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
speech segmentation
The process of perceiving individual words within the continuous flow of the speech signal.
Synesthesia
describing one kind of sensation in terms of another (“a loud color”, “a sweet sound”)
coarticulation
the phenomenon in speech whereby attributes of successive speech units overlap in articulatory or acoustic patterns
phonemic restoration effect
“fill in” missing phonemes based on context of sentence and portion of word presented
categorical perception
The ability to perceive sounds as belonging to different phoneme categories (e.g. that ability to differentiate between /p/ and /b/)
syntax
Sentence structure
phrase-structure rules
rules stating that the structure of a phrase of a specific type consists of one or more constituents in a particular order
prescriptive rules
rules describing how language is “supposed to be”
Collins and Quillian (1969)
Model for how concepts and properties are associated in the mind
descriptive rules
Rules that simply describe the regularities in a pattern of observations, with no commentary on whether the pattern is “proper,” “correct,” or “desirable.”
Parsing Errors
a mistake made when the brain attempts to understand the structure of a sentence
extralinguistic context
the physical and social setting in which you encounter sentences
Koslyn’s imaginary island study
found that longer mental distances take longer to travel
pragmatic rules
rules that govern how people use language in everyday interaction
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
the idea that different languages create different ways of thinking
Broca’s area
An area in the left frontal lobe of the brain; damage here typically causes nonfluent aphasia.
unilateral neglect
A syndrome in which people ignore objects located toward their left and the left sides of objects located anywhere; most often caused by damage to the right parietal lobe
metacognition
awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes, may alter our thought processes.
Broca’s aphasia
characterized by slow, labored speech and struggle to retrieve words and form sentences
Shepard and Metzler (1971)
Mental rotation task
Wernicke’s area
An area in the temporal lobe of the brain, where the temporal and parietal lobes meet; damage here typically causes fluent aphasia.
Wernicke’s aphasia
causes the affected person to be unable to understand or produce meaningful language. (fluent word salad)
specific-language impairment
primary difficulty in learning and using language that cannot be attributed to another disability
self-reference effect
tendency to better remember information relevant to ourselves
overregularization error
a mistake that occurs in speech when the child applies a newly learned rule even to cases where it does not apply (I runned, look at my foots)
linguistic relativity
view that characteristics of language shape our thought processes
chronometric studies
are time-measuring techniques used to record how long it takes to fulfill a mental process
image-scanning procedure
An experimental procedure in which participants are asked to form a specific mental image and then are asked to scan, with their “mind’s eye,” from one point in the image to another. By timing these scans, the experimenter can determine how long “travel” takes across a mental image.
mental rotation task
a task that involves judging whether two presented figures match in orientation
demand character
Cues within an experiment that signal to the participant how he or she is “supposed to” respond.
eidetic imagery
An especially clear and persistent form of memory that is quite rare; sometimes known as “photographic memory.”
McGurk Effect
an error in perception that occurs when we misperceive sounds because the audio and visual parts of the speech are mismatched.
dual coding
when an item to be remembered is connected to another piece of sensory input, like an image, it is more likely to be remembered. two inputs are easier to remember than one
boundary extension
our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene than was actually shown
flashbulb memory
a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event, found to be more accurate when present to the event
