exam 3 Flashcards
sensory
storage; preserved for a very short period of time
iconic memory: visual stimuli
echoic memory: auditory stimuli (important for ability to comprehend and understand language
short term
Used interchangeably with primary memory but are not necessarily the same.
primary memory
focus of your consciousness, something you are thinking about
long term memory (secondary memory)
out of focus of your current consciousness, but you can recall it if you want
Atkinson and shiffrin’s model
The distinction between the current contents of consciousness and other memories that can be recalled into conscious awareness
We record things we want to remember as an immediate but fleeting sensory memory
Encode information into short term memory through rehearsal
Memory either decays or gets transferred to long term memory
Long term memory durable and spacious memory.
short term memory
capacity and chunking (George Miller)
short term memory capacity is magical number seven plus or minus two
chunk
a unit is STM
chunking
grouping of information
recall
retrieval of information without cues (e.g. fill in the blanks,essay)
recognition
retrieval of information with cues (e.g. multiple choice test)
*recognition is usually better than recall
serial position effect (primacy)
The tendency for material presented early in a list to be recalled better than material presented in the middle of a list; usually found both in immediate and delayed free recall tasks
recency effect
The tendency for material presented near the end of the list to be recalled better than material in the middle of a list; usually found in immediate free recall only
rehearsal prevention task
counting backwards aloud
memory scanning
the ones with more numbers were harder to remember
serial exhaustive search
continue search till the end of the list
Forgetting curve for nonsense syllables (Ebbinghaus)
retention decreases as the retention interval increases but the rate of forgetting slows down
Decay (Brown and Peterson task)
forgetting is caused by decay of memory traces
Interference
forgetting is caused by other memories
Proactive interference
old items interfere with new items
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
Retroactive Interference
the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old
information
release from PI
reduction of PI due to change of category of memory items
Information transfer from STM to LTM
the longer the information is kept in STM, the higher the likelihood that information is transferred from STM to LTM
Depth of processing manipulations
working memory allows for the manipulation of stored information, while traditional short-term memory span tasks are concerned only with the short-term storage of information and do not entail the manipulation of material held in memory.
case
Is the word in capital letters? (Shallower processing)
phonetic
does the word rhyme with weight
semantic
would the word fit in the sentence “he met a __ in the street? Deeper processing
Criticism to the depth of processing
the problem with levels; how do we know a particular kind of rehearsal would prompt shallow or deep processing?
Circular argument 1) information was retained better because it was deeply processed or 2) information was deeply processed because it was retained better
Central executive
allocation of attentional resources, task management, etc
phonological loop
maintenance of verbal information
visuospatial sketchpad
maintenance of visuo-spatial information
Brain lesions related to working memory systems
Your Working Memory is located right at the front of the brain in the area known as the Prefrontal Cortex.
Reading span task:
a sentence is presented one at a time, and your task is to judge whether or not the sentence is grammatically correct. Then remember the last word. After several sentences, you need to recall the words
Operation span task
an equation is presented one at a time, and your task is to judge whether or not the equation is correct. Then remember a word after the equation. After several equations, you need to recall words.
