exam 4 Flashcards
what is memory?
-capacity to retain and retrieve information
-is reconstruction of things that have already occurred. not a recording device that makes exact copies
-without memory we would need round the clock care. it provides us with our identities
processes of memory, three stage memory
encoding, storage, retrieval
encoding
We transform what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory
storage
Process of maintaining information in memory over time
retrieval
Process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored
2 models of memory
information-processing model
parallel distributed-processing model
Information-Processing Model
information passes through three memory stores during encoding, storage, and retrieval
memories are stored in a network of associations throughout our brains
make connections
Parallel Distributed-Processing Model
information is represented in the brain as a pattern of activation across entire neural networks
memory is similar to a computer
storage
maintaining information in memory
analogy
information storage in computers information storage in human memory
information-processing theories
3 different
sensory, short-term, long-term
sensory memory
purpose: holds sensory information
duration: lasts up to 1/2 sec for visual, 2-4 sec for auditory
capacity: large
working memory (short term)
purpose: holds information temporarily for analysis
duration: up to 30 sec without rehearsal
capacity: limited to 5-9 items
long term memory
purpose: relatively permanent storage
duration; relatively permanent
capacity: relatively unlimited
sensory memory
• Brief preservation of information in original sensory form
• Auditory/echoic + visual/iconic – approximately 1⁄4- second
• George Sperling (1960)
• Classic experiment on visual sensory store
iconic memory (what you see)
a fleeting photographic memory
encoding
•The role of attention
•Focusing awareness
•Selective attention = selection of input
•Divided attention
information processing model
• We are presented with a stimulus and our brain retains a sensory memory of it for less than a second
• Sensory memories include:
o What we see (iconic)
o What we hear (echoic)
levels of processing
• Incoming information processed at different levels:
• Deeper processing = longer lasting memory codes
• Encoding levels:
• Visual = shallow= just the letters
• Phonemic = intermediate= sounds, reading
• Semantic = deep = meaning
Information Processing Model
If we pay attention, information enters our….
• Working (short-term) memory, which holds information for 30 seconds; capacity is 5-9 items
There are two ways to encode:
• Automatic processing
• Effortful processing
If we encode the information, it enters our…
• Long-term memory, which stores information forever
automatic processing
when you remember something without much conscious awareness or effort
effortful processing
when you remember something with careful attention and conscious effort
Organizational Encoding
• Categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items
How Is Knowledge Represented and Organized in Memory?
•Clustering and conceptual hierarchies
•Schemas and scripts
•Semantic networks
•Connectionist networks and PDP models
Enriching Encoding
elaboration, visual imagery, and self-referent encoding
elaboration
linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding
• Thinking of examples
visual imagery
creation of visual images to represent words to be
remembered
• Easier for concrete objects: dual-coding theory
Self-referent encoding
Making information personally meaningful
Short-Term Memory (STM)
• Durability of storage – about 20 seconds without rehearsal
• Rehearsal – the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the
information
• Maintenance vs. elaborative rehearsal
• Capacity of storage – magical number 7 plus or minus 2 (4 plus or
minus 1?)
• Chunking – grouping familiar stimuli for storage as a single unit
Non-sensory information that is held for more than a few seconds
Short-Term Memory as “Working Memory”
• STM not limited to phonemic encoding
• Loss of information not due only to decay
• Working Memory: Active maintenance of information in short-term storage
• A mental workspace that actively and simultaneously processes different types of information and supports other cognitive functions like problem- solving, planning, and interacts with LTM.
• Working memory capacity (WMC)
Long-Term Memory
• Storage that holds information for hours, days, weeks, or years; no known capacity
• Permanent storage?
• Flashbulb memories
• Debate: Are STM and LTM really different?
• Phonemic vs. semantic encoding
• Decay vs. interference-based forgetting
Systems and Types of Memory
• Implicit vs. explicit
• Declarative vs. Non-declarative (procedural)
• Semantic vs. episodic
• Prospective vs. retrospective
Long-term Potentiation (LTP)
• Main neural mechanism by which a memory is stored in the brain.
• During LTP, dendrites grow and branch out and certain synapses increase in number.
• Changes take time so LTM’s remain vulnerable because they are undergoing consolidation/stabilization which can take years.
• LTM’s then solidify.
Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory
-Using Cues to Aid Retrieval
-The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
-A failure in retrieval
-Retrieval cues
-Reinstating the Context of an Event
-Context cues
-Reconstructing memories
-Misinformation effect
• Source monitoring, reality monitoring
Retrieval: Bringing Memories to Mind
Information is sometimes available in memory even when it is not accessible
Retrieval cues
External information that helps bring stored information to mind.
Encoding specificity principle
Idea that a retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps recreate the specific way in which information was initially encoded
State dependent retrieval
Tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same mental or physical state during encoding and retrieval
Transfer/context-dependent processing
Memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when the encoding context of the situations match
Retrieval
-Using Cues to Remember
• Required for the activation of information in LTM. A yearbook photo can activate memories about that person.
Forgetting: When Memory Laps
• How Quickly We Forget: Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve
• Measures of forgetting
• Retention: the proportion of material retained
• Recall
• Recognition
• Relearn
Why We Forget?
• Ineffective encoding
• Decay
• Interference
• Proactive
• Retroactive
• Is forgetting adaptive?
Proactive interference:
Situations in which information learned earlier impairs memory for information acquired later
§Old information like the your friend’s old email address interferes with your ability to remember her new work email address.
Retroactive Interference
Situations in which earlier learning impairs memory for information acquired later.
§ The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
§ Learning a password for a new bank card can disrupt recall of the password for your existing bank card.
Misinformation Effect: Suggestibility
§ Incorporating misleading information into the memory of an event
In Search of the Memory Trace: The Physiology of Memory
neural circuitry
anatomy
• Neural circuitry
• Localized neural circuits
• Reusable pathways in the brain (neurogenesis)
• Long-term potentiation (see next slide for more details)
Anatomy
• Anterograde and retrograde amnesia
• Cerebral cortex, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus
• Consolidation
Seven Sins of Memory: How Memory Goes Wrong
sins of omission
sins of commission
Sins of Omission
- Transience (time weakens memories)
- Absentmindedness (Preoccupied/attention)
- Blocking (Trying to recall Ted’s name and someone says, “Is the name Dave.”
Sins of Commission
- Misattribution - remembering something but not the source it came from
- Suggestibility
- Bias
- Persistence
Improving Everyday Memory
• Engage in adequate rehearsal
• Distribute practice and minimize interference
• Engage in deep processing and transfer-appropriate processing
• Organize information
• Use verbal mnemonics
• Use visual mnemonics
Emotion
an intrapersonal state in response to an internal or external event
Four components of emotion:
physiological
cognitive, feeling
physical, behavioural
emotional, behavioural
Physiological
– changes in bodily arousal
o Heart rate, temperature, and respiration
Cognitive, feeling
subjective appraisal and interpretation of one’s feelings and environment
Physical, behavioural
– expression of the emotion verbally and non-verbally
o Smiling, frowning, whining, laughing, reflecting, slouching
Emotional, behavioural
– keeping the emotion present (happiness) or removing it (sadness)
How are emotions adaptive?
• Signal important events and direct our attention to them.
• Fight or flight—keep us alive. Baby’s cry brings parent to his or her side.
• Social communication—provides observable information about internal states and intentions so emotions influence how others behave towards us.
Emotional Communication
messages without words
Universality hypothesis
-Emotional expressions have the same meaning for everyone; originally proposed by Darwin
– People (even those who have never seen a human face) are generally good at judging and creating the same facial expressions.
– There are six universal emotions expressed: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.
six basic emotions
anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise
Ways to Measure Emotions—Detecting Lies
- Behavioural displays of emotion
• Observe behaviour and facial expressions - Self-reports of emotion
• Widely used, but has low validity. Why?
Ways to Measure Emotions—Lie Detection
- Psychophysiological reactions
• Face electromyography
• Heart rate
• Skin conductance
• fMRI
Functions of Emotions
cognitive functions
behavioural functions
social functions
Cognitive functions
• Emotions help organize and retrieve memories
• Prioritize concerns, needs, and goals
• Guide judgments and help us make decisions
Behavioural functions
• Emotions alter behaviours
• Action tendencies – emotions are associated with predictable patterns of behaviour that help us adapt and survive
Social functions
• Emotions are the foundation of relationships
• Emotions help improve relationship quality
• Helps with empathy and work performance
James-Lange Theory
-felt emotions result from physiological changes, rather than being their cause
- body before thoughts
states that emotion is our conscious awareness of our physiological responses to stimuli.
§ Our body arousal happens first, and then the cognitive awareness and label for the feeling: “I’m angry.”
§ According to this theory, if something makes us smile, we may then feel happy.
Cannon-Bard Theory
the subjective experience of emotion and the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (that is, bodily arousal) occur simultaneously
Body Response and Cognitive Experience
we have a conscious/cognitive experience of an emotion at the same time as our body is responding, not afterward.
§ Human body responses run parallel to the cognitive responses rather than causing them.
Schachter and Singer’s Two-Factor Theory
an emotional state is a function of both physiological arousal and cognition
Emotion = Body Plus a Cognitive Label
suggests that emotions do not exist until we add a label to whatever body sensations we are feeling.
§ I face a stranger, and my heart is pounding. Is it fear? Excitement? Anger? Lust? Or did I have too much caffeine? The label completes the emotion.
Adjusting the Cannon-Bard Theory
§ Emotions are not just a separate mental experience. When our body responses are blocked, emotions do not feel as intense.
§ Our cognitions influence our emotions in many ways, including our interpretations of stimuli: “Is that a threat? Then I’m afraid.”
spillover effect
when arousal was caused by injections of what turned out to be adrenaline.
The subjects interpreted their agitation to whatever emotion the others in the room appeared to be feeling; the emotional label “spilled over” from others.
The Physiology of Emotion
Contrary to the claims of the two-factor theory, different emotions do seem to have different underlying patterns of physiological arousal. Anger, fear, and sadness all produce higher heart rates compared to happiness, surprise, and disgust (a). Anger produces a much larger increase in finger temperature than any other emotion (b).
Cognitive-mediational theory
– cognitive interpretations, particularly appraisals, of events are the keys to experiences of
emotion
• Developed by Richard Lazarus
• Cognitive appraisal is a cognitive mediator between environmental stimuli and our reaction to those stimuli
Appraisal:
Choosing How to View a Situation
Questions to ask yourself when facing a possible stressor:
Is this a challenge and will I tackle it? Is it overwhelming and will I give up?
There are few conditions that are inherently and universally stressful; we can often choose our appraisal and our responses.
The exceptions are extreme, chronic physical threats or challenges (such as noise or starvation)
Survival Function of Emotions
evolutionary theory
basic emotions
Evolutionary theory
– emotions are innate, passed through generations because they are necessary for survival
Basic emotions
– a group of emotions preprogrammed into all humans regardless of culture
Emotional Development
Basic or primary emotions
Complex emotions
Basic or primary emotions
– Present at birth: interest, distress, disgust,
contentment
– Emerge between 2 and 7 months: anger, sadness, joy, surprise, fear
Complex emotions
– In second year, self-conscious (self-evaluative) emotions emerge: embarrassment, shame, guilt, envy, pride
Emotions and social behaviour
emotional display rules
emotional self-regulation
Emotional display rules
• Suppress and express • Take time to master
Emotional self-regulation
• Harder for boys than for girls
• Behaviours and language important
• Positively related to language development
Facial-feedback theory
– subjective experiences of emotion are influenced by sensory feedback from facial muscular activity, or facial efference
Facial efference
– sensory feedback from facial muscular activity
• Facial feedback hypothesis
Emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they signify
The Emotional Brain
• The amygdala plays an important role in emotion; threat detector
– Appraisal: Evaluation of the emotion-relevant aspects of a stimulus
– Ledoux: Fast (thalamus à amygdala) and slow (thalamusàcortexàamygdala) pathways of fear in the brain
Detecting Emotion in Others
§ Expressive Behaviours: People read a great deal of emotional content in the eyes and the faces.
§ Introverts are better at detecting emotions; extroverts have emotions that are easier to read.
§ We are primed to quickly detect negative emotions, and even negative emotion words.
§ Those who have been abused are biased toward seeing fearful faces as angry, as in the test below.
Deceptive Expression
• Sincere and insincere expressions may ‘leakout.
• Four features that are more readily observable seem to distinguish between sincere and insincere facial expressions
– Morphology (reliable muscles) – Symmetry
– Duration
– Temporal patterning
Detecting Lies and Fakes
§ Polygraphs (detecting physiological arousal) are not that useful at correctly identifying when people are lying.
§ Visible signs of lying: eye blinks decrease and other facial movements change.
What About Positive Emotions?
Positive psychology
positive psychology
Positive psychology is the study and enrichment of:
• Positive feelings – happiness, optimism
• Positive traits – perseverance, wisdom
• Positive abilities – interpersonal skills
• Virtues – altruism, tolerance
Happiness
Happy people tend to be:
• Optimistic, outgoing, curious, and tender-minded
• Individuals with high self-esteem, spiritual, goal directed,
have a sense of control over their lives
Longitudinal study
• Highly optimistic people had a 55% reduced risk of death and a 23% reduced risk of heart problems
