Exam 4

Question 1

Evidence indicating separate storage’s for short and long term memory

Answer 1

Behavioral

• Ebbinghous- no effort to recall 1-5 nonsense syllables
  
  • considerable effort to recall >5 syllables
  • harder/longer the word, the more to memorize, harder to remember

Biological

• Inhibiting proteins synthesis does not impair within-session memory, but prevents build-up of memory across session (stops more memories from building up)
• not being consolidates

Neurological

• patients can show specific defects in STM, LTM or transitions from STM to LTM
• eg HM
• only retains memory when attention is still kept. When diverted, memory is gone

Question 2

Sensory memory

Answer 2

• one for each sense (visual, auditory, haptic)
• very large storage
• very quick decay (about 1 sec long)
• memories in are being overwritten by new sensory info
• transfers to STM

Question 3

How do we know sensory memory has large storage capacity?

Answer 3

Approach 1- total recall

• present letters for ~300ms, too short for transfer to STM
• can remember about 3 letters
• problem- store fades before letters can be written

Approach 2- Sperling- partial report technique

• have participants report only 1 row
• 3 letters reported (those in the given row)

Sensory memory can grasp all the sensory info but can not remember it long enough to record it all before new information comes in

Question 4

Why is working memory a better name for STM?

Answer 4

Bc it is the information we are currently working with

Question 5

How is working memory diff from LTM? Give examples

Answer 5

STM / LTM
Active contents or consciousness / Not currently in consciousness
Access is rapid / Access is slow
Capacity is limited / Capacity is unlimited
Forgotten quickly / Forgotten more slowly

Question 6

How much info can we hold in working memory?

Answer 6

Digit span

• read list of numbers and repeat
• increase length till errors made
• biggest component is IQ
• Miller says 7 +/- 2 (mode of 5)

Question 7

What can affect working memory capacity?

Answer 7

• Miller suggests 5-9 “chunks” of information
  
  • Recording (aka chunking)- finding meaning in info being stored in STM
• Attention determines duration- stop paying attention, lose of info
  
  • rehearsal- repeating info mentally to maintain attention

Question 8

Baddely’s working memory model

Answer 8

• workspace for the mind. Collects sensory input, activates LTMs, transfers info to suit current needs
• 3 components
  
  • phonological loop - inner voice
  • visuospatial sketchpad - inner eye
  • central executive - attention

Question 9

How do we know the Phonological loop is our “inner voice”?

Answer 9

• Stores about 2 secs of auditory information
• Rehearsal needed to remember a series of numbers
  
  • You can hear yourself rehearse it in your mind
  • word-length effect: less capacity to memorize lists of multi-syllable words compared to single-syllable words
    
    • can say more shorter words
    • those who speak faster can rehearse longer lists of words

Question 10

Phonological loop

Answer 10

inner voice

• word-length effect: less capacity to memorize lists of multi-syllable words compared to single-syllable words
• can say more shorter words
• those who speak faster can rehearse longer lists of words

Question 11

Visual-spacial sketchpad

Answer 11

holds both visual and spacial info for manipulation (the mind’s eye
-limited capacity but capacity is independent from phonological loop

Question 12

How do we study the visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 12

with non-humans bc it is experimentally tractable

• delayed non-matching to simple task
  
  • novel object shown, delay, choose non-matching object
• requires visual memory of object to be held in mind during short delay

Question 13

What is the central executive responsible for?

Answer 13

The working part of the mind

• exerts cognitive control over behavior
  
  • manipulates remembered information
    
    • self-ordered memory tasks
      
      • pick an item you haven’t picked yet
        
        • studied in non-humans
  • sets goals, makes plans and monitors completion
    
    • tower of hanoi task (humans)
  • switching between tasks
    
    • switching the rules (wisconsin card sorting test)
  • selects appropriate behavior and inhibits inappropriate behaviors
    
    • the Stroop task (colors)

Question 14

Intelligence

Answer 14

capacity to learn, reason and understand

• excellent working memory
  
  • working memory correlates with verbal SAT scores
  • N-back training increases scores on working memory tests and general intelligence

Question 15

Declarative memory

Answer 15

(“knowing what”) is memory of facts and events, and refers to those memories that can be consciously recalled (or “declared”). It is sometimes called explicit memory, since it consists of information that is explicitly stored and retrieved

Question 16

Procedural memory

Answer 16

(“knowing how”) is the unconscious memory of skills and how to do things, particularly the use of objects or movements of the body, such as tying a shoelace, playing a guitar or riding a bike. These memories are typically acquired through repetition and practice, and are composed of automatic sensorimotor behaviours that are so deeply embedded that we are no longer aware of them.

Question 17

Open skill

Answer 17

requires adjustments based on the environment.

e.g. walking, breathing,

Question 18

Closed skill

Answer 18

rote sets of movement. Specific things

e.g. showering, tieing shoes

Question 19

use evidence to demonstrate that talent and practice are important for expertise

Answer 19

Twin studies prove that with practice fraternal twins can get just as good with practice as talented identical twins

Question 20

evidence to demonstrate quality feedback

Answer 20

Thorndike asked participants to draw a 3 inch line while blind folded
Half the participants were given feedback and the other half was given none
Despite equal amounts of practice, the group that had feedback improved

Question 21

how do we make practice most effective?

Answer 21

frequency of feedback

• frequent is helpful at first
• less frequent for long term results

Spaced practice
-practice a little, frequently

Power Law of learning

• effective practice
• additional sources of feedback (video)
• other similar activities

Question 22

use an example to demonstrate implicit learning

Answer 22

learning without conscious effort
number sequence
-faster when a specific number sequence pops up even though you don’t know its there and you don’t have any recollection of it

Question 23

describe the power law of learning and how it relates to skill decay

Answer 23

power law of learning- skill gains are rapid at first but decrease over time with the same amount of practice

skill decay- follows same pattern as power law

• rapid decay when practice is first terminated
• slower decay as time progresses
• also can decay from interference (learning new disrupts the old skill)

Question 24

what do skills transfer? use concepts from class to explain

Answer 24

transfer- generalization of a skill across context
Near-skill that is closely related (baseball –> softball)
Far- skill that is far from related (baseball –> cricket)

In general skills don’t transfer well unless closely related

• training drills
• the more shared elements there are, the better the transfer (Thorndike)