EXAM 4: CHAPTER 8 Flashcards
Memory (3):
- Capacity to retain and retrieve information
- Is a reconstruction of things that have already occurred
- Provides us with identities
Process of memory (3):
- Encoding: Transform what we perceive/think into a memory
- Storage: Process of maintaining information in memory over time
- Retrieval: Process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored
Information-processing model
View of memory that suggests that information moves among three memory stages - sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory
3 subdivisions of information-processing theory:
- Sensory
- Short-term
- Long-term
Sensory
Stimulus from environment, holds sensory information and lasts up to half a second for visual and 2-4 seconds for auditory
Short-term
Holds information for analysis, lasts up to 30 seconds and limited to 5-9 items
Long-term
Relatively permanent storage
Parallel distributed-processing model
Theory of memory suggesting that new information immediately join with other previous pieces of information to help form and grow networks of information
George Sperling
Conducted an experiment on visual sensory store. Participants stared at a screen and rows of letters flashed. They were then told to repeat as many letters as they could remember
Sensory memories
What we see and what we hear
Depths of encoding levels (3):
- Shallow processing
- Intermediate processing
- Deep processing
Types of encoding (3):
- Phonological: Encoding based on sound
- Visual: Encoding based on how the information looks (eg. Photographic memory)
- Semantic: Encoding based on the meaning of the information
Automatic processing
When you remember something without much conscious awareness/effort (eg. Can pour coffee in cup while on the phone because you made pouring an automatic processing task)
Effortful processing
When you remember something through careful attention and conscious effort. Can be disrupted when the person is forced to perform other tasks/attend to other information (eg. can’t play intense video game if you are on a lively phone call)
Organizational encoding
Categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items
Elaboration
Linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding (eg. Thinking of examples)
Visual imagery
Creation of visual images to represent words to be remembered
Self-referent encoding
Making information personally meaningful
Durability of storage
About 20 seconds without rehearsal
Rehearsal
Process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information
Chunking
Grouping familiar stimuli for storage as a single unit (eg. Phone numbers, area codes, ROYGBIV)
Short-term memory
Non-sensory information that is held for more than a few seconds. Up to 5-9 items and 30 second duration
Working memory
Active maintenance of information in short-term storage
Working memory system:
- Central executive
- Visual spatial sketchpad
- Episodic buffer
Central executive
Monitors and coordinates entire working memory system
Visual spatial sketchpad:
Keeps track of spatial information
Episodic buffer
Links of information together from other parts of working memory
Long-term memory
Storage of memory that holds information for hours, days, weeks, or years (no known capacity)
Systems and types of memory (4):
- Implicit vs explicit
- Declarative vs non-declarative
- Semantic vs episodic
- Prospective vs retrospective
Hippocampus memory function
Responsible for the initial consolidation of memories
Explicit memory
Memory that a person can consciously bring to mind (eg. Birth date, middle name, capital of Canada). These are converted into long-term memories in the hippocampus as a temporary storage site
Implicit memory
Memory that a person is not consciously aware of, such as learned motor behaviors, skills and habits (eg. How to drive, playing the piano). These are stored in the striatum, the region located toward the midline in the brain
Semantic memory
Facts and general knowledge (eg. Bananas are yellow, there are 12 months in a year)
Episodic memories
Personal experiences and events (eg. High school graduation)
Procedural memory
Motor skills and habits (eg. How to drive a car, brush teeth)
Classically conditioned memory
Conditioned responses to conditioned stimuli (eg. Phobias)
Priming
Earlier exposure facilitates retrieval (eg. Heightened fears of zombies after watching a scary movie)
Spaced practice effect
Facilitated encoding of material through rehearsal situations spread out over time
Massed practice
Studying in one “cram” session
Eidetic memory
Photographic memory. It usually occurs among children as many as 5%
Semantic code
What we use to encode verbal information and is based on the meaning of information
Hyperthymestic syndrome
Excessive remembering of every detail
Mnemonic devices
Techniques used to enhance the meaningfulness of information as a way of making them more memorable
Schemas
Knowledge bases that we develop based on prior exposure to similar experiences to other knowledge bases
PQRST method (study technique):
- Preview: Skim the entire section
- Question: Examine the organization of section and turn each subsection into a question
- Read: Read the section with the goal of finding answers to questions
- Self recitation: Ask yourself and answer questions out loud
- Test: Test yourself by trying to recall as much of the learned information as you can
Memory spam
- Maximum number of items that can be recalled in the correct order
- “Magical number seven, plus or minus two”
Primary effect
Items that are recalled in the beginning/middle of the list, and replaced into short-term memory.
Recency effect
Items found at the end of the list that are able to be recalled because they were still in working memory
Retrieval cues
Words, sights, or other stimuli that remind us of the information we need (eg. even mood)
Recognition task
Memory tasks in which people are asked to identify whether or not they have seen a particular item before
Recall tasks
Memory task in which people are asked to produce information using no or few retrieval cues
Encoding specificity principle
Theoretical framework that asserts that memory retrieval is more efficient when the information available at retrieval is similar to the information available at the time of encoding
Context
he original context when you first learned a concept or idea that has retrieval cues that will make it easier to recall information
Start-dependent memory
Memory retrieval facilitated by being in the same state of mind in which you encoded the memory in the first place (eg. drunk state of mind)
Modulation hypothesis
Long-lasting emotional effects on memory can be attributed to the activation of the amygdala during the encoding of emotional events
Flashbulb memories
Detailed and powerful memories of emotionally significant events of circumstances surrounding our learning of events (eg. 9 11 event). Flashbulbs memories are NOT very accurate
Misinformation effect-suggestibility
Incorporating misleading information into the memory of an event
Why we forget (3):
- Ineffective encoding
- Decay
- Interference
Proactive interference
Situations in which information learned earlier impairs memory for information acquired later (eg. Old information like your friend’s old email address interferes with ability to remember her new email address)
Retroactive interference
Situations in which earlier learning impairs memory for information acquired later (eg. Learning a password for a new bank card can disrupt recall of the password for your existing bank card)
State dependant retrieval
Tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same mental/physical state during encoding and retrieval
Transfer/context-dependant processing
Memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when the encoding context of the situations match
Sins of omission (3):
- Transience (time weakens memory)
- Absentmindedness (preoccupied/attention)
- Blocking (trying to recall Ted’s name and someone says “is the same Dave”)
Sins of commission (4):
- Misattribution
- Suggestibility
- Bias
- Persistence
Long-term potentiation (LTP) (4):
- Main neural mechanism by which a memory is stored in the brain
- During LTP, dendrites grow and branch out and synapses increase
- LTM can take years to consolidate/stabilize
- Later on, LTM solidify
Retrograde amnesia
When you cannot recall memories that were formed before the event that caused the amnesia
Improving Everyday Memory:
- Engage in adequate rehearsal
- Distribute practice and minimize interference
- Engage in deep processing
- Organize information
- Use verbal and visual mnemonics
Decay theory
Theory of forgetting, suggesting that memories fade over time due to neglect or failure to access over long periods of time
Interference theory
Theory that forgetting is influenced by what happens to people before or after they take information in
Repression
Motivated forgetting theory by Sigmund Freud. Process in which we unconsciously prevent traumatic events from entering our awareness so that we do not have to experience anxiety
Faulty constructions of memory
Distortion or manufacture of memories
3 types of faulty constructions of memory:
- Source misattributions
- Exposure to misinformation
- Effects of imagination
Source misattributions
Remembering information, but not the source it came from; can lead to remembering information from unreliable sources as true
Prefrontal cortex
Brain structure located behind forehead that becomes active when one acquires new information
Memory consolidation
Process by which memories stabilize in the brain
Potentiation
Synchronous networks of cells firing together
Glutamate
Key neurotransmitter in the formation of memories. Many neurons and circuits that use glutamate as their neurotransmitter are likely to exhibit LTP
Acetylcholine
Plays a role in learning/memory
Acetylcholine functions (2):
- Separates encoding of new memories and the retrieval of existing memories
- Controls sleep/wake cycle = consolidates long term memory
Infantile amnesia
No recollection of events occurring the first 3.5-4 years of life
2 types of memory disorder:
- Organic memory disorder: Physical causes of memory impairment can be identified
- Dissociative disorder: Disruption in memory lack a clear physical cause
Types of organic memory disorders:
- Amnestic disorder
- Retrograde amnesia
- Anterograde amnesia
Amnestic disorder
Organic disorder in which memory loss is the primary symptom
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to remember things that occurred before an organic event
Anterograde amnesia
Ongoing ability to form new memories after an amnesia-inducing event; damage to brain’s temporal lobe
Dementia
Severe memory problems combined with losses in at least one other cognitive function; abstract thinking or language
Alzheimer’s disease
Most common form of dementia usually beginning with mild memory problems, lapses of attention, and problem in language, difficulties with tasks and long memory
People with Alzheimer’s form more..
Neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques
Neurofibrillary tangles
Twisted protein fibres found within the cells of hippocampus
Senile plaque
Sphere-shaped deposits of a protein known as beta-amyloid that form in spaces between cells in hippocampus, cerebral cortex and other regions
