How memory works

Question 1

What is a conditioned emotional response?

Answer 1

Conditioned emotional response is a type of implicit memory that is involved with the conditioned connection between a memory and an emotional reflex.

Conditioned emotional responses are recalled without the need for conscious effort or attention.

Examples: seeing a dog and feeling scared, hearing the lunch bell and getting hungry, or seeing a rollercoaster and feeling sick.

Question 2

What is encoding?

Answer 2

Encoding refers to the process of assigning a meaning to a short-term memory and converting it to a construct that can be stored in the brain.

Encoding includes both memorizing the information, as well as giving the memory an emotional, cognitive, and environmental context.

Question 3

How does brain storage work?

Answer 3

Storage is the active process of memory consolidation that makes memories less vulnerable to being forgotten.

During storage, the brain uses the contextual information of the memory provided during encoding to organize and structure the information within the brain.

Question 4

What is Retrieval?

Answer 4

Retrieval is the recollection of memories that have been encoded and stored in our long-term memories.

The retrieval process involves copying information from long-term memory and adding it to working memory where it can actively be used.

The more a memory has been encoded, elaborated, structured, and organized, the easier it can be retrieved.

Question 5

What are the two methods of Retrieval?

Answer 5

The two methods of retrieval are:

1. Recognition: deciding whether one thing, among others, has been previously encountered.
2. Recall: actively reconstructing the information of the memory.

Recall is more difficult because it requires direct activation of all components of a memory, whereas recognition provides an initial activation of part of the memory, triggering the activation of additional components.

Question 6

What are the two types of long term memory?

Answer 6

The two types of long-term memory are:

1. Explicit memory (declarative)
2. Implicit memory (non-declarative)
3. Explicit (declarative) memory is the sub-category of long-term memory that involves the conscious recollection of things and facts.
4. Explicit memory includes all those things that are described in words and you are aware of remembering.
5. Examples: reciting a phone number, remembering a birthday, and recalling what you ate for breakfast.

Question 7

What is implicit memory?

Answer 7

Implicit (non-declarative) memory is the sub-category of long-term memory that involves the automatic recall of a memory.

Implicit memory includes those memories that are not expressed in words and do not require conscious effort to recall.

Examples: driving a car, riding a bike, and tying your shoes.

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The two types of implicit memory are:

1. Procedural memory
2. Conditioned emotional response

Question 8

How does short term memory work?

Answer 8

Short-term memory involves retaining and retrieving limited amounts of information for a short period of time, generally less than a minute.

The information held in short-term memory normally consists of 5 to 9 items.

Question 9

What is working memory?

Answer 9

Working memory is the extension of short-term memory that applies cognitive processes, such as reasoning, to the items currently held in short-term memory.

Activities such as reading, writing, and solving math problems are all considered to be components of working memory.

Question 10

What can be done to increase the amount of time that information is held in short-term memory?

Answer 10

Conscious repetition

Question 11

What is procedural memory?

Answer 11

Procedural memory is the type of implicit memory that enables people to recall and improve on cognitive and motor skills.

Procedural memories are accessed and utilized without the need for conscious control or attention.

Examples: reading a book, throwing a baseball, or flying a plane.

Question 12

Explain reconstructive memory?

Answer 12

Reconstructive refers to the understanding that memories are scattered throughout the brain in various areas and are reconstructed whenever something must be remembered.

Memories are often altered due to the reconstructive nature of memory.

Question 13

What are the two types of explicit memory?

Answer 13

A: The two types of explicit memory are:

1. Episodic memory
2. Semantic memory

Question 14

Explain Episodic Memory

Answer 14

Episodic memory is a type of explicit memory that is involved with the recollection of personally experienced events specific of a time, place, and the context surrounding the event.

Episodic memory requires conscious recall in which a person views themselves as an actor in the events.

Examples: remembering what you ate for dinner, what you did on your birthday, or where you went on a family vacation.

Question 15

Explain Semantic Memory

Answer 15

Semantic memory is the type of explicit memory that involves retaining and recalling worldly knowledge.

Although semantic memory requires conscious effort to remember, the recall occurs quickly and easily, and aids in constructing a mental representation of the world.

Examples: the meaning of words, social customs, the function of objects.

Question 16

What brain structure is involved in forming long-term memories from short-term memories?

Answer 16

The hippocampus transfers and consolidates information from short-term memory to long-term memory.

Question 17

What is forgetting?

Answer 17

Forgetting is the temporary or permanent inability to retrieve a memory or piece of information that had previously been stored in the brain.

Question 18

Explain Decline Theory.

Answer 18

According to the Decline Theory, forgetting occurs when the memory is not exercised, or the information in question is not retrieved often enough.

Question 19

Explain long term memory

Answer 19

Long-term memory includes memories of recent facts, as well as the more consolidated memories from the distant past.

Long-term memories can last anywhere from days to years, depending on how well the information can be retrieved.

Question 20

What is associative memory?

Answer 20

Associative refers to the understanding that new pieces of information are better remembered when associated with previously learned information.

The more meaningful the association, the more effectively both pieces of information will be remembered.

[MN: Very useful when you meet someone new and associate his name with someone else you already know very well.]

Question 21

What are the main processes involved in long-term memory?

Answer 21

A: The main processes involved in long-term memory are:

1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval

Question 22

What is memory?

Answer 22

Memory involves the storage and retrieval of learned information and experiences.

Question 23

What is defective recall theory?

Answer 23

According to the Defective-Recall Theory, forgetting is a disturbance in the retrieval of information, in which a memory is momentarily inaccessible due to insufficient coding, lack of associations, or lack of retrieval indexes.

In the case of Defective-Recall Theory, the stored information still exists, despite temporarily forgetting, and may be recalled at a later date.

Question 24

What is the interference theory of forgetting?

Answer 24

According to the Interference Theory of forgetting, a piece of information is forgotten because some other piece of information prevents it from being retrieved.

Interference Theory includes two types of interference, retroactive and proactive.

Question 25

What is retroactive interference forgetting?

Answer 25

Retroactive interference is a type of forgetting in which new memories tend to erase old memories.

Example: forgetting the maiden name of a newly married female friend; you only seem to recall her new last name.

[MN: Forgetting an old bad golf habit by forcefully ingraining the proper procedure to successfully learn the new correct habit.]

Question 26

What two factors affect how well a memory is retrieved?

Answer 26

The two factors that affect how well a memory is retrieved are:

1. Sleep
2. Memory organization

Question 27

What two strategies assist in the organization of memories?

Answer 27

The two strategies that assist in the organization of memories are:

1. Repetition: taking a piece of information and repeating it continuously, keeping it in short-term memory for as long as possible.
2. Elaboration: associating new information with information already stored in long-term memory.