Human Memory Flashcards
Memory
Ability to retrieve inf. over time.
Sensory Memory
Where sensory inf. is kept for a few seconds or less.
Short-Term Memory
Where non-sensory inf. is kept for more than few seconds but less than a minute.
Long-Term Memory
Where inf. is kept for hours, days, weeks or years.
Iconic Memory
Fast-decaying store of visual inf. (Sensory Memory)
Echoic Memory
Fast-decaying store of auditory inf. (Sensory Memory)
Iconic Memory Test
Sperling (1960), Letters flashed for 1/20th of a second, P’s couldn’t recall, When rows were paired with tones - recall improved.
Peterson & Peterson (1959)
Decline of STM, 3-letter strings, 80% recall after 3 sec. but 20% after 20 sec.
Rehearsal
Keeping inf. in STM by mentally repeating it.
Chunking
Combining smaller pieces into large more manageable chunks.
Working Memory (Baddeley, 2000)
Active maintenance and manipulation of inf. in STM storage.
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Briefly stores visual and spatial inf. (Slave System).
Phonological Loop
Briefly encodes mental representations of sounds. Made up of a Short-term store and Articulatory rehearsal system (enables to remember inf. by saying it back to yourself) (Slave System).
Central Executive
Attentional system that coordinates and controls plans of action and output.
Episodic Buffer
Temporary storage space where inf. from LTM can be integrated into Working Memory.
Interference
Drop in accuracy and response time performance when two tasks tap into the same system.
Patient H.M.
Patient who had a bilateral medial temporal lobectomy to surgically resect the anterior two thirds of his hippocampi, parahippocampal cortices, entorhinal cortices, piriform cortices, and amygdalae in an attempt to cure his epilepsy. He could not remember anything after the surgery.
Consolidation
Process of how inf. must pass from STM to LTM in order to be remembered.
Encoding
Transforming perceptions into memory.
Storage
Maintaining information in memory over time.
Retrieval
Bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored.
Schemas
The use of schemas as a basic concept was first used by a British psychologist named Frederic Bartlett as part of his learning theory. Bartlett’s theory suggested that our understanding of the world is formed by a network of abstract mental structures.
Elaborative Encoding
Actively relating new information to knowledge that is already in memory.
Craik and Tulving (1975)
Craik & Tulving found that participants were better able to recall words which had been processed more deeply - that is, processed semantically, supporting level of processing theory.
Which parts of the brain do Semantic judgements stimulate?
Lower left frontal lobe.
Which parts of the brain do Organisational judgements stimulate?
Upper left frontal lobe.
Which parts of the brain do Visual judgements stimulate?
Occipital lobe.
Visual Imagery Encoding
Storing new information by converting it into mental imagery.
Method of Loci
Method of memory enhancement which uses visualizations with the use of spatial memory, familiar information about one’s environment, to quickly and efficiently recall information. The method of loci is also known as the memory journey, memory palace, or mind palace technique.
Organisational Encoding
Categorising information by noticing the relationships between a series of items.
Mnemonics
A mnemonic device, or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention in the human memory. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imagery as specific tools to encode any given information in a way that allows for efficient storage and retrieval.
Nairne (2007)
Found that when given 3 encoding tasks (Survival, Moving, and Pleasantness), Survival tasks had the best recall.
Eric Kandel
Sea slugs, electric shocks, tail withdrawal of gills, faster over time, therefore memories based on synaptic changes.
Long-Term Potentiation
In neuroscience, long-term potentiation is a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity. These are patterns of synaptic activity that produce a long-lasting increase in signal transmission between two neurons.
What happens when rats take drugs that block LTP?
They turn into amnesiacs.
Spatial memory
Representation that encodes where something is.
NMDA Receptor
Hippocampal receptor site - influences the flow of information from one neuron to another across the synapse by controlling the initiation of LTP.