L1 - Introduction Flashcards
What is episodic memory?
Long term memory for events. Subtype of declarative memory.
What type of memory is episodic memory a sub-type of, and why?
Declarative, because cognitive resources have to be allocated for recall.
Why is there no agreement on the exact number of memory types?
There are too many differences in the way that a memory system can be defined. E.g. is long term memory longer than 15 minutes or 15 hours.
What is procedural memory?
Memory for sequences or routines (e.g. riding a bike)
What does transfer-appropriate processing imply?
When revising for a quiz, the most effective preparation is to test yourself on a quiz. Recreating the format and conditions of the assessment will maximise recall.
Which region is the hippocampus part of?
The archicortex
What shape is the hippocampus?
Sea horse shaped.
Which system is the hippocampus part of?
Limbic system
What is the hippocampus’ role?
To consolidate information in short term memory so that it transfers to long term memory.
Also aids navigation, as part of spatial memory.
Describe the 3 stages of the information processing model.
- A information is registered.
- Attended sensory information is passed to short term (working) memory.
- Info transfers to long term memory following sufficient rehearsal.
According to decay theory, what defines forgetting?
A fading memory trace.
‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’
- what type of interference is this?
Old information interfers with new information, causing a decreased ability to learn ‘new tricks’.
Therefore, old –> new, time is travelling forwards, so it is proactive interference.
‘I keep calling my ex-girlfriend by the name of my new girlfriend’
What type of interference is this?
New information is interfering with old, causing interference with the old name.
New-old, time is travelling backwards. So it is retroactive interference.
What is a defining characteristic of anterograde amnesia?
The inability to store or retrieve (new) information in long term memory.
What is a defining characteristic of retrograde amnesia?
Loss of memory for events that occurred, or information learned before an injury/amnesia onset.
What neurotransmitter plays a role in memory formation in Alzheimer’s disease?
Acetylcholine
Recall is an ____ process, while retention is _____.
Recall is active
Retention is passive
What feature of memory retention is the reason for the facilitation of consolidation by sleep?
The passivity of retention
Encoding involves what?
Interpreting sensory information.
What is perceptual memory?
Priming upon exposure to adverts, posters, etc. It is what magicians exploit for ‘mind read’ tricks.
Sensory storage does what?
Holds onto information before the next visual image appears/before the next sensory stimulus is presented.
What can sensory storage enable?
The perception of continuity in a moving image/persistent stimulus (e.g. a sparkler looking like a line of sparks rather than 100s of individual sparks.
What is iconic memory?
Memory for information/stimuli in the visual domain.
What is echoic memory?
Memory for information/stimuli in the auditory domain.
What did Sperling (1960, 1963) find initially?
- PPS could only remember 4-5 items out of 12 when shown briefly
What did Sperling (1960, 1963) change in his experiments and what did he find?
Used an auditory tone to cue the location of the visual search.
PPS’ recall increased to 9/12, suggesting memory deficiencies (& limitations in working memory capacity) may be due to the lack of relevant cues rather than fading/non-existent memory traces.
What will happen if the domain of cues is in the same domain as the information presented & to be recalled?
Recall for the information is very limited, and memory for it will fade quickly.
What are the 3 components of working memory?
- central executive
- visuo-spatial sketchpad
- phonological loop
What are the 3 main lab tests for working memory?
- Digit span
- N back task
- PASAT/PASST
How do digit span tasks test working memory?
PPS must memorise a series of numbers that are read out to them, but must recall them in the correct order.
Whole series of numbers must be held in WM.
How do N back tasks test working memory?
Participants are presented a sequence of stimuli one-by-one. For each stimulus, they need to decide if the current stimulus is the same as the one presented N trials ago.
Item presented n trials ago is held in WM.
What does PASAT and PASST stand for?
Paste auditory source addition task.
Paste auditory source subtraction task.
How does PASAT and PASST test working memory?
Numbers are read out, PPS must add/subtract the previous number to/from the current number.
Previous numbers read have to be held in WM.
Priming is intact in patients with amnesia. What does this tell us?
That different biological substrates underlie declarative memory and non-declarative memory.
What are the two types of long term memory?
Declarative
Non-declarative
What are the types of declarative memory?
Episodic
Semantic
What are the types of non-declarative memory?
Procedural
Perceptual
Conditioning
Non-associative
What is semantic memory?
Memory for factual knowledge
What is conditioning?
Stimulus-response association
What is perceptual memory?
Long-term memory for visual, auditory, and other perceptual information, including memory for people’s faces and voices, the appearance of buildings, etc.
Who developed the information processing model?
Atkinson & Shiffrin, (1968)
How long can sensory storage hold information for?
Can hold a large amount of information for a very short duration, in the order of milliseconds - less than half a second.
Who posed the 3 components of working memory?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
What does the central executive do within working memory?
Exerts control over what is held in working memory - allocates attentional resources to each slave system.
What are the slave systems of working memory?
The two components of working memory, phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad, which maintain relevant information in an active state (i.e. repeating words with your head voice, or imagining what something looks like).
Are there different biological substrates underlying declarative and non-declarative memory? How do we know?
Yes - patients with amnesia have deficits in one form, typically declarative, but not non-declarative, suggesting that their neural deficits only impact one type of memory.
Episodic memory is required for what/
Mental time travel - to go back in time and remember past events, and also to think about and theorise about future events.
What is hypermnesia?
Too much memory - some people’s memories are not selective, meaning that they retain, and can recall, every event they’ve experienced etc. Can be awful to live with, as you have no choice but to remember every traumatic/tragic experience.
