L1 - Introduction

Question 1

What is episodic memory?

Answer 1

Long term memory for events. Subtype of declarative memory.

Question 2

What type of memory is episodic memory a sub-type of, and why?

Answer 2

Declarative, because cognitive resources have to be allocated for recall.

Question 3

Why is there no agreement on the exact number of memory types?

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

What is procedural memory?

Answer 4

Memory for sequences or routines (e.g. riding a bike)

Question 5

What does transfer-appropriate processing imply?

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Which region is the hippocampus part of?

Answer 6

The archicortex

Question 7

What shape is the hippocampus?

Answer 7

Sea horse shaped.

Question 8

Which system is the hippocampus part of?

Answer 8

Limbic system

Question 9

What is the hippocampus’ role?

Answer 9

To consolidate information in short term memory so that it transfers to long term memory.
Also aids navigation, as part of spatial memory.

Question 10

Describe the 3 stages of the information processing model.

Answer 10

1. A information is registered.
2. Attended sensory information is passed to short term (working) memory.
3. Info transfers to long term memory following sufficient rehearsal.

Question 11

According to decay theory, what defines forgetting?

Answer 11

A fading memory trace.

Question 12

‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’

• what type of interference is this?

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

‘I keep calling my ex-girlfriend by the name of my new girlfriend’

What type of interference is this?

Answer 13

New information is interfering with old, causing interference with the old name.

New-old, time is travelling backwards. So it is retroactive interference.

Question 14

What is a defining characteristic of anterograde amnesia?

Answer 14

The inability to store or retrieve (new) information in long term memory.

Question 15

What is a defining characteristic of retrograde amnesia?

Answer 15

Loss of memory for events that occurred, or information learned before an injury/amnesia onset.

Question 16

What neurotransmitter plays a role in memory formation in Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 16

Acetylcholine

Question 17

Recall is an ____ process, while retention is _____.

Answer 17

Recall is active

Retention is passive

Question 18

What feature of memory retention is the reason for the facilitation of consolidation by sleep?

Answer 18

The passivity of retention

Question 19

Encoding involves what?

Answer 19

Interpreting sensory information.

Question 20

What is perceptual memory?

Answer 20

Priming upon exposure to adverts, posters, etc. It is what magicians exploit for ‘mind read’ tricks.

Question 21

Sensory storage does what?

Answer 21

Holds onto information before the next visual image appears/before the next sensory stimulus is presented.

Question 22

What can sensory storage enable?

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

What is iconic memory?

Answer 23

Memory for information/stimuli in the visual domain.

Question 24

What is echoic memory?

Answer 24

Memory for information/stimuli in the auditory domain.

Question 25

What did Sperling (1960, 1963) find initially?

Answer 25

- PPS could only remember 4-5 items out of 12 when shown briefly

Question 26

What did Sperling (1960, 1963) change in his experiments and what did he find?

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

What will happen if the domain of cues is in the same domain as the information presented & to be recalled?

Answer 27

Recall for the information is very limited, and memory for it will fade quickly.

Question 28

What are the 3 components of working memory?

Answer 28

- central executive - visuo-spatial sketchpad - phonological loop

Question 29

What are the 3 main lab tests for working memory?

Answer 29

- Digit span - N back task - PASAT/PASST

Question 30

How do digit span tasks test working memory?

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

How do N back tasks test working memory?

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

What does PASAT and PASST stand for?

Answer 32

Paste auditory source addition task. | Paste auditory source subtraction task.

Question 33

How does PASAT and PASST test working memory?

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

Priming is intact in patients with amnesia. What does this tell us?

Answer 34

That different biological substrates underlie declarative memory and non-declarative memory.

Question 35

What are the two types of long term memory?

Answer 35

Declarative | Non-declarative

Question 36

What are the types of declarative memory?

Answer 36

Episodic | Semantic

Question 37

What are the types of non-declarative memory?

Answer 37

Procedural Perceptual Conditioning Non-associative

Question 38

What is semantic memory?

Answer 38

Memory for factual knowledge

Question 39

What is conditioning?

Answer 39

Stimulus-response association

Question 40

What is perceptual memory?

Answer 40

Long-term memory for visual, auditory, and other perceptual information, including memory for people's faces and voices, the appearance of buildings, etc.

Question 41

Who developed the information processing model?

Answer 41

Atkinson & Shiffrin, (1968)

Question 42

How long can sensory storage hold information for?

Answer 42

Can hold a large amount of information for a very short duration, in the order of milliseconds - less than half a second.

Question 43

Who posed the 3 components of working memory?

Answer 43

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Question 44

What does the central executive do within working memory?

Answer 44

Exerts control over what is held in working memory - allocates attentional resources to each slave system.

Question 45

What are the slave systems of working memory?

Answer 45

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).

Question 46

Are there different biological substrates underlying declarative and non-declarative memory? How do we know?

Answer 46

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.

Question 47

Episodic memory is required for what/

Answer 47

Mental time travel - to go back in time and remember past events, and also to think about and theorise about future events.

Question 48

What is hypermnesia?

Answer 48

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.