L2 - Cognitive Theories of Episodic Memory

Question 1

Which 4 things does episodic memory require to be a mental filing system?

Answer 1

• A system that can catalogue unique events
• method for encoding unique experiences
• method for storing the events durably
• method for searching and retrieving the events

Question 2

What is the main difference in approaches to memory between Ebbinghaus and Bartlett?

Answer 2

Ebbinghaus stripped away meaning from the information to be memorised - wanted to test memory for items that had never been encountered.

Bartlett was more interested in how meaning and pre-existing information within the subject influences memory.

Question 3

What did Bartlett assume about memory retrieval? Also known as the reconstruction principle (Bartlett, 1932)?

Answer 3

Memory retrieval was shaped and influenced by schematics. Information at encoding blends with information in schemas, and so retrieval is a result of re-constructions of information from both sources.

Question 4

What were Bower’s (1975) droodles, and what did they suggest?

Answer 4

Drawings/scribbles that do not represent anything real or in existence, but can be made meaningful by memory participants.

Suggests that the ability to remember information can be enhanced if you make a story up about a picture, using schematic information.

Question 5

What were the main criticisms towards Bartlett’s methodology?

Answer 5

• failing to conduct reports and statistical tests

- providing vague instructions to participants

Question 6

Why did Bartlett fail to provide clear instructions to participants?

Answer 6

Wanted to understand how the person’s pre-existing knowledge could assist their memory retrieval.

Question 7

Bartlett’s findings have done what, which enables defence of his critics?

Answer 7

Stood the test of time. Many of Bartlett’s findings are still valid now.

Question 8

What was the hypothesis of Sulin and Dooling’s (1974) test of Bartlett’s theory?

Answer 8

Predicted that schema-driven errors are more likely at longer retention intervals because schematic information is more durable and lasts longer than rote recall of specific details.

That is, longer periods of time since encoding will increase the blending of encoded information with schematic information, increasing errors at time of recall.

Question 9

What did Sulin and Dooling’s (1974) test of Bartlett’s theory find?

Answer 9

Participants were more likely recall hearing that the dictator in the story ‘hated jews’ if the main character was Adolf Hitler, than if the main character was Gerald Martin, and only when recall was tested a week later, not 5 minutes later.

The phrase ‘hated jews’ was never included in the story, suggesting that semantic information blends with encoded information more over time, leading to an increased impairment of recall the longer the retention interval.

Question 10

What did Carmichael (1932) find about information present during learning?

Answer 10

Information present during the encoding phase (real labels for ambiguous objects) biased the way visual information was stored (how the ambiguous object was later drawn).

Question 11

What did Prentice (1954) find as a follow up to Carmichael’s (1932) study on label effects and drawing of ambiguous objects?

Answer 11

The label effect disappeared under recognition conditions, suggesting that the way ambiguous objects were drawn in the original experiment was influenced by memory of the labels at the retrieval stage, rather than the encoding stage.

If it was the encoding stage, participants would not have said they recognized the objects when presented as they were, because they would have been remembered as the interpreted, altered version based on the real life label, rather than as the original ambiguous object.

Question 12

How did Bartlett describe the study of nonsense syllables (the type of memory material that Ebbinghaus used)?

Answer 12

Bartlett compares the study of nonsense syllables to the study of repetition habits; suggesting that it does not tap into memory systems, but more simply just evaluates the speed, efficiency and effects of repetition.

Question 13

What are the 3 main types of memory recall tests when using word lists, rather than nonsense syllables? Describe each.

Answer 13

Serial recall - remembering the item sin the same order they were presented to you.
Associative recall - remembering one half of a word pair when the other half is presented
Free recall - remembering as many items from the word list as you can, in any order you choose.

Question 14

Lists with many inter-word associations are _____ _______ recalled (Deese, 1959)?

Answer 14

Lists with many inter-word associations are more easily recalled (Deese, 1959).

Question 15

Related words in a list tend to be recalled __ __ _____ Jenkins & Russell, (1952)

Answer 15

Related words in a list tend to be recalled in a cluster.

Question 16

Why are more imageable words easier to remember (Pavio, 1969; 1971)?

Answer 16

The dual-coding hypothesis:

• imageable words can be encoded both in terms of visual appearance and verbal meaning
• creating multiple retrieval routes improves recall success

Question 17

What is the dual-coding hypothesis, and which experimental finding does it explain?

Answer 17

• imageable words can be encoded both in terms of visual appearance and verbal meaning
• creating multiple retrieval routes improves recall success

Explains why more imageable words are easier to remember (Paivio, 1969; 1971).

Question 18

What is the picture superiority effect?

Answer 18

More likely to remember a picture than a word (Madigan, 1983, Paivio, 1991).

Question 19

Emotional, highly arousing words are _____ memorable (Bradley, Greenwald, Petry, and Lang (1992).

Answer 19

Emotional, highly arousing words are more memorable (Bradley, Greenwald, Petry, and Lang (1992).

Question 20

What does redundancy of a language mean?

Answer 20

Enables reading and understanding of words even when several letters are removed in each word, due to our schematic knowledge filling in gaps.

Redundant because a lot of the information in words are not required to understand/recognise what the word is.

Question 21

What did Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) demonstrate about availability vs accessibility?

Answer 21

The greater the number of cues, the better the recall. The right cue can enable access to items in memory, that were previously inaccessible.

If stored, available - full access. Available - requires a cue for recognition.

Question 22

What is the levels of processing approach?

Answer 22

‘Deepness’ of processing during encoding will determine its durability in memory.

Question 23

What are the 3 levels in the levels of processing approach?

Answer 23

• Perceptual (TABLE vs table, sensory features)
• phonological (rhymes, etc)
• Semantic (meaning of the word)

Better memory the more semantic

Question 24

What are two criticisms of the levels of processing approach?

Answer 24

• it assumes that the processing levels are in order of memory success, but also in terms of timing. This is incorrect
• assumption that semantic processing always leads to better memory is not a replicated finding - memory for learning to ride a bike is better with practice than learning of theory.

Question 25

What does TAP stand for?

Answer 25

Transfer appropriate processing

Question 26

What is TAP?

Answer 26

Transfer appropriate processing - if a memory test requires previous learning, the testing conditions should match processing conditions at learning for optimal test performance.

Question 27

Which domains can TAP be applied to?

Answer 27

Level of processing (more likely to recall when retrieval tests for same processing level that information was encoded in)

Physiological state (able to remember where possessions are when drunk, but less so when sober)

Mental state (depressed individuals are more likely to remember depressed memories)

Question 28

What is mood congruent memory?

Answer 28

Bias in the recall of memories such that negative moods increase the recall of negative memories, compared to positive memories, and vice versa (Clark & Teasdale, 1982).

Question 29

What is the cortical reinstatement hypothesis?

Answer 29

Neural explanation for transfer appropriate processing:

If the pattern of activity present during encoding is active again during retrieval, there is a higher match.

Memory performance is better when you reinstate the pattern of activity that was present during encoding, for retrieval.

Question 30

What is the hypothesis outlining the neural explanation for transfer appropriate processing?

Answer 30

Cortical reinstatement hypothesis

Question 31

What is the tip of the tongue effect?

Answer 31

An extreme form of pause, where the speaker knows exactly what they want to say, but the word is delayed in coming out.

Information is available, but not accessible.

Question 32

Define retrieval

Answer 32

A progression from one or more retrieval cues to a target memory trace through associative connections

Question 33

Define content addressable memory

Answer 33

The ability to locate and access a complete memory using only a subset of the target’s attribute’s as a cue

Question 34

Define retrieval cues

Answer 34

Information about the target memory that guide the search

Question 35

Define associations

Answer 35

Bonds that link items together in memory

Question 36

What are the 4 factors determining retrieval success, in relation to cues?

Answer 36

• attention to cues
• relevance of cues
• strength of cue
• number of cues

Question 37

What can signal detection theory tell us about recognition memory?

(details of signal detection theory not required)

Answer 37

Its possible to quantify recognition memory performance, in its ability to differentiate between old and new information.

Question 38

Signal detection theory is based on recognition tests which classify responses to old and new information according to which 4 categories? What does the response mean in each category?

Answer 38

• Hit: correctly identified as old information
• Miss: identified as old information, when it was new
• False alarm: identified as new information when it was old
• Correct rejection: identified as new information, when it is indeed new.

Question 39

What do dual-process accounts of recognition memory suggest?

Answer 39

There are two stages of recognition:

• familiarity: determining that you have seen the item/stimulus before. Fast, and automatic
• recollection: remembering contextual details about that item/stimulus. Slower, and demands more attention.

Question 40

What did Tulving (1985) conceptualise about the difference between familiarity and recollection?

Answer 40

Knowing - sense of familiarity without contextual information
Recollection - taps into episodic memory to remember & recall full contextual information