L9: Basic Principles of Memory

Question 1

describe Atkinsons & Shiffrin’s modal of memory

slide 4

Answer 1

stimulus

sensory memory (forgetting)

(attention leads to …)

short term-memory (rehearsal opposite to forgetting at this stage)

(encoding leads to…)

Long-term memory

(retrieval leads back to short-term memory)

Question 2

describe sensory memory

Answer 2

• Sensations persist after the stimulus has disappeared
• Subject to very rapid decay
• Stores exist for visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) sensory information
• What is the capacity of these stores?

Question 3

what is the proof for sensory memory

Answer 3

Sperling’s experiments
(1)
Presented matrix of letters for 1/20 seconds:
-Report as many letters as possible
-Subjects recalled only 5 - 6 of the letters

Was this because subjects didn’t have enough time to view entire matrix? NO

How did Sperling know this?

(2)

Sperling’s experiments

Sounded low, medium or high tone immediately after matrix disappeared:

• Tone signaled 1 row to report
• Recall was almost perfect

Memory for images fades after 1/3 seconds, making report of entire display hard to do

Question 4

what is another name for short term memory

Answer 4

-working memory

Question 5

describe the problems with the Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) Modal model of memory

Answer 5

Baddeley
Dual task:

• B is preceded by A — BA True/False
• A is not followed by B — BA True/False
• Performed while remembering strings of digits

Results:

• Reasoning time increases in with digit load (consistent with unitary STS)
• BUT, increase in reasoning time is modest
• Error rate does not increase at all

Question 6

describe the components of Baddeley & Hitch’s (1974) working memory model

Answer 6

visuo-spatial sketch pad

central executive

phonological store  (Articulatory loop
)

Baddeley and Hitch argued that working memory must comprise different components

Slide 12

Question 7

what is the evidence for the phonological store

Answer 7

-
(1)
Phonological similarity effect:

-Baddeley (1966)

Presented lists of 5 words to write down in order:

List A: mad, cap, cat, map, cad

List B: pen, cow, bar, day, sup

List C: long, tall, wide, large, great

List D: foul, strong, hot, old, deep

Results:
Large effect of phonological similarity

No effect of semantic similarity

(2)
Word Length effect

-Baddeley et al., (1975)

Presented lists of 5 words to write down in order:

List A: some, harm, bond, yield, hate
List B: …
List C: …
List D: …
List E: association, considerable, representative, individual, immediately

Results:
Correct recall related to number of syllables

Strong correlation between reading speed and correct recall

Same effect found if number of syllables is the same but the lists are quicker to say:

bishop, wicket

Friday, harpoon

Question 8

describe the features of a selective impairment to the phonological store

Answer 8

Several patients have been described who have severely reduced verbal spans (for all types of unconnected items)

• Intact word perception
• no problem with speech production

Question 9

what is the lesion localisation location for short-term memory patients

Answer 9

• Left hemisphere

Usually affecting the parietal and temporal lobes

Question 10

summarise the phonological store

Answer 10

Acts like a tape recorder for a limited time

The contents are actively refreshed by an articulatory loop

Disruption of the articulatory loop (e.g. Saying, “the… the… the…”) results in poor retention in the phonological store

Question 11

describe the visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 11

• Necessary for holding online a sequence of visually guided actions
• Also necessary for “seeing in the mind’s eye”

Question 12

what is the evidence for the visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 12

De Renzi & Nichelli (1975) showed some patients with brain damage had impaired digit spans some had impaired spatial spans

-“Double dissociation”; evidence for independent processes

Subsequent research has shown that the visuospatial sketchpad can itself be divided (Logie, 1995)

• Visual cache – passively stores visual information about form and colour
• Inner scribe – stores spatial and movement information and can rehearse the contents of the visual cache

Viewing abstract pictures interfered with the visual task, whereas tracing the outline of a series of pegs on a board interfered with the spatial task

Question 13

look at slide 24

Answer 13

how was it

Question 14

what is another name for long term memory and describe what it entails

Answer 14

Encoding:

• repeated exposure is not enough
• Which is the correct American cent coin?

Question 15

describe Craik & Lockhart (1972) introduced the concept of “levels of processing”

Answer 15

type of processing : orthographic-phonological-semantic

level of processing- shallow- deep

retention- poor- good

Question 16

describe the evidence for Craik & Lockhart (1972) model

Answer 16

Participants asked to made judgments about words
Is word in upper or lower case?
Does the word rhyme with hat?
Does the word fit the sentence “The cat sat on the ….. ?
Given a surprise memory test

see slide 28

Question 17

why has encoding been hugely influential

Answer 17

• Downplays the importance of encoding as an independent process – it is processing per se that leads to durable memories
• Deep encoding or elaboration is one of the best ways to learn new material

Question 18

describe the Roediger & Karpicke (2006)

Answer 18

Encoding: study-test versus studying alone:

Students were tested or restudied the passage
Memory was tested after 5 mins, 2 days or 1 week

RESULTS

Advantage for the study-test conditions after delay

Note: no feedback was provided in the “test” conditions

Conclusion

• Studying and then testing yourself leads to much better retention
• Retrieval practice effect

Question 19

describe the relationship between encoding and retrieval-Morris et al model

Answer 19

But “Levels of Processing” only addresses encoding

Morris et al., 1977

• 2 acquisition conditions
• Semantic: “The _____ had a silver engine” “TRAIN”
• Rhyme: “______ rhymes with legal” “EAGLE”
• 2 test conditions
• Standard recognition: have you seen this before?
• Rhyming recognition: did you see a word that rhymes with this one before?

RESULTS

• Processing is goal directed
• A “shallow” processing task might be better if retrieval uses the same type of processing

=Transfer appropriate processing

Question 20

describe the Godden & Baddeley model of encoding and retrieval

Answer 20

-Tested for words
On land or under sea

“Context” dependent memory

Also occurs for mood (“State” dependent memory Eich & Metcalfe, 1989)