Learning & Memory Flashcards
What does working memory do?
It holds information in your mind for a short time in an active conscious state
What is central to the system of memory?
Fidelity (accuracy)
How many items can a normal person remember in working memory?
7 +-2
What does the central executive system do?
It controls the flow of information
What is the central executive system supported by?
Two additional memory stores: phonological store alongside a silent rehearsal loop
What does phonological store do?
It processes speech perception and stores spoken words we hears for 1 to 2 seconds
What does a silent rehearsal loop do?
It processes speech production and rehearses and stores verbal information from the phonological store
When happens when you read words of numbers visually?
Information will be transcribed into a phonological code and stored for a short while in the two part system
What does a visual sketchpad do?
Hold on to images of objects for long enough for you to manipulate them in your mind’s eye
Where is working memory largely located?
In the frontal and parietal lobes
Where are auditory parts of working memory located?
Left frontal and parietal lobes where they interact with neuronal networks involved in speech, planning and decision-making
Where is the visual sketchpad located?
Right hemispheres
How did working-memory evolve?
It may have co-evolved with speech
How is a memory formed of an object and when and where it has been seen?
Information enters the visual system and is passed down a ventral pathway from the striate cortex to the medial temporal lobe through a cascade of networks that figure out shape, colour, object density and whether this object is familiar or not
How do we have the ability to recognise familiar things and people?
There are areas in the cortex that extract a perceptual representation of what we are looking at and it is used to store and later recognise the things around us
What is the semantic memory?
It is where we store the factual knowledge we accumulated
What is a property of facts in the brain?
They are organised into categories
How are memory retrieved?
The search process shuttle through tree diagrams in the storehouse to find things efficiently
How are skills learnt?
Through deliberate and extensive practice
How are emotional learning done?
It is much more rapid
What type of learning are skills and emotional learning?
Conditioning
What parts of the brain are important for skill learning?
Basal ganglia and cerebellum
What part of the brain is very important for emotional learning?
amygdala
What type of memory keeps track of personal experience?
Episodic memory
