Lecture 1

Question 1

Basic processes of memory

Answer 1

Encoding, storage and retrieval

Question 2

What type of information is highly prone to forgetting?

Answer 2

Unstructured information, in particular episodic information

Question 3

What is the goal of learning/memory?

Answer 3

To store knowledge

Question 4

Why do we believe that existing knowledge influences what you process?

Answer 4

All the models assume a semantic network

e.g. thinking of ambulance, activates semantic information which surround it e.g. it is a car

Question 5

What is the working memory capacity?

Answer 5

Used to believe it was 7+/-2, now know it is more like 4 meaningful chunks - size of chunks can vary, but not the amount of chunks

Question 6

What is chunking of information?

Answer 6

The knowledge-dependent recoding of information. It is a means of functionally increasing WM capacity

Question 7

Example of chunking

Answer 7

Expert chess players recall chess positions presented very briefly better than novices (De Groot, 1946)

Question 8

How do you become an expert?

Answer 8

Years of deliberate practice (Ericsson et al., 1993)

• motivation and focus on improvement
• development of strategies
• repeated engagement with the task with maximal effort

Question 9

Beilock and Carr (2001): golf putting - do experts remember their own actions?

Answer 9

Novices have detailed episodic memories of putting events, but experts have poor episodic memory for sequences that have been automised
- expert-induced amnesia

Question 10

What is the effect of new conditions on expert performance?

Answer 10

New conditions e.g. using a new golf putter puts a heavy burden on attention and expert performance suffers.

It does however lead to better episodic recall, allowing experts to remember more of what they do pay attention to

Attention increases the likelihood of storing episodic details

Question 11

How do participants study and recall lists of words?

Answer 11

Organised by category (grouped condition) or presented in random order (random condition)

Question 12

Bower et al. (1969) looked at organising information, what did he conclude?

Hint: structure

Answer 12

If you can find structure in information, memory will improve, those who received words in a random order found it much more difficult to recall

Question 13

Repetition is ____ but structure is ____

Answer 13

important, essential

Question 14

What are schemas?

Answer 14

Clusters/configurations (“chunks”) of knowledge for objects, places, events, actions, etc.

Question 15

How are schemas abstract?

Answer 15

They hold information about a type of object, place, event, or action, rather than about a specific one

We all know a house has some windows, a roof, door, walls, but it varies with its features

Question 16

How do schemas work for e.g. a house?

Answer 16

Frame (fixed part) e.g. windows, door, roof, walls and slots (variable parts) e.g. no. of windows, size/type of door, shape of roof, colour of walls

Question 17

What can schemas influence?

Answer 17

Schemas can influence encoding, storage and retrieval - influence memory

Question 18

Schemas create ___, and reduce ___

Answer 18

expectations, processing load

We don’t have to encode and remember every detail, we just have to activate the right schema at encoding and make note of differences between current instance and the schema

Question 19

How do schemas allow us to deal with missing information?

Answer 19

By making inferences - if no specific information is given, we assume that a house has, by default, a pointy roof

Question 20

Can schemas be culturally specific?

Answer 20

Yes e.g. an igloo

Question 21

What type of schemas do we show a better memory for and give an example.

Answer 21

Schema-consistent objects e.g. desk/shelves in an office, rather than inconsistent objects e.g. a wine bottle

Question 22

Does all research show better recall for schema-consistent information?

Answer 22

No. Friedman (1979) suggested that the inconsistent information may be encoded with priority, it is unexpected and thus cannot be reconstructed by activating a schema

Question 23

Anderson & Pitchert (1978) looked at activating multiple schemas, asking people to read a story as either the homebuyer, or the burglar. . What did they conclude about schemas?

Answer 23

the presence of a schema helps to retrieve information - the act as a retrieval cue to activate information which is consistent with that cue.

Schemas facilitate retriaval by functioning as retrieval cues

Question 24

What is an expert?

Answer 24

Someone who has high levels of knowledge. A domain-specific mastery, consistent superior performance in a domain

Question 25

Why is chunking important in the role of expertise?

Answer 25

Experts are able to create chunks more often than novices

Question 26

What are the principles of chunking?

Answer 26

1. Encoding principle: relies on prior knowledge (LTM) to create chunks
   - have to rely on information you have in LTM to create these chunks
2. Retrieval structure principle: use retrieval cues as “pointers” to information in LTM
   - these chunks create retrieval cues, you are not remembering information you are remembering pointers, become efficient in picking out meaningful groups of information
3. Speed-up principle: speed up with practice
   - multiple hours of practice, need to become very efficient

Question 27

Thompson et al. (1991) investigated the case study of Rajan. What was exceptional about him and what did they propose?

Answer 27

His ability to form chunks is exceptional, not their memory. They had a digit span of 15 and had memorised 30,000 digits of Pi.

His trick was that he combined smaller chunks of 3-4 into more complex chunks of 10-15, recoded numbers into meaningful groups and rehearsed this to the point it became automatic.

They proposed there was no such thing as exceptional memory, and that it is acquired through practice.