Lecture 1 Flashcards
Basic processes of memory
Encoding, storage and retrieval
What type of information is highly prone to forgetting?
Unstructured information, in particular episodic information
What is the goal of learning/memory?
To store knowledge
Why do we believe that existing knowledge influences what you process?
All the models assume a semantic network
e.g. thinking of ambulance, activates semantic information which surround it e.g. it is a car
What is the working memory capacity?
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
What is chunking of information?
The knowledge-dependent recoding of information. It is a means of functionally increasing WM capacity
Example of chunking
Expert chess players recall chess positions presented very briefly better than novices (De Groot, 1946)
How do you become an expert?
Years of deliberate practice (Ericsson et al., 1993)
- motivation and focus on improvement
- development of strategies
- repeated engagement with the task with maximal effort
Beilock and Carr (2001): golf putting - do experts remember their own actions?
Novices have detailed episodic memories of putting events, but experts have poor episodic memory for sequences that have been automised
- expert-induced amnesia
What is the effect of new conditions on expert performance?
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
How do participants study and recall lists of words?
Organised by category (grouped condition) or presented in random order (random condition)
Bower et al. (1969) looked at organising information, what did he conclude?
Hint: structure
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
Repetition is ____ but structure is ____
important, essential
What are schemas?
Clusters/configurations (“chunks”) of knowledge for objects, places, events, actions, etc.
How are schemas abstract?
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
How do schemas work for e.g. a house?
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
What can schemas influence?
Schemas can influence encoding, storage and retrieval - influence memory
Schemas create ___, and reduce ___
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
How do schemas allow us to deal with missing information?
By making inferences - if no specific information is given, we assume that a house has, by default, a pointy roof
Can schemas be culturally specific?
Yes e.g. an igloo
What type of schemas do we show a better memory for and give an example.
Schema-consistent objects e.g. desk/shelves in an office, rather than inconsistent objects e.g. a wine bottle
Does all research show better recall for schema-consistent information?
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
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?
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
What is an expert?
Someone who has high levels of knowledge. A domain-specific mastery, consistent superior performance in a domain
Why is chunking important in the role of expertise?
Experts are able to create chunks more often than novices
What are the principles of chunking?
- Encoding principle: relies on prior knowledge (LTM) to create chunks
- have to rely on information you have in LTM to create these chunks - 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 - Speed-up principle: speed up with practice
- multiple hours of practice, need to become very efficient
Thompson et al. (1991) investigated the case study of Rajan. What was exceptional about him and what did they propose?
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.
