Lecture 13 - Human Memory Flashcards
Clive Wearing
Didn’t have memory because of damage to the hippocampus
What is memory
- learning over any period of time
- storage and retrieval
- information and skills
- fundamental to human experience
Encode
Information from senses transmitted to the brain for storage
Store
Information that is held to later be retrieved
Retrieve
recalling information (similar to what was encoded)
LTP (Long-term Potentiation)
Connection between neurons can become stronger with more use
Recall
Retrieve information previously learned and unconsciously stored
Recognition
Identify stimuli that match your stored information
Relearning
Mesure of how much less work it takes you to learn information you have previously learned
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory Formation
- Event
- Sensory Memory - Encoding (can go straight to 4 via the automatic pathway)
- Short-Term - Retrieving (effortful pathway)
- Long-Term Memory
If you put attention on information what happens?
It moves to short-term memory (otherwise it disappears)
Memory from sight
0.5s
Memory from hearing
3-4s
Memory from touch
Less than 1s
How does encoding happen for short-term memory?
Sensory memory (facilitated by attention) gets encoded to short-term memory/working memory
How much can short-term memory hold?
7+/-2 for approx. 20s
How does encoding happen for long term-memory?
Short term memory (facilitated by attention) gets encoded to become long term
How much can long-term memory hold?
Unknown
Nondeclarative “implicit” memories
- Not fully aware of
- don’t talk about
- doesn’t require attention/effort to encode and recall
Declarative “explicit” memories
- Facts and experiences that we consciously know and recall
- require attention/ effort to encode and recall
Types of non declarative memories
- Procedural: Skating or riding a bike
- Conditioned associations: Perfume to looks
Declarative Memories
- Semantic Memory: words and definitions
- Episodic memories associations: memory of events where you were present (concert or wedding)
- Flashbulb memories: wasn’t there but memory based on learning (global events)
How are explicit memories understood?
- Encoding and storage of explicit memories (facilitated and sleep)
- Retrieval and use of explicit memories (working memory)
How Are Implicit Memories Understood?
- Basal Ganglia (encoding, procedural memory and motor skills)
- Cerebellum ( encoding and storing conditioned responses)
Flashbulb Memories
Emotionally intense events that become a vivid “seeming” memory (limbic system)
Can long-term memory get “full”
No
What facilitates encoding log-term memories
- Practice and depth of processing
- Grouping
- Visualization
How can we practice facilitate long-term memory encoding?
Spacing effect and testing effect
Spacing Effect
Spread our study/learning time over multiple sessions
Testing effect
See how well you know the information - studying greatly increases memory
Structural Encoding
Emphasizing the physical structure of stimuli (shallow)
Phonemic Encoding
Emphasizes what a word sounds like (Intermediate)
Semantic Encoding
Emphasizes the meaning of verbal stimuli (Deep)
Chunking
Groups with pieces of information (groups are familiar) and this allows us to retain more information
Hierarchies
Divide complex information into concepts and sub concepts
Visualization
Powerful aids especially when combined with semantic encoding
Creating Links
Listing items
Method of Loci
List of items with visualized locations
Proactive Interference
Old learning interferes with the learning of new information
Retroactive Interference
Previously learned information is hard to retrieve because it is replaced with new information
How can recall be biased
- fill in parts to make more consistent
- Misinformation effect
- Source amnesia
False Memories
Event happened to you when it happened to someone else
- think of it often
- imagine more details of the event
- event is easy to imagine
False Memory Syndrome
Condition which the identity and relationships of a person rest on memories that are false but are perceived as real traumatic experiences
Perils of memory
- we encode automatically at least part of everything we are exposed to
- information affects all of our perceptions (top-down processing)
How to avoid the perils
Consciously filter the information that you expose yourself to
