Lecture 6 - Memory 3: Working memory and long-term memory Flashcards
Working memory is also known as
short term memory
Long term memory - what factors influence encoding?
Base and congruent idea - congruent idea is an idea that is consistent with the base sentence and you have more to remember here than with just the base sentence
Base and elaboration - elaboration means an extra idea in there that encourages you to start to form a narrative around the idea and perhaps to form a visual image of what might be happening
What is important in remembering information is the ability to elaborate on it, ability to use the knowledge that you have a incorporate it with the sentence presented to you - when you do this rich elaboration you are much more likely to remember the information
Elaborative rehearsal enhances encoding in the long term memory
The process by which the subject organises and relates new information to material that is already held in LTM
Contrasts with “maintenance” rehearsal - which makes very little difference in your ability in remembering information
Links to first lecture about memory with nonsense syllables - as seen here, memory works best when the items you are processing have meaning to you and you use this meaning to produce a rich representation of it
Related to depth of processing (depth of processing and elaboration rehearsing are two slightly different names for two very similar processes)
Shallow e.g. sound, shape
Deep - meaning (semantic structure
Experiment (image)
There is a delay between the presentation of the stimuli and people are later asked to recall
Better performance for semantics when the way the information is conveyed to you involves some sort of deeper processing
The more engaged you are with the information that you are presented with the more likely you are to recall it from long term memory at a later time
A study by Branford and Johnson (1972)
Participants read a paragraph and then recalled it. One group was given context, one wasn’t. High % recall for informed group. Shows elaborative encoding improves comprehension and memory, esp. enhancing encoding in LTM
In long term memory we believe that memory is stored in a …
semantic network, that is that information is stored with links/associations to other items that through your experience provide meaning to these items
Improving memory - visual memory
Shows the power of elaborative rehearsal and visual imagery really forces you to engage with objects to create this imagery which requires that you think about the meaning of the objects and how they might interact with each other
Improved by your long term memory by using visual imagery for the information you are presented with
Improving memory - method of loci
The way it works is that you take the information that you are presented with and you locate it in space (image)
Active control = a group whose memory may be affected by social interactions or time spent with the researchers, trained in another type of memory task but spent the equivalent amount of time with the researchers
Passive control = no intervention
Improving memory - Use of encoding-retrieval context
Encoding (learning information in the dry) and the retrieval in either the same environment and that being dry or the group that went scuba dicing were asked to try retrieve the information whilst they were underwater and scuba diving
Idea is to see if putting yourself back into the same environment for retrieval is helpful
Godden and Baddeley (1975)
Another group learnt the information whilst scuba diving but still had to retrieve the information either underwater whilst scuba diving or in the dry environment
Performance is food when in the same environmental context as when the information is encoded
Crossing over of the graphs indicates that the effects you are seeing are not simply because of one condition causing people to worry able their survival (underwater) and it instead suggests that context is important
Godden & Baddeley (1975)
People learnt words on land and underwater and were tested for recall in both conditions. Recall better in the condition learnt. Encoding-retrieval context is important!
Anterograde amnesia
Anterograde amnesia = when long term memories are still intact but short term memories do not transfer into long term memory
Reterograde amnesia
Reterograde amnesia = memories that were perfectly intact immediately before trauma, can no longer be remembered
H.M had ..
reterograde and anterograde amnesia
Consolidation and memory
The stories and their subsequent findings suggest that memory is initially in a labile form and then is consolidated over time into a more damage-resistant form
Consolidation may occur over periods of years, such that remote memories are more damage resistant
See this in the elderly - remember things very well from their childhood but do not have as good a time remembering what they did last week which suggests…
The formation of a memory trace is a process that extends over a long period of time. The extended process of consolidation may involve alterations the biological foundations of the trace
Encoding
the conversion of information into a form that can be stored in memory
Storage
the creation of a trace of this information within the nervous system
