Lecture 8 Flashcards
What is memory?
Actionable preservation of experiences including sensations, emotions thought and beliefs. actionable = able to retrieve.
Semantic vs Episodic memory
Semantic = factual information, non-contextual. Not personal experience, can be abstract.
Episodic = context-sensitive, based on episodes of life. personal. thinking back to a specific episode of life
Explicit vs Implicit memory
explicit memory =
conscious of retrieval of information which can be episodic or semantic, or combination of both
implicit memory=
dont have to think about it to retrieve it
Human vs computer as a memory system
computer organises memory by topic date time place etc. human memory organised by experiences and significance of information. computer has rapid search for memory, human slower. computer has complete information of a memory, humans only part of an experience is relevance.
implications for memory
can be used for a legal testimony, but eye-witness can be dodgy, misinformation effect. False or misleading information can alter memory recall.
Serial position curve
Murdock asked participants to remember list of items, participants could only recall words at start and end of list. primacy effect (effective transfer from STM to LTM) and recency effect (still in WM). when participants asked to do filler task after list presentation then do recall showed no recency effect but still primary effect
STM vs LTM features
STM = low capacity (5 ish)
LTM = unlimited capacity
STM is highly sensitive to order presentation
The modal model and its problems
shows how memory goes from sensory memory -> (attention) -> STM -> (rehearsal) -> LTM
LTM -> (retrieval) -> STM
problems: rehearsal is not the only way to get info from STM to LTM, e.g. how emotional experiences get stored
tasks for LTM
participants study list of words/faces/pictures/shapes and then asked to remember. episodic test, intentional retrieval
recall tasks
DV=accuracy
can be in free recall (any order)
serial recall (in order of how it was presented)
recognition
single item recognition. old recognition = identifying what was on the list that was presented. new = word that was not on the list. multi-choice is example of recognition.
more flexible and sensitive than recall, more likely to detect memories that are weaker
SDT with recognition (old vs new)
if false alarm rate (saying that its old when its new) is low that means you can actually interpret results. if false alarm rate is high, have to take into account response bias
explicit memory tasks vs implicit memory tasks
episodic memory task = explicit
participants told to retrieve items occurred in a study phase. intentionally testing memory episode.
some brain injuries cause no access of explicit memory
implicit memory tasks = rely on semantic memory (e.g. lexical decision tasks present 1 proper word and multiple nonsense word and have to identify which is proper word)
implicit memory in amnesia
patient with korsakoff syndrome, presented with multi choice questions, If participant was to answer a question previously answered they would do better without remembering doing that question
Ebbinghaus and forgetting
Studied nonsense syllables until reciting series perfectly. tested free recall and serial recall. found memory steadily dropped off in an exponential equation
