Lesson 4 - Questions Flashcards
process info to represent it in your memory
retrieval: access info from mem storage,
processes that allow you locate information that is stored in long-term memory and to have access to that information
these babes go hand in hand
working memory: the memory system supporting ones ability to store info while simultaneously processing other incoming information
- important role in language processing and other cognitive tasks
- limited capacity
- have limited ability to pass info onto long term memory
when we are bombarded with a lot of information, we can only store a limited amount of this info in our short-term memory
ex. mental math, reasoning ability, complex problems
short term and working memory = the same cognitive process
-working memory is just an updated version (theory switcheroo)
short term memory: memory system that is responsible for holding onto a small amount of information that has been recently taken in from the environment
Describe the contributions of George Miller and Brown-Peterson and Peterson regarding short-term memory capacity. What is the serial position curve? How does short-term/working memory affect the shape of the curve?
Comment: Additional evidence for the magic number seven can be found using the digit-span task, a widely used tool in clinical and intelligence areas to measure short-term/working memory capacity. In this task, a person is presented with four spoken digits in a row that they are to recall immediately in the same order. If all the digits are recalled correctly, the person is presented with five new digits to recall immediately. If those digits are recalled correctly, the task continues by increasing the number of digits to recall by one. The highest number of digits that can be successfully recalled is referred to as the person’s digit span. Most individuals can recall seven digits plus or minus two (i.e., between five and nine digits). There is an interesting developmental pattern in the size of a person’s digit span. The average digit span is two in two-and-a-half-year-olds, five for eight-year-olds, and eight for college students (Howard, 1983). Moreover, very little decline occurs in digit-span capacity as people age. Note that the digit-span task is a measure of how much can be held in working memory (spatial capacity), whereas the Brown-Peterson and Peterson task is a measure of how long information can be held in working memory if we are prevented from rehearsing (temporal capacity).
memory is limited in duration and capacity
George Miller wrote “The magical number 7, +/- 2: Some Limits on our capacity for processing information”
- proposed we can hold a limited number of items in our short term memory
- chunk: s a memory unit that consists of several components that are strongly associated with one another (we can hold around 7 of these bad boys)
- inspired classic research on short term memory
- contrasted views in his time since behaviourism was popular
Brown/Peterson & Peterson technique: provided a lot of the OG info on short-term memory
- each of these 3 psychologists demonstrated on their own that short term memory info held for less than a min is usually forgotten
- study where they ask participants to remember a word, then distract them, then ask to recall the word
- rehearsal means repeating the items silently
serial position effect: U shaped curve on graph of relationship between a word’s position in a list and its probability of recall
- involves a strong recency effect (these items were still in short term memory at time of recall)
- in this model, short term memory size is 3-7 items
- also involves primary effect; items at beginning of list remembered better too since they don’t need to compete with earlier items and theres longer time for the subject to rehearse these items
Describe how the semantic meaning of words can be shown to affect working memory capacity. Be sure that your answer includes a definition of “proactive interference (PI)” and “release from P.” How is this related to demonstration 4.2?
semantics: meanings of words/sentences
proactive interference: ppl have a hard time learning new info because previous knowledge gets in the way
- worse when the info is similar (ex. you memorized a bunch of numbers and they gave you more numbers to memorize, vs if they gave you shapes to memorize instead) - this is release from proactive interference
- in this situation your memory of the shapes may be just as good as your memory of the first set of numbers you were given
- importance of semantics
both semantics and # of items are important in short term memory capacity
Briefly describe Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of memory and Baddeley’s model of working memory. Be sure that you describe the properties of each component for each model. Describe the evidence for independent capacities in Baddeley’s model of working memory.
information processing model:
by Atkinson and Shiffrin
-an approach to cognition that argues that our mental processes are similar to the operation of a computer and that info progresses through our cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
-model proposes that memory follows a series of steps, and in each step info is moved from one storage area to another:
1. sensory memory (info from external stim enters here)
-records info from our senses
-here for 2 sec or less, then most is forgotten
-some info is lost and the rest goes to (2)
2. short term/working memory
-lost in 30 sec, unless repeated
3. long term memory
-only a fraction of short term ends up here
-relatively permanent
-A and S’s model involves control processes, which are intentional strategies which improve memory (ex. rehearsal)
- now researchers think that sensory memory is just a brief period thats part of perception, not memory at all
- researchers also critique their clear cut view of the diff between short and long term memory
Baddeley wanted to know what short term memory actually does for cognitive processes
- came to the conclusion that its to store a bunch of irrelevant bits of info simultaneously –> lead to shift of short term to working memory
- working memory is the brief, immediate memory for the limited amount of material that you are currently processing; part of working memory also actively coordinates your ongoing mental activities
- working memory allows you to access and integrate different information into cognitive tasks at hand - not just storing the info but working with it actively
Baddeleys working memory approach says that immediate memory is a multipart system that temporarily holds and manipulates information while we perform cognitive tasks
- proposes multiple components of working memory
- involves central executive, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, phonological loop, and long term memory
evidence for components with independent capacities
- working memory is not unitary
- theres more than 7 slots
- you can perform 2 tasks simultaneously, at least when one is verbal rehearsal and another is spatial judgement
- working memory has several components that operate independent of one another
What are acoustic confusions, and what do they reveal about the properties of the phonological loop? How is the phonological loop used in other aspects of daily life? What does the neuroscience research reveal about this component?
- phonological loop: can process a number of sounds at once
- subvocalization: when you silently pronounce words while reading (phono loop present here too)
- acoustic confusions: sometimes we confuse similar sounds
- recall of letters that are similar sounding is worse than when letters sound much diff
- Notice an important point: In many studies on acoustic confusions, the letters were presented visually. However, people must have been “translating” these visual stimuli into a format based on the sound properties of the letters. That is, they converted visually presented letters in the external visual world to a sound-based (phonological) code inside their minds. Importantly, they used those sound-based codes in order to rehearse the letter names in the phonological loop. People confuse acoustically similar sounds with one another when they are rehearsing the items in the phonological loop. When the letter names stored in the phonological loop are similar, and you must rehearse them in order to remember them, you may stumble and silently pronounce the wrong sound.
- Research on acoustic confusions is but one example of how we use our phonological loops to simultaneously process and store sound-based information.
everyday use
- phono loop has limited capacity - can’t think of 2 things at once really
- we talk to ourselves all day, used in self instruction
- info leaves phono loop and goes into long term memory
- used when learning language
- helps produce spoken language
- used in math and problem solving so you can keep track of info
neuroscience research:
- phono loop tasks ctivate part of the frontal lobe and part of the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere of the brain
- left brain is more used for info processing related to language (rehearsing verbal language)
- transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): is a neuroscience technique that uses a magnetic field to briefly stimulate a specific location on the cortex. Briefly interferes with info processing
- Romero Lauro usd TMS to confirm how phono loop processes language
- looked at left frontal lobe, the part of the brain that might be activated when you rehearse verbal material anddd left parietal lobe, the part of the brain that might be activated when you store auditory information.
- parietal lobe TMS impacted participants ability to process long simple sentences (info storage)
- both the left frontal lobe and the left parietal lobe are engaged when rehearsing and storing complex, lengthy sentences.
Notice, then, that the research on the phonological loop suggests that our working memory is much more sophisticated than just a storehouse of 7 ± 2 items. Even if we focus just on the phonological loop, the findings are complex.
important point about working memory capacity
- working memory = short term memory
- short term = outdated term that implies its passive when its not
- we manipulate info, actively
- simultaneously process and store info - capacity is limited in working memory
- working memory and long term memory are basically the same,… or maybe not (research controversial)
Describe the visuospatial sketchpad. Summarize the research on the visuospatial sketchpad. How is the visuospatial sketchpad used in other aspects of daily life? What does the neuroscience research reveal about this component?
- visuospatial sketchpad: processes visual and spatial info, allows you to look at a complex scene and gather visual information about objects and landmarks, and allows you to navigate from one location to another
- ppl can work simultaneously w one visuospatial sketchpad and one phono loop (proof that working memory is complex)
- can store info encoded from verbal info
- limited capacity
research:
- ppl have a hard time performing more than 1 visuospatial task at a time
- problem w research: we do not have a standardized set of visual stimuli that would be comparable to the words that we process using the phonological loop. Another problem is that research participants (at least in Western cultures) tend to provide names for stimuli presented in a visual form. Beginning at about age 8, people look at a shape and provide a name, such as “It’s a circle inside a square”. If you use a verbal coding for this form, you’ll probably use your phonological loop for further processing, rather than your visuospatial sketchpad.
- researchers get ppl to repeat irrelevant symbols while looking at something (“la la la”) so they don’t provide names for the stimulus
everyday life:
- look at something then close your eyes and you can picture it
- tracking moving objects
- games, puzzles
neuroscience research:
- right cortex of brain
- occipital region
- specific location depends on task difficulty/characteristics
- frontal cortex activated too
- Research on spatial working memory also suggests that people mentally rehearse this material by shifting their selective attention from one location to another in their mental image. As a result, this kind of mental rehearsal typically activates areas in the frontal and parietal lobes. These are the same areas of the cortex that are associated with attention
Describe the central executive and the characteristics of this component. Provide several examples of tasks that require central executive processes. Describe its relation to daydreaming. What does the neuroscience research reveal about this component?
Comment: The central executive component in Baddeley’s model is the “processing part” of working memory and has been implicated in a number of clinical syndromes. Baddeley (1986) used the term Dysexecutive Syndrome to describe patients with impaired functioning of the central executive. Typically, these patients were found to have damage in their frontal lobes and disorders in planning, organizing, problem solving, and attention. The Dysexecutive Syndrome has been reported in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia.
central executive: integrates info from phono loop, vis sketchpad, episodic buffer and long term memory + role in focusing attention, selecting strategies, transforming information, and coordinating behavior
- also focusing attention and switching between tasks, complex!
- most poorly understood component of working memory
- supresses irrelevant info
- helps you decide what to do next, what not to do so you don’t become sidetracked from goal
- plans and coordinates but does noT store info
- it decides what we should focus on, selects strategies to solve problem, organizes, decides what not to do too
- limited capacity to perform multiple tasks
daydreaming:
study where participants were asked to generate a random sequence of numbers and those who were day dreaming could not perform the task
-central executive has role in daydreaming
-research says that frontal region of the cortex is the most active portion of the brain when people work on a wide variety of central-executive tasks (both L and R sides)
-when you are writing a paper, your central executive may inhibit you from paying attention to some research articles, thus distracting you from your specific topic. The central executive is also active when you plan the order of topics in your outline. In addition, it guides you as you make decisions about your time frame for writing the paper.
-central executive is similar to executive attention network (ch 3) which involves frontal lobe goal-directed behaviour and behavioural inhibition
some research says that central executive part of working memory is the same thing as the executive attention network – both “coordinator” or “organizer” processes
What is the episodic buffer? Why was it developed after the other three components?
-added this component 25 yrs later
episodic buffer: temporary storehouse that can store and combine info from phono loop, vis pad and long term memory
-This arrangement helps to solve the theoretical problem of how working memory integrates information from different modalities (its like the storage version of the central executive (which doesn’t store stuff at all))
-allows you to connect info that wasn’t previously connected (ex. my friend looked and acted mad yesterday, does this fit the profile I have of them in my long term memory?)
-epi buffer allows you to interpret an earlier experience, solve new problems, and plan future activities
-limited capacity
-rich representation of an event, can go off to long term mem
Summarize the application of working memory research in education and clinical population.
Comment: Another important variable associated with working memory performance is age. Baddeley (1986) found that older adults performed more poorly than younger adults on measures of central executive functioning. Moreover, the decline in working memory performance has been linked to age differences in language tasks and other long-term memory tasks. These findings illustrate that working memory has an important role in processing language and in transferring information to long-term storage. Note that these age differences should not be interpreted as a negative consequence of aging. Tasks that measure central executive function are usually timed tasks that require a series of rapid responses and are meant to exceed our normal capacity. Tasks that are not timed and require a slower response rate usually reveal no age differences
academic performance and working memory:
- Scores on working-memory tasks are positively correlated with overall intelligence and grades in school
- Scores on tests of working memory—especially the phonological loop—are usually positively correlated with reading ability
- Scores on central-executive tasks are correlated with verbal fluency, reading comprehension, reasoning ability, and note-taking skills
clinical populations
- depressed ppl showed statistically significant differences in phono loop tasks, visuospatial tasks, big difference in central executive
- depressed ppl report problems concentrating and have ruminative style (worries about life) which may contribute to working memory deficits
- ADHD - exhibit lower performance on both visual and verbal working memory task
- maybe they have less robust phonological loops or visuospatial sketchpads, such that their brains are not able to encode visual and sound-based material as well
- deficits in the central-executive components of the working-memory system. Indeed, people with ADHD often have more difficulty than others on central-executive tasks, especially when they must inhibit a response, plan a project, or work on two tasks at the same time, as a result they can’t pay attention to things as easily
- central executive is part of working memory that is most relevant to these problems
-GAD - worrying takes up cognitive space
-Hayes, Hirsch, and Mathews (2008) tested this hypothesis by asking high and low worriers to press a series of keys on a computer keyboard in a random order. Producing random sequences is taxing on one’s working memory resources because it requires an individual to suppress the tendency to produce structured patterns. Thus, in their paradigm, less random sequences of button presses reflect a depletion of working memory resources. High- and low-worriers were asked to complete this random sequence generation task twice—one time while thinking about a worry-invoking circumstance in the individual’s current life, and one time while thinking about a current positive circumstance.
High-worry individuals produced significantly less-random sequences in the worry-related relative to positive thought condition whereas no corresponding effect was detected for low-worry individuals.
-The authors interpreted this result as evidence that individuals prone to worry use up so much of their limited-capacity working-memory resources while worrying that fewer resources are left over to support the random sequence generation task.
-The excessive worrying so indicative of GAD may very well cause reductions in working memory resources, thus reducing one’s ability to perform other cognitive and perceptual tasks. This effect may have particularly widespread negative consequences for daily functioning as a result of the large number of cognitive processes supported or otherwise influenced by working memory
