Long Term Memory Flashcards
The archive of information about PAST events and LEARNED knowledge; the brain’s hard drive
long term memory
They type of memory that works closely with short term/working memory, but is more focused on past events, stretching from a few moments ago to as far back as one can remember; more recent memories tend to be more detailed
long term memory
Memories are not created equally. The distinction between short-term and long-term memories and how likely people are to remember certain things can be measured by the _____________ (3).
serial position curve
Two effects found on the serial position curve:
primacy effect, recency effect
Memory better for stimuli presented at the beginning
occurs because participants have more time to rehearse the earlier items, and experienced less interference encoding them, making it more likely to enter LTM
(like how I can only remember the first part of Ebenezer Bleezer’s Ice Cream Store poem; I rehearsed the first part more)
primacy effect
Serial position effect; less rehearsal nearing the ends of a list because:
too much interference
Memory better for stimuli at the end of the list
Occurs because stimuli was still active in the short-term memory at the point the participants’ memory was tested; introducing a delay can eliminate this effect
recency effect
Form in which stimuli is represented in memory
coding
Most common form of coding in short term memory
auditory
Most common form of coding in long term memory:
semantic coding
visual coding STM vs. LTM example:
STM: closing my eyes and picturing the flowers in front of me
LTM: picturing the beach and pool in Mexico from my trip in August
Auditory coding STM vs. LTM example:
STM: Recreating the melody I just heard in the song I’m listening to right now in my head (Plastic Beach - Gorillaz)
LTM: Recreating the melody of a song I’ve listened to many times before that’s now stuck in my head (Love Story - Taylor Swift; I’ve listened to it since I was 5)
STM vs. LTM semantic coding example:
STM: thinking about what the conversation I’m having means; analyzing the person’s words
LTM: recalling the plot of sleeping beauty or demon slayer or bojack horseman or literally any show I’ve watched in the past
when information learned previously interferes with learning new information
proactive interference (past messes you up)
(Like how I would put “le” in Chinese when I wasn’t supposed to in Chinese school in elementary because I was learning French at the same time.)
When new learning interferes with remembering past/old learning.
retroactive interference
(New info rewrites past learning oops)
Study had participants encode words from various categories; items were chunked in the same category in the controlled condition (eg: apple, banana, pear -> all fruits; next trial would be peach, mango, raspberry)
Reduction in performance for successive items from the same category could be interpreted as proactive interference.
It’s easier to mix up fruits with fruits and fruits with non-fruits because there’s less of that clear distinction in a way.
What study is this?
The Wickens Semantic Encoding Experiment
What did the Wickens Semantic Encoding Experiment Study?
The effects of Proactive interference and how to remove it
In the Wickens experiment there was a condition in which items from distinctly different categories were presented. The first group would be items of fruits, the next group would be items of professions, etc.
Having clear distinctions in the groups of items boosted memory performance and allowed for less mix up with items from previous categories, showing that:
proactive interference can be reduced
If a distinction of your memory of some knowledge isn’t sharp in your mind and your memory isn’t organized, susceptible to what type of interference
proactive
Wickens experiment sandwiching two groups of professions between two groups of fruits (the fruit groups are separated by the professions in the middle)
Which was more accurate, fruit recalling or profession recalling and why?
Fruit recalling was more accurate because since they were seen as more distinct separated categories of fruit, people could recall them more accurately.
However, the profession groups were presented consecutively, making the participants more susceptible to proactive interference and mixing the trials up since all the professions might blur together.
Using neuroscience and brain functions/activity to understand psychology
neuropsychological approach
The ________ in the brain is essential for encoding new long-term memories.
hippocampus
_______ (2) are evident between STM and LTM but they do interact at times; not completely separate
double dissociations
Henry Molaison had his hippocampus removed and he couldn’t form new __________ (3).
Long-term memories
KF on the other hand, had impaired _______ but intact ______. He was able to retrieve previously encoded information, but not newly encoded information.
impaired short term memory, intact long term memory
2 branches of long term memory:
explicit and implicit
Two types of explicit (conscious) memory
episodic (personal events) - I ate eggs today
Semantic (facts, knowledge) - 2 + 2 = 4
3 ways implicit (unconscious) memory is activated:
procedural memory
priming
conditioning
(PPC)
Conscious memory for personal events; involves mental time travel, not guaranteed to be super accurate, and multidimensional in nature - those were the days…
episodic memory
memory that includes sensory, emotional, and contextual details, etc. would be considered __________ in nature.
multi-dimensional
memory for facts and general knowledge
semantic memory
(No mental time travel because you didn’t experience the thing, it’s just general knowledge)
An autobiography would be an example of people COMBINING the explicit memory subtypes; ________ memory to recall facts from their life (“eg: I grew up in Edmonton in a large house with a park down the street”), and _________ memory to reminisce and reflect on those events (“I felt like it was a comfortable city to live it, but I always wanted to explore more.”)
semantic memory - recall facts
episodic memory - recall personal events, experiences, emotions (multidimensional mental time travelling)
Episodic and semantic memory can be combined but separated they show a ____________.
double dissociation
(there can be overlap but retrieving semantic memories and episodic memories generally use different areas of the brain)
Acquiring knowledge may start as episodic but then fade to just facts or _________.
Semantic memory can be enhanced by _________ details.
semantic
episodic
Memory of specific experiences, including both semantic and episodic aspects
autobiographical memory
Semantic memories that have personal significance; facts from our own lives
Personal semantic memory
(really creative name)
________ (2) memory can influence what we experience by determining what we attend to and then what we decide to do.
personal semantic
Forgetting _________ with longer intervals from the original encoding
(Increases or decreases)
increases
- longer time ago, more likely to forget
the procedure used to measure familiarity and recollection; implicit gut feelings
remember/know procedure
3 possible responses/outcomes of the remember know procedure + describe:
- remember response: stimulus familiar, remember encounter (remember everything)
- know response: stimulus familiar (you know the fact), don’t remember encounter
- don’t know response: don’t remember stimulus at all
remember/know procedure response: remember response
recognize stimulus, remember where you encountered it
remember/know procedure response: know response
stimulus familiar and recognized but you don’t know where you encountered/learned it from
