Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

Cog Psych 258 > Long-term Memory > Flashcards

Long-term Memory Flashcards

1
Q

What is long term memory?

A

Any information that is stored longer than 20 seconds

-Representations of personal experiences, facts, skills, emotions, and rules

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Does long term memory have a duration or capacity?

A

Nope, no limits, and stores it for entire lifetime

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

How do we know that Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory aren’t the same thing?

A

The Serial Position Curve.

  • different parts of the brain are activated when thinking of things that happened a long time ago than vs. now
  • We find double dissociations in brain damage. Someone can lack short term memory functioning while still retaining long term, and vice versa
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the Serial Position Curve?

A

Long list of words to remember, we see primacy and recency effect. If we wait 5 mins, recency effect will drop but you will still remember the first words

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is Consolidation?

A

Process of transforming fragile memories into more permanent memories

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Muller and Pilzeckers test to show consolidation

A

gave two groups list of nonsyllables to remember. Group 1 learned List one and list two right after. Group two learned the lists with a gap in between.
Second group did better because the gap allowed time for consolidation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is synaptic consolidation and who studied it?

A

Consolidation that happens at the level of the synapse, through this the connection between two neurons gets stronger. Activity at synapse causes chemical reactions
-Donald Hebb

Long term potentiation: enhanced firing of neurons that happens with repeated stimulation. When they fire at same time, strengthens connections between neurons, enhances responding

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is systems consolidation?

A

Consolidation at the level of networks of neurons. Takes longer than synaptic consolidation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What type of models fall under systems consolidation?

A

Standard model- remembering something involves multiple brain areas- depends on the hippocampus

Multiple trace model- hippocampus is involved in retrieving episodic memories specifically

Reactivation: in order to recall a memory, need to reactivate these brain areas. Hippocampus oversees this and is the director

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Are synaptic and systems consolidation two separate things?

A

No, they are two things happening simultaneously at different levels

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is reconsolidation?

A

Process in which act of retrieving a memory makes it fragile again, weakens the memory, so then you have to do process of consolidation all over again

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Is reconsolidation bad or good?

A

Good because events change and we learn new things, so we may need to alter our memory of things to adapt to our knew knowledge

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Who coined the terms explicit and implicit memory and what are they?

A

Endel Tulving

Explicit: conscious recollection (declarative)
Implicit: unconscious recollection (non-declarative)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Within explicit memory, what two types of memory are there?

A

Semantic: facts, general information, meaning

Episodic: any event that you yourself have personally experienced

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is involved in implicit memory?

A

Procedural memory: memory for any action or cognitive skill

Classical Conditioning: change in behaviour as result of pairing neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus

Priming

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is Priming?

A
  • Happens in implicit memory (without awareness)

- change in performance with a stimulus as a result of recent experience with the same or related stimuli

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Priming Examples

A

“He it hides finds instantly” -told to make a sentence with this

One group is given rude words to make sentence
Other group is given polite words

Measure time it took for participant to interrupt researcher –> those who saw rude words, interrupted faster

One group is given words associated with being old
Other group young.
Group with old words took longer to walk to elevator after

More hostile and racist after seeing faces of African Americans

More likely to hire someone after holding a hot beverage rather than a cold one

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is the “levels of processing theory”?

A

Memory depends on the depth of processing, how information is encoded, not on the structure of memory-no distinction between short and long term in this theory of memory
-Deeper processing results in better encoding and retrieval than shallow processing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Levels of processing test by Craik and Tulving

A

Give someone a word, push key if:

1) All uppercase letters
2) Rhymes with ____
3) Fits into a given sentence

  • -> Fitting the word into a sentence is deeper processing because have to know meaning of the word,
  • deep processing takes longer
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Two characteristics of levels processing theory?

A

1) Elaboration
- Maintenance rehearsal: simple repetition without consideration of meaning, helps to maintain info but is not effective in transferring to LTM
- Elaborative rehearsal: meaning based, make connections between item and something you know. This transfers to LTM better
2) Distinctiveness- making something more unique helps you remember it

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Real life examples of levels of processing

A

1) Academically successful students more likely to pick a word to fill in blank that is related to rest of sentence
2) As we age, we forget people’s names but we remember the significance of that person (because that was deeper processing)
3) As we age we repeat stories a lot, but the significance of the story remains

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Three ways you can use Levels of Processing

A

1) Reworking: put info into your own words
2) Method of loci: remember visual places then put information in those specific places (house map studying)
3) Imagery: create image of something you want to remember

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Problems with Levels of Processing theory

A
  • Confounding variable: when you process something deeply, you are working harder and putting more time into it.. maybe this is why you remember it better
  • No definition of depth
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is autobiographical memory?

A

memory for the events of one’s life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
What types of autobiographical memories are there?
Episodic and Semantic -Recent memories usually episodic, further back you go, more memories are semantic Multidimensional- contains facts, emotions, sensory info
26
What are usually autobiographical memories?
- Personal milestones - Transitional points in life - Emotional events
27
What is the reminiscence bump?
Memory bump: most of our memories come out of when we were between age 10-30
28
Why do most of our memories fall between age 10-30
Because this is when our sense of identity is formed, our life scripts occur in this time, and many of events during this time are unique
29
What are the functions of autobiographical memory?
Solve problems, social bonds, and affects mood, guides future actions
30
What is a flashbulb memory?
A vivid and detailed memory of a personally significant event. Refers mainly to circumstances around the event and how a person heard about it and not the event itself - Brown and Kulik - Special because they are highly emotional, long-lasting, does not mean they are accurate
31
What are the properties of flashbulb memories?
- No more accurate than other memories, peoples memories for how they heard about flashbulb events change over time - Only occur with personally emotional events - People are much more confident in the accuracy of their flashbulb memories than other memories - When you retrieve these, retrieve some emotions as well
32
Memory is constructive
- 47% thought memories don't change | - Each time we recall a memory, we are essentially reconstructing it
33
Bartlett's "War of Ghosts" experiment
How people remember things as a function of familiarity or schemas - Method of repeated reproduction: got them to recall the War of Ghosts story - We begin rationalizing the story. As people recalled it, certain important details were being left out and changed to ones that corresponded to culture of participant
34
What is source monitoring?
Determining the origins of memory. | Source monitoring error= when you get sources confused or mixed up
35
What are some examples of source monitoring errors?
1) Cryptoamnesia: unconscious plagiarism, forget source and remember it as your own 2) Role of Familiarity: having seen something before, it sticks into your memory, may make error 3) Gender Roles: if it is more of a woman's task, might mistakenly remember act being done by a woman even if it were done by a man
36
What is Misinformation Effect
Presenting information contrary to what really happened after an experience can change memory -Misleading post event information
37
Example of the misinformation effect
Witnessed car accident - Then were asked to estimate speed - If words "smashed into eachother" were used, predicted faster speed than if "bumped into eachother" was used - falsely report broken glass being present if "smashed" was used
38
What happens with eye witness testimony?
- Actually least reliable evidence, but is most used to convince jury - If weapon, attention goes to that - If look familiar, might make error and think they are criminal - Sometimes wording by police is suggestive "Which guy is the criminal" even though he may not be in line up at all
39
What are the pros of constructive memory?
Helps us to perceive, understand language, solve problems and make decisions
40
What are the cons of constructive memory?
False memories
41
What are the 2 selves that Daniel Kahneman said existed?
1) Remembering Self | 2) Experiencing Self
42
Below income of $60,000 per year, people are unhappy. Above that it makes no difference how much you make, you are same level of happy.
TRUE
43
What is the difference between coding and encoding
Coding- refers to the form in which information is represented Encoding- refer to the process used to get information into LTM
44
What is retrieval?
Transferring info from the LTM to working memory so you can remember it again
45
What is the difference between shallow and deep processing?
Shallow- involves little attention to meaning (occurs during maintenance rehearsal) Deep- involves close attention to meaning and relating it to something else (occurs during elaborative rehearsal)
46
Is memory for a word better when it is in a complex sentence or a simple sentence?
Complex sentence
47
4 things that help us remember better
1) Paired-associate learning: create images in head that help you remember 2) Self-reference effect: memory is better if you are asked to relate a word to yourself 3) Generation Effect- generating material yourself, rather than passively receiving it, enhances learning and retention 4) Organizing info, categories serve as a retrieval cue 5) Testing effect: being tested on material helps you remember
48
Most of our failures of _____ are failures of _____
memories; retrieval
49
What are retrieval cues?
words or other stimuli that help us remember information stored in our memory
50
What are the two types of recall?
Free recall: a participant is simply asked to recall a stimuli Cued recall: participant is presented with retrieval cues to aid in recall of experienced stimuli
51
Three situations that make retrieval easier
1) Encoding specificity- match context in which you encoding and retrieval occur 2) State-dependent learning- matching the internal mood present during encoding and retrieval 3) Transfer-appropriate processing- matching task involved in encoding and retrieval
52
Matching the encoding and retrieval tasks results in better retrieval than deeper processing
TRUE
53
What is the spacing effect?
Idea that taking breaks and studying in a number of short sessions is better
54
Hippocampus is part of the _____
medial temporal lobe | -crucial for forming LTM
55
Anterograde amnesia
inability to form new memories
56
Retrograde amnesia
inability to remember events that occurred prior to the injury
57
Remote memories
Occurred a long time ago
58
Graded amnesia
memory for recent events is more fragile than memory for remote events
59
What is the major mechanism of consolidation?
Reactivation- process during which the hippocampus replays the neural activity associated with a memory -occurs during sleep
60
Are memories ever permanent?
Memory is initially fragile, so a disrupting event that occurs shortly after a memory is formed can disrupt formation -Once consolidation occurs, then the same disrupting event cannot affect the memory
61
"Mental time travel" is what type of memory?
Episodic
62
What is the cognitive hypothesis?
Proposes that periods of rapid change that are followed by stability cause stronger encoding of memories
63
Cultural life script and cultural life script hypothesis
Cultural life script is culturally expected events that occur at a particular time in the life span. Events in a person's life story become easier to recall when they fit the cultural life script for that person's culture
64
Are emotionally charged events easier to remember?
Yes
65
Amygdala
Amygdala activity is higher for emotional words
66
What is repeated recall?
Technique of comparing later memories to memories collected immediately after the event
67
Narrative rehearsal hypothesis
We may remember special events like 9/11 because we rehearse these events after they occur. See TV reports about it, etc.
68
What is pragmatic inference?
Occurs when reading a sentence leads a person to expect something that is not explicitly stated or necessarily implied by the sentence --> based on knowledge gained through experience
69
What is a script?
Our conception of the sequence of actions that usually occur during a particular experience Ex) at doctors office you first check in, then sit and wait, then get weighed, then meet with doctor -May cause us to add info when remembering a story, because it fits the script
70
What is retroactive interference?
occurs when more recent learning interferes with memory for something that happened in the past
71
What is the post-identification feedback effect?
increase in confidence due to confirming feedback after making an identification
72
Reverse Testing Effect
taking a recall test right after seeing the program increased the participants' sensitivity to the misinformation effect

Cog Psych 258 (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions