LTM

Question 1

What are the limitations of long-term memory (LTM)?

Answer 1

We don’t know duration of LTM
We don’t know capacity of LTM

Question 2

What kinds of details do the STM and LTM retain?

Answer 2

Specific details of sensory stimulus

Abstracted semantic info without specific physical details

Question 3

What two approaches have researchers taken to memories theories?

Answer 3

Systems approach: Each system does a different thing

Processing approach: Info processed in diff ways

Question 4

Serial position curve

Primacy effect
Recency effect

Answer 4

Most items remembered at end and then at start, middle recalled last

Primacy: Every time you rehearse, you repeat beginning of sequence (allows encoding to LTM)

Recency: End items still active in STM

Question 5

Memory systems framework (Squire) splits LTM into what two memories?

Answer 5

Nondeclarative (implicit) - Can’t talk about
Declarative (explicit) - Can talk about

Question 6

Declarative (explicit) memory is split into which two memories?

Answer 6

Semantic - Facts
Episodic - Events

Question 7

Which part of the brain is most involved in declarative (explicit) memory?

Answer 7

Medial temporal lobe diencephalon

Question 8

What are the declarative (explicit) memory tasks?

Answer 8

Recognition (like MC)

Recall (like SA)
- Free recall: Report items in any order
- Serial recall: Repeat items in order presented
- Cued recall: Uses a hint to help recall

Question 9

What are the nondeclarative (implicit) memory tasks?

Answer 9

Procedural (Perform task repeatedly)

Priming (Behav affected by previous exp)
- Repetition priming: Same stimulus presented in multiple occasions
- Semantic priming: Semantically similar stimulus presented in multiple occasions

Question 10

Retrograde amnesia
Anterograde amnesia

Answer 10

Memory loss for events prior to trauma
- Not permanent; memory will gradually come back

Memory loss for events after trauma
- Little recovery

Question 11

Patient HM

Answer 11

Removed most of hippocampus (medial temporal lobe) because of untreatable seizures

Had anterograde amnesia (loss of ability to form new long term memories, STM was intact)

Question 12

What learning did Patient HM show?

Answer 12

Implicit learning (could learn how to get around new facility but couldn’t state his address)

Could be primed w/ word-completion tasks but couldn’t remember being primed
Memory for action (mirror training) improved normally but he couldn’t remember practicing

Question 13

Synaptic consolidation
Systems consolidation
Reconsolidation

Answer 13

Happens between 2 neurons
- Takes few seconds to 2 mins

Involves multiple brain structures
- Takes decades

When memory is reactivated but over a much shorter time course

Question 14

Maintenance rehearsal
Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 14

Repeating info to encode into LTM

Elaborating on meaning of info to encode into LTM

Question 15

How does long-term potentiation help w/ synaptic consolidation?

Answer 15

Increases sensitivity of post-synaptic neurons by causing structural changes

Question 16

Standard model of consolidation and retrieval

Answer 16

Consolidation is hippocampal dependent
Retrieval is hippocampal independent

Hippocampus binds info across diff cortical areas
- Cortical connections strengthened over time w/out hippocampus’ help

Question 17

Multiple trace theory (MTT)

Answer 17

Like standard model:
Consolidation hippocampal dependent
Retrieval hippocampal independent

**But for semantic memories only
(Episodic retrieval hippocampal dependent)

Question 18

What happens to episodic memories over time when hippocampus isn’t involved in storage or retrieval?

Answer 18

Episodic memories become semantic

Question 19

Craik and Lockhart
Levels of processing theory

Answer 19

Depth of meaning during processing determines how likely an item is to be recalled

Categorized questions in:
Case
rhyming
sentence completion (had most correct recall)

Question 20

2 types of rehearsal
(Levels of processing theory)

Answer 20

Maintenance: Keeps info active in STM

Elaborative: Links info from STM w/ that already in LTM (meaning-based rehearsal)

Question 21

What is the problem of the levels of processing theory?

Answer 21

Lacks definition of deep processing

Question 22

Elaboration
Distinctiveness (Isolation effect / von Restorff effect)

Answer 22

Creates meaningful links to STM

Diff from all other memories in LTM
- One cue tells us exactly where to find info

Question 23

How is forgetting from LTM caused?

Answer 23

Retrieval failures (info available but not accessible)

Feeling of knowing (familiarity)
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Curd vs uncued recall (Tulving and Pearlstone)
- Ppl could remember more words once categories of words were shown

Question 24

Tulving and Thomson
Encoding specificity theory

Answer 24

Had presentation of words (phase 1) vs free association task (phase 2)
- Expected cued recall task w/ phase 1 to have poorer results bcuz less engagement
- But it was actually better than recognition task w/ phase 2

Found encoding from STM to LTM was also important factor in memory retrieval

Question 25

Transfer appropriate processing
(LTM)

Answer 25

Info is remembered long term when the form (visual, auditory, etc) matches how it was in encoding and retrieval

Question 26

Context dependent learning
State dependent memory
(LTM)

Answer 26

Memory benefits when environment match between encoding and retrieval

Memory benefits when internal conditions (mood) match between encoding and retrieval

Question 27

How can you improve LTM?

Answer 27

Deep processing (Add meaning to meaningless lists)

Organize (into categories/hierarchies)

Make info personally relevant

Generate info yourself

Use imagery (Paivo’s dual-code theory)

Use interactive images (combining all items into one image)

Question 28

Spacing effect
Testing effect

Answer 28

Info repeated is spaced out into intervals, leading to LTM benefits

Benefit in LTM when ppl retrieve info on their own rather than passively

Question 29

Transfer learning
(ANN)

Answer 29

For training neural networks
Weights of an ANN trained on one task are reused in a diff network to learn a diff task