LTM: Encoding, Consolidation, and Retrieval

Question 1

encoding

Answer 1

Acquiring information and transforming it into memory.

Question 2

retrieval

Answer 2

transferring information from LTM to working memory, our failures of memory are failures to retrieve.

Question 3

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 3

using meanings and connections to help transfer information to LTM.

Question 4

shallow processing

Answer 4

little attention to meaning, focus on physical features, poor memory.

Question 5

deep processing

Answer 5

close attention to meaning, and elaborative rehearsal that focuses on an item’s meaning and its relationship to something else.

Question 6

Craik and Tulvings experiment

Answer 6

According to levels of processing theory, memory depends on the depth of processing that an item receives. Depth of processing distinguishes between shallow processing and deep processing. The three types of questions were designed to create different levels of processing: (1) physical features 5 shallow processing; (2) rhyming 5 deeper processing; (3) fill in the blanks 5 deepest processing. Results show deeper processing is associated with better memory.

Question 7

visual imagery

Answer 7

generating images in your head to connect works visually. People who created images remembered more then twice as many words as the participants who just repeated the word pairs.

Question 8

self-reference effect

Answer 8

Memory is better if you are asked to relate a word to yourself.

Question 9

generation effect

Answer 9

generating material for yourself, rather than passively receiving it, enhances learning and retention. Participants who generated the second word of each pair were able to reproduce 28% more than participants who just read the word pairs.

Question 10

organizing to-be-remembered information

Answer 10

people remember words in a particular category that serves as a retrieval cue – a word that helps a person remember information stored in memory.

Question 11

relating words to survival value

Answer 11

memory was shaped to increase the ability to survive, especially in situations experienced by our ancestors, who were faced with basic survival challenges like finding food and evading predators.

Question 12

retrieval practice

Answer 12

demonstrated by Karpicke and Roediger, testing memory to elaborate on material.

Question 13

Recognition vs. recall

Answer 13

recognition is different from recall because in recall the person must produce the item to be recalled. A recall test would be like filling in blanks, while a recognition test would be multiple choice.

Question 14

cued recall

Answer 14

most of our failures of memory are failures to retrieve, cue presented to aid retrieval, increased performance over free call, retrieval cues most effective when created by the person who uses them.

Question 15

recognition

Answer 15

identification of a stimulus that was encountered earlier, present stimulus during a study period and later to present the same stimulus along with others that were not presented.

Question 16

free recall

Answer 16

a participant is asked to recall stimuli, used in serial position curve.

Question 17

serial recall

Answer 17

participants recall a list of items in a specific order it was presented.

Question 18

Bransford and Johnson experiment

Answer 18

the importance of organization, comprehension of material.
Presented difficult-to-comprehend information:
- Experiment group 1 saw picture that helped explain the information before reading it.
- Experiment group 2 saw picture after reading the passage.
- Control group did not see the picture.
Results: Group 1 outperformed the others because having a mental framework of comprehension aided memory encoding and retrieval.

Question 19

Karpicke and Reodiger word pair experiment

Answer 19

• Group 1 – studied and tested all words/all sessions.
• Group 2 – studied only words missed in previous tests; tested on all words.
• Group 3 – studied all words; tested on words missed in previous test.
  Results: Group 3 had a later performance then 1 and 2, which shows testing memory retrieval can improve memory.

Question 20

encoding specificity

Answer 20

we learn information together with its context.

Question 21

Baddeley’s diving experiment

Answer 21

best recall occurred when encoding and retrieval occurred in the same location.

Question 22

state-dependent learning

Answer 22

learning is associated with a particular internal state, better memory if person’s mood at encoding matches mood during retrieval.

Question 23

transfer-appropriate processing

Answer 23

memory task results improve if the type of processing used during encoding is the same as the type used during retrieval. Morris and coworkers.

Question 24

Hebb experiment

Answer 24

learning and memory represented in the brain by physiological changes at the synapse, neural record of experience.

Question 25

long-term potentiation

Answer 25

enhanced firing neurons after repeated stimulation, structural changes, and enhanced responding.

Question 26

standard model of consolidation

Answer 26

Systems consolidation, after encoding, activity of hippocampus fades with time.

Question 27

multiple trace model of consolidation

Answer 27

hippocampus activity is activated during retrieval of both recent remote memories; response of the hippocampus can change over time.

Question 28

Difference between standard and multiple trace model of consolidation

Answer 28

The standard model shows that connections between the hippocampus and the cortex are initially strong and inter-cortical connections are weak. As time passes inter-cortical connections strengthen and hippocampus-cortical connections remain.

Question 29

consolidation

Answer 29

transforms new memories from fragile state to more permanent state, enhanced during sleep.

Question 30

synaptic consolidation

Answer 30

rapid, occurs at synapses.

Question 31

systems consolidation

Answer 31

gradual, reorganization of neural circuits.

Question 32

Muller and Pilzecker experiment

Answer 32

participants either learned first list then a second list, or there was a 6-minute delay between lists. Those who delayed had better recall when memory was tested later.

Question 33

reconsolidation

Answer 33

Retrieved memories become more fragile and are consolidated again.

Question 34

Hupbach experiment

Answer 34

human reconsolidation experiment

Question 35

Brunet’s PTSD experiment

Answer 35

PTSD causes severe emotional responses to traumatic memories. Participants reactivated traumatic memory, a drug was administered to block amygdala stress receptors during reconsolidation of memory, later reactivation of same memory showed lower stress response.