Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
a host of systems that can operate implicitly or explicitly in many different levels
What factors of life is memory involved in?
- Routines and habits
- sense of self
- figuring out how to solve problems
- social functions
What are the 3 memory processing stages?
- encoding
- storage
- retrieval
What is encoding?
the process of putting info in your memory.
what does storage do?
- Maintenance of info
- consolidating encoding experience/pattern
what is retrieval?
recovering the memory trace
Where is memory in the brain?
hippocampus forms a memory trace as a pattern of cortical activity. pattern can become separate from hippocampus and be in cortex only.
What is memory consolidation?
when a memory trace transforms into a stable long-term pattern and becomes independent of the hippocampus.
What is the memory system?
sensory input –> sensory memory –> short-term memory (STM) —>
What is explicit memory?
vast and semantic knowledge and a record of your prior events and experiences.
What is implicit memory?
habits and procedures and also involves priming
What is the difference between implicit and explicit memory?
implicit is non-conscious and explicit is conscious
What is echoic memory?
a sound-byte held for 3 seconds
What is haptic memory?
very brief memory of touch
what is iconic memory?
visuo indo held very briefly, also called persistence of vision
what is a positive after image?
a visual memory that is the original image
what is a negative after image?
a visual memory that contains the inverted colours from the original image
How long can sensory memory hold info for?
can hold a lot of info but fades very quickly
What is short-term memory?
intermediate system between sensory and long-term memory.
Which part of the brain is primarily responsible for STM?
prefrontal cortex
What is the time capacity of STM?
20-30 seconds
what is a serial position effect?
something that exists when we’re trying to hold something in STM in which the order that the info is presented to you will affect how well you can remember that info later on
What is a primacy effect?
better recall of the first few items from a learned list
How do the first words from a list get encoded in LTM?
with a lot of rehearsal.
What is a recency effect?
better recall of final items on a list because they are available in the STM
How can we enhance STM?
chunking: strategy to group items together in a meaningful way in the short-term memory.
How does chunking ability increase?
with the more knowledge you have about the info
what do neuroimaging studies show about STM?
different areas of the brain are active for visual and verbal STM tasks.
What is the phonological store?
passive store for verbal info
What is the articulatory loop?
the subvocal rehearsal of verbal info
What is the articulatory loop?
It’s used to convert written material into sound
What is the visual sketchpad?
The visual cache passively holds info about visual features and identity
What is the inner scribe?
it actively holds info about spatial location, movement and sequence.
What does the episodic buffer do?
It integrates verbal and visual info and info from STM and LTM
Why is the episodic buffer very important?
it’s a bridge between STM and LTM and verbal and visual information
Why is memory loss exponential?
memory loss is largest early on and slows down over time.
What is the spacing effect?
when the same amount of learning is spread out over time
What is decay theory?
forgetting occurs because of time. a memory trace decays as time passes
what is inference theory?
Forgetting occurs because of interference info