Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
Active system that organizes, senses, alters, stores and retrieves info. OR, the ability to recall past info/events.
What is the working memory and give an example?
Active system that processes information in the STM. Example: solving a math calculation and needing to go back into the LTM to recall info to help solve the problem.
How long does info stay in the STM?
Around 20-30s
How many items can be in the STM?
7 plus or minus 2
What is STM?
Memory where info is held for brief periods of time while being used. When not being used, info is either lost or transferred to LTM.
Chunking
Turning one large number of values into multiple smaller groups
Mnemonics and an example
Taking the first letter of each item and giving them meaning. Ex: PEDMAS = Please Excuse My Dear Aunt sally. Makes it easier to remember the order
Why is the Stroop Test so difficult to do? (3)
- Interference: words vs. color
- Speed of processing
- Selective attention theory: ability to focus on only 1 stimulus among all sensory input
Rehearsal
Can extend the duration of info kept in the STM (keep it longer than 20-30s)
2 types of rehearsal
- Maintenance rehearsal: repeating info over and over
- Elaborative rehearsal: making the info meaningful by making connections with info from LTM, can help transfer this new info into LTM
Selective attention theory
Ability to focus on only 1 stimulus among all sensory input
Capacity/Duration/Retrieval of STM and LTM
STM: 7+/-2, 20-30s, info either lost or transferred to LTM.
LTM: indefinite size, permanent, info retrieved from STM.
What is LTM?
Where info is stored indefinitely and can be recalled/remembered
Sensory memory + an example
The shortest type of memory, more of a feeling than a memory. Ex: still hearing the ringing of a fire alarm in our head even after it’s stopped ringing
What is the role of the hippocampus in memory?
Consolidation: the transfer of info from STM to LTM
Retrograde amnesia
Patient can’t remember events prior to brain damage
Anterograde amnesia
Patient can’t form new memories after the brain damage, but still remember everything pre- brain damage
Infantile amnesia
The hippocampus only starts to greatly develop around 3yrs old and is fully developed around 7yrs old, so we don’t have a lot of memories from our childhood
Which type of amnesia did Clive Wearing and H.M. have?
Anterograde amnesia
Which parts of Clive Wearing’s brain were damaged?
Both temporal lobes, which encase the hippocampus, and part of the left frontal lobe
Story of H.M.
H.M. was the first case that discovered consolidation. H.M. had severe epilepsy coming from his temporal lobes so a doctor removed his temporal lobes, which also removed the hippocampus. H.M. was completely healthy and functioning other than the fact that he now could not form new memories. However, his unconscious mind remembered things that his conscious mind didnt.
3 stages of memory
- sensory memory
- STM
- LTM
4 steps of memory processing
- encoding
- consolidation
- storage
- retrieval
What is the primacy-recency effect and what is it AKA?
Our recall is influenced by item position in a sequence.
AKA serial position effect
What info that we receive is most easily recalled & hardest to recall?
Primary: rehearsal allows STM to LTM, easy
Middle: STM is full, difficult
Recency: info lingers in STM, easy
Procedural memories and what type of memory it is
The memory of how to do things, we are not consciously aware of our procedural memories. Non-declarative memory
Declarative memories and the 2 types
Memories of facts, data and events. Episodic and semantic
Semantic memories and what type it is
All of the general knowledge about the world we’ve accumulated throughout our lives, including facts, ideas, meaning, and concepts relating to the world. Declarative memory
Episodic memories and what type it is
Memory of personal experiences and specific events that occurred at a particular place and time. Dependent upon context and personal experiences. Declarative memory.
Flashbulb memories
Automatic encoding occurs due to an unexpected highly emotional event, which is usually a tragedy
Encoding specificity theory and the 2 types
When the conditions during retrieval match the conditions during recall, the better the recall.
- Context-dependent (external, environment)
- State-dependent (internal, mood)
Context dependent memory and some in class examples
Improved memory for info if physical surroundings match where the info was first learned. Ex: taking a test in a different classroom vs where the info was learned results in poorer recall, scuba divers learning words underwater, etc.
State-dependent memory and some in class examples
Improved memory for info if the physiological state matches when it was first learned. Ex: Weingartner study sober/drunk recall/learning, Eich and Metcalfe’s happy/sad recall/learning
Elizabeth Loftus car crash study
After showing 2 groups a video of a car accident, Loftus asked group 1 “how fast do you think the car was going when it crashed” and asked group 2 “how fast do you think the car was going when it made impact”. Group 1 responded with 15-20mph higher than group 2. Loftus suggests that memory is maleable and suggestive
False memory syndrome
Creation of inaccurate memories via others’ suggestions, often while the person is under hypnosis
Role of the amygdala in memory
Acts as a processing factory for memories on top of other things
