Memory Flashcards
Studying memory involves:
understanding how things are remembered and why things are forgotten
Stages of memory
sensory, short-term, long-term
How long does sensory memory last?
Seconds
Role of sensory memory
Forms the connection between perception and memory
Iconic memory
sensory memory for vision; people can see more than they can remember
Icon
Brief visual memory; lasts about one second
Backward Masking
When subjects are exposed to a bright flash of light/new pattern before the iconic image fades, the first image will be erased. Works in auditory system as well
Echoic memory
Sensory memory for auditory sensations
How long does short-term memory last?
Seconds/minutes; temporary
Working memory
Temporary memory needed to perform the task that someone is working on at that moment
Capacity of short-term memory
7 items, +/- 2
Chunking
grouping items; can increase capacity of STM
Sense most associated with STM
Auditory
Rehearsal
Repeating/practicing; key to keeping items in STM and transferring items to LTM
Primary rehearsal
Involves repeating material in order to hold it in STM
Secondary Rehearsal
Involves organizing and understanding material in order to transfer it to LTM
Interference
How other information or distractions cause one to forget items in STM
Proactive interference
Disrupting information that was learned before the new items were presented, eg. a similar list of words. Causes proactive inhibition
Retroactive Interference
Disrupting informatino that was learned after new items were presented; causes retroactive inhibition
LTM is capable of…
permanent retention
Items in LTM are learned…
semantically
LTM retention is measured by…
recognition, recall, and savings.
Recognition requires…
Subjects to recognize things learned in the past. eg. memory required for multiple choice tests.
Recall requires…
Subjects to generate information on their own
Cued recall
Begins tasks (eg. fill-in-the-blank tests)
Free Recall
Remembering with no cue.
Savings measures…
how much info about a subject remains in LTM by assessing how long it takes to learn something the second time as opposed to the first time.
Encoding Specificity Principle
Material is more likely to be remembered if it is retrieved in the same context in which it was stored.
Episodic Memory
Consists of details, events, and discrete knowledge
Semantic memory
consists of general knowledge of the world
Procedural Memory
knowing how to do something
Declarative memory
Knowing a fact
Explicit Memory
Knowing something and being consciously aware of knowing it, eg. a fact
Implicit Memory
Knowing something without being aware of knowing it.
Forgetting Curve
Depicts a sharp drop in savings immediately after learning and then levels off, with a slight downward trend.
Memory is reconstructive
People are more likely to remember the ideas/semantics of a story rather than details/grammar
Dual Code Hypothesis
States that items will be better remembered if they are encoded both visually and semantically
Depth of Processing
Levels of processing range from superficial phonological levels (pronunciation) to deep semantic levels (meaning). The deeper an item is processed, the easier it is to recall.
Paired-Associate Learning
How behaviorists explain memory; one item is learned with and then cues the recall of another.
Memory of Traumatic Events is altered by…
The event itself, and the way that questions about the event are phrased
How are memories stored in the brain?
Diffusely (not concentrated)
Lesion of hippocampus lead to…
intact short memory with inability to store new long-term memories.
Serial Learning
Lists are learned and recalled in order. Subject to primacy and recency effects
Primacy and Recency Effects
First and last few items learned are easiest to remember, while the ones in the middle are often forgotten. First items benefit from most rehearsal’ last items have less time to decay.
Serial position curve
shows primacy and recency effects
Serial-anticipation learning
Subject is asked to recall one item from a list at a time
Paired-association learning
Used when studying foreign language; pairing foreign word with familiar word.
Free-recall learning
List of items is learned, and then must be recalled in any order with no cue.
Decay Theory
Trace theory. Posits that memory fades with time. Too simplistic.
Interference Theory
Suggests that competing information blocks retrieval.
Mnemonics
Memory clues that help learning and memory recall.
Generation-recognition model
Suggests that anything one might recall should easily be recognized.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Being on the verge of retrieval but not successfully doing so
State-dependent memory
Retrieval is more successful if it occurs in the same emotional/physical state in which encoding occurred.
Clustering
Brain’s tendency to group together similar items in memory whether they are learned together or not. Usually grouped into conceptual/semantic hierarchies.
Recall involving the order of items on a list
Subjects can more quickly state the order of two items that are far apart on the list than two items that are close together.
Incidental Learning
Measured through presenting subjects with items they are not supposed to try to memorize and then testing for learning.
Eidetic Memory
Photographic Memory. More common in children and rural cultures
Flashbulb memories
Memories that seem burned into the brain. Eg. “what is your memory of 9/11”
Tachtiscope
Instrument often used in cognitive or memory experiments. Presents visual material to subjects for a fraction of a second.
Zeigarnik Effect
Tendency to recall uncompleted tasks better than completed ones.
