Memory Flashcards
Define recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, so, for example, a fill in the blank test
Define recognition
A measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Define relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.
Multiple-choice questions test our ______. Fill-in-the-blank questions test our ______.
Recognition, recall.
If you want to be sure to remember what you’re learning for an upcoming test, would it be better to use recall or recognition to check your memory? Why?
It would be better to use recall because it’s more challenging to recall information. So recall would broaden your depth of memory on the material.
What are the three memory models?
Encoding- to get information into our brain.
Storage- retain that information.
Retrieval- later get that information back out.
What is the information-processing model?
It’s a comparison of memory and computer operations. It involves encoding, storage, and retrieval.
Define the connectionism information-processing model.
It’s a memory model that focuses on multi-track, parallel processing, and it views products as interconnected neural networks.
Define working memory
Working memory is a newer understanding of STM and information retrieved from LTM. It’s an active process that uses auditory and visual while simultaneously retrieving LTM information.
What are the two basic functions of working memory?
The processing of auditory and visual information.
Define explicit memories
Also known as declarative memories, it’s the retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare.”
Define implicit memories.
Also known as non-declarative memories, retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection.
What are the processes of encoding memories through explicit memories and implicit memories?
With experiences and practice, explicit memories become automatic.
For implicit memories, they include automatic skills and classically conditioned associations.
Define the sensory memories.
Iconic memory: Picture-image memory (a tenth of a second)
Echoic memory: Sound memory (3-4 seconds)
Define short-term memory
Activated memory that holds items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten.
What is the magic number that most people can remember
Magic number 7
Name the seven dwarfs
Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy.
Name the three effortful processing strategies.
Chunking- organizing items, into familiar, manageable units.
Mnemonics- memory aids, especially techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Hierarchies- organization of items into a few broad categories that are divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts.
At which of Atkinson-Shiffrin’s three memory stages would iconic and echoic memory occur?
Sensory memory.
Define spacing effect
We retain information better when our encoding is spread over time.
Define testing effect
Repeated self-testing protects our memory from the effects of stress.
Which strategies are better for long-term retention: cramming and rereading material, or spreading out learning overtime and repeatedly testing yourself.
Spreading out learning over time, the testing effect expands further memory and improves long-term retention.
If you try to make the material you are learning personally meaningful, are you processing it at a shallow or deep level? Which level leads to greater retention?
Making material personally meaningful involves processing at a deep level because you process semantically - based on the meaning of words. Deep processing leads to greater retention.
A psychologist who asks you to write down as many objects as you can remember having seen a few minutes earlier is testing your ______.
Recall
The psychological terms for taking information, retaining it, and later getting it back out are ______, _______, and _______.
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
The concept of working memory
A) Clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on the active processing that occurs in this stage.
B) splits short-term memory into two substages - sensory memory and iconic memory.
C) Splits short-term memory into two types: implicit and explicit memory.
D) Clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on space, time and frequency.
A - Clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on the active processing that occurs in this stage.
Sensory memory may be (_____ memory) or auditory (_____ memory).
Iconic memory, and echoic memory
Memory aids that use visual imagery or other organization devices (such as acronyms) are called _________.
mnemonics
Which parts of the brain are important for implicit memory processing, and which parts play a key role in explicit memory processing?
The cerebellum and the basal ganglia are essential for implicit memory processing. And the frontal lobes and hippocampus are key to explicit memory formation.
What important role does the cerebellum play in the implicit system?
Forming and storing memories created by classical conditioning.
Define what the basal ganglia does for memory
It helps form memories for physical skills.
Define what the anterograde amneisa does
The ability to remember old memories but not new memories.
Infantile amnesia
Conscious memory of the first three years of life is blank; command of language and well-developed hippocampus are needed to form memories.
Define flashbulb memories
A clear moment of an emotionally significant moment or event. These memories occur via emotion-triggered hormonal changes and rehearsal
Explain the explicit memory system
It’s dedicated to explicit memories. These memories are processed through the hippocampus and frontal lobes, and the memory processed is semantic memory and episodic memory.
Explain the implicit memory system
Implicit memories are processed through the cerebellum and basal ganglia: processing space, time and frequency; motor and cognitive skills; and classical conditioning.
What information was learned by Kandel and Schwartz when doing an experiment with sea slugs?
They learned that more serotonin is released with learning, and cell efficiency increases (i.e., the number of synapses increases).
Define Long-term potentiation
An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory. After LTP, the brain will not erase memories.
How do memory cues best come from?
Associations that have been formed at the same time a memory is encoded.
Define priming
Priming is the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.
Ex- After seeing or hearing the rabbit, we are more likely to spell the broken word as h-a-r-e.
Define context-dependent memory cues and give an example.
Putting yourself in the context of the memory can prime memory retrieval (e.g., chewing gum while studying and chewing gum while writing a test).
Define state-dependent memory cues
Recall best in the same state as when information is learned.
Define mood-congruent memory cue
We retrieve memories consistent with that mood (e.g., hard to remember happy times when depressed).
Define the encoding specificity principle
Cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping recall.
Define the serial position effect
The tendency to recall best the last (recent effect) and first (primacy effect) items on a list.
What is priming?
priming is the activation (often without awareness) of associations. Seeing a gun, for example, might temporarily predispose someone to interpret an ambiguous face as threatening or to recall a boss as nasty.
When we are tested immediately after viewing a list of words, we tend to recall the first and last items best, which is known ass the _______ _______ effect.
Serial position effect.
The hippocampus seems to function as a
temporary processing site for explicit memories
Hippocampus damage typically leaves people unable to learn new facts or recall recent events. However, they may be able to learn new skills, such as riding a bike, which is an ______ memory,
Implicit memory
Long term potentiation refers to
An increase in the cell’s firing potential
Specific odors, visual images, emotions, or other associations that help us access a memory are examples of _________.
Retrieval cues.
Define proactive interference
old memories make it difficult to remember new memories.
EX- a friends phone number.
