Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

Memory differs from learning in that learning involves a change in behavior due to experience whereas memory involves the storage or retention of information over time.

Question 2

Episodic, Semantic, and Procedural (ESP)

Answer 2

all memories can be classified into one of three kinds of memories

Question 3

Episodic memories

Answer 3

memories of events that happen to you or in your presence. This may be a birthday party, a movie you attended with friends, or the like

Question 4

Semantic memories

Answer 4

“common sense” memories and typical are memories of general knowledge or common sense.

Question 5

procedural memory

Answer 5

“how to memory; that is, memory involving knowledge of how to do things that often don’t require much conscious thought.

Question 6

What is 2 x 2 an example of?

Answer 6

If I asked you what 2x2 was and you didn’t need to do the calculation because you memorized your times’ tables, then this would be a semantic, rather than procedural memory.

Question 7

what is 2x2-6+4/2,

Answer 7

you would likely rely on your procedural memory.

Question 8

knowledge of a historical event from a time before you were born (e.g., the Great Depression)

Answer 8

semantic memory

Question 9

Implicit memory

Answer 9

involves non-conscious (i.e., not being thought of at the moment) knowledge from past experience. Typically, this involves skills related to how to do things and would be similar to procedural memories.

Question 10

What is an example of an implicit memory?

Answer 10

the skills required to drive your car. (e.g., unlock the door, open it, get in, put on your seatbelt, put your foot on the brake pedal, turn the key, and the like), don’t require you to actively think about all of those steps required to get your car moving.

Question 11

Explicit memory

Answer 11

involves the conscious recollection of facts and events and would include both semantic and episodic memories.

Question 12

What are the three kinds of processes involved with memory?

Answer 12

This involves getting information into (encoding) (storage) (retrieval).

Question 13

What is encoding?

Answer 13

the process of transforming information into a form that can be stored in memory, or simply getting information into memory.

Question 14

Visual Code

Answer 14

attempting to maintain a mental image of the information we are experiencing at any given moment. Visual code is the easiest to remember when we can associate that image with a word.

Question 15

Acoustic Code

Answer 15

encoding information based on how it sounds, like you might do in a music class or when learning to sing a song.

Question 16

Semantic code

Answer 16

represent and remember information or stimuli based on its meaning. This would be used for factual information, vocabulary words, and the like.

Question 17

if you can associate an image with your word and definition (that is, incorporate visual code),

Answer 17

then you’ll be even more likely to remember the definition you are trying to memorize.

Question 18

Storage

Answer 18

the second process of memory which involves maintaining information over time until a point when it is needed again.

Question 19

Why is maintenance rehearsal—mental repetitions of the information—helpful?

Answer 19

being able to locate stored memories can become difficult. While memory is mostly permanent once it has entered long-term memory, locating it can be quite a challenge. For example, you may have experienced not being able to remember something when taking a test, but once you turn in the exam and walk out of the door you suddenly remember what it was you couldn’t while taking the test. Thus, the information had been stored, you were just unable to retrieve it in an easy and timely manner.

Question 20

what is an example of maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 20

rewriting and reviewing your notes from class, which is a form of maintenance rehearsal, makes it easier to recall information when it comes to taking the exam.

Question 21

elaborative rehearsal

Answer 21

you relate new information to something that you already know. So, it’s useful to come up with real-world examples from your life of the topics were exploring whenever possible.

Question 22

retrieval

Answer 22

bring information to mind whenever it is needed. It is all about bringing information into our consciousness (current thoughts). The more you practice moving information back to storage and then retrieving it, the easier it will be to locate when the information is needed. This is one of the reasons Quizlets and flashcards are so useful.

Question 23

What are the three stages of memory?

Answer 23

Sensory, Short-term (also known as working memory), and long-term memory. Listed from shortest to longest.

Question 24

Sensory memory

Answer 24

Our sensory registers process the information and hold an impression of that information (e.g., image) just long enough for a series of perceptions to be made.

Question 25

what is an example of sensory memory?

Answer 25

as soon as you recognize that a flower you’re looking at is a rose because it has a stem, scent, thorns, and petals, the sensory memory is gone as it only last a fraction of a second.

Question 26

eidetic memory

Answer 26

this stage of memory may last indefinitely. This is a rare form of memory in which individuals retain visual stimuli in their sensory memories for remarkably long periods of time with the image appearing very clear and detailed. The image does not fade away as it does for the rest of us in just a second or two.

Question 27

Short-term, or working, memory

Answer 27

second stage of memory which last approximately 20 seconds and rarely more than 30 seconds without effort. Memories here are detailed and rich, but we lose the information in short-term memory quickly if we don’t use certain strategies to transfer the information into other memory systems (e.g., long-term memory).

Question 28

George Miller

Answer 28

did an enormous amount of research on this and determined that short-term memory is limited to 7+2 items. That is, our short-term memory is limited to roughly 5 to 9 pieces of information at any given time depending on the person. This, in part, is why our phone numbers are seven digits long if ignoring the area code which you didn’t previously need to enter unless calling long distance.

Question 29

example of short term memory

Answer 29

Imagine that you have a bookshelf that can only hold seven books. If you place an eighth book on that shelf, the first one will fall off. This is what happens in short-term memory. If you try to process too much information at one time, pieces will get lost as they’ll be replaced with the additional information you are trying to put through this stage.

Question 30

how can one cheat the system?

Answer 30

we can cheat the system is by using chunking or reorganizing information that exceeds the 7+2 rule. By reorganizing the information into smaller, more meaningful units, you’ve just artificially enlarged the number of items you can hold within short-term memory. For example, my office number, which no one ever calls, is 582-4827. However, rather than remember it as seven distinct numbers, you might remember it as 582-48-27, thus cutting down the number of items from seven to five. Acronyms are another way of doing this as well.

Question 31

serial-position effect

Answer 31

the tendency to remember the first and last items in a series and forgetting the middle.
So, for example, if I were to have you listen to 20 words that I wanted you to recall, because of the serial-position effect you’d likely only be able to recall the first four or five words and the last two or three words. The words in the middle will be lost as if they were never heard. All things being equal, you will likely remember more of the words at the beginning of the list, called the primacy effect, as opposed to those words at the end of the list, referred to as the recency effect.

Question 32

long-term memory

Answer 32

capable of relatively permanent and unlimited information storage. Long-term memories that are forgotten aren’t actually “lost.” It simply that you cannot find the proper retrieval cues to bring them to consciousness. That is, it’s almost as if you lost the map to where the information was stored. In some ways, it’s like losing your keys. You know they haven’t disappeared and eventually you might actually find them once you’ve figured out when and where they were misplaced.

Question 33

flashbulb memory (long term memory)

Answer 33

the tendency to remember events that occurred under unusual, emotionally arousing circumstances in greater detail than most memories.

Question 34

example of flashbulb memory

Answer 34

this might involve where they were when they heard about the 9/11 attacks, or experiencing a tragic event like a car accident, an earthquake, or the like.

Question 35

priming

Answer 35

which involves the activation of information people already have in storage. One way to help coax long-term memories to the surface.

Question 36

what leads to false memories?

Answer 36

priming. ( people might wrongly incorporate misleading information into their memories of an event as if they actually occurred )

Question 37

state-dependent memory

Answer 37

We are also better able to retrieve information from long-term memory when we are in the same mood as we were in when the memory was formed

Question 38

state-dependent memory example

Answer 38

when someone is in a bad mood, they are likely to remember things that were put into long-term memory when they were also in a bad mood. Thus, you might find that your significant other remembers everything bad that you’ve done when you upset them, so one of the best things you can do is to change their mood. Maybe this is why flower shops exist.

Question 39

context-dependent memory

Answer 39

We are also better able to retrieve information from long-term memory when we are in a similar environment.

Question 40

context-dependent memory example

Answer 40

You might also notice that you have a lot of memories surface when you go to Disneyland of previous trips simply because you’re in the same context (environment) again.

Question 41

how does memory change?

Answer 41

Memory can change over time, just like with the misinformation effect mentioned abov

Question 42

rosy retrospection

Answer 42

we have a tendency to remember events more positively than when they actually occurred. That is, pleasant events are remembered more fondly as time passes.

Question 43

Forgetting

Answer 43

Simply not being able to locate stored information and bringing it into our thoughts (i.e. consciousness)

Question 44

Can forgotten memories be “lost?”

Answer 44

No, forgotten memories aren’t “lost,” they simply can’t be located and retrieved, assuming they actually made it into long-term memory in the first place.

Question 45

We normally test memory through three types of tasks:

Answer 45

ecall, recognition, and through relearning

Question 46

recall

Answer 46

the hardest memory task, the person is asked to retrieve stored information unaided by choices.

Question 47

recall example

Answer 47

This would be similar to taking a fill-in-the-blank or an essay exam as they provide the fewest, if any, cues for retrieval.

Question 48

Recognition

Answer 48

the easiest memory task and simply involves recognizing that the information has been previously stored.

Question 49

Recognition example

Answer 49

This would be similar to a multiple-choice test where you might get the question correct by simply selecting the only response that looks familiar to you.

Question 50

relearning

Answer 50

we simply see if someone can acquire the information more quickly a second time. And even when someone cannot recall previously stored information, we see that they can acquire the information faster a second time compared to the first time the information was presented to them.

Question 51

amnesia

Answer 51

The inability to recall information resulting from a psychological trauma or physical injury is called amnesia.

Question 52

retrograde or backward acting

Answer 52

the person loses the ability to recall past memories.

Question 53

repression

Answer 53

Sigmond Freud. Repression is the idea that we are motivated to forget, or repress, painful memories or unacceptable ideas because they produce anxiety, fear, guilt, and/or shame. This can be the result of devastating and traumatic events.

Question 54

why can inference play a role in forgetting?

Answer 54

Acquiring information can be disrupted because of interference that occurs between short- and long-term memory.

Question 55

What are the two types of inferences?

Answer 55

The two types of interference are retroactive (backward acting) and proactive (forward acting) interference.

Question 56

retroactive (backward acting)

Answer 56

new information interferes with old (i.e., already acquired) information.

ex. you might find that studying French this semester disrupts your memory of the Spanish you learned last semester.

Question 57

proactive interference ex.

Answer 57

might be calling your new significant other by your previous significant other’s name, particularly if their names are similar. Word of advice: try not to do this.

Question 58

Drill and Practice

Answer 58

1) This would include rote maintenance rehearsal mentioned before. The more that you deal with information, the easier it will be to retrieve when needed.
2) Repetition helps transfer information from short-term to long-term memory.

Question 59

Relate New Information to What Is Already Known

Answer 59

1) This would be the elaborative rehearsal strategy mentioned earlier.
2) Try to use “real-life” examples when being introduced to new information.

Question 60

Form Unusual, Exaggerated Associations

Answer 60

In 1991, I took a counseling class and I still remember the instructor’s phone number as he said it’s a combination of the type of plane he likes to fly on most and the ages of the women he liked to date. As a result, I still remember his phone number to this day even though I never once called him.

Question 61

Use the Method of Loci

Answer 61

1) To be successful, you must associate the word you’re trying to remember (e.g., items on a grocery list) with the given loci (e.g., rooms in a house).
2) This involves selecting a series of related images (e.g., parts of a body, car, or house) and linking them to a list one wants to remember in a particular order.

Question 62

Mnemonic Devices

Answer 62

1) This would include organizing “chunks” of information into a format such as an acronym, a jingle, or a phrase.
2) Using EPS to remember the kinds of memory might be one example.
3) A phrase I remember from 7th-grade math is, “Tis not the reason why, just invert and multiple” for remembering how to divide fractions.

Question 63

What is long-term potentiation?

Answer 63

the neural basis for memory. changes at the neural level and we find that the more stimulating one’s environment is, the more dendrites and synapses one develops in the cerebral cortex.