Memory Flashcards
what role does memory play in our day-to-day lives
two cases:
* Case of “S”
* Case of Clive Wearing
modal model of memory
the overarching model
- sensory memory and short term memory stem from this model
- transferring information from short term to long term memories
Case of “S”
- could perfectly recall all types of info in any order
- no capacity or duration limits
- didn’t have to study info to reproduce it
- couldn’t explain why he could remember
consequences of really good memory
Hard time generalizing
* faces - so changeable depending on lighting
* every encounter with someone was like a brand new one
could remember detail so well that he had problems with overarching ideas or commonalities
struck people as dumb because got too caught up in remembering details so hard to follow stories
Case of “S” - how
For S, sounds were visual images
* remembered details by creating images
Synesthesia: stimulation of one sense leads to impression of another sense
* combo of senses that wouldn’t usually go together
“S” and Synesthesia
Synesthesia allowed him to have greater memory for detail – allowed for stronger memory cues
couldn’t read newspaper in morning bc taste of the word would interfere with his food
Case of Clive Wearing
Amnesia
- everytime he sees his wife, it’s as if it’s the first time in years
- he was only every conscious in the moment
memory
information that persists in your brain for some amount of time
different roles of memory in turning sensory signals into meaning
* modal model of memory
process of the modal model of memory
- variation from information processing theory
- input: impression left on senses, travels to brain
- the snapshot of the senses = sensory memory
- short term memory are active memories
- long term memories are stored and from older accounts
short term vs long term memory
short term: what you’re currently thinking about
working memory: actively manipulating information
* slightly longer than STM
* more specific way of what you’re processing in the moment
attention and working memory argued to be the same
Cons of modal model of memory
it is a way to divide the continuum to then be able to talk and research about what’s going on
but it doesn’t mean that in different parts of the brain, you have different memory
Correct modal model of memory
sensory memory leads to working (short term memory) through attention
Working (STM) leads to long-term memory through rehearsal
Long-term memory uses retrieval to access working (short-term memory)
sensory memory
each sense modality has its own memory system
has echoic (auditory) and iconic (visual) memories
recency effect: ability to replay the last sound you heard
research priorities: to figure out capacity and how long they last
how much does sensory memory hold?
you forget sensory memory quickly
hard to get an initial impression on what initial sensory memory can hold
Measuring sensory memory
Sperling Task
* studying iconic memory
* presented set of number and letters briefly
* whole report: try to recall as many as possible
* people have impression that letters are fading as they say the items
second condition
* partial report
* recalling just one row
* cue given after array goes away
Sperling Task results
Whole report: subject reported only 4 of the letters
Partial report: subjects could report items from any row
so…because you could report 3 items from each row, the iconic memory capacity was measured as 9 items
so…trying to report less items results in remembering more items
iconic memory
visual memory
Capacity: at least 9 items
Iconic memory capacity could be much bigger if you remember the items faster
if the cue is delayed by 1 second, partial report advantage disappears and results are same as showing whole report
iconic info goes away quickly and lasts for about a second
what info does iconic memory store
Representation = visual properties of the stimulus
leaves an impression in senses that then has to be processed into STM
similar to pattern recognition (selective attention filter)
summary of iconic memory
capacity: about 9 items
duration: about 1 second
representation: visual properties
echoic memory
hearing’s sensory memory
* has a temporal aspect
* capacity and duration overlap
capacity: “largish”
duration: 1-2 seconds
* example: understanding question afterwards
representation = phonetic code
First words remembered more bc presented first
last words get remebered more too
Primary & Recency effect of echoic memory
primary effect
* first words get remembered more
recency effect
* more recently heard words are remembered more
Downfalls of Echoic memory
If you hear the list of words and then presented with words like “go” or “okay write this down” it decreases recency effect
people use echoic memory as a source for the first couple items in recall
short term memory
info that you are currently thinking about
* input and storage of information
* rehearsal of information
capacity: can remember 7 +/- 2 items
duration: hard to estimate
* 10 seconds is enough to elminate the recency effectc
capacity as time (STM)
word length effect: amount of information that can be vocalized in 2 seconds
how much info you can hold onto depends on what the features and characteristic are
you can find different capacities depending on the stuff you’re tested on
word length effect
longer words take longer to say, so fewer can be held in STM
representations in STM
some info in STM is stored in verbal form (acoustic or phonological)
evidence for verbal codes
* verbal items are hard to retain if they sound the same
* verbal code idea didn’t last very long
if items presented visually, people recode the verbal stimulus into an acoustic code when reading
- we can remember thigs without being able to put them into words like abstract pictures
increasing STM capacity
chunck = a group of related items
* chapters in books
rehearsal works, but chunking increases STM capacity
need meaningful units of information
STM duration without rehearsal
how long is info maintained in STM without rehearsal?
Brown-peterson task
* gave people either 3 words or 3 letters
* then have them count backwards by 3’s from 3 digit numbers
being presented with words to memorize and then counting backwords from a number stops rehearsal
Brown-peterson results and conclusions
(STM duration without rehearsal)
more interruption = greater drop in performance
Interrupting rehearsal results in decay
conclusions
* forgetting occurs from decay
* your memory starts to decay and then it is gone completely
interference
when presenting list of words, similar items start interfering with remembering (fruits)
* harder to remember specific things from the category
would remember words from another category bc the fruit category not interfering with it
* no effect of decay bc there’s a shift in category
but people say that decay has nothing to do with it, its that the seperate category is easier to remember
types of interference
matter of if the new or old information is being interferred with
- information that interferes can enter memory before or after the target
Proactive interference
* target is the new phone number
retroactive interference
* target is the old number
proactive interference
Proactive interference (pro=forward) occurs when you cannot learn a new task because of an old task that had been learnt.
When what we already know interferes with what we are currently learning – where old memories disrupt new memories.
Retroactive interference
Retroactive interference (retro=backward) occurs when you forget a previously learnt task due to the learning of a new task.
In other words, later learning interferes with earlier learning – where new memories disrupt old memories.
Brown-Peterson and Interference
Proactive interference (old info gets in the way of new info)
* builds up due to repeated presentation of fruit words
How do you test this?
* control group: keep same topic right through experiment
* experimental group: change the topic after the first topic has been repeated
release from proactive interference
decay function in control group when a new category comes in
the release from proactive interference because its in a different category so the previous categories have no interfering effect on the last category
STM duration summary
without rehearsal, STM duration is about 20 seconds
lose information in STM due to
* decay
* interference
STM vs Working memory
STM (as a concept is too limited)
* only input and storage
* did not take onto account the ability to coordinate and manipulate info
working memory model is a broader concept
* involves both the storage and manipulation of information
working memory
* what you’re thinking of now but with manipulation of info
STM: stored unit for info you are currently working on and processed recently like making a sandwhich
working memory components
four components
- visuo-spatial sketch pad: imagery and other visual/spatial processes
- central executive: control and decision processes
- phonological loop: rehearsal and articulatory processes
- episodic buffer: allows for different types of modalities for the same representation
- it can bind info and create a memory based on the current experience
working memory and Modal Model
working memory manipulates info and is an extension of the modal model
Central executive
- the manager
- sets goals and priorities
- assesses the attentional needs of subsystems
- when there are two tasks, executive controls how much resources is given to each – knows how to allocate resources
central executive (area)
frontal lobe damage in adults leads to slower ability for executive control to switch or just doesn’t switch at all
last area of brain to develop
children show similar pattern
the phonological loop
recycles verbal material
* subconsciously you are always repeating verbal information
two subcomponents
* phonological store: passive retention
* articulatory loop: active rehearsal to keep verbal info available
phonological loop: articulatory suppression
- method to inhibit subvocal rehearsal of items
difficult to retain words while also articulating something else
articulatory suppression task aims to prevent the individual from rehearsing items sub vocally
without this suppression, memory about word lists would be better
some believe that vocal cords are vibrating at low levels as you are engaged in the suppression
phonological loop: phonological similarity
harder to remember words that sound similar than words that don’t
easier to mix up similar sounding words bc you are reheasing them as a phonological code
phonological similarity extends to nonverbal language
phonological loop: word length effect
phonological loop has a maximal duration
when you occupy it with more syllables, you occupy it more than you would with shorter words
different explanation than STM
* STM: longer words don’t need as much rehearsing
* Phonological loop: there’s a cap and you exceed this cap with longer words
the visuospatial sketchpad
- manipulate visual and spatial information
- mental rotation
- imagery and spatial calculations
- what something looks like vs where it is in the world
- you can find individual differences that these things are independent
some people have no internal visual memory but they can still do the spatial aspect and understand where things are
the sketchpad is where u can manipualte visual and spatial information
episodic buffer
proposed in response to problems with working memory
episodic buffer can hold the binding of the phonological loop and the sketchpad
episodic buffer: the binding problem
information that is processed independently by separate cognitive processes must be bound together because our experiences of the world and our memory of it is coherent
people can also retrive information about an episode when give part of it
* example: given a spatial cue, state what object was stored there
working memory span
your ability to remember one set of things while processing others
reading a sentence and then shown another to read which prevents from rehearsing the last word
continued involvement of the reading task prevents you from rehearsing the words
if you can hold the info while you are doing a task that is interrupting the rehearsal process, this reflects how much store you have left to be able to hang onto this info while reading the words
predictions from WM
- processing visual and verbal stimuli should not interfere with each other
- easy tasks handled by each sub-system will not hinder central executive
- difficult tasks overwhelm sub-systems and borrow processing resources from central executive – results in a slowdown in processing overall
- 2 seperate buckets for visual and verbal information
evidence for working memory
dual task experiment
- primary task: detecting a change between two presentations of either
(a 2x2 array of numbers as a visual task) or (four letters presented verbally for the verbal task) - secondary task: verbal task involving array of letters
or
arithmetic task
matching a primary verbal task with a secondary verbal task is bad bc it overwhelms the system
have to match primary verbal with a secondary visual task and this is good for high working memory
aging
evidence of working memory begins at age 3
working memory peaks just after adolescence
in older adults, memory maintenance and the ability to switch between tasks declines
* sustained attention does not decline
attention peaks and plateaus
memory peaks and declines
can you train to improve working memory
No
brain training games don’t help bc u just get better at the game itself
*luminosity was sued for deceptive advertising bc it does not actually prevent dementia
intellectually challenging cognitive tasks seem to have a protective effect
* learning a new language
* learning to read music
* learning to play a new musical instrument
but those studies are largely correlational
phonological loop (2 components)
phonological store: has a limited capacity and holds information for only a few seconds
Articulatory rehearsal process: responsible for rehearsal that can keep items in the phonoligcal store from decaying
using this loop when trying to remember phone number or person’s name, or to understand what you cognitive psychology professor is talking about
effect of damage to the prefrontal cortex
changes in personality
* low impulse control, poor ability to plan, poor social skills
frontal lobes: personality and planning
Frontal lobe damage: problems controlling attention important for central executive
PFC is important for holding info for brief periods of time
