Memory Flashcards
What are the 4 steps of memory formation?
Encoding, consolidation, storage, retrieval
Encoding
Process of taking in sensory experience, can be automatic (little effort, difficult to retrieve/improve retrieval) or effortful (intentional effort required).
Engram
Physical neuron pathway of storing memory (specifics of pathway are highly debated)
Consolidation
Period of time where proteins are manufactured for establishing/stabilizing memories. Hippocampus allows us to do this. Consolidated memories are resistant to decay and interference. REM sleep helps with consolidation
Targeted memory reactivation
Playing a sound during the day while learning a task, and then playing the same sound during sleep reactivated memory (happens during non REM sleep)
Storage
Memories are put away and organized in ways that make it easier to recall
Heirarchies: memories are organized from most specific feature to most general
Associative network: Network of how experiences/concepts connect with each other
Node: one concept on an associative network
Retrieval
Retrieving memories (long term memory to short term), ease of retrieval depends on how well the other steps went
Different kinds of processing
Structural: encoding based on physical properties/appearance, shallowest level, leads to lowest memory retention
Phonemic: encoding the sound of a word/information, leads to better memory retention but still shallow
Semantic: encoding based on the meaning of a word/information, leads to best memory retention
Organizational: Grouping info, making it easier to remember, creates associations, improves recall
Encoding specificity principle
People are more likely to recall memories if they are in the same environment they learned them in, improves encoding
Dual coding theory
Human mind processes info through two systems: verbal and imagery,
Self referential encoding
Memory technique involving focusing on new info that relates to oneself
Cocktail party phenomenon: ability to focus on one sound when surrounded by noise
Motivation to remember
Motivation to remember things facilitates consolidation of memories
Peg words
Mnemonic system involving associating words or numbers, often using rhymes, improves encoding
Method of loci
Mnemonic device involving visualizing information
Chunking
Individual parts of info are bound together to make a more meaningful whole in your memory
Spacing/testing effect
Spacing effect: info is retained better when studied over time instead of massed together
Testing effect: recalling info from memory while testing is better for retention than studying directly from material
Atkinson shiffrin model
Environmental stimuli => sensory memory => attention => short term memory => elbaorative rehearsal => long term memory
Retrieval: long term memory to short term memory
Sensory VS short term memory
Sensory: brief period of a few seconds/milliseconds meant to be a buffer for info, while the brain decides what to focus on. Most info in sensory is forgotten.
Short term: 20 to 30 seconds, temporarily holds and manipulates info for tasks like reasoning, learning and comprehension. Can hold 5-9 items according to miller’s law. Info can be maintained through rehearsal and repetition.
Long term memory
Responsible for storing memory over extended periods
Declarative: memory that can be consciously recalled/articulated. Can be semantic (memory of facts and general world knowledge) or episodic (memory of specific life events or experiences, contextual details)
Procedural: skills and actions that can be performed w/o conscious thought
Autobiographical memory: encompasses person’s personal history and experiences
Prospective: memory of planned actions/intentions
Retrospective: Recall of general past events
Working memory
Model of memory by Alan baddeley, combines memory into multi component system
Central executive: the “boss,” determines where we focus our attention
Visuospacial sketchpad: Holds visual and spatial info (images, direction, spacial orientation)
Phonological loop: uses auditory/language related info, source of inner voice
Episodic buffer: combines elements from LTM to form a complete “scene,” helps keep things in temporal sequence
Benefits of good memory
Higher reading comprehension, intelligence
Reconsolidation
Sometimes when we recall memories and consolidate them again, we change them and remember them differently
Retrieving memory
Explicit memory: searching through memory to get the necessary memory, uses hippocampus and prefrontal cortex
Implicit memory: do not need to search for memory, is instinctual, uses cerebellum and basal ganglia
State dependent retrieval: easier to recall info that matches your emotional state
Schemas and associative network help us remember things
Testing memory
Recall: testing memory w/o cues
Recognition: testing memory w/ cues
Relearning: how long it takes you to learn info again after forgetting. The faster it takes you to relearn info, the more memory you have
Amnesia
Problem with long term memory (short term memory unaffected) due to damage in hippocampus
Retrograde: you forget everything prior to event that causes amnesia (very rare)
Anterograde: unable to create new memories after the point of amnesia (more common)
Serial positioning effect
More likely to remember items at the beginning and end of a list, low memory of items in the middle
Primacy: items at the beginning of a list (uses long term memory)
Recency: items at the end of a list (uses short term memory)
If there is a delay between when you hear the list and when you have to recall it, recency becomes worse, primacy is unaffected
Jennifer Thompson and Ronald cotton
JT wrongfully identified RC as a perpetrator from a lineup, example of wrongful conviction from cross racial crimes
Own race bias: better at picking out details to create memory from our own race than those of other races
Source monitoring
Understanding the the source you get info from, and the reputability of the source
Cryptoamnesia: if you have a thought and can’t remember the source, you can believe you created the thought
Processing errors
Creating inaccurate memories due to errors in processing (selective attention, cryptoamensia etc can fall under this category), typically deals with encoding and reconsolidation
Tip of the tongue effect
You know that you know info, but can’t recall it (we recall it using the associative network)
Forgetting
Ineffective encoding: fail at first step leads to unsuccessful memory
Decay/transience: info fades away over time as we stop using it, to the point we completely forget
Retrieval failure: encoded and effectively stored info, but we cannot retrieve it
Proactive interference: original info is interfering w/ new info
Retroactive interference: new info interferes with old info
Suggestibility: create changes in memory due to external info
Bias: remember things that align with beliefs
Persistence: memories changing every time you recall them due to reconsolidation
Rehearsal
Maintenance rehearsal: basic, repetitive rehearsal, keeps info in STM
Elaborative rehearsal: relating new info to what we already know, uses episodic buffer, brings things to LTM
