Memory Flashcards
what is the information processing approach?
the human mind and computer are similar, as they receive information (via sensory and input systems) and process this through a series of organised steps
atkinson and shifrin (1968)
applied information proceesing model to memory
defined their memory model through stages of input, sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory
baddeley and hitch (1971)
suggested three main components of visual, phonological, and episodic of working memory
subcomponents of sensory memory
iconic (for what you see)
echoic (for what you hear)
this lasts a different amount of time depending on information modality (iconic = 50ms, echoic= 3-4s
what does sensory memory serve as?
a temporary register of all sensory information taken in by the by nervous system
sensory memory -> working memory
deciding which information to pay attention to determines what gets passed onto working memory
what did blaser and kaldy (2010) find about the capacity of sensory memory at 6m?
evidence of a five-object iconic memory capacity
infants’ visual sensory store capacity is adult-like at 6m of age - little developmental change + develops rapidly in infancy
how did baddeley and hitch (1974) describe working memory?
the temporary ‘workspace’ of the mind
capacity of working memory
capacity is defined by quantity rather than time – 7+/- 2 elements and can last up to 30s in adults
different subcomponents of working memory
visuospatial sketchpad
phonological loop
central executive
episodic buffer
what is processed in the visuospatial sketchpad?
visual and spatial information
what is processed in the phonological loop?
verbal information
where is information containing both verbal and visual information processed?
central executive, which directs coordination to create integrated representations to be stored in the episodic buffer
what did the looking-time experiment by kaldy and leslie (2005) find? (age)
at 6.5m, when increasing to two shapes to attend to infants could only store one element in their WM capacity (unlike sensory)
-could not remember the first object shown when shown a new object (surprise elicited )
looked longer during the shape change condition (evidence they’ve noticed a change so WM capacity of 1)
how does the amount of information infants can process and store in WM increase with age? (ages)
12 months - remember up to 3 hidden objects (feigenson and carey, 2003)
14 months - chunking increases WM span to 6 objects, seen in search time
- So, when objects chunked into pairs, babies searched for longer
-)(halberda, 2008)
what did leman and bremner (2018) find about WM span? (ages)
increases throughout childhood between 5-11y, as they develop a larger word span and remember more words per second
- relatively slow process
when does the WM emerge?
early in life but initially limited to one object in infancy
using strategies, e.g., chunking, to remember visual stimuli increases WM storage
subcomponents of long-term memory
explicit
implicit
explicit memory
facts or events that can be explicitly described, requires conscious recall
can be broken into semantic memory (our knowledge) and episodic memory (for specific event-related memories)
implicit memory
unable to be articulated
such as procedural memory (riding a bike) and priming memory (previous experience influences current interpretation of events)
rovee-colier (1980) implicit memory for causal events in 3m infants
retained implicit memory for causal events (kicking= moving of the mobile) over 2-8 days, but forget specifics over time
reminders make the memory accessible after 14-28 days (encoded in LTM)
better recall when tested in the same context (1992)
brody and zelazo (1978) implicit memory for word recognition in 14d infants
recognised the target words (repeated by their mother) better than their names 28 hours later
done by repeating 2 novel words 60x a day for two weeks
what do infant recognition (implicit) memory suggest
operational in the first days of life
display good recognition memory for causal events and novel words/language , which undergoes little developmental change
when does infants’ implicit memory ability reach an adult-like level?
in early childhood around 3-5y
how is episodic memory in toddlers measured?
using deferred or elicited imitation, which involves modelling an event and testing the immediate recall and long-term retention of this
evidence of children showing temporally ordered recall by 2y (explicit ) (ages)
frequently occurring event sequences (giving teddy a bath) (bauer and shore, 1987)
novel event sequences (bauer, 2000)
o 13m show 80% accuracy after 1m
o 20m show 100% accuracy up to 3m
causal sequences remembered better than arbitrary ones (bauer and mandler, 1989)
So for simple sequences for episodes in time are able to be retained in the LTM
what is infantile and early childhood amnesia?
the inability to recall any autobiographical memories before 2.5y contrasting with experimental findings of episodic memory (howe and courage, 1993)
explanations of infantile amnesia
memory format change hypothesis
neural change hypothesis
cueing hypothesis
memory format change hypothesis
memory format/ code changes with age, meaning memories formed earlier in life become inaccessible to older children and adults (incompatablity )
neural change hypothesis
immature brain regions unable to preserve early memories in life
cueing hypothesis
early memories are present and retrievable, only under the right kind of cues
how can the emergence of long-term autobiographical memory in 3ys be seen?
Autobiographic memories are a bit fuzzy around this age because we don’t yet have the following three factors:
development of narrative skills
social sharing of memories and explicit rehearsal of past events
understanding of time
rehearsal
process of repeating to oneself the information to be remembered, which helps transfer this from working memory to long-term memory
flavell (1966) rehearsal findings (ages)
10% of 5y
65% of 7y
and 80% of 10y recruited this strategy, with better recall
so whilst concept is obvious to adults, not necessarily the case for adults
organisation
process of imposing a structure on the information to be remembered by using categorical or hierarchal relationships
schneider (1986) organisation findings (ages)
10% of 7y
and 60% of 10y spontaneously used this strategy to improve recall
seems that classic memory strategies aren’t something we come up with spontaneously as infants
metamemory
the ability to appreciate how your own memory works
this may be why babies fail to use memory strategies
yussen and lee (1975) metamemory findings (ages)
8y had more accurate predictions than 4y for the number of pictures they would remember
when do children display emergence of memory strategies in ecologically valid tasks?
by 3y (wellman, 1975), by pointing to or fixating on locations that are ecologically valid , for better recall
used an informal memory strategy
when do children display emergence of organisation and rehearsal in classical memory tasks?
5-7y
when do children display emergence of nonverbal memory strategies?
already by 3y
Advantages of looking time paradigms
- non-invasive
- easy to conduct
- early assessment
- objective measure
Disadvantages of looking time paradigms
- limited scope
- interpretation of results is fuzzy
- confounding factors
Advantages of brain imaging studies
- non-invasive
- insights into early processing and perception
- time-sensitive recordings
- reveal changes in the way the brain processes information
Disadvantages of brain imaging studies
- difficulty in obtaining clear consistent signals from developing brain
- infants limited in types of tasks they can perform
- ethically questionable so small sample size
- expensive + time consuming
- individual differences in developmental processes
