Memory Flashcards
Cues
Pieces of information in the present that help us remember events from the past, and are central to remembering
Asking participants to recall studied information without help
Free recall
Encoding specificity principle
A natural consequence of the importance of cues is that how we encode information affects how we are able to retrieve it
Episodic memories
Autobiographical memories that are based on life events
Three memory processes
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
3 Stages: Atkinson Schiffrin Model
Sensory Memory to Short Term Memory to Long Term Memory
Sensory Memory (how long)
.5-2 seconds
Short term memory (how long)
12-18 seconds
Sensory Memory
Stores an exact copy of incoming info for a few seconds
Types of sensory Memory
Iconic - visual sensory images (1/2 second)
Echoic - auditory activity (2 seconds)
Iconic memory
Type of sensory Memory
Visual sensory images
1/2 second
Echoic memory
Type of sensory Memory
Auditory activity
2 seconds
Short term memory (STM)
Stores small amounts of information (12 seconds) -selective attention -encoded phonetically Working memory -like a mental "scratchpad"
Selective attention
Focusing on a selected proportion of sensory input
Phonetically encoded
Storing info by sound (Tim)
Working memory
Like a mental scratchpad
Read a book, do math, put together a puzzle
Long term memory
Stores information relatively permanently
Stored on basis of meaning and importance
Can store nearly limitless amounts of information
Memories are encoded on the basis of meaning
How is a STM stored
Maintenance rehearsal
Elaborative processing
Without rehearsal, information is lost from STM in 12-18 seconds
Maintenance rehearsal
Repeating information to prolong its presence in STM (phone number)
Sensitive to interruption
Elaborative processing
Links new information with existing memories and knowledge in LTM
STM Capactity
Digit span: 7 (+-2)
Information bits: meaningful units of information
Chunking
Redintegration
Memory reconstructed by starting with one memory
Following chains of association to related memories
-showing a picture of HS graduation
-Serves a a trigger/cue
2 types of long term memories
Procedural memory
Declarative memory
Procedural memory
Type of LTM
learned actions like driving, typing, swinging a cold club (lower brain areas)
Declarative memories (and 2 types)
Factual information like names, faces, dates, and ideas
- semantic memory
- episodic memory
Semantic memory
Mental dictionary of basic knowledge
Type of declarative memory
Ex. The meaning of letters, the concept of a cat, the sounds that letters make, the idea of a car, how letters put together can make a word, knowledge that Annapolis is the capital of Maryland
Episodic memory
Autobiographical record of personal experiences
- events: what, where, who, when
- where you were and with who when you found out you got into GT, your skiing vacation last winter, the first time you traveled by airplane, your roommate from your first year of college, the details about how you learned of a relatives death
Memories that are available but not quite retrievable
Partial memories
Examples of partial memories
Tip of the tongue
Feeling of knowing
Deja vu (memory trace)
3 ways to measure memory
Recall, recognition, relearning
Recall
Direct retrieval of factors or info
Long term memory to working memory
Typical remember beginning and end
Recognition
To correctly identify preciously leaned material
Multiple choice tests/pictures
“Forget names, but not faces”
Is recall of recognition easier
Recognition > recall
Superior, easier
Distractors
False items included with a correct item
False positive
False sense of recognition
Relearning
Learned again something that was not previously learned
Savings score
Savings score
Amount of time saved when relearning information
1hr -> 45 mins (25% savings score)
Explicit memory and example
Past experiences that are consciously brought to mind (last 3 presidents)
Implicit memory
Lie outside your awareness
-typing
Priming
Cues to activate hidden memories
Implicit or explicit:
When a skilled typist is typing on a keyboard, she does not need to look at each key. Instead, she is able to type without recalling the placement of each key
Implicit
Ebbinghaus’s curve of forgetting axes
Retention (savings score percentage) vs. elapsed time since learning
Encoding failure
When a memory was never formed in the first place
Memory traces
Changes in nerve cells or brain activity
Memory decay
The weakening of memory traces
New info pours in, replaces old info
Leaky buckets
Infrequent retrieval (only offers a partial explanation of long term forgetting)
Disuse
Cue dependent forgetting
Retrieval cues
“What were you doing on Monday afternoon, on the third week of May, two years ago?
State dependent learning
When memory retrieval is influenced by body state
Ex. Happy vs sad mood while studying and taking a test
Interference (two types)
Retroactive and proactive
Retroactive interference
New memories interfering with old
Proactive interference
Old memories interfering with new
Retrograde amnesia
Forget everything from before, only remember information from now
Anterograde amnesia
Remember everything from before, cannot make new memories
Consolidation
Relatively permanent memories are formed in the brain
Brain structure associated with information passing from short term memory into long term memory
If damaged, anterograde amnesia (no longer create new long term memories)
Memories prior to damage will remain intact
Hippocampus
Memories created during times of personal tragedy, accident, or other emotionally significant events
Flashbulb memories
Flashbulb memories
Memories created during times of personal tragedy, accident, or other emotionally significant events
Both positive and negative effects
Great confidence in them even though they may be inaccurate
-emotion (limbic system) driven
What stores declarative memories and where?
Cortex
Episodic in the front
Semantic in the back
What stores procedural memories
Cerebellum
Superior memory
Exceptional memory
Eidetic imagery
Mental imagery
Eidetic imagery
Someone like a photographic memory (pages or numbers)
Mental imagery
Mental pictures of objects or events
