Memory Flashcards
Sensory Memory
Iconic memory 1/2 secs
Echoic Memory 4 secs
Selective Attention
need attention to pass into short-term memory
automatic or deliberate
automatic - stimuli that are novel or related to basic needs
Short-Term Memory
30 secs
7 +/- 2
Primary - passive holding tank
Working Memory - hold and manipulate
Long-Term Memory
not limited capacity or duration
Recent (Intermediate) Memory - lasts 2 weeks
Remote (Long-Term) Memory - 2 years+
REM Sleep and LTM
new info is reviewed, improved, systematically cataloged
dream deprivation can impair memory formation
info encoded better when alert
Retrieval
recognition easier than recall
Priming improve recognition
Priming
exposure to a stimulus that makes it easier to recognize the stimulus at a later point in time
Zeigarnik Effect
tendency to remember and work on incomplete tasks (brain continues to unconsciously work)
“it will come to me later”
Redintigration
occurs when something rapidly unlocks a chain of memories (a smell from childhood)
Landmark Events
important events (graduation, wedding) that serve as key markers for our memory. used as start point to go forward or backward to events around that time
Flashbulb Memory
distinct significant events (trauma). strong emotional reactions at encoding cause vivid detail remembered for a long time.
Most likely to remember immediately before and during event
Prospective Memory
remembering that one planned to do something at a particular time
problems - fail to remember the purpose of a cue; fail to remember what one planned to do
Hypnosis
more false memories than true ones.
reconstruct memories or fill in gaps.
person is confident in accuracy though
Accuracy of LTM
LTM relies on semantic features thus memories can be distorted; we make inferences; source is forgotten but content remains
beyond 30 secs more likely to recall similar meaning but not same wording, under 30 same wording
Repressed Memories
most people have trouble forgetting not with remembering
Declarative (Explicit) Memory
conscious recollection
Semantic and Episodic
Semantic Memory
meaning of words and facts
Episodic Memory
autobiographical events (when, where, what happened)
Procedural (Implicit) Memory
Nondeclarative
recall skills, physical operations, procedures that are remembered automatically w/out conscious awareness
Anterograde Amnesia
After event
Retrograde Amnesia
Before event
Posttraumatic Amnesia
events for short time after trauma
Paramnesia
distortion of memory involving confabulation or errors made when reconstructing past
Brain Regions
Frontal Lobe (problems with interference and short-term memory)
Temporal Cortex, Hippocampus, Thalamus, Mamillary Bodies, Basal Forebrain
Retrieval Failure
info in LTM cannot be retrieved or recovered
tip-of-the-tongue
Retroactive Interference
Recent/New learning interferes with prior
Proactive Interference
Prior learning interferes with new
Decay
memory deteriorates with time
Mood-Congruent Memory
mood during encoding matches mood during retrieval
State-Dependent Memory
high during encoding, high during retrieval
Motivated Forgetting
Repression - unconscious active blocking of painful or disturbing memories
Chunking
combining into meaningful units
Recreation of Context
remember everything about a context to help with a particular fact
Study Strategies
distributed practice over massed practice; rehearsed at regularly spaced intervals
Mnemonics
method of loci
peg-word system
word associations
substitute word system
Method of Loci
visual image of items on one’s list and putting each in a specific place as one mentally walks through a room
Peg-Word System
memorizing a set of ten visual images that can be pegs on which to hang ideas; then associate each image with what is to be remembered
Word Associations
form words or sentences with first letter of items, or make up stories that connect the items together;
Acronyms
Substitute Word Technique
break word down into parts: Massachusetts = Mash and chew shits
