Memory Flashcards
Case of H.M
- 9 years old
- hit by a bicyclist
- to stop seizures removed part of the temporal lobe
- resulting in loos of brain structures such as the amygdala, hippocampus etc
- lost ability to form new memories
- drew star better and better each time they met
memory
the ability to store and use information
doesn’t need to be a conscious recollection
What are the two broadest types of memory
explicit/ declarative memory
implicit/ non-declarative memory
explicit memory
conscious recall of facts and events
memories are deliberately accessed
implicit memory
not easily described using words
sensory memory
part of memory that holds sensory information for milliseconds to seconds
Visual sensory memory?
iconic memory
- a brief record of a visual scene
auditory sensory memory?
echoic memory
- short-term retention of sounds
testing iconic memory?
George Sperling experiment
- flashed three rows of four digits on screen long enough for iconic but not long enough for short-term memory to process (50miliseconds)
- modified experiment by introducing a delay after the flash and then asking the participants to recall the information
What was the result of the George Sperling experiment?
results dropped dramatically after introducing the dealy
suggesting we can “hold” a visual scene in our mind for a very brief period of time
Testing echoic memory?
- two different auditory pieces, ignore one listen to other
- ## short-term memory doesn’t work for ignored one, have to rely on echoic memory
results of echoic memory test?
delay of more than 5 seconds produced dramatically dropped memory results
What holds information longer, iconic or echoic memory?
echoic!
echoic memory can hold information for a few seconds
iconic memory can hold information for milliseconds to a second
What is the three-stage model?
a model introduced by Atkinson and Shiffrin classifying three memory stores
explain the three-stage model
classifies
- short-term memory
- long-term memory
- sensory memory
Short-term memory
stores a limited amount of information for about 2-30 seconds (long enough to dial a phone number)
long-term memory
stores a vast amount of information for 30 seconds to a lifetime
how does memory form?
sensory input –pay attention–> short term memory–repeat/ rehearse—-> long-term
What happens if we don’t pay attention to sensory input
the memory vanishes
What happens if we do not rehearse or repeat information in short-term memory
it will disappear
What is rehearsal?
the process of reciting or practicing things repeatedly
How long do we have to do rehearsal for it to maybe make it to long-term memory?
after about a minute or two the information might make it to long-term memory
encoding?
the process by which we attend to and process new information so it often goes to long-term memory
what is retrieval?
recovery of information stored in memory
what memory do we rely on to perform tasks and solve problems?
we want short-term memory to work
how much can short-term memory hold?
4-9 chunks or digits of data
average is 7 plus or minus two
why are phone numbers 7 digits long?
the magical number that people are better at remembering within the 4-9 digits
Peterson and Peterson experiment
- participants given list of three letter combinations
- asked to recall them after delays in time
- prevented “rehearsing” by performing a math problem during a delay
- after 18 seconds only 10% was recalled
What is working memory?
a phrase psychologists used to describe short-term memory ppl use to attend to and solve a problem at hand
- place where we temporarily store information while working
short-term vs working?
short term is duration of this type of memory
working is the function of this memory
Can working memories make it to long-term memory?
yes, if continuously practiced
What is “chunking”?
the best way to use working memory, as working memory has its limits
- helps recall later on
- transforming what you know into meaningful groups or chunks
Baddeley’s working memory model?
this model saw working memory is broken up into three stores all managed by the “central executive”
- visuospatial (images and spatial relations)
- phonological loop (sound and language)
- episodic buffer (temporary storage for specific events)
What was Baddeley’s theory?
there were three different processes to working memory:
- attending to a stimulus
- storing information
- rehearsing the stored information
How does the central executive manage the three stores of working memory?
- focusing and switching attention
- deciding where to focus attention in that moment and what aspects of a stimulus to focus on
how do we go from attending to a stimulus to storing a stimulus?
the information is sent to a temporary store… one of the three store of
visuospatial
phonological loop
episodic buffer
How much can the phonological loop store?
a limited number of digits or words for up to 30 seconds
- however it only lasts a few seconds if we attend to it and process it more deeply
How much can the visuospatial sketch pad store?
briefly stores up to 4 images
- will fade quickly if not attended to to process more deeply
do visuospatial and phonological store effect one another?
they don’t seem to
what does the episodic buffer hold?
critical events for a temporary amount of time that will eventually become long-term memories of specific events
how do long-term and working memory relate?
working memory can retrieve long-term memories to bring into the mental workspace
What is the serial position effect?
the tendency to recall items better depending on their place on a list
- recall items at the beginning and end of a list better than items in the middle of the list
primacy effect?
the tendency to remember items at the beginning of the list
recency effect?
the tendency to remember items at the end of a list better
theory for primacy effect?
items in the beginning of the list are quickly rehearsed and move to long-term memory
theory for recency effect?
items at the end of the list are still held in working memory
why are the items in the middle of a list easily forgotten?
middle items interfere with rehearsal of the first items which prevents long-term storage
they are kicked out of working memory when more items father down in the list are presented
Types of long-term memory
Explicit and implicit
examples of Implicit (non-declarative) long-term memory
procedural memory
- knowledge we have from any behaviour or phsical
skill we learn (riding bike, runnning)
priming
- implicit memory that occurs when recall is improved by prior exposure to the same or similar stimuli
examples of priming
- HM drawing stars better and better even though he has no conscious recall of the act he has done it before
- study with amnesia vs normal ppl, amnesia remembered just as well if they had priming (first three letter of the word) even though they had no conscious recall of the words
performance of recall with and without priming?
- without priming ppl with memory problems have trouble recalling information(remeber10%word vs 35% (reg ppl))
- with priming, amnesia ppl performed better than regular people without priming
Kinds of explicit memory
- semantic
- episodic
What is semantic memory?
memory for facts and knowledge, things we’ve learned in school
What is episodic memory?
memory for experiences we’ve had
what is encoding?
a process where events are attended to and rehearsed to go to long-term memory
- the process of making a memory a long-term memory
- encoded memories can be accessed through retrieval
what is consolidation?
solidifying a memory that was just encoded, in long-term memory
What is a mnemonic device?
-a strategy to help you remember things by using rhymes , chunking, rehearsal, acronymns
Daniel Tammet – remembered 22 000 digits of pi
Dual encoding theory
- theory to explain why visualizing while studying words can help you remember.
- visual and very info stored seperatly in the brain so your new material is stored in two areas rather than just one
- by Allan Paivio
Why is dual encoding theory influential and believable?
It complements Baddeley’s three step model
for the phonological and visuospatial and episodic buffer parts of working memory
What is an associative network?
a chain of association between related topics
- each topic is a “node” with the chains between them the “associations”
Is retrieval always the same?
no, the ease of retrieval is based on previuos stages of memory
- how did we encode it?
- did we consolidate it?
- did we store it where we can access it?
Process of retrieval?
The two kinds of encoding processes
- Automatic processing
- Effortful processing
Where is automatic processing used? Effortful?
Automatic is used in episodic memory
Effortful is used in sematic memory
Levels of processing
study: list of 28 words, then wold to recall them, took out last and first two to eliminate recency and priming effect
found: three different levels of processing
- structural
- phonemic
- semantic
structural processing
Shallowest step, !st step
“is the word in capital letters”
phonemic processing
middle step
“Does the word rhyme with ___”
semantic processing
last, deepest step
“would the word fit in the sentence: the man jumped___and carried on”
What gets you the best recall?
Deep encoding–> semantic processing
What is the “encoding specificity principle”?
memory for stored info is the strongest when conditions of encoding and retrieval match
- why she said go to dal plex beforehand
- the environment that retrieval and encoding happen influences memory the most rather than how deep the memory is processed
Emotional memory
emotions and the events that triggered them are often remembered more clearly then mundane episodic episodes.
- not always accurate even though memory has great detail sometimes
Flashbulb memory
vivid memory for an emotionally charged event
forgetting
the disappearance or weakening of memories over time
interference
disruption of memory because other information interferes with the information you are trying to recall
the two kinds of interference
proactive interference and retroactive interference
proactive interference
disruption of memory because previously learn information is disrupting the learning of new information
retroactive interference
new info or new experiences causes people to forget older memories or experiences
The seven sins of memory
they fall into two categories….
- errors of omission (errors during recall)
- errors of commission (event that is distorted or incorrect or unwanted)
sins of omission (errors during recall)
1) transience (most common type of forgetting)
- loss of info over time
2) absent-mindedness
- not paying adequate attention
3) blocking
- inability to retrieve info that we once stored
sins of commision (distored, incorrect or unwanted event)
4) misattribuation
- when we believe a memory came from one source
when it actually came from another
ex: one type of misattribuation : cryptomenesia
when a person unintentionally plagerizes convinced the words are their own
5) consistency bias
- selective recall of paste vents to fit in our current
beliefs
6) persistence
- the repeated recall of unwanted or unpleasant
events when we are actively trying to forget them
7) suggestibility
- when memories are altered or implanted in our
brains based on leading questions, comments, or
suggestions
ex: the ppl gave responses of higher speeds when asked “how fast were the cars going when they SMASHED into each other” rather than “how fast were the cars going when they hit each other”
What are false memories?
memories of events that never happened but were suggested by someone or something
ex: Stephen porter found that half of his undergraduate participants thought their parents formed a distorted memory of a fabricated story they believed was provided to the researchers by their parents
what makes vulnerability to false memories stronger?
when shown emotionally negative images, they showed stronger vulnerability to false memories than positive images
false memory exaple: eyewitness memory
Elizabeth Loftus’s research on eyewitness memory
- showed even under best circumstances memory is not very accurate
- susceptible to suggestion particularly in interval after event, before recall
What is the misinformation effect?
alternation of memory by misleading information presented between encoding and recall
What is a recovered memory?
a memory that was encoded and stored, but not retrieved for a long time, then is later retrieved after some event brins it to consciousness
Why is recovered memory controversial?
because it often happens while a patient is with a psychotherapist.
- people are skeptical whether it is an actual recovered memory of if it is something “remembered” after the psychotherapist suggests something
How do we have so uch room for memories all our life, because they build up?
billions of neurons in nervous system
Donald Hebb’s theory on the permanence of memory
two steps
1) one neuron repeatedly fires and excites another and a temporary trace of memory echoes across the synapse
2) if this memory trace persists, it is followed by a permanent change in the receiving neuron, the excitatory neuron, or both, that strengthens their synaptic connection
the repeated stimuli of a group of neurons in this way lead to cell assemblies
What are cell assemblies?
Cell assemblies are networks of neurons that persist even after the stimulation has stopped. The more synapsis that fire together, the stronger the network becomes, increasing the likelihood they will fire again
“neurons that fire together wire together”
“use it or lose it”
- eventually the synaptic connections weaken if they aren’t stimulated and we forget
- Donald Hebb
Long-term potential
strengthening of a synaptic connection when one neuron repeatedly fires and excites another
molecular biology memory storage
sea slug experiment by Kendel
- shock slug–> defensive posture
- shock once–> defensive position for 10min
- shock 5 times close in succession –> defensive position for days
conclusion: conversion from short term to long term memory takes spaced out repetition “practice makes perfect - even in snails”
What did Kandel and his team find out?/ how do memories stick?
stimulation of a neuron sends signals to nucleus of the cell where DNA is stored
- signals production of CREB (a protein that switches on genes responsible for the development of new synapses)
- repetition brings about the growth of new synapses that stabilizes new memories “tattooing our brain
Sensory memory: the sensory cortices
sensation goes to thalamus –> cerebral cortex
visual –> visual cortex in occipital lobe
auditory–> auditory cortex in temporal cortex
touch–> somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes
taste–> gustatory cortex in the frontal and temporal lobes
smell–> olfactory cortex in the olfactory bulb
sense stimuli that activate these regions are also activated by memories of those sensations
Where is working memory located/ activates?
many areas however the PREFRONTAL CORTEX (the front-most region of the frontal lobes) has crucial role
- the prefrontal cortex determines what is worthy of our attention
encoding stage of memory formation happens where?
prefrontal cortex and hippocampus
Where is memory consolidated?
hippocampus
Where is working memory rehearsed?
phonological loop from the prefrontal cortex to the language comprehension center (Wernickes area) in the rear of the left parietal lobes
The processing patway for visual information?
prefrontal cortex to temporal lobes to occipital lobes
What is the temporal lobe crucial for?
for the ability to encode explicit episodic memories for the long term
Emotional memroy: the amygdala
Emotion acts as a memory booster especially negative emotion and fear
people with a damaged amygdala experience no boost from emotions
amygdala activation correlates with memory of distressing videos
Example of women with no hindbrain
Hindbrain, more specifically the cerebellum, used for motor control
- girl was 7 before she could walk
- brain found way around it
mountain climbers cerebellum example
cerebellum used for motor control
mountain climbers cerebellum was larger than average because they need a lot of motor control
amnesia definition
When people forget due to injury or disease fo the brain
Two types of amnesia
Anterograde amnesia
retrograde amnesia
anterograde amnesia
inability to remember events after the onset of an injury or disease
retrograde amnesia
inability to remember events before the onset of the injury or disease
what drug is memory loss associated with
marjuiana -9-tetrahydrocannabinol
why is marijuana associated with memory loss
receptors int he brain that binds to endocannabinoids (naturally made in our brains purpose to help get rid of useless information ) also bind to THC
Drugs that enhance memory
Donzepezil, galantamin —> enhance acetylcholine by breaking down its synapse
herbal medications–> ginkgo bilbo
amphetamin (Adderall) and methylamphenidate (Ritalin)–> mixed evidence these work
Drugs that hurt memory
alcohol
- blackouts and greyouts
- Korsaskoff syndrome: Vitamin B deficiency
marijuana
- reduces encoding
- memory effects can linger
