Memory (7-9%) Flashcards
According to the Atkinson-Shriffin model of memory how many types of memory are there, and what are they?
- Sensory
- Short-Term
- Long-Term
What is the function of sensory memory?
Forms the connection between perception and memory
Who studied iconic memory?
George Sperling
How fast does iconic memory decay?
<1 second
How fast does echoic memory decay?
2-4 seconds
What is iconic memory?
Sensory memory for vision
What is echoic memory?
Sensory memory for hearing
Sensory memory experiences what kind of masking?
Backward masking (the initial stimulus is lost) that works best the more similar the the simlui are to one another.
What is an “icon” as it refers to memory?
A brief visual memory
Who discovered the existence of icons and backwards masking of iconic memory?
Ulric Neisser
What is required for sensory memories to encode into short term memory?
Attention
Explain how a “partial report” provides evidence for sensory memory.
Individuals are shown a stimulus and are able to provide partial information from different element of that stimulus. However because of the limited amount of time something stays in sensory memory, if they are asked to provide information about the whole stimulus, or about different parts of the stimulus in series, they won’t be able to do it.
(Classic experiment was 3 lines of random letters, asked to provide a list of just one of the lines. By the time they were done with that, they had forgotten the rest of the lines.)
How long does short-term memory last?
15-30 seconds
STM is an acronym for…
Short term memory
Who found out that the short term memory can usually hold about 7, more like 5-9 items?
George Miller
What is working memory?
Temporary memory that is needed to perform a current task, it involves more than just short term memory.
What is one way to increase the capacity of short term memory?
chunking (grouping items)
How is it thought that items are encoded into short term memory?
phonologically (STM is though to be auditory)
How do you get items transferred from short term to long term memory?
Through rehearsal
What is the difference between primary or secondary rehearsal when it comes to moving items into long term memory?
Primary is simple repetition, secondary involves organizing and understanding the information.
What are another set of names for primary and secondary rehearsal?
maintenance and elaborative rehearsal
Displacement theory is associated with what type of memory?
Short term memory
What is displacement theory (as it concerns memory?)
That there are a limited number of slots that can fit into short term memory and if something else fills that slot something else is displaced (or removed) from short term memory.
What are the elements of Baddeley’s model of working memory?
Information flows from a central executive system into a phonological loop (short-term auditory store), a visuospatial sketchpad (short-term visual store), and/or a episodic buffer, then memory can flow from these systems into long term memory
What is the function of the episodic buffer in Baddeley’s model of working memory?
it serves to integrate information across domains
How are most items encoded into long term memory?
semantically (for meaning)
How is long term memory retention measured?
1) recognition
2) Recall
3) Savings
What is the difference between recognition and recall
Recognition requires recognizing things recalled in the past whereas recall requires people to recall things from scratch.
What are examples of testing that use recognition vs. recall
multiple choice vs. open response
A form of assisted recall is called… as opposed to recall with no assistance is called…
Cued recall, free recall
What does long term memory savings test?
How long it takes to learn something the second time as opposed to the first time
What is the encoding specificity principle?
the idea that material is more likely to be recalled if it’s remembered in the same context under which it was learned.
The idea of context influencing how well you remember something is also known as the…
encoding specificity principle
What types of memories do you know you know?
Explicit memories (versus implicit memories)
What are the two types of explicit memories?
Episodic memories (story like memories) Semantic memories (general knowledge of the world, facts and information)
What type of memory requires no conscious awareness of knowing something?
Implicit memory
What types of memories are implicit memories?
Procedural memory, classical conditioning, priming
What is procedural memory
Knowing how to do something, especially physical actions and motor skills.
What are the three main processes involved in memory?
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
What is encoding as it relates to memory?
transforming information into a form more easily stored by the brain.
What are methods of more effectively encoding information into memory?
1) Mnemonics
2) Clustering
3) Organization
4) Elaborative encoding
5) Dual Encoding
6) Rehearsal
7) Self-reference
What is elaborative encoding?
The use of meaning and associations to remember things
What is dual encoding?
Items that will be better remembered if they are both visually and semantically encoded
What is the Method of Loci
Creating associations between locations that are well known and creating associations between the two.
Who suggested the theory of dual encoding?
Allan Paivio
Who found that memories are not stored in any one specific place but diffusely throughout the brain?
Karl Lashley
Who discovered that memory is reconstructive?
Frederick Barlett
How does the concept of depth of processing relate to memory?
The more deeply something is learned (ie for semantics and meaning and not just pronunciation etc.) the easier it is to learn and recall
Who studied memory and depth of processing?
Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart
Who discovered that the memory of traumatic events is changed by the way questions are asked about that event?
Elizabeth Loftus
What does the generation-recognition model predict
Anything that someone might be able to recall should be easily recognized.
What is it called when you are the verge of retrieving something from memory but cannot do so?
The tip of the tongue phenomenon
Which researchers proposed hierarchical semantic networks in memory?
Elizabeth Loftus and Allan Collins
What does it mean that there might be hiearchial semantic networks in memory?
The more closely items are grouped or linked in a hierarchy the faster potential response times.
Who was the first to study memory systematically?
Herman Ebbinghaus
What does the forgetting curve posit?
That there is a steep drop in memory savings immediately after learning that then levels off with a slight downward trend.
What are the two main theories of forgetting?
Decay theory and interference theory
Decay theory of forgetting is also known as
Trace theory
Trace theory of memory is also known as
Decay theory
What models of forgetting are thought to be overly simplistic?
The Forgetting Curve, Decay Theory/Trace Theory
What does decay theory posit?
That memories fade with time
What does interference theory posit?
That competing information blocks retrieval of information over time
What is proactive interference?
Disruptive information that is provided BEFORE the desired information is taught
What does proactive interference cause?
proactive inhibition (of recall)
What is retroactive interference
Disruptive information that is provided AFTER the desired information is taught
Retroactive interference leads to
retroactive inhibition (of recall)
How do behaviorists explain memory?
Through paired-associate learning (one item is learned with and cues the recall of another)
Who proposed “what fires together, wires together?”
Donald Hebb
“what fires together, wires together” is also referred to as…
Long term potentiation
Studies of what two animals also suggested neurological changes associated with memory?
Sea slugs and chicks
Who studied sea slugs to get a better understanding of the neural pathways associated with memory?
E. R. Kandel
Which items in a serial list are easiest to remember?
The first and the last items
Why is the first item in a list easier to remember?
the most rehearsal/exposure
Why is the last item in a list easier to remember?
More recent exposure
What does serial learning or serial recall involve?
Learning items in an ordered list
What shows the likelihood of remembering an item in a serial list?
The serial-position curve
How does serial-anticipation learning differ from serial learning?
Instead of presenting the whole list at once, you just present the very next item inthe list.
When you learn from flash cards, or translate between two languages then you are showing signs of what kind of learning?
Paired associate learning
When a list of items is learned without any cue and can be provided in any order, what kind of learning is this?
Free-recall learning
What are some different kinds of learning and memory tasks?
Serial learning
Serial-anticipation learning
Paired-associate learning
Free-recall learning
What factors can make items on a list easier to remember and recall?
Acoustic dissimilarity Semantic dissimilarity Brevity (the term and/or the list) Familiarity Concreteness Meaning Importance to the subject
Encoding specificity and state-dependent learning are affiliated with what concept as it concerns memory?
State-dependent memory
When items are in an ordered list is it easier to order items that are close or far apart on the list?
Far apart
How do you measure incidental learning
Present subjects with items they are not intentionally supposed to try to learn and then test them for learning.
What is it called if someone is not able to form new memories?
Anterograde amnesia
What is it called when someone loses the ability to recall information learned prior to the onset of an injury
Retrograde amnesia
What part of the brain is thought to be associated with the strength of a given memory?
The amygdala* (part of the limbic system)
What is thought to the be the pathway in the brain for the encoding of memory?
Sensory input > thalamus> appropriate sensory cortex > prefrontal cortex > hippocampus > appropriate sensory cortex for storage. (parts of the limbic system)
Who wrote about HM who couldn’t form any new long-term memories but whose short-term memory was still intact? He had damage to what part of his brain?
Brenda Milner. Hippocampus.
Photographic memory is more common in what types of people?
Children and those from rural cultures.
What is another name for photographic memory?
Eidetic memory
Eidetic memory is also known as
Photographic memory
Particularly vivid memories (esp. of significant events) are known as…
Flashbulb memories
What is the Zeigarnik effect?
The tendency to remember uncompleted tasks better than completed ones
What is it called if you remember a piece of information but not where it came from?
A source monitoring error
What is the device that flashes a piece of visual material for a fraction of a second?
A tachtiscope
