Memory Flashcards
1
Q
3 processes of memory
A
- encoding- formation of initial memory traces and receiving information
- storage- retention of information
- retrieval-accessing and recovering information from memory stores
2
Q
William James
A
- divided memory into primary (short term) and secondary memory (long term)
- 3 forms of memory are now recognised
3
Q
Sensory memory
A
- large capacity
- each sense has it’s own memory
- no processing is involved
- if attention is paid during sensory memory then this is moved to short term memory
- visual memory lasts 0.5s. Auditory lasts 2 s
4
Q
Short term memory
A
- Miller says 7+/-2 items
- lasts 15-30 seconds
- by maintenance rehearsal the duration n can be increased e.g learning phone number
- Brown Paterson Task- distract immediately after counting 3 numbers backwards
- recall is effortless and error free
- loss of information usually occurs through displacement and decay
5
Q
Displacement
A
-newly acquired items entering the short term memory displace existing items
6
Q
Decay
A
-older items in short term memory have a weaker trace strength than the recently acquired items
7
Q
Elaborative encoding
A
- Daniel Schacter
- move of information from temporary to long term storage by rehearsal
8
Q
Working memory
A
- used to describe most of short term memory
- working memory allows cognitive processes to be performed on data that is briefly stored in short term memory
9
Q
Long term memory
A
- unlimited capacity
- lasts for indefinite duration
- encoding is mostly semantic but some visual and acoustic encoding occurs
10
Q
Atkins and Shiffrin
A
- short term memory and long term memory are structural components
- rehearsal can move short term memories to long term memory
11
Q
Recent memory
A
-ability to remember what has experienced within the past few minutes (recall of items after 5 minutes), hours or days
12
Q
Remote memory
A
-the ability to remember events in the distant past
13
Q
Tulving
A
-long term memory has two forms- declarative (explicit- includes semantic and episodic memory) and non-declarative (implicit memory)
14
Q
Declarative memory
A
- explicit!
- includes semantic and episodic memory
15
Q
Semantic memory
A
-factual knowledge about the world
16
Q
Episodic memory
A
-autobiographical
17
Q
Non-declarative memory
A
- implicit
- procedural memory
- skills etc
18
Q
Priming
A
- form of learning that occurs without conscious recall of the episode of learning
- performance shows that the information is learnt but conscious recall is absent
19
Q
Baddley and Hitch
A
- working memory model
- working memory has a central executive and two arms- phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
- central exectutive is like an attention system
- phonological loop is auditory rehearsal loops
- visuospatical scratch pad is pattern recognition and movement perception components
- episodic buffer
20
Q
Episodic buffer
A
- also a component of the working memory model
- integrates information into long term memory
- important in chinking
21
Q
Serial position effect
A
-primary and recency effect
22
Q
Recency effect
A
- last words in a list remembered more easily than the middle ones
- better preserved in organic anterograde amnesia
23
Q
Primacy effect
A
24
Q
Modes of retrieval (3 Rs)
A
- Recognition
- Recall
- Reintegration/reconstruction
25
Forgetting
1. Decay
2. Displacement
3. retrieval failure
4. interference theory
26
Hermann Ebbinghaus
- forgetting curve
- sharp drop over the first 9 hours, particularly the first hour
- after the first 9 hours the forgetting slows and declines little
- forgetting is never complete
- continous motor skills are not forgotten (cycling) but discrete motor skills can be
27
Decay theory
-neural engrams breakdown over time
28
Displacement
-due to capacity limitation, new info replaces old info
29
Retrieval failure
- due to lack of proper cues to recall we forget things
| - recall improves if the cues available at the initial encoding are present during recollection
30
Interference theory
- forgetting occurs due to interference
- new information can interfere with old material recall-retroactive interference
- proactive interference refers to interference of new learning from older learnt material
31
Chunking
-method of increasing the capacity of short term memory by combining units or information into chunks
32
Encoding specificity principle
-the more similar the retrieval situation is to the encoding situation , the better the retrieval
33
Amnesia
-marked impairment of episodic memory
34
Ribot
- recent memories are more vulnerable to brain damage than remote memories
- if hippocampal memory system is damaged then patients tend to lose their recent memories
35
Anterograde amnesia
- loss of the ability to form or retain new episodic memories after injury/lesion/event
- lack of memory for events taking place in the immediate future after an event
- often involve hippocampal damage
- they cant learn anything new
- nothing can be moved from short term to long term memory
36
Retrograde amnesia
- loss of episodic memories that were stored before brain damage had occurred
- lack of memory immediately before events
- follows head injury
- they fail to consolidate the STM and move it to LTM
37
Transient global amnesia
- caused by transient cerebral ischemia
| - sudden onset of severe anterograde amnesia with a retrograde amnesia for the preceding days or weeks
38
Psychogenic amnesia (hysterical)
- suffer traumatic or emotionally disturbing lide event
| - can be global (e.g fugue state) or situation specific (crime)
39
Fugue state
- psychogenic global amnesia
- forgets everything about themselves
- usually resolves within a few days but can last forever
40
Situation specific
- offenders can claim amnesia at the offence- 25-45% homicides
- most common in crimes of passion
- in PTSD there is reduction in the hippocampal volume-?due to glucocorticoids
41
Amnesic syndromes
- various disorders can cause amnesic syndromes
- features:
1. immediate memory is unimpaired
2. anterograde amnesia-inability to acquire new information
3. retrograde amnesia of variable extent and severity
4. preserved global intellectual abilities
5. preserved implicit/procedural memory
42
Korsakoff's syndrome
- frm of amnesic syndrome caused by thiamine deficiency
- may have severe anterograde amnesia and extensive retrograde memory loss
- can lose some autobiographic memory
- working memory and procedural memory are unimpaired
- 3 word learning tak-apple, table, penny
43
Post-traumatic amnesia
- time between injury and recovery of normal memory function seen in head injury patients
- the longer the PTA, the more severe the brain damage and prognosis
- PTA retrograde amnesia is also possible after head injury-cant recall last night's dinner=poor prognosis
44
Memory loss following ECT
- usually temporary
- there may be both anterograde or retrograde amnesia
- 1/3 of patients report persistent memory loss following ECT
- memory impairment is less pronounces with unilateral ECT
45
Tests of memory
- digit span
- 3 word learning task
- Rey-Osterrieth complex figure
- Wechsler memory test
46
Digit span
- tests short term memory
- forward and backward digit span
- forward= 6+/- 1
- reverse is 5+/-1
47
Three word learning task
- apple penny clock
| - test of anterograde memory and learning
48
Name and address recall
- 7 items
- common test of recent verbal memory
- recall as many items in five or ten minutes
49
Rey-Osterrieth complex figure
- non-verbal memory test
- person is asked to copy a complex geometric figure and then draw from memory after 30 minutes
- impaired in dementia and amnesic syndrome
50
Weschler memory tests
-asked to recall a short story from the Wechsler memory scale containing 25 elements and both immediate and delayed recall after an interval or 30 mins
51
Infantile amnesia
- earliest recall is 3.5 years old
- prior to this is infantile amnesia
- amnesia for events occurring in first 2-5 years of life is variable
52
Mood-congruent effect
-more easy to recall nformation if it is congruent with current mood
53
Mood-state dependent retrieval
-the phenomenon wherein retrieval of information is easier if the emotional state at the time is the same as the emotional state at the time of the encoding
54
Elaboration
-material that is fully elaborated produces stronger memory trace as it is believed that the consolidation is linked to the depth with which the data is processed
55
Schemas
- mechanisms for elaborating and reconstructing memory at test
- organised sets of facts
56
Interference
-known, easily accessible information is used to piece together the retrieved information, resulting in a biased recall
57
Distortion
-can occur in order to ensure the information fits the person's schemas-this impacts the recall of information
58
Pre-frontal lobes
-mediate performances of short term memory
59
Phonological short term memory system
-mediated by the left hemisphere regions of Broca's area and prefrontal cortex
60
Visuospatial short term memory system
-mediated by the parietal and prefrontal areas of the right hemisphere
61
Brain areas responsible for long term memory
-regions of the limbic system, specifically the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex of the medial temporal lobe
