memory Flashcards
associative networks
how knowledge is organised
made up of nodes
the node becomes activated, activation level of node rises when exposed to that node related stimuli.
activation spreads to any concept node related to that word
the stronger the link between the words, the less activation is needed in future to make them become active
one node can inhibit another node, you have to stop yourself saying a certain answer
inhibition is the ability of our associative networks to ‘dumb’ down the link between 2 things
what is free recall
participants generate own responses in any order
what is cued recall
participants are cued to retrieve items in any order e_____
what is serial recall
items need to be recalled in original order
why is recognition easier than recall
only one stage process, dont have to generate ideas
only need to pay attention to recognised words
less cognitive work needs to be done
why is recognition easier than recall
demonstration
condition 1-listen to list of words and write down as many as you can recall
condition 2-listen to list of words, look at extended list and count how many you can recognise
condition 1 requires your associative network to trigger potential candidates and then you have to decide whether you’ve seen them before or not
serial position curve
glanzer and cuniz 1966
glanzer and cuniz 1966
serial position curve
serial positive curve
describe
primacy and recency effect
primacy-better at recalling words from the beginning of list because have had chance for repetition and hence moved to LTM
recency-better recall for words at end of list as they are still active in the STM
words in the middle are less remembered and subject to decay
what are the 2 theories of forgetting
decay
interference
what is decay
information in forgotten due to gradual disappearance of memory trace
if the bond between 2 nodes isnt maintained, they become weaker and over time, simply activating one concept will not be enough to trigger that once connected concept
decay
probes task
monsell 1978
decay
monsell 1978
probes task
decay
probes task
describe
gave participants 4 target words and then a probe word and need to decide whether probe word was shown in target word
if the before trial had completely decayed, then it shouldn’t influence the speed of the next trial.
because it did slow down p’s, it is interfering with our recollection and hence has not completely decayed
what is interference
the recall of certain items interferes with recall of other stimuli
what are the 2 types of interference
proactive
retroactive
what is retroactive interference
newly acquired knowledge interferes will recall
what is proactive interference
old material impeded the learning of new material
retroactive interference
keppel and underwood 1962
keppel and underwood 1962
retroactive interference
retroactive interference
study
gave p’s unpronounceable 3 letter trigrams and asked them to retain them while counting backward in 3’s (new info)
as retention interval increased, % correct recall decreased
proactive interference
lustig and hasher 2001
lustig and hasher 2001
proactive interference
proactive interference
study
word completion task A_L__LY
p’s who had previously seen analogy demonstrated proactive interference
what is directed forgetting
p’s are told to forget some information
directed forgetting
study
1-item method:stimuli presented one by one each followed by instruction to forget or remember
recall of to be forgotten items poorer than the to-be-remembered items
2-list method: list 1 presented followed by instruction, then list 2. recall of list 1 poorer when instructed to forget
what is retreival induced forgetting
remembering one thing causes you to forget another thing related to it
we frequently need to inhibit information stored in memory
we have to inhibit other actions in order to spread activity towards an action we want
e.g. pen
anderson bjork and bjork 1994
rif
rif
anderson bjork and bjork 1994
anderson bjork and bjork 1994
study
participants are given a lot of category-exemplar pair words to study
participants study half the words from half the categories
and then completed a recall test
recall of practiced words are highest HOWEVER recall of unpractised words from the same category is poorer than recall for control items
i.e. practising some members of the a category causes unpractised members of the same category to become inhibited
strong competitors are likely to come to mind and hence interfere with what is trying to be remembered and hence needs to be inhibited
LTM
what is procedural memory
performing sequence of things
LTM
what is perceptual memory
relating to the ability to interpret/become aware of something through the senses
LTM
what is semantic memory
meaning
LTM
what is episodic/autobiographical memory
series of separate events
memories for events
what are the 4 sections that LTM is split into?
episodic/autobiographical
semantic
procedural
perceptual
what is procedural and perceptual memory called
non declarative memory
what is semantic/episodic memory called
declarative memory
what does non-declarative memory mean
unconscious memory of skills
required through repetition and practice
what does declarative memory mean
memory of facts and events
consciously recalled
what 9 factors influence our memories for exceptional events
anxiety novelty significance post-event info age/time attention salience stress emotion
exceptional events
novelty
geti, ben-shakhar, 1990
geti, ben-shakhar, 1990
novelty
novelty
study
shown images of ‘murderer’ aim is not to let on who it is. EDA responses to the target face were different to those of the non-target face.
however, this effect declined as the novelty wore off
significance
significant stimuli share features with information stored in memory that has been deemed worthy of attention
can be divided into things that do and do not cause an emotional reaction
what is emotion
many events that are memorable are also emotional
stimuli such as words, smells and sounds can cause emotional arousal
emotion
detterman and ellis 1972
detterman and ellis 1972
emotion
emotion
study
p’s were shown drawings of everyday items, in the middle was a nude drawing.
nearly 100% recalled the nude, recall for the items immediately before and after the drawing were not recalled very well
emotional stimuli increased recall but came as a cost of those items in close proximity to the emotional item
distinctiveness
schmidt 1994
schmidt 1994
distinctiveness
distinctiveness
2 types
primary and secondary
what is primary distinctiveness
events that stand out in the immediate contect
what is secondary distinctiveness
bizarre or unusual events that do not match in our LTM
what is a flashbulb memory
highly detailed, vivid ‘snapshot’ of the moment and circumstances in which a surprising piece of news was heard
typical details 6
place activity informant own affect other's affect aftermath
schmidt 2004
9/11
9/11 study
schmidt 2004
schmidt 2004
9/11
tested participants on 12th September and again 6 months later.
found only 47% consistency and better for central than peripheral detail’s
high emotion participants showed very poor recall for peripheral details
what are 4 negative to FBM
small samples
account’s change over time
easily affected memories
difficult to prove whey they first saw an event if they were alone
