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SP MCAT Psych/Soc > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

Encoding

A

process of putting new information into long term memory

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2
Q

Automatic Processing

A
  • gaining of information without effort

- much of the information we gain is passively absorbed from the environment via this type of processing

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3
Q

Controlled (Effortful) Processing

A
  • active memorization

- with practice this can become automatic

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4
Q

What are the 4 different types of encoding?

A
  • visual encoding (visualize it)
  • acoustic encoding (store the way it sounds)
  • tactile encoding (how things physically feel; ex. feeling of sand on your feet)
  • semantic encoding (related to you as a person; ex. the meaning of a word, phrase or event; if someone gives you the nickname Speck then you now associate that nickname as yourself)
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5
Q

Which type of encoding is the strongest?

A

semantic encoding

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6
Q

Which type of encoding is the weakest?

A

visual encoding

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7
Q

Self-Reference Effect

A

recall information best when we put it into the context of our own lives

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8
Q

Maintenance Rehersal

A

the repetition of a piece of information to either keep it within working memory (to prevent forgetting) or store it in short-term memory and eventually long-term memory

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9
Q

Mnemonics

A
  • common way to memorize information, especially lists

- acronyms or rhyming phrases that provide an organization of the information that is supposed to be remembered

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10
Q

Method of Loci

A

involves associating each term in a list with with a location along a route through a building that has already been memorized

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11
Q

Peg-Word System

A

associates numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the numbers

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12
Q

Chunking/Clustering

A
  • memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them together into groups of elements with related meaning
  • ex. phone numbers
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13
Q

What are the different types of memory storage (4)?

A
  • sensory memory
  • short-term memory
  • working memory
  • long-term memory
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14
Q

Sensory Memory

A
  • first and most fleeting kind of memory
  • consists of both iconic (visual) and echoic (auditory) memory
  • lasts only a short time (<1 second)
  • maintained in occipital and temporal lobe
  • easier to recall small subset of letters rather than whole set of letters
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15
Q

Short-Term Memory

A
  • transient and base on neurotransmitter activity
  • fades within 30 seconds if no rehearsal occurs
  • limited to a capacity of about 7 items – 7+2 Rule
  • housed primarily in the hippocampus (where consolidation of short term into long term memory occurs)
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16
Q

Working Memory

A
  • enables us to keep some information in consciousness simultaneously and can manipulate that information
  • supported by the hippocampus, frontal lobe and parietal lobe
  • involves integration of short-term memory, attention and executive function
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17
Q

Long-Term Memory

A
  • requires elaborate rehearsal (association of the information to knowledge already stored in long-term memory)
  • result of increased neuronal connections
  • primarily controlled by hippocampus but the memories are moved to the cerebral cortex over time
  • two types: implicit, explicit
  • capacity is not infinite because we age
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18
Q

Implicit (Nondeclarative/Procedural) Memory

A
  • one type of long term memory
  • consists of our skills/tasks and conditioned responses
  • unconscious
  • ex. riding a bike, typing, driving a car
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19
Q

Explicit (Declarative) Memory

A
  • one type of long term memory
  • consists of memories that require conscious recall
  • can be further divided into 2 types:
    (1) semantic memory (facts that we know)
    (2) episodic memory (our experiences)
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20
Q

Retrieval

A
  • occurs when you take a memory from long term memory and put it in working memory
  • the process of demonstrating that something that has been learned has been retained
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21
Q

Recall

A
  • the retrieval and statement of previously learned information
  • ex. free response question on exam
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22
Q

Recognition

A
  • the process of identifying a piece of information that was previously learned
  • ex. multiple choice exams
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23
Q

Semantic Network

A
  • how the brain organizes ideas

- concepts are linked together based on similar meaning

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24
Q

Spreading Activation

A
  • occurs when one node of semantic network is activated and the other linked concepts around it are also unconsciously activated
  • connections between neurons aka neural networks
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25
Q

Priming

A

-retrieval cue in which recall is aided by first being presented with a word or phrase that is close to the desired semantic network

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26
Q

Context Effects

A
  • common retrieval cue
  • memory is aided by being in the physical location where encoding took place
  • Ex. score better on exam when take exam in same room that they learned the information in
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27
Q

State-Dependent Memory

A
  • also known as state-dependent effect
  • retrieval cue in which a person’s mental state affects recall
  • if learn skills/tasks while intoxicated then show better recall when performing same skills/tasks while intoxicated compared to sober
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28
Q

Serial Position Effect

A
  • retrieval cue that appears while learning lists
  • two different types: primacy, recency
  • primacy effect: tendency to remember early items on list
  • recency effect: tendency to remember last items on list
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29
Q

Alzheimer’s Disease

A
  • disorder that leads to decline in memory
  • degenerative brain disorder that is linked to a loss of Ach in neurons that link to the hippocampus
  • marked by progressive dementia (loss of cognitive function) and memory loss
  • memory loss proceeds in a retrograde fashion, with loss of recent memories before distant memories
  • brain has neurofibrillary tangles and beta-amyloid plaques
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30
Q

Sundowning

A
  • common in individuals with middle- to late-stage Alzheimers
  • increase in dysfunction in the late afternoon and evening
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31
Q

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

A
  • form of memory loss caused by thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency in the brain
  • marked by both retrograde amnesia (loss of previously formed memories) and anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories)
  • often caused by mother who drink alcohol while pregnant
  • common symptoms: confusion, disrupted speech, involuntary eye movements, poor coordination, confabulation
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32
Q

Confabulation

A
  • the process of creating vivid but fabricated memories

- thought to be an attempt made by the brain to fill in the gaps of missing memories

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33
Q

Agnosia

A
  • loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds though usually only one of the three
  • caused by physical damage to the brain (ex. stroke, MS)
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34
Q

Decay

A
  • natural memory loss over time as the neurochemical trace of a short term memory fades
  • memory sharply decreases a day or two after learning something then levels off
  • the more time that passes since you’ve learned something the more likely you are to forget something
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35
Q

Interference

A
  • common reason for memory loss
  • retrieval error caused by the existence of other information
  • classified by its direction: proactive or retroactive
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36
Q

Proactive Interference

A
  • old information/memory interferes with new learning

- Ex. move to new address and have trouble recalling individual pieces of new address

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37
Q

Retroactive Interference

A
  • new information causes forgetting of old information
  • can prevent this by reducing the number of interfering events
  • Ex. at beginning of year when teachers learn new students name they often find that they can’t remember their previous students names
38
Q

Prospective Memory

A
  • remembering to perform a task at some point in the future
  • remains mostly intact in old age when it is event based – primed by a trigger event
  • ex. when I go to the grocery store later I need to remember to by milk
39
Q

Misinformation Effect

A
  • occurs when misleading information is incorporated into one’s memory after an event
  • if someone gives you false info you can form false memories
  • Ex. observed video of car crash and some asked “how fast were the cars moving when they collided” while others asked using more descriptive language “how fast were the cars moving when they crashed” and those asked the more descriptive question were more likely to overstate the severity of the accident
  • Ex. experimenters told children that they were lost in a mall and then children believe that this actually happened to them
40
Q

Source-Monitoring Error

A
  • memories are more accurate if you remember the source
  • involves confusion between semantic and episodic memory: a person remembers the details of an event but confuses the context under which those details were gained
  • error occurs when you forget the source and attribute it to something/someone else
  • often occurs when a person hears a story of something that happened to someone else and later recalls the story as having happened to him- or herself
41
Q

Neuroplasticity

A
  • brain’s ability to change and adapt according to various environments, behaviors and emotions, as well as new synaptic processes
  • young children have very plastic brains
42
Q

Synaptic Pruning

A

weak neuronal connections are broken while strong ones are bolstered, increasing the efficiency of our brains ability to process new information

43
Q

HM

A
  • suffered from anterograde amnesia
  • had surgery that removed much of both of his temporal lobes and hippocampi
  • generally able to remember people and events from before his surgery, but he was not able to create new memories other than procedural memories (learning non-verbal tasks), which he was not able to state that he had learned
  • able to explain the function of everyday objects so long as he had known them before his surgery
44
Q

Pathway for Encoding Sensory Info:

A

sensory info -> sensory neurons (ex. rods/cones in eyes) -> travels to brain (ex. optic nerve) -> thalamus -> appropriate cortical areas

45
Q

What is the only sense that is not encoded in the thalamus?

A

Olfaction (goes cortex -> hippocampus)

46
Q

Thalamus is known as the ___ relay station

A

sensory

47
Q

Primacy Effect

A
  • way to help encode memory

- tendency to remember early items on list

48
Q

Recency Effect

A
  • way to help encode memory

- tendency to remember last items on list

49
Q

Elaboration

A
  • way to help encode memory
  • relate new info to old long term memories
  • ex. if you are in biochem course and you learn something new, this new info will stick better if you try to relate it to something you learned in your AP bio course
50
Q

Depth of Processing

A
  • process info more deeply (personally relate the info to yourself) then more likely to remember it
  • ex. make examples on Anki cards that personally relate to your life
51
Q

Autobiographical Memory

A
  • memories about yourself over time
  • memory of a life event, relationship with someone, how you felt when something happened
  • type of episodic memory
52
Q

Retrospective Memory

A
  • memory of things that have happened in the past

- learning about history includes declarative and autobiographical memories

53
Q

Flashbulb Memory

A
  • type of autobiographical memory

- memory that is very vivid and associated with an emotional event

54
Q

Serial Recall

A
  • type of retrieval
  • remember things in a sequence
  • ex. give someone 3 different words then asked to repeat the 3 words and you are able to do it in the same order they were told to you
55
Q

Free Recall

A
  • type of retrieval
  • remembering something without any cues/hints
  • ex. tell me about your 5th birthday party
56
Q

Cued Recall

A
  • type of retrieval
  • remembering something when you’re asked about it - often add cues to help someone remember
  • ex. tell me about your 5th Birthday party that was mad scientist themed
57
Q

Retrieval Failure

A

-not enough cues to help you remember something

58
Q

What is a mood?

A
  • lasts longer than an emotion
  • can’t pinpoint a certain event/time that made you feel the way you do
  • ex. I am in a really sour mood and I don’t know why
59
Q

Mood Congruence

A
  • when you are happy you are more likely to remember happy things; when you are sad you are more likely to remember sad things
  • content based
  • ex. you are in a happy mood and remember a happy episode of a show that is happy in its content
60
Q

Mood Dependence

A
  • if you are emotional at a certain time you are more likely to retrieve more emotional memories
  • if you were sad when you encoded your memory, you’re more likely to retrieve that memory again when you’re sad
  • has to do with how you felt when you encoded a memory
  • ex. broke arm on the beach and now whenever you are sad you think of that beach (beach is not something that is inherently sad in content)
61
Q

Pleasant memories fade slower. T or F?

A

True - unpleasant memories fade faster than pleasant memories

62
Q

In people with mild depression, pleasant/unpleasant memories fade at the same time. T/F?

A

True

63
Q

What memory is being used when a subject is asked to immediately recall a list of words after they hear them?

A

working memory

64
Q

How many “chunks” can be held in your working memory?

A

7 plus or minus 2

5-9 chunks

65
Q

Echoic Memory

A
  • part of sensory memory

- sound information

66
Q

Iconic Memory

A
  • part of sensory memory

- visual information

67
Q

Episodic Memory

A
  • part of explicit/declarative, long term memory
  • consists of events and experiences
  • ex. when you remember the first time you rode a bike
68
Q

Semantic Memory

A
  • part of explicit/declarative, long term memory
  • consists of facts and concepts
  • ex. know that a clock is used to tell time, know that glucose is sugar
69
Q

Negative Priming Condition

A
  • occurs when you tell someone to ignore a stimulus during the priming condition but in the test situation you tell them to say the stimulus that you told them to ignore
  • response is slower
70
Q

Positive Priming Condition

A
  • occurs when you tell someone to pay attention to a certain stimulus in the priming condition and then in the test condition you have them say the stimulus that you told them to pay attention to
  • nothing changes from control condition
  • response is fast
71
Q

What is an emotion?

A
  • something you feel at an instance
  • can attribute the way you feel to something
  • does not last as long as a mood
  • situational
  • ex. Lauren told me she was engaged and in that moment I cried tears of joy
72
Q

Neurogenesis

A
  • formation of new neurons

- occurs throughout entire life

73
Q

What typical things happen as humans age?

A
  • brain volume declines (starts to decline after age 20)
  • become more forgetful
  • blood flow to brain starts to decline
  • can still learn and make new neurons, but connections between neurons get weaker and number of neurons created aren’t enough to replace old ones
  • information processing rate slows down
74
Q

What type of memory improves with age?

A

semantic (ability to remember concepts/facts)

75
Q

What type of memory stays constant with age?

A

procedural

76
Q

What 2 types of memory decline with age?

A
  • episodic (ex. forget where you parked your car)

- long term memory – esp have hard time with free recall

77
Q

Dementia

A
  • chronic disorder of mental processes
  • affects how easily you can recall information
  • could be caused by injury or disease
  • results in changes in someones personality and changes in cognitive abilities
  • most common cause of this is Alzheimer’s Disease
78
Q

Huntington’s Disease

A
  • genetic condition that involves memory dysfunction
  • onset is around age 40
  • causes involuntary movements (shaking, spasms)
  • neurons are programmed to degenerate too quickly
79
Q

Amnesia

A
  • complete inability to remember something or a partial inability to remember something
  • can occur as a result of damage to the hippocampus
80
Q

Anterograde Amnesia

A
  • new memories cannot be formed
  • new memories are blocked by old memories
  • ex. 50 first dates
81
Q

Retrograde Amnesia

A
  • old memories cannot be remembered

- old memories are blocked by new memories you are creating

82
Q

Retention Interval

A
  • associated with Decay
  • it is the time since you’ve learned something – how long has passed since you learned something
  • increased interval = more likely to forget
83
Q

Positive Transfer

A
  • old information helps you learn new information
  • ex. you already know how to make a chocolate cake and want to make a chocolate strawberry cake so knowledge of how to bake a cake helps you do this
84
Q

Schema

A
  • mental concept of something
  • can be thought of as a script for certain scenarios
  • act as shortcuts to help us process information quicker and sooner
  • ex. have schema of restaurant that involves us sitting down and ordering and paying the bill
85
Q

Reconstructive Memory

A
  • you can piece together information and create a new memory
  • don’t fully remember a memory is 100% true or not because you have re-pieced old memories together in your mind
  • don’t know if the memory
  • Ex. don’t remember a birthday party but friend tells you about the cake you had and the theme of the party so you piece together old memories to remember this party
86
Q

Glutamate

A
  • excitatory neurotransmitter involved in long term potentiation
  • binds to AMPA receptor and NMDA receptor
87
Q

Long Term Potentiation Mechanism:

A
  1. glutamate released from presynaptic neuron
  2. glutamate binds to AMPA receptor which opens the receptor and allows Na+ to enter the post-synaptic neuron
  3. post-synaptic neuron depolarizes
  4. binding of glutamate to NMDA receptor and depolarization of the neuron allows Ca2+ to enter the post-synaptic cell through NMDA
  5. Ca2+ can then activate -> adenylate cyclase -> cAMP -> PKA -> CREB
  6. CREB then regulates transcription of certain genes
88
Q

CREB

A
  • cAMP response element binding protein
  • regulates the expression of genes that are important to dopaminergic neurons
  • binds to specific sequences in promoter of DNA
89
Q

NMDA Receptor

A
  • ligand-gated AND ion-gated receptor
  • opens once glutamate is bound AND the cell has depolarized
  • allows calcium ions to follow into the post-synaptic neuron
  • when it is not active, Mg+ is blocking the channel
  • Na+ repels Mg+ from the channel
90
Q

Long-Term Potentiation results in:

A
  • more neurotransmitters
  • more receptors
  • more APs
  • increased connections between neurons
91
Q

Long-Term Depression

A
  • when receptors are no longer being activated because they’re pulled inside the post-synaptic neuron
  • neuron pulls AMPA receptors into the cell by vesicles which decreases post-synaptic APs
  • if receptors are oversaturated with NTs then neuron will take receptors into the cell
  • can occur in individuals who take drugs and have too much stimulation

SP MCAT Psych/Soc (29 decks)

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