Memory - 8 Flashcards
DRM Paradigm
-human memory is more reconstructed in nature → everytime you remember information, it is not retrieved how it was stored, instead is a reconstruction or inference of prior experience
Memory follows: encoding, storage, retrieval
Retrieval cue
any piece of info that can be used to access other information that is stored in memory
2 Common Ways to Test Memory
- Free recall - both participants ability to remember items from encoding phase (generate items from yourself)
- `Recognition test - show a list of items and have to check if they remember them or not (old vs new)
Patient HM
chronic seizures, removed large portions of hippocampus on both sides of brain (linked to memories is hippocampus). He stopped having seizures but had anterograde amnesia → couldn’t remember new memories but had the same IQ, short-term memory was intact and could learn complex new motor skills
Short term memory
held for soon use but does not hold onto it unless transferred to long term
George miller
conducted people can remember about 7 numbers +/- 2 at a time
-items at beginning of list are more likely to be remembered as they have more time to be rehearsed
-latest items can also be well remembered
Serial position curve
Levels of processing principle
the more we try to organise and understand the material, the better we remember it
it’s possible that even the faintest of memories can be stored in the brain in some way
-memories that never happened can be implanted to people’s brains
→ recalling a memory is open to reconstruction
Central Executive:
Coordinates and manipulates the information stored in
the working memory and helps you to focus and sort info.
Chunking:
The process by which information is organized into sets of
familiar groups or categories of items. This can help increase the total
number of items held in memory.
phone number in chunks
Decay theory
the idea that forgetting occurs because memories naturally fade over time
Declarative/explicit memory
-abilityto store/retireve semantic and episodic memory
-Memories for factual
information (semantic memory)
-memories that are tied to a particular
place and time (episodic memory).
Echoic Memory:
Sensory memory for our auditory system.
Encoding:
How information initially enters into memory. A selective
process that is highly dependent on attention.
Encoding Specificity:
When we encode a particular item into memory, the
item is not processed in isolation but together with the surrounding context.
if you study for a test in a specific room, you will perform better on that test if you take it in the same room
Episodic Buffer:
A new addition of the working memory model. It is
thought to draw on the other buffers (phonological loop and visuospatial
sketchpad) as well as on other stored long-term memories. This aspect of
working memory is engaged when remembering specific past episodes.
False Fame Effect:
-patient studies list of names and think names theyve already studied are famous
(source monitoring error)mixing up source of infor
Forgetting Curve:
Memory savings plotted over time.
Free-Recall Paradigm:
Participants are required to study of list of words
presented one at a time. They then need to recall as many words as they
can in any order.
Haptic Memory:
Sensory memory for touch
-know the feeling of water dropping on skin
Iconic Memory:
Sensory memory by our visual system.
Levels of Processing:
A proposition by Craik and Lockhart that memory is
not subdivided into separate stores. Instead, memory is conceived of as a
continuum; items encoded at a deeper level (more attention, more
elaboration) result in a longer lasting memory trace than items encoded at a
more shallow level (less attention, less elaboration).
Long-Term Memory:
The permanent storage of our memory. Breaks down
into declarative (semantic and episodic) and nondeclarative memories
(implicit and procedural).
Memory Savings:
The difference in the time it takes to memorize a list at
test compared to retest.
Misinformation Effect:
The creation of false memories by incorporating
new erroneous information with an old memory.
Mnemonic Strategy:
A device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or
associations that assists in remembering something.
Nondeclarative Memory:
A combination of implicit and procedural
memories. These memories are more automatic and unconscious.
-procedural, priming, classical condtioning
Phonological Loop:
phonological loop is crucial for tasks that involve verbal working memory, such as remembering a phone number long enough to dial it or following spoken instruction
Primacy Effect:
Participants during a free-recall task remember more
words presented at the beginning list.
Proactive Interference:
Information learned prior to a specific memory
interferes with its retrieval.
Reality Monitoring:
Our ability to discriminate real memories from those
that are thought or imagined.
Recency Effect:
Participants during a free-recall task remember more
words presented at the end of the list.
Repressed Memory:
A painful memory that has been forgotten as a
defense mechanism.
Retrieval:
The act of recovering stored information. Memory retrieval is
dependent on retrieval cues—a key piece of information that has the
potential to activate a memory in full.
Retroactive Interference:
Information learned after a specific memory
interferes with its retrieval.
Schemas:
With regard to memory, it is the mental frameworks for
interpreting the world around us based on prior experiences.
Self-Referent Effect:
Information encoded with ‘me-in-mind’ is better
remembered than information encoded with something or someone else in
mind.
Sensory Memory:
The transient maintenance of perceptual and physical
information from the very recent past.
Short-Term Memory:
Information that is selected from sensory memory
enters consciousness and is maintained in the short-term or working
enters consciousness and is maintained in the short-term or working
memory buffer. It is thought to operate like RAM on a computer, whereby
the selected information is held online for a short period of time but not
necessarily stored permanently.
Source Monitoring Error:
When we cannot recall where we learned a
piece of information.
Storage:
Concerns how the record of memory is maintained over time. This
record is not fixed and can be modified.
Transfer-Appropriate Processing:
Memory is aided when similar
processes are engaged at encoding and retrieval. This is primarily due to
encoding specificity.
Visuospatial Sketchpad:
A new addition to the working memory model. It
is thought to temporarily represent and manipulate visual information.
Working Memory:
Consists of three short-term buffers (or stores): the
phonological or articulatory loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the
episodic buffer. Working memory is the modern understanding of short-
term memory.
