Memory

Question 1

What is cognitive psychology?

Answer 1

The internal process involved in making sense of the environment, and deciding what action might be appropriate.

Question 2

What is the advantage of cognitive models?

Answer 2

o Cognitive models provide a mediating, functional level of description that helps integrate data and test hypotheses

Question 3

What is a difficulty of cognitive psychology and how does it attempt to overcome this?

Answer 3

o Difficulty with cognitive psychology is that mental processes are not directly observable and that mental processes happen in the brain
o Draws on many other disciplines to provide metaphors and methods for measuring these unobservable process

Question 4

Describe the main metaphor for information processing in the brain from the 1950’s-80’s

Answer 4

• From 1950’s-80’s: information processing
o Information processing was described using the computer metaphor, where the mind is a symbol processing system like a computer (psychologists got this metaphor from working with engineers and the development of computers: resulted in advancement in thinking about cognitive psychology and development in assessing intelligence)

Question 5

What is information processing

Answer 5

 Information processing- acquisition, storage and manipulation of symbols to meet task demands

Question 6

What is the metaphor for information processing from the 1980’s to now?

Answer 6

• From 1980’s to now: connectionist framework
o Neural metaphor- the mind is a network of inter-connected processing units
o Processing consists of transmission of activation and inhibition within these networks

Question 7

What developed from the 1990’s to now which provides insight into the brain mechanisms underpinning cognitive processes?

Answer 7

• From 1990’s to now: Cognitive neuroscience
o Neuroimaging: Many cognitive functions can be localised to particular neural regions
o Identifying and investigating how these areas respond to experimental manipulations provides insight into the brain mechanisms underpinning cognitive processes

Question 8

Describe Weiseberg et al’s (2008) experiment and findings on the seductive allure of neuroscience

Answer 8

• Weisberg et al. (2008)
o Handed people good explanations of the fact that people overestimate how many people know a fact if they themselves know a fact with and without neuroscience terms, as well as bad explanations with or without neuroscience terms
o Presented these explanations to several groups of people:
 Novices- undergraduates not studying cognitive neuroscience
• Novices rated bad neuroscience explanation of a better quality than bad without neuroscience explanation
 Early cognitive neuroscience students
• Rated neuroscience explanations, good or bad, higher than without neuroscience explanations
 Experts- graduates and academics working in neuroscience
• Rated neuroscience explanations poorer
o Found that both novices and early students could discriminate between good and bad explanations, but were more inclined to believe neuroscience ones
o Experts rejected irrelevant neuroscience

Question 9

Describe Keehner et al’s findings on brain images and credibility

Answer 9

o 3D images of brain increased ratings of scientific credibility of explanations paired with different types of images

Question 10

Describe Fernandez-Duque et al’s experiment and findings on neuroscience, on brain images and credibility

Answer 10

o Gave bad and good explanations to undergraduate students with neuroscience information, no neuroscience information or added a brain image
o Neuroscience information increased judged quality of both good and bad interpretations, even when compared to other types of scientific information
o No additional effect of including brain image

Question 11

Describe Marr’s 1982 levels of description of complex systems

Answer 11

• Marr 1982
o Computational
 What needs to be computed for the task to be carried out
o Conceptual: Representation and algorithm
 The form in which information is represented and the steps or procedures that occur to transform inputs into outputs
o Hardware
 Physical means by which the representation and algorithm are implemented
• Can look at cognitive processes even without understanding of the hardware

Question 12

What are the 4 broad methods used in measuring human cognition?

Answer 12

• Experimental cognitive psychology
• Cognitive neuropsychology
• Computational modelling
• Cognitive neuroscience

Question 13

What is the aim and process of experimental cognitive psychology

Answer 13

Aim:
Cognitive psychology: develop theories that will explain behaviour
-Aims to understand human cognition by observing the behaviour of people performing various cognitive tasks

Process:

• Develop theories of cognitive processes underlying a task
• Use behavioural evidence to test theories

Question 14

What are the limitations of experimental cognitive psychology

Answer 14

1.However, theories are often abstract and hard to empirically test

2. Tests rely on inferences (indirect evidence)
   - –E.g. Face inversion effect experiments
3. Can lack ecological validity (people’s behaviours differ in real life from that of the lab)
4. Paradigm specificity: findings obtained from any given experimental task are sometimes specific to that paradigm and do not generalise to other apparently similar tasks
5. Most cognitive tasks are complex and involve many different processes

Question 15

What are the strengths of experimental cognitive psychology?

Answer 15

1. Source of most of the theories and tasks used by other approaches
2. Can be applied to any aspect of cognition
3. Has strongly influenced social, clinical and developmental psychology (has explained how we recognise faces-: we recognise faces through holistic processing and don’t analyse feature by feature) (Thompson 1980)
4. Enormous influence on the development of cognitive tasks and on task analysis

Question 16

What is the aim and process of cognitive neuropsychology?

Answer 16

Aim:
This approach involves studying brain-damaged patients to understand normal human cognition.

Process:
-Use patterns of impairment after brain injury to infer the functional organisation of the brain –> dissociations between different tasks implies that they rely on different neural systems (especially if double dissociations)

Question 17

What are the limitations of cognitive neuropsychology?

Answer 17

1. Excessive reliance on single-case studies
2. Assumes isomorphism between physical and functional brain organisation
3. Assumes modulatory and domain specificity (parts operate independently from each other and are function specific)
4. Assumes uniformity of functional architecture across people
5. Assumes subtractivity (brain damage impairs one or more processing modules but does not add or change anything)
6. Minimises the interconnectedness of cognitive processes

Question 18

What are the strengths of cognitive neuropsychology?

Answer 18

1. Causal links can be shown between brain damage and cognitive performance
   - ——Duchaine et al. (2006)
   - ———-Upright face shown briefly, then briefly shown two alternative faces and have to decide whether one face matches the first upright face shown
   - ———-Same thing down in inverted
   - ———-People usually recognise more accurately upright faces than inverted ones, but people with proposopagnosia (difficulty in recognising faces) fail to show face inversion effect and have poor performance in upright and inverted faces

2.It has revealed unexpected complexities in cognition

Question 19

What is the aim and process of computational modelling?

Answer 19

Aim:
Tries to instantiate cognitive models in computer programs that can be used to predict behaviour

Process:

• Create a computer program based on model of task performance which requires precise specification of all details of the model
• Run computer program and compare computer performance with people’s performance

Question 20

What are the limitations of computational modelling?

Answer 20

1. But often have to specify details that are not part of theory
2. Fact that task can be done that way does not mean it is how people do it
3. Human cognition is influenced by hard to replicate emotional and motivational factors

Question 21

What are the strengths of computational modelling?

Answer 21

1.Forces theory to be detailed so that descriptors are accounted for

Question 22

What are the aims and processes of cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 22

Aim:
Tries to find evidence of cognitive processes assumed in cognitive theories by looking at brain activity

Process:

- Uses information about behaviour and the brain to understand human cognition - Take snapshots of brain activity while people are performing cognitive tasks using different brain imaging technologies - Seems to provide direct measure of brain regions underlying performance

Question 23

What are the limitations of cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 23

1. But different measures reflect different aspects of brain function, and techniques require effective application of cognitive psychological methods
2. But methods can also be invasive or have poor spatial/temporal accuracy
3. Difficult to bridge the divide between psychological processes and concepts on the one hand and patterns of brain activation on the other
4. False positive are common
5. Most brain-imaging techniques reveal only associations between patterns of brain activation and behaviour
6. Problems of ecological validity and paradigm specifity

Question 24

What are the strengths of cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 24

1. Has helped resolve theoretical controversises that have remained intractable with purely behavioural studies, for example solving speech perception: Wild et al. (2012) found that there was more activity in primary auditory cortex when visual input matched auditory input than when it did not, suggesting that knowledge of what was being presented directly affected basic auditory processes
2. Has identified an increasing number of major networks: relies less on assumption of functional specialisation
3. Great variety of techniques offering excellent temporal or spatial resolution

Question 25

What are the 3 types of memory?

Answer 25

• Sensory memory
• Short term memory
• Long term memory

Question 26

What is sensory memory and what subtypes does it have?

Answer 26

brief literal record of event which decays very quickly: iconic memory (holds visual information for 500 milliseconds) and echoic memory (holds auditory information for approximately 2 seconds)

Question 27

Describe Sperling’s 1960 paradigm for iconic memory and its results

Answer 27

o Sperling 1960- iconic memory paradigm with 12 letters in 3 lines shown for 100 milliseconds
 Found that on average, people can recall about 4.5 letters in full report procedure (report all the letters)
 Found that on average, people can recall about 3-4 letters in partial report procedure (report only one row chosen after letters shown)

Question 28

What is short-term memory?

Answer 28

Buffer for temporary maintenance of information

o Only a portion of information in sensory memory makes it into short-term memory

Question 29

What are the 3 types of long term memory and what are they?

Answer 29

• Declarative memory/explicit memory
o Semantic memory
 Abstract and semantic: memory is independent of how/when/whether the memory was stored
 Stores facts and concepts
o Episodic memory
 Stores autobiographical events: specific memory tied to particular time and place (tagged with location, content and temporal features)
 Linked to the self

o Procedural memory
 Memory of how to do things: often unable to be verbalised or consciously accessed
 Automatic behaviours
-Classical conditioning effects
-Priming (implicit activation of concepts in long-term memory)

Question 30

Compare the capacity of short term memory and long term memory

Answer 30

Short-term memory:
Limited (7+-2 items)

Long term memory:
unlimited

Question 31

Compare the rate of forgetting of short term memory vs long term memory

Answer 31

Short term memory:
Decays within 30 seconds if not rehearsed

Long term memory:
Forgetting/inability to retrieve due to interference from other items or difficulties in retrieving information rather than decay

Question 32

Compare the type of code used for short term memory vs long term memory

Answer 32

Short term memory:
Phonological

Long term memory:
Semantic

Question 33

Who and when was the multistore model developed by?

Answer 33

Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968

Question 34

What is Atkinson and Shiffrin’s 1968 multistore model

Answer 34

o Traditional view of memory
o Structural view of memory- short-term and long-term memory rely on separate memory systems (and different neural systems) with different properties

o Sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory are separate systems ordered as above
 Information comes in to the sensory system, where some of it decays
 If attention is paid to sensory memory information, it goes into short-term memory
• If not rehearsed, short-term memory is lost through displacement
 If short-term memory is rehearsed, it is stored in long-term memory where it can be lost through interference

Question 35

What are the limitations of the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 35

 Processing is not entirely bottom-up (does not necessarily run strictly and independently from sensory stores to short-term memory to long-term memory)
• There are semantic influences of context from long-term memory which can influence performance on short-term memory tasks
• Short-term memory is sensitive to semantic information
• Memory is a function of type of processing, not where it is stored

 Wrongly assumes that attention occurs only after information is held in the sensory stores

 Assumes that all items have equal importance, which is incorrect: the item currently receiving attention can be accessed more rapidly than the other items in short-term memory

 Implies that only information processed consciously can be stored in long-term memory, which contradicts implicit learning

Question 36

What is the release from proactive interference paradigm (Brown-Peterson 1959) and what does it show?

Answer 36

o Release from proactive interference paradigm (Brown-Peterson 1959)
 Short-term memory task
• People presented with 3 items
• Count backwards by 3s
• Recall in correct order
 Proactive interference (next two short-term memory task trials)
• Same short-term memory task involving word from same item category as first task
• Recall deteriorates across successive trials from the same category due to semantic relationships between items of successive trials
 Release from proactive interference (4th trial)
• Recall improves when items from a different semantic category are presented
• Extent of improvement depends on similarity of semantic categories -the less similar the semantic category from the previous trials, the more improvement
• Provides evidence that semantic information in long-term memory influences short-term memory performance

Question 37

What is evidence that Memory is a function of type of processing, not where it is stored

Answer 37

o Levels of processing (Craik and Lockhart 1972)
 Investigated incidental memory for material presented with different orienting tasks with words to manipulate level of processing
• Print based task
• Sound based task
• Meaning based task
 Memory was best when encoding task required meaning-based processing rather than sound or print based processing that was not due simply to longer encoding time for deeper encoding tasks

Question 38

What is evidence that there are semantic influences of context from long-term memory which can influence performance on short-term memory tasks

Answer 38

o Example- sentence recall (can remember more than 7+-2 items when meaningful information holds items together)
 Semantic information is influencing performance from short-term memory tasks

Proactive interference paradigm

Question 39

Describe the adaptive control of thought model, and who and when was it developed by?

Answer 39

o Interactive memory architecture
o Replaced the multi-store model
o Increased interaction between declarative memory, production memory and working memory
o Working memory -
 The system in which incoming information is processed and integrated with retrieved existing declarative and procedural memories
 Not just a storage location (as opposed to its role in multi-store model)
 Role in early stages of encoding memory
o Long term-memory
 Declarative memory
• Semantic memory
• Episodic memory
 Procedural memory

Question 40

What are letter span tasks, what do they show and what are the usual results and influences on these results?

Answer 40

• Remember a series of shown letters
• Show that we rely on speech-based code for rehearsal in long term memory as fewer items remembered when have to count out loud and if letters sound the same
• People normally remember 7+-2 individual items
o If people remember under 5, it is a sign of neuropsychological damage
• If words and not individual letters, can remember more letters because one word is one time
o If words related in meaning, would remember better
o Location of list would influence short term memory
o Length of words would influence short term memory

Question 41

Describe the components of Baddeley’s original 1974 working memory model

Answer 41

o Rather than a passive short-term store, working memory consists of multiple specialist components

• Central executive: responsible for memory processes
• Phonological loop
• Visuospatial sketchpad

Question 42

Describe features of the central executive

Answer 42

• Limited capacity, modality free control system responsible for co-ordination, selection, allocation of attention resources etc.

Question 43

Describe the phonological loop

Answer 43

• Phonological loop-maintains verbal information in a speech-based code with limited information capacity. Primary mechanism is rehearsal. Consists of 2 components:
o Passive phonological store directly concerned with speech perception
o Articulatory process linked to speech production, giving access to the phonological store

Question 44

Describe the visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 44

• Visuospatial sketchpad- maintains temporary visual/spatial information using spatial/visual rehearsal processes. Consists of 2 components
o Visual cache which stores information about visual form and colour
o Inner scribe which processes spatial and movement information

Question 45

Why is Baddeley’s working memory model useful for diagnosis of specific problems?

Answer 45

o Model used for diagnosing source of memory problems (by distinguishing central executive difficulties from specific problems in phonological processing…)

Question 46

How was Baddeley’s original 1974 model of working memory limited?

Answer 46

o Model limited in that:
 Central executive is poorly specified
• Mainly tested through dual task decrement: poorer performance when required to do two tasks at once
o Evidence shows that decrements depend on similarity of task demands, but does not explain what central executive does or the factors that limits its capacity
 Does not explain the contents of working memory, how it’s organised, how it’s uploaded, updated and refined
 Working memory integrates new input with long-term memory, but original model had no way of achieving this

Question 47

Described the changes Baddeley made to his original working memory model in 2000-2012

Answer 47

o Specified relationship between working memory and long-term memory
o Added an episodic buffer to try to explain how content of working memory is determined
o More recent versions link to phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad to the episodic buffer

Question 48

What are executive functions and what brain part are they associated with and how do we know this?

Answer 48

o Executive processes control and regulate thought and action and are associated with frontal lobes
o People with brain injury to these areas have deficits identified with neuropsychological tests with Wisconsin card sort but these are very impure measures

Question 49

What is the Wisconsin card sort?

Answer 49

 Wisconsin card sort- array of cards are given to test subject that vary in shape and colour and are asked to compare their similarity with test card by either shape or colour. The category is changed midway through the test to test how well people can adapt to rule changes

Question 50

What are the 3 independent executive processes and who identified these?

Answer 50

o Miyake identified 3 independent executive processes

• Updating
• Shifting
• Inhibition

Question 51

What is the updating executive process used for

Answer 51

• Used to monitor and engage in rapid addition or deletion of working memory contents

Question 52

What is the shifting executive process used for

Answer 52

• Used to switch flexibly between tasks or mental sets

Question 53

What is the inhibition executive process used for

Answer 53

• Used to deliberately override dominant responses and to resist distraction

Question 54

How is the updating executive function assessed

Answer 54

• Assessed by letter memory task: presented with letters at a rate of 1 letter per second and always need to remember last 3 letters

Question 55

How is the shifting executive function assessed

Answer 55

• Assessed by colour-shape task: need to classify each card target by colour or shape depending on updated instructions

Question 56

How is the inhibition executive function assessed

Answer 56

• Assessed by antisaccade task: report the arrow direction presented on the nonflashed side

Question 57

Describe the unity and diversity framework of executive functions Miyake and Friedman found in 2012, and how they did so

Answer 57

 Miyake and Friedman 2012 did a factor analysis of data from 3 types of updating, shifting and inhibition tasks using a large twin sample
 Showed that updating, shifting and inhibition all related to a common executive function factor involved in maintaining task goals and filtering relevant/irrelevant information
 Showed that updating and shifting also make separate independent contributions, especially shifting as relating to cognitive flexibility
 Showed that there were substantial, independent genetic contributions to common factors and specific executive function factors

Question 58

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 58

 Episodic buffer integrates information from phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad input. It acts as a buffer between the other components of the working memory system and also links working memory to perception and long-term memory.
 Has a capacity of 4 chunks
 It is a storage facility for information from the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad

Question 59

Describe the unitary memory model

Answer 59

• Unitary method (Cowan 2010)
o Unitary memory view: working memory consists of temporary activations through focus of attentional resources of long-term memory representations or of representations of items that were recently perceived

Question 60

According to the unitary memory model, why do some amnesic patients have intact short term memory but bad long-term memory?

Answer 60

o Argues that amnesic patients that have intact short term memory but bad long-term memory have special problems in forming novel relations in both short-term and long-term memory

Question 61

Do findings of neuroimaging studies support the unitary memory model?

Answer 61

o However, findings of neuroimaging studies are not supportive of the unitary-store approach: there is little evidence of hippocampal involvement when attempts are made to separate out short-term and long-term memory processes

Question 62

Describe Ranganath et al’s 2003 experiment on memory

Answer 62

o Ranganath et al 2003
 Measured neural mechanisms involved in long term memory vs working memory
 Same tasks to differentiate different processes
 Working memory task
• Delayed face recognition paradigm
 Long-term memory task
• Sequence of 9 faces separated by intervals of 20 seconds or so
• After delay of 5-10 minutes, given recognition memory tasks
 Strongest activations in encoding for both working memory and long term memory is in the posterior of the brain (sensory processing areas)
 Strongest activations in recognition for both working memory and long-term memory is in frontal, posterior and temporal areas

Question 63

Describe the theory that there is only a single store of memory content and its evidence

Answer 63

• Rather than multiple memory systems, perhaps there is a single store of memory content but the processes that operate on it differ as a function of tasks demands/effort required etc.
o The memory representations supporting both short term memory tasks and long term memory tasks are stored in (or accessed through) posterior brain regions involved in initial perception/encoding
o Frontal areas are involved in the attentional/executive processes required for maintenance, updating, shifting attention, resisting interference…

Question 64

What are the advantages of the working memory model as a whole

Answer 64

• Model concerned with both active processing and transient information storage, so its scope is much greater
• Model explains the partial deficits of short-term memory observed in brain-damaged patients
• Incorporates verbal rehearsal as an optional process within the phonological loop, which is a lot more realistic than the enormous significant of rehearsal within the multi-store model

Question 65

What are the limitations of the working memory model as a whole

Answer 65

• Only considers spatial, visual and phonological information
• Difficult to identify the number and nature of main executive processes associated with the central executive

Question 66

What are psychometric approaches used for to explore working memory?

Answer 66

o Measuring the work done by working memory
o Aim: to get an index of working memory which allows you to assess differences between people in their working memory capacity so that it can be used to predict their performance in different tasks

Question 67

How do you measure individual differences in working memory?

Answer 67

o To measure individual differences in working memory, need to assess overall capacity and not just separate components

Question 68

What is working memory capacity?

Answer 68

o Working memory capacity- how much information an individual can process and store at the same time

Question 69

What does a valid measure of working capacity in real world tasks need to assess and how is this assessed?

Answer 69

o A valid measure of working capacity in real world tasks need to assess demands of both storage and processing simultaneously as both of them constitute the demands on working memory capacity
 Use complex span tasks as they require both processing and storage, and can be implemented in different domains
• Complex span tasks correlate more highly with real world measures of performance than simple span tasks
Daneman and Merikle 1996
 Made subjects take standardised/none standardised tests as well as complex vs simple span tasks
• There are domain-general and domain-specific contributions in complex span tasks

Question 70

What is evidence that complex span measures predict performance in real world tasks?

Answer 70

Daneman and Merikle 1996
 Made subjects take standardised/none standardised tests as well as complex vs simple span tasks
• There are domain-general and domain-specific contributions in complex span tasks
• Sanchez and Wiley (2006)
o Individuals higher in working memory are less vulnerable to seductive details effect
 Gave people texts accompanied by conceptual images related to the text or seductive images with little relevance to the text, or people with no images at all
 Classified people as high or low working memory capacity through complex span tasks
 People then wrote essays about ice age causes and answered questions about inferences based on material they’d read
o Found that low working memory participants showed poorer performance when text accompanied by seductive images, while high working memory participants were not distracted by them
• Kane et al.(2007)
o Individuals higher in working memory are less vulnerable to mind wandering and sustain attention in more demanding and challenging tasks whilst individuals lower in working memory tended to reduce attention
 124 students tested on 3 complex span tasks to assess working memory capacity
 Students were given palm pilots for 7 days which, 8 times a day, assessed mind wandering as a function of demands of current task
 Rated their concentration and effort on the task they were doing, as well as its challenge
 Showed that higher working memory capacity associated with more on-task thoughts/less mind wandering only when task more challenging and required more concentration and effort

Question 71

What is the difference between people with high working memory capacity compared to those with low working memory capacity

Answer 71

 High-capacity individuals are better at controlling external and internal distracting information and better at discriminating between more and less relevant information and inhibiting the processing of irrelevant information

Question 72

Does performance in many working tasks reflect only pure working memory capacity?

Answer 72

 Performance in many working tasks reflects both pure working memory capacity/executive process and the effects of strategies such as rehearsal and chunking

Question 73

What is the estimate for working memory capacity when learning strategies are eliminated?

Answer 73

• When strategies are eliminated, estimates of working memory capacity are less than 7+/-2
o Pure working memory capacity and attention capacity can only hold 3-4 chunks across many tasks and modalities

Question 74

Why are pure measures of working memory capacity/executive processing important?

Answer 74

 Pure measures of working memory capacity/executive processing predicts developmental changes and individual differences in fluid intelligence

Question 75

Describe Shipstead et al’s 2016 model of solving complex problem solving tasks

Answer 75

• Shipstead et al.2016-manner of solving complex problem solving tasks
o There is a top-down executive signal of attention/resources which is dependent on common executive functions (shifting, updating, inhibition)
o This influences maintenance of attention on relevant information (updating) or disengagement of irrelevant information (shifting), which is partially determined by the nature of the to-be-performed task
o Task provides an environmental medium around which cognitive processes are organised.

Question 76

What is the difference between working memory and fluid intelligence?

Answer 76

• Shipstead et al 2016 argue that working memory and fluid intelligence are highly related, but differ in the relative importance of maintenance vs disengagement
o Working memory/complex span tasks dependent more on maintenance processes while problem solving tasks depend more on disengagement

Question 77

Describe early memory research and traditional tests of memory

Answer 77

• Early memory research dominated by laboratory studies of explicit, declarative (episodic) memory in free recall and recognition tasks
• Traditional tests of memory
1. Study list presented with words and images
2. Delay and filler task
3. Test of memory
 Recall task- write down as many study task contents you studied
• Free recall- producing list items in any order in the absence of any specific cues
• Serial recall- involves producing list items in the order they were presented
• Cued recall- involves producing list items in response to cues
 Recognition task- present studied content mixed with equal number of matched new content: participants decide which ones they saw before

Question 78

What factors affect encoding?

Answer 78

• Find that depth of processing affects encoding due to
o Level of processing effects
 But this theory has limitations in that it underestimates the importance of the retrieval environment in determining memory performance
o Better memory when material is richer and longer (more adjectives) and elaborated at encoding
o Better memory for material that is self-relevant

Question 79

What factors affect retrieval?

Answer 79

• Retrieval task and context
o Recognition is nearly always better than free recall as recall task does not provide any explicit cue
 Recognition task provides a cue (the studied item) which can prime memory
 Memory network can also be primed by the study context
• Godden and Badddeley (1975)
o Participants learned words either on land or 20 feet underwater and were asked to later recall the words on land or underwater
o Recall best when the contexts match but recognition unaffected by context
o Different retrieval tasks appear to probe different aspects of memory

Question 80

What is the encoding specificity retrieval principle

Answer 80

o Encoding specificity principle-The probability of successful retrieval of the target item rises with rising amounts of information overlap between the information present at retrieval and the information stored in memory (Tulving)
 Effectiveness of a cue depends on information overlap and the unique relationship between the cue and a piece of information

Question 81

What is transfer appropriate processing

Answer 81

o Transfer appropriate processing (Morris, Bransford and Franks 1977)
 Made participants learn words in semantic or rhyming context, then tested them with semantic and rhyming test
 Memory performance usually best for deeply encoded items but retrieval is best when there is a match between the processes required at encoding and retrieval
 When encoding focuses on meaning, transfer depends on the meaning of the sentence, not its literal form
 Memory is dependent on the requirements of the memory test

Question 82

Describe explicit memory tasks vs implicit memory tasks in what tasks are used, what it is and what it is influenced by

Answer 82

Explicit memory tasks

• Recall/recognition
• Subjects explicitly told to remember items from previous list  intentional retrieval
• Memory performance shows level of processing and transfer-appropriate processing effects

Implicit memory tasks

• Fragment completion, stem completion, perceptual identification
• Not told to remember anything, just perform a task: cover task done to cover the fact that it is a memory task
• Compare performance for old and new items to infer memory
• Recently activated information more likely to be automatically retrieved in response to fragment cue
• Independent of deliberate, intentional retrieval
• Does not strongly show level of processing effects

Question 83

Describe what parts of the brain declarative memory is controlled by

Answer 83

• Declarative memory/explicit memory
o Episodic memory- one’s own experiences
 Hippocampus and neocortex dependent
o Semantic memory-Facts, general knowledge
 Underlying entorhinal, perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices
o Both these memories are controlled by the medial temporal lobe and diencephalon

Question 84

How do semantic memory and episodic memory interact

Answer 84

o Semantic memory can enhance learning on an episodic memory task whilst episodic memory can facilitate retrieval on a semantic memory task
o Semanticisation of episodic memory- when an episodic memory becomes a semantic memory
o Most episodic memories exhibit substantial forgetting over time except permastore memories

Question 85

Describe the parts of the brain involved in procedural memory

Answer 85

• Procedural memory/implicit memory
o Classical conditioning effects
 Controlled by cerebellum areas
o Procedural memory-motor skills, habits, tacit rules
 Controlled by the basal ganglia
o Priming-implicit activation of concepts in long-term memory
 Controlled by the neocortex

Question 86

What is the ACT model?

Answer 86

• ACT model: declarative/explicit memory and procedural/implicit memory are separate structures
o Distinction between implicit and explicit memory tasks have been taken as evidence that these two types of tasks tap different memory systems
o These memory systems might reside in different parts of the brain

Question 87

What is dissociation evidence?

Answer 87

 Dissociations- Variable affects performance on one memory task but has no effect, or a different effect, on another task

Question 88

What is single dissociation evidence that implicit and explicit memory systems are different memory systems that rely on different parts of the brain

Answer 88

 Amnesia evidence: amnesia affects explicit but not implicit memory performance
 Depth of encoding affects explicit but not implicit memory tasks

Question 89

What is anterograde amnesia and what memory system do patients with it have trouble with?

Answer 89

 Anterograde amnesia- cannot form new declarative memory

• Have more trouble with episodic memory than semantic, but both are severely impaired

Question 90

What is retrograde amnesia, and what memory system do patients with it have trouble with?

Answer 90

 Retrograde amnesia- amnesia for previously stored memories
• Have more trouble remembering episodic than semantic memories, but both are impaired

Question 91

Describe Henry Molinais’s condition and what his capabilities were and what that meant

Answer 91

• Henry Molinais: bilateral removal of the hippocampal region due to his severe epilepsy caused severe memory loss
o Profound anterograde amnesia from immediately after surgery
o Retrograde amnesia, particularly for last 2 years before surgery
o Intact short-term memory (Suggesting that short term and long-term memory have an important distinction), language, knowledge of past world events (suggesting that memories are not permanently stored in the hippocampus), skill learning (suggesting that there is more than one long term memory system)

Question 92

What was the initial interpretation of the hippocampus’ role in memory, and how was it proven wrong?

Answer 92

• Initial interpretation was that the hippocampus is not the site of either short term memory or long term memory, but required to convert experience into durable form
o But amnesic patients can acquire new procedural skills and show evidence of implicit memory, so this was an inaccurate statement
 E.g. HM could learn and participate in mirror drawing
 With repeated exposure to the task and practice, HM’s performance substantially improved
o Amnesic patients impaired in tests of explicit but not implicit memory

 1970 Warringtom and Weiskrantz
• Group of people with amnesia were compared with group of controlled medical patients who were hospitalised and in a similar disruptive context without amnesia
• In classic test of explicit memory, people with amnesia performed substantially more poorly than controlled patient
• In implicit memory task (word fragment tests and stem completion tests), people with amnesia performed as well as controlled patients

Question 93

What is a mirror drawing task?

Answer 93

• Mirror drawing task- Trace around shape without seeing hand directly as it is blocked by a board- instead must rely on mirror image

Question 94

What is the current interpretation of explicit and implicit memory systems in amnesia

Answer 94

• Interpretation now is that memory is not unitary: declarative memory in amnesia does not affect short term memory, general knowledge and procedural memory
o Amnesiacs show impaired explicit memory but preserved implicit memory
• Amnesiac experiments (and HM’s results) taken as evidence that explicit memory and implicit memory depend upon different brain systems

Question 95

Describe Ramponi et al’s 2010 experiment on implicit vs explicit memory

Answer 95

• Ramponi et al (2010)
o Experiment
 Manipulated whether material that people tried to learn were pairs of words that would have emotional significance or pairs of words that were neutral
 Manipulated depth of encoding by getting people to either do phonemic task (which word had the most syllables) or a semantic task (which word was more pleasant)
 Manipulated type of memory test: explicit cued recall task (had to give second word of word pair when given the first word) with intervening distractor tasks vs implicit task where needed to say first word participant could think of when given first word of word pair
o Results
 Emotion and depth of processing affected explicit (emotional and semantic encoding yielded better memory) but not implicit memory task

Question 96

Does depth of encoding affect both explicit and implicit memory tasks?

Answer 96

 Depth of encoding affects explicit but not implicit memory tasks

Question 97

Does match between modality at encoding affect both explicit and implicit memory tasks?

Answer 97

 Match between modality at encoding and retrieval affects implicit but not explicit

Question 98

Describe Weldon and Roediger’s 1987 experiment on implicit and explicit memory

Answer 98

• Weldon and Roediger 1987
o Got people to study pictures or words and then tested them in free recall task (explicit memory) or in fragment completion task (implicit memory)
o For free recall, not much of difference between pictures and words, but for fragment completion task, words were remembered more than pictures

Question 99

What is the limitation of single dissociation evidence?

Answer 99

 However, single dissociation evidence could be de to task specific factors
• Major confounding factor: maybe one task is more difficult than the other for certain groups of people

Question 100

Is single or double dissociation evidence stronger

Answer 100

Double dissociation evidence is stronger

Question 101

What is double dissociation evidence?

Answer 101

Where a variable has opposite effects on two different types of memory tasks

Question 102

What is double dissociation evidence that explicit and implicit memory systems are separate memory systems?

Answer 102

 Depth of processing at encoding (Jacoby, 1983)

Question 103

Describe Jacoby’s 1983 experiment on implicit vs explicit memory systems

Answer 103

o People studied words and were either just given the word by itself with no context, or given the word along with strong associate (to encourage semantic processing), or generate task where had to associate one word with another when only given the first letter of the second word (to encourage more semantic memory)
o In a recognition memory task (explicit memory task), memory was best in the generate condition, followed by the strong associate condition, followed by the no-context condition.
o However, it was the opposite for the perceptual identification task (implicit memory task) involving degraded items

Question 104

What type of encoding is better for explicit memory according to Jacoby 1983

Answer 104

• Explicit memory better following deeper encoding

Question 105

What type of encoding is better for implicit memory accordign to Jacoby 1983

Answer 105

• Implicit memory better after shallow processing

Question 106

What are the limitation of looking at implicit and explicit memory tasks?

Answer 106

• Implicit and explicit memory tasks
o Different memory tasks require different processes: no memory task is process pure (nearly every task involves more than one type of process) and one type of memory may be used to complement the task of another
o Answers may be misleading: yes answer to recollection task may include recollection, familiarity or guesses

Question 107

What are limitations of double dissociation evidence for implicit vs explicit memory?

Answer 107

• Implicit and explicit memory tasks

* Transfer-appropriate processing

Question 108

Why is transfer-appropriate processing a limitation for double dissociation evidence for implicit vs explicit memory

Answer 108

o Memory depends on match between encoding and retrieval processes: perceptually-driven vs conceptually driven
 Perceptually driven tasks encourage encoding based on activation and retrieval based on familiarity, whilst conceptually-driven tasks encourage encoding based on elaboration and retrieval based on recollection
 Explicit memory tasks encourage deliberate intentional retrieval, which is best when deep semantic, elaborative processing at encoding
 Implicit memory tasks encourage automatic unconscious retrieval, which is best when there is a perceptual match between study and test conditions
o Implicit and explicit memory tasks involve different retrieval processes and therefore benefit from different encoding processes
o Explicit memory tasks require conceptually driven retrieval and therefore benefit from deep, conceptually driven encoding
o Implicit memory tasks depend on perceptual familiarity of the stimulus- benefit from perceptual match between encoding and retrieval

Question 109

Describe Roediger’s 2008 experiment on implicit and explicit memory

Answer 109

	Roediger 2008
•	Encoding tasks at different levels of processing 
o	Letter number
o	Syllable number
o	Living identification
o	Intentional memory
o	Self relevance
•	Then paired a range of different memory tasks that tested implicit and explicit memory 
o	Explicit
	Recognition
	Recall
	Semantic-cued recall
	Graphemic-cued recall
o	Implicit 
	General knowledge quiz
	Word Fragment completion
•	Demonstrated graded effects of the overlap between encoding and retrieval processes

Question 110

What is the processing account of explicit and implicit memory?

Answer 110

• The processing account-memory processes view
o Explicit and implicit memory are not different memory systems
o Explicit and implicit memory tasks involve different memory retrieval processes: recollection vs familiarity

Question 111

What is recollection?

Answer 111

 Recollection- process of recognising an item on the basis of retrieval of specific contextual details

Question 112

What is familiarity?

Answer 112

 Familiarity- process of recognising an item on the basis of its perceived memory strength but without retrieval of any specific details about the study episode

Question 113

How can we distinguish between familiarity and recollection?

Answer 113

 Remember/know procedure
• Ask participants to report on their subjective memory state for words they recognised
o Avoids general answer “yes”, which can be based on recollection, familiarity, or guessing

 Process dissociation method
• Study task at different levels of processing
• Memory test:
o Inclusion task-measures recollection and familiarity
 Complete inclusion task (such as stem completion task) with study task content and if can’t then complete without study task content
o Exclusion task- measures familiarity only as if completed with study task content or left blank, participant cannot recollect study task content
 Complete exclusion task with content not seen in study task content, otherwise leave blank

Question 114

Describe Konstantinou and Gardiner’s (2005) experiment

Answer 114

• Konstantinou and Gardiner (2005)
o Memory for faces encoded in shallow (how round the face was) or deep conditions (what the person was famous for)
o Recollection responses sensitive to level of processing, attention at encoding but familiarity responses are not

Question 115

Describe Wheeler and Buckner’s 2004 neuroimaging results of recollection vs familiarity

Answer 115

o Neuroimaging found that two areas more active for old than new items
o Strongest activation in posterior parietal areas common to both recollection and familiarity responses
o Subset of temporal cortex specific to recollection
o Stronger activation in both posterior parietal and specific frontal areas for recollection than familiarity
o No areas that specifically respond to familiarity
-No evidence for separate MEMORY systems involved in recollection and familiarity

Question 116

Describe Jacoby and Kelley’s 1992 experiment using inclusion and exclusion tests on attention

Answer 116

o Compared performance in stem completion inclusion and exclusion tasks for stimuli studied in full vs divided attention (had to respond whenever they heard a particular frequency tone) conditions at encoding
o Attention at encoding affected inclusion more than exclusion task
o Found that divided attention at encoding impairs recollection but not familiarity

Question 117

How can exclusion and inclusion measures be used to mathematically estimate recollection and familiarity?

Answer 117

o Used inclusion and exclusion measures to mathematically estimate recollection (R) and automatic familiarity (A) from Inclusion and Exclusion performance
 Inclusion=R+A(1-R)
 Exclusion= A(1-R)

Question 118

Does divided attention impair both recollection and familiarity?

Answer 118

o Found that divided attention at encoding impairs recollection but not familiarity

Question 119

What is consolidation and what brain part plays a vital role in it?

Answer 119

• Consolidation- a physiological process involved in establishing long-term memories
o Hippocampus plays vital role in consolidation of memories, but over time, memories are stored in the neocortex

Question 120

What is evidence of consolidation?

Answer 120

o Recently formed memories still being consolidated are especially vulnerable to interference and forgetting
o Evidence:
 Forgetting curve
 Patients with retrograde amnesia with hippocampal damage cannot remember recent memories before their amnesia
 When interfering material is dissimilar to that in the first learning task, there is often more retroactive interference when it is presented early in the retention interval

Question 121

What is reconsolidation?

Answer 121

o Reconsolidation

 Can be used to update our knowledge but can causes us to misremember original information

Question 122

Describe Yonelinas 2002 meta-analysis

Answer 122

•	Yonelinas (2002) meta-analysis
o	Tested the change in recollection and change in familiarity in different comparative conditions:
	Deep-shallow processing
	Generation-read processing
	Full-divided attention
	Short-long duration
	Placebo-Benzodiazepine
o	In all conditions except short-long duration, recollection was more affected than familiarity

Question 123

Do manipulations that encourage deeper processing affect recollection and familiarity? What does this show?

Answer 123

o Memory performance reflects both recollection and familiarity but all manipulations that encourage deeper processing (except stimulus duration) increase recollection more than familiarity
 Shows that effects are due to what the participant is doing with the material rather than the time they have to encode the material (encoding vs time)
 Deeper encoding increases recollection of previous experience more than familiarity
 Automatic familiarity effect is insensitive to depth of encodings
 Dissociation evidence, but due to different processes rather than different memory systems

Question 124

Describe Skinner and Fernandes 2007 experiment and results

Answer 124

• Skinner and Fernandes 2007
o Summarised data from 12 neuroimaging studies that estimated recollection, familiarity and level of confidence
o Found that recollection strongest predictor of activation in media temporal lobe/hippocampus (left hippocampus most of all)
o Summarised data from studies that estimated recollection and familiarity in healthy samples and brain-injured patients (21 studies of patients with brain lesions)
 Found that people with hippocampal damage were not able to do much recollection in contrast to familiarity

Question 125

Does all evidence favour the processing view of recollection vs familiarity?

Answer 125

• Therefore, evidence from healthy adults favours processing view, but neural mechanisms reflect memory systems view
o However, different neural mechanisms could instead be interpreted as different processes

Question 126

Why could there be a contradiction between behavioural data and neurospychological data in the debate of memory structures vs processes in recollection and familiarity?

Answer 126

o Neuropsychological data of brain injury often appears consistent with the systems approach
 But brain injury might disrupt process involved in co-ordinating processes-not clear-cut
 Neuroimaging evidence
• Makes a useful contribution when clear cognitive methods are used to design experiments and interpret patterns of activation (recollection vs familiarity)
o Need to have a theory of how knowledge is represented to validly interpret neuroimaging data
o Healthy subjects’ data tend to support the processing view

Question 127

Describe the processing components approach (Cabeza 2011-2013)

Answer 127

o Processing components approach: investigate role of specific brain regions as a function of task goals, demands (Cabeza 2011-2013)
 Argue that particular brain regions might be involved according to participant’s goal and level of motivation, as well as the demands of the task
 Assumed that there are numerous processing components and that these components can be combined and re-combined for specific learning purposes
• Cognitive process: perceptually or conceptually driven
• Stimulus representation: item or relational
• Level of intention: controlled vs automatic

Question 128

What are two early models of semantic memory?

Answer 128

o Hierarchical network model (Collins and Loftus 1972-1975)

o Associational network (Collins and Loftus 1972-1975)

Question 129

What is the hierarchical network model, its support and its limitations?

Answer 129

o Hierarchical network model (Collins and Loftus 1972-1975)
 Argued that information in semantic memory is organised taxonomically (in a hierarchy)-from general nodes to specific nodes
 Associated with each different level of taxonomic hierarchy are particular properties associated with that level -properties from higher levels are inherited in lower levels (don’t need to think of them again in lower levels)
 Evidence supporting hierarchical network theory: sentence verification task
• How long it took people to decide whether a sentence is true or not
• Time to make semantic decisions is a function of distance in the canary
 Cognitive economy is guiding principle -efficiency
 Limitations of hierarchical network theory:
• Time to make decisions influenced by typicality and ambiguity
• Knowledge unlikely to be learned as a hierarchy: how does this hierarchical information become like this through learning

Question 130

What is the associational network and what is its limitation?

Answer 130

o Associational network (Collins and Loftus 1972-1975)
 Concepts were linked within a network so that the distance between concepts and strengths of the links between concepts was a function of their similarity, shared features, how likely they were to occur together
 Faster to make decisions about things that are closer together in network
 However, still no information as to how that network came to be/its representation in the brain

Question 131

What semantic model is currently accepted and who is it by?

Answer 131

• Parallel distributed Processing (PDP) models (McClelland and Rogers 2003)

Question 132

Describe the Parallel distributed Processing model (McClelland and Rogers 2003)

Answer 132

o Computational models: computer programs inspired by neural metaphor
o Connectionist (neural) networks
 Set of interconnected processing nodes (neurons) that communicate by sending activation or inhibition
 A learning rule for adjusting connections throughout the network
• Structure of knowledge within the network is learned by adjusting the strength and weightings of the connections between the various network nodes
 Learning in connectionist networks:
• Learning algorithms (delta rule, back propagation)
• Supervised learning (adjust connection weights to reduce error)
o Error correction learning (forward and back propagation of activation)

o Structure of knowledge stored in all these connections reflects the conceptual organisation of the concepts that the network has been trained with
 Memory structure is an emergent property of the distributed dynamic processing assumptions of PDP models

Question 133

Describe how forward and back propagation of activated works in the PDP model

Answer 133

o Forward and back propagation of activation-
 Receives input (that has a particular strength and is assigned a particular weight) from the environment or from other nodes in the network
• Initial weights of the network are all random
• After many trials, more differentiation in the patterns for different concepts
 That strength and weight are combined by formula to get an overall level of activation of node as a function of input coming into it, which then transmits that activation to the next layer of nodes
 Eventually, the activation will reach the output layer (response)
 The pattern of activation that has been generated is compared to the pattern that should have occurred and during the learning stage of the network, the discrepancy between the pattern that was generated and the correct output is then used to adjust weights in network to reduce error so that next time stimulus is affected it will yield more correct pattern
 Back propagation of error to increase accuracy of networks performance
 Supervised learning rule

Question 134

What are fundamental assumptions of the parallel distributed processing model?

Answer 134

o Fundamental assumptions-
 Knowledge is distributed through the system rather than localised in a single symbolic node
• Knowledge is patterns of activity between connections
• Knowledge learned by gradually adjusting connection weights until the network can reproduce the correct output for all trained inputs-> learning must be gradual
o Must only make small changes of connection weight at a time or it will disrupt all previous learning that has occurred because different nodes in the network are involved in the representation of a wide variety of concepts
• No clear distinction between structure and processes
o Learning processes give rise to structure of knowledge which are then used for retrieval processes

Question 135

What are advantages of the parallel distributed processing model?

Answer 135

o Advantages of PDP model
 Spontaneous generalisation: category generation emerges from overlap between all instances and will allow generalisation of knowledge
• However, difficult for system to learn about atypical examples in category
 Graceful degradation
• Loses knowledge in gradual way- stronger effect on concepts that were more difficult to learn
• Semantic dementia-
o People show gradual loss of conceptual knowledge
o Anterior temporal lobe: Site of damage in semantic dementia

Question 136

Does the Parallel Distributed Processing model diffferentiate between general and specific information? How?

Answer 136

o Memory for general vs specific information
 No clear distinction between general and specific information
 Store specific instances but other similar instances will use some of the same connections
 Average activity across many separate instances will correspond to general abstract semantic knowledge of the concept
 No clear distinction between types of memory representations for semantic and episodic knowledge

Question 137

Why is there a need for complementary learning systems to be included in the parallel distributed processing model

Answer 137

o Difficulties in learning resulting from PDP model
 Cannot easily learn exceptions
 Poor at one-trial learning-need gradual repeated exposure to concept
 Difficulty with AB-AC (retroactive interference) learning
• Learning new association will interfere with previous knowledge
 These problems all arise from the need for very gradual learning of semantic memory
• This is why consolidation of long-term memories take a long time

Question 138

Describe how complementary learning systems work

Answer 138

 Distributed representations must be learned gradually, incrementally with interleaved training so that there is no catastrophic interference with previous learning
 A different form of memory is required to account for initial acquisition of new episodes and explain how new episodes are consolidated into distributed long-term memory system in neocortex
• This might be the role of the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe
 One of the ways in which gradual integration of new information from hippocampus to neocortex is through sleep and dreaming
 Hippocampus critical in binding together new and activated information and playing back information to the neocortex to integrate and form new episodic memories

Question 139

How does consolidation of long term memory occur?

Answer 139

o Hence, consolidation of long-term memories take a long time
 Initially, memory is in the pre-frontal cortex and rehearsal is used to hold it there
 Over the first few hours of experiencing a memory, there’s gradual cellular consolidation in the hippocampus but the long-term potentiation mechanisms in the cortex take hours or days and the evidence
• Retrograde amnesia explanation: more recent memories have not been fully consolidated

Question 140

Describe the role of binding in both explicit and implicit memory, and how that binding occurs

Answer 140

• Binding and implicit vs explicit memory (Reder et al.2009)
o Implicit and explicit memory tasks rely on the same knowledge representations of concepts
o Implicit priming= activation of abstract, consolidated concept node in neocortex
o Explicit recollection requires binding between concepts and context
o Role of hippocampus/medial temporal lobe is to bind together information about the activated concept and other aspects of the experience (episode node and general context node)
 Amnesia is associated with deficits in binding processes important for creating new memories and recollection processes
 Similar deficits in healthy people given midazolam: temporary amnesia

Question 141

Describe Henke’s (2010) view and the 3 major processes critical to long term memory activation and retrieval

Answer 141

• Rather than assuming there are separate systems for declarative and non-declarative memory, cognitive neuroscientists are now exploring the processes associated with different regions
o Henke (2010)- memory systems are identified on the basis of the types of processing involved
 3 major processes critical to long term memory activation and retrieval
• Binding
o Hippocampus and neocortex- play critical role in rapid encoding of flexible associations (binding together information and context to make new episodic memory)
• Consolidation
o Basal ganglia, cerebellum and neocortex- play a critical role in slow encoding of rigid stable associations
o Required for procedural memory, classical conditioning and semantic memory
• Priming
o Parahippocampal gyrus and neocortex-play a critical role in rapid encoding of single or unitized items
o Required for familiarity and priming

Question 142

What are the Implications of parallel distributed processing and complementary systems framework

Answer 142

• Distributed memory representations are constructed from individual episodes but capture abstract relationships between them
• Consolidation of memories is a gradual, incremental process

Question 143

What are the two views of mental representations?

Answer 143

• Symbolic

- Concrete

Question 144

What are symbolic models of semantic memory and their rules?

Answer 144

• Symbolic models of semantic memory assume abstract representations
o Assumed that they are abstract in nature and are thus detached from input and output processes
o They are stable in that any given individual uses the same representation of a concept on different occasions
o Different people generally have fairly similar representations of any given concept

Question 145

Who argued that memories are not abstract? Outline his argument

Answer 145

• Barsalou (2009)- memories are not abstract
o Representation of any given concept will vary across situations depending on the individual’s current goals and the situation’s major features
 Processing is influenced by the current concept of setting
o Mental representations of concepts include sensory/motor attributes involved in perception and action
o Representations distributed across sensory and motor neural systems (not abstract)
o Distributed representation of an object is composed of activation in all of the relevant sensory areas that were involved in interacting and learning about that object

Question 146

What is Hauk et al’s evidence that memories are not abstract?

Answer 146

• Hauk et al (2004)
o Lexical decision responses to lick, pick, and kick (visually similar words) activated motor areas for tongue, finger and good respectively
o Evidence that memories are not abstract-supports Barsalou’s view

Question 147

What is Pulvermuller et al’s evidence that memories are not abstract?

Answer 147

• Pulvermuller et al (2005)
o Transcranial magnetic stimulation to arm or leg motor strip: facilitated lexical decision responses to arm or leg words when TMS delivered to arm or leg motor strip respectively

Question 148

What are limitations of Barsalou’s approach on concrete concepts?

Answer 148

• Evidence that the motor system is associated with the processing of action words, but does not show whether motor processing is necessary for understanding action concepts or whether such processing occurs only after concept meaning has been accessed
• Limitations of Barsalou’s approach
o He exaggerates how much concept processing varies across situations: the traditional view that concepts possess a stable, abstract core has not been disproved
 Both theoretical approaches are partially correct- concepts have a stable core and their structure is context-dependent

Question 149

Describe the Hub and Spoke model (Patterson et al. 2007)

Answer 149

• Hub and Spoke model Patterson et al.2007: links both abstract and concrete ideas and most comprehensive approach
o Hub consist of a modality-independent unified conceptual representation efficiently integrating our knowledge of any given concept
 Assumed that hubs are located within anterior temporal lobes
 Hubs provide conceptual coherence and integration of sensory and motor processing
 Semantic dementia- patients lose the hub
o Spokes consist of several modality-specific regions involving sensory and motor processing
 Spokes facilitate our interactions (perceptual and motor) with the world around us

Question 150

What was the early view and definition of episodic memory

Answer 150

• Early view of episodic memory-
o Episodic memory originally defined by its content (1972)
 Temporally dated in relationship to our self
o But early evidence did not really assess episodic memory
 Tested what not where/when
 Failed to distinguish recollection from familiarity
• Shown to be important distinguishing point of episodic memories

Question 151

What is the current view of episodic memory? (what their definining features are, formation and definition)

Answer 151

• Revised view (Tulving 2002)
o Episodic memory is a subsystem of semantic memory but is:
 Recently evolved, late development in age and early deteriorating (declines with age)
 Probably unique to humans
 Requires episodic retrieval mode (conscious recollection)
o Defining and distinguishing features:
 Mental time travel
 Autonoetic awareness
• Awareness of fact that you are remembering yourself being there
 Linked to self: autobiographical

o Episodic memories require the construction of new memories that link/bind together concepts, contexts and self
 The hippocampus plays a critical role in this binding process but semantic information can still be acquired through incremental, repetitive exposure
 This process of binding to form new knowledge is independent of distributed semantic memory network gradually acquired through experience: episodic memory preserved in semantic dementia
o Binding is critical for consolidation, recollection and recall

Question 152

What is neuropsychological evidence that episodic memory is a subsystem of semantic memory?

Answer 152

 Semantic (fronto-temporal) dementia
• Hierarchical loss of knowledge about concepts
o General properties preserved much better as disease progresses
o Knowledge about more prototypical items preserved longer than knowledge about atypical items
o Attributes typically shared by category members are attributed to items that are exceptions
o Suggests semantic system deteriorates from the more precise to the more general, consistent with predictions of PDP models
• Other cognitive capabilities well preserved if not dependent on semantic knowledge
• Episodic/autobiographical knowledge relatively preserved despite loss of semantic information
 Comparison of alzheimers and semantic dementia
• Areas of reduced metabolism much more widespread in Alzheimers
• Abnormal brain function in semantic dementia localised to anterior temporal lobe
• Performance in semantic tasks more impaired in semantic dementia than Alzheimer’s disease
o E.g. category fluency and picture naming tasks (Patterson et al. 2007)
• Alzheimers disease associated with greater impairments in episodic memory
• Suggests a dissociation between performance of semantic and episodic tasks
o But dissociations between episodic and semantic memory are NOT evince that they are stored in separate structures

Question 153

Describe what is known of autobiographical memory through Gilboa 2004

Answer 153

• Gilboa (2004)
o Few studies of real autobiographical memory
o Recruit different frontal regions than laboratory tests of episodic although there are overlapping regions recruited during both
 But not necessarily evidence that they involve different memory content or different memory retrieval processes, it’s more due to type of monitoring and decision processes that are carried out about these autobiographical memories
 Due to differences in monitoring and decision processes, not memory storage or retrieval

Question 154

What are current, most recent conclusions of long term memory? Includes:

• Where long term memories are
• The role of the medial temporal lobe/hippocampus
• Experience of episodic memory with working memory

Answer 154

• Long term memories are distributed over the same brain regions involved in perception and comprehension
o There is no special neural system that stores memory or stores different types of memory
o To understand memory, we need to understand how knowledge is acquired and organised, and the processes that make use of it
• Medial Temporal lobe/hippocampus is critical for encoding new memories
o Evidence from amnesiac patients and other sources
o Binding of concepts with context to create episodic memories and recollect autobiographical memories
o Consolidation required for durable memories in neocortex: abstract hub representations are integrated in anterior temporal lobe
• The experience of episodic memory also involves other frontal brain areas that overlap with the areas involved in working memory
o Combining cognitive, computational, neuropsychological and neuroscience approaches has helped but more research is needed