Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
An active system that allows people to retain information over time
What is forgetting?
The inability to retrieve previously stored information.
What are the two factors important in not forgetting?
Rehearsal or practice frequency = how often you use that memory
Retention Interval = how long since you last used that memory.
What are the two long-term types of memory?
Explicit, Implicit
What is Explicit memory?
Explicit – Memory that is consciously known, facts and memories of events. (also called declarative memory)
What is Implicit memory
Implicit – unconscious knowledge, the effects of experience
What are the two types of explicit memory and give examples
1) Semantic memory – memory of facts e.g. chameleons can change colour; my name is Nicola; -9 is smaller than +9
2) Eposodic memory – memory of first-hand experiences e.g. that was a great night out last night; last time I went to sleep in a lecture someone yelled at me.
Recall vs Recognition tests
Recall tests e.g. exam essays use explicit memory as you are asked to recall specific facts
Recognition tests e.g. multi choice tests are easier because you only have to recognise the right answer, not recall it. (Good MCQs find ways to make you do both!) A retrieval cue
recall involves actively reconstructing the information and requires the activation of all the neurons involved in the memory in question, whereas recognition only requires a relatively simple decision as to whether one thing among others has been encountered before
What is recall? (Explicit)
The information is reproduced from explicit memories
What is recognition? (Explicit)
the presentation of the information provides a cue that the information has been seen before
What is relearning?? (Explicit)
Relearning tests measure how long it takes to relearn forgotten facts e.g. relearning Irish vocabulary you haven’t used for years. Possibly the most relevant but hard to measure in an exam.
What are the three types of implicit learning?
1) Procedural memory
2) Classical conditioning memory
3) Priming
What is procedural memory and give example
Memory of how to do things, esp. those learned by trial and error e.g. making toast; building a lego house.
Also complex movements you don’t now think about e.g texting; riding a bike
What is classical conditioning memory and example
Associations learned aren’t consciously recalled most of the time. E.g. the dog doesn’t remember the fact “bell means food” it unconsciously drools when it hears the bell.
What is priming and give example
changes in behaviour as a result of experiences that have happened recently or frequently.
a technique whereby exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance or intention.e.g. Seeing the word kindness makes you both more able to think of words and actions which are related to kindness, and also more likely to be kind.
Priming in advirtisement - Seeing someone smoking makes you more likely to: what
Seeing someone smoking makes you more likely to:
A) notice the next smoker you see
B) smoke yourself, even though your conscious brain is telling you that you would be stupid to do so.
How do we test if priming is powerful and unconscious?
Training:
- Asked 3 groups of students to unscramble sentences like:
-in Florida retired live people
- bingo man the forgetful plays
Groups 1 and 2 got sentences like this, portraying stereotypes about the elderly
Group 3 got sentences about random subjects (control)
Test: After the task, the researchers filmed and timed groups 1 and 3 on their way to the lift. They asked group 2 whether they saw any link between the sentences they had unscrambled.
What were the results of the priming experiment?
- Group 1 (old-person sentences) walked to the lifts significantly slower than Group 3 (control).
- Group 2 did not notice the theme in the sentences.
What was the conclusion of the priming experiment?
- Interpretation: Group 1 were primed to think about the elderly, and this changed their behavior so they acted more like the elderly i.e walked slower
- Group 2 shows they were probably entirely unaware of this priming effect.
What is sensory memory?
A process that can hold only a limited amount of information-an average of seven items- for only a short period of time, 2 to 30 seconds
Short term buffer for sensory information giving the brain time to process it.
What is short term memory?
A process that can hold only a limited amount of information-an average of seven items- for only a short period of time, 2 to 30 seconds
What is long term memory?
lengthy storage, only of selected useful things – no known limit in size
What is the three stage memory model?
Divides memory into three sequential stages:
1) sensory
2) short-term
3) long-term memory
What are the two types of sensory memory?
1) Iconic memory
2) Echoic memory
What is Iconic Memory?
form of sensory memory that automatically holds visual information for about a quarter of a second or more; as soon as you shift your attention, the information disappears (The word “icon” means image”)
What is echoic memory?
A form of sensory memory that holds auditory information for 1 or 2 seconds
What is eidetic memory?
remembering for much longer than normal person. “photographic memory” can retain that image much longer
have eidetic memory for sound – remember far longer than 4 seconds.
What are the two processes of short-term memory?
1) Working memory
2) Maintenance rehearsal
What is working memory?
involves the active processing of incoming information from sensory memory and the retrieval of information from long-term memory
What is maintenance rehearsal?
The practice of intentionally repeating or rehearsing information so that it remains longer in short-term memory
Short-term memory has a limit - what is it and how can you overcome it?
in most people between 5 and 9 pieces of information, ave 7.
-using chunking
What is “chunking” and give an example
Chunking is the organization of material into shorter meaningful groups to make them more manageable. For example, a hyphenated phone number, split into groups of 3 or 4 digits, tends to be easier to remember than a single long number.
What is Long-term Memory
The process of storing almost unlimited amounts of information over long periods of time
The capacity of long-term memory appears to be very large. There is no known limit to what we can remember!
How do we get information back out of the LTM?
goes back into working memory for processing.
It is an echo of what you see, taste, touch, hear, and smell.
SENSORY MEMORY
Things that you feel strong emotion about will go here.
LONG-TERM MEMORY
This type of memory lasts days, weeks, months, or years.
LONG-TERM MEMORY
You can move things from here to the next stage of memory by repeating them.
SENSORY MEMORY
This type of memory lasts a few seconds to a few minutes at most.
WORKING MEMORY
Anything that you pay attention to goes here.
WORKING MEMORY
Every experience you have goes into this type of memory.
SENSORY
This type of memory lasts less than one second.
SENSORY
You can only hold a few things in this area at a time.
WORKING MEMORY
You can move things from here to the next stage of memory by paying attention to them.
SENSORY MEMORY
Things you repeat and practice will go here.
LONG-TERM
This happens when you grow new connections between your brain’s neurons
LONG-TERM MEMORY
What aids the transfer from STM to LTM
-STM is rehearsed, it is strengthened in LTM.
-Sleep appears to be important in this process.
In particular, REM sleep is associated with explicit memory consolidation. i.e. you remember facts and events better after you’ve slept.
What is synaptic consolidation?
Synaptic consolidation, or late-phase LTP, is one form of memory consolidation seen across all species and long-term memory tasks. Long-term memory, when discussed in the context of synaptic consolidation, is memory that lasts for at least 24 hours.
stabilizing a memory trace after the initial acquisition
What are the three processes of memory?
1) Training (T1)
2) Retention interval (RI)
3) Test (T2)
What is training in relation to memory?
conditions under which learning happens
In training, what affects how easy it is to retain information?
1) Intensity of unconditioned stimulus
2) Intensity of conditioned stimulus
3) Speed with which the reinforcer follows the conditioned stimulus (= contingency)
4) Novelty of the situation.
If the conditioned stimulus has previously been learned to be irrelevant, it is much harder to learn to associate it with a meaning now.
How does the value of the reward alters memorability?
Better reward - better memorability
Less interesting reward - worse memorability
(rats - rat chow and chocolate cornflakes)
Describe the experiment carried out to see how the value of the reward can alter memorability
- Rat must find the arm at the end of which is food.
Rats very good at this as have excellent spatial memory.
Could follow a rule like “always turn left” or use cues in the room to navigate.
Memory test shows very good recall (>90%) after 4 hour retention interval, and ok (about 68%) even after 12 hr RI - But this alters if the reward is less interesting!
Rats trained to find rat chow on North arm, chocolate cornflakes on West arm.
Results:
Forgot where chow is after 2 hours
Took 4 hours to forget where chocolate cornflakes are!
What is the retention interval
the time between training and testing for forgetting
The longer the RI the ______ the recall
worse
What helps/doesn’t help training association during RI?
Many exposures to the training association during the RI will help recall, - so listen, read, and talk
The more other things which happen during the RI, especially other learning, the worse the recall - only one task should be learned at a time.
What are memory inhibiting effects during Retention Interval?
1) Proactive interference
2) Retroactive interference
What is proactive interference?
The first things learned make later ones hard to remember. (Primacy effects)
What is retroactive interference?
Later learning clouds your memory of earlier lessons. (Recency effects).
When does consolidation of memories occur?
Consolidation of your memory occurs during gaps, if there’s no interference - sleep
If there is a short RI then what affect is it?
recency effect (earlier lessons)
If there is a long RI then what affect is it?
primacy effect (later ones)
What is the primacy effect?
recall of items at the beginning of the list
What is the recency effect?
recall of items at the end of the list
What happens when you first learn a list?
Initially short term memory.
Retroactive interference stops you remembering early part = recency effects.
What happens when the list enters long term memory?
Proactive interference is stronger so earlier memories become strongest = primacy effects
What happens when you learn a list - memory
- STM recency effect
- LTM primacy effect
What is recall?
the ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously encountered material
What does the ease of recall depend on?
- appropriateness of context
- similarity of context to learning context
- importance of information to survival
- motivation of animal to recall it.
Why is forgetting important?
- Need to sort out useful from useless information
- Need to forget in order to see general principles and patterns , not endless detail.
When we forget - is the memory actually gone?
path to the memory, not the memory itself which disappears.
