Memory (CP) Flashcards
What is memory?
Memory is the set of processes used to encode, store and retrieve information over a period of time.
Define: Encoding
Encoding is converting the sensory input (or information received) into sensory memory. Also known as the “initial learning of information.”
List the types of encoding
1)Semantic encoding (words and meanings)
2) Visual encoding (images)
3) Auditory encoding (words and sounds)
Why is information processed through semantic encoding more easily recalled?
Involves deeper processing
Two ways memories can be processed
Effortful processing and automatic processing
Whose tested theory is the multi-store model of memory.
Atkinson and Shifrin, 1968, 1971; Waugh and Norman,1965
Explain the multi-store model of memory.
Multi-store model of memory states that when we receive sensory input, this information firstly goes to our sensory memory (but some are lost) then if paid attention this is temporarily stored in our short-term memory (other info not transferred is lost) and with enough rehearsal, the information is transferred to our Long term memory. The information here can be recalled to access it again and the more we rehearse it the longer the information stays in our long-term memory.
List the evidence that supports the multi-store model of memory.
Duration, capacity, and serial position effect support the theory.
Limitations of the multi-store model of memory.
Working memory (Baddley and Hitch, 1974)states that as opposed to the multi-store model we are equipped with three short-term memory systems; Visuospatial sketchpad,
Phonological loop and episodic buffer. The central executive is responsible for monitoring and controlling the flow of information in the components. And is also responsible for transferring information into the LTM.
STM can be seen as a component of working memory.
Multi-store model is also very oversimplified.
Good encoding techniques
Relating new information to old information, forming mental images, and forming connections and associations.
What are the stores in the working memory?
Phonological loop: Mental representations of sounds
The episodic buffer: temporary storage space for information
Visuospatial sketchpad: mental representations of visual and spatial information.
Experiment related to the sensory stores
Sperling (1960)
Letter flashed for 1/20th of a second
Number of letter flashed = 12
Average recall recorded were 3-5
Thus, we can say that sensory memory has a high capacity to store information but for a short period of time.
Experiment related to STM.
Miller, 1956
The experiment asked the participants to remember several strings of random numbers and then recall.
Capacity of STM : 7 +/- 2
Duration : 15-20 seconds (SHORT)
Peterson and Peterson (1959) trigram experiment- as opposed to Miller this experiment tested the recall of 3 letter sequences
Conclusion: STM decayed in 18 seconds
Two things that affect STM
Memory trace decay and proactive interference
Primacy effect
The first words are recalled more easily because they are rehearsed the most and thus stored in LTM.
If the conductor of the experiment had said the words at a slower pace the participants would’ve had more time to rehearse other words and would’ve performed better.
What is LTM composed of?
Explicit (declarative) and Implicit (non-declarative) memories.
Explicit memories
a) Episodic (autobiographical) - Event and Experiences
b) Semantic- Concepts and Facts
Implicit memories
a) Procedural - How to do things (driving, solving a puzzle)
b) Priming - Current response is affected by prior exposure to a different stimulus.
c) Emotional Conditioning - classically conditioned emotional responses; triggered by sensory input (e.g. associating an event with a certain smell).
Henry Molaison (HM) - a case of anterograde amnesia
HM used to suffer from intractable epilepsy. He underwent an “experimental” operation - ‘bilateral medial temporal lobe resection’ which involved removing most of his
a)amygdaloid complex
b) hippocampal complex (except 2cm at the back)
c) parahippocampal gyrus - entorhinal
d) perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices - (except 2 cm at the back)
HM suffered from anterograde amnesia which means he could no longer form new LTM memories post-operation.
However, his past memories he could clearly recall past memories.
But no new episodic and semantic memories.
His non-declarative memory was also intact (procedural).
Serial position effect
Ebbinghaus, 1885;Glanzer and Cunitz, 1966; Hellyer,1962
Recency effect
In the short-term memory;
Recency effect reduced by backwards counting
What is double dissociation?
A theory by salmon and Butters, 1995;
If procedural memory is affected in a patient then it doesn’t necessarily affect priming and vice versa.
What parts of the brain are involved in memory?
Amygdala
Hippocampus
Cerebellum
Pre - frontal cortex
Amygdala : Location + role in memory
Amygdala is located adjacent to the hippocampus. Its main function is to regulate emotions like fear and aggression.
Also involved in transferring new learning into LTM (consolidation).
Memories that are emotionally arousing are encoded at a deeper level by amygdala.
Hippocampus
Amygdala stimulates the hippocampus to store information regarding danger/fear - allows to predict danger in the future.
Involved in recognition and spatial memory.
Transfers new learning to LTM.
HM’s hippocampus was removed (not entirely) so declarative memories are not intact.
Cerebellum
Located next to the brain stem
The cerebellum controls implicit memories - Experiment:
damaged cerebellum caused rabbits to fail the conditioned eye- blinking experiment
Pre- frontal cortex
Left inferior pre- frontal cortex - semantic encoding
Right frontal region - retrieval
Full form: PET
Positron emission tomography
Long - Term Potentiation
Neurons communicating with each other through neurotransmitters are important in strengthening memory and developing new ones (memory consolidation) .
Arousal theory
Strong emotions- strong memories
Amnesia
Amnesia is the loss of long-term memory caused as a result of disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma.
Types of amnesia
1) Anterograde
- Can’t form new memories
- Inability to consolidate memories
2) Retrograde
- Can’t remember past (autobiographical memories)
- Memories prior to the incident
How to avoid false memory in a witness testimony?
Police should avoid leading and neutral interviews.
False memory syndrome
Recall of false autobiographical memories.
Impact of repressed memories on adult life
Childhood abuse victims suffer from psychological distress in adult life due to repressed memories
3 types of memory errors
1) Forgetting (loss of information from LTM) - information lost from memory
2) Distortion (memories are not accurate or completely true; distorted)
3) Intrusion (inaccessible information stored in our memory)
What are the three types of forgetting?
1) Transience
- Accessibility of information decreases over time
2) Absentmindedness
- Forgetting caused by lapses in attention
3) Blocking (Tulving and Psotka)
- Temporary blockage of information. Information is lost ‘in’ memory.
This theory of forgetting was hard to prove
What are the types of distortion?
1) Misattribution
- Confusing the source of the information
2) Suggestibility
- False memories
3) Bias
- Memories distorted by opinions (current belief system)
One type of intrusion
Persistence
- Inability to forget undesirable memories
Interference and types
Interference is inaccessible information stored in our memory.
Types:
1) Proactive Interference:
Old information hinders the recall of new information
2) Retroactive interference:
- New information hinders the recall of old information.
Memory enhancing strategies
1) Rehearsal
2)Chunking
3) Elaborative rehearsal (linking new information to old information)
4) Mnemonic devices
Studying effectively
1) Use elaborative rehearsal
2) Apply the self-reference task
3)Distributed Practice
3) Exercise
4)Avoid interference
5)Flashcards
6) Rehearse
7) Sleep
Equipotentiality hypothesis
Some part of the brain can take over the role of the damaged part (in forming and storing memories).
Flashbulb memory
Especially clear recollection of an important event
Collective memory
A memory shared by a group/community. Example: traditions and events
Pragmatic inferences
Past memory interferes with the encoding of the new ones.
DRM effect
Adding false memories that weren’t encoded initially.
Engram
Is another name from memory trace; physical change in the nervous system that represents experiences.
Retrieval technique
Constructing meaningful cues; memory can be evoked through an association between retrieval cues and the memory trace of an experiment.
Learning ———»»»>———-Testing
What is happening between learning and testing?
Retention interval takes place in between.
What 3 stages of memory does Melton, 1963 support?
Encoding (way in which events are represented in our memory).
Storage (maintaining information over a period of time)
Retrieval ( recovering or extracting information from memory).
Evidence to support the role of attention in memory?
Behavioral evidence (Craik et al, 1996)
Participants took part in a word learning task.
There were two experimental conditions; Group A: divided attention, was asked to learn words and count the moving asterisk at the same time.
Group B: full attention, only task was to learn words
Result: Participants who paid full attention scored 9/15 on average vs participants with divided attention towards the task got 5/15
How does absentmindedness affect memory?
Failure to attend to information means that the encoding was poor in the first place.
How does the frequency of rehearsal affect memory?
The more we rehearse information the better the retention.
How did Craik and Lockhart, 1972 divide rehearsal ?
Rehearsal was divided into :
a)Maintenance rehearsal (shallow)
- Repeating information over and over again
b) Elaborative rehearsal (deep)
- Thinking about it deeply, looking for meanings, and comparing and contrasting with existing knowledge.
Processing theory
Craik and Tulving, 1975
Thinking about semantic characteristics helped people remember more.
No deliberate processing involved
Memory is just a by-product of processing
This develops the Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory; whilst the multi-store model emphasized the role of rehearsal, Craik’s theory emphasized the deep/shallow processing.
A study that relates to incidental processing of sound with words.
Nyberg et al (2003)
Random sounds were played for each word.
An increase in brain activities in the auditory regions of the temporal was noticed among the participants.
Study about linking existing information to new information
Bransford and Johnson (1972)
Two groups were presented a passage. But only one group had the title on top of the passage (which means only one group was provided with the context).
Participants who were shown just the passage could recall 2.8 idea units on average whereas the other group could recall 5.8 idea units.
Good comprehension —»> better encoding
What is the role of organization in memory?
Information is organized into categories during encoding.
A study by Bousfield, 1953 :
60 words were presented to the participants. Those words belonged to 4 different categories but were jumbled and mixed into a random order before revealing the words to the participants.
Results: Participants grouped the words during encoding.
Subjective reorganization: A study involved participants listing down the words they were presented with. The same words were shown many times but in a different order. Even though there were no predetermined groups the participants were consistent with the pattern of arrangement they chose.
Reorganization occurs during rehearsal (Ashcraft et al, 1975)
Example of hierarchical organisation
Subheading in textbooks (Anderson,1985)
Imagery: learning technique
Remembering information by linking them with images.
Better than repetition ( Schnorr and Atkinson, 1969).
Dual coding is an effective learning technique: thinking of the words visually and verbally (Paivo,1971,1986, Kosslyn et al. 2006).
Revising techniques
a) Spacing (Ebbinghaus, 1885; Jost 1897; Smith and Rothkopt, 1984)
b) Testing (requires effortful processing)
Consolidation theory
Memories (mostly episodic and semantic) can leave a physiological trace.
Recently formed memory doesn’t leave a physiological trace in our mind therefore it’s prone to be forgotten. In the case of H.M, he forgot his recent memories prior to the surgery ( temporal gradient in retrograde amnesia)
Sleeping after learning improves retention
Which one allows superior retrieval?
a) Cued- recall
b) Free-recall
Cued recall
Cued recall principle
If the number of cues increases the effectiveness of this technique decreases.
To avoid this cue-target relationship should be made distinctive
What causes memory decay?
Loss of synaptic activity over time (Schacter, 1999)
Cue dependent forgetting
Tulving,1974
- Context-dependent memory
- Reinstating learning context helps in retrieval for instance memory recall underwater was more than on land ( Goddon and Baddeley 1975)
State dependent memory
Changes in mood effects recall. If you’re in a different mood when recalling information than when encoding.
Drugs - Eich, 1980 - (under the influence when encoding so should be under the influence of the same drug when recalling for effective recall)
Encoding specificity principle
We remember more if there is an overlap between the encoding situation and retrieval situation (same context).
