Memory: Formation and Attention Flashcards
Sensation
Physiological process involving sensory receptors detecting stimuli from the 5 senses
Cognition can only occur if info from environment is detected, converted into a message our brain can understand (encoded) and then sent to the brain for processing
Reception -> Transduction -> Transmission
Reception
Body’s ability to detect stimuli (changes) in the environment
Transduction
Converting stimuli into electrochemical messages
Transmission
Sending information to the brain as a transmitting impulse along neurons to the brain for processing
Perception
The mental process of organising and interpreting sensory stimuli from the senses to achieve a meaningful form
Selection -> Organisation -> Interpretation
Selection
Filtering information to determine what to ignore and what to process further
Organisation
Grouping features (visual elements) to make a whole (GESTALT Principles)
Figure and Ground, Closure, Similarity, Proximity
Interpretation
Brain interprets wholes and gives them meaning
Affected by past experiences and motivation
Attention
Refers to what you are actively processing
Selective (Controlled Processing)
Complex task / mastery has not yet been achieved so it requires a high level of awareness and mental effort
Divided (Automatic Processing)
Little awareness or mental effort required, usually mastery has been achieved
Procedural (Implicit) Memory
Learnt actions and skills, info remembered unconsciously and effortlessly
Stores information on HOW tasks are performedDe
Declarative (Explicit) Memory
Facts and rules, info you consciously work to remember
Allows you to DECLARE how things are or what you remember, requires conscious effort for retrieval
Episodic Memory
Autobiography
Events experienced by a person
Semantic Memory
Encyclopedia
Facts and general knowledge
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi-store Model Date
1968
MSM Strength
Successful in extreme amount of research it gathered
MSM Limitation
Model is too oversimplified
MSM Emphasis
If information is to be stored for a long period of time, it must pass through THREE memory stores:
Sensory Register, STM, LTM
Sensory Register
Stores and receives sensory info / stimuli from environment for a short period, usually only a few seconds
Short-Term Memory
Info that has been attended to from Sensory Register remains for a short period.
If rehearsed, encoded to LTM (elaborative rehearsal through producing more meaning of things, maintenance keeps things in STM)
Retrieving same info requires retrieval into consciousness
Long Term Memory
Relatively permament, >30 seconds to forever
Unlimited capacity and duration
Information moves from STM to LTM through physical changes in neurons and neural networks to make associations and thus storage permanent
Working Memory
Not a unitary system as propsed in the multi-store model, it is an active multi-component memory system that performs a variety of tasks
Temporarily stores and manipulates limited amount of information needed to perform cognitive tasks
Memory Formation Process
STM -> Working memory -> Central executive -> Visuospatial sketchpad / Episodic buffer / Phonological loop <- Phonological state / Articulatory control system
Central Executive
Responsible for:
- Directing attention to relevant information, suppressing irrelevant information
- Monitoring, controlling and integrating info / activities from VS, PL, EB and info from LTM
- Analysing info from slave systems and LTM
Slave System Model Inventors
Baddeley and Hitch
Phonological Loop
Stores and processes auditory information and rehearses it silently
Articulatory control system (inner voice)
Phonological store (inner ear)
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Stores visual and spatial information and constructs and manipulates visual images including details of shape, colour etc
Episodic Buffer
Prepares memories for storage in episodic LTM
Contains memories of events / episodes in your life
Integrated units of visual, spatial and verbal elements through combining info from different systems and LTM
MSM vs WMM
MSM: Single-component system, passive process
WM: Multi-component system, active process
