Memory: Formation and Attention

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Reception

Answer 2

Body’s ability to detect stimuli (changes) in the environment

Question 3

Transduction

Answer 3

Converting stimuli into electrochemical messages

Question 4

Transmission

Answer 4

Sending information to the brain as a transmitting impulse along neurons to the brain for processing

Question 5

Perception

Answer 5

The mental process of organising and interpreting sensory stimuli from the senses to achieve a meaningful form

Selection -> Organisation -> Interpretation

Question 6

Selection

Answer 6

Filtering information to determine what to ignore and what to process further

Question 7

Organisation

Answer 7

Grouping features (visual elements) to make a whole (GESTALT Principles)

Figure and Ground, Closure, Similarity, Proximity

Question 8

Interpretation

Answer 8

Brain interprets wholes and gives them meaning

Affected by past experiences and motivation

Question 9

Attention

Answer 9

Refers to what you are actively processing

Question 10

Selective (Controlled Processing)

Answer 10

Complex task / mastery has not yet been achieved so it requires a high level of awareness and mental effort

Question 11

Divided (Automatic Processing)

Answer 11

Little awareness or mental effort required, usually mastery has been achieved

Question 12

Procedural (Implicit) Memory

Answer 12

Learnt actions and skills, info remembered unconsciously and effortlessly

Stores information on HOW tasks are performedDe

Question 13

Declarative (Explicit) Memory

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Episodic Memory

Answer 14

Autobiography

Events experienced by a person

Question 15

Semantic Memory

Answer 15

Encyclopedia

Facts and general knowledge

Question 16

Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi-store Model Date

Answer 16

1968

Question 17

MSM Strength

Answer 17

Successful in extreme amount of research it gathered

Question 18

MSM Limitation

Answer 18

Model is too oversimplified

Question 19

MSM Emphasis

Answer 19

If information is to be stored for a long period of time, it must pass through THREE memory stores:

Sensory Register, STM, LTM

Question 20

Sensory Register

Answer 20

Stores and receives sensory info / stimuli from environment for a short period, usually only a few seconds

Question 21

Short-Term Memory

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Long Term Memory

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Working Memory

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Memory Formation Process

Answer 24

STM -> Working memory -> Central executive -> Visuospatial sketchpad / Episodic buffer / Phonological loop <- Phonological state / Articulatory control system

Question 25

Central Executive

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Slave System Model Inventors

Answer 26

Baddeley and Hitch

Question 27

Phonological Loop

Answer 27

Stores and processes auditory information and rehearses it silently

Articulatory control system (inner voice)

Phonological store (inner ear)

Question 28

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 28

Stores visual and spatial information and constructs and manipulates visual images including details of shape, colour etc

Question 29

Episodic Buffer

Answer 29

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

Question 30

MSM vs WMM

Answer 30

MSM: Single-component system, passive process

WM: Multi-component system, active process