Memory Processes

Question 1

retrieval from short-term vs long-term memory

Answer 1

ST: serial process, not parallel ; exhaustive - we remember all the items, not just the one I’m looking for

LT: better with a hint

Question 2

inference theory and types of interference

Answer 2

forgetting occurs because recall of certain words interferes with the recall of other words

retroactive - new words interfere with old

proactive - old with new

Question 3

the serial position curve

Answer 3

the probability of recalling a word based on its position in a row of words

recency effect - toward the end of the list

primacy effect - toward the beginning

Question 4

decay

Answer 4

Information is forgotten because of the gradual disappearance

Question 5

what does it mean that memory is constructive and reconstructive?

Answer 5

constructive - prior experience affects how we recall things

reconstructive - we remember by recreating memories in our mind and using general knowledge to fill in the gaps

Question 6

autobiographical memory

Answer 6

memory of an individual’s personal history

Question 7

flashbulb memory and how does a memory become flashbulb?

Answer 7

a memory of an event that is extremely vivid and accurate

A memory is more likely to become flashbulb if the person is emotionally involved in the event

Question 8

The 7 sins of memory (Schacter)

Answer 8

1. Transience - memory fades quickly
2. Absent-mindedness (doorway effect)
3. Blocking - tipofthetongue
4. Misattribution - can’t remember where I heard what I heard
5. Suggestibility
6. Bias - people feeling pain rn remember feeling pain in the past
7. Persistence - remembering non important details (a single failure)

Question 9

Spatial recognition

Answer 9

Deals with the acquisition organisation and the use of knowledge about objects and actions in two and three-dimensional space

Question 10

Repressed memories

Answer 10

Memories being pushed down into unconsciousness because of the distress they cause

Question 11

Declarative vs nondeclarative knowledge

Answer 11

declarative - knowing that - facts that can be stated

procedural - knowing how - procedures to be implemented

Question 12

Imagery and 2 types

Answer 12

Mental representation of things that are not currently sensed by the sense organs; may be things that do not exist outside of the mind

visual (colors, shapes)
spatial (depth, distance)

Question 13

Dual-code theory

Answer 13

2 different codes for mental representation of knowledge :
1. analogue code - resembles the object it represents

2. symbolic code - doesn’t resemble the object, its chosen arbitrarily (like numbers)

Question 14

Imagery vs Propositional theory and limits of both

Answer 14

mental representations as analogues vs mental representations as symbols and propositions

limits of imagery theory: we can’t construct precise mental images - mental representations of things are not the same as perceptions of them

limits of propositional theory: in imagery we can imagine things that we have no symbolic knowledge of

Question 15

Functional-equivalence hypothesis

Answer 15

Visual imagery and visual perception are functionally equivalent even if not identical - frontal and parietal lobes are activated in both viewing and imagining an object

Question 16

Encoding Specificity

Answer 16

What is recalled depends on what is encoded

Question 17

Mental rotation

Answer 17

Involved rotationally transforming an object’s visual mental image; this ability is a part of human intelligence

Question 18

Spatial vs representational neglect

Answer 18

spatial - a person ignores half of their visual field

representational - a person asked to imagine a scene ignores half of it

Question 19

Mental models

Answer 19

Knowledge structures that individuals construct to understand and explain their experiences

Question 20

Cognitive maps and 3 types

Answer 20

Internal representations of a physical environment centring on spatial relationships

1. Landmark knowledge - information about particular features at a location based on on imaginal and propositional representations
2. Route-road knowledge - involve specific pathways for moving from one location to another based on procedural knowledge
3. Survey knowledge - invoice is the major distances between landmarks

Question 21

Image scaling

Answer 21

• When describing a mental representation we talk about big parts of it first
• every one might imagine a thing in a different size but the relative size of its features is always the same

Question 22

How do we mentally scan images?

Answer 22

We use the same mechanisms for mental image scanning as perceptual image scanning

Question 23

Demand characteristics

Answer 23

Variables in an experiment that can influence the participants to change their responses consciously or unconsciously

Question 24

text map

Answer 24

cognitive map for verbal description

Question 25

availability vs accessibility

Answer 25

availability - the presence of information

accessibility - the degree of which we can gain access to the information