Module 06: Memory Processes Flashcards
what is the levels of processing view
memory depends on initial encoding of info to be remembered
does not suggest that there are different memory stores (like STM, LTM, etc)
retention and coding of info depend on kind of perceptual analysis done on material at encoding
improvement of retention from a greater depth of analysis of material
incidental learning
surprise memory test words processed semantically were remembered best, then acoustically
depth of processing with degree of semantic processing
what aids recall according to the levels of processing view
elaboration (richer ideas)
schemata
frameworks for organizing info
at retrieval time, knowledge and organizational info used to reconstruct the material
francis bartlett – participants unintentionally introduced distortions to make material more rational from own pov of schema
autobiographical memory
memories of events that occured in personal past
what did brewer find in his study where he made participants fill out an event that occurred, how pleasant and how trivial/significant
very good retention from participants
memory better for actions than for thoughts and for memorable events than events prompted by a beeper
events infrequent locations remembered better
the more distinct the mental event => the more likely to be recalled
flashbulb memories
vivid memories that are often incorrect
parts of the brain involved in emotional responses (like the amygdala) become more activated and cognitive effects of activation result in storage of lots of info
eye witness memory
likely to be believed by jurors, especially when said with a high level of confidence, even when witness is inaccurate
people’s memories can be altered by presenting misleading questions
what is the recovered vs false memory debate
repressed memories recovered later in therapy vs memories of things that never really occured
what did an fMRI study show on memories
different areas of the brain become activated in a word recognition task for true than for false words, so true memories have neural significance that implanted memories do not
who is kent cochrane
head injury from motorcycle accident
widespread damage, almost complete hippocampas loss bilaterally
had anterograde and retrograde amnesia
semantic memory was still intact but episodic memory was not
what are the 5 principle features of anterograde amnesia
affects LTM but not WM
affects memory regardless of modality
spares memory for general knowledge (acquired before onset of amnesia)
spares skilled performance
shows hyperspecific memory (can express learning only in context extremely similar to conditions of encoding)
what are the 4 basic features of retrograde amnesia
temporal extent can very enormously
episodic memories are compromised
spares info that was ‘overlearned’
does not affect skill learning
what is the standard model of memory consolidation
storage of info requires hippocampus to link different aspects of an event and to retreive these later, blows to the head disrupt this process
multiple memory trace theory
hippocampus always involved in storage and retrieval of episodic memory
following multiple reactivations of same event factual info from episodes extracted and integrated with semantic memory stores
amygdala involved in memory consolidation
cognitive economy
properties and facts stored at highest level possible
to recover info, use inference
describe the hierarchical semantic network model
semantic memory is analogous to a network of connected nodes
node connected to related nodes by pointers or links
node that corresponds to given word or concept with pointers to nodes 1st node is connected to constitutes semantic memory for taht word/concept
closer a fact is stored to particular node the less time it should take to verify that fact
more general => stored in higher level in hierarchy
what is spreading activation
excitation spreads along connections of nodes in a semantic network
what is the connectionist model of memory
one unit becomes active, some other units become active too
must be taught to develop patterns of activation through many trials with training examples
involves back propogation:
connections between units have random weights
activation weights result in units they connect becoming active or not
training: input pattern produces particular output
explicit memory
things consciously recalled
implicit memory
not deliberate or conscious but shows evidence of prior learning
semantic priming
exposure to one word facilitates the recognition or other cognitive processing of a semantically related word
repitition priming
facilitation of the cognitive processing of info after a recent exposure to that same info
what was found in the word stem completion task
non words share no to little repeatition priming relative to real words
priming greater for words that share the same roots of meaning
T/F: amnesic patients perform more poorly than non-amnesic patients on explicit memory tasks but comparably to no amnesic on implicit memory tasks
true
describe the two distinct possibilities on how disassociation phenomena is explained
1) two memory systems: declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit) memories
2) two kinds of memory tasks require different cognitive procedures:
perceptual processing (implicit, interpret sensory info in meaningful way)
conceptual processing (explicit, drawing on info in memory and knowledge base)
describe the process dissociation framework
issue with the fact that there are two distinct memory systems
memory tasks calling on intentional (controlled) and automatic processes
false fame experiment
