Module #22 - Information Processing Flashcards
Information Processing Model
3 Basic Steps:
- Encoding
- Storage
- Retrieval
Encoding
The process of getting information into the memory system.
Storage
The retention of encoded information over time.
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
Automatic Processing
Unconscious and without much effort encoding of certain information (like remembering where something is in your text, but not remembering details).
We tend to encode place, time, and frequency automatically.
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
- Best processing is rehearsal (practice) and overlearning.
Rehearsal
The conscious repetition of information.
The more time spent on rehearsal, the more information one tends to remember.
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850 - 1909)
German philosopher who did pioneering memory studies. He concluded that the more you rehearse, the more you retain and developed the forgetting/retention/Ebbinghaus curve.
Overlearning
Continuing to rehearse even after it has been memorized. Helps ensure information will be available even under stress.
Serial Position Effect
The tendency to recall the first and last items in a list more easily.
Primary effect
The ability to recall information near the beginning of the list.
Recency effect
That ability to recall information near the end of the list.
Spacing effect
The tendency for distributed practice to yield better retention than is achieved through massed practice.
Distributed Practice
Spreading rehearsal out in several sessions separated by period of time. Usually enhances the recalling of information.
Massed practice
Putting all rehearsal together in one long session (cramming). Not as effective as distributed practice.
Encoding meaning
Rehearsal is central to coding, but how meaningful the information is is also important.
Semantic encoding
The process of making the material more meaningful.
Acoustic encoding
Encoding information based on the sounds of the information (semantic encoding still better).
Visual encoding
Encoding information based on the images of the information (semantic encoding still better).
Self-Reference Effect
Enhanced semantic encoding of information that is personally relevant.
Method of Loci
Mnemonic device in which you associate items you want to remember with imaginary places.
Peg-Word System
Mnemonic device in which you associate items you want to remember with a list of words you already have memorized. The goal is to visualize the items to remember with the items on the pegs.
Chunking
Organizing information into meaningful units. More information can be encoded this way.
Hierarchy
Organizational system that focuses on the relationship between pieces of information. e.g. outline for a paper or essay, or the periodic table
Three storage systems
- Sensory Memory
- Short-Term Memory (i.e. Working Memory)
- Long-Term Memory
Sensory memory
Brief, initial encoding of sensory information in the memory system.
Ionic store
Visual information; information held just long enough to make a decision on its importance (less than half a second).
Echoic store
Auditory or sound information (3-4 seconds)
Short-Term Memory
The part of the memory system that contains information you are consciously aware of before it is stored more permanently or forgotten.
Retention with rehearsal, otherwise about 20 secs
Holds about 7, + or - 2, chunks of information
Chunking can increase short term memory
Long term memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Holds memories without conscious effort, encoded bc of rehearsing or meaning.
No one news the capacity but may be about a century
Flashbulb memory
A vivid, clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
Long-Term Potentiation
An increase in a synapse’s firing efficiency that occurs when the sequence of neurons that represents a particular memory fires repeatedly.
Believed the neural basis of learning and memory, which stimulate neurons to release chemicals at the synapse’s, making it easier for the neurons to fire again in the future.
Effects of long term Potentiation
- A blow to the head can disrupt neural function and the formation of new memories.
- Drugs can also enhance or disrupt memories by interacting with the neurotransmitters necessary for long term Potentiation.
- Stress can also enhance memory. Hormones tell body something significant is happening and trigger stimulation of formation of memories.
Explicit memory
The memory of facts and experiences. There is a conscious effort to recall this info; processed through the hippocampus.
Implicit Memory
The memory of skills and procedures. Your ability to form this task relies on memory but it isn’t conscious; processed through the cerebellum.
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
Two forms of retrieval
- Recall
2. Recognition
Recall
The type of retrieval in which you must search for information that you precisely stored as on a fill-in-the-blank test (no word bank).
Recognition
The type of retrieval in which you must identify items you learned earlier, as on a multiple choice test.
Context Effect
The enhanced ability to retrieve information when you are in an environment similar to the one in which you encoded the information.
State dependent memory
The enhanced ability to retrieve information when you are in the same physical and emotional state you were in when you encoded the information.
The retrieval state is congruent with the encoding state.
