Module #22 - Information Processing

Question 1

Information Processing Model

Answer 1

3 Basic Steps:

1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval

Question 2

Encoding

Answer 2

The process of getting information into the memory system.

Question 3

Storage

Answer 3

The retention of encoded information over time.

Question 4

Retrieval

Answer 4

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Question 5

Automatic Processing

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Effortful Processing

Answer 6

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

- Best processing is rehearsal (practice) and overlearning.

Question 7

Rehearsal

Answer 7

The conscious repetition of information.

The more time spent on rehearsal, the more information one tends to remember.

Question 8

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850 - 1909)

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Overlearning

Answer 9

Continuing to rehearse even after it has been memorized. Helps ensure information will be available even under stress.

Question 10

Serial Position Effect

Answer 10

The tendency to recall the first and last items in a list more easily.

Question 11

Primary effect

Answer 11

The ability to recall information near the beginning of the list.

Question 12

Recency effect

Answer 12

That ability to recall information near the end of the list.

Question 13

Spacing effect

Answer 13

The tendency for distributed practice to yield better retention than is achieved through massed practice.

Question 14

Distributed Practice

Answer 14

Spreading rehearsal out in several sessions separated by period of time. Usually enhances the recalling of information.

Question 15

Massed practice

Answer 15

Putting all rehearsal together in one long session (cramming). Not as effective as distributed practice.

Question 16

Encoding meaning

Answer 16

Rehearsal is central to coding, but how meaningful the information is is also important.

Question 17

Semantic encoding

Answer 17

The process of making the material more meaningful.

Question 18

Acoustic encoding

Answer 18

Encoding information based on the sounds of the information (semantic encoding still better).

Question 19

Visual encoding

Answer 19

Encoding information based on the images of the information (semantic encoding still better).

Question 20

Self-Reference Effect

Answer 20

Enhanced semantic encoding of information that is personally relevant.

Question 21

Method of Loci

Answer 21

Mnemonic device in which you associate items you want to remember with imaginary places.

Question 22

Peg-Word System

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Chunking

Answer 23

Organizing information into meaningful units. More information can be encoded this way.

Question 24

Hierarchy

Answer 24

Organizational system that focuses on the relationship between pieces of information. e.g. outline for a paper or essay, or the periodic table

Question 25

Three storage systems

Answer 25

1. Sensory Memory
2. Short-Term Memory (i.e. Working Memory)
3. Long-Term Memory

Question 26

Sensory memory

Answer 26

Brief, initial encoding of sensory information in the memory system.

Question 27

Ionic store

Answer 27

Visual information; information held just long enough to make a decision on its importance (less than half a second).

Question 28

Echoic store

Answer 28

Auditory or sound information (3-4 seconds)

Question 29

Short-Term Memory

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Long term memory

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Flashbulb memory

Answer 31

A vivid, clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Question 32

Long-Term Potentiation

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Effects of long term Potentiation

Answer 33

1. A blow to the head can disrupt neural function and the formation of new memories.
2. Drugs can also enhance or disrupt memories by interacting with the neurotransmitters necessary for long term Potentiation.
3. Stress can also enhance memory. Hormones tell body something significant is happening and trigger stimulation of formation of memories.

Question 34

Explicit memory

Answer 34

The memory of facts and experiences. There is a conscious effort to recall this info; processed through the hippocampus.

Question 35

Implicit Memory

Answer 35

The memory of skills and procedures. Your ability to form this task relies on memory but it isn’t conscious; processed through the cerebellum.

Question 36

Retrieval

Answer 36

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Question 37

Two forms of retrieval

Answer 37

1. Recall

2. Recognition

Question 38

Recall

Answer 38

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).

Question 39

Recognition

Answer 39

The type of retrieval in which you must identify items you learned earlier, as on a multiple choice test.

Question 40

Context Effect

Answer 40

The enhanced ability to retrieve information when you are in an environment similar to the one in which you encoded the information.

Question 41

State dependent memory

Answer 41

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.