PSYC 100 Chapter 7 Flashcards
Memory
Retention of information over time
The paradox memory
Memory can be surprisingly good and surprisingly bad
Memory is/isnt
Is Reconstructive
Is Not a Recording
Systems of memory vary in:
Duration and span
Duration
How long info can be hald
Span
How much info can be held
Systems of memory
Info -> Sensory -> Short Term -> <- Long Term
Sensory Memory
Retaining Impressions of sensory information
Full report
Recall all items
Partial report
only some of the items
Iconic sensory memory
Visual, “fleeting images”
last less than a second
Echoic sensory memory
Audio, “echo”
lasts 5-10 seconds
Sensory memory Span and Duration
Span: Can hold a lot of information
Duration: Information disappears very quickly
Short Term memory
Retaining information for a short period of time
Working memory
Holding/manipulating/process during that short time
actively “working” with
Difference between short-term and working memory
Working allows for you to manipulate and process info you have stored
Short-term memory simply stores it for a while
Span of Short term memory
Between 5 and 9 pieces of information
Chunking
organizing information into meaningful chunks
ex. instead of memorizing all the numbers in a phone number separately put them into separate chunks 2173330601 as (217)(333)(0601)
Rehearsal
The holding of information in the brain through mental repetition.
Maintenance Rehearsal
repeating info over and over to yourself
ex. sloth bucket, sloth bucket, sloth bucket
Elaborative rehearsal
linking info together in a meaningful way
ex. bucket of sloths
Best type of rehearsal
Elaborative rehearsal
STM capacity and duration
Span: Limited capacity (can increase with chunking)
Duration: “Short” about 20 seconds (can increase with rehearsal)
Long term memory
Retaining information for a long amount of time, minutes to decades
Two types of LTM
Explicit, Implicit memory
Explicit memory
Memories we can recall intentionally; can be stated
ex. When is your birthday, who was the first president of the US
Implicit memory
Memories we cannot recall deliberately
ex. how to ride a bike, how to type on a keyboard
Two types of explicit memory
Semantic, Episodic
Semantic
Recollection of facts, General Knowledge
Episodic
Recollection of events, Specific experiences
Double Dissociation
Episodic vs semantic memory
Hippocampus vs lateral and interior temporal lobe
Hippocampus: Semantic
Lateral and Interior Temporal lobe: Episodic
Semantic Dementia
Loss of memory for meaning in both
verbal/nonverbal domains
ex. have difficulty finding words, impaired comprehension of words, impaired ability to recognize the semantic relationship between images
Semantic Satiation
seeing/hearing the repetition of words
making it meaningless
Aspects of implicit memory
Procedural
Priming
Classic Conditioning
Habituation
Procedural
Memory for how to do things (motor skills, habits)
Priming
The increased ability to process a stimulus because of previous exposure
Implicit memory formed and stored
in various parts of the brain depending on what type of memory it is
LTM Span and Duration
Span: Unlimited
Duration: Forever
Encoding
Getting information into memory
Storage
Keeping information in memory
Retrieval
Accessing information from memory
Encoding: Levels of processing
Visual (surface) – Phonological (sound) – Semantic (meaning)
Shallow to Deep
Storage: Consolidation
What happens to your brain “behind the scene” after the events- where your memory is stabilized and strengthened
What is needed for consolidation to occur
Sleep
Time
Lack of interruption
Interruption of consolidation
Memory of newly learnt information could be interrupted by information
that presented shortly after / concussion or trauma.
LTP, Long term Potentiation
repeated, strong stimulation
from neuron A results in more enduring, enhanced activity of connected neuron B
“neurons that fire together, wire together”
LTP increases?
CREB – a protein that supports memory
When CREB is enhanced, learning is also enhanced.
Reconsolidation
retrieving an old memory returns it to a momentary,
unstable state, making it vulnerable to changes; relearning of your old memory
Interruption to reconsolidation
might change/erase the old memory
Forgetting Therapy
interrupt with your memory reconsolidation process,
resulting in the memory being erased
Primacy effect
memory for the first items of a list tends to be better
perhaps because more chance for rehearsal, and
better attention at the beginning
Salience effect
items that stand out from the rest are easier to remember
Recency effect
memory for the last items of a list tends to
be better perhaps because still in STM, still
“fresh”
Memory Illusion
thinking something occurred bc it is related
Recall
Generating remembered information
2 types of recall
Free and Cued
Free recall
Accessing information from memory without any cues to aid your retrieval.
Cued recall
Information related to stored memories that helps bring the memories back to mind
Recognition
Selecting the correct information from an array of options
Interference
Loss of information due to competition
Two types of interference
Proactive and Retroactive
Proactive interference
When old information interferes with our ability to
remember new information
ex. At the beginning of the year if you kept writing
the date as 2022 instead of 2023
Retroactive interference
When new information interferes with our ability to
remember old information
Relearning
How much faster we reacquire something we learned before
Encoding specificity
Remember best when retrieval conditions match encoding condition
Context-dependent memory
Better retrieval when external context was the same as during encoding
State-dependent memory
Better retrieval when internal state was the same as during encoding
Could be emotional/chemical states
encoding failure
“attentional-memory effect”/ weapon effect
Central important details are specifically encoded and memorized whereas surrounding peripheral information are not
storage failure
forgetting if you dont access/use a memory, the memory will decay over time, less available for later retrieval
Hyperthymesia
Being able to possess an extremely detailed
autobiographical memory
Schema
Organized knowledge structure used for understanding and remembering; kind of mental model; framework
can be used to fill gaps in memory unless more specific information is provided
can be used to generate expectations for what is likely to be true in a situation
flashbulb memories
memories for important events in our lives that might feel different than regular events
Seem clearer, more vivid, more persistent, exceptionally detailed
even though the memories are compelling, not always as accurate as they seem
Flashbulb memories may be just like any other memories but seem different because they don’t decay and are often recalled/brought to mind or very unique so there are very few similar events to interfere with them
misinformation effect
Creation of false memories due to misleading information provided after the event
Source monitoring confusion
Confusion about the origin of the memory
Cryptomnesia
“hidden memory” – when a previously forgotten
memory goes unrecognized; mistakenly believe a thought/idea is new/original
Reality monitoring confusion
Confusion about whether we experienced or imagined an event
Memory (failure) phenomena
False memory (schema)
- Flashbulb
- Misinformation effect
- Source monitoring
- Reality monitoring
- Eyewitness testimony
Memory failure mechanisms
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Factors that influence false memories
-Schemas
-Misinformation
- Source-monitoring confusions
- Plausibility
- Suggestibility
Amnesia
Some form of memory loss
Retrograde Amnesia
Forget the past (things that have already happened), this is very uncommon
Anterograde Amnesia
Can’t learn new things, Caused by damage to the hippocampus, it is the most common type of amnesia
self-referential encoding
Encoding based on an event’s relation to our self-concept, which leads to enhanced memory for the event.
multistore model of memory
A model proposing that information flows from our senses through three storage levels in memory: sensory, short-term, and long-term
affective conditioning
A form of conditioning in which a previously neutral stimulus acquires positive or negative value
spacing effect
The enhanced ability to remember information when encoding is distributed over time
forgetting curve
The retention of information over various delay times.
tip of the tongue phenomenon
A failure to retrieve information despite confidence that it is stored in memory.
motivated forgetting
Willful forgetting of information so that it is less likely to be retrieved later
infantile amnesia
The inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories from the first few years of life.
reminiscence bump
A time of prominent memory making between adolescence and early adulthood
