Psychology - memory Flashcards
Define the information-processing approach.
The information processing approach is a framework used to understand how humans perceive, process, store, and retrieve information. This approach likens the human mind to a computer, where information is input, processed through various cognitive operations, and then output as a response
What are the components of the information processing approach?
- Sensory Input: Information from the environment is received through the senses.
Encoding: The sensory input is transformed into a form that can be processed and stored. - Storage: Information is retained in the memory system for later use. This can involve short-term memory (working memory) and long-term memory.
- Retrieval: Stored information is accessed when needed.
- Processing: The mental operations involved in understanding, analyzing, and manipulating information, such as attention, perception, and decision-making.
What is a cue?
A trigger for you to remember a specific piece of information.
What is short-term memory?
Short-term memory (STM) is a type of memory that temporarily holds a limited amount of information for a brief period, typically around 20 to 30 seconds. STM has a limited capacity, usually able to store about 7±2 items at once. Information in short-term memory can be transferred to long-term memory through processes like rehearsal and encoding.
What is sensory register?
The sensory register (or sensory memory) is the initial stage of memory that captures and briefly holds sensory information from the environment. It retains this information just long enough for it to be processed and transferred to short-term memory.
What are the stages from sensory input to long-term memory?
- Sensory Input: Information from the environment is received through the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell).
- Sensory Register: This initial stage briefly holds the sensory information for a fraction of a second (visual) to a few seconds (auditory). It allows for the perception of a continuous experience.
- Attention: Attention filters the sensory information, selecting the relevant pieces to be processed further. Only information that is attended to moves to the next stage.
- Short-Term Memory (STM): Also known as working memory, this stage temporarily holds and manipulates information for about 20 to 30 seconds. STM has a limited capacity, typically around 7±2 items.
- Encoding: The process of transforming information into a form that can be stored in long-term memory. This can involve various strategies, such as repetition (rehearsal), chunking, and elaboration.
- Long-Term Memory (LTM): Information that is successfully encoded is transferred to long-term memory, where it can be stored for extended periods, from hours to a lifetime. LTM has a vast capacity and includes explicit (declarative) memory, like facts and events, and implicit (procedural) memory, like skills and habits.
- Retrieval: The process of accessing and bringing stored information from long-term memory back into conscious awareness, where it can be used in working memory.
What is a multi-store model of memory?
The multi-store model of memory, describes memory as consisting of four stages: input sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM). Sensory memory briefly captures sensory input, STM holds a limited amount of information for a short period, and LTM stores information for extended periods, potentially a lifetime.
Define explicit memory.
The conscious recollection of facts or experiences that have been encountered in the past.
What are the factors of LTM?
- explicit memory
- implicit memory
What is episodic memory?
A part of explicit memory: Stores personal experiences that have happened at a particular time and place in the past.
What is semantic memory?
A part of explicit memory: Stores facts or general information encountered in your implicit memory (e.g. bank pin).
What is gist memory?
Where the main points of an event or story are recalled.
Define implicit memory.
The type of long-term memory that is acquired and used unconsciously. It includes skills and conditioned responses, such as riding a bike, typing on a keyboard, or reacting to a stimulus. Implicit memory is not based on conscious recollection but on automatic processes and learned habits.
Define forgetting.
The loss of information once it is stored in the LTM.
What is the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve?
The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve is a graph that illustrates the rate at which information is forgotten over time if there is no attempt to retain it. The curve shows that memory retention declines sharply after initial learning and then gradually levels off. According to Ebbinghaus’s research, individuals can forget about 50% of newly learned information within an hour, 70% within a day, and 90% within a month without reinforcement or rehearsal. This curve highlights the importance of review and practice in improving long-term memory retention.
