Q2 - WM, Ep/Sem, Skill/proced Flashcards
STM/WM, episodic/semantic memory
Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory Model
- input
- sensory memory (visual/auidoty/haptic)
- attention
- STM
- control processes (rehearsal/encoding/retrieval strategies) - LTM
LTM systems
- Declarative/Explicit (Chapter 7)
–Semantic
–Episodic - Non-declarative/Procedural/Implicit/Skill Memory (Chapter 8)
these are learned through repetition, apparently infinite capacity, stored knowledge not currently “in mind”
sensory memory characteristics
- One for each sense
- Very large storage
- Extremely rapid decay (~1s) and rapidly over-written by new incoming sensory information
- Transfers to STM
sensory memories
brief, transient sensations of what you have just perceived
sensory memory capacity approaches (2)
- total recall
- Sperling’s partial report technique
total recall
- Present grid of letters for ~300 ms, too short to transfer to STM
- Have participants write letters recalled
- Typically 3 letters
Problem: store fades before letters can be written
Sperling’s partial report technique
- Have participants only report 1 row, signaled by a tone after presentation
- Again, only 3 letters - but 3 letters from any given row!
Suggests sensory store holds a complete snapshot of the world, but that it fades very rapidly
STM characteristics
- Multimodal (general for senses)
- Small capacity
- Quick decay (<1 min) and over-writing
- Rehearsal – preserves info in STM
- Transfer to/from LTM
STM vs LTM
STM
- active contents of consciousness
- rapid access
- limited capacity
- forgotten quickly
LTM
- not currently in consciousness
- slower access
- unlimited capacity
- forgotten slowly
LTM is constrained by STM/WM
STM capacity - digit span
- Read list of numbers, subjects repeat
- Increase list length until error is made
- Big component of many IQ measures
Miller: 7 plus or minus 2 (but 5 is the mode in normal humans)
capacity and meaning
When lists are meaningful, same length can be held in memory despite much more information being present.
5 to 9 “chunks”
chunks
5 to 9 pieces of information/units of meaning
recoding/chunking
finding meaning in information being stored in STM
- Recode random numbers (14921941) into meaningful years: 1492, 1941
- Depends on having meaningful chunks available
rehearsal
repeating information mentally to maintain attention
- Attention determines duration – stop paying attention, lose the information
WM
workspace for the mind
- It collects sensory input, activates relevant LTMs, and transforms information to suit current needs.
WM component parts (3)
- Phonological loop – inner voice
- Sketchpad – inner eye (imagining)
- Central executive – attention
phonological loop
repeating info mentally - rehearsal
- stores about 2 s of autitory info
Word-length effect
less capacity to memorize lists of multi-syllable words compared to single-syllable words
- Those who speak faster can rehearse longer lists of words
Visual-Spatial Sketchpad
Holds both visual and spatial information for manipulation (the mind’s eye)
- Limited capacity, but capacity is independent from phonological loop (filling one doesn’t impact the other)
central executive
The working part of your mind; monitors and manipulates working memory buffers - manipulation of remembered information.
- Exerts cognitive control over behavior; providing complex organization in response to environmental demands
- The most important component of working memory, but also the least understood
Central Executive and Cognitive Control tasks
- self-ordered memory task - choose an item not yet selected
- Hanoi tower
- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test - learn a rule governing the sorting of cards (e.g., by color).
- After they catch on, however, the rule is changed (e.g., by shape), requiring an updating of memory and behavior - stroop test