Short Term and Working Memory Flashcards
Exam 2
What is Memory?
Processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about images, events, and ideas after the original information is no longer present.
Atkinson and Shiffrin Modal Model of Memory
Contained Sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory
Sensory memory
Initial stage that holds all incoming information for a very short amount of time
Short-term memory
Holds five to seven items for about 15 to 20 seconds
Long-term memory
Holds a large amount of information for a very long time
What did the Modal model of memory show?
how incoming information can go through the different stages of memory
Control processes
Active processes that can be controlled by the person (Ex: Rehearsal)
Rehearsal
A controlled process that is through repeating a certain thing to help remember it (Ex: a phone number)
Information in sensory memory decays __________
very quickly
Persistence of vision
Retention of the perception of light (trail of light from a moving sparkler)
We see motion because we have ________
sensory memory
What did Sperling measure? *
The capacity and duration of sensory memory
How did Sperling measure this? *
An array of letters flashed quickly on a screen; participants were asked to report as many as possible
Whole report method
Participants were asked to report as many as could be seen; an average of 4.5/12
Partial report method
Participants heard tone that told them which row of letters to report; Average 3.3/4 letters
Why did the partial report method yield better results?
It is a smaller response set
Delayed Partial report method
The presentation of tone was delayed for a fraction of a second after the letters were extinguished
How was performance with the delayed partial report?
It decreased rapidly when the delay was longer
Iconic Memory
Brief sensory memory of the things that we see
How long is an iconic memory?
250-500 ms
What is the iconic memory responsible for?
The persistence of vision
Echoic memory
Brief sensory memory of the things that we head
How long is an echoic memory?
2-4 seconds
What is the echoic memory responsible for?
Persistence of sound
Measuring the duration of short-term memory in the MODAL MODEL OF MEMORY; How did performance differ between 3-18 seconds
- Read three letters, then a three-digit number
- Begin counting backward by threes
- After a set time, recall all three letters
3 seconds was 80%
18 seconds was 10%
Digit span
How many digits a person can remember; typically five to eight
What is chunking?
small units can be combined into larger meaningful units
What did Ericsson and coworkers do?
Trained a college student with an average memory to use chunking
What did Chase and Simon do for memory?
They did memory for chess pieces on a board
What was the conclusion of Chase and Simon’s chess experiment?
Not being able to chunk can create a large loss of memory
Working memory
Limited-capacity system for temporary storage and manipulating of information for complex tasks
Differences between working memory and STM (2)
- STM holds information for a brief time
- WM is concerned with the storage and manipulation of information
What is in the phonological loop?
Verbal and auditory information (similar to rehearsal loop)
What is in the visuospatial sketch pad?
Visual and spatial information
What did Brooks do with memory?
Memorize sentence and then consider each word (mentally); the response is a yes if it is a noun or no if it is a verb; CONDUCTING TWO VERBAL TASKS OVERLOADED THE PHONOLOGICAL LOOP
What did Brooks find?
If the task and the response are on the same WM component, performance is much worse
Phonological similarity effect
Letters or words that sound similar are confused
Word length effect
Memory for lists of words is better for short words than long words; takes longer to rehearse long words
Articulatory suppression
Speaking prevents one from rehearsing items to be remembered
What are the most common effects of articulatory suppression? (3)
- Reduces memory span
- Eliminates word length
- Reduces phonological similarity effect for reading words
Creation of visual images in the mind in the absence of a physical visual stimulus accurately represents ___________
the Visuospatial Sketch Pad
Shepard and Metzler brought to life the
Mental rotation task
The central executive
acts as the ATTENTION CONTROLLER; focus, divide, and switch attention
What is the episodic buffer?
Where the information that doesn’t fit in other categories go; BACKUP store
The prefrontal cortex is responsible for incoming _________________and _________________ information
Visual and auditory
What did Funashi and Coworkers do to monkeys?
Took single-cell recordings from a monkey’s prefrontal cortex in delayed-response task.
What did the monkey experiment measure?
The duration of the working memory
How does a neuron firing reflect memory?
As long as the neuron keeps firing, memory will stay active
If a delay is too long, _______________
The monkey’s neuron would stop firing and memory would be lost
What did Stokes conclude about neuronal networks?
Information is stored in short-term changes in neuronal networks
Active-state
Information to be remembered causes neurons to be FIRED
Synaptic state
Neuron firing STOPS, but connections between neurons are strengthened
Input activates the ________
Neurons
The synaptic state activates the _______
Connections
High capacity WM individuals were less/more effective at ignoring distractors
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