Short Term and Working Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
The ability to encode, store and retrieve info
-term for structuring and processing involved in encoding and retrieval
How does memory help us operate in the present?
By connecting us to the past and future -> need this in order to know what to do in the present
Memory and learning
Memory cannot be separated from learning, in order for learning to happen you have to remember something
Recognition vs. Recall
Recognition: multiple choice test, answer is in front of you and you have to recognize it
Recall: short answer test: you have to come up with the answer on your own by recalling it
Two types of recall?
Free recall: Don’t get any help whatsoever. (Ex. digit span task- just remember as many numbers as you can)
Cued recall: Given a hint or retrieval cue (Ex. Paired-associate: given two words and then later shown one of the words and have to recall the word that was paired with it)
What is the lab approach to studying memory?
-Do a test in a lab
Focus: control all the extraneous variables to ensure internal validity (standard lab experiment)
Ex. Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables so that people weren’t remembering based on meaning
What is the ecological approach to studying memory?
Focus: people use memory for functions, so it should have external validity and be studied in real life situations
Ex) children and clock-checking
Ex) Bahrick and school learning (first 6 years after learning language in high school, language skill dropped dramatically. Then hit plateau and there was no more loss over the next 20 years. Then declines slowly
Encoding
Rehearsal: 2 types
Maintenance: repeat over and over again
Elaborative: elaborate on info that you are repeating, add context
Encoding
Visual images
if you change something into visual image, can encode it better
Encoding
Self-reference
If you can relate it to yourself, will remember it better
Encoding
Generating information
if you can create information by asking questions, you will remember it better
Encoding
Importance of Organizing
chunk stuff into groups and see how groups are connected. Helps you encode things
Encoding
Survival value
Come into world ready to remember certain things related to our survival (ex. notice snakes in video but not shoes –> amygdala senses danger)
Encoding
Retrieval practice
The more you can practice retrieving something, that will help
3 places where memory is stored
Sensory memory- comes in through senses
Working memory- work on it and hold it
Long term- commit it to long term memory
Retrieval techniques
-Retrieval Cues
something associated with info in your long term memory, retrieval cue causes you to automatically retrieve that memory whether you meant to or not
Retrieval techniques
-Encoding Specificity
Encode memory in an environment, easier to also retrieve that memory in the same environment
Retrieval techniques
-State Dependent Learning
If you are in certain mood when you encode something, retrieving it will be easier when you are in that mood again
Retrieval techniques
-Transfer appropriate learning
Refers to what you are doing. If the kind of cognitive processing you are involved in is the same in encoding and retrieving, this is better
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
Memory involves control processes: active processes controlled by the person. Ex) rehearsal
Before we can remember something, it has to be brought back into our short term memory
Sensory memory
encoding, storage, and retrieval of sensory information
-fills in the time between blinks
What were George Sperling’s 3 techniques to studying sensory memory?
Wanted to know how much info people can take in from a briefly presented stimuli.
Whole report method
Partial report method
Delayed partial report method
What was the Whole Report Method?
How much info you can take in in a moment
Saw letters in rows really quickly and had to say what letters they saw
Problem: felt like they couldn’t get the answer out fast enough, so results may not show everything they remembered
-33%
Partial Report Method
Saw letters in rows again, but this time an arrow indicates which row they need to recite
-much better accuracy (75%)
Delayed Partial Report Method
Saw letters in row, and an arrow indicated which row they had to recite. But the arrow was delayed in appearing by 1 second
- 25%
- because immediately after a stimulus is presented, most of all is available for perception b/c this is sensory memory. But over the next second, this fades
What is short term memory?
A storage device that keeps small amounts of information for a brief period of time
-everything you are currently aware of in present moment
