Short-term Memory / Working Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

Who taught us of memory?

A
  • The patient H.M
    Had epilepsy surgery, where hippocampus got removed
  • Issues with his short term memory
  • Could have conversations
  • Could remember new information for a short time but could not store it in long-term memory
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2
Q

Visual Persistence

A

Of visual stimulus beyond its physical duration
- A subjective feeling
- Information can be gathered
Example: Duration of lightning

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3
Q

Iconic memory

A

Visual info in visual sensory memory
- A temporary buffer

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4
Q

Echoic memory

A

Auditory info in auditory sensory memory

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5
Q

What is the sensory register/memory?

A
  • Modalic memories stored in different sensory memory, for a very short time
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6
Q

What did partial report studies show?

A

Evidence that sensory info for a short time is available for further processing
- Around 4-5 items can be stored - span of apprehension
- Decays very quickly

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7
Q

How does partial report studies work?

A

Phase 1
1. Presentation of a matrix with random letters for a short time
Presentation of 12 letters
2. Which letters were in the previous display (whole report)?
Shows around 4-5 letters

Phase 2 - adding of tunes(cues) to specific rows
1. Presentation of a matrix followed by a cue
Added a delay to see how long the letters stays in memory
2. Which letters were in the cued column?

Without delay - 75% correct answer, more delay the less correct answers

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8
Q

Whole report condition

A

Report any letters the participants can

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9
Q

Partial report

A

Report the specific row the letters were in

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10
Q

Icon

A

The visual image that stay in our iconic memory

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11
Q

Decay

A

That memories fades away during the course of time
- Old idea
- Spontaneous

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12
Q

Interference

A

Forgetting is caused by intervening stimulation or mental processing
- Modern approach

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13
Q

Study by Averbach & Coriell*

A
  • Did a partial report study as well but with visual cues instead
  • Result; using circle as cues gave less accurate answers than using a rectangle
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14
Q

Backward masking

A

A later stimulus can drastically affect the perception of an earlier one
- A kind of interference

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15
Q

What is trans-saccadic memory?

A

The memory that comes from a series of eye movements
- Use of object files
Mental representations of individual objects
- Brain assumes objects are stable
Can miss changes very easily

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16
Q

Simple memory task*

A
  • To see what we can recall in our STM
    1. Listen to a series of words
    2. Recall them in the exact order of presentation - Serial recall
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17
Q

What is short-term memory span?

A

The longest list of items that a person can repeat back immediately after presentation, in correct order
- 50% of the trials

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18
Q

Is there a limited capacity in STM?

A
  • There is yeah
    Capacity is 7 +/- 2 (though this is arguably a bit too much)
  • Without chunking, 3-4 units
  • STM is the bottleneck in our information processing system
    We cant encode vast quantities of info AND hold it accurately
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19
Q

What is chunks?

A

A way for us to bypass capacity limits by grouping multiple items into a larger, meaningful unit
- A sort of strategy
- Categorising

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20
Q

Recoding

A

The technical term for grouping items together and then remembering the newly formed groups - The cognitive process
- 2 conditions for this though
1. Enough time or resources to apply a recording scheme
2. The scheme is well-learned from the get-go

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21
Q

Modern research on STM span*

A
  1. Presenting a memory array or sample display
    Number of different types of shapes or objects
  2. Presenting the test array or test object
    Is it different or the same?
    Was it in the sample display or not?
  • Familiarity with the objects
  • Time mattered
    Longer time step 1 was presented, time delay between step 1 and 2, how long it takes to answer etc
  • Localization
  • In hopes of avoiding people to chunk information
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22
Q

Free recall task*

A
  1. Listening to a series of words
  2. Recall the words in any order you wish
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23
Q

Primacy effect

A
  • Better memory for first items in a list
24
Q

Recency effect

A

Better memory for last items in a list

25
Q

Serial position curve

A

Goes down in the middle and then back up in the end
- Shows whats more likely to be remembered
- The accuracy

26
Q

Studies on primacy and recency effect*

A

Present a series of word with different length of time till the next word is presented
- Gives time to repeat in your mind
- Or add a light task in between
First items rehearsed and stored in LTM, most recent items still strongly activated in STM - shows that there are different processes involved in primacy and recency effects

27
Q

Stenberg Task - STM scanning*

A
  1. Presenting memory set
    1-6 letters or digits
  2. Indicate whether the probe was in the memory set
    Half of the trials the probe was in memory set, the other half it wasnt
28
Q

How does scanning and searching for probes work?

A
  • More interesting for Stenberg
  • He had 3 hypothesis
29
Q

Parallel search

A

All items in the memory set scanned at the same time
- Pop out- effect
- The number of digits and letters in memory set does not matter
- Not much supporting data for this

30
Q

Serial search - Self-terminanting

A

Items in the memory set scanned one by one and stopped when match is found
- 2 separate lines
- No supporting data

31
Q

Serial search - Exhaustive

A

Items in the memory set scanned one by one. The entire set gets scanned, even after match is found.
- Data for this was found, that pattern was found

However
- It can still be a parallel search

32
Q

Brown-Peterson task*

A

Testing if forgetting is due to decay

  1. Presented 3 letters
  2. Distractor task to prevent rehearsal
  3. Report the 3 letters

if step 2 was for 18s, 5% accuracy on step 3. Shorter time gave higher accuracy on correct answer

  • Maybe distractor task is the reason why?
33
Q

Probe digit task*

A
  1. Listening to a list of 16 words
    The last number is the probe
  2. Which digit followed the last digit when it was presented before?

Group 1: 16 seconds presentation time
Group 2: 4 seconds
Was there a difference between accurate answers? (if yes, then time matters)
- It was barely a difference

34
Q

Proactive interference

A

Previous, older material interferes with recall of current items

35
Q

Release from PI

A

Performance returns to higher level of accuracy
Trial 1-3 letters
Trial 4 digits

36
Q

Retroactive interference

A

Newer materials interferes backwards in time with your recollection of older items
- Especially when new and old information are similar

37
Q

Modified Brown-Peterson task*

A
  1. Memorize 5 words
  2. Distractor task between 2-32 seconds
  3. In which order were the following words presented?

Findings: Decline in memory with increasing recall interval, but at a slower rate than previous Brown-Peterson task

37
Q

What is working memory?

A
  • An augmentation to STM
  • Is used to perform tasks
  • Constructed by 3 types of modules
    Central executive
    Visuo-spatial sketchpad
    Phonological loop
  • They all got some sort of limited capacity
  • Alot of active mental processing
  • Presented by Baddeley
38
Q

Central executive

A

Controls the processing in the other two systems and make sure we can manipulate, maintain and update content of WM
- Attentional controller
- Heart of the WM

39
Q

Visuo-spatial Sketchpad

A

Involved in the memory of visual and/or spatial information
- Dissociation between visual memory and spatial memory
Double dissociation - proof
- Visual patterns test
- Corsi block tapping task

40
Q

Phonological loop

A

Involved in the memory of auditory, speech-based, information
Consists of two parts
Articulatory loop - Inner voice, active
Phonological store - Inner ear, passive
- The both work together

41
Q

Dual Task studies - WM*

A

Highlights that info processed in on system may not interfere with others
- Presents two tasks that interferes with different aspects of WM
Chess players + additional task= what impact does it have on chest players
- Involves storage and processing information

42
Q

Phonological similarity effect

A

List of words that sounds similar are more difficult to remember as compared to different words
- Gets confused in phonological store
- We use phonological information when remembering words

43
Q

Word-length effect

A

Longer words are more difficult to remember than shorter
- Longer words need more rehearsing
- Capacity of phonological loo is limited by the time words need to be rehearsed

44
Q

Articularity suppression effect

A

People have poorer memory of a set of words if they are asked to say something while trying to remember information
- Studying near people who are talking
- Not devastating effect on visual effect

45
Q

Mental rotation

A

Turning, rotating or spinning objects in WM
- People can make accurate judgements

46
Q

Boundary extension

A

Misremembering boundaries of a scene
- We often think we are further away
- WM adds in extra knowledge about the scene

47
Q

Representational momentum

A

Misremembering movements of an object, influenced by embodied aspects
- A ball went further on the screen than reality

48
Q

What can the central executive do?

A
  • Focusing of attention
  • Dividing attention between streams of information
  • Switching attention between tasks
  • Creating connections with LTM
  • Activates the other systems in WM
49
Q

Episodic Buffer

A
  • Added into the old model by Baddeley 2000
    It integrates information from STM with LTM
  • Connection between VS and PL and LTM
  • Storage of integrated episodes that are limited to specific time and location
    We often remember events in LTM
  • Limited capacity
    Holds episodes
50
Q

How can you measure WM capacity?

A
  1. Operation span task
  2. Reading span task
  3. N-back task
51
Q

Operation span task*

A
  1. Presenting a math task with a word afterwards
    Solving the math task
  2. Recall on the words

Number of items varies

52
Q

Operation span

A

Largest number of items for which the participant can report all items correctly on at least 50% of the trials
- Either same order or free recall(last words cant be said first)

53
Q

Working memory span task*

A

Simultaneous mental processing and storage of information in WM
- Read something out loud while remembering the capitalized words or the final words, and making sure its grammatically correct (reading span task)

54
Q

Reading span

A

Largest number of sentences for which the participant can report all final words correctly on at least 50% of all trials

55
Q

N-back task*

A

In this task, participants are presented with a series of stimuli, such as letters or numbers, and must indicate whether the current stimulus matches the one that occurred n items earlier in the sequence.
1-back Right after each others
2-back One letter in between probe