Study unit 4.1 Human Memory

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.

Question 2

Structural encoding

Answer 2

Shallow processing. Emphasis is on the physical structure of the stimulus. Registers how words are printed or their length.

Question 3

Phonemic encoding

Answer 3

Intermediate processing. Emphasis is on what a word sounds like. Naming or saying the words.

Question 4

Semantic encoding

Answer 4

Deep processing. Emphasis is on the meaning of verbal input. Thinking about the objects and actions the words present.

Question 5

Levels-of-processing theory

Answer 5

Proposes that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes.

Question 6

Elaboration

Answer 6

Semantic encoding enhanced through the linking of a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding.

Question 7

Visual imagery

Answer 7

The creation of visual images to represent words to be remembered, with concrete objects being easier to remember than abstract objects.

Question 8

Dual-coding theory (Allan Paivio)

Answer 8

Memory is enhanced by forming both semantic and visual codes since either can lead to recall.

Question 9

Motivation to remember

Answer 9

When high at the time of encoding, people are more likely to exert extra effort to attend to and organize information in ways that facilitate future recall, because the information is perceived to be important.

Question 10

Sensory memory

Answer 10

Preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second. It allows the sensation of a visual pattern, sound or touch to linger for a brief moment after the sensory stimulation is over. (afterimage)

Question 11

Short-term memory

Answer 11

A limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to 20 seconds, but can be held longer through rehearsal.

Question 12

Chunks

Answer 12

A group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit, and increasing the capacity of short-term memory.

Question 13

Working memory (Alan Baddeley)

Answer 13

A modular system for temporary storage and manipulation of information.

Question 14

Phonological loop (WM component)

Answer 14

When using recitation to temporarily hold onto a phone number. Evolved to foster the acquisition of langauge.

Question 15

Visuospatial sketchpad (WM component)

Answer 15

Temporarily hold and manipulate visual images. Mentally rearanging furniture.

Question 16

Central executive system (WM component)

Answer 16

Controls the deployment of attention, switching the focus of attention and dividing attention, as needed.

Question 17

Episodic buffer (WM component)

Answer 17

A temporary, limited capacity store that allows the various components of WM to integreate information and that serves as an interface between WM and long-term memory.

Question 18

Working memory capacity

Answer 18

One’s ability to hold and manipulate information in conscious attention. High WMC individuals tend to let their mind wander from the task at hand when the attentional demmands are modest, but are better at staying focused when needed.

Question 19

Long-term memory

Answer 19

An unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthly periods of time and are durable.

Question 20

Flashbulb memories

Answer 20

Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.

Question 21

Conceptual hierarchy (Gordon Bower)

Answer 21

Multilevel classification system based on common properties among items.

Question 22

Schema

Answer 22

Organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event.

Question 23

Semantic networks

Answer 23

Nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts.

Question 24

Tip-of-the tongue phenomenon

Answer 24

Temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by the feeling that it is out of reach.

Question 25

Misinformation effect

Answer 25

When participants’ recall of an event they witnessed is altered by introducing misleading post-event information.

Question 26

Source monitoring

Answer 26

Process of making inferences about the origins of memories.

Question 27

Marcia Johnson

Answer 27

Source monitoring is a crucial facet of memory retrieval that contributes to many of the mistakes that people make in reconstructing their experiences. Memories do not have labels indicating their origins, so individuals have to make a decision at the time of retrieval about the origin.

Question 28

Source-monitoring error

Answer 28

When a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source.

Question 29

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer 29

The first person to conduct scientific studies of forgetting. He studied himself as the only subject and to give himself a lot of material to memorize he invented nonsense syllables, as these meaningless words will be uncontaminated by his previous learning. He concluded that most forgetting occurs rapidly after learning something.

Question 30

Nonsense syllables

Answer 30

Consonant-vowel-consonant arrangements that do not correspond to words.

Question 31

Forgetting curve

Answer 31

Graphs retention and forgetting over time.

Question 32

Recall

Answer 32

Reproduce information on your own without cues

Question 33

Recognition

Answer 33

Select previously learned information from an array of options.

Question 34

Relearning

Answer 34

Memorize information a second time to dertemine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before.

Question 35

Pseudoforgetting

Answer 35

May only appear to be forgetting, since you cannot really forget something you have never learned. People actually fail to encode information and is usually attributable to lack of attention.

Question 36

Decay theory

Answer 36

Forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time.

Question 37

Interference theory

Answer 37

People forget information because of competition from other material and is assumed to be greatest when this material is most similar to the test material.

Question 38

Retroactive interference

Answer 38

New information impairs the retention of previously learned information. It occurs between the original learning and retest on that learning.

Question 39

Proactive interference

Answer 39

Previously learned information impairs the retention of new information. Rooted in learning that comes before exposure to test material.

Question 40

Retrieval failures

Answer 40

A mismatch exists between retrieval cues and the encoding of the information searched for.

Question 41

Tulving & Thompson

Answer 41

A good retrieval cue is consistent with the original encoding of information to be recalled. If the phonemic quality of information was emphasised during encoding, an effective retrieval cue should emphasise the sound of the word.

Question 42

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 42

The value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code.

Question 43

Sigmund Frued - motivated forgetting

Answer 43

People keep embaressing, unpleasant or painful memories buried in their unconsciousness. He theorized that the memories were there all along, but their retrieval were blocked by unconscious avoidance tendencies.

Question 44

Repression

Answer 44

Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.