The Big Six 5 Memory and Forgetting Flashcards
Components of Long-Term Memory (LTM):
LTM is conceptualized as consisting of Procedural and Declarative components (Tulving, 1986).
Long-Term Memory: Procedural Memory
Procedural memory stores information about how to do things (“learning how”) and is used to acquire, retain, and employ perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills and habits.
Long-Term Memory: Declarative Memory
Declarative memory mediates the acquisition of facts and other information (“learning that or what”) and is further subdivided into semantic and episodic memory.
Declarative Memory: Semantic Memory
Semantic memory includes general knowledge that is independent of any context and is responsible for the storage of facts, rules, and concepts.
Declarative Memory: Episodic Memory
Episodic (autobiographical) Memory consists of information about events that have been personally experienced. Flashbulb memories (vivid, detailed images of what one was doing at the time a dramatic event occurred) are stored in episodic memory. Episodic memory is affected more by normal aging than are semantic and procedural memory.
Implicit Memory (Procedural Memory) is an aspect of LTM
Implicit Memory is automatic. The Basal Ganglia and Cerebellum are important for implicit memory (e.g., Krupa, Thompson, &Thompson, 1993).
Explicit Memory (Declarative Memory) is an aspect of LTM
Explicit Memory requires conscious recollection. The hippocampus and frontal lobes seem to mediate explicit memory (e.g., Krupa, Thompson, &Thompson, 1993).
Prospective Memory (another component of LTM)
Some investigators identify Prospective Memory as another component of LTM that is responsible for the capacity to remember to do things in the future (i.e., to “remember to remember”). Research investigating the effects of aging on prospective memory has found that, while older adults often do less well than younger adults on measures of prospective memory under controlled conditions, in naturalistic settings, they often do better, apparently because they’re more likely to make use of external aides such as lists and calendars (e.g., Maylor, 1990).
Attention and Memory
The research has confirmed a strong relationship between attention and memory. For example, the studies have found that the ability to maintain attention in the presence of distractions accounts for the difference between individuals with good versus poor working memory (Engle, 2002). The relationship between attention and memory is addressed in the multi-component model, filter theory, and feature-integration theory.
MULTI-COMPONENT MODEL/BADELEY AND HITCH (brief description)
According to the multi-component model, working memory consists of a central executive and three subsystems – the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer. The central executive is the primary component of working memory and serves as an “attentional control system.” It’s responsible for directing attention to relevant information, suppressing irrelevant information, and coordinating the three subsystems.
MEMORY, According to Researchers involve 3 processes
Researchers interested in memory describe it as involving three processes:
(a) Encoding is the translation of incoming stimuli into a code that can be processed by the brain. Although encoding is often automatic, it is more effective when it involves deliberate rehearsal.
(b) Storage is the process of maintaining information in memory. Storage can be disrupted by several factors including retroactive and proactive interference (described below) and brain trauma.
(c) Retrieval refers to the recovery of stored information. Retrieval is facilitated by the use of retrieval cues.
