Unit 7: Memory Flashcards
Contrast explicit vs. implicit memories. (2)
Explicit (declarative): conscious memories you can intentionally recall like remembering the date of your mom’s birthday
Implicit (non-declarative): Unconscious memories that influence your behavior, like the ability to ride a bike even if you haven’t done it in years
What are the types of memory that fall under explicit and implicit? (2)
Explicit:
-semantic
-episodic
-prospective
Implicit:
-procedural memory
-priming
What is semantic memory (declarative)?
-Memory of general facts and concepts not tied to a specific time. For example, understanding that dogs are animals.
What is episodic memory (declarative)?
-Memory of personal experiences and specific events in your life. For example, recalling your last birthday party.
What is prospective memory?
-Remembering to do something in the future, like taking out the trash the next day
What is retrospectic memory?
Recalling info from the past, like what you ate for dinner last night
What are the steps within the memory process? (3)
-encoding
-storage
-retrieval
What happens during encoding, give an example. (2)
Concept: The process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory.
Example: When studying, repeating a phone number in your head to remember it.
What is active encoding? Example. (2)
Actively focusing on the information to encode it better.
Example: Creating flashcards to study for an exam.
What is selective attention? Example. (2)
Focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others.
Example: Listening to a lecture while ignoring background noise.
What is the cocktail party phenomenon? Example
Focusing on one conversation in a noisy environment.
Example: Hearing your name mentioned in a crowded room and immediately tuning into that conversation.
What is the levels of processing theory?
-How deeply information is processed affects how well it’s remembered.
What do information-processing theories propose are the three memory stores? (3)
- Sensory memory
- Short-term memory
- Long-term memory
What is short-term memory? Example. (2)
Temporary storage with limited capacity.
Example: Remembering a phone number just long enough to dial it.
What are STM limitations?
-Can typically hold 7 ± 2 items for about 20 seconds.
What is maintenance rehearsal? Example. (2)
Repeating information to keep it in STM.
Example: Repeating a grocery list to yourself until you write it down.
What are the four main components of working memory? (4)
- Phonological loop
- Visuospatial sketchpad
- Central Executive
- Episodic buffer
What is a phonological loop? Example (2)
-it stores verbal and auditory information
Example: When you try to remember a phone number by repeating it to yourself until you can dial it, you’re using the phonological loop.
What is a visuospatial sketchpad? Example (2)
- Handles visual and spatial information, like images and the layout of spaces.
Example: If someone asks you to describe the layout of your living room or mentally rotate a shape, you’re using the visuospatial sketchpad.
What is the central executive? Example? (2)
-Acts as the control center that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, as well as manages attention, planning, and problem-solving.
If you’re trying to solve a math problem in your head, the central executive directs your attention, decides whether to use the phonological loop for remembering numbers or the visuospatial sketchpad for visualizing parts of the problem, and manages the steps of the solution process.
What is the episodic buffer? Example. (2)
Integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory into a single, coherent episode. It also provides a bridge between working memory and long-term memory.
Example: When you’re trying to recall a story you’ve read, the episodic buffer helps you bring together the visual imagery, the sequence of events, and the words used to describe the story.
What is clustering? Example. (2)
Organizing information into related groups or categories.
Example: When trying to remember a grocery list, you might group items by category (fruits, vegetables, dairy)
What are hierarchical relations? Example (2)
Information is organized in a hierarchy from general to specific categories.
Example: In biology, “animal” is a general category, under which you have more specific categories like “mammals,” and under mammals, even more specific categories like “dogs” and “cats.”
What are schemas? Example? (2)
Mental frameworks that help organize and interpret information based on previous experiences and knowledge.
Example: If you have a schema for “restaurant,” you might expect certain things: a menu, waitstaff, a bill at the end. Schemas help you quickly make sense of new information.
What are semantic networks? Example. (2)
A network of related concepts stored in your memory, where each concept (or node) is connected to others.
Example: The word “dog” might be connected to related concepts like “pet,” “bark,” and “fur.” Thinking of one concept can trigger the recall of related ones. This is called spreading activation
Describe the connectionist models/networks idea using an example.
-Think of memory like a web. Each piece of information is a point on the web, and the connections between them represent associations.
What is retrieval?
-accessing stored information, like trying to recall the name of your first-grade teacher
What are retrieval cues?
-stimuli that help you recall information, like a smell reminding you of someone
What are context clues useful for?
-the context in which you learned something helps you retrieve it
What is the misinformation effect? Example. (2)
when a person’s memory of an event is altered by exposure to incorrect or misleading information after the event has taken place
Example: Peoples stories around 9/11 changing
What is source monitoring, example? (2)
Determining the origin of a memory
Example: You remember learning about a new restaurant from a friend, but later you’re unsure whether you read about it online or heard about it from your friend
What is retention and recall? Example. (2)
Retention is the ability to access and use information stored in long-term memory. Recall is a measure of retention that involves retrieving information without external cues.
If you are asked to list the items you bought at the grocery store without looking at your receipt, and you successfully remember and list them, you are demonstrating recall.
Retention: Imagine you studied for a biology exam last week. The fact that you still remember the material today and can understand it when you see it again (even if you don’t actively think about it every day) is an example of retention.
What is the forgetting curve and what does it show over time? (2)
-illustrates how info is lost over time when there is not attempt to retain it
-memory retention decreases rapidly shortly after learning then levels off
What is a retention interval? Example (2)
The period between learning information and being tested on it.
Example: If you study for an exam and take it a week later, the retention interval is one week.
What is decay theory? Example. (2)
Suggests that memories fade over time due to the natural deterioration of memory traces.
Example: If you haven’t used a phone number in years, you might forget it because the memory trace has weakened.
What is interference theory? Example?
Proposes that forgetting occurs because new or old memories interfere with the retrieval of other information.
Learning a new phone number might make it harder to remember your old one or vice versa
What are false memories?
-recollections of events that did not actually occur or are distorted versions of actual events
What is hindsight bias? Example. (2)
The tendency to believe, after learning the outcome of an event, that one would have predicted or expected the outcome beforehand.
Example: After a sports team loses a game, a person might say they “knew it all along” that the team would lose, even though they didn’t predict it beforehand.
What is retrograde amnesia? Think retro
-A type of amnesia where a person loses memories of events that occurred before the onset of amnesia. The ability to form new memories might remain intact.
What is anterograde amnesia?
-A type of amnesia where a person is unable to form new memories after the onset of amnesia. Existing memories from before the onset are usually intact.
