Unit 7a Flashcards
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information
Russian journalist S
Amazing memory
Recall up to 70 digits when avg human can only recall 7 maybe 9
To remember any event three things must happen
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Encoding
The processing of information into the memory system
Ex extracting meaning
Storage
The retention of encoded information over time
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage
Connectionism
Views memories as emerging from interconnected neural networks
Order of memory chain
Record to be remembered info as fleeting sensory memory
Then process into short term to encode for rehearsal
Then finally into long term for retrieval
Sensory memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system
Short term memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten
Working memory
A newer understanding of short term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual spatial information, and of information retrieved from long term memory
Parallel processing
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously, the brains natural mode of information processing for many functions
Automatic processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information
What do we automatically process
Space
Time
Frequency
Well learned information (language)
Effortful processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effect
Rehearsal
The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage
Ebbinghaus
Study his own learning
List of syllables
More frequently repeated, fewer repetitions to relearn
Spacing effect
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
Massed practice
Produce speedy short term learning and feelings of confidence
Distributed study time
Produces long term recall
Testing effect
Repeated quizzing of previously studied material
Serial position effect
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list
Recency effect
Last items still in working memory so recall because recent
A primacy effect
After a delay and shift from the last items their recall is best for the first items
T or F, we don’t recall literal text, but what we encoded
True
Visual encoding
The encoding of picture images
Acoustic encoding
The encoding of sound, like sound of words
Semantic encoding
The encoding of meaning, like meaning of words
Which encoding worked better?
Semantic encoding -deeper processing, produces better irecognition than shallow processing like visual and acoustic
What does amount remembered depend on
Time spent learning and on making it meaningful
Self reference effect
Remember stuff more when it if referenced to ourselves
Imagery
Mental pictures, a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially with semantic encoding
Rosy retrospection
Recalling the high points while forgetting the mundane may explain it
Mnemonic
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units often occurs automatically
Encoding hierarchy
Encoding (auto or effort)
Into meaning, imagery, organization,
Then organization into chunks, and hierarchies
Iconic memory
A momentary sensory memory or visual stimuli, a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Echoing memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli, if attention is elsewhere sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
Short term memory capacity limit is called
Magic number seven, plus or minus two, can typically only store that many bits of info
T or F, at any given moment , we can consciously process only a very limited amount of information
True
T or F, Our capacity for storing long term memory is essentially limitless
true
T or F, Memories reside in specific, precise spots
False, we do not store memories in single specific spots
Long term potentiation
An increase in a synapses firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory
What evidence supports that LTP is a physical basis for memory
Drugs that block LTP interfere with learning
When given LTP enhancing drug, rats learn a maze with half the usual mistakes
When injected with chemical that blocks LTP preservation, it erases recent learning
Glutamate
neurotransmitter boosts memory and enhances synaptic communication (LTP)
CREB
Protein that can turn genes on or off which enables LTP
Trauma hormone for LTP
Emotions in flashbulb memory
What effect can traumatic events have on memory
Can be seated into brain, traumatic experiences can be remembered forever
Flashbulb memory
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
What does prolonged stress do
The stress can act like acid, corroding neural connections and shrinking the hippocampus
Amnesia
The loss of memory
H. M
Brain area involved in laying new conscious memories of facts and experiences was removed
Became skilled at tracing mirror outline, but no recall of learning skill
Implicit memory
Non declarative Retention independent of conscious recollection Procedural Motor skills Classical conditioning Processed by cerebellum
Explicit memories
Declarative
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know
Personal experience events
Processed in hippocampus
Hippocampus
A neural center that is located in the limb Jc system, helps process explicit memories for storage
Damage to left hippo
People have trouble remembering verbal information but they can recall visual designs and location
Right hippo campus damage
People have trouble remembering visual designs and location but they can recall verbal information
Hippocampus is active during
Slow wave sleep as memories are processed and filed later for retrieval
Hippo is a loading dock
Infantile amnesia
The implicit reaction and skills we learned during infancy reach far into our future yet as adults we recap nothing of our first three years
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill in the blank test
Recognizing
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple choice test
Relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saves when learning material for a second time
Retrieval cues
Anchor points you can use to access the target information when you want to retrieve it later
Priming
The activation often unconsciously of particular associations in memory
Invisible memory without explicit remembering
How does context affect memory retrieval
Putting yourself back in the context where you experiences something can prime your memory retrieval
Déjà vu
That eerie sense that I’ve experienced this before. Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience
How is emotion a retrieval cue
Emotions can later prime us to recall its associated events
State dependance memory
What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state
Mood congruent
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with ones current good or bad moods
AJ, Jill price
Can remember everything since she was 14
Three sins of forgetting
Absent mindedness-in attention to details leads to encoding failure
Transcience-storage decay over time
Blocking-inaccessibility of stored information
Three sins of distortion
Misattribution-confusing source of information
Suggestibility-lingering effects of misinformation
Bias-belief colored recollection
One sin of intrusion
Persistence-unwanted memories
Who discovered the forgetting curve
Ebbinghaus
Forgetting curve
Course of forgetting is initially rapid and then levels off with time. Explanation for this is the gradual fading of the physical memory trace
Three reasons memories and forgotten events can’t be found
They weren’t encoded
Stored memories decayed
Or they are inaccessible because don’t have enough info to retrieve them
Proactive interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new info
Forward acting
Retroactive interference
The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
Backward acting
Positive transfer
Old information can facilitate our learning of new info, knowing Latin can help learning French
What is the way to remember proactive and retroactive
PORN
Who proposed we repress painful memories
Signing Freud
Repress
In psychoanalytic theory
The basic defense mechanism that vanishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
T or F, we don’t just retrieve memories, we reweave them
True
What did Elizabeth loftus do
Showed the traffic incident, those who asked smashed instead of hit said they went faster
Misinformation effect
Incorporating misleading information into ones memory of an event
Imagination inflation
Repeatedly imagining nonexistent actions and events can create false memories
Jean Piaget
A nursemaid thwarting his kidnapping was actually false
Source amnesia
Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined
What are the hearts of many false memories
Source amnesia and misinformation effect
Difference between memories of experience and imagination
Experience memories have more detail than imagined
Imagined are restricted to the gist of the event-associated meanings and feelings. False memories sometimes outlast true ones
Cognitive interview technique
Asks witness to visualize scene
Then witness recalls event without interruption
Then the detective can ask evocative questions
Can children be accurate eyewitnesses
Yes, if questioned about their experiences in neutral words that they understand, then they can accurately recall what happened
Those committed to protecting abused children and wrongly accused agree on the following
Sexual abuse happens Injustice happens Forgetting happens Recovered memories are common place Before age 3 unreliable Hypnosis/drug unreliable mems Real or false mems can be upsetting
What happened to Elizabeth loftus
Told she found her mom drowned face down, actually her aunt did
She was molested by babysitter
Memory improving suggestions
Study repeatedly Make the material meaningful Activate retrieval cues Use mnemonic devices Minimize interference Sleep more Test your own knowledge
