Video Module 13: Memory Encoding

Question 1

How can rehearsal help us encode or maintain information?

Answer 1

• maintenance rehearsal: repeating info to refresh it in our short-term store; not adding any additional info or making connections to previously encoded info
• elaborative rehearsal: developing connections between what you’re rehearsing and the info you already know; more connections = easier to retrieve later

Elaborative rehearsal is more effective than maintenance rehearsal at encoding information

Question 2

serial position effects

Answer 2

common patterns amongst participant accuracy during recall tests
- occur when participants are asked to recall a series of items (hence serial position)

Question 3

primacy effect

Answer 3

participants’ tendency to recall the first items on a list
- first items get stored in long-term memory
- diminished by decreasing exposure time to items: reduces rehearsal time in WM which means info may not be able to make it to LTM
- not affected by disrupting WM

Question 4

recency effect

Answer 4

participants’ tendency to recall the last items—the most recent items they were exposed to—from a list
- more recent items are available in working memory
- eliminated by disrupting working memory: e.g. asking participants to read a passage after viewing the list of items
- not affected by limiting exposure

Question 5

What does depth of processing have to do with learning?

Answer 5

The most important factor in trying to learn information is depth of processing. Intention to learn does not have as much of a significant impact.

Question 6

intentional learning

Answer 6

learning while intentionally trying to commit information to memory
- more effective than incidental learning during shallow processing, but not more effective than incidental learning with deep processing

Question 7

incidental learning

Answer 7

learning while unintentionally trying to commit information to memory

Question 8

What is an example of how depth of processing affects memory?

Answer 8

Participants in a study were asked to remember a series of words from a task in which they made judgements about the words. Participants were best at remembering words that were paired with questions that required deeper processing.
1. deepest processing: semantic judgement
2. medium processing: phonological judgement
3. shallow processing: orthographical judgement

Question 9

mnemonics

Answer 9

methods for remembering information which impose a structure or organization on disorganized material
- often rely on mental imagery
- the downside of mnemonics is that they require a lot of attentional resources, and they tend to work better with list-like information

Question 10

method of loci

Answer 10

a mnemonic which relies on using a path or route which you know very well
- if you’re trying to memorize a list of items or a speech, picture each item at a point along the path you choose
- once you mentally travel the path, you are able to recall the items you’ve placed along the way

Question 11

peg-word system

Answer 11

a mnemonic which requires visual imagery and a common rhyme with items that can be used as “peg-words”
- for each item you need to memorize, you create unique images that combine the items with the peg-words
- imagining unique representations of words = making them more memorable

Question 12

interactive imagery

Answer 12

a mnemonic method which relies on creating a ridiculous scene in your mind with the items that you must remember
- the more ridiculous the scene, the more likely you are to remember the items in the scene