W5 - Lecture Flashcards
What is the Information-Processing Approach to memory?
A model inspired by computers in the 1950s–60s, describing memory as a multi-stage system: sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory.
Who proposed the classic memory model in 1968?
Atkinson & Shiffrin.
What is the Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) model of memory?
A multi-store model where sensory input goes to sensory memory, then working memory, and finally long-term memory.
What is sensory memory in the Atkinson & Shiffrin model?
Very brief storage of sensory input (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, gustatory).
What is working memory in the Atkinson & Shiffrin model?
Temporary storage and processing system (~30 seconds, ~7 ± 2 items capacity in adults).
What is long-term memory in the Atkinson & Shiffrin model?
A storage system with vast (potentially unlimited) capacity and duration lasting a lifetime.
What is sensory memory?
The initial stage where sensory information enters the cognitive system before moving to working memory.
How long does sensory memory last for different senses?
Visual: ~1 second; Auditory: ~5 seconds.
What does sensory memory involve?
A short-lived persistence of sensory stimuli in the nervous system.
What did Blaser & Kaldy (2010) study?
Iconic memory (visual sensory store) in infants.
What age did Blaser & Kaldy find adult-like visual sensory memory in infants?
6 months.
Why was a language-free task necessary in Blaser & Kaldy’s study?
Because infants cannot talk or follow verbal instructions.
What task did Blaser & Kaldy (2010) use to study iconic memory in infants?
An eye-tracking task monitoring infants’ looking behavior after seeing brief visual stimuli.
What were the steps of the iconic memory task in infants?
1) Attention grabber shown, 2) Fixation cross appears briefly, 3) Array of colored patches shown, 4) Two patches disappear and reappear—either same or changed.
What were the experimental conditions in the Blaser & Kaldy study?
Arrays with 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 color patches; two patches disappear and reappear—either same or different.
What did the researchers measure in the iconic memory task?
Whether infants looked longer at changed patches compared to unchanged ones.
What were the results of the Blaser & Kaldy (2010) study?
Infants looked longer at changed patches for set sizes 2, 4, and 6; at chance level for 8 and 10 patches.
What do the results suggest about infant iconic memory capacity?
At 6 months, infants can store up to 5–6 items, similar to adults.
What is the key takeaway about sensory memory development?
Sensory memory is functional from early infancy and does not show much developmental change.
What is working memory?
A mental workspace for temporarily processing sensory information (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974).
What is the typical duration of working memory in adults?
Around 30 seconds.
What is the typical capacity of working memory in adults?
7 ± 2 elements.
What did Kaldy & Leslie (2005) study?
Working memory capacity in 6.5-month-old infants using a violation of expectation task.
What method did Kaldy & Leslie use to measure infant working memory?
A violation of expectation looking-time task.
How many objects can 6.5-month-old infants remember, according to Kaldy & Leslie?
1 object.
How many objects can 12-month-olds remember, according to Feigenson & Carey (2003) and Kibbe & Leslie (2013)?
Up to 3 objects.
What memory strategy do infants begin to use by 14 months?
Chunking (grouping objects together).
How many objects can 14-month-old infants remember using chunking, according to Feigenson & Halberda (2008)?
Up to 6 objects.
How does working memory develop through childhood?
Capacity increases with age and the use of strategies like chunking (Siegler & Alibali, 2005). 6.5 months: 1 object; 12 months: 3 objects; 14 months: 6 objects (with chunking).
What are the key takeaways about working memory development?
Working memory is present early in life but limited; strategies like chunking enhance it with age.
What is long-term memory?
A memory system with vast capacity that can last a lifetime.
What are two main distinctions within long-term memory?
1) Explicit vs. Implicit Memory, 2) Semantic vs. Episodic Memory.
What is Implicit - recognition memory?
The ability to recognize familiar stimuli without conscious awareness.
When does recognition memory develop?
It is found early in infancy.
What is the Causal Contingency Paradigm (Rovee-Collier et al., 1980)?
A study where infants kick their foot to move a mobile, demonstrating they can learn cause-effect relationships and remember them.
What were the phases of the causal contingency paradigm?
Baseline (3 minutes) and Learning phase (9 minutes), where infants learn they can control the mobile by kicking.
What did Rovee-Collier et al. (1980) find about infant recognition memory?
3-month-old infants retained the learned behavior for 2–8 days.
What did a follow-up study by Rovee-Collier et al. (1992) show?
Memory could last 14–28 days when reminders were given.
What was a key finding regarding memory context in infants?
Infants showed better recall when tested in the same context as learning.
What did Ungerer, Brody & Zelazo (1978) study?
Recognition memory for novel words in 14-day-old infants.
What was the method used by Ungerer, Brody & Zelazo (1978)?
Mothers repeated novel words 60 times per day for 2 weeks; recognition tested at 14 and 28 hours.
What did Ungerer, Brody & Zelazo (1978) find?
14-day-old infants recognized the novel words better than their own names.
What do these studies suggest about implicit memory?
Recognition memory and implicit long-term memory are operational from the first weeks of life.
When does implicit memory reach adult-like levels?
Around 3–5 years of age.
What is episodic memory?
Memory for specific events or episodes.
How is episodic memory studied in infants?
Using deferred imitation tasks (e.g., Bauer & Shore, 1987).
What did Bauer et al. (2000) find about episodic memory?
20-month-old infants recalled novel event sequences with 100% accuracy after 3 months.
What did Bauer et al. (2000) find about younger infants?
13-month-old infants recalled sequences with 80% accuracy after 1 month.
What did Bauer & Mandler (1989) find about memory for event types?
Infants remembered causal sequences better than arbitrary ones.
What is infantile amnesia?
The inability to recall autobiographical memories from before around 2.5 years of age. (Howe & Courage, 1993).
What are the main theories explaining infantile amnesia?
- Memory format/code change hypothesis – Early nonverbal memories become inaccessible with age. 2. Neural change hypothesis – Immature brain structures can’t preserve early memories. 3. Cueing hypothesis – Early memories still exist but need specific cues to be retrieved.
What factors support the development of autobiographical memory in children over 3 years?
- Development of narrative skills, 2. Social sharing and rehearsal of past events, 3. Understanding of time
What is the order of memory processing in the hierarchy?
Sensory Memory – Very high capacity, rapidly fades. Working Memory – Limited capacity, short-term processing. Long-Term Memory – High-capacity, long-duration storage.
Which memory systems show little developmental change?
Sensory memory and recognition memory.
Which memory systems show significant developmental changes?
Working memory and episodic/autobiographical memory.
What are memory strategies?
Explicit techniques that help with remembering information.
What are examples of external and internal memory strategies?
External: Note-taking, Internal (mental): Repeating information to yourself
What is rehearsal?
Repeating information to oneself to help transfer it from working memory to long-term memory.
What is organization?
Structuring information into categories or hierarchies to aid memory.
What did Flavell, Beach & Chinsky (1966) study?
Development of rehearsal in children during a 15-second memory task with pictures.
What were the findings on rehearsal use by age?
5 years → 10%, 7 years → 65%, 10 years → 80%. Children who rehearsed more had better recall.
What did Schneider & Bjorklund (1998) study?
Spontaneous use of organization in a picture card task.
What were the findings on organization strategy use?
7 years → 10%, 10 years → 60%, Suggests younger children lack developed metamemory.
What did Yussen & Levy (1975) find about metamemory development?
The ability to appreciate how your own memory works, 4-year-olds made inaccurate memory predictions. 8-year-olds made accurate memory predictions.
What did Wellman, Ritter, & Flavell (1975) investigate?
Use of memory strategies in more realistic (ecologically valid) tasks.
What were the findings?
2-year-olds: Did not show strategy use, 3-year-olds: Showed emerging strategies (e.g., pointing, fixating on hiding locations). Better recall was observed in children who used such strategies.
At what age do children begin using verbal memory strategies like rehearsal and organization?
Around 5 to 7 years of age.
When do nonverbal strategies begin to emerge?
As early as 3 years of age in real-world tasks.
What supports the use of memory strategies in children?
Metamemory development — understanding how memory works.
When does metamemory develop?
Between 4 and 8 years of age.
What approach is used to examine children’s memory development?
The information-processing approach.
What is a key developmental trend in memory?
Children’s information-processing capacity increases with age.
Why does working memory capacity improve with age?
Due to an increase in processing ability.
When does sensory memory become adult-like?
Within the first few months of life.
How does working memory develop?
It undergoes significant development throughout childhood.
Which components of long-term memory are adult-like in infancy?
Recognition memory (implicit memory).
Which components of long-term memory continue developing?
Episodic memory and autobiographical memory.
