W6 Memory (L+T) Flashcards
Memory (unscientific) -
learning we retain over a long period of time
Memory (scientific) -
Information Processing System that works constructively to encode, store and retrieve information
three key memory processes
- encoding
- storage
- retrieval
three major stages of memory
- Sensory Memory
- Short Term Memory (Working Memory) and
- Long-term memory
Difference of three stages of memory (3):
- Capacity - how much information can be stored.
- Duration - how long the information can be stored.
- Function - What is done with the information.
Sensory input -
everything we see, hear, taste, smell
After being encoded (format for the brain), sensory input goes into:
sensory memory
Sensory memory - what is it and how long it stays:
everything from all of our senses and processes them very quickly, very briefly; forms automatically, without attention or interpretation
information stays there for 2 seconds unless we give the information attention
Sensory memory characteristics (capacity, duration, function)
- Capacity - Large: many items at once
- Duration - Very brief retention of images: 250 ms for visual information, 3 s for auditory information.
- Function - It holds information long enough to be processed for basic physical characteristics
Iconic Memory -
visual information sensory memory, 250 ms
Echoic Memory -
auditory information sensory memory, 3 s
rehearsal or maintenance rehearsal -
in order to keep the information in the short-term memory, we must repeat or practice it
Short Term Memory (STM) or Working memory consists of 3 components:
• Central Executive: this resembles what we would call ‘attention’
• Phonological Loop: holds information in a speech based form
• Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad: specialised for holding visual and spatial information
STM or Working memory characteristics (capacity, duration, function, code)
Capacity - limited (7+/-2 items)
Duration - brief storage (20 s)
Fn - Conscious processing of information (where information is actively worked on).
Code - often based on sound or speech even with visual inputs
If maintenance rehearsal cannot be used, then
working memory decays quickly
Way to Improve STM -
- Chunking (grouping Small bits of information into larger units of information)
Psychologists estimate that how much of the information that reaches the short-term memory goes into the long-term memory?
around 25%
Memory scheme
Sensory input => Sensory memory => Attention => Working/Short-term memory (Maintenance rehearsal) => Encoding (<= Retrieval) => Long-term memory
Long-term memory characteristics (capacity, duration, function)
Capacity: Unlimited
Duration: permanent?
Fn: organises and stores information (more passive form of storage than working memory)
Encoding -
Process that controls movement from working (STM) memory to long-term memory storage (getting information in).
In general, meaning is encoded rather than exact representation.
Retrieval -
Process that controls flow of information from long-term to working memory store (getting information out)
Primacy - Recency or the Serial Position Effect -
When presented with lots of information in serial order, we remember more from the beginning and end of the list, at the expense of the intermediate items
Consolidation -
Storage into long-term memory;
Involves structural change: the pattern of neural pathways are changed.
Interference in Working Memory (2 types)
Traces only remain in WM with repeated rehearsal (i.e. attending to the information) => prone to interference.
Retroactive interference
Proactive interference
Retroactive interference -
New information interferes with the retention of old information in WM
exs: trying to remember your old phone number, having used your new number for a few months; finding it difficult to revert back to manual gear changes having recently been shown how to use an
automatic).
Proactive interference -
Old information interferes with the recall of new information
exs: mistakenly giving your old phone number instead of your new one; attempting to change gears manually in a newly bought automatic)
What helps retrieval?
• Cue required (e.g. prompt, reminder, question). The more information available, the easier the retrieval
• A good ‘filing system’ also aids retrieval (e.g. mnemonics, memory aids, Method of Loci).
• Make something personally relevant to you and you’re more likely to remember it.
• Retrieval can be affected by interference. 2 types: Proactive – new phone number replaces old number. Retroactive – old route home blocks new route home.
Factors Facilitating Retrieval (3):
Levels of Processing
The more something is elaborated at time of encoding, the easier it will be to retrieve.
Organisation of concepts in memory (also, associations between concepts stored in LTM may facilitate recall).
Context
Being in the same place/emotional state as the time of encoding facilitates recall.
State Dependent Memory
Being in the same place/emotional state as the time of encoding facilitates recall
Types of memory (3 main and 5 others):
MAIN:
1. Short term memory
2. Working memory
3. Long term memory
other:
a) Episodic memory (autobiographical)
b) Semantic memory
c) Declarative
d) Procedural
e) Prospective
Episodic Memory (autobiographical):
It stores every event/fact that you have been involved in. If you haven’t been involved in it will not be stored as autobiographical memory. The other interesting feature of episodic or autobiographical memory is that we are designed to be preferentially more likely to remember that information.
ex: If one experiences brain damage and is likely to lose information from memory, autobiographical information seems to be disproportionally spared. That can make perfect sense in that the last thing that one needs to loose is who he/she is, where he/she has been to etc.
Semantic Memory -
Memory of facts about the world.
ex: This is a pc, this a desk this is a chair, London is the capital of UK…
Declarative Memory / Explicit memory -
“knowing what” => memory of facts and events, refers to those memories that can be consciously recalled (or “declared”). It is sometimes called explicit memory, since it consists of information that is explicitly stored and retrieved.
Procedural -
Memory for procedures
ex: driving a car, tying my shoe laces
Prospective -
Memory for the things I will do in the future.
ex: Buy milk after I leave this lecture. Put petrol in my car on my way home tonight
Long term potentiation - and ex
strengthening of synapses, believed to be the cellular foundation for memory.
ex: Research in to how to induce LTP is useful for dementia treatment:
• Rats given NMDA* (ionotropic glutamate receptor) antagonists display memory deficits. Mice bred with enhanced NMDA function show greater LTP and better memory.
• Requires metabolic activity for minutes/hours after the stimulus has been presented
*NMDA = N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor
