Week 11

Question 1

Is it true that you learn best when happy?

Answer 1

No - there is an interaction between your mood when learning something and the same mood when recalling what you learnt.

Question 2

By definition, what is memory and what are the different memory processes?

Answer 2

The means by which we take something we have encountered and convert it to a form we can store, retrieve and use.

Encoding; acquisition of new info (e.g. study phase).

Storage; a representation that persists over time.

Retrieval; recovery of memory - back to more active state.

Question 3

What is a mental representation and what are the different types?

Answer 3

A mental model of a stimulus or category of stimuli - describing things we can’t see.

Sensory (visual, auditory); verbal (info stored in words); motoric (motor actions)

Question 4

What are the features of the standard model of memory, what are sensory registers and how long do they hold info about a perceived stimulus for?

Answer 4

Stimulus -> sensory registers (attention | information lost) -> short-term memory (rehearsal | information lost) -> long-term memory (retrieval | information lost).

They hold information about a perceived stimulus for approximately 500 milliseconds.

Question 5

What are the different sensory registers and what is the difference between them?

Answer 5

Iconic storage; momentary storage of visual info.

Echoic storage; momentary storage of auditory info.

Question 6

What is the magic number in relation to STM and the digit span task?

Answer 6

7 +/- 2; span range between 5 and 9.

Question 7

What evidence is there for STM/LTM distinction?

Answer 7

Primacy - STM; recency - LTM

When recalling a series of words. The first few and last few words were more likely to be remembered.

Question 8

What is involved in the working memory model?

Answer 8

Central Executive (the boss - allocates resources, governs attentional and automatic processes, used in problem-solving, does the ‘real’ work);

• Visuospatial sketchpad
• Episodic buffer
• Phonological loop (Similar to STM, more in context of time being limited rather than capacity; e.g word-length effect, pen vs. university)

Question 9

What is the difference between procedural and declarative?

Answer 9

Procedural - knowing how; e.g. show me how to tie your shoelaces

Declarative - knowing that; e.g. who is the premier of NSW?

Question 10

What is the difference between episodic and semantic?

Answer 10

Episodic - where/when event occurred; e.g. where did you park your car?

Semantic - the facts; e.g. what is Bob Dylan famous for?

Question 11

What is the difference between implicit and explicit?

Answer 11

Explicit - information that is consciously retrieved

Implicit - knowledge expressed on behavioral measures; e.g. complete this word fragment: EXP_ _ T

Question 12

What is the difference between recall and recognition?

Answer 12

Recall - information that is retrieved from memory; e.g. answering a short answer question on an exam

Recognition - discrimination between target and distractor information; e.g. answering a multiple choice question on an exam

Question 13

What are the three types of everyday memory?

Answer 13

Functional, prospective (remembering to remember, remembering what to remember), autobiographical (recalling memory of events during life)

Question 14

What is the difference between maintenance and elaborative rehearsal?

Answer 14

Maintenance - Repeating the info over and over.

Elaborative - Associating info with existing info.

Question 15

What are the two levels of processing and what is the difference between the two?

Answer 15

Shallow - focus on the physical characteristics of the stimulus.

Deep processing - focus on the meaning of the stimulus.

Question 16

What is context dependent and mood (state) congruent memory?

Answer 16

Information is easier to recall when it is encoded and retrieved in the same context and emotional state.

Question 17

What is the spacing effect?

Answer 17

Superiority of memory for information rehearsed over longer intervals.

Question 18

What are mnemonics?

Answer 18

Systematic strategies for remembering information; e.g. I before E expect after C.

Question 19

What are the seven sins of memory? When does most forgetting occur?

Answer 19

Transience - memories fade with time.
Absent-mindedness - need to pay attention to remember.
Misattribution - source amnesia.
Suggestibility - thinking we remember.
Bias - distortions in recall.
Persistence - recurring memories.
Forgetting - inability to remember.

After the first 24 hours.

Question 20

What are the theories explaining ‘why do we forget’?

Answer 20

Decay theory - memory is like a fading neural trace that is weakened with disuse.

Interference theory - a conflict between new and old memories.

Motivated forgetting - implies that forgetting can avoid painful memories.

Question 21

What are the two kinds of interference theory?

Answer 21

Proactive - old interferes with new.

Retroactive - new interferes with old.

Question 22

What are the two different types of disordered memories?

Answer 22

Retrograde amnesia - inability to retrieve prior memories.

Anterograde amnesia - inability to form new memories.