Week 11 Readings Flashcards
What does the term “memory” encompass?
Memory includes abilities like working memory (holding and working with information briefly), episodic memory (remembering life events), and semantic memory (general world knowledge).
What are the three processes involved in episodic memory?
Encoding (learning and connecting to past knowledge), storage (maintaining over time), and retrieval (accessing information when needed).
What can cause forgetting or false memories?
Failures at any stage of encoding, storage, or retrieval.
How can one improve memory?
By enhancing encoding processes and using techniques that ensure effective retrieval.
What are some effective encoding techniques?
Relating new information to prior knowledge, forming mental images, and creating associations among information.
What is the key to effective retrieval?
Developing strong cues that lead back to the encoded information.
What are mnemonic systems, and why are they useful?
Mnemonic systems, used since ancient Greece, enhance memory by improving encoding and retrieval.
What is working memory, and one example?
The ability to hold and work with information briefly, such as multiplying numbers without paper.
What is episodic memory?
The ability to remember episodes of our lives, like recalling the events of a specific day.
What is semantic memory?
A storehouse of permanent knowledge, including word meanings (e.g., “parasol”) and facts (e.g., 206 bones in the human body).
What is collective memory?
Shared memory within a group, such as a family or community, including customs, historical events, and stories passed through generations.
What is episodic memory commonly associated with?
It is typically what people think of as “memory,” such as recalling personal events or experiences.
What type of memory loss is often referred to in Alzheimer’s disease?
Episodic memory loss, or the inability to recall events.
Which type of memory is preserved in early-stage Alzheimer’s disease?
Semantic memory.
What is autobiographical memory?
Memory of events from one’s entire life, like experiences in sixth grade, though the focus here is on recent episodic memories.
What are the three necessary stages of learning and memory?
Encoding (initial learning), storage (maintaining information), and retrieval (accessing information when needed).
What happens during encoding?
Information is learned and associated with cues, such as linking a name to a face.
What are two types of memory errors?
Forgetting: Failure to recall stored information (e.g., not remembering someone’s name).
Misremembering: False recall or recognition (e.g., calling someone by the wrong name).
What is required for successful memory?
All three stages—encoding, storage, and retrieval—must work properly.
What is encoding, and why is it challenging in real life?
Encoding is the initial process of perceiving and learning information. In real life, the environment is too rich with sights, sounds, and thoughts to encode everything, making it selective and prolific.
What are the two principles of encoding?
Encoding is selective (we focus on some events and ignore others) and prolific (we are constantly processing events but focus more on unusual occurrences).
How does novelty affect encoding?
Unusual or unexpected events, like seeing a giraffe on campus, capture our attention and are more likely to be encoded.
Why might an unusual event, like seeing a giraffe on campus, be remembered for a long time?
Distinctiveness—events that stand out from similar ones—helps fix them in memory for years.
What is distinctiveness in memory?
The quality of an event standing out from a background of similar events, making it more memorable (Hunt, 2003).
What is a flashbulb memory?
A vivid, detailed memory of learning important news, often tied to emotional and distinctive events, like a “flash photograph” in the mind (Brown & Kulik, 1977).
Their distinctiveness and emotionality make them more likely to be permanently etched in memory.
What is recoding in the encoding process?
Recoding involves transforming information into a format we can better understand, such as using acronyms like ROY G BIV to remember rainbow colors.
How can recoding introduce errors?
Errors occur when we add new information during encoding and later remember it as part of the original experience.
What strategies improve memory retention during study?
Think about the meaning of events and relate them to prior knowledge to form associations (Craik & Lockhart, 1972).
Use vivid imagery to make information more memorable, even verbal details (Bower & Reitman, 1972).
Form distinctive memories that stand out and create links or associations to aid retrieval (Hunt & McDaniel, 1993).
What is the DRM effect?
The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) effect describes the phenomenon where people falsely recognize related, unpresented words (e.g., “window”) from a list of related words.
The words in the list trigger related thoughts (like “window”), leading people to encode them as if they were part of the original experience.
How can humans create false memories through inferences?
We automatically make associations and inferences, sometimes remembering these inferences as if they were actual experiences.
What are pragmatic inferences?
Inferences made when something is not explicitly stated but we guess the underlying intention or meaning, like inferring why someone doesn’t want to go out.
What example did Brewer (1977) use to illustrate false memories from inferences?
Participants remembered the sentence “The karate champion hit the cinder block” as “The karate champion broke the cinder block” due to the inference that hitting it likely caused it to break.
How do experiences change the brain?
Every experience we have leads to changes in the brain as we encode them, creating new impressions and altering the brain’s neural structures.
What are memory traces (engrams)?
Memory traces, or engrams, are the physical changes in the brain that represent stored memories.
What is the process of consolidation in memory formation?
Consolidation is the process through which neural changes occur after learning, creating a memory trace of an experience.
How do psychologists view memory traces?
Psychologists see memory traces as the physical changes in the brain that represent our experiences, though the exact neural processes remain a focus of neurobiological research.
How does memory work if memory traces aren’t perfect?
Memory is reconstructive: we reconstruct past events based on memory traces and our current beliefs, not by reading a faithful record of the past.
What is an example of reconstructive memory?
If you remember someone holding the door open for you during a fight at a bar, this positive memory may influence your recall, leading you to favor the “nice guy” in the fight, even if you don’t remember the exact sequence of events.
What is the difference between reconstructive and reproductive memory?
Reconstructive memory involves piecing together past events with memory traces and beliefs, while reproductive memory would be a perfect recreation of past experiences, which does not happen in reality.
What is the retention interval in memory?
The retention interval is the time between learning and testing, during which memories may consolidate or be disrupted.
What is retroactive interference?
Retroactive interference occurs when new experiences (e.g., new lunches) during the retention interval interfere with recalling older memories (e.g., a lunch from 17 days ago).
What is proactive interference?
Proactive interference happens when older memories interfere with encoding new information, such as when your native language affects learning a second language.
What is retroactive interference’s role in forgetting?
Retroactive interference is a major cause of forgetting, as new information can disrupt the recall of older memories.
What is the misinformation effect?
The misinformation effect occurs when new information, such as others’ descriptions of an event, alters a person’s memory of that event during the retention interval.
How can misinformation affect eyewitness memory?
Eyewitnesses may remember an event differently if exposed to misleading information after the event, sometimes recalling details based on others’ perspectives instead of their own.
