Week 3 chapter 6. Acquisition of Memory & Working Memory System

Question 1

rehearsal

Answer 1

repetition. Without deep Processing though, will not confer Long term memory

Question 2

memory connections

Answer 2

links between pieces of information. Form during learning. Can activate during retrieval to aid remembering.

Question 3

reactivate

Answer 3

stored information is re-visited

Question 4

storage phase

Answer 4

memory held but not in active use

Question 5

retrieval

Answer 5

memory retrieved and brought into active use.

Question 6

The Modal Model

Answer 6

retrieval

«–—

Incoming info►sensory►short-term►Long term

memory memory memory

l I

v vlost

maintenance

via rehearsal

Question 7

Sensory memory

Answer 7

Part of Brief memory in Modal Model. Consisting of raw sensory data.

Iconic Memory for visual data. and

Echoic Memory for auditory data.

Question 8

Updated version of memory

Answer 8

Short Term Memory now = Working memory (reflects thought is more of a process than place).

Question 9

short term vs long term memory

Answer 9

Working Memory:limited size, getting info in is easy, getting access to info is easy, contents are fragile.

Long Term Memory: enormous size, getting info in not easy, getting access to info sometimes hard, contents are less fragile.

Question 10

Recency effect

Answer 10

Data being worked on is available for recall. Unless something displaces the data (new info coming in), it is readily available. ie Can usually recall the last few words in a word list.

Distraction Tasks will serve as new info coming in however, and will disable remembering last few words of eg word list.

Question 11

Primacy effect

Answer 11

When given list of words to recall, can devote more attention to rehearsing for first few words, therefore might consolidate these into Long Term Memory, therefore likely to later be able to recall.

Primacy, if consolidated (ie in Long Term Memory) is not affected by Distraction Tasks

Question 12

Long Term Memory Location

Answer 12

Long Term Memory seems to be located in Hippocampus,

and Working Memory in Perirhinal Cortex (shown in fMRIscans).

Question 13

Digit Span

Answer 13

Method of measuring Working Memory capacity. Eg. How many items can one see/hear and recite back? Usually, is 7 +/- 2 chunks.

A CHUNK= 1 piece of info, which may be a number, a letter, a word, a sentence etc. If can form larger chunks, can in total recall more, but are still 7 +/- 2 chunks.

Question 14

Operation Span

Answer 14

It has been shown that quite a large area of the brain may be involved in Working Memory, dependent upon tasks involved.

Operation Span = the capacity to juggle various different tasks in Working Memory. Test how much Operational Span on has etc by eg flipping between maths problems, recall words etc etc.

People with greater Operational Span (greater Working Memory) seem to have greater ability in reasoning, comprehension, multi-tasking, etc.

Question 15

Reading span

Answer 15

way of measuring Operational Span, using reading tasks.

Question 16

Executive Control Processes

Answer 16

Also known as (Central Executive). Descriptor of the processes within the Working Memory which control the management of data.

Question 17

Articulatory rehearsal Loop

Answer 17

Non executive “sub part” of Working Memory.Can rehearse certain data without requiring much higher order executive.

Question 18

Subvocalisation

Answer 18

The “inner voice” used within the Articulatory Rehearsal Loop. It is an internal repeat, in auditory form, so has some errors in ‘sound alike’ form (even though initial stimulation may have been read or heard correctly).

The theoretical storage space for this inner voice, is the Phonological Buffer.

Question 19

Concurrent Articulation task

Answer 19

eg. if doing task of span test and asked to articulate repetitively a sound, this has shown to reduce working memory capacity (from approx 7 chunks to 5 chunks etc). this is because the articulation competes with resources for the subvocalisation. However, the blockage of subvocalisation also means that sound-alike errors are reduced. (For the congenitally deaf, the equivalent of the articulation task is to wiggle fingers.)

Question 20

Episodic Buffer

Answer 20

Proposed component of working memory, which aids in holding a short time-line narrative in working memory. (An amnesiac can still follow the narrative within a short story).

Question 21

2 Types of rehearsal

Answer 21

a) Maintenance Rehearsal; basic focus on items in working memory. (Rehearsal may be as simple as the most elemental thought). Unlikely to be consolidated into long term memory. (Even things seen daily, if not pad attention to, are often forgotten-eg where are the fire extenguishers??? etc)
b) Relational (elaborative) Rehearsal:thinking about items and their relationships to other items. Much more likely to get into long term memory. Greater brain activity is required in order to shift data into long term memory.

Question 22

Intentional Learning

Answer 22

Learning which is deliberate Does not necessarily mean is effective!

Question 23

Incidental learning

Answer 23

Learning which occurs without intention.

Question 24

Shallow processing

Answer 24

Material was engaged with in only most superficial way. eg is a word red or blue?

Question 25

Moderate processing

Answer 25

Bit more engaged with data, eg do these words rhyme?

Question 26

Deep Processing

Answer 26

Requires even more thought eg meaning of words. This is proven to lead to better memory retention.

Question 27

Gender Differences in Memory

Answer 27

No overall difference but some studies have shown women favour Verbal Memory, and men Spatial Memory. Women possibly better at remembering clothes, and men people’s body shape, But this may have been culturally influenced.

Question 28

memory Connections

Answer 28

Such connections or associations between memories, allow one memory to trigger another and so on. Thus forming connections by thinking about Meaning, Context, Relevance, Consequences etc are most helpful in retaining knowledge.

Question 29

Elaborate Encoding

Answer 29

With greater complexity of ideas around a concept/word etc, the more the connections►deeper processing►better recall

Deep AND Elaborate processing is superior to deep only.

Question 30

Retrieval path

Answer 30

A pathway which can aid remembrance.

Question 31

Mnemonics

Answer 31

Named after Greek Goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne. Provide an organisation on which to place material to be learnt.

eg. Linking 1st letters such as ROYGBIV= Red Orange, Yellow, Green,Blue Indigo, Violet=colours of rainbow.
eg. mental images such as link ‘eagle’ and ‘train’ ie imagine eagle carrying train in its beak. (Only works if oblects are interacting somehow)

eg external skeleton such as the peg word system ie ‘one is a bun….. (to remember 1st item, link it to image of a bun etc)

Mnemonics are extremely useful in providing links to recall superficial level of connections But is Not as advantageous as deep consideration of all aspects of how such knowledge is connected to other pieces.

A study showed that of all the mnemonic systems, the peg word system and interactive imagery, are the most effective.

Question 32

Understanding

Answer 32

Many studies have shown that if understand and comprehend content, more likely to retain knowledge. Also, if have much prior knowledge with which to make connections, is easier to learn.

Question 33

How to study

Answer 33

1. Understanding is better than memorisation.
2. studying with someone else and taking turns to explain concepts allows different perspectives and improves understanding.
3. Spaced learning is better than crammed, and also is best to do a chunk of one subject, chunk of another, then return later etc. This is because whenever return to the subject matter, (as opposed to merely repetitively re-reading), bring a slightly different perspective to it. Spaced learning also means that there is some forgetting in-between, and therefore must re-learn, which is actually helpful.
4. Derirable difficulty enhances learning as is hard, but having worked through it, the connections and deep processing are there for memory retrieval.
5. Mnemonics are useful but best employed After acquiring subject understanding, just to aid recall of specidfic detail.