Week 3 - Working memory Flashcards
What are the three components to memory? Are they completely distinct or related?
1)acquisition/encoding
2) storage
3) retrieval
Related - current memories (retrieval) influence new memories (acquisition) ie influence of schemas
What are the four steps of the modal model of memory?
input –> sensory memory –>short-term (working) memory –> long term memory
What are three key differences between short term & long term memory?
1) short term is smaller 2) easier to put input into short term memory than long term 3) easier to retrieve memories from short term
What does the recency effect reveal about memory?
Items recalled due to recency effect are remembered because they are still in working memory which has limited capacity but from which items can be easily retrieved
What does the primacy effect reveal about memory?
Items recalled due to the primacy effect are remembered because they were rehearsed enough to be stored into long term memory
What is an example of evidence for the existence of two different memory structures: long term & short term (working)?
brain damage dissociation, primacy/recency effects,
According to the spreading activation model how do you retrieve a memory?
You use retrieval paths (associative links of activated nodes) to facilitate memory retrieval
Why does studying meaning enhance long term memory? What is an example?
Creates additional retrieval paths so that activation may spread from multiple paths and reach the specified memory earlier.
How do mnemonics help one to remember? How are mnemonics flawed?
Organizes material for easier retrieval. You don’t gain deeper processing with mnemonics
How can you making spreading activation more directed & fast?
retrieval cues
What are two subdivisions of explicit memory?
1) episodic 2) semantic
episodic memory
category of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences.
semantic memory
a portion of long-term memory that processes ideas and concepts that are not drawn from personal experience. Semantic memory includes things that are common knowledge, such as the names of colors, the sounds of letters, the capitals of countries and other basic facts acquired over a lifetime.
What are four subdivisions of implicit memory?
1) procedural
2) priming
3) perceptual learning
4) classical conditioning
What is an example of evidence for the existence of distinct implicit and explicit memory?
There is double dissociation evidence.
Occipital lesion: patient did well on explicit but poorly on implicit memory tests.
Amnesiacs: worse at explicit than implicit
implicit memory
which you use unconsciously, unconscious retrieval
explicit memory
deals with remembering facts and events. Conscious retrieval
What is an example of a “illusion of truth”? Why does this happen?
You hear a slogan that sounds familiar but cannot place where you heard it and thus assume it to be true even if it is not. Effect of implicit memory, failure of source memory
Illusion of truth
We have a tendency to say that familiar things are true.
What is a way to test explicit memory? Implicit?
Explicit: recall
Implicit: word-stem completion, lexical decision, tachistoscopic recognition
What is the generation effect?
info you generate yourself is better remembered
What is intrusion error & why does it happen?
When memories collide so that one memory intrudes into the recall of another. Caused by too many connections between the two
What is the DRM procedure and what does it reveal about memory?
participants recall having seen the theme of a list of words when the theme word itself was not present. Reveals tendency to generalize & make sense of memory
What are four possible causes of forgetting?
1) “ultra-rapid forgetting” never paid attention initially 2) decay as a result of time 3) interference theory (limited capacity of LTM) 4) retrieval failure, erosion of connections, retrieval paths
What is the Baddeley working memory model? Evidence for this model?
Alternative to modal model, central executive allocates resources to phonological loop, episodic buffer & visual-spatial sketchpad. Limited capacity. Interference when you try to use one of these “slave systems” for two processes simultaneously.
What is the Semantic Network Model?
Organization model for LTM. Activation spreads from one word to associated words. Think of Taboo
flashbulb memory
highly detailed, exceptionally vivid “snapshot” of the moment and circumstances in which a piece of surprising and consequential (or emotionally arousing) news was learned about.
Serial Position effect
is the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series basis
- primacy effect
- recency effect
Methods to measure working memory:
span tasks
- dIgit span:listen to a list of digits and repeat them back, with the amount of digit increasing each time (until you start making errors)
- Operation span: solve an equation (answering yes or no) and then remember the word paired with the equation
Phonological loop
s a component of working memory model that deals with spoken and written material. It is subdivided into the phonological store (which holds information in a speech-based form) and the articulatory process (which allows us to repeat verbal information in a loop).
Central executive
runs the control centre of the working memory, does not store information but coordinates it
Entering long term memory:
Maintenance rehearsal
repeated information that enter LTM, but not as effective as elaborative rehearsal
Entering long term memory:
Elaborative rehearsal
Think and elaborate on the meaning of the information
