Week 5 Memory Flashcards
Define memory
Encoding, storing and retrieving connections.
Sensory memory
Working memory
Long term memory
What is encoding?
Paying attention to specific stimuli.
What is storage?
Maintaining coded information over time
What is retrieval?
How is the information ‘brought back out’?
recovering information from memory stores
What is sensory memory?
Happens over very short (about 1 second) period of time, to get your attention. If that is successful, the memory will then move into your working memory. Eg noise or seeing something.
What is working memory?
Your conscious awareness - anything your are consciously aware of at any point in time is running through your working memory and when you cease to be aware of it (out of mind) it has gone from your working memory.
What is long term memory?
Long-term memory refers to the storage of information over an extended period. If you can remember something that happened more than just a few moments ago whether it occurred just hours ago or decades earlier, then it is a long-term memory.
What happens when attention is disrupted?
(either ‘early’ in processing with distraction, or ‘late’ in processing with overloading) almost always results in significant disruptions to memory encoding.
Strategies for improving encoding
* Elaboration – linking the stimulus to other ideas or events
* Visual Imagery – holding a relevant image in the ‘mind’s eye’
* Self-Relevance – framing information as relevant to oneself
* Motivation to Remember – explicitly thinking about possible
future contexts when it may be useful
How long does sensory memory last for?
About one second
How long does working memory maintained?
About 10-20 seconds if rehearsed
How many units of info can we keep in WM at any given time
About 5-7 in ideal settings (eg controlled lab)
About 4-5 in the real life with other distractions
What are the different components of Baddely’s Working Memory Model?
* Phonological Loop
* Visuospatial sketchpad
* Central Executive
* Episodic Buffer
What is the phonological loop in working memory?
– ‘silent speech’ apparatus used to repeat
words to oneself (used in rehearsal)
What is the Visuospatial sketchpad in working memory?
Spatial reasoning system where we imagine and manipulate abstract images.
What is the central executive in working memory?
parses motivations, directs effort/attention
What is the central episodic buffer in working memory?
– the multimodal store that lasts 10-20 sec
Name the two main types of long term memory
Declarative and Procedural
What is declarative memory?
Information that is consciously summoned as verbally describable facts, events or beliefs.
Broken down further into:
* Semantic memories
* Episodic memories
What are procedural memories
How we do things - All of the other, more subtle & unconscious ways we learn about and adapt to the world.
Eg
Knowing how to ride a bicycle / drive a car
The ‘second-nature’ skills from practicing sports or dances
The well-rehearsed and reliable pattern of your signature
Bad habits like absent-minded biting one’s nails
The bad feeling you get around people who once wronged you
What are episodic memories
– considered events that occurred somewhere within the narrative of one’s life-history
What are semantic memories?
– have no episodic encoding, just facts (ie like general knowdlege)
What part of the brain is responsible for long term memories?
Hippocampus - therefore interfering with the functioning of the hippocampus will disrupt memory
What part of the brain is responsible for long term memories?
Hippocampus - therefore interfering with the functioning of the hippocampus will disrupt memory
What is Retrograde Amnesia?
the loss of past Long-Term Memories, which can affect either episodic or semantic memories, but rarely procedural
What is Retrograde Amnesia?
the loss of past Long-Term Memories, which can affect either episodic or semantic memories, but rarely procedural
What is Anterograde Amnesia?
inability to encode new LT Memories, affects primarily episodic memory, but also semantic memory, yet new procedural memories can still be encoded
