Week 5: Memory Flashcards
What are the two types of memory systems used by the human brain to encode information?
Episodic and Semantic: Generally speaking, the types of memory systems in the human brain can be divided into episodic and semantic. Episodic memory is memory for the events and situations we have experienced that is recalled like a movie that is played back in the mind, whereas semantic memory stores information about the meaning of events without a specific context and can be considered as our general knowledge about the world.
Which memory system is most closely related to the development of skills?
Procedural memory
What is episodic memory?
is the memory of everyday events (such as time, geography, associated emotions, and other contextual who, what, when, where, why knowledge) that can be explicitly conjured. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place.
What is semantic memory?
Our memory of facts and events that are explicitly stored and retrieved. Semantic memory refers to general world knowledge that we have accumulated throughout our lives.
What is Procedural memory?
Procedural memory is used to store, retrieve, and use complex series of motor movements. A practical example of procedural memory is the ability to tie your shoes. It is a complex series of motor movements that is almost impossible to describe verbally, yet it can be performed efficiently and almost without conscious effort after it has been learned.
Who is Endel Tulving?
Endel Tulving (born May 26, 1927) is an Estonian-born Canadian experimental psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist, known for his pioneering research on human memory. He is credited with proposing the distinction between semantic and episodic memory.
What memory process is most strongly influenced by the way in which you think about the things you are experiencing?
Que proceso de memoria esta fuertemente infuenciado sobre la manera en la que piensas sobre las cosas que estas experimentando?
Representation: Internal representations are most strongly influenced by the way in which we think about, or process an experience. If we think about the way in which a newly-learned item is related to well-learned items, then we are creating a representation of the item that features associations between existing memory structures. This is a great way to ensure that we remember something even after brief exposures. So, the next time you meet someone and hear their name for the first time, take a second to think about all of the other people you have met (or even a famous actor) with the same name.
Ways to improve memory?
If you put the information in memory, in a smart, structured way, then it will be easy to get it out.
How can an answer be conditioned to a certain response?
By selecting a certain type of question (verb conditioned) and using words to direct the response in a direction.
What term did Bartlett use to describe the process of retrieving and relating an episodic memory?
Reconstruction: According to Bartlett, the process of retrieving and relating a memory was primarily a matter of reconstruction. That is, we don’t record all of the information we are exposed to, nor do we retrieve all of the information we encode. Instead, we encode and retrieve only segments of information that we must use to reconstruct a whole and meaningful memory of a situation or event using logic, knowledge, and assumptions.
Rashomon effect
The term ‘Rashomon effect’ is often used by psychologists in situations where observers give different views of the same event,and describes the effect of subjective perceptions on recollection. The phenomenon is named after a 1950 film by the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It was with Rashōmon that Western cinema-goers discovered both Kurosawa and Japanese film in general.
In other words, memory is…
memory is reconstructive rather than reproductive.
What is the term psychologists use to refer to any influence that past experience has on our present behaviour?
Memory: Any previous experience that influences present behavior is referred to as memory. Although we tend to think of memory as an activity that we sometimes engage in, what we are really engaging in is the episodic recall. Memory, as a psychologist defines it, takes many forms, and influences almost every aspect of our daily lives.
Perceptual fluency
The level of continuity and easiness/difficulty to perceive and process external stimuli, subsequently influencing judgments of the quality of the experience.
What is the term for difficulty recalling past events?
Retrograde amnesia refers to difficulty remembering past events. It is “retro” because it affects memory retroactively. That is, patients with retrograde amnesia have difficulty remembering past events, but have no (or little) difficulty forming new memories. This is sometimes called “soap opera” amnesia because of its popularization by films and television shows.
