Week 5 Short Term Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
It is a representation of what is experienced ( not necessarily true or perfect) that is not accurate.
Stages of memory
Encoding: putting info into memory system.
Storage: holding onto information consolidating into memory.
Retrieval: bringing info from memory to mind.
Ways of studying memory
Explicit memory: purposeful encoding of information
- studied using declarative test
Implicit memory: incidental encoding of information (done unawarely)
- non declarative test
Semantic memory
Knowledge of general information ( no contextual details)
Procedural memory
Memories needed to perform an action or cognitive process
Dependent variables to measure memory
Recall: recalling a list
Recognition: seeing or identifying that you remember something
Word stem completion task: completing word with few given letters
Dependent variables to measure memory cont…
Cued recall: recalling paired words based on cue.
Reaction time: Time taken to complete task
Trace: code used to hold information
Dependent variables to measure memory cont…
Capacity: How large our short term memory is
- usually holds 2 seconds of rehearsed content ( able to hold 7 items +/- 2 (miller)
Chunking: grouping meaningful information into unit
Forgetting: how info leaves short term memory
- often due to interference
Proactive vs retroactice interference
Proactive: old info interferes with new information
Retroactive: New info interferes with old
- I.e entering old password or forgetting new one.
Serial position curve
Primacy: ability to remember first few listed items because of rehearsal
- transferred to LTM
Recency: ability to remember last few items because they are still available in STM
Amnesia
Retrograde amnesia: loss of all previous memories (extremely rare, often in movies)
Anterograde amnesia: new memories cannot be formed because they can’t transfer from STM to LTM
- all previous memories intact
