Week 6 - Long Term Memory - Encoding, Retrieval, and Consolidation Flashcards
The process of acquiring information and transferring it into memory.
encoding
The process of remembering information that has been stored in long-term memory.
retrieval
(from LTM to working memory)
Rehearsal that involves repetition without any consideration of meaning or making connections to other information.
maintenance rehearsal
(no encoding and therefore poor memory)
Rehearsal that involves thinking about the meaning of an item to be remembered or making connections between that item and prior knowledge.
elaborative rehearsal
(better memory than maintenance rehearsal)
Proposed by Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart, the idea that memory depends on how information is encoded, with better memory being achieved when processing is deep than when processing is shallow, levels of ______ theory.
processing
The idea that the processing that occurs as an item is being encoded into memory can be deep or shallow, ______ of processing.
depth
Processing that involves repetition with little attention to meaning, usually associated with maintenance rehearsal.
Shallow processing
(when a phone number is repeated over and over or attention is focused on a word’s physical features such as whether it is printed in lowercase or capital letters)
Processing that involves attention to meaning and relating an item to something else, usually associated with elaborative rehearsal.
Deep processing
(results in better memory than shallow processing)
Fill-in-the-blanks questions are associated with better/poorer memory?
Better
Proposed by Gordon Bower and David Winzenz, a learning task in which participants are first presented with pairs of words, then one word of each pair is presented and the task is to recall the other word, paired-_________ learning.
associate
( the participants who had created images remembered more than twice as many words as the participants who had just repeated the word pairs)
Memory for a word is improved by relating the word to the self, ______-_______ effect.
self-reference
(memory was better for the self condition than the common condition)
Participants more likely to remember words they connect to themselves. True/False
true
Memory for material is better when a person generates the material him- or herself, rather than passively receiving it, ________ effect.
generation
remembering words in a particular category may serve as a _____ cue, a word or other stimulus that helps a person remember information stored in memory.
retrieval
(category such as fruit helps remember words such as apple, plum, melon)
Organizing material to be remembered results in substantially better recall. True/False
True
Enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered, ________ effect.
testing
Memory effect called _______ interference occurs when previously learned information interferes with learning new information.
proactive
_________ relates to the phenomenon of chunking, grouping small elements into larger, more meaningful ones increases memory.
Organization
Advantage for short study sessions is called the ________ effect.
spacing
Memory performance is enhanced if sleep follows learning. True/False
True
(sleeping soon after studying can improve a process called consolidation)
A procedure for testing memory in which the participant is asked to remember stimuli that were previously presented.
free recall
(e.g. words previously presented by the experimenter or events experienced earlier in life)
A procedure for testing memory in which a participant is presented with cues, such as words or phrases, to aid recall of previously experienced stimuli.
cued recall
self-generated retrieval cues are easier to remember vs.
other-person generated cues
Results of Mantyla’s (1986) experiment.
= retrieval cues are significantly more effective when they are created by the person whose memory is being tested.
Retrieval can be increased by matching the conditions at retrieval to the conditions that existed at encoding. True/False
True
The principle that we learn information together with its context. This means that presence of the context can lead to enhanced memory for the information, ___________ specificity.
encoding
(e.g. Angela encoded many experiences within the context of her grandparents’ house. When she reinstated this context by returning to the house many years later, she remembered many of these experiences)
The principle that memory is best when a person is in the same state for encoding and retrieval. This principle is related to encoding specificity.
state-dependent learning
(memory is better when a person’s mood during retrieval matches his or her mood during encoding)
When the type of task that occurs during encoding matches the type of task that occurs during retrieval. This type of processing can result in enhanced memory, ___________ - appropriate processing.
transfer
(e.g. Morris experiment. Participants who did a rhyming-based encoding task did better on the rhyming test than participants who did a meaning-based encoding task. This result would not be predicted by levels of processing theory but is predicted by the principle that better retrieval occurs if the encoding and retrieval tasks are matched)
Proposed by Müller and Pilzecker, the process that transforms new memories into a state in which they are more resistant to disruption.
consolidation
(‘immediate’ list vs ‘delayed list’, delayed group had better performance)
A process of consolidation that involves structural changes at synapses that happen rapidly, over a period of minutes or hours, __________ consolidation.
synaptic
A consolidation process that involves the gradual reorganization of circuits within brain regions and takes place on a long timescale, lasting weeks, months, or even years.
Systems consolidation
Synaptic and systems consolidation are processes that occur simultaneously—one that works rapidly, at the level of the synapse, and another that works more slowly, at the level of neural circuits. True/False
True
Donald Hebb (1948),
(a) a stimulus is first presented. The record next to the electrode indicates the rate of firing recorded from the axon of neuron B. (b) As the stimulus is repeated, structural changes are beginning to occur. (c) After many repetitions, more complex connections have developed between the two neurons, which causes an increase in the firing rate, even though the stimulus is the same one that was presented in (a).
The increased firing that occurs in a neuron due to prior activity at the synapse, _____-____ ________ (LTP).
long-term potentiation
Hippocampus is essential for forming new memories. True/False
True
Sequence of events that occur during consolidation, according to the standard model of consolidation
(a) Connections between the cortex and the hippocampus (blue) are initially strong and connections between cortical areas are weak (dashed green). The activity between the hippocampus and cortex is called reactivation. (b) As time passes, connections between the hippocampus and cortex weaken (dashed blue) and connections between cortical areas become stronger (green). (c) Eventually, only intercortical connections remain.
A process that occurs during memory consolidation, in which the hippocampus replays the neural activity associated with a memory.
reactivation
(During reactivation, activity occurs in the network connecting the hippocampus and the cortex. This activity results in the formation of connections between the cortical areas)
This way of thinking about the interaction between the hippocampus and the cortex pictures the hippocampus as acting like a “______” that binds together the representations of memory from different cortical areas, but which then becomes unnecessary once the cortical representations are formed.
glue
Loss of memory for information acquired before the onset of amnesia. The condition is commonly observed after medial temporal lobe or diencephalic pathology.
retrograde amnesia
Loss of memory for something that happened prior to an injury or traumatic event such as a concussion.
When amnesia is most severe for events that occurred just prior to an injury and becomes less severe for earlier, more remote events.
graded amnesia
________ amnesia is when your brain can’t form new memories from what you’re experiencing right now. It’s common with age-related brain diseases, and can also happen due to brain injuries or damage
Anterograde
The idea that the hippocampus is involved in the retrieval of remote memories, especially episodic memories. This contrasts with the standard model of memory, which proposes that the hippocampus is involved only in the retrieval of recent memories.
multiple trace model of consolidation
A process proposed by Nader and others that occurs when a memory is retrieved and so becomes reactivated. Once this occurs, the memory must be consolidated again, as it was during the initial learning. This repeat consolidation is ___________.
reconsolidation.
If you have participated in paired-associate learning, then you likely
a. heard a variety of words paired with other words and had to recall which word was paired with another.
b. had to come up with a word that you believed was associated with another word.
c. engaged in shallow rather than deep processing.
d. were tested to see how many categories of word pairs you remembered.
a. heard a variety of words paired with other words and had to recall which word was paired with another.
Suppose you do a memory test and hear the words “shy,” “kind,” and “intelligent”—which, coincidentally, also describe your personality. Due to ___ you’d likely have good recall for these words.
a. deep processing
b. paired-associate learning
c. the generation effect
d. the self-reference effect
d. the self-reference effect
What is the key distinction between maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal?
a. mood
b. meaning
c. timing
d. location
b. meaning
The word “apple” would probably NOT serve as a retrieval cue for the word ___.
a. “shoe”
b. “pie”
c. “orange”
d. “tree”
a. “shoe”
The sentence “Every good boy deserves fudge” is used by music students to represent notes on the lines of the treble clef. Which concept does this reflect?
a. temporal context
b. encoding specificity
c. spacing effect
d. retrieval cue
d. retrieval cue
Suppose you were studying while listening to pop music at a low volume on the radio. Consistent with state-dependent learning, your testing of that study material would probably be best if ___.
a. no music was played
b. pop music at a low volume was played
c. pop music at a moderately high volume was played
d. classical music was played
b. pop music at a low volume was played
Research based on transfer-appropriate processing provides the LEAST support for ___.
a. encoding specificity
b. state-dependent learning
c. levels of processing theory
d. actually, transfer-appropriate processing supports all of these principles
c. levels of processing theory
According to the standard model of consolidation, activation in the cortex
a. does not occur at all.
b. is limited.
c. occurs in a number of different areas.
d. is unclear.
c. occurs in a number of different areas.
Due to a car accident, Meg has suffered an injury and now cannot form new memories. As such, it appears that she has ___ amnesia.
a. general
b. anterograde
c. graded
d. retrograde
b. anterograde
Ahmad suffered a brain injury where he cannot recall past events that occurred years ago. Based on this information, it would appear that he has ___ amnesia.
a. general
b. anterograde
c. retrograde
d. graded
c. retrograde
Which of the following best reflects the results of Tulving and Pearlstone’s experiment with retrieval cues?
a. The free recall participants recalled about the same amount of items as the cued recall participants.
b. The cued recall participants recalled nearly twice as many items as the free recall participants.
c. The free recall participants recalled three times more items than the cued recall participants.
d. The cued recall participants recalled less than half as many items as the free recall participants.
b. The cued recall participants recalled nearly twice as many items as the free recall participants.
Which of the following reflects state-dependent learning?
a. studying questions you wrote
b. studying then taking a nap
c. studying while feeling happy
d. studying while sitting in a cafe
c. studying while feeling happy
What is the consequence of injecting a rat with anisomycin?
a. Doing so improves memory.
b. Doing so produces fear.
c. Doing so inhibits the formation of new memories.
d. The use of this drug is lethal to rats.
c. Doing so inhibits the formation of new memories.
Research on consolidation and sleep suggests that recall is best if
a. one waits to sleep after study and does not expect to be tested.
b. one sleeps soon after study and does not expect to be tested.
c. one waits to sleep after study and expects to be tested.
d. one sleeps soon after study and expects to be tested.
d. one sleeps soon after study and expects to be tested.
All of the following appear to be effective means of studying EXCEPT ___.
a. elaborating on material
b. taking breaks while studying
c. consistently using a highlighter
d. actively creating material to test
c. consistently using a highlighter
Devon and Yoshi always create True-False flash cards to help them study for Mrs. Singleton’s weekly True-False history quizzes. What strategy are Devon and Yoshi using to help enhance their performance on the quizzes?
a. state-dependent learning
b. transfer-appropriate processing
c. synaptic consolidation
d. encoding specificity
b. transfer-appropriate processing
How long does the synaptic consolidation of a memory take?
a. seconds
b. minutes
c. weeks
d. years
b. minutes
Which of the following is produced during the process of synaptic consolidation?
a. lipids
b. hormones
c. amino acids
d. proteins
d. proteins
Compared to the standard model of consolidation, which of the following is thought to play a larger role in the multiple trace model of consolidation?
a. multivoxels
b. hippocampus
c. amygdala
d. synapses
b. hippocampus
Which of the following will likely improve Mariela’s test score after a session of studying?
a. going to a movie
b. doing maintenance rehearsal
c. rereading her textbook
d. taking a long nap
d. taking a long nap
Without ________, reconsolidation of a memory would not be possible.
a. cueing
b. testing
c. fragility
d. sleep
c. fragility
Mr. Gomez has found that his students’ performance on a unit exam is enhanced by their taking weekly quizzes on content covered in the unit. What method is Mr. Gomez using with his students?
a. transfer-appropriate processing
b. activated reconsolidation
c. state-dependent learning
d. retrieval practice
d. retrieval practice
Research conducted by Bower and Winzenz using paired-associate learning demonstrated the value of using ________ to improve memory.
a. self-reference
b. images
c. specificity
d. rehearsal
b. images
How are creating self-references and forming visual images similar?
a. They both require state dependence.
b. They both stimulate reconsolidation.
c. They both engage deep processing.
d. They both trigger the spacing effect.
c. They both engage deep processing.
The “famous rat experiment” provided key insights into reconsolidation because memories were ________.
a. traced
b. reactivated
c. potentiated
d. organized
b. reactivated
In the context of memory, what distinguishes reconsolidation from consolidation?
a. scale
b. modification
c. emotion
d. cueing
b. modification
The spacing effect would seem to contradict which of the following practices?
a. mind wandering in class
b. rereading highlighted text
c. cramming for a final exam
d. taking quizzes every week
c. cramming for a final exam
Rereading material for a class many times is considered an ineffective study strategy. Rather than learning, this practice simply makes you ________.
a. disengaged
b. saturated
c. fluent
d. proactive
c. fluent
What is the key difference between free recall and cued recall?
a. traces
b. hints
c. tasks
d. states
b. hints
