week 8 memory and attention

Question 1

what is attention?

Answer 1

Focusing consciousness on limited task or information

Question 2

What is the dichotic listening task that researchers use to study attention?

Answer 2

Different audio to each ear and ask questions pertaining to one or both. ie need to focus attention on one.

Question 3

If someone attends to specific information selectively, what happens to the info not attended to?

Answer 3

May enter working memory. Likely to not be fully processed. highly unlikely to reach long term memory.

Question 4

How does a visual search task show that we can use parallel or serial processing?

Answer 4

Searching for multiple features takes longer. Parallel searching takes longer than serial.

Question 5

What happens when attention is diivided and we try to perform 2 tasks at once?

Answer 5

Likely to struggle unless require different resources and /or 1st task is very well practised

Question 6

How does the similarity between tasks affect our ability to divide our attention and do both?

Answer 6

similar tasks require similar resources in attention, therefore difficult to do both.

Question 7

What happens to our need for attention when tasks are well practiced?

Answer 7

decreases

Question 8

what is inattentional blindness?

Answer 8

miss something obvious because attention was elsewhere

Question 9

What is change blindness?

Answer 9

So focused on something in scene, miss a really obvious change in the scene

Question 10

why do we lose info not paid attention to?

Answer 10

Thought there is an ïnformational processing bottleneck” so limited in what can process-only gets processed if paid attention to.

Question 11

why is it good that our memories don’t work like video recordings?

Answer 11

Can use memories in generalities as opposed to specifics, therefore can apply learnings more widely

Question 12

How does information get into our short-term memory and how is it held there?

Answer 12

processing and attention.

Question 13

describe the “model of 4 components of working memory”

Answer 13

1. Phonological loop. briefly stores sound
2. Visuospatial sketchpad. Briefly stores visual and spatial info
3. Episodic buffer. Integration of first 2 systems and long term memory.
4. Central Executive. controls the sequence of actions required for first 3.

Question 14

How do we know that working memory and long term memory are different memory systems?

Answer 14

Some people with brain damage have anterograde amnesia and others retrograde.

Question 15

What is the serial position effect?

Answer 15

eg. given 15 words to remember, people do well with position 1-5/6 and 12-15

Question 16

What is the primacy effect?

Answer 16

First words in a list thought to be remembered because

have recited them and encoded into long term memory

Question 17

What is the recency effect?

Answer 17

Last few eg words in list are remembered as they are temporarily still being held in working memory.

Question 18

How does information get transferred from working memory to long term memory?

Answer 18

Integrated in episodic buffer under control of central executive either via -maintenance rehearsal(eg. recitation)
-or elaborative rehearsal(eg visualisation/mnemonics etc)
Thalamus likely to play a role in this.

Question 19

Which method of rehearsal is better if you want to retain information in long term memory?

Answer 19

Elaborative.Practise is also very good. But the weirder the elaboration, the more likely you are to remember.

Question 20

What is explicit memory?

Answer 20

Conscious or intentional memory retrieval.

Question 21

What is implicit memory?

Answer 21

Unconscious memory, yet it influences our behaviour
May rely on other information, may be a well learnt task such as riding a bike, being able to form words from word stems etc.

Question 22

What tests can be used to test explicit memory?

Answer 22

directly ask if remember…
police line up
recall list of given words etc

Question 23

What tests can be used to test implicit memory?

Answer 23

Give stem words and ask to complete

Question 24

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 24

Cannot recall past events(before accident/illness)

Question 25

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 25

Cannot form new memories.Explicit memory impaired but implicit memory may remain.Often due to extensive hippocampal damage.have long term memory but not short term memory

Question 26

what type of amnesia can damage to the thalamus cause?

Answer 26

Damage to the thalamus may result in anterograde or retrograde amnesia.

Question 27

Which areas of the brain are involved in working memory?

Answer 27

Many areas depending on type of input information;
visual cortex
frontal lobes esp for executive function (completing complex tasks, retaining purpose, having goals etc)

Question 28

What areas of the brain are involved with long term memory?

Answer 28

a) Hippocampus-likely in converting short term to long term
b) thalamus-encoding new memories and retrieval of old ones
c) Amygdala-forming emotional long term memories

Question 29

Why is the amygdala important in the formation and retrieval of memories?

Answer 29

It allows memories with an emotional component to be more easily recalled..Theoretically was evolutionarily beneficial as more likely to remeber that something WAS REALLY SCARY AND LIKELY VERY HARMFUL.

Question 30

What does research show about people’s memories for emotionally-arousing material?

Answer 30

Very difficult to forget. Hard to stop thinking about. Likely to experience flashbacks/intrusive thoughts etc.

Question 31

What is thought to be the basis of memory consolidation?

Answer 31

Synaptic changes leading to synaptic connections being more easily activated. eg via increase in neurotransmitter release.

Question 32

What re the 4 main reasons we forget information?

Answer 32

1. Never converted to long term memory
2. Never practiced or consolidated(ie decay)
3. Insufficient “link stimulus”for us to remember and retrieve
4. interference. other items are impairing ability to retrieve

Question 33

Why might we have trouble distinguishing between decay and retrieval failure?

Answer 33

Because to us is simply” Ärgh I can’t remember…”

Question 34

What is proactive interference?

Answer 34

old stuff interferes with recalling new stuff

Question 35

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 35

new stuff interferes with old stuff being recalled

Question 36

Is it possibe to reverse the effects of forgetting?

Answer 36

not really. can work on improving recall. Some cholinesterase inhibitors used for alzheimer’s try to improve but effect is not brilliant and does not last

Question 37

Is repression an evidence-based explanation for forgetting?

Answer 37

No. No evidence that it occurs.

Question 38

What are the strategies that can be used during encoding to improve later recall?

Answer 38

a) maintenance rehersal
b) elaborative rehearsal
c) searching for links and deeper meanings
d) practice
e) context reinstatement(make conditions of learning as similar to environment where will need to recall
f) answer questions

Question 39

Why does elaborative encoding improve recall?

Answer 39

Because the more bizarre it is, the more likely are to recall it

Question 40

What strategies can be used during retrieval to improve later recall?

Answer 40

a) . asnwer questions
b) link concepts
c) context reinstatement

Question 41

Why does context reinstatement improve recall?

Answer 41

Links are formed between info and environment, therefore environment may later jog memory

Question 42

Why does retrieval practice improve recall?

Answer 42

Repetition strengthens the memory