Working Memory (2) Flashcards
Why do we refer to the brain as being ‘plastic’?
Because it can change at the cellular level (mostly at the connections between neurones, i.e., the synaptic gaps) by creating and reinforcing neural networks.
When does the brain discard, retain, and change information?
In response to new and repeated experiences.
How is memory consolidation defined?
As a time-dependent process by which recent learned experiences are transformed into long-term memory, presumably by structural and chemical changes in the nervous system (e.g., the strengthening of synaptic connections between neurones).
What is George A. Miller’s (Miller’s) (1920 - 2012) magic number (sometimes alluded to as Miller’s law)?
It is seven, as Miller believed humans could store seven plus or minus two, or five to nine chunks or meaningful units of information, in their short-term memories (1956).
What is an example of the various studies that provide evidence that support Miller’s theory?
The study carried out by Jacobs (1887).
Why did Jacobs use the digit span test with every letter in the alphabet and numbers apart from “w” and “7”?
Because they had two syllables.
What was the finding of Jacob’s study?
That people find it easier to recall numbers rather than letters (the mean amount of letters that could be correctly recalled was 7.3, and for numbers it was 9.3).
What does a participant have to immediately recall in the digit-span technique?
A sequence of letters or numbers which is increased by one letter or number with each trial.
What is chunking in cognitive psychology?
A process by which small individual pieces of a set of information are bound together to create a meaningful whole later on in memory.
What is an example of chunking?
When telling someone a phone number, we tend to break it into chunks (e.g., “020-8331-8000”).
To what does the concept of memory capacity usually refer?
To the amount of information that can be held in the short-term store (STS), which has typically been assessed via memory span tasks or measures of working memory.
What is improved when words can be chunked into larger units?
Short-term verbal memory.
What did Miller suggest about the capacity of verbal short-term memory?
That it is determined by the number of chunks that can be stored in memory, rather than by the number of items or the amount of information.
