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Brain and Cognition > Working Memory and STM > Flashcards

Working Memory and STM Flashcards

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The Brain flashcards
1
Q

What is working memory?

A

mental workspace that allows us to temporarily retain and manipulate a restricted set of information

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2
Q

What is a unitary model?

A

model of memory that assumes working memory is an active part of the LTM

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3
Q

What is the capacity of STM? According to who?

A

7+/-2 chunks (Miller)
“magical number 7”
stores chunks of info

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4
Q

What is personal semantics?

A

3,1,1,0 are 4 chunks of info unless you’re born on the 31st of October

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5
Q

What is prosodic preferences?

A

it’s easier to remember 12-76-54 over 127654

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6
Q

What is phonological plausibility?

A

remember something better in a pronounceable sequence than unpronounceable

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7
Q

Cowen: STM capacity revised

A

range of 3-5 chunks in a variety of tasks

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8
Q

How has STM capacity been investigated?

A

using sequential comparison procedure

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9
Q

Why does STM have a capacity limit? (Cowen)

A

biological restrictions (neuronal firing speed make it impossible to access more than 4 chunks)
Computational benefit (smaller no. of chunks allows for faster and efficient processing)

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10
Q

Atkinson and Shiffrin: multi-store model

A

Sensory stores -> decay
Pay attention
STM -> displacement
Rehearsal
LTM -> interference

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11
Q

What is a strength of Multi Store Model?

A

highly influential
neurological evidence (Shallice and Warrington): patient KF had impairments in STM but normal LTM

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12
Q

What are weaknesses to Multi Store Model?

A

STM cannot be seen as a unitary system
model fails to account for complex aspects of cognition like decision making
forgetting from STM might be more due to interference than displacement

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13
Q

Baddeley and Hitch: Multicomponent model of working memory

A

Central executive
Phonological loop
visuospatial sketchpad
episodic buffer

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14
Q

What 2 inputs does the phonological loop deal with?

A

auditory (spoken words)
visual (written words)

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15
Q

What are the 2 components to the phonological loop?

A

phonological store “inner ear”
(retains spoken language)
Articulatory loop “inner voice”

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16
Q

What does the articulatory loop do?

A

converts written words into sounds

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17
Q

Logie (1995): suggested visual and spatial info depend on diff stores, what 2 stores?

A

visual cache (stores visual info)
inner scribe (stores spatial info)

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18
Q

What does the episodic buffer do?

A

interacts with LTM
essential for organising info into chunks

19
Q

What is the central executive?

A

an attentional control system
- automatic control system (for complex but well learned situations)
- supervisory attention system (for novel situations)

20
Q

What are the main jobs of the central executive?

A

selective attention
inhibition control
retaining attentional focus
dividing attention

21
Q

Cowen: Embedded Processes Model (unitary-store model)

A

working memory is a functional NOT structural system
attention can be voluntary or involuntary depends on stimuli / task
involves 3 hierarchal elements

22
Q

What are the 3 hierarchal elements in Cowen’s embedded processes model?

A

LTM
activated part of LTM
focus of attention (on a subset of activated LTM)

23
Q

What is a strength of Cowen’s Embedded process model?

A

emphases differences between STM and LTM

24
Q

What is a weakness of Cowen’s Embedded process theory?

A

needs to account for findings of dissociations in neurological patients

25
Q

What does Amnesics mean?

A

difficulty in creating new memories
forget quickly after a few minutes

26
Q

Why do Amnesics perform well on most STM tasks but poorly on most LTM tasks?

A

because hippocampus (including medial temporal lobes) which are damaged in amnesic patents are crucial for storing LTMs

27
Q

What is the best way to process information?

A

Rehearsal
based on levels of processing theory

28
Q

What are the 2 aspects to Rehearsal?

A
  • maintenance (repeating info)
  • elaboration (deep semantic processing)
29
Q

What are the 3 tasks used to process info according to Craik and Tulving?

A

shallow graphemic task
intermediate task
deep semantic task

30
Q

What is the shallow graphemic task?

A

where ppt decides if each word is in upper or lower case

31
Q

What is the intermediate phonemic task?

A

decide is each word rhymes with target word

32
Q

What is the deep semantic task?

A

decide if each word fits in sentence with blank

33
Q

What is the distinctiveness effect?

A

some memory traces stand out due to being processed differently to others
(also known as Von Restorff effect)

34
Q

What is the transfer appropriate processing theory?

A

where memory performance is improved when context of learning matches context of retrieval

35
Q

Forgetting over time is logarithmic, what does this mean?

A

it’s exponential
gets worse

36
Q

What is trace decay?

A

mémoires fading overtime unless actively rehearsed

37
Q

What is proactive interference?

A

disruption of new memory due to previous learning

38
Q

What is retroactive interference?

A

disruption of previously learned memories due to new memories

39
Q

What is hypermnesia?

A

remember huge amounts of autobiographical details
view forgetting as a problem

40
Q

Does working memory and STM have low or high heritability?

A

high heritability

41
Q

How can you increase working memory capacity?

A

through chunking

42
Q

What is near transfer?

A

improvements in activities that are closely linked to skills developed during training

43
Q

What is far transfer?

A

improvements in activities that are different but related

44
Q

What is the N-back task?

A

used as measure of working memory
ppts see a long series of items
indicate when an item was presented earlier

Brain and Cognition (15 decks)

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