Chapter 6

Question 1

What is memory?

Answer 1

Memory is the ability to store and retrieve information.

Question 2

What are the three key features of memory?

Answer 2

Encoding, storage, and retrieval

Question 3

What is encoding?

Answer 3

Encoding is the process of how we get the information into our brain. We see something, it is impacted by our perception, and then transferred for storage. This is an active process.

Question 4

What is storage?

Answer 4

This is where encoded information is stored. It can be short-term or long-term.

Question 5

What is retrieval?

Answer 5

This is the process by which stored memory is accessed again.

Question 6

Is memory created in isolation?

Answer 6

No, memory is constructive. New memories are formed on the basis of past information we already have stored.

Question 7

What is elaborative encoding?

Answer 7

You elaborate on old information you already have with new information. (The process of actively relating new information to knowledge that is already in memory.)

Question 8

What is visual imagery encoding?

Answer 8

The process of storing new information by converting it into visual pictures.

Question 9

What is organisational encoding?

Answer 9

Organisational encoding is the process by which information is stored by categorising information according to relationships among the items.

Question 10

What is Semantic judgement? How is the brain activated?

Answer 10

If we are asked to make a judgement about something, and give it meaning, we tend to process that information better. The upper frontal lobe is activated.

Question 11

What is visual judgement? What part of the brain is activated?

Answer 11

Info is stored as mental pictures. The occipital lobes are activated.

Question 11

What is rhyme judgement? What part of the brain is activated?

Answer 11

Rhyme judgement is exactly how it sounds, processing information on the basis of how words sound. It is a shallower level of encoding and the lower left frontal lobe is activated.

Question 12

Why is organisational encoding so effective?

Answer 12

Because, when information is stored like that, pathways are created between the different connections. When doing retrieval, these pathways are further solidified.

Question 13

What type of information is easier for us to encode?

Answer 13

Survival related information. This is because we are hardwired to remember this as it keeps us alive.

Question 14

What are the three types of memory storage?

Answer 14

Sensory, short-term, and long-term

Question 15

How does sensory memory storage work?

Answer 15

It is a memory for sensation. Memory related to the senses is stored for a few seconds or less.
Iconic memory: Is a fast decaying store of visual information
Echoic memory: Is a fast decaying store of auditory information

Question 16

What is short-term/working memory?

Answer 16

This is storage that holds information for longer than a few seconds but less than a minute. It can hold about 7 items, plus or minus 2.

Question 17

What are some strategies for retaining information in short-term memory?

Answer 17

Rehearsal: Mentally repeating information
Chunking: Combing small pieces of information into larger clusters. (For example, phone numbers)

Question 18

How is working memory connected to short-term memory?

Answer 18

Working memory is the active maintenance of information in our storage. It involves several different features that must be managed together to work properly.

Question 19

What is long-term memory?

Answer 19

Long-term memory is information that is stored for hours, days and years. At the moment, there is no known limit. There is also this idea that information is never gone, we just lose access to the pathways that allow us to retrieve information.

Question 20

What are iconic memories?

Answer 20

These are sensory memories that store visual information for a few seconds. This type of memory cannot be prolonged by rehearsal.

Question 21

How does information get to long-term storage?

Answer 21

Sensory input is first received. If it is given attention, it moves to short-term memory. From there, various processes of encoding ensures that the information is transferred to long-term memory. If the information is not transferred, it is lost.

Question 22

How is the hippocampus involved in memory?

Answer 22

It is like an index for long-term storage. When we are recalling information, the hippocampus thumbs through to find what you are looking for. (Case of HM: He had his hippocampus removed and did not have access to long-term memories - this doesn’t mean these memories weren’t being made and weren’t impacting him)

Question 23

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 23

This is the inability to transfer new information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory.

Question 24

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 24

This is the inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a certain date, usually one of an injury or operation.

Question 25

What is consolidation?

Answer 25

The process by which memories become more stable in the brain. It happens by talking about something, retrieving it, and thinking about it. Sleep also has a huge role in consolidating memories.

Question 26

What is re-consolidation?

Answer 26

Memories can become vulnerable/unfixed when recalled and might have to be re-consolidated.

Question 27

How is sleep beneficial to the consolidation of memory?

Answer 27

As we sleep, our hippocampus is active.

Question 28

Describe Long-Term Potentiation. Explain the diagram.

Answer 28

("Cells that fire together wire together.") This is the idea that the more you practice or recall something, the easier it becomes to do it again. This is because when neurons communicate with each other at synapses, the pathway between them becomes more defined.

Question 29

What is retrieval?

Answer 29

It is the act of bringing stored information to mind. There are several different tools that help us do this effectively.

Question 30

What is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 30

It is the idea that we remember information we encoded the best when we are recalling it in the same context as when it was first encoded. (Scuba diving vs on-land example)

Question 31

Give an example of a retrieval cue.

Answer 31

Retrieval cues are when some sort of prompt is given to help someone remember another piece of information. An example of this was when we were in class discussing the paired words and Dr. Coates gave us one word from the pair to help us remember the other one.

Question 32

How is state dependent retrieval related to the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 32

Its related as it is saying that we remember things the best when we are in the same state as we were when we encoded it. (Encoding = Happy, Retrieval = Happy)

Question 33

What's the difference between the encoding specificity principle and transfer-appropriate processing?

Answer 33

They are similar in the sense that they talk about how memory works best when retrieval and encoding conditions match. But, the encoding specificity principle refers to matching cues whereas the transfer-appropriate processing refers to matching types of thinking.

Question 34

Is language a retrieval cue? Refer to a language study to explain.

Answer 34

It is. There was a study done on bilingual Russian American students. They were given prompts in both English and Russian and then asked to relate them to memories. They remembered the words better when they matched the language of the location where the memory took place...?

Question 35

What is retrieval induced forgetting?

Answer 35

This is the concept that sometimes bringing information causes us to suppress other related information. For example, the category is fruit names. You study 4 different fruits and then study two specifically. When you are asked to recall all of them, you can only remember the two you practised the most. (Scans of the brain suggest that the frontal lobe is suppressing competing information)

Question 36

Taking the impacts of retrieval induced forgetting into mind, what is a way to study to combat this?

Answer 36

Study things as a whole! Though chunking and clustering is valuable, be careful not to emphasise some pieces of information over others.

Question 37

What is explicit memory?

Answer 37

Explicit memory is the act of consciously bringing information to mind. (It's done on purpose) This is what we do all the time in uni. (Conscious recall of facts and experiences)

Question 38

What is implicit memory?

Answer 38

This is when memories influence what we are currently doing. (The influence of past experiences on later behaviour, even without having to actively recall them). The memories aren't brought up to full consciousness. (Walking, driving, and answering the phone are examples of this).

Question 39

What is priming?

Answer 39

An enhanced ability to think of a stimulus as result of recent exposure to the stimulus; less cortical activation (perceptual and conceptual priming). This can even be done with things that we know are not true. (Spell silk; what do cows drink?)

Question 40

What is procedural memory?

Answer 40

The gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things. (Specific skills) It is a form of long-term memory.

Question 41

What is semantic memory?

Answer 41

A network of associated facts and concepts that make up your general knowledge of the world. (Uni is forming this)

Question 42

What is episodic memory?

Answer 42

The collection of past, personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place. (This is the type of memory that amnesia interferes with)

Question 43

How is the forgetting curve related to transience? (One of the seven sins of memory)

Answer 43

It illustrates how we forget things over time. We forget things quickly at first and then it evens out over time. It involves a switch from specific to more general memories.

Question 44

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 44

(Tied to transience) This is when new information impairs our ability to learn later information. - Learning last year's locker combo impairs your ability to learn this years. -This info is replacing old info

Question 45

What is proactive interference?

Answer 45

This is when what you learned earlier interferes with what you learn later. - Old info is preventing you from retaining new info

Question 46

What is absentmindedness?

Answer 46

This is when a lapse in attention results in memory failure. (Busy people deal with this as their attention must be constantly divided.)

Question 47

What is prospective memory?

Answer 47

This is being able to remember to do things in the future.

Question 48

What is blocking?

Answer 48

A failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it. (You know you know something, but aren't able to bring it to mind.) This is also known as the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.

Question 49

What is memory mis-attribution?

Answer 49

This is assigning a recollection or an idea to the wrong source. The frontal lobe is intimately involved in this. - Example - You see someone who looks like a celebrity and you think it is them.

Question 50

How is source memory tied to memory misattribution?

Answer 50

Source memory is the ability to recall when, how, and where information was acquired. Source memory is likely impaired when someone is experiencing memory misattribution.

Question 51

What is false recognition?

Answer 51

False recognition is when someone sees something and falsely identifies it as something else. (It is a feeling of familiarity for something that hasn't been encountered yet)

Question 52

How can misattribution be dangerous?

Answer 52

It can be dangerous because, especially in courts of law, prosecutors rely on the memory of their witnesses. Someone can be convinced the recognise someone that they've never seen before. People can be wrongly convicted. They've actually changed the way they do criminal line ups because of this.

Question 53

What is suggestibility?

Answer 53

This refers to the tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections. (People can develop false memories in response to suggestions) - Therapy in the 90s example

Question 54

What is bias?

Answer 54

It is the distorting influence of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on recollection of previous experiences. - Coates example about her change in thoughts about the a-bombs.

Question 55

What is consistency bias?

Answer 55

The tendency to reconstruct the past to fit the present.

Question 56

What is change bias?

Answer 56

The tendency to exaggerate differences between what we feel or believe now and what we felt or believed in the past. - We overestimate just how much things have changed

Question 57

What is egocentric bias?

Answer 57

The tendency to exaggerate the change between past and present to make ourselves look better in retrospect.

Question 58

Do I need to make a card on persistence?