Memory
Retention of information over time
Basic Processes (4)
- Attention
- Encoding
- Storage
- Retrieval
Sensory Memory
Preserves info in its original sensory form for a brief time (like a sec)
Short term memory
- Capacity?
Limited capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed info for up to about 20 sec
Capacity: ±7 #
Working memory
A limited capacity storage that temporarily maintains info by providing an interface between perception, memory and action
-Phonological Loop
-Visual-Spatial Sketchpad
-Episodic Buffer –> binding problem
Long term memory
- 3 differences from STM
A relatively enduring store of info
1. Much larger capacity than STM
2. Much longer retention than STM
3. Different kinds of mistakes than STM
Explicit vs Implicit
Explicit: you know what you’re trying to pull out from brain
1. Semantic memory - general knowledge (no relation to time)
2. Episodic memory - chronological / temporarily dated
Implicit: we don’t consciously remember
1. Procedural: how to do specific actions / skills
2. Priming: When the memory of previously encountered stimuli impacts subsequent thoughts or behaviours
H.M.
Amnesia (2)
3 big discoveries
Amnesia
1. Retrograde amnesia: can’t retrieve memories for some specific period of time prior to the brain damage time
2. Anterograde amnesia: after brain damage
- Clear distinction of STM & LTM
- Clear distinction between implicit & explicit memory
- Different types of memory may be stored in different areas of the brain
Serial position curve
In a list, we remember the things at the front & back better than the ones in the middle
Where are memories stored?
- Long Term Potentiation
- Consolidation: info gradually converted into LTM (hippo)
Why do we forget
- Pseudoforgetting - Lack of attention
- Decay theory - STM
- Interference theory - LTM
From the probe experiment:
∴ Interference plays a larger role than decay in forgetting
- Retroactive Interference
- Proactive Interference - Aging, dementia, Alzheimer’s… etc
7 sins of memory
Sins of Commission (+)
1. Suggestibility
- Misinformation effect
- Implanted memories
2. Misattribution
- Source monitoring confusion
3. Bias
4. Persistence
Sins of Omission (-)
5. Transcience
- Decay (STM)
- Interference (LTM)
6. Blocking
7. Absentmindedness
- Pseudoforgetting
- Failure of prospective memory
What is mnemonics & 9 types
- Rhymes
- Acrostics
- Acronym
- Pegword Method
- Link method (visual imagery)
- Method of the Loci (path)
- Narrative method (make a story)
- Keyword method
- Music
