Explain the workings of the memory system, from first exposure to information or an event, to eventual retrieval of this information from memory.
The information-processing approach uses a computer analogy to illustrate how the mind processes information.
1. The human “computer” takes in information through the sensory registers, which hold the information for a very brief period.
2. Information attended to may be further processed in short-term, or working memory.
3. Eventually, information may be stored in long-term memory, which seems to be unlimited in terms of size and permanency.
List and define the different forms of memory.
- Explicit memory - memory that is deliberate and effortful and changes over the life span (tested by traditional recognition and recall tests)
- Implicit memory - memory that is automatic and relatively stable changes over the life span (unaware inmplicit “tests”)
Explicit and implicit memories are separate components of long-term memory and are localized in different parts of the brain, but the storage and retrieval of new information can take place where it first gets activated (visual memory in the visual cortex) which then passes to the medial temporal lobe for consolidation.
Describe the neural underpinnings of memory.
The hippocampus is responsible for creating new episodic memories and statistical learning and the entorhinal cortex connects it to other parts of the brain. Place cell clusters store information about prior and current locations, making the hippocampus the cognitive GPS. Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex track our place in space like a coordinate system and memory - like episodic - along with place cells.
Explain how researchers are able to assess the memory capabilities of infants.
- Imitation - Some infants can imitate actions which suggest they can remember previous actions to imitate. Deferred imitation specifically is surprising as they can imitate even after delay.
- Habituation - infants can remember stimuli to “get used to it” meaning they are capable of recognition memory.
- Operant conditioning techniques - for long term memory, they can assess if stimuli give the same response for the infant that they desire
- Object Search - For A-not-B error tasks, children (with looking behaviour) can remember the right spot as early as 5-6 months
Outline the characteristics of infant memory.
Infants clearly show recognition memory for familiar stimuli at birth and cued recall memory by about 2 months. More explicit memory, which requires actively retrieving an image of an object or event no longer present, appears to emerge toward the end of the first year. Early memories are cue-dependent and context-specific. By age 2, it is even clearer that infants can recall events that happened long ago, for they, like adults, use language to represent and describe what happened. Simple problem solving improves throughout infancy, and infants realize that they can get adults to help them solve problems.
Describe the types of information that infants are likely to remember.
Researchers have gone from believing that infants have no memory beyond a few seconds to appreciating that even young 1-year-olds can recall experiences for weeks and even months under certain conditions such as repeated exposures, cues and when the information occurs in meaningful order.
Describe autobiographical memory, provide an example, and list contributing factors.
Much of what we remember is autobiographical. Even though infants and toddlers show evidence of memory, older children and adults often experience childhood amnesia (lack of memory for events that happened during infancy and early childhood)
Discuss and evaluate the major reasons why memory improves over childhood.
- Basic information-processing capacity increases (the “hardware”) as the brain matures and fundamental processes are automated to free working-memory space.
- Memory strategies such as rehearsal, organization, and elaboration improve.
- Metamemory (control of your memory) improves
- The general knowledge base grows - makes it easier to associate unfamiliar material to familiar material.
- Increased use and accuracy of memory scripts
All these changes improve the processing of new information in areas of expertise.
Explain how scripts are used to guide memory.
By age 3, children store routine daily events as scripts that they can draw on in similar situations. Our scripts influence what we remember about an event, which is also influenced by information related to but coming after the event.
Compare the typical adolescent’s memory capabilities to those of the typical child.
Adolescents master advanced learning strategies such as elaboration, note taking, and underlining, and they use their strategies more deliberately and selectively.
Explain why adolescents demonstrate stronger memory abilities than children.
Adolescents have larger knowledge bases, and their metamemory skills also improve and contribute to increased memory performance and problem-solving ability.
Discuss age-related changes in memory across adulthood, noting factors that enhance and factors that impede memory.
Many older adults perform less well than young adults on memory tasks that require speed, the learning of unfamiliar or meaningless material, the use of unexercised abilities, recall rather than recognition memory, and explicit rather than implicit memory.
Describe the characteristics of adult autobiographical memory.
On average, older adults also perform less well than younger adults on laboratory learning and problem-solving tasks, but everyday problem-solving skills are likely to improve from early adulthood to middle adulthood and to be maintained in old age.
Distinguish characteristics of someone with expertise in a field relative to someone who is a novice.
As adults gain expertise in a domain, they develop large and organized knowledge bases and highly effective, specialized, and automated ways of retrieving and using their knowledge.
Explain how older adults may compensate for declines in memory and problem-solving ability.
Declines in basic processing capacity and difficulty using strategies, plus contextual factors such as cohort differences and the irrelevance of many laboratory tasks to everyday life, contribute to age differences in memory.
How does information get into long-term memory?
In order for something to move into the long-term memory store, it must undergo a process of consolidation in which a memory trace of the event is created. Encoding and retrieval strategies influence memory performance.
What is cognition in the development of long-term memory?
It is the processes that stabilize and organize new information to facilitate its long- term storage.
1. Synaptic consolidation - the process by which these connections are strengthened within minutes and hours after learning to retain the new information.
2. System consolidation - over days and years to move memories from the hippocampus into long- term memory in other regions of the brain
Both are facilitated by sleep/stress and is assisted when relating new information to old.
What is encoding in the development of long-term memory?
Getting information from the external world into the system.
What is retrieval in the development of long-term memory?
The process of getting information out when it is needed.
What are the types of retrieval?
- Recognition - recognising information form external stimuli (the easier of the bunch throughout lifespan)
- Recall - actively retrieving information without the aid of cues.
- Cued recall - retrieving information with the aid of cues.
What is working memory?
It is the short-term memory being used to achieve a goal. Working memory is akin to a mental “scratch pad” that temporarily stores information while actively operating on it
What is a central executive and what are the three types of short-term memory storage?
- Central executive - controls attention and the flow of information
- A phonological loop - briefly holds auditory information such as words or music
- A visual-spatial sketchpad - holds visual information such as colors and shapes
- An episodic buffer - links auditory and visual information
What are the two versions of explicit memory?
- Semantic memory - general facts
- Episodic memory - specific experiences.
What are the theoretical perspectives on memory?
