Chapter 7 - Memory

Question 1

Atkinson-Shiffrin model

Answer 1

Stores: retain information in memory without using it for any specific purpose; control processes: shift information from one memory to another

Question 2

Sensory memory

Answer 2

A memory store that accurately holds perceptual information for a very brief amount of time; iconic (visual) vs. echoic (sound)

Question 3

How does attention interact with sensory memory?

Answer 3

To allow for continuous perceptions; ‘spotlight of attention’ allows some sensory information to be transferred to short-term memory; change blindness occurs when information is outside this spotlight

Question 4

Short-term memory

Answer 4

A memory store with limited capacity and duration (<1 minute); able to hold 7 +/- 2 items or chunks in STM (digit span task)

Question 5

Chunking

Answer 5

Organizing smaller units of information into larger, more meaningful units

Question 6

Brown-Peterson task

Answer 6

1. Presented 3-consonant trigrams; 2. math task (count backwards by 3’s); rehearsal allows some information to enter long-term storage for later retrieval

Question 7

Long-term memory

Answer 7

A memory store that holds information for extended periods of time (encoding: getting information in; storage: keeping information in; retrieval: getting information out); deficits in memory can happen at any stage; students often practice encoding but not retrieval

Question 8

How are memories organized?

Answer 8

According to similarities; memory is represented by a series of related nodes (thinking about one node “activates” nearby nodes); tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Question 9

Serial position effect

Answer 9

Tendency to recall earlier and later items from a list

Question 10

Primacy effect

Answer 10

Remembering information from the beginning of a list

Question 11

Recency effect

Answer 11

Remembering information from the end of a list

Question 12

Proactive interference

Answer 12

Old information interferes with new information; long-term memory

Question 13

Retroactive interference

Answer 13

New information interferes with old information; short-term memory

Question 14

How do we distinguish short-term memory from long-term memory?

Answer 14

Variations to methodology can selectively disrupt primacy or recency effect (delayed recall; rapid presentation); hippocampus (LTM) vs. sensory and association areas (STM) -> brain damage can selectively impair one memory system

Question 15

Working Memory model

Answer 15

A more nuanced elaboration on the short-term memory component of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model

Question 16

Phonological loop

Answer 16

Storage component that relies on rehearsal and stores information as sounds (phonological store and articulatory control processes)

Question 17

Word-length effect

Answer 17

People remember more one syllable words than four or five-syllable words; length of the loop (~2 seconds)

Question 18

Visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 18

Storage component that maintains visual images and spatial layouts; able to relocate things even with eyes closed

Question 19

Feature binding

Answer 19

Visual chunking

Question 20

Episodic buffer

Answer 20

Storage component that combines the images and sounds from the other two components into coherent episodes; proposed to link other systems to LTM

Question 21

Central executive

Answer 21

The control centre of working memory that coordinates attention and the exchange of information among the three storage components

Question 22

Declarative (explicit) memories

Answer 22

Conscious memories

Question 23

Nondeclarative (implicit) memories

Answer 23

Not dependent on conscious awareness; classical conditioning

Question 24

Semantic memories

Answer 24

Type of declarative memory; memories that include our general knowledge and facts about the world

Question 25

Episodic memories

Answer 25

Type of declarative memory; memories for personal experiences recalled from a first-person perspective; 'mental time travel'

Question 26

Procedural memories

Answer 26

Type of non declarative memory; include pattern of muscle movements (muscle memory); skill learning

Question 27

Priming

Answer 27

Type of non declarative memory; previous exposure to a stimulus can influence our later behaviour; semantic knowledge can be implicitly primed (word-stem completion: presented with stimuli first)

Question 28

Long-term potentiation

Answer 28

Hippocampus; facilitates memory formation (Hebb's rule)

Question 29

Consolidation

Answer 29

The process of converting short-term memories into long-term memories in the brain

Question 30

Cross-cortical storage

Answer 30

Long-term memories stored in structures that participated in original experience

Question 31

Henry Molaison

Answer 31

Bilateral medial temporal lobectomy to treat severe seizures (1953); had deficits in: digit span + 1 test, Corsi block-tapping test, and episodic recall; not all of his memories were affected; no deficits in: classical conditioning, remote memory, mirror drawing test, incomplete pictures test; more than his hippocampus was removed (the hippocampus doesn't work in isolation -> part of larger circuitry with surrounding areas, such as the amygdala/limbic system to incorporate emotion

Question 32

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 32

Inability to remember what was already known at the onset of amnesia (past memories)

Question 33

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 33

Inability or limited ability to form new memories after the onset of amnesia

Question 34

Maintenance rehearsal

Answer 34

Ineffective encoding; prolonging exposure to information by repeating it

Question 35

Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 35

Effective encoding; a strategy of focusing on meaning and connecting to-be remembered information with other information already stored in memory

Question 36

What are the three types of instructions regarding depth of processing?

Answer 36

Eg. the word basket; is it written in capital letters (shallow)?; does it rhyme with "gasket" (kind of shallow)?; does it fit in this sentence (deep)?

Question 37

What are the four types of instructions regarding incidental vs. intentional learning?

Answer 37

Explicit learning (learn the word); implicit learning (find a specific letter); implicit learning (count the letters); implicit learning (how pleasant is the word?)

Question 38

Self-reference and survival processing effect

Answer 38

Information related to oneself and one's well-being more easily remembered; emotions enhance attention and facilitate deep processing

Question 39

Flashbulb memories

Answer 39

Same decline in memory as 'normal' memories; differences in beliefs of accuracy; stress hormones enhance short-term recall, impair long-term memory

Question 40

Recognition

Answer 40

Identifying a stimulus or piece of information when it is presented

Question 41

Recall

Answer 41

Retrieving information when asked, but without the information being present (free vs. cued (prompted) recall)

Question 42

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 42

Retrieval is most effective when it occurs in the same context as encoding (context-dependent learning; state-dependent learning; mood-dependent learning; context-dependent forgetting; context-reinstatement effect)

Question 43

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer 43

Demonstrated the forgetting curve by measuring his own recall for words

Question 44

Mnemonics

Answer 44

Techniques that are intended to improve memory for specific information (eg. acronyms, first letter technique)

Question 45

Dual coding

Answer 45

Occurs when information is stored in more than one form (eg. alphabet song)

Question 46

Cue overload

Answer 46

Using visual imagery to imagine things interacting; method to improve memory

Question 47

Method of loci

Answer 47

Connects items to be remembered to locations along a familiar path; method to improve memory

Question 48

Why is it important for memories to be organized?

Answer 48

Easier to find things; mnemonics, deep processing and elaborative rehearsal all help with this

Question 49

Testing effect

Answer 49

Taking a practice test can improve performance

Question 50

Spacing effect

Answer 50

Material is better recalled when studied over a period of short sessions spaced apart, instead of in one long session

Question 51

Interleaving

Answer 51

Forces changes in attention, makes the study session more effortful, and strengthens memory

Question 52

What can note-taking do?

Answer 52

Facilitates learning through desirable difficulties; forces student to synthesize main points; promotes active learning by engaging attention and working memory; students who take notes have higher test performance, even without review (generation effect)

Question 53

Why is it important to understand rather than just memorize?

Answer 53

Expertise enhances memory; understanding allows for new knowledge to be integrated into existing memory frameworks

Question 54

Schemas

Answer 54

Organized categories of information that get activated by an event, object or idea; mental 'shortcuts' that guide expectations and memory; supplements incomplete memories and helps us avoid confirming the obvious; contributes to stereotypes

Question 55

Constructive memory

Answer 55

We first recall a generalized schema and then add in specific details as needed; schema-consistent (with expectation) vs. schema-inconsistent (with expectations)

Question 56

What do errors in memory do?

Answer 56

Tend to make recall schema-consistent

Question 57

Misinformation effect

Answer 57

Happens when information occurring after an event becomes part of the memory for that event (eg. staged car accidents and leading questions; how the question was asked can change responses); also prominent in the legal system (juries; children are more susceptible)

Question 58

DRM procedure

Answer 58

Recall of 'critical lure' (related words but not actually included)

Question 59

Intrusion errors

Answer 59

Errors in which other knowledge intrudes into a remembered event

Question 60

Imagination inflation

Answer 60

Increased confidence in a false memory due to repeated imagination of the event (researchers obtained real childhood pictures from participants' families; real photo was 'doctored' to create a new event; researchers interviewed participants about real and doctored photos; causes participants to recall details that didn't actually happen)

Question 61

Reality monitoring errors

Answer 61

The inability to distinguish between memories for events that have actually occurred and memories for imagined events

Question 62

What can integrating a new memory do?

Answer 62

Integrating a new memory into our existing 'library' of connected ideas can both help and hinder memory retrieval

Question 63

Source monitoring errors

Answer 63

The inability to properly attribute how (ie. from what source) a memory originated; destination memory errors

Question 64

Mere exposure effect

Answer 64

Just being exposed to a stimuli repeatedly can increase later preferences; eg. name brand over store brand

Question 65

Is eyewitness testimony reliable?

Answer 65

Not really; people misidentify and misreport events despite their high confidence in their recall ability; juries are much more likely to believe a confident witness; >75% of wrongful convictions attributed to mistaken eyewitnesses

Question 66

What happened to Ronald Cotton?

Answer 66

He was selected from a police lineup; the initial ID was tentative, and the confidence in his ID increased over time and he ended up being wrongly convicted

Question 67

How can we improve eyewitnesses testimony?

Answer 67

Careful instructions (there is a possibility the culprit is not in the lineup); double-blind procedure; lineup should be composed of people that fit the description provided by the witness, not people that look similar to the suspect (controls for distinctive features)

Question 68

Simultaneous vs. sequential lineups

Answer 68

Simultaneous lineups are when all people in lineup are shown at the same time, high amount of hits and high amount of false positives; sequential lineups are when not all the people are shown at the same time, has low amount of hits and low amount of false positives

Question 69

Early confidence statements

Answer 69

Eyewitness confidence as a predictor of accuracy; jump-out ID (higher confidence = higher accuracy)