Memory

Question 1

Multi- store model of memory-

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Answer 1

• most influential multi store approach
• known as the multi store model
• simple schematic illustration of human memory.

Question 2

Multi store model of memory ( Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968)

Answer 2

Attention. Rehearsal

1) Sensory 2)Short term. 3) Long term
Registers. Memory store Memory
Store

1) Information 2) Displacement
3) interference

Question 3

IMPORTANT** Multi store model of memory ( Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968)
Strengths

Answer 3

• main support for a distinction between short and long term memory= studies from brain damaged patients.
• separation of two psychological processes= double dissociation
• double dissociation- some people may perform well on task a and not b or vice Versa.
• amnesic patient HM had impaired LTM but intact STM - corkin 1984.
• KF had impaired STM but intact LTM ( shallice and Warrington -1970)
• if memory is unitary- one process or store this should not occur.
• the multi store or modal model of memory also accounts for serial position effects. ( glanzer and cuntiz 1966)
• primary effect- assumed to occur due to early terms receiving early rehearsal which copies long term memory.
• recency is assumed to occur because terminal items are briefly available in STM immediately following presentation, before their trace represents “decay”
• when each item receives a fixed number of rehearsals primacy drops. ( rundus 1970)
• this supports the link between extra rehearsal and Early items and their transference to LTM.
• 30 second distractor delay ( counting backwards) the recency effect disappears (Glanzer and Cuntiz 1966)

Question 4

IMPORTANT • Multi store model of memory ( Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968)
LIMITATIONS

Answer 4

• over simplified- suggests STM and LTM stores are unitary
• assumes short term store is the gateway to the long term info.
• chunking is done through making meaningful groups. - only added to LTM.
• states that the short term store is holds the contents of consciousness.
• unconsciously processed info doesn’t make it to LTM.
• assumes all items in STM are of equal status
• info in LTM gets there through rehearsal
• quite a few limitations- the multi store model isn’t an accurate and complete explanation of memory. However there are elements which the majority of memory theorists maintain to be closest to the truth such as a separation of STM and LTM.

Question 5

Working memory model

Baddely and Hitch (1974)

Answer 5

• argued that STM should not be thought of merely as a holding pen for a small set of info chunks and asked what STM is for.
• allows both temporary storage and manipulation of into for variety of complex cognition skills.

Question 6

Working memory model- Baddely and Hitch 1974

• what is the central executive?

Answer 6

The control centre that coordinates subsystems and allows us to select among possible actions, strategical allocates attention to different subsystems

Question 7

Working Memory Model BADDELY AND HITCH 1974:

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 7

Two parts- a phonological store which holds acoustic or speech based information for 2 seconds and a articulatory control process which produces inner speech and allows sub vocals to rehearse info to ourselves to keep it refreshes in the phonological store

Question 8

Working Memory Model BADDELY AND HITCH 1974:

The visuospatial sketch pad

Answer 8

A subsystem that allows us to maintain and manipulate visual and spatial images

Question 9

Working Memory Model BADDELY AND HITCH 1974:

Dual- task rationale for the working memory model ( WMM)

Answer 9

• permits the performance of more than one cognitive task at a time providing that each task is processed by a different subsystem.
• evidence from dual task experiments - people asked to do two things at the same time
• if simultaneous processing hurts performance on one or both tasks- the tasks probably tap a similar limited capacity WM subsystem
• if an irrelevant word is repeated during the free recall task- memory will be impaired.
• overt articulation- interfere with the rehearsing the following be recalled item in the phonological loop. This dual task technique is termed articulatory suppression.

Question 10

Working Memory Model BADDELY AND HITCH 1974:

The word length effecting WLE

Answer 10

• according to the WM model, the number of items that can be recalled depending on how often each item can be rehearsed sub vocally by the articulatory control process
• process is used to refresh the decaying graves in the phonological loop
• the shorter the words the more can be rehearsed before a particular trace delays.
• predicts a word length effect- more short words recalled than long words

Question 11

The visual spatial sketch pad

Answer 11

• De Renzi and Nichelli (1975) found that Corsi block tapping span VSSP and auditory digit span (PL) could be impaired independently in patients with different lesions.
• suggests PL and VSSP desperate memory sub systems
• VSSP subdivided Logie 1995
• visual cache- stores info about visual form and colour
• inner scribe- deals with spatial and movement info. It rehearses info in the visual cache, transfers info from the visual to the CE and is involved in the planning and execution of body movements.

Question 12

Central executive

Answer 12

• an attentional system- versatile component of the WM system. Which is the least understood.
• the CE is responsible for controlling and coordinating mental operations in working memory.- including supervision of the slave stores such as the PL and VSSP and interactions with LTM.
• a major flaw of the CE is that it exemplifies the philosophical HOMUNCULUS PROBLEM.
• empirical evidence suggests executive functions such as planning, task switching and controlled attention.

Question 13

Coherence and Binding problem

Answer 13

• assuming separate memory sub systems the WM model creates a binding problem (jones 1993)
• BADDRLEY 2000 discusses short comings of the 1986 tripartite WM model, including explicit acknowledgement of the binding problem.
• revision of the model- adding a new component- the EPISODIC BUFFER to address the binding problem.
• BADDELEY 2000 added the episodic buffer to the WM. Model to serve as a link between WM subsystems and LTM. It functions as a limited capacity/ back up store that supports visual types of info.

Question 14

What is Central executive?

Answer 14

The resemblance of attention and the multi purpose processor with its own limited storage capacity

Question 15

Phonological loop

Answer 15

Passive phonological store and an articulatory process

Question 16

Visuo- spatial sketch pad

Answer 16

Visual cache store and inner scribe

Question 17

Episodic buffer

Answer 17

A Temporary storage system that holds and integrates diverse info from LTM, phonological loop and visuo- spatial sketch pad.

Question 18

Moving from short term memory to long term memory

Answer 18

• information manages to move from STM to LTM depending on how it’s learnt.
• the level/ depth of stimulus processing has an effect on its memorability.
• deep levels of analysis produce more elaborative, longer lasting and stronger memory traces

Question 19

Craik and Tulving (1975)

Answer 19

• incidental learning- people performed tasks involving a number of words but weren’t aware that their memory for these words that would be tested. Task conditions differed in terms of levels of processing.
• shallow graphemic = participants decided whether a word is an uppercase or lowercase
• intermediate phonemic= each word rhymes with a target word
• deep semantic = The decision whether each word fits in the blank in a sentence.  memory was more than three times higher for items subjected to deep processing compared to shadowed processing.
• distinctiveness- the more distinctive info is the more likely it’ll be remembered

Question 20

Relevance to CRAIK AND TULVING 1975

Answer 20

• if the info is relevant to the individual they’re more likely to remember it.
  • emotional stimuli are automatically processed than neutral stimuli
  • emotional stimuli activate the amygdala which activates brain regions to the processing pathway.
  • greater processing of negative or threat related to info tends to be clear as it ensures avoidance of danger.
  • greater processing for emotionally valenced and negative info

Question 21

Long term memory types - procedural memory

Answer 21

• LTM are permanent/ long lasting
• forgetting or likely due to a failure to retrieve info
• procedural memory= knowing how to do stuff- actions and activities
• difficulty to explain knowledge
• learnt through observation and practice
• not consciously recalled

Question 22

Declarative memory- explicit memories

Answer 22

• memories relating to facts and events
• usually consciously recalled
• declarative memory has two types= EPISODIC memory and SEMATIC memory:

Episodic memory= memories of general academic knowledge
• includes references to when and where

Semantic memory:
• memories of general academic knowledge
• facts that aren’t related to place or time
* includes references about what and who

Question 23

Tulving 1983

Answer 23

Argues that semantic and episodic memory systems work together to inform new memories- it isn’t always one or the other.
• the memory that can ultimately forms may consist of an autobiography full episode and semantic info.
Tulving (1983)

Question 24

Semantic network theory- THINK OF TOWNS AS NODES AND HIGHWAY STREETS AS LINKS

Answer 24

• info stored in LTM as a series of overlapping networks
• each network is interconnected by meaningful links
• every info/ concept in the network is called NODE.
• when a node is activated, all other related nodes are made available- spreading activation.
• links multiple concepts and removes need for the same copies of info
• the stronger the link between nodes = stronger association and makes retrieval faster
•

Question 25

Priming: implicit memory

Answer 25

* exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another * emergency would be recognised more quickly following the word RED than following with the word CUP.

Question 26

Relational learning

Answer 26

* complex learning involves associations between stimuli, contexts, behaviour and outcomes * requires learning of individual stimuli, how each stimulus is related to others. Spatial learning- forming memories of where objects are located in space • observational learning- social learning in which the behaviours of others are observed and replicated.

Question 27

Hippocampus and relative learning

Answer 27

* hippocampus is critical to relational learning. * NDMA receptors are in the hippocampus * lack of NDMA receptors prevents establishment of LTP (long term potentiation) in the hippocampus and impairs spatial task learning. • mice with a genetic mutation for more efficient NMDA receptors exhibit greater excitatory postsynaptic potentials in the hippocampus and learn a spatial task much faster than control mice

Question 28

Hippocampus and spatial memory | MORRIS WATER MAZE

Answer 28

* hippocampus is not necessary for simple stimulus- response learning and critical for relational learning * studied in the MORRIS WATER MAZE - measure of spatial learning * animals and humans with hippocampal lesions can learn stimulus response tasks from the same spot each time. * animals with hippocampal lesions fail to learn spatial relations and cannot navigate contextual issues. * animals with hippocampal lesions fail at MWM if released from a different location each time

Question 29

Memory model- BADDELY & HITCH 1974

Answer 29

* argued that STM should not be thought of holding a pen for a small set of info chunks and asked what STM is for. * allows temporary storage and manipulation of info, necessary for a variety or complex tasks.

Question 30

Central executive

Answer 30

The control centre that coordinates subsystems, allows us to select among possible actions. • strategically allocates attention to different subsystems.

Question 31

Dual task rationale for the working memory model

Answer 31

* A key feature of WMM is that it permits the performance of more than one cognitive task at a time. - each task is processed by a different subsystem. * evidence from dual task experiments - people are able to do two things at the same time. ( Logie, Zucco, BADDELEY 1990) * if simultaneous processing hurts performance on both tasks then the tasks probably tap a similar limited capacity. * overt articulation of the the the- interfere with rehearsing the to be recalled the items in the phonological loop- the technique is termed articulatory suppression.