Memory

Question 1

Sensory memory- ionic

Answer 1

Visual

Question 2

Sensory memory- echoic

Answer 2

Auditory

Question 3

Digit span

Answer 3

Capacity of short term memory (7 +/- 2 items)

Question 4

Short term memory

Answer 4

• Limited capacity (digit span)
• Takes in from sensory and long-term memories
• Persists as long as it is rehearsed (rehearsal determines what stays

Question 5

Chunking

Answer 5

• Breaking down long strings of information into smaller, more manageable chunks
• Increases effective capacity of short term memory

Question 6

Long term memory

Answer 6

• Fed by short term memory
• Virtually unlimited in capacity and duration
• Getting into LTM takes effort

Question 7

Encoding, storage, and retrieval

Answer 7

• All part of memory process

Encoding: process used to store information in memory

Storage: process used to maintain information in memory

Retrieval: process used to get information back out of memory

Question 8

Recall vs. recognition tasks

Answer 8

Recall: you have to generate an answer
Recognition: you don’t need to generate an answer

Question 9

Free recall

Answer 9

“Recall all the words you can from the list you just saw”

Question 10

Serial recall

Answer 10

“Recall the names of all previous presidents in the order they were elected” (need to recall order as well as items)

Question 11

Cued recall

Answer 11

Give participants some clue to trigger recall

Question 12

Implicit vs. explicit memory tasks

Answer 12

Explicit: involves conscious recollection (participant knows they are trying to retrieve information from their memory)

Implicit

Question 13

Bahrick’s rules of very long term memory (permastore)

Answer 13

• High school yearbooks contained all names and photos of students was used to assess memory
• ~400 ex-high school students took four memory tests (free name recall, photo and name recognition, and name and photo matching)
• most accurate in face and name recognition after 34 years and up to 48 years

Question 14

Levels of processing theory (deep vs. shallow processing)

Answer 14

Deep: encoding information based on meaning or associations with other knowledge
Shallow: encoding based on sensory characteristics (appearance or sound)

Question 15

Morris study

Answer 15

Two processing tasks: semantic vs. rhyme

Semantic: “the (train/apple) had a silver engine”- standard recognition test
Rhyming: “(eagle/chair) rhymes with legal”- rhyme recognition test

*Memory performance also depends on the match between encoding processes and type of test

Question 16

Serial position effect

Answer 16

Tendency to remember the first and last names in a series better than those in the middle

Question 17

Primary vs. recency effects

Answer 17

Primary: we tend to remember the first items in a series better

Recency effect: we tend to remember the last names in a series better

Question 18

Working memory

Answer 18

The system(s) involved in the TEMPORARY storage of information for cognitive skills (reading, comprehension, learning)

1. central executive: focuses attention on relevant items, plans sequence of tasks, supervises attention, plans/coordinates, monitors mental activity
2. phonological loop: maintains auditory and verbal information for short time (language or music info)
3. visuospatial sketchpad: dual-task paradigm, temporarily stores info on how things look and allows us to manipulate images in our mind

Question 19

Brooks interference study

Answer 19

One group saw block diagram of letter, memorized it, asked to mentally travel letter and indicate if the corner was on the extreme top or bottom

Second group saw a sentence, memorized it, and were asked to classify each word as a noun verbally

• Participants were much better at the task when they could verbally indicate the type of corner than when they had to point

Question 20

Mnemonist

Answer 20

Using patterns, ideas, or associations to assist in remembering something (All Cows Eat Grass)

Question 21

Sensory synthesia

Answer 21

People have unusual, and usually involuntary associations between different sensory experiences

Different types of synesthesia depending on the combination of senses/representation
Days, numbers, and months of the year evoke different personalities
Letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored

Question 22

Penny example: failures of memory

Answer 22

We cannot remember what we fail to encode

• Use pennies all the time but have never encoded the exact format of one

Question 23

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

Answer 23

more recent you learn something, the more retention/recall ability; less recent, less retention/recall ability

Question 24

Savings Method (Relearning)

Answer 24

Way of measuring retention by measuring how much faster one relearns material that has been previously relearned and forgotten

Question 25

Spacing Effect

Answer 25

Ebbinghaus Studying the same material 1 hour each time for three evenings (distributed) is best

Question 26

Organization

Answer 26

Organizing learning makes it easier to remember

Question 27

Context and state dependent memory

Answer 27

Context: external, environmental factors (better recall when learning and testing contexts are the same) State: internal, physiological factors, mood (recall is improved if internal physiological or emotional state is the same during testing and initial encoding)

Question 28

Mood congruent memory

Answer 28

- Kind of state dependent memory - The phenomenon where our memories are influenced by our current emotional state

Question 29

Baddeley scuba diving memory study

Answer 29

- Importance of setting for retrieval - Baddeley asked 18 deep-sea divers to memorize a list of 36 unrelated words of two or three syllables. - One group did this on the beach and the other group underwater. - Lists learned underwater were best recalled underwater, and v.v.

Question 30

Encoding specificity

Answer 30

Our ability to remember a stimulus depends on the similarity between the way a stimulus is tested at encoding and the way it is processed when tested

Question 31

Nelson study of "lost" memories

Answer 31

Study showed that when you forget something, it isn't gone forever.

Question 32

Proactive vs. retroactive interference

Answer 32

Proactive (old affects new): old memories interfere with the recall of new information (new bank account and want to use PIN but accidentally enter old one) Retroactive (new affects old): new memories interfere with the recall of older information (learn new card game, mix up rules to old card game)

Question 33

Explicit vs. implicit memory

Answer 33

Explicit: conscious recollection (declarative knowledge) Implicit: unconscious recollection, includes procedural knowledge

Question 34

Procedural vs. declarative memory

Answer 34

Procedural: knowing how to do something (ride a bike, ski) Declarative: memory for facts or events

Question 35

Anterograde vs. retrograde amnesia

Answer 35

Anterograde: inability to learn new explicit information after trauma (Ex: Memento) Retrograde: inability to retrieve explicit information learned prior to trauma

Question 36

Patient HM and Clive Wearing

Answer 36

- Patient HM had surgery to stop his seizures - Surgery worked but he was left with permanent amnesia - Could remember things from his childhood and before the surgery, but unable to form new memories - Pointed to a structure that was necessary for normal memory: hippocampus

Question 37

Mirror image reading study

Answer 37

Mirroring behavior is a subconscious way our brains establish rapport and build connections with others

Question 38

Hippocampus and memory consolidation

Answer 38

- Part of the Limbic System - Memories not stored permanently here - Critical for initial encoding - Once memories are consolidated, they are stored in cortex - Meant for retrieval of recent memories

Question 39

Amygdala

Answer 39

- Part of the Limbic System - Processing emotions, particularly fear, anger, and aggression - Adjacent to the hippocampus

Question 40

Flashbulb memories

Answer 40

Exceptionally clear memories of emotionally significant events

Question 41

Priming

Answer 41

Exposure to one stimulus influences how a person responds to a subsequent, related stimulus. Ex: exposing someone to the word "yellow" will evoke a faster response to the word "banana" than unrelated words like "TV"

Question 42

Memory construction

Answer 42

- Explicitly or implicitly, process of forming new memories. As we retrieve our memories, we tend to alter/modify them - Bringing up old memories is called reconstruction

Question 43

Misinformation effect (Loftus)

Answer 43

- Tendency for the information you learned after an event to interfere with your original memory of what happened

Question 44

Implanting false memories

Answer 44

- Implanting plausible but false memories are more likely to be believed - Repetition of the false information make it more believable - Some individuals appear to be more susceptible

Question 45

Childhood (infantile) amnesia

Answer 45

Inability of adults to recall events and experiences before the age of 3-4 years