U2: Learning and Memory

Question 1

What is Learning?

Answer 1

Acquiring new knowledge, behaviours, skills, values etc. Also involves synthesizing and processing different types of information.

Question 2

Benjamin Bloom’s 3 domains of learning

Answer 2

1. Cognitive
2. Psychomotor
3. Affective

These are not mutually exclusive domains.

Question 3

What is memory?

Answer 3

Memory refers to the psychological processes of acquiring, storing, retaining, and later retrieving information.

Question 4

Three processes of memory storage

Answer 4

Memory involves three major processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Question 5

Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin Model

Answer 5

They proposed the 3 box model of memory storage. Known as multi-store memory model
1. Sensory Memory
2. Short Term Memory
3. Long Term Memory

Question 6

Sensory Memory (SM)

Answer 6

1. Transduction of energy/stimulus.
2. Conversion of one form of energy into another. Brain can recognize only electrical signals.
3. Body have sensory receptors for transduction.
4. In the process of transduction, memory is created.
5. Retains information only for a short period, just enough to recognize and encode if the information is relevant.
6. Visual - Iconic memory (less than 1/2 s)
   Auditory - Echoic Memory (less than 3 s)

Question 7

George Sperling Experiment

Answer 7

1. To prove that STM exists.
2. Device: Tachistoscope
3. Subjects were presented with random letters arranged in rows and flashed for seconds. They were then asked to recollect specific rows.
4. Immediate recall was more accurate than delayed recall.

Question 8

Selective Attention

Answer 8

1. A feature of Sensory Memory.
2. Proven by George Sperling experiment.
3. By nature our attention is selective. Only some information goes to STM.

Question 9

Main points for SM

Answer 9

1. Definition
2. Relevance
3. Types and their retention time.
4. George Sperling experiment
5. Selective attention

Question 10

Short Term Memory (STM)

Answer 10

1. Short-term memory, also known as active memory, is the information we are currently aware of or thinking about. In Freudian psychology, this memory would be referred to as the conscious mind. Paying attention to sensory memories generates information in short-term memory.
2. Limited Capacity - reason why selective attention is important.

Question 11

George Miller Research

Answer 11

1. Proposed that we can remember 7 +/- 2 ‘items’ in STM. After this limit recall is difficult and is prone to mistakes.
2. Items can be in groups also. Helps in recalling multiple information together.
   Eg: Organizational Encoding: Chunking

Question 12

Short Term Storage and Working Memory (WM)

Answer 12

1. Middle ground between SM and LTM. Often used interchangeably with STM.
2. Working Memory refers to the processes that are used to temporarily store, organize, and manipulate information.
3. Working memory is a limited capacity store for retaining information for a brief period while performing mental operations on that information.

Question 13

Allan Baddeley and Graham Hitch Model of WM

Answer 13

1. The Working Memory Model, proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974, describes short-term memory as a system with multiple components.
2. Comprises Central Executive: decides what to do with the information. Drives the whole system (e.g., the boss of working memory) and allocates data to the subsystems

Question 14

Subsystems of Central Executive

Answer 14

1. Visuospatial Sketchpad: stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form. The visuospatial sketchpad is used for navigation.
2. Phonological Loop: deals with spoken and written material. Mentally loop the sound, kind of like rehearsal. It is a loop, so distraction might break the loop and result in loss of information.

Phonological Loop is subdivided into:
1. Phonological Store (inner ear) processes speech perception and stores spoken words we hear for 1-2 seconds.
2. Articulatory control process (inner voice) processes speech production, and rehearses and stores verbal information from the phonological store.

Question 15

Limitations of Storage model in explaining STM

Answer 15

Short-term memory can only hold information, working memory can both retain and process/manipulate information.

Question 16

Main points for STM

Answer 16

1. Definition
2. George Miller Research
3. Working Memory - Alan Baddeley Model
4. Limitation of multi-storage model

Question 17

Long term Memory (LTM)

Answer 17

1. Involves the storage and recall of information over a long period of time (such as days, weeks, or years).
2. Theoretically, long-term memory capacity could be unlimited, the main constraint on recall being accessibility rather than availability.

Question 18

Types of LTM

Answer 18

1. Explicit (Declarative) Memory: knowing that
2. Implicit (Non-declarative) Memory: knowing how

Question 19

Explicit Memory

Answer 19

Explicit memory is declarative memory because we consciously try to recall a specific event or piece of information. Things we intentionally try to recall or remember, such as formulas and dates, are all stored in explicit memory.

Question 20

Types of Explicit Memory

Answer 20

1. Episodic Memory: refers to the type of long-term memory responsible for storing personal experiences and specific events, including the context in which they occurred.
2. Semantic Memory: responsible for storing information about the world. This includes knowledge about the meaning of words, as well as general knowledge. Stores facts.

Question 21

Implicit Memory

Answer 21

1. Also known as unconscious or automatic memory, which refers to the information that we do not store purposely and is unintentionally memorized; we cannot consciously bring that memory into awareness.
2. It involves knowledge and skills that are learned through experience/practice but do not require conscious awareness to be recalled or used.

Question 22

Types of Implicit Memory

Answer 22

1. Procedural Memory: This type of memory involves the ability to perform tasks and skills without conscious awareness, often related to motor skills or cognitive routines. It is the memory for how to do things, such as riding a bike, typing, or playing a musical instrument.
2. Emotional Conditioning: This type of implicit memory is based on learned associations between stimuli. In emotional conditioning, an initially neutral stimulus becomes associated with an emotional or physiological response after repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 23

Main points of LTM

Answer 23

1. Definition
2. Types and subtypes

Question 24

Schemas

Answer 24

1. Mental models of the world.
2. Schema describes patterns of thinking and behavior that people use to interpret the world.
3. The brain utilizes such models to organize information about the world.
4. Information in LTM is stored as an interconnected network of schemas.
5. These form knowledge structures.
6. Related schemas are linked together - activation of one schema might also activates others that are closely linked. This is the reason we recall relevant knowledge when similar ones are presented.
7. Helps in diverting attention to relevant information and disregard what is not important.