What is the definition of memory?
The preservation of experience — sensations, emotions, thoughts, beliefs
Memory is actionable preservation, requiring retrieval and action.
What are the two types of long-term memory (LTM)?
- Semantic Memory
- Episodic Memory
Semantic memory is general knowledge, while episodic memory involves personal experiences.
What is the difference between semantic and episodic memory?
Semantic:
- general knowledge and facts about the world
- EG. “What is a giraffe?”
- abstract, non-autobiographical, context-free
**Episodic: **
- Personal experiences tied to a time and place
- EG. “Did you see a giraffe at the zoo last week?”
- context-specific, autobiographical, time-bound
Semantic memory is non-autobiographical, while episodic memory is time-bound.
What are the characteristics of a workable memory system?
- Access relevant past experiences for current situations
- e.g. remebering how to deal with your friend’s sog jumping on you
- Store efficiently - keep what matters, forget what doesn’t
- remembering where you parked today, not last month
- Be quick and flexible, handling constant new input
A good memory system must handle new input effectively.
True or false: Human memory is organized like a computer’s hard drive.
FALSE
Implication: Eyewitnesses may honestly misremember details - a major issue in law
Human memory is organized by significance and meaning, not by topic or date.
What is the misinformation effect?
When suggestion changes memory
- repeated questioning can reinforce false memory errors
- hence, police interviews now follow strict protocols to avoid suggestion
Example: Being asked about a blue car may lead you to remember it as blue, even if it was green.
What are the two main types of memory tasks?
- Recall Tasks
- Recognition Tasks
Recall tasks involve retrieving information, while recognition tasks involve identifying previously learned items.
What is the Serial Position Curve?
Method:
Participants learned 10–30 words, one per second.
Then recalled them in any order (free recall).
Findings:
* Primacy effect → better recall for first words.
* Recency effect → better recall for last words.
* Poor recall for middle words.
Interpretation:
-Primacy: earlier items rehearsed and transferred to long-term memory store
- Recency: Last items still active in short-term memory
Testing this:
If participants count backwards from 100 after the list (loading STM),
→ Recency effect disappears.
→ Primacy effect remains.
✅ Proof that STM and LTM are distinct.
Poor recall occurs for middle items.
What does Atkinson & Shiffrin’s Modal Model describe?
- Sensory Memory
- Short-Term Memory
- Long-Term Memory
It outlines three memory stores and their functions.
What is the difference between explicit and implicit memory?
Explicit (Declarative) memory:
- Intentional recall (conscious)
- ‘Do you remeber seeing this word?’
- Episodic tasks (recall, recognition)
Implicit (Nondeclarative):
- unconscious influence of past experiences
- “complete this stem: ki…” - example of priming
- semantic tasks (LDT, word-stem, naming)
What is priming in the context of implicit memory?
Participants study words (e.g., animal, kitchen, drivel).
Later, without mention of memory, they complete:
* Lexical Decision Task (LDT): Decide if “kitchen” is a real word.
* Word-stem completion: “ki____” → more likely to write “kitchen.”
* Free association: “cook → kitchen.”
Priming: Faster/more accurate responses for previously seen words.
Shows that memory traces exist without conscious awareness.
Example: Completing ‘ki____’ with ‘kitchen’ after studying related words.
What is Korsakoff’s Syndrome?
A condition caused by thiamine deficiency, impairing explicit memory formation (often due to alcoholism)
- impairs explicit memory formation (new learning)
EG: patients repeatedly answered trivia cards
- better answers on repreated questions
- but no awareness of having seen them before
*Explicit memory lost, implicit memory intact *
- they store information but can’t consciously access it
Patients may show better answers on repeated questions without awareness.
What is the Ebbinghaus Curve?
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885)
* Memorised nonsense syllables until perfect recall.
* Tested himself at intervals up to 1 year.
* Discovered the forgetting curve — memory declines rapidly at first, then levels off.
Takeaway: Forgetting is lawful and predictable.
Why do we forget? (2 theories)
- Decay Theory
- Interference Theory
Proactive interference occurs when old info blocks new, while retroactive interference is the opposite.
What did Jenkins & Dallenbach (1924) find about sleep and forgetting?
- Compared recall after sleeping vs staying awake
- More forgetting when awake
- Suggests interference, not simple decay
But: Sleep aids consolidation - strengthens memory traces
- So both interference and sleep effects are at play
What is the repression hypothesis?
What are the problems with this?
The idea that traumatic events are pushed into the unconscious
Problems:
- Traumatic events often remembered too well (due to arousal)
- Hard to verify events from decades ago
- Childhood memories are fragmentary and open to reinterpretation
- resulted in the “memory wars” - psychologists vs psychiatrists debating repressed memories
However, traumatic events are often remembered too well due to arousal.
What is the implication of false memories?
- Techniques meant to “recover” repressed memories can create false memories
- Therapists must avoid leading questions or suggestions
- Humans are poor at source monitoring - we may confuse imagination, dreams, or stories with real experiences
What is the DRM Paradigm?
A memory task demonstrating false recall
○ List: bed, dream, tired, blanket…
○ ~50% falsely recall “sleep.”
→ Demonstrates reconstructive nature of memory.
Retrieving a memory can change it.
What are the key takeaways from the lecture on long-term memory?
- Memory is active and reconstructive
- STM and LTM are distinct but interconnected
- Forgetting is often due to interference
- Suggestion can create false memories
- Retrieval practice and sleep strengthen memory
These points summarize the main concepts discussed in the lecture.
Does real-world cognition use Semantic or Episodic memory?
- most real-world cognition uses both
Eg. watching a movie: - Semantic: Understanding what a gun or facial expression means
- Episodic: Remembering who hid the gun earlier in the lot
what is implicit memory?
- often involves semantic priming
- e.g. recently seeing a “dog” makes a “cat” faster to recognise later
What is sensory memory?
according to Atkinson & Shiffrin’s Modal Model
- brief representation of perception (e.g. visual after image)
- large capacity but fades quickly unless attended to
what is free recall task?
Recall items in any order
EG. “List all words you remember”
what is serial recall?
- recall in original order
- e.g. remembering a phone number
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Week 2 - Pavlovian conditioning (basic principles)33
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Week 4 - Pavlovian conditioning (learning and application)21
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Week 5 - Operant Conditioning (Basic Principles)41
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Week 6 - Operant Conditioning (theory and application)25
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Week 7 - Cognitive 1: Attention26
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Week 8 - Attentional Control & Working Memory (Executive Function)33
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Week 9 - Introducing Long Term Memory31
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Week 10 - Long-term memory: Encoding & Retrieval24
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Week 11 - Imagery & Foresight51
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Week 12 - Comparative and Evolutionary Cognition41
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Week 13 - Language37
