Basic Principles of Memory

Question 1

What are the three broad types of memory?

Answer 1

Sensory memory
Short-term memory
Long-term memory

Question 2

Are memory and IQ related?

Answer 2

Greater short-term memory = greater fluid intelligence, but not crystallised intelligence.

Question 3

What is fluid intelligence?

Answer 3

Ability to reason & consider & resolve newly encountered problems (without prior experience or information to aid)

Question 4

What is crystallised intelligence?

Answer 4

Accumulation of knowledge, facts & skills throughout life. Can assist with more rapid resolution of problems (or avoiding them in the first place).

Question 5

What are the three steps needed for long-term memories?

Answer 5

Encoding
Storage
Retrieval

Question 6

A theory postulates that there are 3 separate memory stores (sensory, short-term and long-term). What is the name of this theory?

Answer 6

Multi-modal memory

Question 7

What determines whether a memory makes it from sensory to short-term memory?

Answer 7

Salience - is it worth remembering? If so - attention needs to be paid to it.

Question 8

What is the ability to recognise and identify relevant stimuli in the environment called?

Answer 8

Attention

Question 9

What are the two types of attention?

Answer 9

Sustained attention

Selective attention

Question 10

What is sustained attention?

Answer 10

Ability to focus on stimulus for a period of time.

Question 11

What is selective attention?

Answer 11

Ability to focus on a stimulus whilst ignoring other sensory inputs.

Question 12

How are short-term memories transferred to long-term memories?

Answer 12

Via encoding

Question 13

What is it called when long-term memories are recalled into short-term memory?

Answer 13

Retrieval

Question 14

How many items can short-term memory hold?

Answer 14

7 (+/- 2)

Question 15

What is the name of stores for visual sensory information?

Answer 15

Iconic stores

Question 16

What is the name of stores for auditory sensory information?

Answer 16

Echoic stores

Question 17

How long does sensory memory last?

Answer 17

Visual - milliseconds
Echoic - a little bit longer
Tactile / hepatic - quite a bit longer

Question 18

Where does salience take place?

Answer 18

In the sensory memory

Question 19

What process helps encoding of short term memories into long term memories?

Answer 19

Rehearsal

Question 20

When does consolidation of memories occur?

Answer 20

During REM sleep

Question 21

What is the control of working memory called?

Answer 21

Central executive

Question 22

What does the central executive do?

Answer 22

Allocates data between phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad & episodic buffer.

Also deals with problem-solving & mental arithmetic.

Question 23

What is repeating sounds on a loop as part of rehearsal called?

Answer 23

Phonological loop

Question 24

What is the ability to hold temporary visual and spatial information known as?

Answer 24

Visuospatial sketchpad

Question 25

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 25

Temporary store in working memory - integrates information, maintaining sense of time & sequence of events

Question 26

What does the phonological store do?

Answer 26

Holds speech / written information for a short time