week 4- mind wandering, sensory, and memory

Question 1

what did Smilek & colleagues (2010) find in relation to mind wandering?

Answer 1

Had people come in lab & read for extended period of time
- Periodically I would give a statement of “are you paying attention?”
- If they were mind wandering; their eyes would engage in more
blinking
- If focused & not mind wandering; very little to no blinking; “zoned
in”

Question 2

what did Johnston & Percival (1976) find in relation to mind wandering?

Answer 2

Would observe bodily movement of students in classroom (ex. Leaning on arm, stretching, look in other direction)
- Found overtime students were paying less attention to class & engaging in more gross bodily movements
-Could be due to boredom, feeling stiff, sitting for too long

Question 3

how does note taking behaviours change with mind wandering?

Answer 3

Less notes over time (sometimes)
- Due to losing attention as lecture goes on
- Ultimately less learning toward end of lecture

Question 4

what did Lindquist & McLean (2011) find in relation to mind wandering?

Answer 4

• Over the course of a 40 min lecture they would ring a bell & show on screen “are you paying attention?”
• Students had clicker & would click to respond yes
• From beginning to end of class attention was lost

Question 5

what did Szpunar, Khan, Schacter (2013) find in relation to mid wandering in online/video recorded lectures?

Answer 5

Class chosen by students as the top class that they cannot hold their attention & they struggle w
- Did a 20 min intro lecture; students watched it in 4 segments of 5 minutes w breaks
→ Tested group
- Did lecture segment then got tested before next segment; had to retrieve info from memory
→ Non tested group
-Did lecture segments with no tests in between; just test at the end
→ Re study
-Did lecture segment then got tested before next segment; but had lecture info
Findings: Tested group did better than other 2 groups due to having to actively retrieve information from working memory, Tested group showed least amount of mind wandering than other groups

Question 6

what is Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) Modal Model of Memory

Answer 6

SEE IMAGE 19
Sensory memory- information we see, hear, and touch
Short term memory- information we store in our minds right now
Long term memory- information that is stored that we recall
-short term memory can be rehearsed (a control process) so we can output it right away (ex. remembering a security code) AND/OR encode/transfer it into our long term memory. long term memory can then be retrieved back into being short term memory so we can output it.

Question 7

describe Sperling’s study regarding retained visual information

Answer 7

3 Parts
→ Whole report study
- See an array of 12 letters & asked to repeat letter back
- Average of 4.5/12 or 37% were reported back correct
→ Immediate partial report
- Reporting part of array, & immediate response
- See an array of 12 letters; given high, medium or low pitched
sound; had to report back row to corresponding sound
- High is top row, medium is middle row, low is bottom row
- 3.4/4 OR 82% were reported back correct
→ Delayed partial report
- Same as immediate partial report; but delayed as there was a 1 second delay between seeing letters & sound
- 1.6/4 or 40% were reported back correct
Conclusion: we have a short capacity to retain visual information

Question 8

what is iconic memory?

Answer 8

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or
picture-image memory lasting about a second (basically, brain takes a picture but it only lasts a second)

Question 9

what is one’s short term memory?

Answer 9

System that stores small amounts of information for brief periods at a time - Contents of your mind in the present moment

Question 10

describe John Brown’s (1958) short term memory duration study

Answer 10

• People would look at screen & see 3 letters; had to try to remember letters - After 3 letters on screen go away; 3 letters on screen appear; then had to count down by 3’s starting at show number
• Would have them countdown from 3-18 seconds; counting down
  prevents them from rehearsing the numbers
• After were asked to recall letters
• EX. DKM 286
• Found once you get to 18 seconds people can only recall about 10%

Question 11

what is the duration of short term memory?

Answer 11

20 seconds max

Question 12

is it just time that can cause memory to deacy?

Answer 12

no

Question 13

what else (other than time) causes memories to decay?

Answer 13

Over time, we have
other related experiences that interfere with our memory. So yes, the longer the time, the more opportunity for other experiences to interfere with memory

Question 14

what is the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 14

7 +/- 2 pieces of information (so 5-9 pieces of info)
-average 7 tho

Question 15

what is chunking

Answer 15

the process of grouping different bits of information together into more manageable or meaningful chunks
(ex. telephone numbers and credit card numbers are typically chunked in groups of three or four digits)

Question 16

what does chunking help with?

Answer 16

Helps us to get around limitation of only being to remember 7 pieces of information

Question 17

what is working memory?

Answer 17

Limited-capacity system for temporary storage & manipulation of information

Question 18

what is Baddeley’s Model of working memory?

Answer 18

Says there are 4 components of working memory:
-the phonological loop
-the visuospatial sketchpad
-the central executive
-the episodic buffer
SEE IMAGE 20

Question 19

what is the phonological loop in Baddeley’s Model?

Answer 19

When we hold things in mind it is usually verbal

Question 20

what are three pieces of evidence for the phonological loop?

Answer 20

1. Phonological similarity loop
   - Shown letters & asked to recall letters in the same order
   - GKDYF; if you were to mess up the last letter would you be most
   likely to recall the letter S instead of F; because they sound very
   similar; most think it would be E because F & E look similar
   - But it is based on vocal recall vs visual; hence why S is
   most likely to be recalled
2. Word length effect
   - Shorter syllable words are easier to remember than longer syllable words - Shorter syllable words take up less space in your memory
   compared to longer syllable words
3. Articulatory suppression
   - 2 verbal signals interacting will interfere with memory
   - Listening to professor & people behind you talking; other verbal
   information of discussion behind you makes it difficult to retain
   verbal information of professor

Question 21

what is the visuospatial sketchpad in Baddeley’s Model?

Answer 21

One needs to be aware of visual and spatial information

Question 22

In relation to the visuospatial sketchpad, the further an item is visually displaced/manipulated…..

Answer 22

the longer it mentally takes for you to recognize if it is same object or different object

Question 23

are the verbal system and visuospatial system two different working systems?

Answer 23

yes

Question 24

what is the central executive in Baddeley’s Model?

Answer 24

-control of our attentions (verbal vs. visuospatial)
-basically, a hypothetical construct that helps us navigate the world in regards to figuring out how many resources & what resources we need for different tasks
ex. for driving, we would need a mix of both, for reading, we would need our visuospatial, for listening to music we need our verbal

Question 25

what is the episodic buffer in Baddeley’s Model?

Answer 25

• Influence of long term memory in working memory
• You will remember things that are more meaningful to you

Question 26

what is working memory performance linked to?

Answer 26

fluid intelligence- your ability to detect patterns

Question 27

what is the 1 back task

Answer 27

shown series of digits & when shown “recall” you must recall the second last digit shown

Question 28

brain training games like lumosity are a multimillion dollar industry. do they actually work?

Answer 28

no.
Yeah, you might get better at the game itself, but IT DOES NOT GENERALIZE TO THE REAL WORD

Question 29

what is an alternative to brain training that actually increases brain health/cognition

Answer 29

physical activity!
running, cycling, etc.