Memory 1 (CH. 6&7)

Question 1

What is Memory?

Answer 1

Using what you used to see, so it still uses the visual system as a mental function

Question 2

What are the Memory Systems?

Answer 2

Working memory and long-term memory

Question 3

What is Working Memory?

Answer 3

A memory system that allows for short-term retention AND active manipulation of information. It is fluid or dynamic; it is NOT static

Question 4

What is Long-Term Memory?

Answer 4

The storage system in which we hold all of our knowledge and all of our memories. Contains memories that are not currently activated; those that are activated are represented in working memory

Question 5

What are the Types of Long-Term Memory?

Answer 5

Declarative (explicit) memory and non-declarative (implicit) memory

Question 6

What are the Types of Declarative (Explicit) Memory

Answer 6

Episodic memory and semantic memory

Question 7

What are the Types of Non-Declarative (Implicit) Memory

Answer 7

Procedural memory and priming (perceptual representation system)

Question 8

What is Declarative (Explicit) Memory?

Answer 8

Some of our working memories are consciously accessible to us (belongs to long-term memory)

Question 9

What is Non-Declarative (Implicit) Memory?

Answer 9

Refers to our ability to use non-conscious memory abilities

Question 10

What is Procedural Memory (In Non-Declarative Memory)?

Answer 10

How we remember how to do learned motor actions without having to think about them

Question 11

What is Priming (In Non-Declarative Memory)?

Answer 11

The introduction of one stimulus influences how people respond to a subsequent stimulus (e.g., how we remember the letters of the alphabet)

Question 12

What is Semantic Memory?

Answer 12

Information in semantic memory is thought to be organized in a network with related concepts near each other. Allows you to retrieve general information and facts. The reason as to why we are able to take related ideas and connect them together

Question 13

What is Episodic Memory?

Answer 13

Refers to memories that we experience. When we remember a moment in time with a place. Ties sensory memory and semantic memory together. Motor and emotional memories are also tied in by episodic memory.

Question 14

What is Sensory Memory?

Answer 14

A form of memory that holds on to just-seen or just-heard input in a “raw” sensory form

Question 15

What is “Iconic” Memory?

Answer 15

• A type of sensory memory
• Large capacity
• Brief duration

Question 16

What is Acquisition?

Answer 16

The process of placing new information into long-term memory

Question 17

What is Storage?

Answer 17

The state in which a memory, once acquired, remains until it is retrieved

Question 18

What is Retrieval?

Answer 18

The process of locating information in memory and activating that information for use

Question 19

Working Memory Capacity (WMC)

Answer 19

According to Engle (1999), WMC is not really about storage or memory per se, but about the capacity for controlled, sustained attention in the face of interference or distraction

Question 20

What is the Primacy Effect?

Answer 20

Rehearsal of first few items results in transfer to LTM

Question 21

What is Recency Effect?

Answer 21

“Dumping out” of information in WM

Question 22

The Modal Model of Memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)

Answer 22

Sensory input –> Sensory Memory –> Short-term memory –> Long-term memory

Question 23

What Happened to Patient H.M.?

Answer 23

Had his hippocampus removed, which is why he was unable to have episodic memory. He still had procedural memory, which he demonstrated by being able to learn how to ride a bike

Question 24

Sperling (1960) Working Memory Study

Answer 24

Nine letters are flashed to the participant in a 3-by-3 grid. Participants were told to write down the letters on the screen. This study demonstrated that people’s ability to remember all nine letters is limited

Question 25

What is Maintenance Rehearsal?

Answer 25

A rote, mechanical process in which items are continually cycled through working memory, merely by being repeated over and over

Question 26

What is Relational or Elaborative Rehearsal?

Answer 26

A form of mental processing in which one thinks about the relations, or connections, among ideas. The connections created (or strengthened) in this way will later guide memory search

Question 27

What is Intentional Learning?

Answer 27

The acquisition of memories in a setting in which people know that their memory for the information will be tested later

Question 28

What is Incidental Learning?

Answer 28

Learning that takes place in the absence of any intention to learn and, correspondingly, in the absence of any expectation of a subsequent memory test

Question 29

What is Contextual Reinstatement?

Answer 29

Re-experiencing (mentally) the thoughts, feelings, sensations, present during learning

Question 30

What is Recall?

Answer 30

• Retrieving through self generated cues
• Requires memory search, and existing connections

Question 31

What is Recognition?

Answer 31

• Retrieving through externally provided cues
• Familiarity vs. source memory

Question 32

What is the Digit-Span Task?

Answer 32

A task often used for measuring working memory’s storage capacity. Research participants are read a series of digits (e.g., “8 3 4”) and must immediately repeat them back. If they do this successfully, they are given a slightly longer list (e.g., “9 2 4 0”), and so forth. The length of the longest list a person can remember in this fashion is that person’s digit span

Question 33

What is “7 plus-or-minus 2”

Answer 33

A range often offered as an estimate of the number of items or units able to be contained in working memory

Question 34

What is “Chunks” or “Chunking”?

Answer 34

The hypothetical storage units in working memory; it is estimated that working memory can hold 7 plus-or-minus 2 chunks. However, an unspecified quantity of information can be contained within each chunk, because the content of each chunk depends on how the memorizer has organized the materials to be remembered

Question 35

What is the Articulatory Rehearsal Loop?

Answer 35

One of the low-level assistants hypothesized as being part of the working-memory system. This loop draws on subvocalized (covert) speech, which serves to create a record in the phonological buffer. Materials in this buffer then fade, but they can be refreshed by another cycle of covert speech

Question 36

What is Subvocalization?

Answer 36

Covert speech in which one goes through the motions of speaking, or perhaps forms a detailed motor plan for speech movements, but without making any sound

Question 37

What is the Phonological Buffer?

Answer 37

A passive storage system used for holding a representation (essentially an “internal echo”) of recently heard or self-produced sounds

Question 38

What is the Concurrent Articulation Task?

Answer 38

The speaking or miming of speech while doing some other task. In many cases, the person is required to say “Tah-Tah-Tah” over and over, or “one, two, three, one, two, three.” These procedures occupy the muscles and control mechanisms needed for speech, so they prevent the person from using these resources for subvocalization

Question 39

What is Shallow Processing?

Answer 39

A mode of thinking about material in which one pays attention only to appearances and other superficial aspects of the material; shallow processing typically leads to poor memory retention

Question 40

What is Deep Processing?

Answer 40

A mode of thinking in which a person pays attention to the meaning and implications of the material; deep processing typically leads to excellent memory retention

Question 41

What are Retrieval Paths?

Answer 41

A connection (or series of connections) that can lead to a sought-after memory in long-term storage

Question 42

What are Mnemonic Strategies?

Answer 42

Techniques designed to improve memory accuracy and to make learning easier; in general, mnemonic strategies seek to help memory by imposing an organization on the materials to be learned

Question 43

What is a Peg-Word System?

Answer 43

A type of mnemonic strategy using words or locations as “pegs” on which to “hang” the materials to be remembered

Question 44

What is Encoding Specificity?

Answer 44

The tendency, when memorizing, to place in memory both the materials to be learned and some other amount of their context. As a result, these materials will be recognized as familiar, later on, only if the materials appear again in a similar context

Question 45

What is the Lexical-Decision Task?

Answer 45

A test in which participants are shown strings of letters and must indicate, as quickly as possible, whether or not each string of letters is a word in their language. It is proposed that people perform this task by “looking up” these strings in their “mental dictionary”

Question 46

What is Source Memory?

Answer 46

A form of memory that enables a person to recollect the episode in which learning took place or the time and place in which a particular stimulus was encountered

Question 47

What is the Word-Stem Task?

Answer 47

A task in which research participants are given the beginning of a word (e.g., “TOM”) and must provide a word that starts with the letters provided. In some versions of the task, only one solution is possible, so performance is measured by counting the number of words completed. In other versions of the task, several solutions are possible for each stem, and performance is assessed by determining which responses fulfill some other criterion

Question 48

What is Direct Memory Testing?

Answer 48

A form of memory testing in which people are asked explicitly to remember some previous event. Recall and standard recognition testing are both forms of direct memory testing

Question 49

What is Indirect Memory Testing?

Answer 49

A form of memory testing in which research participants are not told that their memories are being tested. Instead, they’re tested in such a way that previous experiences can influence current behaviour. Examples of indirect tests include word-stem completion, the lexical-decision task, and tachistoscopic recognition

Question 50

What is a Processing Pathway?

Answer 50

The sequence of nodes and connections between nodes through which activation flows when recognizing or thinking about a stimulus or idea. The speed or ease of activation flow is referred to as processing fluency

Question 51

What is Processing Fluency?

Answer 51

The speed or ease of processing involved in recognizing or thinking about a stimulus or idea; usually understood as a reflection of the speed or ease with which activation moves through a processing pathway

Question 52

What is Amnesia?

Answer 52

A disruption of memory, often due to brain damage

Question 53

What is Retrograde Amnesia?

Answer 53

An inability to remember experiences that occurred before the event that triggered the memory disruption

Question 54

What is Anterograde Amnesia?

Answer 54

An inability to remember experiences that occurred after the event that triggered the memory disruption

Question 55

Neely (1977) Study of Semantic Priming

Answer 55

Neely’s experiment involved a lexical discussion task, where participants were asked to make a decision about correct lowercase words. One group was primed with a related uppercase word and then shown the related lowercase words; the other group was not primed.

Question 56

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Answer 56

A clinical syndrome characterized primarily by dense anterograde amnesia. Korsakoff’s syndrome is caused by damage to specific brain regions, and it is often precipitated by a form of malnutrition that is common among long-term alcoholics