Ch. 6: Short Term & Working Memory

Question 1

Schemas and memory distortion

Answer 1

Schemas organize and categorize information. If someone is told a story that doesn’t make sense (pitchfork found in kitchen) schematic reasoning might change it to remember it more easily and logically (fork found in kitchen)

Question 2

War of ghosts experiments

Answer 2

Frederick Bartlett (1932) Gave participants unfamiliar native american folk story. The structure was unexpected in terms of western folk stories (a schema) so they told the story differently

Question 3

Schemas and false memories

Answer 3

People may add or remove structures from a memory to help them fit the picture (add a chalkboard to a chalkboardless classroom)

Question 4

Schemas and autobiographical memories

Answer 4

Anxiety/depression makes people feel unlovable/untrustowrthy. This may change their perception of how an event went. Since positive details don’t fit their “unlovable” schema, they won’t remember these. Since they remember events poorly, they will be discouraged from attending others, only reinforcing this schema.

Question 5

Misattribution

Answer 5

Similar memories/feelings can create incorrect associations, affecting a memory’s accuracy (deja vu?)

Question 6

Misattribution effect

Answer 6

Misattribute where you remember someone/something from in order to make a situation make sense (this person was in my class, right now she looks young, she must have been a classmate - the person was the teacher)

Question 7

Misinformation

Answer 7

A suggested detail can be added to a memory, changing your perception of it.

Question 8

Misinformation effect

Answer 8

Depending on wording used by others, the memory YOU recall could be changed (the cars bumped together/the cars smashed together)

Question 10

Articulatory suppression

Answer 10

A technique used in verbal memory experiments designed to block rehearsal. Participant repeats a task-irrelevant utterance out loud while trying to maintain other verbal items in memory.

Question 11

Capacity

Answer 11

A measure of how much information a memory system can hold.

Question 12

Central executive

Answer 12

A component of the working memory model that determines what information makes it into long-term and working memory and toggles between the visual and auditory memory stores. Makes sure irrelevant and unwanted information does not enter into memory because it could interfere with the information the system actually wants to retain.

Question 13

Chunk

Answer 13

Any combination of letters, numbers, symbols, objects created to make retention easier. Experts of a craft are able to remember details of their craft better because they can make more meaningful chunks with the information.

Question 14

Delayed-match-to-sample task

Answer 14

Tests visual short-term memory. Participants are shown an image, a delay, a second image. Tasked with determining whether the two images are the same or different. fMRI suggests an important role of the frontal cortex in short-term/working memory.

Question 15

Duration

Answer 15

A measure of how long information can be held in memory.

Question 16

Echoic memory

Answer 16

An auditory form of sensory memory in which much of the auditory input can be stored.

Question 17

Encoding

Answer 17

Initial processing of information by the nervous system.

Question 18

Episodic buffer

Answer 18

Revision to the original working memory model. Combines information from across different sources including the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad

Question 19

Iconic memory

Answer 19

The visual form of sensory memory in which much of the visual input can be stored for a short period.

Question 20

Long-term memory

Answer 20

The final stage in the modal model of memory which serves as cold storage of information for retrieval into short-term memory.

There is no agreed-upon method for measuring its capacity

Question 21

Flashbulb memory

Answer 21

Memories forming from events that are emotionally arousing, important to someone (consequence involved). Typically less detailed than regular memories, but we are more certain we remember them right (we’re wrong) (come back to this!!!, missed it in the lecture)

Public flashbulb event: COVID or 9/11. We remember where we were when we heard these happened.

Question 22

Maintenance rehearsal

Answer 22

The mental repetition of information in short-term memory that allows information to be regenerated in order to prolong its duration.

Question 23

Retention interval time

Answer 23

Amount of time that elapsed between initial learning and subsequent retrieval.

Question 24

Mnemonist

Answer 24

People who are capable of memorizing long strings of numbers or letters.

Question 25

Method of loci (memory palace)

Answer 25

Mnemonic technique, placing things to remember among places you know well

Question 26

Modal (multi-store) model

Answer 26

First model of human memory. **Atkinson and Shiffrin**. Three distinct memory stores: **sensory, short-term, long-term**. Also called information processing model

Question 27

William James

Answer 27

First person to propose two kinds of memory stores: one for information related to the current task or environment and one for longer-term storage. Based on causal observation. Theory was obsoleted by modal model theory

Question 28

Persistence of vision

Answer 28

The retention of an image of an object or event for a brief period after it is no longer present. After the initial transduction of sensory information, it is retained within our nervous system for around **250 milliseconds.**

Question 29

Phonological loop

Answer 29

The auditory component of the working memory model in which information can be repeated/rehearsed. **Articulatory control loop**: inner voice when reading **Phonological store**: retaining heard info Evidenced connection to LTM.

Question 30

Retrieval

Answer 30

Access and use of stored information by the nervous system.

Question 31

Proactive interference

Answer 31

A phenomenon in which information encoded at an earlier point in time interferes with the ability to recall information encoded at a later time. (pro- working forward from old to new info. can't remember new info)

Question 32

Retroactive interference

Answer 32

A phenomenon in which information encoded at a later point in time interferes with the ability to recall information encoded at an earlier time. (RETRO working backward from new to old info. can't remember old stuff)

Question 33

Similarity effects

Answer 33

People trying to learn similar items will have more trouble remembering both because they interfere with one another (Cupcakes and cheesecake harder to remember than cupcakes and broccoli soup)

Question 34

Selective attention

Answer 34

Though we pick up info from all senses, only the meaningful parts (meaning of a conversation) will be processed and stored.

Question 35

Sensory memory

Answer 35

The first stage in the modal model of memory. Only a fraction of the information stored in sensory memory ends up being selected by attention

Question 36

Short-term memory

Answer 36

The second stage of the modal model of memory which serves to hold processed information for rehearsal or to produce a behavior. Significant involvement of **frontal cortex**

Question 37

Decay theory

Answer 37

Memories are lost over time due to misuse (like muscles, deteriorating over time without use)

Question 38

Interference theory

Answer 38

Any interfering sensory information makes recent memories sensitive to disruption before being encoded to LTM

Question 39

STM Capacity

Answer 39

In the auditory domain, the STM holds 7 items (+/-2). In the visual domain, the STM holds 4 items (+/-1) no matter the number of features (shape, color, orientation). Duration of STM without rehearsal is 15 seconds. Both **decay and interference** cause loss of info in STM

Question 40

Sperling (1960)

Answer 40

Test of iconic memory. Presented 3 rows of 4 letters to participants for 15-500 milliseconds. They recounted letters from whichever row they were paying attention to. 25% of the overall grid could be retained in STM. If they were told which row to recount afterward, the longer the wait, the more trouble they had to provide the correct row of letters.

Question 41

Storage

Answer 41

The retention of information in the nervous system beyond initial processing.

Question 42

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 42

The visual component of the working memory model that serves to hold and manipulate visual information

Question 43

Working memory

Answer 43

Significant involvement of **frontal cortex**

Question 44

Working memory model

Answer 44

Consists of visuo-spatial sketchpad, phonological loop, central executive. Visual and auditory buffers are separate from each other and therefore do not interfere with one another. Working memory happens all over the brain