Chapter 3 Flashcards
(33 cards)
What is working memory?
A cognitive process/mental workspace that holds information temporarily (about 15-30 seconds)
i.e., the active contents of our consciousness
What is short term memory?
Memory system that stores information brought from sensory memory temporarily
short capacity, short duration (about 15-30 seconds)
What is sensory memory?
(short duration)
A memory system that holds an exact representation of what you have seen/heard for a fraction of a second
i.e., a buffer that allows us to maintain sensory information
What is iconic memory?
Visual sensory memory
holds info for less than a second
What is echoic memory?
Auditory sensory memory
holds info for just over a second
What is encoding?
The process of entering information into our memory system
What is retrival?
Finding and recovering memories from storage (long-term memory)
What is the modal model?
The model depicting several memory structures, including sensory memory, short-term/working memory, and long-term memory
What is chunking?
The process of combining a number of items into a smaller number of meaningful segments to fortify recall
relies on long-term memory
What is the phonological similarity effect?
Phenomenon in memory where items that sound similar are harder to remember (in their exact order) than items that sound different
What is the word-length effect?
Lists of short words or items are better recalled than lists of longer items/words
What is the difference between short term memory, and working memory?
Short term memory refers to the passive storage of information (learning a name for the first time), whereas working memory is the active contents of our consciousness (i.e., mental calculations)
What is Baddeley’s working memory model?
(5 subsystems for working memory…)
A model for memory that includes the central executive, the visualspatial sketchpad, the episodic buffer, the phonological loop, and the* long term memory*
What is the visual-spatial sketchpad?
(hint - visual working memory)
Limited capacity working memory system that stores visual/spatial information for a short period of time
What is the phonological loop?
Component of working memory that deals with spoken and written material
What are the two parts that make up the phonological loop?
The ‘phonological store’ (i.e., verbal short term memory) and the articulatory rehersal process (saying the word aloud or subvocally)
What is the central executive?
An attention mechanism that regulates/coodinates the memory systems
What is the episodic buffer?
Coordinates overlap between auditory and visual systems
thought now to be done passively
What are the central executive’s 3 main functions?
Direct attention to a particular task, divide attention when appropriate, and can switch our attention between competing sources
Where does a memory start and end?
(information-processing model)
Environment -> sensory memory -> short term memory -> long term memory
Who was George Sperling (1960)?
Psychologist who used ‘partial report’ (only recalling specific bits of info - ‘tone exercise’)
revealed that sensory memory has a large capacity, but very short duration
What were the studies done by Brown (1958) & Peterson and Peterson (1959)?
What did it teach us about short term memory?
Participants were given 3 letters to recall, followed by a distractor task (e.g., counting backwards by 3) with varied retention intervals
Demonstrated that information is stored in STM for 15-20s (0 rehearsal)
Who was George Miller (1956)?
‘magic number 7’
A psychologist who determined (based on studies done) that our working memory could hold about 7 units of information
(give or take; telephone #’s just in range of WM)
What is subvocal rehearsal?
Rehearsing something mentally
