Chapter 5: Memory Flashcards
1
Q
Memory
A
- An active process that encodes, stores and retrieves information acquired through learning when required
- Described as the neurological representation of learning
2
Q
Encoding, storage and retrieval
A
- Encoding – conversion of info into a usable form so that it can be neurologically represented and stored in memory
- Storage – retention of encoded information over time
- Retrieval – recovery of stored information and bringing it into conscious awareness for use
NOTE: Encoding occurs in both short-term and long-term memory.
3
Q
Atkinson–Shiffrin multi-store model
A
- Represents and explains memory as consisting of three components: sensory, short-term and long-term
- Each component differs in function, capacity and duration, however, they interact and operate simultaneously
4
Q
Attention, rehearsal, encoding and retrieval
A
- Attention: sensory → STM
- Rehearsal: STM → STM
- Encoding: STM → LTM
- Retrieval: LTM → STM
5
Q
Sensory memory
2 types: iconic and echoic
A
- Briefly stores new incoming sensory info in its orginal state
- Enables us to perceive the world around us as continuous
- Capacity: vast, potentially unlimited
- Duration: 0.2-4 seconds (cannot be extended)
6
Q
Iconic and echoic memory
A
-
Iconic – stores visual sensory information
- Capacity: unlimited
- Duration: about 1/3 of a second
-
Echoic – stores auditory sensory information
- Capacity: unlimited
- Duration: about 3-4 seconds
7
Q
Short term memory (STM)
‘Working memory’
A
- Temporarily stores a limited amount of info that is being consciously attented to & actively manipulated
- Contains information from both sensory and LTM
- Capacity: 7 ± 2 items
- Duration: up to about 30 seconds (longer if renewed)
8
Q
Chunking
A
- Grouping separate pieces of info into larger ‘chunks’
- Increases the capacity of STM
9
Q
Decay and displacement
STM
A
- Decay – when information is not renewed (e.g. via maintenance rehearsal) and is forgotten over time
- Displacement – pushing old items of info out when new info is introduced, given that STM is at maximum capacity
10
Q
Maintenance and elaborative rehearsal
A
- Maintenance – repeatedly saying or thinking about info to prevent decay; keeps info in STM
- Elaborative – encodes new info (makes it more meaningful) by linking it to info already held in LTM
NOTE: Elaborative rehearsal is more effective at transferring info to LTM.
11
Q
Long term memory (LTM)
2 types: explicit and implicit memory
A
- Stores info for re-access and use at a later time
- Some information can be lost or inaccessible over time
- Capacity: potentially unlimited
- Duration: very long time (possibly permanently)
12
Q
Explicit memory
‘Memory with awareness’ or ‘declerative memory’
A
- LTM that can be consciously retrieved and stated
- Divided into episodic and semantic memory
- E.g. your birthday party, identifying a dog breed
13
Q
Episodic memory
A
- Long-term explicit memory of personal experiences associated with a particular time and place
- E.g. remembering what you had for breakfast this morning
14
Q
Autobiographical memory
A
- Consists of episodes recollected from one’s life; based on a combination of episodic and semantic memories
- E.g. memory of the first day at school can include meeting the teacher (episodic) and the knowledge that the teacher’s name was Ms Smith (semantic)
NOTE: It is a type of explicit memory.
15
Q
Semantic memory
A
- Long-term explicit memory of facts and knowledge
- Does not include details of time and place
- E.g. meaning of words, rules, concepts, areas of expertise
16
Q
Implicit memory
‘Memory without awareness’ or ‘non-declarative memory’
A
- LTM that does not require conscious retrieval
- Divided into procedural and CC memory
- E.g. driving a car, brushing your teeth, fears, taste aversions
17
Q
Procedural memory
A
- Long-term implicit memory of skills that have been learned previously (often difficult to put into words)
- Often include motor or muscle memories
- E.g. using chopsticks, riding a bike, knowing how to read
18
Q
Classically conditioned memory
A
- Long-term implicit memory of conditioned responses particularly those involving fear or anxiety
- E.g. Little Albert’s fear of white rats, feeling nauseous at the sight of oysters (taste aversions)
19
Q
Hippocampus
A
- Deep in the medial temporal lobe + part of limbic system
- Forms, encodes and consolidates new explicit memories
- Transfers consolidated memories to neocortex for LT storage
- Does not store memory itself in the long term
- Also important for spatial memory (physical location of objects in space) which enables us to learn and remember locations
- Essential for consolidation of episodic / autobiographical mem
NOTE: We have one in each cerebral hemisphere.
20
Q
Damage to the hippocampus
A
- No new explicit memories can be formed
- No information can be passed from STM to LTM
- Leading contributor to Alzheimer’s disease
21
Q
Consolidation
A
- The neurobiological process of making a newly formed memory stable and enduring after a learning experience
- Once consolidated, memories are not necessarily fixed (open to reconsolidation)
22
Q
Amygdala
A
- Next to the hippocampus in the medial temporal lobe
- Processes and regulates emotions (particularly fear and anger) and forms and consolidates emotional memories
- Involved in the formation of classically conditoned fear responses involving implicit memory (e.g. Little Albert)
- Does not permanently store emotional memories
NOTE: We have one in each cerebral hemisphere.
23
Q
Damage to the amygdala
A
- No acquisition of CC fear responses
- No memory of emotional elements of explicit memories
24
Q
How does the amygdala enhance memory?
A
- Adds emotional context to explicit memories and works w the HC to ↑ consolidation of emotional events
- Emotionally arousing events are more memorable
- Increased adrenaline and noradrenaline in the amygdala during emotional arousal is believed to signal the HC
25
Flashbulb memory
- **Vivid and long lasting memory** of an **emotionally arousing event** (often including specific details)
- E.g. someone remembering details about where they were and what they were doing when told about the death of a loved one
26
Neocortex
- Wrinkly **outer surface of the brain** which is the largest & most recently evolved part of the brain
- **Stores explicit mems** after encoding + transfer by HC
- Memory is distributed throughout it
- Stores motor and CC responses
- Retrieves episodic, autobiographical and semantic info
## Footnote
NOTE: The terms cortex, neocortex and cerebral cortex are used interchangeably.
27
Damage to the neocortex
- **Damage to a particular part** of the cortex is likely to **affect the specific function performed by that region**
- E.g. damage to the the right frontal lobe would cause difficulty retrieving episodic memories
28
Basal Ganglia
- Group of structures (nuclei) deep within the brain
- **Encodes and stores implicit mems involving motor skills** associated with **voluntary movements**
- Also plays a role in habituation
29
Habituation (basal ganglia)
- **Growing accustomed to a situation/stimulus** (involves reduced responsiveness following repeated exposure)
- Typically **occurs without conscious awareness**, thus, memories based on habitutation are considered **implicit**
- E.g. people living on main roads become habituated to the noise of passing traffic
30
Damage to the basal ganglia
- Can be damaged by Parkinson's and Huntington's disease
- **Impairs voluntary movements** (e.g. tremors, difficulty walking and coordinating muscle movement)
- Medication that restores basal ganglia dopamine can improve acquisition and retention of simple motor tasks
31
Cerebellum
- Located at the **base of the brain**
- **Encodes and coordinates implicit, procedural memories** of fine muscle movements (involving posture, balance, timing, speed, ease and fluency)
- **Stores simple CC responses** e.g. blinking in response to a CS
32
Damage to the cerebellum
- **Impaired timing and coordination of muscle control**
- **No acquisition of CC reflexes** e.g. eye blink response
33
Alzheimer's disease
- Neurodegenerative disorder involving **widespread degeneration of brain neurons** which causes ↓ memory and cognitive / social skills + personality changes
- Initially affects STM more than LTM
- Accounts for around 70% of dementia cases
- Can only be confirmed via an autopsy (post-mortem)
- ↓ ability to retrieve long-term memories of autobiographical events and undergo episodic future thinking (constructing imagined futures)
## Footnote
NOTE: Alzeimer's is both a type and cause of dementia.
34
Causes or characteristics of Alzheimer's
- **Amyloid plaques**
- Protein (beta-amyloid) build up between neural synapses
- **Neurofibrillary tangles**
- Protein build up within neurons; associated with cell death
- **Imbalance in acetylcholine (NT)**
- Neurons that produce acetylcholine are destroyed
- **Cortical shrinkage / brain atrophy**
- Progressive neuron damage causes brain tissue to shrink
35
Aphantasia
- **Inability to visualise** due to function loss in visual cortex
- Either congenital (present from birth) or acquired
- Those with aphantasia may...
- Struggle to recall episodic memories
- Struggle to imagine future or hypothetical events
- Dream less and have trouble recognising faces
- Have a reduced capacity to access other senses
36
Mental imagery (FAQs)
- Perception-like experience in our conscious thought in the absence of external sensory stimuli
37
Imagined futures
| ‘Episodic future thinking'
- Mentally experiencing an event that may occur in your personal future by projecting yourself forward in time
- Involves semantic and episodic autobiographical knowledge to create the ‘world’ in which the future thinking occurs
38
How do autobiographical events and imagined futures influence each other? (FAQs)
39
Mnemonic
- Any **technique used to consciously assist memory**
- Enhance encoding, storage and retrieval of info
- E.g. acronyms, acrostics, method of loci and songlines
40
Mnemonics in written cultures
- **Acronym** – a **pronounceable word** formed from the first letters of a group of words (e.g. ANZAC, DRSABCD)
- **Acrostic** – **phrase** formed w words including the first letter of each item (e.g. never eat soggy weetbix = north east south west)
- **Method of loci** – converting items into **mental images** associated with specific locations
41
How does the MOL improve encoding, storange and retrieval?
- **Encoding** – info is associated with familiar locations, making it more meaningful
- **Storage** – new info is linked to locations that are already kept in long-term memory
- **Retrieval** – visualising locations acts as a memory aid (allows the person to recall the associated w/ the spaces)
42
Songlines
| Used by oral cultures
- **Multimodal performances** (e.g. songs, dances, narratives) that form a journey, link sites and store knowledge that is passed down through generations
- Incorporates knowledge patterned on Country
43
How do songlines enhance encoding?
- Link ideas together
- Facilitative elaborative rehearsal
- Link new ideas to known ideas
44
Differences between songlines and method of loci
- **Songlines**
- Information is sacred
- Typically sung (rhymical and melodic)
- Encoded through kinship networks
- **Method of loci**
- Information is not tied to cultural learning
- Typically not sung
- Encoded individually for individual larning
45
Differences between songlines and acrostics
- **Songlines**
- Typically sung
- Often increase in content over time
- May contain content from a wide range of topics
- **Acrostics**
- Typically not sung
- Do not increase in content over time
- Typically contain content relating to one topic
- **Both**
- Act as retrieval cues
- Rely on meaningful connections between words
46
Similarities and differences between people with Alzheimer’s and aphantasia in being able to undergo episodic future thinking
- **Similarity** – both have difficulty with imagined futures
- **Difference** – cause of difficulty is different
- Alz – increasing difficulty due to gradual degenaration of neurons (hippocampus, neocortex, cerebellum)
- Aph – constant difficulty due to function loss in visual cortex
47
Why are acrostics and acronyms more challenging to use when shared verbally rather than a written list?
- They require an understanding of the written spelling of a word
- W/o a visual cue of the first letter, the capacity of one's STM is more likely to be exceeded
- It can make it harder to encode or retrieve the info
