Chapter 6 Memory

Question 1

What did Hermann Ebbinghaus discover?

Answer 1

The forgetting curve (using nonsense syllables)

Question 2

When is recall highest according to the forgetting curve?

Answer 2

Right after a list is first learned

Question 3

When is the rate of forgetting highest according to the forgetting curve?

Answer 3

Within the first few hours

Question 4

What can slow the rate of forgetting (other than time)?

Answer 4

Re-learning the information

Question 5

Who does the Forgetting curve apply to?

Answer 5

Seemingly all of animal kingdom

Question 6

What is the serial position effect?

Answer 6

The idea of primacy and recency, discovered by Ebbinghaus

Question 7

Define Primacy

Answer 7

Items presented early are recalled very frequently

Question 8

Define Recency

Answer 8

Items presented late were recalled very frequently

Question 9

What was psychology’s response to memory after Ebbinghaus?

Answer 9

Disinterest (except for classical conditioning) until George Miller in the 1950s

Question 10

What did Atkinson & Shiffrin discover (1968)?

Answer 10

3 component structure of memory

Question 11

What are the three components of memory according to Atkinson & Shiffrin?

Answer 11

Sensory store, short-term store, and long-term store

Question 12

Why is the 3 compartment model making a comeback?

Answer 12

Neuroimaging

Question 13

Define Sensory Memory

Answer 13

ongoing activation based on sensation & perception

Question 14

Where does visual sensory memory occur?

Answer 14

In the visual cortex of the occipital lobe

Question 15

Where does auditory sensory memory occur?

Answer 15

Perceptual regions in the cortex in the temporal lobe

Question 16

Define Iconic memory store

Answer 16

Brief memory buffer that can effectively hold all information in the visual display

Question 17

Define echoic memory store

Answer 17

brief memory buffer that works as an echo for auditory stimuli

Question 18

Why are the 3 other main senses not documented to have buffers?

Answer 18

They probably do, but they are harder to study systematically

Question 19

Define short term memory

Answer 19

intermediate system that handles transfer between sensory and long-term memory

Question 20

How is short-term memory moved to long-term memory

Answer 20

It is attended to or rehearsed until it is solidified

Question 21

What is our capacity for short term memory?

Answer 21

4 +/- 1 (used to think 7 +/- 2 and 30-60 secs)

Question 22

What is the visual/structural level of processing?

Answer 22

Remembering the look and appearance of an object

Question 23

What is the acoustic level of processing?

Answer 23

How the words sound and being able to rehearse those sounds

Question 24

What is the semantic level of processing?

Answer 24

Understanding what the information means/ how it fits into current cognitive framework

Question 25

What is the weakest level of processing?

Answer 25

visual/structural processing

Question 26

what is the deepest level of processing?

Answer 26

semantic processing

Question 27

Define Working Memory

Answer 27

Our ability to temporarily store and manipulate information from our environment

Question 28

What does working memory encompass

Answer 28

Mental math, mental rotation, reading comprehension, and problem solving

Question 29

Who developed the most enduring and influential model of working memory?

Answer 29

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Question 30

What does the Baddeley and Hitch model of working memory include?

Answer 30

Phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive

Question 31

Which two types of memory are virtually interchangeable?

Answer 31

Short-term memory and working memory

Question 32

Define visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 32

storage that allows for cognitive maps/shapes/images

Question 33

Define phonological (or Articulatory) loop

Answer 33

Storage that allows for verbal information and rehearsal

Question 34

Define central executive

Answer 34

system that controls the two storage units

Question 35

According to Baddeley's model, how is visual and auditory stimuli memorized?

Answer 35

separately (and very well). But visual information will interfere with visual memory and auditory with auditory memory

Question 36

What are the benefits to Baddeley and Hitch's working memory model?

Answer 36

it's simple and predicts many laboratory findings

Question 37

What are the drawbacks to Baddeley and Hitch's working memory model?

Answer 37

not well supported; doesn't account for sensory experiences besides vision/hearing; doesn't account for abnormal memory

Question 38

What is Kane & Engle's Working memory model?

Answer 38

Working memory is focused attention and fluid intelligence

Question 39

What were the findings from Cowan (1993, 1999)?

Answer 39

short-term memory is activated long-term memory; working memory is the ability to activate long-term memory

Question 40

What is attention's role in memory?

Answer 40

It acts as a spotlight

Question 41

What were the findings from Postle (2006)?

Answer 41

the prefrontal cortex works as a switchboard selecting which network we attend to

Question 42

Define Long-Term Memory

Answer 42

Spreading activation-- as we invoke one memory, we invoke others nearby

Question 43

What happens to associated memory when regarding attended stimuli?

Answer 43

Associated memories become increasingly available

Question 44

Define Priming

Answer 44

The history of a stimulus makes you more likely to respond a certain way

Question 45

What were the findings in the Meyer and Schvaneveldt (1971) study?

Answer 45

when pairs of words had an associated relationship, participants were faster at judging whether the words were real; evidence of priming

Question 46

Define the power law of learning

Answer 46

Memory performance improves with practice; increasing practice has diminishing returns

Question 47

Define long-term potentiation

Answer 47

The more a memory is accessed, the stronger the connections between neurons related to that memory

Question 48

Where does long-term potentiation occur?

Answer 48

the hippocampus and cortical areas

Question 49

What is the "use it or lose it" rule?

Answer 49

If memories are not retrieved, we begin to lose access to them as those neural connections weaken

Question 50

Define flashbulb memories

Answer 50

Memories with vivid detail

Question 51

What does research say about flashbulb memories?

Answer 51

our confidence in our retrieval ability is increased, but the actual memory is about the same as everyday events (they fade with time)