CHAPTER 8 reading - MEMORY Flashcards
Method of loci
a memory aid that associates information with mental images of physical locations
Schema is a
mental framework - organised pattern of thought - about some aspect of the word
Memory is enhanced by forming
associations between new information and other items already in our memory
Priming
refers to the activation of one concept (or one unit of information) by another e.g. fthe word fire engine primes the node for red which makes it more likely that our memory for this colour will be assessed
Excitatory =
increasing the likelihood that a neuron will fire
Inhibitory =
Decreasing the likelihood of firing
Declarative memory involves
factual knowledge and includes two subcategories episodic and semantic memory
Episodic memory is
our store of knowledge concerning personally experienced events
Semantic memory represents
general factual knowledge about the world and language, including memory for words and concepts
Amnesia =
memory loss
HM surgery
had most of his hippocampus and surrounding brain tissue surgically removed to reduce his severe epileptic seizures
Procedural (non-declarative) memory
Reflected in skills and actions
Classical condition effects are seen in this division of memory
Explicit memory
Involves conscious or intentional memory retrieval, as when you consciously recognise or recall something
Rcognition requires
us to decide whether a stimulus is familiar
Implicit memory
occurs when memory influences our behaviour without conscious awareness
Retrieval cue is
a stimulus, whether internal or external, that activates information stored in long-term memory
distinctive stimuli are generally better remembered than non-distinctive stimuli
Context dependent memory
it is typically easier to remember something in the same environment in which it was originally encoded
shown by the Godden and Baddeley (1975) experiment - scuba diving experiment
Encoding specificity refers to the fact that
we can retrieve information better if we are in the same context or state that we were in when we encoded the information. This is not necessarily true for out mood states
When the material is meaningful …
we are likely to retain more of it over time
Why do we forget?
Encoding failure
Decay of the memory trace
Interference
Motivated forgetting
Encoding failure
Failing to encode the information into long term memory in the first place
Decay of memory trace
decay theory = proposed that with time and diuse, the long term physical memory trace in the nervous system fades away
the longer the tim
Interference
forget information bcause other items in long term memory impair our ability to retrieve it
Proactive interference
occurs when material learned in the past interferes with recall of newer material