cognitive Flashcards
(46 cards)
STM is?
short term memory
LTM is?
long term memory
Duration of LTM?
Very long (possibly unlimited)
Duration of STM?
short
how long does STM last for (Average)
20 seconds
What is Acoustic coding?
Encoding information as the way it sounds
What is Semantic coding?
Encoding information from its meaning
describe the stages of the multi-store model
sensory memory gets converted to short term through concentration. Short term gets converted to long term via repetition. To put long term back into short term concentration is required. Each conversion requires effort.
what area of the brain deals with short term memory?
The prefrontal cortex
what area of the brain deals with long term memory?
The hippo-campus
name some strengths of the multi-store model
Many memory studies provide evidence to support the distinction between STM and LTM
supported by the HM case study
name some weaknesses of the multi-store model
The model is oversimplified, in particular when it suggests that both short-term and long-term memory each operate in a single, uniform fashion. We now know is this not the case.
Stm can be converted to ltm via encoding as well as repetition
Name all the components to the working memory model
central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketch pad and episodic buffer
what does the central executive do?
the central executive controls all the slave components.
what does the phonological loop do?
it processes sound information
what is the episodic buffer?
not much is known about this store. it was thrown into the working memory model to explain why amnesia patients could remember some passages from a book immediately despite having no long term recall
what is the visuo-spatial sketch pad?
the visualization of surroundings and interaction that aren’t currently happening
what evidence is there for the the central executive
when participants where asked to use two components at once (e.g visuo-spatial sketch pad and phonological loop) a new area of the brain showed up on scans.
what evidence is there for the visuo-spatial sketch pad
when a visual and verbal task was carried out it was harder for participants to complete compared to two visual tasks
Name a strength of the working memory model
Patients who have come back with brain damage in a specific area lose very specific abilities such as speech or ability to draw. This lets psychologists know which parts of the brain are associated with which functions.
what did Loftus and Palmer do?
they showed forty five students traffic accidents. After the film the participants were given a questionnaire. The critical question was “how fast do you think the cars were going”. each questionnaire had a different word describing how the accident happened ranging from contacted to smashed.
What was the aim of the experiment that loftus and Palmer did?
The aim was to see how the intensity of the description word would effect the participants guess of speed. (in the car accident)
what did loftus and Palmer find in their results
the more violent the description word the higher the estimated speed.
what did loftus and Palmer do for experiment 2
they got a new group of students and split them into three groups. this time they were asked if they saw broken glass. the word group one were given the word smashed group two were given the word hit and group three were given the word contacted