Exam 4 Flashcards
(24 cards)
Evidence indicating separate storage’s for short and long term memory
Behavioral
- Ebbinghous- no effort to recall 1-5 nonsense syllables
- considerable effort to recall >5 syllables
- harder/longer the word, the more to memorize, harder to remember
Biological
- Inhibiting proteins synthesis does not impair within-session memory, but prevents build-up of memory across session (stops more memories from building up)
- not being consolidates
Neurological
- patients can show specific defects in STM, LTM or transitions from STM to LTM
- eg HM
- only retains memory when attention is still kept. When diverted, memory is gone
Sensory memory
- one for each sense (visual, auditory, haptic)
- very large storage
- very quick decay (about 1 sec long)
- memories in are being overwritten by new sensory info
- transfers to STM
How do we know sensory memory has large storage capacity?
Approach 1- total recall
- present letters for ~300ms, too short for transfer to STM
- can remember about 3 letters
- problem- store fades before letters can be written
Approach 2- Sperling- partial report technique
- have participants report only 1 row
- 3 letters reported (those in the given row)
Sensory memory can grasp all the sensory info but can not remember it long enough to record it all before new information comes in
Why is working memory a better name for STM?
Bc it is the information we are currently working with
How is working memory diff from LTM? Give examples
STM / LTM
Active contents or consciousness / Not currently in consciousness
Access is rapid / Access is slow
Capacity is limited / Capacity is unlimited
Forgotten quickly / Forgotten more slowly
How much info can we hold in working memory?
Digit span
- read list of numbers and repeat
- increase length till errors made
- biggest component is IQ
- Miller says 7 +/- 2 (mode of 5)
What can affect working memory capacity?
- Miller suggests 5-9 “chunks” of information
- Recording (aka chunking)- finding meaning in info being stored in STM
- Attention determines duration- stop paying attention, lose of info
- rehearsal- repeating info mentally to maintain attention
Baddely’s working memory model
- workspace for the mind. Collects sensory input, activates LTMs, transfers info to suit current needs
- 3 components
- phonological loop - inner voice
- visuospatial sketchpad - inner eye
- central executive - attention
How do we know the Phonological loop is our “inner voice”?
- Stores about 2 secs of auditory information
- Rehearsal needed to remember a series of numbers
- You can hear yourself rehearse it in your mind
- word-length effect: less capacity to memorize lists of multi-syllable words compared to single-syllable words
- can say more shorter words
- those who speak faster can rehearse longer lists of words
Phonological loop
inner voice
- word-length effect: less capacity to memorize lists of multi-syllable words compared to single-syllable words
- can say more shorter words
- those who speak faster can rehearse longer lists of words
Visual-spacial sketchpad
holds both visual and spacial info for manipulation (the mind’s eye
-limited capacity but capacity is independent from phonological loop
How do we study the visuospatial sketchpad?
with non-humans bc it is experimentally tractable
- delayed non-matching to simple task
- novel object shown, delay, choose non-matching object
- requires visual memory of object to be held in mind during short delay
What is the central executive responsible for?
The working part of the mind
- exerts cognitive control over behavior
- manipulates remembered information
- self-ordered memory tasks
- pick an item you haven’t picked yet
- studied in non-humans
- pick an item you haven’t picked yet
- self-ordered memory tasks
- sets goals, makes plans and monitors completion
- tower of hanoi task (humans)
- switching between tasks
- switching the rules (wisconsin card sorting test)
- selects appropriate behavior and inhibits inappropriate behaviors
- the Stroop task (colors)
- manipulates remembered information
Intelligence
capacity to learn, reason and understand
- excellent working memory
- working memory correlates with verbal SAT scores
- N-back training increases scores on working memory tests and general intelligence
Declarative memory
(“knowing what”) is memory of facts and events, and refers to those memories that can be consciously recalled (or “declared”). It is sometimes called explicit memory, since it consists of information that is explicitly stored and retrieved
Procedural memory
(“knowing how”) is the unconscious memory of skills and how to do things, particularly the use of objects or movements of the body, such as tying a shoelace, playing a guitar or riding a bike. These memories are typically acquired through repetition and practice, and are composed of automatic sensorimotor behaviours that are so deeply embedded that we are no longer aware of them.
Open skill
requires adjustments based on the environment.
e.g. walking, breathing,
Closed skill
rote sets of movement. Specific things
e.g. showering, tieing shoes
use evidence to demonstrate that talent and practice are important for expertise
Twin studies prove that with practice fraternal twins can get just as good with practice as talented identical twins
evidence to demonstrate quality feedback
Thorndike asked participants to draw a 3 inch line while blind folded
Half the participants were given feedback and the other half was given none
Despite equal amounts of practice, the group that had feedback improved
how do we make practice most effective?
frequency of feedback
- frequent is helpful at first
- less frequent for long term results
Spaced practice
-practice a little, frequently
Power Law of learning
- effective practice
- additional sources of feedback (video)
- other similar activities
use an example to demonstrate implicit learning
learning without conscious effort
number sequence
-faster when a specific number sequence pops up even though you don’t know its there and you don’t have any recollection of it
describe the power law of learning and how it relates to skill decay
power law of learning- skill gains are rapid at first but decrease over time with the same amount of practice
skill decay- follows same pattern as power law
- rapid decay when practice is first terminated
- slower decay as time progresses
- also can decay from interference (learning new disrupts the old skill)
what do skills transfer? use concepts from class to explain
transfer- generalization of a skill across context
Near-skill that is closely related (baseball –> softball)
Far- skill that is far from related (baseball –> cricket)
In general skills don’t transfer well unless closely related
- training drills
- the more shared elements there are, the better the transfer (Thorndike)
