Human Memory

Question 1

Neuronal activation in regards to learning

Answer 1

Determines how likely and how fast a memory is retrieved

More practice leads to more efficient, specific activation of the target memory, while overall brain activity, particularly in regions associated with a new or difficult task, decreases as a result of increased skill and efficiency

Question 2

Articulatory process

Answer 2

Part of the phonological loop in Baddeley’s working memory model.

Refer to as the “inner voice”, where verbal info can be rehearsed, by silently repeating it.

Question 3

Auditory sensory store

Answer 3

A system that can store brief memory for sounds that lasts up to ~10 seconds, allowing us to process sequences like speech.

(also called Echoic memory)

Question 4

Central executive

Answer 4

The control system in Baddeley’s working memory model:
Allocates attention and coordinates the slave systems.

The slave systems:
- Visuospatial sketchpad
- Phonological loop

Question 5

Depth of processing

Answer 5

concept from a theory about remembering better

assigning a meaning to a term by thinking about its meaning or connecting it to other things improves our memory of the term and places it from short-term memory into long-term memory

Question 6

Elaborative processing

Answer 6

When we think of information that relates to or expands on the information that we are trying to remember.

Question 7

Flashbulb memories

Answer 7

Memory for events so significant that they seem to ‘burn’ themselves permanently into the mind.

Question 8

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 8

A form of ‘neural’ learning, which occurs in the hippocampus and in cortical areas. When neurons are repeatedly exposed to stimulus, they increase in responsiveness. As these neurons are activated a lot, they need less input, and are therefore faster at getting activated from other neurons. These connections and the change in responsiveness over time follow the same, but also inverted logarithmic relation as the power of learning.

Question 9

Memory span

Answer 9

The amount of elements a person can immediately report back, in the right order after hearing a list (which could consist of e.g. numbers or words)

Question 10

Method of loci

Answer 10

Imagine a specific path through an area you know very well with fixed locations along the path and then associate the terms you are trying to learn/remember to the imagined locations.

e.g. on my route is a blue house and a restaurant, if I were to remember a bottle and a cat I could imagine the blue house as a huge bottle and the restaurant as being served by a cat and later if I were to recall that list I could just walk through my made up path

Question 11

Partial-report procedure

Answer 11

A condition in Sperling’s (1960) experiment on visual sensory memory (iconic memory)

in which participants are cued to
report only some of the items in a display.

(Contrast with whole-report procedure)

Question 12

Phonological loop

Answer 12

One of the “slave systems” in Baddeley’s working memory model.

System that temporarily stores and rehearses verbal/auditory information

Consist of:

• Articulatory process = “inner voice” rehearses verbal info
• Phonological store = “inner ear” hears the voice and store the info

Question 13

Phonological store

Answer 13

Part of the phonological loop in Baddeley’s working memory model.

Refered to as the “inner ear” that hears and stores the content of articulary processes in a phonological form.

Question 14

Power function

Answer 14

A function in which the independent variable X is raised to a power to obtain the dependent variable Y, as in Y = AX^b

b = exponent (the power)

Example: If learning follows a power function, you make big progress early on, and then improvements gradually slow down (take longer)

Question 15

Power law of learning

Answer 15

a principle:
repeat a task many times, your performance gets better, but the amount of improvement gets smaller each time follows a predictable pattern - power function

Question 16

Short-term memory

Answer 16

Short term memory - An intermediate system with a limited capacity, where information resides on its way from the sensory and long-term memory. There are two bottlenecks, precisely between the three ‘systems’.

Sensory -> short-term: Information is lost when unattended to
Short-term -> long-term: Information lost, unless attentively rehearsed into permanent long-term memory.

Question 17

Spreading activation

Answer 17

Cue activates associated concepts; activation is limited and spreads among all linked structures → more associations (larger fan) → less activation per target → slower retrieval.

Larger fan = greater hemodynamic response but lower activation per target because prefrontal structures must work harder

Anderson (1974): learned person–location sentences; recognition time increases with sum of associations (1–1 fastest, 2–2 slowest).

Question 18

Strength

Answer 18

How practiced or accessible a memory is.

Determines how easy it is to recall.

Question 19

Visual sensory store

Answer 19

A system that can store brief memory of visual information that lasts up to ~1 seconds before it fades.

(also called Iconic memory)

Question 20

Visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 20

A sort of ‘sketchpad’ in our minds, where we temporarily store visual and/or spatial information. Controlled by the “central executive” and considered a “slave system.” All these systems are parts of the “working memory”.

Question 21

Whole-report procedure

Answer 21

A condition in Sperling’s (1960) experiment on visual sensory memory (iconic memory)

in which participants are asked to
report all the items in a display.

(Contrast with partial-report procedure)

Question 22

Working memory

Answer 22

part of memory where attended information is held for a short period while mental processing is going on being stored and manipulated

limited, more information degrades the performance

like short-term memory but information is also manipulated to form understanding

Question 23

Amnesia

Answer 23

Memory loss, typically from damage to the hippocampal area. Damage can lead to both retrograde amnesia (loss of old memories) and anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories).

Question 24

Long term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 24

A long-lasting increase in the strength of synaptic connections between neurons, occurring after intense, repeated stimulation. Neurons gets more sensitive by repeated stimulation and needs less input to reactivate afterwards - but diminishing LTP increase when increasing practice.

Question 25

Decay theory

Answer 25

Memories deteriorates over time, unless they are actively rehearsed or retrieved.

Question 26

Inhibitory Explanation of Forgetting

Answer 26

Inhibitory Explanation of Forgetting suggests that we forget information because our brain actively suppresses or inhibits certain memories to reduce interference and improve mental efficiency

Question 27

Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm and DRM lists

Answer 27

A paradigm for creating false memories of words by presenting associatively related words. (Paradigm means A typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model.) DRM lists: creating lists of words highly associated to a single word that not mentioned in the list to create a false recollection/memory of this word appearing in the list

Question 28

Fan effect

Answer 28

When presented to a stimuli, activation spreads to all associated memory structures. This activation is limited. Therefore, the more associations, the less activation per association. This effect can explain the interference effect - it is easier to remember "An officer in the park" if 'Park' is only related to the officer and not also for example a teacher.

Question 29

Networks of association

Answer 29

All of the connected associations we have to our known concepts. For example: Bread; butter, yeast, flour, baking and so on - and some of these associations are also connected individually, creating a network.

Question 30

Hippocampus

Answer 30

Brain structure located deeply in the temporal lobe, responsible for memory formation, learning, and spatial navigation. Is involved in declarative (or explicit memory).

Question 31

Memory Dissociations

Answer 31

a phenomenon where one type of memory is affected by an experimental manipulation while another remains intact, providing evidence for distinct cognitive systems for each memory type. Brain lesions have displayed the contrast between explicit (declarative memory), and implicit memory (non-declarative memory)

Question 32

Implicit memory

Answer 32

Also known as non-declarative memory. It is what our actions imply we remember in the absence of conscious memory. Can sometimes be difficult to verbalise (e.g. explaining how you ride a bike, you just know it) Procedural knowledge/memory is an important type of implicit memory. Study: H.M. was able to improve in tasks without ever being able to recall performing the tasks

Question 33

Cerebellum

Answer 33

Brain region located at the back of the head, underneath the cerebrum and above the brainstem. Controls motor coordination, balance and voluntary movement. Is involved in non-declarative (implicit) memory.

Question 34

Encoding-specificity principle

Answer 34

Memory is better when the encoding of an item at study matches the encoding at test. (If you learned it in a specific context, you will remember it better in the same context)

Question 35

Explicit memory

Answer 35

Also known as declarative memory. It is what we can consciously recall, and easily talk about. Facts (semantic memory) - Consists of cultural knowledge, ideas and concepts you’ve accumulated about the world. Events (Episodic memory) - Unique representations of your personal experience. (e.g. when you can replay an episode in your head)

Question 36

Interference theory

Answer 36

If information interferes with each other, it becomes harder to remember. For example: Cat-88 is easy to remember, but if you're also told Cat-49 and Cat-23, it might be harder. But, if the information has meaningful connections, this is not occuring.

Question 37

Korsakoff syndrome

Answer 37

Amnesia caused by chronic alcoholism.

Question 38

Mood congruence

Answer 38

Memories are easier to recall when the emotional content of the memory matches the mood at recall.

Question 39

False-memory syndrome

Answer 39

The fact that false memories can be printed into our minds and occur with about as much detail as real memories.

Question 40

Power law of forgetting

Answer 40

Memory loss is negatively accelerated. But forgetting is diminishing with delay. At first, we forget really rapidly, but over time we forget less and less. This follows a power function, therefore "Power law of forgetting"

Question 41

Priming

Answer 41

Enhancement of the processing of a stimulus because of a prior exposure to it

Question 42

Procedural knowledge

Answer 42

Important type of implicit memory. The knowledge of how to perform a task such as riding a bike. Most of us have learned to ride a bike but, if asked, would have little ability to say explicitly what it is we have learned. Contrast with explicit memory.

Question 43

State-dependent learning

Answer 43

The principle that it is easier to recall information when one is in the same emotional and physical state as when one learned the information

Question 44

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 44

Loss of memory for events that occurred before an injury

Question 45

Visual-report experiment by Sperling 1960

Answer 45

Participants were presented with arrays of 3 rows of 4 letters for a brief moment, Whole-report procedure: -Participants are asked to report all the items of a display. Often 4-5 correct out of 12 (~ a third of the items). -Partial-report procedure (this experiment): -Participants are cued with tone to report only one row (high tone was used as a cue for top row) participants were able to correctly recall all 4 letters most of the time thus Sperling argued that they must have had most or all of the items stored in some sort of short-term visual memory (because they did not know which row before and therefore must have stored all the numbers prior attending to just one row) Suggests that visual sensory memory decays very rapidly (1s) because delaying the tone beyond this point caused participants to only remember one letter.

Question 46

word lenght effect by Vallar & Baddeley, 1982

Answer 46

Participants asked to recall words with one to five syllables. On average participants recalled 4.5 out of 5 one- syllable words but only 2.6 out of 5 of five-syllable words suggesting that reading rate corresponds to recall (more short words than long words can be rehearsed in the same time).