Memory

Question 1

what role does memory play in our day-to-day lives

Answer 1

two cases:
* Case of “S”
* Case of Clive Wearing

Question 2

modal model of memory

Answer 2

the overarching model

• sensory memory and short term memory stem from this model
• transferring information from short term to long term memories

Question 3

Case of “S”

Answer 3

• could perfectly recall all types of info in any order
• no capacity or duration limits
• didn’t have to study info to reproduce it
• couldn’t explain why he could remember

Question 4

consequences of really good memory

Answer 4

Hard time generalizing
* faces - so changeable depending on lighting
* every encounter with someone was like a brand new one

could remember detail so well that he had problems with overarching ideas or commonalities

struck people as dumb because got too caught up in remembering details so hard to follow stories

Question 5

Case of “S” - how

Answer 5

For S, sounds were visual images
* remembered details by creating images

Synesthesia: stimulation of one sense leads to impression of another sense
* combo of senses that wouldn’t usually go together

Question 6

“S” and Synesthesia

Answer 6

Synesthesia allowed him to have greater memory for detail – allowed for stronger memory cues

couldn’t read newspaper in morning bc taste of the word would interfere with his food

Question 7

Case of Clive Wearing

Answer 7

Amnesia

• everytime he sees his wife, it’s as if it’s the first time in years
• he was only every conscious in the moment

Question 8

memory

Answer 8

information that persists in your brain for some amount of time

different roles of memory in turning sensory signals into meaning
* modal model of memory

Question 9

process of the modal model of memory

Answer 9

• variation from information processing theory
• input: impression left on senses, travels to brain
• the snapshot of the senses = sensory memory
• short term memory are active memories
• long term memories are stored and from older accounts

Question 10

short term vs long term memory

Answer 10

short term: what you’re currently thinking about

working memory: actively manipulating information
* slightly longer than STM
* more specific way of what you’re processing in the moment

attention and working memory argued to be the same

Question 11

Cons of modal model of memory

Answer 11

it is a way to divide the continuum to then be able to talk and research about what’s going on

but it doesn’t mean that in different parts of the brain, you have different memory

Question 12

Correct modal model of memory

Answer 12

sensory memory leads to working (short term memory) through attention

Working (STM) leads to long-term memory through rehearsal

Long-term memory uses retrieval to access working (short-term memory)

Question 13

sensory memory

Answer 13

each sense modality has its own memory system

has echoic (auditory) and iconic (visual) memories

recency effect: ability to replay the last sound you heard

research priorities: to figure out capacity and how long they last

Question 14

how much does sensory memory hold?

Answer 14

you forget sensory memory quickly

hard to get an initial impression on what initial sensory memory can hold

Question 15

Measuring sensory memory

Answer 15

Sperling Task
* studying iconic memory
* presented set of number and letters briefly
* whole report: try to recall as many as possible
* people have impression that letters are fading as they say the items

second condition
* partial report
* recalling just one row
* cue given after array goes away

Question 16

Sperling Task results

Answer 16

Whole report: subject reported only 4 of the letters

Partial report: subjects could report items from any row

so…because you could report 3 items from each row, the iconic memory capacity was measured as 9 items

so…trying to report less items results in remembering more items

Question 17

iconic memory

Answer 17

visual memory

Capacity: at least 9 items

Iconic memory capacity could be much bigger if you remember the items faster

if the cue is delayed by 1 second, partial report advantage disappears and results are same as showing whole report

iconic info goes away quickly and lasts for about a second

Question 18

what info does iconic memory store

Answer 18

Representation = visual properties of the stimulus

leaves an impression in senses that then has to be processed into STM

similar to pattern recognition (selective attention filter)

Question 19

summary of iconic memory

Answer 19

capacity: about 9 items

duration: about 1 second

representation: visual properties

Question 20

echoic memory

Answer 20

hearing’s sensory memory
* has a temporal aspect
* capacity and duration overlap

capacity: “largish”
duration: 1-2 seconds
* example: understanding question afterwards

representation = phonetic code

First words remembered more bc presented first

last words get remebered more too

Question 21

Primary & Recency effect of echoic memory

Answer 21

primary effect
* first words get remembered more

recency effect
* more recently heard words are remembered more

Question 22

Downfalls of Echoic memory

Answer 22

If you hear the list of words and then presented with words like “go” or “okay write this down” it decreases recency effect

people use echoic memory as a source for the first couple items in recall

Question 23

short term memory

Answer 23

info that you are currently thinking about
* input and storage of information
* rehearsal of information

capacity: can remember 7 +/- 2 items

duration: hard to estimate
* 10 seconds is enough to elminate the recency effectc

Question 24

capacity as time (STM)

Answer 24

word length effect: amount of information that can be vocalized in 2 seconds

how much info you can hold onto depends on what the features and characteristic are

you can find different capacities depending on the stuff you’re tested on

Question 25

word length effect

Answer 25

longer words take longer to say, so fewer can be held in STM

Question 26

representations in STM

Answer 26

some info in STM is stored in verbal form (acoustic or phonological) evidence for verbal codes * verbal items are hard to retain if they sound the same * verbal code idea didn't last very long if items presented visually, people recode the verbal stimulus into an acoustic code when reading * we can remember thigs without being able to put them into words like abstract pictures

Question 27

increasing STM capacity

Answer 27

chunck = a group of related items * chapters in books rehearsal works, but chunking increases STM capacity need meaningful units of information

Question 28

STM duration without rehearsal

Answer 28

how long is info maintained in STM without rehearsal? Brown-peterson task * gave people either 3 words or 3 letters * then have them count backwards by 3's from 3 digit numbers being presented with words to memorize and then counting backwords from a number stops rehearsal

Question 29

Brown-peterson results and conclusions

Answer 29

(STM duration without rehearsal) more interruption = greater drop in performance Interrupting rehearsal results in decay conclusions * forgetting occurs from decay * your memory starts to decay and then it is gone completely

Question 30

interference

Answer 30

when presenting list of words, similar items start interfering with remembering (fruits) * harder to remember specific things from the category would remember words from another category bc the fruit category not interfering with it * no effect of decay bc there's a shift in category but people say that decay has nothing to do with it, its that the seperate category is easier to remember

Question 31

types of interference

Answer 31

matter of if the new or old information is being interferred with * information that interferes can enter memory before or after the target Proactive interference * target is the new phone number retroactive interference * target is the old number

Question 32

proactive interference

Answer 32

Proactive interference (pro=forward) occurs when you cannot learn a new task because of an old task that had been learnt. When what we already know interferes with what we are currently learning – where old memories disrupt new memories.

Question 33

Retroactive interference

Answer 33

Retroactive interference (retro=backward) occurs when you forget a previously learnt task due to the learning of a new task. In other words, later learning interferes with earlier learning – where new memories disrupt old memories.

Question 34

Brown-Peterson and Interference

Answer 34

Proactive interference (old info gets in the way of new info) * builds up due to repeated presentation of fruit words How do you test this? * control group: keep same topic right through experiment * experimental group: change the topic after the first topic has been repeated

Question 35

release from proactive interference

Answer 35

decay function in control group when a new category comes in the release from proactive interference because its in a different category so the previous categories have no interfering effect on the last category

Question 36

STM duration summary

Answer 36

without rehearsal, STM duration is about 20 seconds lose information in STM due to * decay * interference

Question 37

STM vs Working memory

Answer 37

STM (as a concept is too limited) * only input and storage * did not take onto account the ability to coordinate and manipulate info working memory model is a broader concept * involves both the storage and manipulation of information working memory * what you're thinking of now but with manipulation of info STM: stored unit for info you are currently working on and processed recently like making a sandwhich

Question 38

working memory components

Answer 38

four components 1. visuo-spatial sketch pad: imagery and other visual/spatial processes 2. central executive: control and decision processes 3. phonological loop: rehearsal and articulatory processes 4. episodic buffer: allows for different types of modalities for the same representation * it can bind info and create a memory based on the current experience

Question 39

working memory and Modal Model

Answer 39

working memory manipulates info and is an extension of the modal model

Question 40

Central executive

Answer 40

* the manager * sets goals and priorities * assesses the attentional needs of subsystems * when there are two tasks, executive controls how much resources is given to each -- knows how to allocate resources

Question 41

central executive (area)

Answer 41

frontal lobe damage in adults leads to slower ability for executive control to switch or just doesn't switch at all last area of brain to develop children show similar pattern

Question 42

the phonological loop

Answer 42

recycles verbal material * subconsciously you are always repeating verbal information two subcomponents * phonological store: passive retention * articulatory loop: active rehearsal to keep verbal info available

Question 43

phonological loop: articulatory suppression

Answer 43

* method to inhibit subvocal rehearsal of items difficult to retain words while also articulating something else articulatory suppression task aims to prevent the individual from rehearsing items sub vocally without this suppression, memory about word lists would be better some believe that vocal cords are vibrating at low levels as you are engaged in the suppression

Question 44

phonological loop: phonological similarity

Answer 44

harder to remember words that sound similar than words that don't easier to mix up similar sounding words bc you are reheasing them as a phonological code phonological similarity extends to nonverbal language

Question 45

phonological loop: word length effect

Answer 45

phonological loop has a maximal duration when you occupy it with more syllables, you occupy it more than you would with shorter words different explanation than STM * STM: longer words don't need as much rehearsing * Phonological loop: there's a cap and you exceed this cap with longer words

Question 46

the visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 46

* manipulate visual and spatial information * mental rotation * imagery and spatial calculations - what something looks like vs where it is in the world - you can find individual differences that these things are independent some people have no internal visual memory but they can still do the spatial aspect and understand where things are the sketchpad is where u can manipualte visual and spatial information

Question 47

episodic buffer

Answer 47

proposed in response to problems with working memory episodic buffer can hold the binding of the phonological loop and the sketchpad

Question 48

episodic buffer: the binding problem

Answer 48

information that is processed independently by separate cognitive processes must be bound together because our experiences of the world and our memory of it is coherent people can also retrive information about an episode when give part of it * example: given a spatial cue, state what object was stored there

Question 49

working memory span

Answer 49

your ability to remember one set of things while processing others reading a sentence and then shown another to read which prevents from rehearsing the last word continued involvement of the reading task prevents you from rehearsing the words if you can hold the info while you are doing a task that is interrupting the rehearsal process, this reflects how much store you have left to be able to hang onto this info while reading the words

Question 50

predictions from WM

Answer 50

* processing visual and verbal stimuli should not interfere with each other * easy tasks handled by each sub-system will not hinder central executive * difficult tasks overwhelm sub-systems and borrow processing resources from central executive -- results in a slowdown in processing overall * 2 seperate buckets for visual and verbal information

Question 51

evidence for working memory

Answer 51

dual task experiment * primary task: detecting a change between two presentations of either (a 2x2 array of numbers as a visual task) or (four letters presented verbally for the verbal task) * secondary task: verbal task involving array of letters or arithmetic task matching a primary verbal task with a secondary verbal task is bad bc it overwhelms the system have to match primary verbal with a secondary visual task and this is good for high working memory

Question 52

aging

Answer 52

evidence of working memory begins at age 3 working memory peaks just after adolescence in older adults, memory maintenance and the ability to switch between tasks declines * sustained attention does not decline attention peaks and plateaus memory peaks and declines

Question 53

can you train to improve working memory

Answer 53

No brain training games don't help bc u just get better at the game itself *luminosity was sued for deceptive advertising bc it does not actually prevent dementia intellectually challenging cognitive tasks seem to have a protective effect * learning a new language * learning to read music * learning to play a new musical instrument but those studies are largely correlational

Question 54

phonological loop (2 components)

Answer 54

phonological store: has a limited capacity and holds information for only a few seconds Articulatory rehearsal process: responsible for rehearsal that can keep items in the phonoligcal store from decaying using this loop when trying to remember phone number or person's name, or to understand what you cognitive psychology professor is talking about

Question 55

effect of damage to the prefrontal cortex

Answer 55

changes in personality * low impulse control, poor ability to plan, poor social skills frontal lobes: personality and planning Frontal lobe damage: problems controlling attention important for central executive PFC is important for holding info for brief periods of time