Memory Flashcards
(45 cards)
Sensory memory- ionic
Visual
Sensory memory- echoic
Auditory
Digit span
Capacity of short term memory (7 +/- 2 items)
Short term memory
- Limited capacity (digit span)
- Takes in from sensory and long-term memories
- Persists as long as it is rehearsed (rehearsal determines what stays
Chunking
- Breaking down long strings of information into smaller, more manageable chunks
- Increases effective capacity of short term memory
Long term memory
- Fed by short term memory
- Virtually unlimited in capacity and duration
- Getting into LTM takes effort
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
- All part of memory process
Encoding: process used to store information in memory
Storage: process used to maintain information in memory
Retrieval: process used to get information back out of memory
Recall vs. recognition tasks
Recall: you have to generate an answer
Recognition: you don’t need to generate an answer
Free recall
“Recall all the words you can from the list you just saw”
Serial recall
“Recall the names of all previous presidents in the order they were elected” (need to recall order as well as items)
Cued recall
Give participants some clue to trigger recall
Implicit vs. explicit memory tasks
Explicit: involves conscious recollection (participant knows they are trying to retrieve information from their memory)
Implicit
Bahrick’s rules of very long term memory (permastore)
- High school yearbooks contained all names and photos of students was used to assess memory
- ~400 ex-high school students took four memory tests (free name recall, photo and name recognition, and name and photo matching)
- most accurate in face and name recognition after 34 years and up to 48 years
Levels of processing theory (deep vs. shallow processing)
Deep: encoding information based on meaning or associations with other knowledge
Shallow: encoding based on sensory characteristics (appearance or sound)
Morris study
Two processing tasks: semantic vs. rhyme
Semantic: “the (train/apple) had a silver engine”- standard recognition test
Rhyming: “(eagle/chair) rhymes with legal”- rhyme recognition test
*Memory performance also depends on the match between encoding processes and type of test
Serial position effect
Tendency to remember the first and last names in a series better than those in the middle
Primary vs. recency effects
Primary: we tend to remember the first items in a series better
Recency effect: we tend to remember the last names in a series better
Working memory
The system(s) involved in the TEMPORARY storage of information for cognitive skills (reading, comprehension, learning)
- central executive: focuses attention on relevant items, plans sequence of tasks, supervises attention, plans/coordinates, monitors mental activity
- phonological loop: maintains auditory and verbal information for short time (language or music info)
- visuospatial sketchpad: dual-task paradigm, temporarily stores info on how things look and allows us to manipulate images in our mind
Brooks interference study
One group saw block diagram of letter, memorized it, asked to mentally travel letter and indicate if the corner was on the extreme top or bottom
Second group saw a sentence, memorized it, and were asked to classify each word as a noun verbally
- Participants were much better at the task when they could verbally indicate the type of corner than when they had to point
Mnemonist
Using patterns, ideas, or associations to assist in remembering something (All Cows Eat Grass)
Sensory synthesia
People have unusual, and usually involuntary associations between different sensory experiences
Different types of synesthesia depending on the combination of senses/representation
Days, numbers, and months of the year evoke different personalities
Letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored
Penny example: failures of memory
We cannot remember what we fail to encode
- Use pennies all the time but have never encoded the exact format of one
Ebbinghaus forgetting curve
more recent you learn something, the more retention/recall ability; less recent, less retention/recall ability
Savings Method (Relearning)
Way of measuring retention by measuring how much faster one relearns material that has been previously relearned and forgotten
