Memory Flashcards

Question

What is incidental learning procedure?

Answer 1

When you don't know that you will have to recall the words so you don't focus on memorising them.

Answer 2

Simply reacting the information over and over.

Answer 3

Involves elaboration of the material, e.g. Weaving into a story. Involves thinking about the meaning of the material so processed deeper.

Answer 4

Participants were presented with a list of 60 words about which they had to answer one of three questions. The qs were asked out loud whilst they saw the words on the projector. They had to write down yes or no. After, they were given a recognition test where they were presented with 180 words and had to tick the ones that they had been asked qs on. The findings confirmed their ideas about LOP. Approx 17% of words in appearance condition were recalled, 37% in rhyming condition and 65% in the meaning condition. Shows that the qs asked about meaning of the word were processed deeply where as the qs about the appearance were processed shallowly.

Answer 5

❌ the theory emphasises the importance of the process rather than the structure and now what you do during learning effects memory so it's not very comprehensive. ❌ it's impossible to measure the depth of processing therefore a lot of the evidence is based on assumptions because it could just be that it takes more time to process info by meaning rather than because info is processed more deeply. ✅ it explains why significant and meaningful events can be readily remembered such as flashbulb memories because they are processed at a deeper level which leads to increased recall.

Answer 6

The controller - coordinates the memory system and allocates resources to the other 2 systems.

Answer 7

The sound system - processes sound based info.

Answer 8

The inner eye - we can image and manipulate visual and spatial info.

Answer 9

The inner voice - limited capacity verbal rehearsal component, which is used to prepare speech and to think in words

Answer 10

The inner ear - limited capacity auditory rehearsal system which receives sound info from the environment

Answer 11

Wanted to investigate the phonological loop in working memory. Participants had to either memorise a series of letters or to rehearse the sounds of the letters in their heads. The blood flow in their brains were also monitored at the same time using a PET scanner. The sound rehearsal produced increased blood flow in BROCAS area while the letter-memory task was associated with another part. It appears that the phonological loop has two components, one which stores sounds (primary acoustic store) and one which involves mental rehearsal (articulatory loop)

Answer 12

❌ the empirical evidence for the model is based on lab experiments, so lacks ecological validity. ❌ we know little about the most central part of the model; the central executive. The model does not explain its role, or have evidence of it. ✅ it's a much more flexible model than the multistore model and sees memory as active, rather than passive as it considers how we use STM in everyday life. ✅ it explains the problems that brain damaged people suffer from; I.e. If only the phonological loop is damaged, visual tasks would remain possible.

Answer 13

Encoding, storage and retrieval

Answer 14

It's the LTM for events or episodes which we've experienced ourselves or from someone else. Such memories are usually linked in our memory to a particular time and place. E.g. Remembering the events of our first day at school.

Answer 15

It's the LTM for information about the world or world knowledge. This includes general knowledge and meaning of words. Such memories can be used without reference to when and where the info was learnt. E.g. Knowing that grass is green.

Answer 16

Is a motor or action-based memory. E.g. The memory of how to ride a bike. It cannot be consciously inspected and is non-declarative, meaning it's very difficult to put into words. Usually remembered as 'knowing how' memory.

Answer 17

Wanted to see if semantic and episodic were separate memory systems located in diff areas of the brain. He was his own participant. He had quantities of radioactive gold injected into his bloodstream and thought about semantic and episodic memories. Scanners monitored blood flow in the brain. 2 memory tasks showed distinct patterns of blood flow in the brain. Episodic involved increased blood flow in front of brain. Semantic involved increased blood flow in back of brain. Supported the view that episodic and semantic memory are located in diff areas of the brain.

Answer 18

Unless information is rehearsed, the trace connections between neurons (which make a memory permanent) are not sufficiently fixed and fade away

Answer 19

Peterson and Peterson - as the intervals got longer they couldn't remember the number as well.

Answer 20

❌ we know that we do recall things after we haven't thought about them for a long time as we can remember how to ride a bike without practising. ❌ many old people can recall incidents from their youth in great detail. Unless they have recalled the instance many times throughout their lives, the trace should have decayed according to the theory. ❌ it fails to explain WHY we forget things that we have no used; there is no evidence to support memory traces fading, so it's difficult to test why it happens. ✅ it does have good applications to real life; such as a possible explanation for re-learning. It's as though going over something previously learnt just once can strengthen an existing trace, e.g. Calculating formulas on excel.

Answer 21

Proactive - the effect of interference in the short term memory. Retroactive - the effect of interference in the long term memory.

Answer 22

2 cockroaches learnt a maze. One gets put to bed comfy in a matchbox with cotton wool whilst the other is left to roam all night. The one that was put to bed remembered the maze better than the one who was left to roam as there was no interference. Interference affects learning and memory.

Answer 23

That interference in the STM will prevent memories from being laid down in the LTM and so will cause forgetting.

Answer 24

Previous learning makes it difficult to retain new info

Answer 25

When newly learnt info makes it difficult to recall old memories.

Answer 26

✅ there is a lot of evidence that backs up the idea that interference causes certain types of forgetting. ✅ it's a credible theory because it's backed up by our own everyday experience. E.g. Windscreen wipers going backwards. ❌ it's hard to be specific that interference has happened and not trace decay or displacement which can also explain some of the findings. ❌ most of the strongest evidence is provided by lab experiments which lacks ecological validity and may therefore not truly explain the nature of memory in real life.

Answer 27

Info in the LTM isn't always accessible when required so at this point it is forgotten. We have cues and context to try and help us to remember and retrieve the info and memories.

Answer 28

There were 2 groups. They heard 40 unrelated words either on the beach or 10ft under water. Then they had to recall the words either in the same environment as remembered or the alternative one. They found that more words were recalled if they were in the same environment to remember and recall. Recall=10% better when both underwater and 15% when both on dry land. This study demonstrates that recall performance is best when the environmental context for learning and recall are the same.

Answer 29

✅ baddeley - no doubt of importance of cues in retrieval. ✅ lots of application to real life. ✅ realism - context of dependent recall demonstrated many times (imagining, sights and smells) ✅ consistent with LOP. Deep processing involves making links with what we know. ❌ G and B study only used free recall not recognition. ❌ some studies lack EV. ❌ Procedural memories are not explained by retrieval failure; most procedural memories, e.g. How to ride a bike, are not effected by retrieval cues so it doesn't explain all types of forgetting.

Answer 30

In the short term memory because of the limited capacity within this store.

Answer 31

Any new info which is added on top of this 5-9 will push out (or displace) an older piece of info.

Answer 32

He used the serial probe technique, where 16 digits are rapidly presented to participants who are then given one digit (the 'probe') and have to report the digit which followed. It was found that the nearer the end of the sequence the probe was presented, the higher the accuracy of the answer. This shows that the start of the list is displaced and near the end of the list the digits are in the STM.

Answer 33

✅ theory is consistent with Atkinson and shiffrins model of STM. ❌ As Atkinson and shiffrins description of STM gave way to the WMM, displacement theory because less popular. ❌ displacement is a fairly limited explanation of forgetting as it can only explain forgetting from STM. ❌ In studies involving an interference task, forgetting may be due to decay because of spare time between learning and recall, rather than being due to displacement. ❌ doesn't explain forgetting in STM. ❌ Shallice study could also be explained by decay or interference. ❌ studies which support this (Shallice and Murdock) lack EV.

Answer 34

``` When neurotransmitters (acetylcholine) either inhibit or stimulate the performance of neurons. Consolidation is the process of permanent change in the brain cells. ```

Answer 35

The investigate how the process of consolidation can be disrupted. The experimental group was given a drug which blocks acetylcholine. They had to learn a list of words, complete a distractor task for 60 secs and then recall the words. Performance was compared to a control group who didn't receive drug treatment. The control group could recall twice as many words as the experimental group. The findings show that consolidation squired the use of specific neurotransmitters and also that this process can be disrupted.

Answer 36

Stage 1: quickly - due to initial fixation of memory. | Stage 2: links established between new memory trace and existing memories.

Answer 37

Hebb proposed that groups of neurons were activated in response to info being transferred from our senses. These cell assemblies retained info long enough for a permanent memory to form. This can take up to 30 mins.

Answer 38

✅ consistent with what we know about the nervous system and how the brain processes info. ✅ links bio and psych approaches. ❌ HM ❌ no evidence about how long it takes to consolidate. ❌ most cases of forgetting in real life don't involve interference with drugs/blow to head - maybe lack of consolidation only occurs rarely in real life. ❌ lacks ecological validity - wouldn't learn lists of words normally, not real memories.

Answer 39

When we forget things because we want to.

Answer 40

See if people recall incidents of childhood abuse. 129 people who were abused between 10 months and 12 years. Interviewed age 18-31. Extended interview about sex history 38% failed to report the abuse that was documented by hospital. Only said they were abuse, not specific. Participants failed to recall specific incidence of abuse because these were repressed.

Answer 41

Failure to recall unpleasant or traumatic experiences. In serious cases people can forget who they are or where they come from. Sometimes they can change identity all together.

Answer 42

❌ theory can't be tested easily as you can't see it so can't measure it - unfalsifiable. ❌ in Williams study there may be other reasons why they didn't tell about abuse. ❌ findings of dissociative amnesia can't be generalised. ❌ we do recall unpleasant events. ❌ ethical issues - upsetting and causing harm. ❌ artificial - lacks ecological validity. ✅ people who have experienced upsetting events more likely to suffer disorders.

Memory Flashcards

(66 cards)