Unit 2 Flashcards
(55 cards)
What does Sensory memory mean?
the ability to perceive and remember extremely brief visual stimuli
How do we respond to persistent/permanent vs. transient/fleeting objects?
with the same level of adaptation and efficiency to both persistent (permanent) and transient (fleeting) objects
What happens when a sequence of static images is shown rapidly with blank intervals?
we perceive it as a continous moving image
-> perceptual system stores visual information long enough to bridge the gap between the static images, integrating each one with the next, very slightly different image
What does the iconig memory contain?
no letters or digits but patterns of light waiting to be analyzed
is visual sensory memory a unitary system?
no
Which 2 phenomena with very different properties does sensory memory include?
- visible persistance
- iconic memory
What is visual persistence?
visual stimuli remains visible for some time after their physical disappearance, but information about their characteristics also persist
What does informative persistence allows us to do?
to extract information after a short period of time in the same way that we extract it when the stimulus is physically present
What is the term sensory memory applied to?
the brief storage of information within a specific modality
What is iconic memory?
the brief storage of visual information
-> Information stores that preserve input beyond the very existence of the generating stimulus
What is echoic memory?
the brief storage of auditory information
-> Information stores that preserve input beyond the very existence of the generating stimulus
What did Sir William Hamilton (XIX century) found when a handful of balls are thrown on a flat surface?
not easy to see at a glance more than six or seven
-> estimate correct until it reached more or less eight or nine
What specific machine did James Mckeen Cattell (1883) use?
Tachistoscope
What is the technique of the total report?
asking subject to report ALL items they remember (after presenting sets of letters or words)
What were James Mckeen Cattell’s (1883) results of the total report technique after being presented with sets of letters or words?
- when stimulus contained up to four items: no mistakes
- when number increased: errors begun to appear (correct average between four and five items)
What do we call the amount of information correctly identified and remembered after a brief visual position?
apprehension amplitude
Which are the two fundamental problems in retrieving sensory motor presentation according to Sperling (1960)?
- after a brief visual presentation every observer sees more information than they can say next
- observer’s report contains only the information recalled, not all that he has seen
What are Sperling’s (1960) 2 reasons for the subjects insistence that one sees more than is remembered?
- A limitation of memory
- Subjects have more information available about the stimulus presented than they can provide
What did Sperling (1960) confirm about the average apprehension amplitude of the subjects in a total reporting task?
was around 4.5 letters
-> memory problem, NOT perception problem
What is a partial report task?
participants have to report only part of presented stimulus
What were the results of Sperling’s Partial report task?
depending on the delay condition:
- 0ms: average of 9.1 letters (76%) remembered, twice as large as the immediate memory aplitude 4.5 letters
- 500ms: average of 9.1 letters (76%)
- 600ms: average of 4.6 letters (38%)
Sperlin - Partial report task - Conclusions
What is the main function of sensory memory stores according to Ruiz-Vargas (1980)?
To extend the life of stimuli beyond the duration of the physical stimulus.
Sperlin - Partial report task - Conclusions
How long does visual information remain available in sensory memory?
Around 500 ms for visual mode, with the amount decaying as a function of signal delay.