Week 4 Memory

Question 1

memory is active anytime

Answer 1

some past experience has an effect on the way you think or behave now or in the future

Question 2

persistence of vision

Answer 2

Continued perception of a visual stimulus even after it is no longer present

Question 2

Sensory memory

Answer 2

brief persistance of an image

Important in the procedure for measuring how much information we can take in immediately, and how much of that information remains half a second late

Question 3

the modal model of memory proposes

Answer 3

turns sensory signals into meaning

3 types of memory
sensory
STM
LTM

as well as control processes like rehearsal

Question 4

conclusions of Sperling’s experiements

Answer 4

Short-lived sensory memory pretty much perceives everything, but the information decays within less than a second

Question 4

Sperling helped to measure

Answer 4

iconic memory capacity using whole report, partial report, and delayed partial report methods

Question 5

describe echoic memory

Answer 5

auditory memory that lasts a few seconds

Question 6

when rehearsal is prevented, what is the duration of STM

Answer 6

15-20seconds

Question 7

Millers Magic Number

Answer 7

7 +- 2 (number of digits a person can remember on average)

Question 8

change detection number/capacity

Answer 8

we on average can notice 4 changes in a scene

Question 9

change detection becomes harder when

Answer 9

the number of items exceeds STM capacity

Question 10

describe chunking as described by George Miller

Answer 10

A collection of elements that are strongly associated with one another but are weakly associated with elements in other chunks

Chunking in terms of meaning increases our ability to hold info in STM

Helps to deal with larger amounts of info in the limited-capacity STM

Question 11

Describe the case of ‘S’ who Luria studied

Answer 11

he had no capacity or duration limits to his memory and could recall all types of info in any order, but couldn’t explain how he did it

Question 12

the more complex the stimuli the ___ space in STM

Answer 12

less

Question 13

What did ‘S’ struggle with due to having such a good memory

Answer 13

difficulty with faces as they are changeable

too focused on details
- couldn’t get the gist or focus on the general/abstract ideas

people thought of him as dull and dim witted

Question 13

S was one of the first recorded cases of

Answer 13

synesthesia: stimulation in one sense leads to an impression in another sense

sounds were images to him - could make really good cues for memories as a result

Question 13

memory

Answer 13

information that persists in the brain

it is a distributed process (not boxes in the brain)

Question 14

Describe the Clive Wearing case

Answer 14

amnesia, 20-30 second memory

he is conscious of just being in the moment (so our memory is intimately linked with consciousness and experience of the world)

Question 14

does time play a role in memory?

Answer 14

yes, information present to you in the moment has the best shot of being retained, and this dwindles quickly with time

Question 15

what helps move information along the modal model of memory

Answer 15

sensory to STM is attention

STM to LTM is rehearsal

LTM to STM is retrieval

if processes are not done the information is forgotten

Question 15

why is it so hard to test sensory memory

Answer 15

the act of testing interferes with it

Question 16

capacity of iconic memory

Answer 16

at least 9 items, but argued to be underestimated even when using partial reports

Question 17

what does iconic memory represent

Answer 17

visual properties of the stimulus
- seeing lines and vertices

can then apply attention to recognize patterns and put it into primary memory/awareness

sensory memory = buffer, then we apply process to extract meaning

Question 17

duration for the partial report average of iconic memory

Answer 17

1 second

Question 18

capacity, duration and representation of echoic memory

Answer 18

capacity; large duration: 1-2 seconds (can 'replay' due to this buffer) representation: phonetic code

Question 19

what is the primacy effect vs the recency effect

Answer 19

primacy: more likely to remember stimuli (words) from the start as they have more time to be rehearsed recency effect: more likely to remember due to that you just listened to it

Question 20

recency effect is an effect of ___ memory

Answer 20

echoic

Question 21

the two types of interference

Answer 21

proactive (old to new) and retroactive (new to old)

Question 21

what is STM, its capacity and duration

Answer 21

the info you are currently thinking about capacity Millers # duration 10 secs

Question 22

what is the word length effect

Answer 22

longer words take longer to say, so fewer are remembered in STM longer the word, less time to rehearse

Question 23

evidence for verbal (acoustic) representation in STM

Answer 23

verbal items are harder to retain if they sound the same - when we read we encode those words/letters as sounds instead of visuals

Question 24

how can we increase capacity

Answer 24

chunking

Question 25

results of Brown-Peterson task

Answer 25

without rehearsal, memory lasts for 18 secs max forgetting occurs from decay when items are of similar categories, they are harder to remember (proactive interference builds up)

Question 26

loss of info (forgetting) from STM happens from

Answer 26

decay interference

Question 27

working memory

Answer 27

'limited capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning and reasoning - Active processes like understanding conversations manipulating info during complex cognition

Question 28

components of WM

Answer 28

phonological loop (recycling of verbal material) -phonological store (passive retention), articulatory loop (active rehearsal) central executive: coordinates the other two, makes everything work, attention controller visuospatial sketch pad: manipulation of visual and spatial info, mental rotation

Question 29

effects of the phonological loop

Answer 29

Phonological Similarity effect ○ The confusion of letters or words that sound similar Word Length Effect ○ Memory for lists of words is better for short words than long words ○ Pronunciation of 1.5-2 seconds for the items leads to good memory Articulatory Suppression ○ Discovered from observing what happens when the operation of the loop is disrupted ○ Prevention of rehearsal ○ The repetition of an irrelevant sound § Reduces memory because speaking interferes with rehearsal

Question 30

what was added to the WM model to explain storage to LTM and capacity/chunking

Answer 30

episodic buffer Can store information (providing extra capacity) connected to LTM (thereby making interchange between WM and LTM possible) binds info from components

Question 31

explain how neural networks can help with memory

Answer 31

neurons fire (activity state) and in their delay, the synaptic state/connections are strengthened, so we remember faster through that pathway

Question 32

low vs high capacity

Answer 32

refers to how many items you can have in WM

Question 33

frontal lobe damage in adults is similar to the brains of children in that

Answer 33

they are slow to switch ideas, and ideas perseverate

Question 34

problems the episodic buffer aimed to fix

Answer 34

articulatory suppression binding problem: we can recall things in a multimodal way -the main one

Question 35

with working memory, when would we expect interference

Answer 35

when one of the stores is overwhelmed by a complex task, so even a simple task in the other store is messed with or if multiple tasks in one store are happening

Question 36

in older folks, memory maintenance and ability to switch declines, but what does not

Answer 36

sustained attention