8.1 Studying and Encoding Memories

how do people who develop expertise in an area process information?

they process the information in hierarchies composed of a few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts.

What is procedural memory?

type of implicit memory that stores information about how to do things

What is automatic processing?

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-earned information, such as word meanings.

How does sensory memory work?

Sensory memory feeds some information into working memory for active processing there. An iconic memory is a very brief (a few tenths of a second) sensory memory of visual stimuli; an echoic memory is a three- or four-second sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

What is our short-term memory capacity?

Short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two, but this information disappears from memory quickly without rehearsal. Our working memory capacity for active processing varies, depending on age, intelligence level, and other factors.

what is central executive?

Orchestrates the working memory process by shifting and dividing attention.

When Lisa earns a perfect score on a(n) _____ test in history, she passes a _____ test of memory.

essay; recall

A recall test is to a recognition test as _____ is to _____.

fill in the blank; multiple choice

Sensory memory may be visual ( _______________ memory) or auditory ( ___________ memory).

iconic; echoic

What is long term memory?

long - term memory - the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Including knowledge, skills, and experiences.

What do implicit memories include?

procedural memory for automatic skills and classically conditioned associations.

what did George Miller propose?

that we can store about seven pieces of information (give or take two) in short-term memory; magical number seven: recall about seven digits without distractions, remember six letters, and about five words (numbers vary by task)

A psychologist who asks you to write down as many objects as you can remember having seen a few minutes earlier is testing your _______.

recall

What are two basic functions of working memory?

1. Active processing of incoming visual and auditory information. 2. Focusing our spotlight of attention.

what was the three stage model proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin to explain our memory-forming process?

1. We first record-to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory 2. From there, we process information into short term memory, where we are encode it through rehearsal 3. finally, information moves into long term memory for later retrieval.

How do explicit and implicit memories differ?

Through parallel processing, the human brain processes many things simultaneously, on dual tracks. Explicit (declarative) memories - our conscious memories of facts and experiences - form through effortful processing, which requires conscious effort and attention. Implicit (non declarative) memories - of skills and classically conditioned associations - happens without our awareness, through automatic possessing.

Julaine and Trystan are taking a political science midterm. The test covers five chapters. Yesterday, Julaine studied all five chapters in an 8-hour marathon session. Trystan studied the material over a 5-day period, for just over 90 minutes each day. All else being equal, which student is likely to perform best on the test, and why?

Trystan because spaced out practice is better than massed practice

What is echoic memory?

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 second.

What is iconic memory and how long does it last?

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second; few tenths of a second

What is working memory?

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

what is connectionism?

an information-processing model that views memories as products of interconnected neural networks

Amelia remarks that she needs to learn the textbook's section on the structures of the brain for an upcoming test. Brian responds that he could not remember the function of the hippocampus on a test the preceding day. Amelia is making reference to the memory process called _____. Brian is referring to the memory process called _____.

encoding; retrieval

The psychological terms for taking in information, retaining it, and later getting it back out are ___________, __________ , and __________ .

encoding; storage; retrieval

What is the testing effect?

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information; also referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhancing learning

Katrina studied the Russian language in high school. Although she was not fluent, she did accumulate a large vocabulary. Years later she decided to go to Russia, so she wanted to brush up on her vocabulary. She picked up the vocabulary much more quickly because:

it is easier to relearn; that is, to learn the material for a second time.

Multiple-choice questions test our ________ . Fill-in-the-blank questions test our _________ .

recognition; recall

Hermann Ebbinghaus found that the more times he practiced the nonsense syllables on Day 1, the fewer repetitions he needed to relearn the information on Day 2 because he had increased his _____ time.

rehearsal

Randy agreed to join a biology study group. When the study group leader gave him her phone number, he had nothing on which to record the number. So Randy repeated the number to himself several times until he found a pen to write the number on his hand. The process Randy used to encode the number into longer-term memory is called _____.

rehearsal

Tarik has a chemistry test in two days. He has to memorize the elements on the periodic table, so he writes them on index cards. He keeps the cards with him at all times and frequently reads through them. Tarik is using _____ to encode information in short-term memory for longer-term storage.

rehearsal

Cori studied French in high school but has not heard or spoken French in years. Her friend introduces her to someone from France. He begins speaking French and Cori cannot understand a word. A week later after studying, she understands and can respond correctly. Cori was able to improve so rapidly due to:

relearning

What are the levels of processing, and how do they affect encoding?

shallow processing, we encode words based on their structure or appearance. Deep processing encodes words based on their meaning. We also more easily remember material that is personally meaningful ( the self-reference effect)

Millie has been having difficulties remembering what people have just said. She is unable to follow along during her favorite television shows. Millie is having difficulty with her _____ memory.

short-term

To make a long-distance call, Betty has to dial an unfamiliar phone number. She is likely to have trouble retaining the number she just looked up. This BEST illustrates the limited capacity of _____ memory.

short-term

What is short term memory?

short-term memory - activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten.

how did alan baddeley and others extend Atkinson and Shiffrin's initial view of short-term memory?

short-term memory as a space for briefly storing recent thoughts and experiences. To emphasize the active processing that takes place in this middle stage, psychologists use the term working memory.

without conscious effort you automatically process information about:

space - while studying, you often encode the place where certain material appears; later, when you want to retrieve the information, you may visualize its location. time - while going about your day, you unintentionally note the sequence of its events. Later, realizing you've left you phone somewhere, the event sequence your brain automatically encoded will enable you to retrace your steps. frequency - you effortlessly keep track of how many times things happen

Which strategies are better for long-term retention: cramming and rereading material, or spreading out learning over time and repeatedly testing yourself?

spreading out learning over time and repeatedly testing yourself

What is the self-reference effect?

we recall information best when we can put it into the context of our own lives. (type of semantic encoding)

As Trent reads a textbook, he actively integrates sentences with the memory representation of earlier sentences that he is maintaining in memory. Trent's active processing is taking place in _____ memory.

working

What is the information processing theory?

An executive control structure with stages of increasing complexity.

What information do we process automatically?

In addition to skills and classically conditioned associations, we automatically process incidental information about space, time, and frequency.

What is memory, and how is it measured?

Memory is learning that has persisted over time, through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. Evidence of memory may be recalling information, recognizing it, or relearning it more easily on a later attempt.

What is relearning?

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again

What is the difference between automatic and effortful processing, and what are some examples of each?

automatic - occurs unconsciously like reading and comprehending words in our own language effortful - effortful can be come automatic; requires attentive awareness and happens when were work hard to learn new material

every time you learn something new:

brain's neural connections change, forming and strengthening pathways that allow you to interact with and learn from your constantly changing environment.

When one is picturing a chart in a textbook and thinking about what a professor discussed about the topic in class, one is utilizing the _____ aspect of working memory.

central executive

Dora found the serial number of the used car she wanted to purchase online. To remember the 11-digit number, 19801776317, she thought of the number as the year she was born (1980), the date of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the area code of her home phone (317). Dora was using the strategy of _____ to help her remember the car's serial number.

chunking

What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remember new information?

chunking, mneumonics, hierarchies and the spacing effect. the testing effect is the finding that consciously retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information enhances memory.

What is overlearning?

continuation of practice beyond the amount needed to achieve a certain performance criterion

How does Alzheimer's disease begins?

difficulty remembering new information, progressing to an inability to do everyday task. Complex speech become simple sentences; family members become strangers; the brain's memory centers become weak and wither away.

From another room, Amanda called out to Juan to ask where he had put the car keys. At first, Juan thought he had not heard what Amanda had asked. A second later, the question registered in his mind and he answered, "On the bedroom dresser." A specific type of sensory memory called _____ memory can explain this phenomenon.

echoic

Jamal's brother often pretends to listen to what Jamal is saying when his brother is really focused elsewhere. When Jamal asks him, "What did I just say?" his brother can sometimes repeat Jamal's last few words. This MOST likely reflects his _____ memory.

echoic

As opposed to automatic processing, _____ refers to encoding that requires attention and conscious work.

effortful

Although one might wish that studying occurred automatically, successful studying, unfortunately, requires the attention and conscious work known as:

effortful processing.

To get information into one's brain is to:

encode

to remember any event, we must:

encode - get information into our brain storage - retain that information retrieval - later get the information back out

What is shallow processing?

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

What is deep processing?

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

Mr. Nydam suffers amnesia and is unable to remember playing golf on a particular course. However, the longer he plays the course, the more his game improves. His experience illustrates the difference in:

explicit memory and implicit memory.

Given the research on _____, it is likely that many mammalian species can differentiate animals by their facial characteristics.

facial recognition

Professor Wallace studies memory in people who have had strokes. Professor Hansen studies people who claim to have clear memories of events that happened over three decades ago. Such research on the extremes of memory:

helps one to understand how memory works

what does the "two-track mind" do for us?

helps us encode, retain, and recall information through both effortful and automatic tracks.

Two-year-old Jackson's older brother popped a balloon in his face. This caused Jackson to become afraid when he next saw his brother with a balloon. This classically conditioned fear of the balloon is an example of a(n) _____ memory.

implicit

what is the effect of massed practice?

it can produce speedy short-term memory and a feeling of confidence, but also forget quickly.

If you try to make the material you are learning personally meaningful, are you processing at a shallow or a deep level? Which level leads to greater retention?

making material personally meaningful involves processing at a deep level, because you are processing semantically. Deep processing leads to greater retention.

Walking past a classroom's open door, Michael overhears an instructor say, "In the next unit, we will explore how information is acquired, stored, and retrieved for later use." Michael realizes that the next unit must be about:

memory

what is mnemonics?

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices;

Memory aids that use visual imagery or other organizational devices (such as acronyms) are called ___________.

mnemonics

Which of these will one MOST likely store as an implicit memory?

one's conditioned fear of guns

What is chunking?

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

what is disturbed practice?

practicing after certain period of time. there's a point where further study time becomes inefficient at that time.

What are implicit memories?

retention learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection (also called nondeclarative memory). Automatic processing produces implicit memories.

What are explicit memories?

retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and "declare". (also called declarative memory)

Gina adequately studied for her short-answer psychology exam. However, while taking the final she could not remember the material she previously retained. According to the computer information-processing model of memory, Gina is having difficulty with _____.

retrieval

While taking his statistics exam, Charles is trying to remember a statistical formula that he studied the night before. However, he cannot seem to recall the correct information. Charles is failing to _____ information from his long-term memory.

retrieve

Although Jordan cannot recall the exact words of a poem he heard recently, he clearly remembers the poem's meaning. This BEST illustrates the importance of:

semantic encoding

At which of Atkinson-Shiffrin's three memory stages would iconic and echoic memory occur?

sensory memory

What is sensory memory?

sensory memory - immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

After Maya gave her friend the password to a protected website, the friend was able to remember it only long enough to type it into the password box. In this instance, the password was clearly stored in her _____ memory.

short-term

Clarice presses the Ctrl and S keys on her keyboard to save a document. A file is then created on her computer's hard drive. Clarice's action is MOST analogous to the memory process of:

storage

How does the working memory concept update the classic Atkinson-Shiffrin three-stage information-processing model?

the newer idea of a working memory emphasizes the active processing that we now know takes place in Atkinson-Shiffrin's short-term memory stage. While the Atkinson-Shiffrin model view short-term memory as a temporary holding space, working memory plays a key role in processing new information and connecting it to previously stored information

what is memory?

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

What is parallel processing?

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions

What is the spacing effect?

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

what happens if new information is neither meaningful nor related to our experience?

we have trouble processing it.

Can effortful processing become automatic?

yes

The concept of working memory A. clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on the active processing that occurs in this stage. B. splits short-term memory into two substages—sensory memory and iconic memory. C. splits short-term memory into two types—implicit and explicit memory. D. clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on space, time, and frequency.

A. clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on the active processing that occurs in this stage

How do psychologists describe the human memory system?

Information processing models involve three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Brain processes many things simultaneously by parallel processing. Three processing stages in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Working memory stresses the active processing occurring in the second memory stage; and automatic processing, to address the processing of information outside of conscious awareness.

Joe is happy to hear that the test will be all multiple-choice questions as he feels he has a good chance to pass by using:

recognition

What is effortful processing?

encoding the requires attention and conscious effort. We encode explicit memories through effortful processing.

When Bill studies for an exam he reads the textbook, stops to think about the material, and then takes a practice exam. According to the information-processing model, Bill is actively:

encoding, storing, and retrieving.

what are the three retention measures?

recall - retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time. A fill-in-the-blank question tests your recall. recognition - identifying items previously learned. A multiple-choice question tests your recognition relearning - learning something more quickly when you learn it as second or later. When you study for a final exam or engage a language used in early childhood, you will relearn the material more easily than you did initially.

If you want to be sure to remember what you're learning for an upcoming test, would it be better to use recall or recognition to check your memory? Why?

recalling information is harder than recognizing it. If you can recall it, that means your retention of the material is better than if you could only recognize it.

If one has NOT studied well for a test, in which format is one likely to get a higher score?

recognition