Memory Chapter 7 Psych E2

Amnesia after brain damage

-frontal lobe damage occurs as result of stroke, head trauma, or Korsakoff's syndrome

Storage

-Holding it for later use -filing it away

Memory for Traumatic events

-Sigmund Freud believed that it was possible to repress a painful memory, motivation or emotion, to move it from conscious to subconscious -research indicates it is possible to forget a traumatic event - depends on age, reaction of family, and type of event

Declarative Memory

-ability to state a fact, info, names, dates, faces -fact memory -stores why, how, when, where, what, who

Implicit/Indirect Memory

-any experience that influences us w/out our awareness -ability to remember info that u didn't deliberately try to learn -holds trivial facts, song lyrics, general nonsense that your brain files away while ur concentrating on something else

False Memory

-believes to be a memory but never actually occurred (may or may not be reliable) -evidence for forgetting & distortion. Use reason & logic to "fill in gaps"

Key to memory

-brain never loses anything -once a perception or thought is in place it stays in memory forever

Alzheimer's

-brain starts wearing down -nerve cell death in parts of brain for memory -discovered in 1906 by Dr. Alois Alzheimer. detected tangles & plaques in brain of woman -symptoms include: repeating questions, forgetting simple tasks, forgetting who you are & where you are

Savings (relearning) method

-compares the speed that new material is learned to the speed of relearning old material -time saved between the original learning and the relearning is a measure of memory

Dementia

-condition of slow decline in memory, problem solving, learning ability, and judgement

Episodic

-containing events and details of life history -autobio of thoughts & things that happened to us (ex: what you did on ur bday)

Semantic

-dealing with principles of knowledge -mental dictionary, stores meaning of words

Korsakoff Syndrome

-degenerative memory disorder caused by chronic alcoholism & vitamin deficiency -symptoms: amnesia, confabulation, lack of insight & apathy -treatment: vitamin B injections, hydration, proper nutrition

Retrograde amnesia

-disorder that results in loss of memory prior to injury. -could not remember many events that occurred between 1 & 3 years before surgery (retro = old)

Anterograde amnesia

-disorder that results in the loss of memory after injury -unable to store new memories

Sensory Memory

-first stage of memory processing -combination of memory & perception -lasts less than a second -registers perception of the moment "now"

Cued Recall

-gives significant hints about the correct answer

Chunking

-grouping info into units, making more info manageable to remember

Short term (working) memory

-if a friend asks what was just said in class, and u were paying attention, you could repeat it -limited capacity memory of info retained for 30 sec

Reconstruction Examples

-if your family all got sick after a meal, you'll remember that meal longer than usual -if u meet ur new love while at dinner, this will be memorable & easily reconstructed (may fill in missing details using other activities associated with dining out)

Forgetting

-inability to recall stored info or failure to store info -can begin in seconds unless rehearsal is permitted

Decay of short and long term memory

-long term memory may be vulnerable to the effects of interference -short term memory is vulnerable to passage of time

Interference

-memories block each other -learns several sets of related materials, retention of the old materials makes it harder to retain new, and vise versa

Mnemonic Devices

-memory aid that is based on encoding each item in a special way -short, verbal strategies that improve ability to remember new info -use mental pictures, form unusual associations -Use acronyms

Amnesia

-memory disorder caused by brain damager OR a traumatic event

Example of declarative & episodic

-memory of a recent piano lesson

Procedural Memory

-memory of how to do something -skills memory (ex: like writing, riding a bike)

Example of procedural

-memory of how to play the piano

example of semantic

-memory of how to read music

Explicit Memory

-memory that we are aware we are using -ability to retain info that you've put real effort into learning (ex: recalling describing a basic principle of classical conditioning to classmate)

Decline of memory

-most healthy people show little decline of memory in old age -common cause is Alzheimers -99% of cases are late onset -disease is marked by gradual build-up of harmful proteins and deteriorating brain cells

Capacities of short and long term memory

-most normal adults can immediately repeat a list of about 7 bits of info -can be expanded through techniques such as chunking

Retrieval

-recovering info from storage -finding it

Long term memory

-relatively permanent storage of meaningful info -birthdate, address, names of parents

Recognition

-requires the person being tested to identify the correct item from a list of choices -memory task where individual indicates whether presented info has been experienced previously

Recall

-simplest method for tester but most difficult for person being tested -info must be produced w/ little to no hint provided

Memory

-storage, retention and recall of events -process by which we store, save info

Herman Ebbinghause

-studied his own ability to memorize new material -invented over 2,300 nonsense syllables & put them in random lists

Meaningfulness & distinctiveness

-studies show meaningful materials are easier to remember -distinctive/unusual info is easier to retain

Von Restore effect

-tendency of people to remember unusual items better than more common items

Hindsight bias

-tendency to mold our recollection of the past to how events later turned out -We say "I knew that was going to happen!" after the event has occurred -Our memories are tailored as we reconstruct the event to fit that outcome

Encoding

-transfer of info into memory (put info in)

Reconstruction

-when remembering an event, you start with details you remember clearly, fill in gaps -construct a memory -based on surviving memories & expectations

Confabulation

-wild guessing mixed in with correct information in an effort to hide memory gaps -pre-frontal cortex damage -fills in gaps or reconstructs memory

Retrieval Cues

-young children depend on these provided by adults -reminders or hints that help us retrieve information from long-term memory

Fill in the blank test

Cued Recall Example

Multiple Choice Test

Example of Recognition

Difference between Free recall and Cued Recall

Free Recall is remembering the author of the book without hints of the Authors Initials. Cued recall includes seeing the hint of the authors initials.

Short answer test

Recall Example

Example of STM

You look up a phone number, remember it long enough to dial it

Example of LTM

You remember the house where you lived when you were 7

Example of Sensory Store

You see something for an instant and then recall a detail about it

Retroactive

learning new material makes it hard to recall old material

Flashbulb memory

long lasting deep memories in response to traumatic events

Decay

memory is subject to combined effects of time and interference

Repressed memory

memory of a traumatic event that is made unavailable for recall

Proactive Interference

retaining old material makes it hard to recall new material

Primacy Effect

tendency to remember the beginning of the list

Recency Effect

tendency to remember the items at the end of the list