Cognition Exam 2

explain why it is beneficial to have multiple connections in memory

It is beneficial to have multiple connections in memory so we can take bits and pieces of our memories that connect together and make it a whole thought. Without these connections, it can be hard to relate one memory to another.

explain how emotions and self-relevant information influence memory

At a biological level, emotional events trigger a response in the amygdala that promotes consolidation. Consolidation is the process through which memories are "cemented" in a place through the creation of new or altered neural connections.

implicit memory tests

Indirect memory tests: look at how a second encounter yields different responses after the first. Priming indicates some sort of memory of the first encounter. When a word that was presented in the first set of words is presented for the second time, there was a faster reaction time.

compare and contrast the effects that time and interference have on forgetting

Memories weaken with time and can cause people to forget. Interference of newer learning may disrupt older memories and eventually can forget that memory.

explain how factors like previous knowledge and situational context influence parsing and speech perception

Previous knowledge and situational context influence parsing because we take what we know from other sentences or situations and apply it to the current situation we are in. Ex: "The detectives examined by the reporter revealed the truth about the robbery" detectives usually examine, evidence does not. Therefore we would read it how we would know it to be grammatically, and not the way it should really be read.

explain how propositional networks work and the evidence supporting them

Propositional networks are localist representations each node is equivalent to one concept.

Describe the components and organization of Baddeley and Hitch's working memory system including the central executive

The components of the working memory system are the central executive, articulatory rehearsal loop, and the visual spatial buffer. Working memory is an update to the modal model and is a dynamic form of short term memory, but is still fragile.

describe the misinformation effect and how it could lead to false memories both in the lab and for eyewitnesses

The misinformation effect is when the participants experience an event and are exposed to misleading info about how it is unfolded. On a later memory tests a substantial number of participants have incorporated the misleading info into their memory. An entire event can be implanted into memory and the person confidently recalls in detail an event that never took place.

describe the relationship between confidence and accuracy as it relates to memory

There is very little relationship between our confidence in our memories and their accuracy. Memories tend to weaken with time. Normally if someone is really confident about the event, odds are it is not very accurate and vice versa.

word superiority effect

people's response when asked whether "DARK" has an "E" or a "K" is faster when "E" or "K" is presented alone

firing rates within feature nets

recent firing results in higher starting activation level and frequency and repetition leads to higher recency

explain how an exemplar model could account for basic categorization evidence

the basic categorization is encountered more often so it is used more often than complex categorization. It makes it more flexible, but less economical.

illusion of familiarity

the computer display might be sharpened for a stimulus; unexpectedly fluent and interpreted as familiar

maintenance rehearsal

thinking about the material in a rote, mechanical way; repetition

elaborative rehearsal

thinking about the material in terms of meaning, relation the items to each other and what one already knows

describe the mechanical components of speech production

this includes the units and rules in a language that allow us to generate new units and new words. Sentences, words, morphemes, and phonemes.

Explain why the serial position curve supports the notion that working memory and long term memory are separate storage systems

this shows that for the recency effect, they are more likely to remember things that were stated last and they have a higher percentage of recall from their working memory because it is fresh in their minds. For the primacy effect, they are most likely to remember items listed in the beginning, but have a lower percentage chance of remembering them because they were stored into long term memory and it takes a little more time to retrieve it than it would if it was in working memory.

explicit memory tests

"false frame" study where participants were shown a list of fictitious names and were later shown a list of famous people and fictitious names. They were then asked to rate the fame of each person. Some of the fictitious names were rate as famous.

feature net diagram, bottom-up

-feature detectors -letter detectors -bigram detectors (explains why a letter should be recognized in the context of the word) -word detector

explain psychological factors that influence speech perception, including segmentation, coarticulation, phonemic restoration, and categorical perception

Under the topic of phonology is coarticulation or the blending of phonemes at word boundaries like, "My name is Noam Chomsky" & "My name is Dan Reisberg." Phonemic restoration is when we "hear" phonemes that are not actually present in the stimulus if they are highly likely in the context. Ex: We hear an (s) in legi*latures where the * represents a burst of noise.

explain how prototype theory, grade membership, might account for categorization

When in grade membership, they are less similar to the average. When they are less similar to the average, you tend to categorize the ones that are similar together.

processing fluency

an improvement in the speed or ease of processing that results from prior practice in using those same processing steps

prescriptive rules in language

are things like english class, things you should and shouldn't do in a language.

descriptive rules in language

are things like linguistics, describing what we see in the world.

errors with feature nets

arise from limits in the network's ability to deal with ambiguous inputs and to recover from errors -accuracy is sacrificed for efficiency -this kind of organization can lead to over-regulization

primacy effect

better memory for the first few items (long-term memory) memory rehearsal allows transfer from working memory to long term memory

recency effect

better memory for the last few items; last few items are not displaced by future items and are based on working memory

explicit memory

conscious memory (recall)

theoretical treatments of implicit memory

people may be influenced by memories that they are not aware of; they may have familiarity without episodic memory. You recognize that the stimulus is familiar by having no memory of the encounter that produced the familiarity.

Compare and contrast encoding specificity and context dependent learning and their influences on memory retrieval

encoding specificity refers to remembering something within a specific context. We learn material and also a record of the connections established during learning and it affects the meaning. Context dependent learning is dependent on the state one is in doing acquisition. Both of them are within specific contexts, but with encoding specificity we do not have to be in that context to remember.

Atkinson and Shiffrin's Modal Memory Model

experiments supporting the model (working/long term memory) -participants were presented with a long series of words and were asked to perform free-recall or serial recall afterwards

describe the important factors for language learning

for language learning, different children have very different learning experiences depending on their culture, family, and linguistic variation. Variation in exposure of language does not equal variation in learning. It follows the same course in all of the many languages and environments.

How could processing fluency explain implicit memory effects? How could this lead to an illusion of familiarity?

implicit memory involves processing fluency which is an improvement in the speed or ease of processing. This may underlie the feeling of familiarity for stimulus that we have previously encountered. Processing fluency effects also creates an illusion of familiarity because people are sensitive to degrees of processing fluency and what they have recently encountered.

Feature nets

is a neural network with input, activation level increases. They have receptive fields, fire above threshold, and are complex assemblies of neurons. they contain distributed knowledge

describe how sentence parsing allows you to figure out syntactic roles, and how that can lead to perception errors

is the processes of assigning words to a phrase structure in real time. This allows you to figure out how a sentence is gonna go. Since we do it as it goes along, we tend to sometimes have errors because we read it as first how we think it should go. As we discussed in class, the way we think it should be read, might not be grammatical, but is meaningful.

describe how previous knowledge can help memory, but can also lead to memory errors

memory connections link each bit of knowledge in memory to other bits of knowledge kind of like a 3d spider web. Since there are no clear boundaries separating the contents of one memory from others, it can cause errors in our memories. It can become difficult to separate memory for a particular episode with associated knowledge.

describe the role that organization plays in memory and mnemonics

memory is facilitated by organizing and understanding; what the memorizer was doing at the time of exposure matters! The background knowledge of the memorizer also matters.

describe the anatomical components of speech production

only humans can learn language and it is present in all cultures. It is essential for knowledge and for culture. Phonemes are produced by modulating the flow of air from the lungs to the mouth and nose and can be classified according to features.

explain how our beliefs about essences influence categorization

our belief about essences influence our categorization because if something looks like a bird, then we put in the category of birds. Natural kinds like animals or plants have essences, man-made items do not.

Describe how you might store and retrieve long term memories from a spreading activation perspective

this travels from one node to another in a network, via the associative links (what is this similar to). Explains why it is easier to recall things that we think of more often (they have a higher baseline activation). Also things we think about more often also have more connections and receive activation from multiple sources.

implicit memory

unconscious memory (priming)

How can the information in this chapter be used to improve learning and memory in your own life?

use understanding through self-questioning, actively engage in the information, form connections from previous experiences you have had, and space your learning! Take breaks between studying helps tremendously rather than studying all at once, you need to give your brain a break.

describe the evidence surrounding the notion that we are inclined to use a "basic" level of categorization

we tend to use a basic level of categorization because they are learned first and used by kids to describe most objects. This is good for single words and default for naming. It is also easy to explain commonalities.