Cognition exam 2

Why do we think there is a primacy and recency effect. Note: we address this twice - once in chapter 4, and then again in chapter 5. The chapter 5 version completes our discussion by trying to explain how both working memory and long term memory contribute to this. Be prepared to explain the general idea of what we are thinking happens, and how the different memory stores may contribute to different aspects of the serial position effect (i.e., primacy versus recency). o Also - what happens to items in the middle of the list in terms of memory?

- recency fits nicely with the idea of interference - after the last several items on the list, no new items are heard nothing interferes with them Recall should be good Primacy first item in a list comes into an empty short term store - you can focus 100% of your attention on it - you may even try to repeat it second item in a list - now can have 50% of your attention - may still try to repeat it middle of list - less and less individualized attention - the middle items on a list, a complete jumble first few items on the list - due to increased attention, and possible rehearsal= increased chance that they moved to the long term store - their recall may well be due to that

What is the central executive? What types of things does it help you with? Why did I say I think of it as the "boss" of working memory? o I mentioned the idea of integrating across different parts of working memory, as well as information from long term memory. Be familiar with the example I gave so that you understand why you would need to coordinate/integrate across all of these sources to have an ability to think about information.

- the boss of WM - it integrates information from all of the other parts of the WM store plus integrates information from the LTM store - so it integrates information from the phonological loop, the visual sketchpad, the episodic buffer, and LTM why do we think of it as a boss? - it decides how resources are allocated - how we switch between tasks - how we focus attention - it helps you plan out behaviors ( how will I do X, what do I need to do next, it comes up with plans and strategies for accomplishing things) - helps you decide what NOT to do - keeps you focused on a task - helps you resist irrelevant information

What does central executive have to do with WM?

-reading through a sentence ; where is the verbal material being processed? - you want to start forming an image in your head ; where does that happen? central executive can coordinate across these two system How did you know what the words you were reading meant? where is that information stored? - LTM - in order to think about that material, we also had to dig information from LTM into WM and the executive is tasked with finding the info and bringing it to WM

What is a filler/distractor task? Why would you use one?

A task placed between the acquisition phase and the test phase of memory, for example, to prevent subjects from mentally rehearsing material that has been studied A "filler task", such as counting aloud between hearing the items and recall them

What is the overall function of short term/working memory? How long does information stay in the short term store? Does it matter whether you continue to think about the information or not?

Also temporary Longer duration than a few seconds Where you consciously think about/process information Only stays for as long as you think about it What if you stop thinking about the information? How long does it stay in working memory? Two sets of researchers produced answers to this: Brown (1950s) Peterson and Peterson (1950s) Both used a similar task/technique: now known as the Brown/Peterson and Peterson technique

We talked about the idea that questioning can influence memory reconstruction. Explain how that might work.

Another thing to know about memory: memory is constructive Dinner example : fried okra Add information to a former event I didn't know what okra was at the restaurant, but I ate it anyway. When I got home, I googled it and then told a friend about my experience with the information that I googled after. Memory is changeable, it is constructed over time Learning new information can alter the nature of the original memory Kicker; you may not realize that your original memory was changed

When we say that memory is constructive in nature (or reconstructive in nature - I hear people saying both), what do we mean by that? Did you see any evidence of this idea of constructive memory in the eyewitness testimony literature you read/we discussed?

Another thing to know about memory: memory is constructive Dinner example : fried okra Add information to a former event I didn't know what okra was at the restaurant, but I ate it anyway. When I got home, I googled it and then told a friend about my experience with the information that I googled after. Memory is changeable, it is constructed over time Learning new information can alter the nature of the original memory Kicker; you may not realize that your original memory was changed

Does knowing something about a person's working memory span predict anything about school, intelligence, learning, etc? If so, what types of things can it predict?

As we saw WM capacity/ span and attention WM span functions as a predictor of intelligence as measured by IQ score Predicts verbal SAT scores Predicts the speed with which certain skills (like computer programming) are required How fast they can pick up the skill

between the Atkinson and Shiffren short term memory concept versus Baddley's working memory idea. How are they the same or different?

Atkinson and Shiffren is a simplistic version of Baddley's working model

What research did Bahrick et al. (1975) do regarding long term memory? What does it tell us about long term memory?

Bahrick et al. (1975) - long term memory for high school classmates People were able to recognize pictures of classmates after years to a high degree of accuracy

What are "declarative memories"? What are "non-declarative memories"? What is the distinction between these two overall categories of memory? What sub-categories exist (that we talked about) in declarative and non-declarative memories?

Both episodic and semantic memories are sub categories of something called declarative memories Declarative memories: memories that can be described to others if you asked to recall it (Revlin, 2013). We also have non-declarative memories We know how to do something, but can't put it into words Definition: are memories that are difficult to put into words. At least some types of these memories are "knowing how" to so something Several categories of things that fall into non-declarative

Be familiar with the classic Brown/Peterson and Peterson research (and basic technique). Understand the basic idea of what they did, and what their results tell us about the short term store.

Brown/Peterson and Peterson Technique Present people with 3 letter triagrams Allow time to pass - see how long it takes the information to leave the short term store IF you prevent rehearsal (people can't think about the trigram) To prevent rehearsal, have them count backwards by threes from some random/inconvenient number (like 111) Test recall at different points in time in the future Graph shows the longer time went by, the worse they remembered Conclude: Without rehearsal, information does not stay very long in short term and WM This makes sense given the mission of the store We still think and use this today Fate of information entering the short term store Much of it is forgotten Some of it goes on for storage in the long term

What kinds of academic outcomes correlate with working memory functioning?

But the functioning of phonological loop operation as well as the central executive functioning = predict how well people are able to comprehend complex text

What is chunking? Is it helpful to memory? If so, why? o I went over a demonstration of chunking that might help you understand what it is and why it might be a benefit. In trying to understand "where" chunking occurs in working memory, sometimes people are tempted to say that it happens in the phonological loop. However, this may not be the case. What research finding do we have that says that the phonological loop may not be the location of chunking processes?

Chunking is the recoding of smaller units of information into larger, familiar units. Chunking is often assumed to help bypassing the limited capacity of working memory (WM). Likely, you integrated the meaning of the first sentence into a meaningful chunk. But where does chunking take place? You might think it occurs in the phonological loop = but that might not be the case Research with people who have very severely damaged phonological loops, still show an advantage for recalling sentences over random words (Vallor and Baddeley, 1984) One thing that is still not clear ; is it really separate from the central executive Even Baddeley (2003) admits that they may not be separate entities

Why could a person mistakenly think that a short run strategy works well for long run learning?

Confuse the feeling of a quick short term gain with better learning, but isn't reading is easier to do than testing, the more we read over something the quicker it is to read, assuming that we know the information better

What does the decay theory of forgetting say happens to information in the short term store?

Decay: information is forgotten or lost due to the passage of time. Weaker and weaker until fade

What did Bjork mean by "desireable difficulties"? How does this promote better retention?

Desirable difficulties- says that sometimes when learning is a little slower initially and feels a little more difficult, it may be advantageous in the long run Initially rereading feels like its working but its not So, testing initially shows slower growth of knowledge (5 min work)- but over time the advantages of this study is obvious

Do we have any research evidence that suggests that episodic and semantic memory are really two distinct parts of long term memory? If so, what is the nature of that evidence?

Do we have any evidence that these two different types of LTM? Yes Through research with people who have suffered brain damage either due to a traffic accident, or an illness like encephalitis Possible to find people who have intact episodic memories, but damaged semantic memories People who have functioning semantic memories, but damaged episodic memories Recent brain imaging studies Have people record themselves in a diary format describing everyday events (episodic), as well as facts (semantic) Play these back to them while they are in an fMRI machine When they heard themselves talking about more episodic events, they had somewhat different brain regions being active than when they were talking about semantic facts There was occasional overlap

Describe the capacity of long term memory? What is the duration of an item in long term memory? Do all pieces of information stay in LTM for the same amount of time?

Do we remember things forever? No We do forget or lose things in LTM Different theories say this happens for different reasons Do we lose things from LTM(overwriting info with other info/decay)? Do we lose things in LTM because we don't have the proper recall cues?

Who is George Miller, and what very important finding/concept did he contribute to Psychology (that we still find in many textbooks today)?

Early discussion: George Miller in the 1950s Magic number 7 Talked about the limited capacity of short term memory 7 plus or minus 2 chunks of information (range 5-9 chunks) chunk= a grouping of information 3 2 0 = there are three numbers, but likely anyone in morris will chunk 320 into a single meaningful item Sometimes things can't be easily grouped 7 2 4 1 6 Chunk might just be digits themselves

Why do researchers think that deep processing leads to better recall? What two potential explanatory ideas have they proposed?

Enhances distinctiveness and elaboration Distinctiveness -does the memory trace stand out? Elaboration - focuses to the interconnection between pieces of information

Why might there be overlap?

Episodic and semantic memory cannot always function independently 1. Knowledge affects experiences Football game story My knowledge of football will affect how i remember the game Both episodic and semantic memories are sub categories of something called declarative memories Declarative memories: memories that can be described to others if you asked to recall it (Revlin, 2013). Reminder Episodic is time traveling Semantic is facts, figures, "culturally shared general knowledge " 2. Starting to talk about whether certain declarative memories don't fit neatly into one of the categories "My brothers name is declan, and i'm a third year student " They do seem to deal with your life (episodic) Fell more like facts (semantics) But they are very specific facts that fit directly into your life

What is the episodic buffer? Was it part of the original model proposed by Baddley and Hitch? If not, who added it to working memory and when was it added? Why was it added/proposed?

Episodic buffer NOT apart of the original working memory system It was added by Baddeley (2000) the same guy who made it Why add another part? It provides a temporary store for the combined contents of the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and long term memory. While the central executive was coordinating all of these systems, it was not actually storing anything (it is not a storage unit). The episodic buffer fixes this, it is where we can dump the combined contents of those subsystems

We talked a lot about eyewitness testimony, both in class during our article discussion, and as a text topic and outside reading. This is a great topic because it demonstrates a lot of the fallacies of long term memory - in other words, the distortions that can occur.

Especially true if you didn't know you would need this information in advance Example : eyewitness testimony research People are expected to have highly detailed information about a crime, a perpetrator, etc. They often do not know in advance when a crime is going to happen (very sudden) May not have gotten a good look at what you needed to see Or payed attention to the wrong thing

What is an "own ethnicity bias" in facial recognition? How widespread is this effect in the US? Does it happen in other countries? Is it possible to reduce this effect, and if so, how would you accomplish that?

Ex. own ethnicity bias in facial recognition (true across different ethnic groups in the US, and around the world). To overcome you have to be aware that this exists and broaden your experiences with other groups

What does expertise have to do with long term memory? Does it help or hurt memory? If you are good at remembering information in one area due to expertise, does that superior memory ability transfer to other areas or domains?

Expertise Experts in an area- tend to have better memory for material in that area But that enhanced memory tends to be domain or context specific

What are semantic memories? Be prepared to identify memories as examples of semantic memories.

Facts and figures These are the factual things that you learn (the stuff we try to cram in your head in school) Capitals of states, which states border other states How you enter data into a stats program, how to find std dev. The information you learned in class is semantic Semantic and episodic are separate, but typically happen at the same time

What do we mean by elaboration as a learning strategy? How are classes in your major set up to promote elaboration?

Focus on elaboration- tie the information you are learning to something you already know Classes in majors -set up this way Hearing information repeatedly in slightly different ways-thought to actually increase long term retention

Does the visuospatial sketchpad have capacity limitations? If so, what type of scenario might be especially difficult for us to pull off in terms of using the visuospatial sketchpad (i.e., what situation might be especially "challenging")?

Further, we are starting to understand that trying to combine similar tasks (like two things that rely on visuospatial sketchpad) very difficult We would be better off trying to combine loop task and sketchpad, but no guarantee that these seamlessly fit together Not your imagination Of your working memory components, the loop is the most well researched, so the book spends more time on it. rubbing your stomach and tapping your head Is harder than tapping your head while saying the alphabet or buttoning your shirt and trying to figure out how to put furniture together at once

If you were trying to use a computer metaphor to talk about working memory and long term memory, what types of computer storage/memory would they map onto, according to Smith and Kosslyn (2007)?

In keeping with computer terminology (smith and Kosslyn, 2007) Working memory = RAM, what your computer is doing at the moment Long term memory = your hard drive

What is the best level of processing in terms of the formation of a lasting long-term memory?

Is there a way to enhance moving info to LTM? Makes life easier Makes school easier A deeper level of processing tends to lead to better encoding and later recall than shallow processing A brief digression: levels of processing (Craik and Lockheart, 1975) In general: talks about the idea that when we encode- we can process info at different levels Encoding: the initial learning into putting information into memory Deeper processing is better, according to the theory

"Knowledge affects experience" was one way we talked about situations where episodic and semantic memories are both being formed. We talked about the interplay between the two in an example of watching a football game. Be sure you understand how both types of memories are present in the situation, and how they are intertwined within the situation.

Knowledge affects experiences Football game story My knowledge of football will affect how i remember the game

What do we know about language comprehension and working memory functioning?

Language comprehension also impacted by WM In order to comprehend what you are hearing, reading, etc. May need to hold the information, while you also think about it / process it They point out that for complex passages (even sentences with various clauses etc. that can modify the meaning of things) But the functioning of phonological loop operation as well as the central executive functioning = predict how well people are able to comprehend complex text

What are episodic memories? Be prepared to identify memories as examples of episodic memories. I provided lots of examples throughout the first two chapter 5 lectures - you can use those to build an understanding of what episodic memories look like.

Memories that are tied to a specific place or time in your life They have some historical references to you You remember eating breakfast this morning You remember going to class the first day of the semester You remember the hiking vacation you took in Colorado They all have personal relevance

What kinds of experiences, biases, etc. can influence the way you form a long term memory?

Memories- not pure records of an event. Your "interpretation" of the event is likely wrapped up in the memory Ex. discussing the aftermath of a political debate Your experiences and biases - influence how you interpret things Ex. own ethnicity bias in facial recognition (true across different ethnic groups in the US, and around the world). To overcome you have to be aware that this exists and broaden your experiences with other groups Expertise Experts in an area- tend to have better memory for material in that area But that enhanced memory tends to be domain or context specific

We covered a meta-analysis of the weapons focus effect by Fawcett et al. (2011) o In general, does their meta-analysis agree with the findings of the Stanny and Johnson study? o What additional factors did Fawcett et al. find that can influence the accuracy of eyewitness recall of details? o Fawcett et al. make some suggestions for future research by identifying some major holes in our current knowledge. What are some of the things they say that are largely overlook in research at the time of their publication?

Meta analysis by Fawcett et al (2011) Able to confirm that presence of a weapon hurts recall of details Found that presence of a weapon hurts eyewitness identification accuracy Other factors come into play (how far away? How long? Warning?) There is still a lot we don't know Very little attention to individual differences Research is nearly entirely focused on visual input

What is the fate of a large part of the information that enters the short term store?

Much of it is forgotten Some of it goes on for storage in the long term

Does all information from working memory end up in long term memory?

No

Once information is in long term memory, does it stay there for the rest of your life?

No There isn't a single answer Some information likely hangs out longer than other pieces of information We know that it can stay a long time

Do we process all incoming information to a deep level? Why or why not?

No, most of the time we do not know how or it is not necessary too.

When considering the phonological loop versus the visuospatial sketchpad, which one if more developed in terms of research at this point?

Of your working memory components, the loop is the most well researched, so the book spends more time on it.

The episodic buffer is probably the least well developed part of working memory. One idea people have is that it may actually just be part of one of the other parts of the working memory model. Which part of the model might it be part of, according to Baddley?

One thing that is still not clear ; is it really separate from the central executive Even Baddeley (2003) admits that they may not be separate entities

What is the phonological loop? What type of information does it process?

Part of working memory that processes language and other sounds that a person hears, as well as the sounds that they make. Transformed into a sound based code ( we encode it in an auditory manner) We hear the information That auditory code would be fragile and could decay/fade quickly but refreshed when we rehearse internally and hear the sounds again Has capacity limits

When thinking about encoding the information from a crime as it is happening, I discussed that there may be some factors working against you at the time that you are witnessing the event. What types of things did I discuss that can happen as you are witnessing a crime that may result in you not having great information about the perpetrator of a crime?

People are expected to have highly detailed information about a crime, a perpetrator, etc. They often do not know in advance when a crime is going to happen (very sudden) May not have gotten a good look at what you needed to see Or payed attention to the wrong thing Weapons Focus Effect If a weapon is present in a scene, people tend to narrow their focus of attention to the weapon itself

What are "personal semantic" memories? How do they represent somewhat of a complication for describing what type of declarative memory they actually represent? What do they have in common with episodic and semantic memories? o Be prepared to give some examples/recognize examples of personal semantic memories (I have some examples to use as a guide in lecture).

Personal semantics - semantic components of autobiographical memories These types of memories might represent a third category of declarative memory Previous research in neuroscience tended to try to isolate episodic and semantic memory Overlooked gray areas, overlap - current models often ignore personal semantics

What is encoding specificity? Could you think of the testing effect as being promoted by something similar to encoding specificity? Explain your answer.

Practicing retrieval while studying -means that you are practicing what you will need to do with the info on the test while studying Learning conditions = retrieval conditions (in this case- equated for processing ) Variation of encoding specificity = you will retrieve information better when the retrieval environment is more similar to learning environment The environment itself can serve as retrieval cond. This can extend to the activity that you are doing during the retrieval

What are procedural memories? Are they declarative or nondeclarative? What are some examples of procedural memories?

Procedural memories Memory for how to carry out highly practiced skills. Although people can complete a specific task, they may have a difficult time explaining exactly how they did it or what they did Stick Shift car Ice skating Riding a bike

I gave you a comment/clarification that Renoult et al. (2012) had about the way they think of semantic memories, and what culture has to do with it. Be familiar with their conceptualization of semantic memory (it really does help with understanding semantic memory in general.

Renoult et al. (2012) argues that these are personal semantic memories Personal semantics - semantic components of autobiographical memories These types of memories might represent a third category of declarative memory Previous research in neuroscience tended to try to isolate episodic and semantic memory Overlooked gray areas, overlap - current models often ignore personal semantics

What is the illusion of competence? What is it about the way that some people study that promotes this illusion? What happens when people with the illusion of competence sit down to take a test?

Rereading - promotes the "illusion of competence" according to Karpicke et al. (2009) Makes you think that you know the material better than you actually do. This is because the reading gets easier and faster the more you look over the reading According to Karpicke, Butler, and Roediger (2009) - students are not great judges of the effectiveness of rereading. Students do not necessarily understand that practicing retrieval (testing) works Demonstrates a lack of metacognition

What is a schema, and how does your self-schema influence your recall of past opinions, ideas etc.?

Schema driven recall Consists of general knowledge, expectations on a topic or event Ex. WE are schema influence view of past self liberal vs conservative

What is the self-reference effect? Does it help or hurt memory? How could you make use of the self-reference effect in your studying?

Self reference effect- we tend to remember things better when it relates to ourselves or our lives helps, we should be taking advantage of it relating school material to ourselves

What is sensory memory? What type of information does it hold? Typically, how long does it hold it? What is the fate of most of the information that enters sensory memory?

Sensory Memory First stop = first memory store Holds raw sensory data from sensory modalities Info held = very short duration (exact length depends on sensory system) Matter of seconds Deciding if information is being picked out and what is going to short term memory Attention - picks things out for further processing Most info is lost A small amount moves onward

Information Processing system

Sensory → short term memory (Working) → LTM Traces the movement of information through the memory system Attention is gatekeeper Sensory memory stores, attention picks out some info

What does LTM have to do with the serial position effect? Is it more a factor in primacy or recency?

Serial position effect - only remember the beginning and end of the list well (primacy (beginning, may be chalked up to moving the items to LTM) and recency(end, short term memory))

What is shallow processing? Understand the types of activities involved in shallow processing.

Shallow processing Focuses on surface level, non-meaning based information Ex. circle every word with the letter E Deep processing would be circle words that relate to you

Is the best "long run learning" strategy always a complete overlap with the best "short run learning" strategy? What do we mean by long run versus short run learning? Which one is the focus of school/education?

Sometimes teachers and students are confused as to what works Roediger and Karpicke (2018) - explain why... Sometimes what works immediately/ in the short run is NOT the type of strategy that produces the best long term memory Confuse the feeling of a quick short term gain with better learning, but isn't When it comes to school, we want long run learning If possible, we are looking for things that enhance long term learning and slow forgetting

I discussed a study by Stanny and Johnson (2000) who looked at an even more specific situation - if shots are fired during the commission of a crime. In general, what did a weapon firing do to people's memories of the crime? Be prepared to be able to describe how they studied this event based on what I described in lecture. o WhoweretheparticipantsintheStannyandJohnsonstudy?o What controversial finding did they produce in their research? Why was it controversial?

Stanny and Johnson (2000) Looked at specific aspects of weapons focus effect They wanted to know if someone fired the weapon in a scene would it further hurt recall of other details of the scene Showed videos of simulated crime- one fired the weapon and the other did not Participants were average citizens and police officers They found that firing the weapon had a detrimental effect on recall of details In general- significantly higher recall for details in non shooting scenarios than shooting ones They found no significant difference in recall levels for police vs average citizens (controversial, still researching)

What are some of the criticisms regarding the original short term memory model put forth by Atkinson and Shiffren? How is working memory an answer to some of those criticisms?

Still recognize as an important idea that moved us forward Contributed ideas and terminology that is still with us Although we tend to think more about the modern version of working memory Both working and short term memory still are distinguished Criticisms Focused too much on rehearsal Not wrong But does not capture a lot of what happens in life A and S talked a lot about short term store as a place to hold information Example: "I know that you are acutely aware of my ability to write stories" "I know that you are not unaware of my inability to speak German" Same length, but storage capacity issue BUT the processing One has so many negatives it becomes difficult to understand. Much more difficult than the other We realized that the original short term memory was too simplistic It may not be a or one thing May be described better as having several subcomponents making it more complicated

Why should students NOT focus on rote rehearsal as a study stratey? o Is there any situation where it is effective?

Stop using rote rehearsal Do NOT simply rehearse material. Reading and rereading notes and the text - very time intensive and not overly effective study strategy for long term retention Repetition rehearsal is most useful IF you need to know exact wording OR effective in short run (you only need to retain the information for a short period of time) But, may not as useful for covering application questions

What results did they get? Did retention interval matter when it came to the most effective strategy to learn and retrieve material?

Study - study-study-study (SSSS) this consisted of reading (SSST) took a test. The test was a free recall sheet that had people write down everything that they remembered (STTT) study once, retesting after Two retention intervals ; either test was given in 5 min or test was given next week Results: if you want to remember for 5 min SSSS works best. If you want to remember and recall, STTT.

Craik and Lockhart's levels of processing model

Suggests the more deeply an item is encoded, the more meaning it has, and the better it is remembered

What is the testing effect? What landmark study really drew people's attention to the topic? Had there been research on the topic before this study?

Testing effect - superior recall for material you were tested on History on topic (Roediger and Karpicke, 2018) A study that drew attention - Roediger and Karpicke (2006) Actually interest in the general idea- surfaced many years ago What happened when they went to publish it? Publisher thought their writing was too similar to other current writers How different from what came before? The article was exponentially better Today? One of the top 10 articles ever written

What is meta cognition? How does it relate to self-regulated learning? What is self-regulated learning, and what are its two parts?

The ability to think about your own thought processes Understanding what works for you in terms of learning A very important part of self-regulated learning Self-regulated learning- the person that controls and takes responsibility of their own learning process Have sufficient metacognitive awareness to know what will work for you

Why is this research line important? How damaging is this symptom to people who have schizophrenia, and how frequently does this symptom affect people with this disorder?

The incidence rate for auditory hallucinations = 60-80% of people with schizo (at some point in their illness) Devastating consequences Lots of research has gone into trying to understand where AH comes from

Know where long term memory fits in the information processing model

The last stop in information processing model

Does the existence of personal semantic memories potentially change the way we think about declarative memories (i.e., our model for declarative memories)? If so, what might that change look like?

These types of memories might represent a third category of declarative memory

Why do researchers think that the testing effect works to promote better retrieval?

They say that their data is consistent with Bjork's (1994) idea of desirable difficulties Desirable difficulties- says that sometimes when learning is a little slower initially and feels a little more difficult, it may be advantageous in the long run Initially rereading feels like its working but its not So, testing initially shows slower growth of knowledge (5 min work)- but over time the advantages of this study is obvious ALSO practicing retrieval while studying - means that you are practicing what you will need to do with the information on the test while you are studying? Learning conditions = retrieval conditions (in this case - equated in processing) Variation of encoding specificity

What is the visuospatial sketchpad (scratchpad)? What type of information does it process? What types of things does it help us do?

This is the part of WM that processes both visual and spatial information Let's start with a demo: close your eyes, and form an image of a familiar room (not the room you are in) What is on the walls? How many windows? Where is the door? Did you find yourself looking around the room? If so, you are using your visuospatial sketchpad. What is it used for? Allows us to navigate through environment Picture things in a spatial or visual manner ( to see things in head) Visualize route needed to travel Plan a furniture arrangement in a room where you try to see how it looks Limited in capacity

Working memory vs short term memory

To put it another way, WM refers to both structures and processes used for storing and manipulating information. To sum up, STM refers to the ability to hold information in mind over a brief period of time.

What is deep processing? Understand the types of activities involved in deep processing.

Typically a "meaning" based processing Thinking about associations - does material from one class fit into another? Forming images for information Relate the information to past experiences In general, relate the information to you or your life (make it self-referent)

Gaudiot et al. have a complaint about past research on both cognitive deficits and this specific symptom in people with schizophrenia: what is the researchers complaint?

Until recently, many clinicians: Treated cognitive deficits and auditory hallucinations symptoms of schizo as separate issues That may not be the base Working memory deficits are common in schizo They think that there may be a connection between working memory deficits (specifically those in the phonological loop) and auditory hallucinations They urge researchers to stop conceptualizing cognitive deficits and auditory hallucinations as separate symptoms

Are students always aware of what works best when it comes to studying/learning information? Be prepared to discuss what we know from research on this topic.

Using what we know from cognitive research to promote effective study strategies As the book points out - we do not spend much time discussing studying in education Students do not always understand what works (we know this from research too) They often use ineffective or time intensive ways to study

Is our "general gist" strategy for storing information a good thing or a bad thing? Explain both the good and the bad of this strategy.

Usually general gist is a good thing Often we need general gist memory- to remember how we think and feel about the material overall- than we need specific wording Only becomes a problem if you have a need for highly specific detailed information

What do we know about language acquisition and working memory functioning, according to this review?

WM is a component in a lot of important language learning, and related school outcomes, including : Language acquisition ( early vocab - acoustic coding and repetition of language) This helps moves words into a long term storage representation Problems with this type of WM processing - thought to be a factor in poor vocab skills in children (which can put them at risk)

What is working memory? What does it do? Be prepared to hear a description of someone processing information and be able to point out what working memory is contributing to this example.

WM refers to both structures and processes used for storing and manipulating information. Started in the 1970s with the work of Baddely and Hitch More modern day Working memory: Comprised of several parts (chart ) Ex. Smith and Kossyln (2007) Look at numbers. Read to self, repeat in head with eyes closed, say then outloud 6252180 ( 7 numbers, phone number) What were you doing during this task? When you were reading/repeating the digits silently to yourself, did you hear the words in your head? Did you hear yourself again when you recalled them with eyes closed ? Working verbal memory - "mind's ear" and "mind's voice", hearing the digits when you read them, hearing them when you repeat to yourself.

Waugh and Norman (1965) investigated whether decay was really how information was lost from the short term store. What did they do in their study? Be familiar with their basic procedure.o What did they find? Did it support the idea of decay as the main mechanism of forgetting in the short term store? If not, what did they think was happening? What did they call it?

Waugh and Norman (1965) investigated this One condition: heard a list of numbers read quickly (so maybe 4 seconds to get through list) Second condition: heard the same list of numbers read slowly ( 16 seconds) At the end of the list, given a probe item Say the number after the probe 4, 2, 6, 7, 9, 3, 11 Probe 6 Answer 7 Both conditions hear the same number of items after the correct answer The difference: the time takes to hear those items If decay is the issue: the slow pace condition should have worse memory If interference is the issue: both conditions should perform about the same

Is a long term memory a "recording" of an event? If not, how is it different?

We don't record every specific detail of every event. We aren't really set up to do that. Instead we store general gist information Books and movies ; we give summaries Everyday life Usually general gist is a good thing Often we need general gist memory- to remember how we think and feel about the material overall- than we need specific wording Only becomes a problem if you have a need for highly specific detailed information Especially true if you didn't know you would need this information in advance

What important thing did Endul Tulving contribute to the concept of LTM?

We talk about long term memory as subdivisions and not one big thing Some of the early attempts to do this date back to Endel Tulving Tulving distinguished between episodic and semantic memories in LTM

What happens (typically) if you give a person "visual" verbal material?

We tend to make mistakes when things sound similar Ex. similar sounding letters (C, T, D, G, V) produces more mistakes than dissimilar letters (C, W, Q, K, R and X) This research is presented visually and mistakes are still made

What is the weapons focus effect? How does it affect the attention and memory of details for a person witnessing a crime?

Weapons Focus Effect If a weapon is present in a scene, people tend to narrow their focus of attention to the weapon itself This narrowing of attention has a detrimental effect on your ability to recall other aspects of the scene Not enough details on the perpetrator

This article touches on intervention strategies. What do the researchers propose in terms of making use of the information we have so far about language and working memory functioning?

What do they suggest we do with this information? Becomes part of an overall intervention program Reducing distractions to try to reduce the load Potential changes to instructional materials may be in order Example : 5th grader who is learning a new concept May be capable of learning the concept as long as you are not also introducing a bunch of new vocab or whole new ideas along with the main idea Watch the complexity of what you are introducing Any child who has any language issue needs to be screened for WM deficit

What does the episodic buffer do? What is its function? While information is there, must it remain completely static, or is there some ability to manipulate information in this buffer?

While the information is in the episodic buffer... We can manipulate the information It doesn't just come in and sit intact It is changeable For example, this is a place where you can chunk information The existence of the buffer may help us to understand some weird findings that we had trouble with under the old system Example: try to remember The professor tried to explain a difficult cognitive psychology concept to the students, (but was not completely successful). Explain not to a psychology concept to not the professor tried

Does LTM act in isolation from working memory? Explain why or why not.

Working memory is not part of LTM but is important for it to function. Working memory holds and manipulates information for a short period of time, before it is either forgotten or encoded into LTM. Then, in order to remember something from LTM, it must be brought back into working memory.

According to Karpicke et al. (2009) - do students think that rereading their text or notes is an effective study stratey?

Yes, but is not the correct way

What type of "coding" format is used in the phonological loop? What research evidence do we have that this is the case? o In order to give you an idea of other "uses" of the phonological loop, I presented several other things that the loop contributes to. What are they?

auditory and accosting coding Loop is not just for words, but numbers, math problems etc. Important for language production (when you are thinking about what to say next) Can be used for self talk- giving self instructions, reminders, tell self to stay calm, etc. What evidence do we have that there is acoustic coding (foundation of the phonological loop? We tend to make mistakes when things sound similar Ex. similar sounding letters (C, T, D, G, V) produces more mistakes than dissimilar letters (C, W, Q, K, R and X) This research is presented visually and mistakes are still made

How many sensory memory stores do we have?

echoic memory, iconic memory, and haptic memory. Iconic memory retains information that is gathered through sight, echoic memory retains information gathered through auditory stimuli and haptic memory retains data acquired through touch.

Is LTM all one thing? Or do we break it down into different types of memories (and if so, what are those subcategories of memory)?

episodic and semantic memory

What is a consistency bias? How does a consistency bias influence the way you view things about yourself, or opinion you might have had in the past when you try to recall past ideas, opinions etc.?

if we are asked about a past viewpoint ; we tend to look back and remember that viewpoint as being more consistent with our current viewpoints than it might have been why? schema driven recall

What is the serial position effect?

items positioned on a list influences recall

Does the central executive have any capacity limitations?

limit to think or coordinate things can only coordinate so many things at once

Why is Atkinson and Shiffren's model called the "modal model"?

modal=mode emphasizes the function of rehearsal in transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory

How can teachers use testing effect in their classes to promote better learning by students?

n particular, testing effect influence how Cheryl teaches material The format of my study guides provide you with questions The discussion questions for articles, also serve as review questions later when preparing for tests Also asks questions in class Review days are asking questions and the class answering

Be prepared to explain the general set up of the Roediger and Karpicke (2006) study. What did people do to "study" material? What conditions were used in the study? Was there more than one experiment in that paper?

people studied by reading over the material more than one experiment, focused on experiment 2 in class Two retention intervals ; either test was given in 5 min or test was given next week

Boudrea and Costanza-Smith (2011) - looked at working memory in relation to learning/academic outcomes. o What was their specific area of interest in this topic?

review of the working memory literature as it applies to various aspects of school based learning and school achievement (learning, academic outcomes) Their specific interest was in language/speech pathology

When you first learn information, where does it go?

sensory memory store

Which came first, working or short term memory?

short term memory Working memory was proposed as a more elaborate version of a short term store

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

What Waugh and Norman found

the number of items after the items of interest was what mattered, not the pace what this means is interference is the culprit - taking in of new information displaces the old information - information interferes with other information

Gaudiot et al. (2019) - studied a specific symptom that can occur in people with schizophrenia. What was that symptom, and what does this have to do with working memory functioning?

wanted to understand whether working memory played any role in the formation of auditory hallucinations of the people who have schizophrenia. The incidence rate for auditory hallucinations = 60-80% of people with schizo (at some point in their illness)