Reading #31 Memory

maintenance rehearsal vs. elaborative rehearsal

- Maintenance rehearsal: - Little effort, mechanical - Ineffective retrieval - Elaborative rehearsal: - Requires effort, difficult - Effective retrieval

peg-word system

A mnemonic in which the items in a list to be remembered are associated with the sequential items in a memorized jingle and then the list is retrieved by going through the jingle and retrieving the associated items. a mnemonic strategy used to remember lists whereby each item is associated in imagination with a number-word pair (the peg). For example, if the pegs are the rhyming pairs "one is a bun, two is a shoe," the first item to be remembered would be associated with a bun, the second with a shoe.

method of loci

A mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations a mnemonic technique in which the items to be remembered are converted into mental images and associated with specific positions or locations. For instance, to remember a shopping list, each product could be imagined at a different location along a familiar street.

procedural memory

A type of long-term memory of how to perform different actions and skills. Essentially, it is the memory of how to do certain things. long-term memory for the skills involved in particular tasks. Procedural memory is demonstrated by skilled performance and is often separate from the ability to verbalize this knowledge (see declarative memory). Knowing how to type or skate, for example, requires procedural memory. Also called sensorimotor memory.

acronym/acrostic

An acronym is an abbreviation of a word that has been composed of the initial letters or components of a phrase or word. An acrostic poem is a poem where the first letter of each line (or the last letter of each line) spells out a specific word.

Hierarchies

Complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided into categories and subcategories a multistage procedure in which entities are grouped into ever larger and more heterogeneous clusters or separated into ever smaller and more homogeneous clusters (see cluster analysis).

Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) cognitive generation of sensory input from the five senses, individually or collectively, which is recalled from experience or self-generated in a nonexperienced form.

testing effect

Enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered.

Peterson and Peterson

Participants were asked to recall trigrams after intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds. During the pause, they were asked to count backwards in 3's from a given number. This interference task was prevent rehearsal. studied the length of short term memory, Peterson & Peterson found that the longer the interval the less accurate the recall.

distributed practice

Technique in which items to be learned are repeated at intervals over a period of time. a learning procedure in which practice periods for a particular task are separated by lengthy rest periods or lengthy periods of practicing different activities or studying other material, rather than occurring close together in time

George Sperling

Tested recall time by flashing rows of numbers and saw if participants could immediately recall the numbers. The results of these experiments suggested that the human visual system is capable of retaining information even if the exposure is very brief.

eidetic memory, Flashbulb- LTM

a clear, specific, high-quality mental image of a visual scene that is retained for a period (seconds to minutes) after the event A flashbulb memory is a highly vivid and detailed 'snapshot' of a moment in which a consequential, surprising and emotionally arousing piece of news was learned.

levels of processing

a continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory The difference in how people attend to information forms the basis for Craik and Lockhart's (1972) levels of processing model. Their theory proposes that humans undertake three levels of processing, shallow intermediate or deep, when dealing with verbal information.

echoic memory

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

iconic memory

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

massed practice

a practice schedule in which studying continues for long periods, without interruption.

Connectionism

a type of information-processing approach that emphasizes the simultaneous activity of numerous interconnected processing units

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

PDP (parallel distributed processing)

any model of cognition based on the idea that the representation of information is distributed as patterns of activation over a richly connected set of hypothetical neural units that function interactively and in parallel with one another.

Atkinson- Shriffin 3 stage, Sensory, Working, Long term

brief storage of information from each of the senses, in a relatively unprocessed form beyond the duration of a stimulus Short-term memory is the capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. Long-term memory is the stage of the Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model in which informative knowledge is held indefinitely.

semantic network

consists of nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts

shallow processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words cognitive processing of a stimulus that focuses on its superficial, perceptual characteristics rather than its meaning. It is considered that processing at this shallow level produces weaker, shorter-lasting memories than deep processing.

deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention. cognitive processing of a stimulus that focuses on its meaningful properties rather than its perceptual characteristics. It is considered that processing at this semantic level, which usually involves a degree of elaboration, produces stronger, longer-lasting memories than shallow processing.

Three's of memory

encoding, storage, and retrieval Encoding- the conversion of a sensory input into a form capable of being processed and deposited in memory. Encoding is the first stage of memory processing Storage- the state of an item that is retained in memory, after encoding and before retrieval. Retrieval- the process of recovering or locating information stored in memory. Retrieval is the final stage of memory, after encoding and retention.

dual track memory

explicit memories and implicit memories

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices any device or technique used to assist memory, usually by forging a link or association between the new information to be remembered and information previously encoded. For instance, one might remember the numbers in a password by associating them with familiar birth dates, addresses, or room numbers

Three Kinds: Implicit-

memory for a previous event or experience that is produced indirectly, without an explicit request to recall the event and without awareness that memory is involved. For instance, after seeing the word store in one context, a person would complete the word fragment st_r_ as store rather than stare, even without remembering that store had been recently encountered.

Three Kinds: -

memory for general factual knowledge and concepts, of the kind that endows information with meaning and ultimately allows people to engage in such complex cognitive processes as recognizing objects and using language. Impairments of semantic memory may be seen following brain injury as well as in certain neurological disorders, particularly dementia. For instance, people with Alzheimer's disease often find it increasingly difficult to categorize and name items (i.e., to refer to an apple as an apple) as their memory deficits worsen. Semantic memory is considered by many theorists to be one of the two forms of declarative memory, the other being episodic memory.

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically the process by which the mind divides large pieces of information into smaller units (chunks) that are easier to retain in short-term memory. As a result of this recoding, one item in memory (e.g., a keyword or key idea) can stand for multiple other items (e.g., a short list of associated points). The capacity of short-term memory is believed to be constant for the number of individual units it can store (see seven plus or minus two), but the units themselves can range from simple chunks (e.g., individual letters or numbers) to complex chunks (e.g., words or phrases).

parallel vs serial processing

parallel- items in short term memory would be retrieved *all at once*. (a horse race is not over until every horse crosses the finish line) serial processing- we retrieve information *one at a time*.

George Miller

psychologist; found that short term memory has the capacity of about 7 (plus or minus 2) items

self-reference effect

tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance.

Three Kinds: Episodic-

the ability to remember personally experienced events associated with a particular time and place. As defined in 1972 by Endel Tulving, episodic memory supplements semantic memory as a form of declarative memory. Although Tulving's original description of episodic memory required recollecting the three 'Ws' of an event—what, where, and when—it has since been revised to include a sense of self-awareness and a subjective conscious experience as well (termed autonoetic consciousness). In other words, in addition to recalling the facts of a past event, an individual has to engage in "mental time travel" and remember that he or she was the one who lived the event. The hippocampus plays a key role in episodic memory formation and retrieval.

semantic encoding

the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words cognitive encoding of new information that focuses on its meaningful aspects as opposed to its perceptual characteristics. This will usually involve some form of elaboration. See also deep processing.

visual encoding

the encoding of picture images the neural processes by which stimuli seen in the external world are converted into internal (mental) representations that can subsequently be processed and stored in memory. For example, when a person looks at a photograph, photoreceptors in the individual's retina receive the visual sensory information and convey it to additional neurons, which in turn convey the information to populations of retinal ganglion cells.

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system brief storage of information from each of the senses, in a relatively unprocessed form beyond the duration of a stimulus, for recoding into another memory (such as short-term memory) or for comprehension.

automatic processing

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

Three Kinds:

Implicit, Episodic, Semantic

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

explicit memories

are memories of facts, including names, images and events. They are also called declarative memories. long-term memory that can be consciously recalled: general knowledge or information about personal experiences that an individual retrieves in response to a specific need or request to do so.

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort mental activity that requires deliberation and control and involves a sense of effort, or overcoming resistance.

information processing

in cognitive psychology, the flow of information through the human nervous system, involving the operation of perceptual systems, memory stores, decision processes, and response mechanisms. Information processing psychology is the approach that concentrates on understanding these operations.

spacing effect

information is retained better if there is a longer period of time between sessions or relearning.

acoustic encoding

the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

Ways to encode

visual, acoustic, semantic