Unit 7

We would know that Bethany is using working memory if she's using

Chunking, her central executive functioning is in play, elaborative rehearsal.

Overlearning

Continuing to practice and study even when we think that we have mastered the material. Ebbinghaus and other researchers have found that overlearning helps encoding.

True or False: Based on what you know about overconfidence, is this statement true or false. When asked if they have above average IQ, approximately 50% of the people said no.

False

A man gets into a car accident. Which of the following is not an example of counterfactual thinking in his attempts to explain it.

I don't know if the accident is a good thing or a bad thing.

Ben is not aware of exactly how he knows how to walk. He is not aware of how his behavior is being influenced. This type of memory is called a(n) recall memory

Implicit Memory

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

In which we are certain that we know something that we are trying to recall but cannot quite come up with it.

Classical Conditioning Effects (Implicit)

In which we learn, often without effort or awareness, to associate neutral stimuli (such as a sound or a light) with another stimulus (such as food), which creates a naturally occurring response, such as enjoyment or salivation.

Primacy Effect

Is a tendency to better remember stimuli that are presented early in a list.

Recall Test

Measure of explicit memory that involves retrieving information that has been previously learned, and it requires us to use a search strategy to perform that retrieval. We rely on our recall memory when we take an essay test, because the test requires us to generate previously remembered information. Involves two steps: generating an answer and then determining whether its correct or not.

Long Term Memory

Memory storage that can hold information for days, months, and years. The capacity of long-term memory is large, and there is no known limit to what we can remember. Although we may forget at least some information after we learn it, other things will stay with us forever.

In a presidential election year, most people will make decisions about the accuracy of what the candidates are saying. Which of the following is an exampe of confirmation bias?

Most people will use internet sites such as fact checker to make sure what the candidates are saying is accurate but will not believe it if the site doesn't agree with them.

Functional fixedness

Occurs when people's schemas prevent them from using an object in new and nontraditional ways.

Cognitive Accessibility

People's first person perspective leads them to overestimate the degree to which they played a role in an event or project

algorithms

Recipe-style information-processing strategies that guarantee a correct answer at all times.

Explicit Memory

Semantic, episodic Knowledge or experiences that can be consciously and intentionally remembered. For instance, recalling when you have a dentist appointment or what you wore to senior prom relies on explicit memory.

Which of the following is an example retroactive interference?

Study math, study chemistry, and then take a math test.

If Ben were to demonstrate an episodic memory, he would be:

Telling stories about a mutual friend.

Recency Effect

Tendency to better remember stimuli that are presented later in a list.

Prototype

The member of the category that is most average or typical of the category.

Period of consolidation

The period of time in which LTP occurs and in which memories are stored

Working Memory

The process in which we make sense of, modify, interpret and store information in short term memory.

Retrieval

The process of reactivating information that has been stored in memory

True or False: The ability to overcome functional fixedness is very helpful in coming up with new inventions.

True

Working memory is associated with but not the same as

Working Memory

Learning to ski involves the ____________, telling a story from your past involves the ____________, while experiencing a fearful memory involves the ____________.

cerebellum; hippocampus; amygdala

Misinformation Effect

errors in memory that occur when new information influences existing memories.

Alice is athletic and is just over six feet tall. Most people think she is a basketball player. This is an example of _____________.

representative heuristic

Elaborative Encoding

we process new information in ways that make it more relevant or meaningful.

Relearning (or savings)

Assess how much more quickly information is processed or learned when it is studied again after it has already been learned but then forgotten. Measures "how much" or "how fast" rather than correctness. (ex: you have taken a french course a few years back but forgot most of the vocabulary, then you try to relearn it and you are able to understand the material faster than someone who never learned french before). It can also measure memories for things like driving a car or playing the piano.

Proactive interference occurs when

Earlier learning impairs our ability to encode information that we try to learn later.

Episodic Memory (Explicit)

Episodic memory refers to the firsthand experiences, or episodes, that we have on a daily basis (e.g., recollections of our high school graduation day or of the fantastic show we saw in New York last summer).

Chunking is used to increase the capacity of

Long term memory

Relearning is a(n)

Measure of learning

Psi

Scientists that study anomalous phenomena like ESP, generally use the term Psi

Encoding

The process by which we place our experiences into memory. Unless information is encoded, it cannot be remembered. I'm sure you've been to a party where you were introduced to someone, and then—maybe only seconds later—you realized you did not remember the person's name. It's not surprising that you forgot the name, because you probably were distracted and never encoded the name to begin with.

Gamblers Fallacy

people who see a flipped coin come up "heads" five times in a row will frequently predict, and perhaps even wager money, that "tails" will be next.

Echoic Memory

Also known as auditory sensory memory. These memories can last as long as 4 seconds. This is convenient as it allows you—among other things—to remember the words that you said at the beginning of a long sentence when you get to the end of it, and to take notes on your psychology professor's most recent statement even after he or she has finished saying it.

Flashbulb Memory

A vivid and emotional memory of an unusual event that people believe they remember very well.

Which of the following is an example of chunking

ASPCA

Iconic Memory

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

Recognition Memory Test

A measure of memory that involves determining whether information has been seen or learned before (example: multiple choice test). Determining which item from a list seems most correct.

Based on what you know about salience, which of the following people would be most likely to obey the speed limit?

A person who just watched a film of a traffic accident caused by speeding and resulting in the death of the driver

"For the new material, they created flashcards with terms and definitions on either side and are using those to quiz each other." They are demonstrating semantic memory. Why?

Bethany and Ben are given the question (the word they need to define) and have to come up with the answer on their own.

Priming (Implicit)

Changes in behavior as a result of experiences that have happened frequently or recently. Priming refers both to the activation of knowledge (e.g., we can prime the concept of "kindness" by presenting people with words related to kindness) and to the influence of that activation on behavior (people who are primed with the concept of kindness may act more kindly).

Cerebellum & Amygdala

Concentrating on implicit and emotional memories, respectively. Research shows that the cerebellum is more active when we are learning associations and in priming tasks, and animals and humans with damage to the cerebellum have more difficulty in classical conditioning studies.

An iconic or echoic memory that lasts over long periods of time is called a(n)

Eidetic Memory (is an ability to vividly recall images from memory after only a few instances of exposure, with high precision for a brief time after exposure, without using a mnemonic device also known as photographic memory).

Implicit Memory

Knowledge that we cannot consciously access. Influences of experience on behavior, even if the individual is not aware of the influences. Three types: procedural, priming, classical conditioning

Cognitive biases

Errors in memory or judgment that are caused by the inappropriate use of cognitive processes. The study of cognitive biases is important both because it relates to the important psychological theme of accuracy versus inaccuracy in perception, and because being aware of the types of errors that we may make can help us avoid them and therefore improve our decision-making skills.

A memory that refers to knowledge or experiences that can be consciously and intentionally remembered is called a(n)

Explicit Memory

True or False: The only reason source monitoring occurs is because we get confused about the source of the information we are using.

False

Computers vs The Human Brain

Human brains are not recording devices that record, input, and retrieve the world around us, but rather we are able to actively process and interpret information as we remember and recollect it and these cognitive process influence what and how we remember things.

The first sight of the potato chip bag is what kind of memory?

Iconic Memory

According to counterfactual thinking, which of these students all looking for an A (90 or above) in the class is most likely to experience the most regret about their grade?

Jane who scored an 89

Sensory Memory

Memory that lasts only very briefly and unless it is attended to and passed on for further processing, it will be forgotten. Sensory memory allows for the brain to process the information that is being absorbed and allows for the brain to see the word as a constant stream of events rather than a bunch of individual events.

Schemata

Mental representations of the world that are formed and adjusted using the processes of assimilation and accommodation as a person experiences life.

Categories

Networks of associated memories that have features in common with each other.

Proactive interference

Occurs when earlier learning impairs our ability to encode information that we try to learn later. For example, if you learned French as a second language, this knowledge may make it more difficult, at least in some respects, to learn a third language (say Spanish), which involves similar but not identical vocabulary.

Retroactive interference

Occurs when learning something new impairs our ability to retrieve information that was learned earlier. For example, if you have learned to program in one computer language, and then you learn to program in another similar one, you may start to make mistakes programming the first language that you never would have made before you learned the new one. In this case the new memories work backward (retroactively) to influence retrieval from memory that is already in place.

Memory

Our capacity to acquire, store, and retrieve the information and habits that guide our behavior. Moreover, our memories define us as individuals—memories are the records of our experiences, our relationships, our successes, and our failures. Perhaps the coolest aspect of memory is that it provides us with the means to use mental time travel to access a lifetime of experiences and learning. Our memory defines us as individuals.

In the experiment described in the misinformation section, when the verb was changed from contacted to hit to smashed, __________________________

Participants estimated the speed of the vehicle involved in the crash to be higher for each verb change with contacted the lowest speed

Schemas

Patterns of knowledge in long-term memory that help us organize information. We have schemas about objects (that a triangle has three sides and may take on different angles), about people (that Sam is friendly, likes to golf, and always wears sandals), about events (the particular steps involved in ordering a meal at a restaurant), and about social groups (we call these group schemas stereotypes).

Hippocampus

Preprocessor and elaborator of information. The hippocampus helps us encode information about spatial relationships, the context in which events were experienced, and the associations among memories.

"They also plan to practice with a set of multiple-choice questions their professor has provided on their class site." They are using which memory process?

Recognition

Sleeper Effect

Refers to an attitude change that occurs over time when we forget the source of information.

Context-dependent learning

Refers to an increase in retrieval when the external situation in which information is learned matches the situation in which it is remembered.

Semantic Memory (Explicit)

Refers to our knowledge of facts and concepts about the world (e.g., that the absolute value of −90 is greater than the absolute value of 9 and that one definition of the word affect is "the experience of feeling or emotion").

Procedural Memory (Implicit)

Refers to our often unexplainable knowledge of how to do things. When we walk from one place to another, speak to another person in English, dial a cell phone, or play a video game, we are using procedural memory. Procedural memory allows us to perform complex tasks, even though we may not be able to explain to others how we do them.

State-dependent learning

Refers to superior retrieval of memories when the individual is in the same physiological or psychological state as during encoding. Research has found, for instance, that animals that learn a maze while under the influence of one drug tend to remember their learning better when they are tested under the influence of the same drug than when they are tested without the drug.

Source Monitoring

Refers to the ability to accurately identify the source of a memory.

Spacing effect

Refers to the fact that learning is better when the same amount of study is spread out over periods of time than it is when it occurs closer together or at the same time. This means that even if you have only a limited amount of time to study, you'll learn more if you study continually throughout the semester (a little bit every day is best) than if you wait to cram at the last minute before your exam.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Refers to the strengthening of the synaptic connections between neurons as result of frequent stimulation.

Overconfidence

Refers to the tendency for people to be too certain about their ability to accurately remember events and to make judgments.

Psi-gamma

Refers to those phenomena that involve anomalous information transfer, like ESP, clairvoyance, and remote viewing

Psi-kappa

Refers to those phenomena that involve anomalous transfer of matter, such as psychokinesis or telekinesis (the ability to move things with one's mind), or even anomalous transfer of energy, such as pyrokinsesis (the ability to set things aflame with one's mind).

To maximize long-term potentiation and thereby facilitate learning, you would be advised to ______________.

Rehearse as often as you can

Probability

The likelihood that something will happen

Short-Term Memory

The place where small amounts of information can be temporarily kept for more than a few seconds but usually for less than one minute. "Seven plus or minus two" pieces of information is the "magic number" in short-term memory. Information in STM is not stored permanently but becomes available for us to process.

Chunking

The process of organizing information into smaller groupings (chunks), thereby increasing the number of items that can be held in STM.

Maintenance Rehearsal

The process of repeating information mentally or out loud with the goal of keeping it in memory. We engage in maintenance rehearsal to keep something that we want to remember (e.g., a person's name, e-mail address, or phone number) in mind long enough to write it down, use it, or potentially transfer it to long-term memory.

availability heuristic

The tendency to make judgments of the frequency or likelihood that an event occurs on the basis of the ease with which it can be retrieved from memory

Counterfactual thinking

The tendency to think about and experience events according to "what might have been"

"When they were in high school, Ben and Bethany were in the same psychology class. Some of the material is already familiar, so they did not have to spend as much time studying before feeling confident they knew it." In memory terminology, this part of the story illustrates relearning. Why?

They first learned the material in high school and are now learning it again.

Representativeness heuristic

We base our judgments on information that seems to represent, or match, what we expect will happen, while ignoring other potentially more relevant statistical information.

A man you don't know says hello to your young daughter who is playing on the playground. You immediately go to your daughter and take her hand while telling her not to talk to strangers. She tells you the person is the janitor at her school and she knows him. This is an example of __________.

availability heuristic

You hear a police report about another murder in the downtown area of your city, a part of a large metropolitan area. It is the third murder that has happened in the last week. Even though these are the only three murders that have happened this year, you are afraid to go downtown because you are fearful that you may be hurt. This is an example of ___________.

availability heuristic

heuristics

information-processing strategies that are useful in many cases but may lead to errors when misapplied.

Central Executive

the part of working memory that directs attention and processing. The central executive will make use of whatever strategies seem to be best for the given task. For instance, the central executive will direct the rehearsal process and at the same time direct the visual cortex to form an image of the list of letters in memory. You can see that although STM is involved, the processes that we use to operate on the material in memory are also critical.

Confirmation Biases

the tendency to verify and confirm our existing memories rather than to challenge and disconfirm them. The confirmation bias occurs because once we have schemas, they influence how we seek out and interpret new information. The confirmation bias leads us to remember information that fits our schemas better than we remember information that disconfirms them, a process that makes our stereotypes very difficult to change.

Salient

we tend to attend to and remember things that are highly salient, meaning that they attract our attention. Things that are unique, colorful, bright, moving, and unexpected are more salient.