Chapter 6: Human Memory, Encoding & Storage

How do we obtain information from memory?

1. Memories are created & stored in the brain, to later be retrieved 2. Sensory memory holds information for a brief period of time. 3. Working memory holds information needed to perform a task. 4. External stimuli primes the activation of our short-term memory. 5. Memories can be strengthened, with practice. 6. Semantic associations can affect memory.

3. How does working memory hold information related to a task?

a. A central executive controls two "slave systems" that hold information. b. Different parts of the brain are responsible for holding different types of information in working memory.

1. How are memories created and stored in the brain?

a. Hippocampus - works on storage of new memory b. Prefrontal cortex - encodes new memories & retrieves old memories

6. How can semantic associations affect memory?

a. Memory improves when it is processed in meaningful elaborations b. Study techniques that involve generating and answering questions lead to better memory for the material c. Level of processing and motivation to learn determines amount of material remembered. d. People report better memories for trauma, which seem no different from other memories.

2a. What evidence shows that visual sensory memory holds information for a short period of time?

a. Partial report vs whole report - shown an array of letters, participants, not knowing which row they had to remember, were able to report a whole row of the array. But then they forgot. b. Visual sensory store - where the array was being held. It faded from memory because it was not attended to.

2. How do different aspects of sensory memory hold information?

a. Visual sensory memory holds visual information for a brief period of time, but it fades away if not attended to. b. Auditory sensory memory - similar to VSM c. Short term memory has a limited capacity to store sensory information, but after rehearsal, it can be transferred into long-term memory.

4. How is information held in long term memory activated?

a. Working memory is formed partly from info retrieved in long-term memory. b. Adaptive control of thought theory - The chance that a memory is primed is equivalent to the base-level activation and the activation it receives from associated concepts c. Activation spreads from presented items to memories related to the prime item.

2c. What does the theory of short-term memory say about how many memories can be stored, and how they can be transferred into long-term memory?

i. Memory-span: Can only hold a limited amount of information. Determined by rehearsal of information i.e. digits. E.g. We have a greater chance of knowing a digit has been mentioned before if there are fewer intervening digits. ii. Deep processing results in the transfer of short-term memory to long-term memory. E.g. If not asked to retain a string of digits, despite rehearsal, we will not retain them.

6c. How does level of processing and motivation result in the depth of material remembered?

i. Orienting tasks shows that if people process information deeply, the will remember it better, regardless of whether they want to remember it. e.g. Group asked to check if a word sounded pleasant - had to think of meaning of word - better than group which checked if word had 'e', regardless of whether they were asked to remember the words.

3b. How do primate experiments show that different areas of the frontal and parietal cortex maintain different types of information in working memory?

i. Primates rely on the Brodmann area 46 of frontal cortex to remember where hidden food items are located after a delay. ii. When the right prefrontal cortex is lesioned, the location that appeared in left vf cannot be remembered. iii. Different regions of monkey brain appear to activate, in response to different objects. iv. Humans show activation in area 47, adjacent to 46, when they hold visual information in working memory.

6d. How does 'trauma' play into how well we remember a specific event?

i. San Francisco Earthquake - people who were actually witnesses had better memory, experienced 'flashbulb memories' of the event. ii. Margaret Thatcher - 11 months later, more people who were affected by her resignation had perfect memory of the event iii. 9/11 - interview participants who were closer in proximity - had a higher level of activity in the amygdala iv. Details about 9/11 which were reported more - e.g. Bush's location - were better remembered.

5b. How can activation strengthen memory on a neural level?

i. The neural activation measure (in the hippocampus) increases, more slowly, as the response times decrease, at a slower rate. ii. Prefrontal activation occurs when items which we are asked to remember are remembered. iii. verbal information results in greater activation in the left hemisphere while visual info results in greater right hemisphere activation.

6a. How can memory improve when it is processed in meaningful elaborations?

i. When memorizing a list of sentences, more success = developing justifications for them ii. Participants could better identify the subject of a sentence when they developed their own elaboration, or when precise elaborations given by the experimenter iii. Precise elaborations prompt the memory to be recaled iv. Higher activity in the prefrontal and hippocampal regions involved for memories which involve meaningful elaborations

3a. How does the central executive control the visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop to help us store info in our working memory?

i. phonological loop consists of articulatory loop and phonological store. articulatory loop rehearses information and phonological store stores it. ->better at remembering words which take a shorter time to repeat ii. phonological store associated with parietal-temporal region iii. but the rehearsal of information does not store it into long-term memory. Therefore, it is different from short-term memory.

5. How can practice strengthen our memory?

5a. The power law of learning states that the speed at which we can recognize facts increases quickly, at first, but gains diminish overtime. 5b. Activation in prefrontal regions drive LTP, which creates and strengthens memories.

2b. What evidence exists for the auditory sensory store?

A negative ERP can be observed when two sounds in close proximity do not have the same frequency.

4b. Explain the "ACT Theory" equation.

Ai = Bi + sumof(Wj * Sji) The activation of the ith response is equal to the baseline activation of that response, plus the sum of all the products of each j potential prime's weight and association with the ith response.

4c. How does activation spread from presented items to memories related to it?

In Kaplan's study, scientists were better at solving riddles when presented with a prime that solved the answer. e.g. watermelon People were better at judging if both strings presented to them were words if they were in a commonly associated pair e.g. bread and butter

6b. How does elaborative processing relate to effective studying methods?

It prompts a deeper understanding of the material