Human Memory

The Peterson task

short-term forgetting task in which a small amount of material is tested after a brief delay filledy a rehearsal-preventing task

immersion method

strategy for foreign language teaching whereby the learner is placed in an environment where only the foreign language is used

subjective organization

strategy whereby a learner attempts to organize unstructured material so as to enhance learning

fugue

sudden loss of autobiographical memory, usually accompanied by wandering

spatial working memory

system involved in temporarily retaining information regarding spatial location

long-term memory

system or systems assumed to underpin the capacity to store information over long periods of time

semantic memory

system that is assumed to store accumulative knowledge about the world

episodic memory

system that is assumed to underpin the capacity to remember specific events

object memory

system that temporarily retains information concerning visual features such as color or shape

magnetoencephalography

system whereby the activity of neurons within the brain is detected through the tiny magnetic fields that their activity generates

stem completion

task whereby retention of a word is tested by presenting the first few letters

fragment completion

technique whereby memory for a word is tested by deleting alternate letters and asking participants to complete the word

articulatory suppression

techniue for disrupting verbal rehearsal by requiring participants to continuously repeat a spoken word

working memory span

tem applied to a range of complex memory span tasks in which simultaneous storage & processing is required

phonological similarity effect

tendency for immediate serial recall of verbal material to be reduced when the items are similar in sound (easier to recall pit,day,cow,pen,hot than cat,map,man,cap,mad)

total time hypothesis

amount learned depends on time spent learning

Gestalt psychology

an approach to psychology that was strong in Germany in the 1930s that attempted to use perceptual principles to understand memory and reasoning

amygdala

area of the brain close to the hippocampus that is involved in emotional processing

echoic memory

auditory sensory memory

mood-congruent memory

bias in the recall of memories such that negative mood makes negative memories more readily available than positive, and vice versa. Unlike mood dependency, does not affect recall of neutral memories

hippocampus

brain structure in the medial temporal lobe that is important for long-term brain functioning

distributed practice

breaking practice up into number of shorter sessions, in contrast to cramming, which comprises fewer, long learning sessions is more efficient

sensory memory

brief storage of information within a specific modality

iconic memory

brief storage of visual information

latent inhibition

classical conditioning phenomenon whereby multiple prior presentations of a neutral stimulus will interfere with its involvement in subsequent conditioning

episodic buffer

component of B&H model which assumes a multidimensional code, allowing the various subcomponents of working memory to interact with long-term memory

cell assembly

concept proposed by Hebb to account for the physiological base of long-term learning, which is assumed to involve the establishment of links between the cells forming the assembly

long-term working memory

concept to account for the way in which long-term memory can be used as a working memory to maintain a complex cognitive activity

electroencephalogram(EEG)

device for recording electrical potentials of the brain through a series of electrodes placed on the scalp

chaining

each number associated or linked to the next, which is linked to the next, etc.

PTSD

emotional disorder whereby a dramatic and stressful event such as rape results in persistent anxiety, often accompanied by vivid flashback memories of the event

mental time travel

emphasizes the way in which episodic memory allows us to relive the past and use this information to imagine the future

autobiographical knowledge base

facts about ourselves and our past that form the basis for autobiographical memory

change blindness

failure to detect even quite dramatic changes in a scene, given a brief delay

delusions

false beliefs, often found in schizophrenic patients, that seem well founded to the patient but implausible to a neutral observer

visual cache

forms a counterpart to phonological store and is maintained by inner scribe, a counterpart to phonological rehearsal

inhibition

general term applied to mechanisms that suppress other activities. Term can be applied to a precise physiological mechanism or to a more general phenomenon, as in proactive & retroactive inhibition, whereby memory for an item is impaired by competition from earlier or later items

dual-coding hypothesis

highly imageable words are easier to learn because they can be encoded both visually and verbally

levels of processing

items that are more deeply processed will be better remembered

classical conditioning

learning procedure wherey a neutral stimulus is paired repeatedly with a response-evoking stimulus, will come to evoke that response

expanding retreival

learning schedule whereby items are initially tested with a short delay, with pretest delay gradually increasing across subsequent trials

incidental learning

learning situation in which th learner is unaware the test will occur

intentional learning

learning when the learner knows there will be a test of retention

mere exposure effect

tendency for neutral stimulus to acquire positive value with repeated exposure

infantile amnesia

tendency for people to have few autobiographical memories from below the age of 5

primacy effect

tendency for the first few items in a sequence to be better recalled than most of the following items

recency effect

tendency for the last few items in a list to be well recalled

long-term recency

tendency for the last few items to be well recalled under conditions of long-term memory

irrelevant sound effect

tendency for verbal STM to be disrupted by concurrent fluctuating sounds, including speech and music

word length effect

tendency for verbal memory span to decrease when longer words are used

phonological loop

term applied by Baddeley and Hitch to the component of their model responsible for temporary storage of speech-like information

false memory syndrome

term applied to cases, particularly of child abuse, in which the rememberer becomes convincd of an event that did not happen

modal model

term applied to model of memory developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin

flashbulb memory

term applied to the detailed & apparently highly accurate memory of a dramatic experience

binding

term used to refer to the linking of features into objects(e..g color red, shape square=red square) or of events into coherent episodes

nonword repetition test

test whereby participants hear and attempt to repeat back nonwords that gradually increase in length

semantic memory

the memory of meanings, understandings, and other concept-based knowledge unrelated to specific experiences, e.g. how man months in a year? Who's the president of the US?

chunking

the process of combining a number of items into a single chunk typically on the basis of long-term memory

Reductionism

the view that all scientific explanations should aim to be based on a lower level of analysis: psychology in terms of physiology, physiology in terms of chemistry, and chemistry in terms of physics

reappearence hypothesis

the view that under certain circumstances, such as flashbulb memory and PTSD, memories can be created that later reappear in exactly the same form

consolidation

time-dependent process by which a new trace is gradually woven into the fabric of memory and by which its components and their interconnections are cemented together

frame

type of schema in which information about objects and their properties is stored

script

type of schema relating to the typical sequences of events in various common situations

resource sharing

use of limited attentional capacity to maintain two or more simultaneous activities

corsi block tapping

visuo-spatial counterpart to digit span involving an array of blocks that tester taps in a sequence and the patient attempts to copy

digit span

longest sequence that could be repeated back without error

autobiographical memory

memory across the lifespan for both specific events and self-related information

working memory

memory system that underpins our capacity to keep things in mind while performing complex tasks

explicit/declarative memory

memory that is open to intentional retrieval, whether based on recollecting personal events(episodic memory) or facts(semantic memory)

magnetic resonance imaging

method of brain imaging that relies on detecting changes introduced by a powerful magnetic field

event-related potentials

method using EEG in which electrophysiological reaction of the brain to specific stimuli is tracked over time

typicality gradient

ordering of the members of a category in terms of their typicality ratings

masking

process by which perception and/or storage of a stimulus is influenced by events occurring immediately before presentation or more commonly after

maintenance rehearsal

process of reheasal whereby items are 'kept in mind' but not processed more deeply

task switching

process whereby a limited capacity system maintains activity on two or more tasks by switching between them

elaborative rehearsal

process whereby items are not simply kept in mind but are processed either more deeply or more elaborately

priming

process whereby presentation of an item influences the processing of a subsequent item, either making it easier to process or more difficult

long-term potentiation

process whereby synaptic transmission becomes more effective following a cell's recent activation

semantic coding

processing an item in terms of its meaning, hence relating it to other information in long-term memory

nonsense syllables

pronounceable but meaningless consonant-vowel-consonant items designed to study learning without the complicating factor of meaning

depth of processing

proposal by Craik and Lockhard that the more deeply an item is processed, the better will be its retention

transfer-appropriate processing(TAP)

proposal that retention is best when the mode of encoding and mode of retrieval are the same

schema

proposed to explain how our knowledge of the world is structured and influences the way in which new information is stored and subsequently recalled

confabulation

recollection of something that did not happen

short-term memory

retention of small amounts of material over a period of a few seconds

visio-spatial STM

retention of visual and/or spatial information over brief periods of time

implicit/nondeclarative memory

retreival of information from long-term memory through performance rather than explicit conscious recall or recognition

HERA(Hemispheric Encoding & Retrieval Asymmetry)

Tulving's proposal that the encoding of eposidic memories involves the left frontal lobe whereas their retrieval depends on right frontal areas

life narrative

a coherent and integrated account of one's life that is claimed to form the basis of autobiographical memory

visio-spatial sketchpad

a component of Baddeley & Hitch model that is assumed to be repsonsile for the temporary maintenance of visual & spatial information

working self

a concept proposed by Conway to account for the wayin which autobiographical knowledge is accumulated and used

model

a method of expressing a theory more precisely, allowing predictions to be made and tested

free recall

a method whereby participants are presented with a sequence of items, which they are subsequently required to recall in any order they wish

positron emission tomography

a method whereby radioactively labeled substances are introduced into the bloodstream and subsequently monitored to measure physiological activation

reminiscence bump

a tendency in participants over 40 to show a high rate of recollecting personal experience from their late teens and 20s

neuroimaging

a term applied to a range of methods whereby the brain can be studied, eithr in terms of its anatomical structure or its operation

verbal learning

a term applied to an approach to memory that relies principlly on the learning of lists and words and nonsense syllables

double-dissociation

a term particularly used in neuropsychology when two patient groups show opposite patterns of deficit, e.g. normal STM and impaired LTM, vs. normal LTM and impaired STM

autonoetic consciousness

a term proposed by Tulving for self-awareness, allowing the rememberer to reflect on the contents of episodic memory

supervisory attentional system

accounts for attentional control of action