Week 1 Improving Memory

The famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe

Empiricism is the theory that the origin of all knowledge is sense experience. It emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, and argues that the only knowledge humans can have is a posteriori (i.e. based on experience).

episodic memory

Episodic memory is one of the two parts of declarative (explicit memory). It represents our memory of experiences and specific events in time in a serial form, from which we can reconstruct the actual events that took place at any given point in our lives.

Hermann von Helmholtz studied the physiology of vision and hearing. Given the physical nature of his work, why is he considered important to the development of psychology as a discipline?

He noted that the mind could be measured using scientific methods.

Emilio has taught himself to savor each bite of his meals. He closes his eyes, focuses intensely on the flavors of his food, and maximizes his enjoyment of every bite. His ability to focus intently on the sensation and perception of taste is similar to which one of Wilhelm Wundt's procedures?

Introspection as a research technique - The term introspection is also used to describe a research technique that was first developed by psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. Also known as experimental self-observation, Wundt's technique involved training people to carefully and objectively as possible to analyze the content of their own thoughts.

Introspection

Introspection as a research technique - The term introspection is also used to describe a research technique that was first developed by psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. Also known as experimental self-observation, Wundt's technique involved training people to carefully and objectively as possible to analyze the content of their own thoughts.

In what way did the behavioral perspective in psychology differ with almost every other perspective to come before it?

It rejected any reference to "the mind" and focused on observable behavior as the only legitimate topic of the field.

The idea that once a person learns and forgets a set of information, it will require less effort to relearn that information again a second time is referred to as __________.

Saving

relearning information requires less effort than the first time (savings) and demonstrates that knowledge that appears to be lost may still be residing somewhere in our mind

Saving

Dr. Lee is studying pain perception. Dr. Lee suggests that we can only understand the conscious experience of pain if we first understand the role of pain in human survival and adaptation. Dr. Lee if mostly a member of which school of psychology?

Structuralism suggests that the goal of psychology is to study the structure of the mind and consciousness, while functionalism puts forth that understanding the purpose of the mind and consciousness is the aim of psychology. Functionalism was developed as a response to structuralism.

Semantic memory is one of two types of declarative (explicit) memory. It is our general world knowledge (facts, ideas, meanings, concepts) that we have accumulated throughout our lives. It is dependent upon our culture.

The alphabet is an example of semantic knowledge?

Atkinson & Shiffrin

The multistore model of memory (also known as the modal model) was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) and is a structural model. They proposed that memory consisted of three stores: a sensory register, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory(LTM).

rapid downward slope, then levels out and declines gradually.

When you first learn something, the information disappears at an exponential rate, i.e. you lose most of it in the first couple of days, after which the rate of loss tapers off.

An experiment by this researcher demonstrated that memory is not a passive system but involves active processing of information when subjects changed terms and words to make them more familiar to their cultural background (for example, "canoes" became "boats"). Who was this cognitive psychologist?

Wundt Schemata were initially introduced into psychology and education through the work of the British psychologist Sir Frederic Bartlett (1886-1969). In carrying out a series of studies on the recall of Native American folktales, Bartlett noticed that many of the recalls were not accurate, but involved the replacement of unfamiliar information with something more familiar. They also included many inferences that went beyond the information given in the original text. In order to account for these findings, Bartlett proposed that people have schemata, or unconscious mental structures, that represent an individual's generic knowledge about the world. It is through schemata that old knowledge influences new information.undt

Naming

a person is actively and consciously trying to remember something (explicit memory-declarative) a person is unaware that memory is being used (implicit memory-nondeclarative)

implicit; explicit

a person is actively and consciously trying to remember something (explicit memory-declarative) a person is unaware that memory is being used (implicit memory-nondeclarative)

Declarative memories are conscious. Declarative memory concerns the ability to bring back to mind factual and episodic information.

are open to conscious awareness and are easy to articulate

Gestalt psychology, with its emphasis on topics such as learning and perception, was an important early precursor to the rise of ________ psychology in America.

cognitive

When you first learn something, the information disappears at an exponential rate, i.e. you lose most of it in the first couple of days, after which the rate of loss tapers off.

forgetting curve

Type the following sentence without looking down at your hands: "Every red pepper is tantalizing." Now, without looking, try naming the ten letters that appear in the top row of your keyboard. Typing is an example of of what type of memory and naming is an example of what type of memory?

implicit; explicit

E

introspection

Your memory of how to do something, such as how to shoot a free throw in basketball is contained in which memory system?

nondeclarative memory

What is one unusual feature of implicit memories?

people can display implict memory without realizing that they are using memory.

Which of the following is an example of a task that would rely on procedural memory?

procedural memory (implicit memory) is memory for how to do things and for conditioned responses learning through classical conditioning and priming effects

What does the classic forgetting curve that Ebbinghaus described for nonsense syllables show?

rapid downward slope, then levels out and declines gradually.

What is an important concept in memory developed by Bartlett?

scheme