Chapter 4 and 5

Coding

- refers to the form in which stimuli are represented within our memory system. •this can be Represented in both STM and LTM •but, the Type of coding occurs in certain situation and it really depends largely on the task that you are doing. And it depends on what you are exactly pulling from your long term memory into your stm. •Physiological approach to coding- determining how a stimulus is represented by the firing of neurons. ( as mentioned before, our neurons make representations of things the we remember and the more that something is rehearsed, the more likely that the firing pattern is going to continue within our and the more likely to remember something because we are activating those neurons continuously in our brain. ) •Mental approach to coding- asking how a stimulus or experience is represented in the mind

•Experiment on sensory memory: they Measured the capacity and duration of sensory memory (Sperling, 1960)

-So, in the experiment, a Array of letters flashed quickly on a screen. -Participants asked to report as many letters that they see as possible. •Whole report method: participants asked to report as many as could be seen= -Average of 4.5 out of 12 letters (37.5% accurate ) •Partial report method: participants heard tone that told them which row of letters to report=-Average of 3.3 out of 4 letters (82% accurate) and Participants could report any of the rows. •Delayed partial report method: presentation of tone delayed for a fraction of a second after the letters were extinguished/ taken away. -Performance decreases rapidly; when they already had know what they wanted to recall or what information they had to pay attention to, they were better able to do that than when a tone was added after they saw the letter because that tone took away from what they had seen. It was another type of sensory that was added in to the input and the tone took away from their ability to recall what they had seen previously. In conclusion, sensory memory changes pretty quickly, how long it last when it is exposed to different stimuli. Different senses doesn't last long.

Constructive episodic simulation hypothesis: asks Can we use these memories to predict the future?

-so, Episodic memories are extracted and recombined to create simulations of future events. (Ex: history repeats itself) -it Helps us to anticipate future needs and guide future behaviors So, it's really thought to be Adaptive function similar to mind wandering It takes our knowledge of something that has happened in the past, and something that we experience in order to = I think I know what might happen in the future.

Levels of processing experiment-

3 types of questions designed to create different levels of processing. •1) physical features = shallow processing •2) rhyming = deeper processing •3) filling in the blanks = deepest processing •After responding to all 3 types of questions, they were given a memory test to see how well they recalled the words •Results indicated that deeper processing is associated with better memory •Basic idea: Memory retrieval is affected by how the information is encoded. You try to practice but it doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to remember it because how you are going to encode is important for what you'll remember later. So it's one thing to practice words, it's another to really process it.

Consolidation

: is the process of Establishing Memories. Transforms new memories from a fragile state (where they can be disrupted) to a more permanent state (resistant to disruption) •2 ways your brain does this: •Synaptic consolidation- takes place over minutes or hours, involves structural changes at synapses •Systems consolidation- takes place over months or years, involves the gradual reorganization of neural circuits within the brain •Note: These two types of consolidation are occurring at the same time, just at different speeds; not a 2-stage process

•Monkey experiments- w/ out PFC had difficulty holding information in WM

Also responsible for processing incoming visual and auditory information

Attention and experiencing a coherent world

Binding- process which features such as color, form, motion, and location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object • Feature integration theory- Objects are analyzed by their features in the pre-attentive stage- automatic, no effort or attention, unaware of the process • Focused attention- plays a key role in combining the features with the aid of attention • Mostly a bottom up process • Top down processing combines with our feature analysis to help one perceive things accurately.

Attention as Information Processing—Models of Selective Attention• Consider- where does the filter occur? ( so, where are we filtering the information that is surrounding us?) is it Early or later in processing?

Broadbent's filter model of attention (reviewed in Ch.1) - early selection model • Intermediate Attention Model - Treisman's attenuation model Late Selection Model- MacKay (1973)

What happens when we do not attend? Part 2

Change detection- using this lack of attention can affect perception. Example- detecting the change between 2 pictures Change blindness- difficulty detecting changes in scenes---happens a lot in movies. Wizard of Oz- Judy Garland's hair length changes many times • Pretty Woman- Julia Roberts reaches for a croissant and it turns into a pancake • Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone- Daniel Radcliff changes where he is sitting during a conversation in the Great Hall • Want more?--look for continuity errors in movies

Outcomes of Attention- What do we gain by attending?

Covert attention- is shifting attention while keeping eyes still because the attentional shift cannot be seen by observing the person. So it is our ability to shifting our attention within our mind 1. Improves our ability to respond to different information at location could be because of Precueing- directing attention when not moving your eyes, respond faster to a light at an expected location than at an unexpected location even when your eyes are fixed Information processing is more effective at the place where attention is directed Attention is like a spotlight or zoom lens that improves processing when directed toward a particular location 2. Attention improves our ability to respond to different objects 3. Attention affects perception: Attended objects are perceived to be bigger and faster, and to be more richly colored and have better contrast than non attended objects. Causes us to not only respond faster to locations and objects but affects how we perceive it. attentional ability Affects physiological responding- researchers found that there is an increases activity in areas of the brain that represent the attended location. So, fMRI studies detect cortical activity during a search task and has shown us we have "attention maps" in our brains that allows us to attend to different stimuli things. Also, Attention changes the representativeness of the cortex ( so how the cortex represents different things. ) Looking for particular categories shifts our ability to responding for different things. Also there is an Attentional warping- map of categories on the brain changes so more space is allotted to the categories that are being searched for and this effect occurs when the attended category is not presented

Serial Position Curve ( helps us understand long term memory and how it interacts with stm/wm.) -

Created by presenting a list of words to participants one after another Found: that our Memory is better for words at the beginning and end of list than for words in the middle •The reason for the find: Primacy effects •More likely to remember words at the beginning •Thought to be because the list was rehearsed more so it is more likely to remembered later-- more likely to be transferred to LTM •Recency effects •More likely to remember the words at the end •Thought to be because it was more recently presented to words in the STM making it easier for them to remember when having to recall Conclusion: it demonstrates about what you are more likely to encode into your short term memory into your long term memory and why these effects play a role into what you remember.

What happens when we do not attend?

Dividing our attention is possible, but difficult. How can we miss things that are clearly visible? This highlights our Intentional blindness-occurs when people are unaware of clearly visible stimuli if they aren't directing their attention towards them. Intentional deafness- focusing on an intense visual search task can impair your ability to hear tones

Processing Capacity and Perceptual Load

Example of this-- The Stroop task- so the individual has to Name of the word-interferes with the ability to name the color of the ink, difficult to avoid the meanings of the words. Takes a toll on processing speed capacity and perceptual load

Central Executive is located

Frontal lobe plays a central role in working memory and plays as the central executive for your memory system. Perseveration- repeatedly performing the same action or thought even though it is not achieving the desired goal. You see perseveration in individuals with attentional difficulties in this area will do this on a list learning task like remembering a list of words. They would repeat the words three or more times within a trial because they have difficulty remembering that word because it doesn't last in their short term memory. So, they have difficulty manipulating their executive system which inhibits from being able to monitor what their saying. This allows leads to the Difficulty following when the rule is switched because the executive system not working properly.

Procedural memory

Implicit nature •Ex. Violinist who lost episodic memory due to damage to hippocampus but they still could play the violin and learn new material to play on the violin. •they had Skill memory: memory for actions •but, had No memory of where or when learned •in conclusion, they were able to Perform procedures without being consciously aware of how to do them despite knowing where they had learned them. •so, People who cannot form new LTMs can still learn new skills (e.g., HM) •Can learned how to draw a star without ever having practiced drawing one •Are there cognitive skills that are implicit?- ex. how to have a grammatically correct conversation

Interactions between episodic and semantic memory

Knowledge (semantic) affects experience ( episodic) •for example: Knowledge of a sports game affects how you experience it by watching the game. ( you don't understand the game= negative experience. You understand it= positive experience) •use your semantic memory to Guide your experience ( episodic ) and influence the episodic memories that follow •vice versa: Can start as episodic and then fades to semantic memory. Ex: going to museum and learned = relying those things you have learned. •Autobiographical memory has both semantic and episodic components •Autobiographical memory: specific experiences, includes semantic and episodic •Personal semantic memory: semantic memories that have personal significance •Your knowledge about public figures is determined influenced by your experience with that figure. Ex: meeting a celebrity and had a really great into action with that person. This will influence what you think about or how you think about that person and you'll remember the event of meeting that person. •If you had a personal interaction with an individual your experience would go from semantic to episodic and create an autobiographically significant memory. •so your Experiences related to episodic memories can aid in accessing semantic memories

Encoding:

Maintenance rehearsal- rehearsing information without any consideration of the meaning or making connections. Ex: studying a list of words without making connections with the words. •Elaborative Rehearsal- results in better memory than maintenance rehearsal because you are making meaning of what you are trying to remember. Ex: studying the words and their definitions.

•Brain Imaging ( doesn't show us that there is a clear separate between stm and ltm.)

Memory for faces- found that there was Activity in hippocampus increases as participants are holding novel faces in memory during the 7-second delay but activity changes slightly for familiar faces. So the Hippocampus was found to maintain novel information in memory during short delays •Research has showed that hippocampus and medial temporal structures also play some role in STM •What to conclude? •there is Good evidence for the separation of STM and LTM but there is evidence that this is not separated especially for task involving novel/ new stimuli

There is also evidence that Prefrontal Neurons that hold information

Neurons respond only when something is in a particular location and these neurons have been shown to continue responding after a delay. So, the Firing of the neurons indicate that an object presented at a particular space in the visual spatial field, allows the information about the objects location to remain available for as long as the neurons continue firing. In other words, these neurons keep firing even when the information is taken away, doesn't firing for long but they do continue to fire which is also further evidence that we do have this working memory system in our brain that functions even after information is removed from our immediate awareness.

Distractions- things that direct our attention away from something we are doing

Our environment is full of distractions! Ex. Cellphones while driving- studies have shown doing this uses mental resources that should be used when driving the car. So, Anything that causes distraction can degrade driving performance Ex. The internet- such as "surfing the web" while in class Ex. Mind Wandering- aka "daydreaming" • Ever read something and then have no idea what you just read? Called the mindless reading phenomenon this decreases performance when attending Some evidence that it could help performance when using our memory, problem solving, and creativity

Classical conditioning

Pairing a neutral stimulus with a reflexive response Involves implicit memory when person has forgotten about original pairing of the stimulus and the response. Like: the dog had forgotten that whistle equals food.

Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex

Phineas Gage- after frontal lobe injury he had low impulse control, poor ability to plan, and poor social skills. This is Evidence that frontal lobe is involved in a variety of mental functions including personality and planning so he would also have difficulty in his working memory ability.

Phonological loop: 3 phenomena that support the idea of a system specialized for language and the handling of auditory information while it separates from the system of how we remember visual facial information.

Phonological similarity effect- confusion of letters or words that sound familiar •"F" sounds like "S" and "X," but we likely wound not confuse it with "E" even though they look the same Word Length Effect- memory for lists of words is better for short words then longer as it takes longer to rehearse and produce the longer words List A: "boy," "girl," "cat," "dog," "lion" List B: "animal," "people," "trampoline," "gallery," "mosquito" Articulatory Suppression- speaking infers with rehearsal of information , reduces memory span so when there are people talking when we are trying to listen to things specifically, it infers with our ability to remember information and this eventuality eliminates word length effect, and reduces phonological similarity effect for reading words

Processing Capacity and Perceptual Load: How do you ignore distracting stimuli?

Processing capacity- is the amount of information we can handle, sets limit on ability to process incoming information. Perceptual load- is the difficulty of the task. ( how much information can we get and how difficult is the information. ) Low-load tasks- use a small amount of processing capacity. Processing speed remains available and can process task-irrelevant stimuli (allows someone to become easily distracted) High-load tasks- use more processing capacity. So, No resources remain to process other stimuli, irrelevant stimuli cannot be processed. So, No processing speed capacity remains and are less-likely to be distracted. ( for example: if you have ever been more focused on something, the require a lot of your attentional system that's because your processing speed capacity and your perceptual load was kind of at max. )

Reconsolidation: The dynamics of memory

Reconsolidation and Memory Updating •anything that we Retrieved memories become fragile (easily changed) and are consolidated again → reconsolidation •We are constantly learning new things and updating our memory about previously learned information •Memory is a "work in progress" ... constantly constructed and remodeled in response to learning and conditions

•How much information can be held in STM?

Research asks the question: "Should STM capacity be measured by the number of items or amount of detailed information?"•Ongoing debate and research still continuing

•working Differs from STM

STM holds information for a brief period of time and no manipulation while WM is concerned with the storage, processing and manipulation of information, and is active during complex cognition task that you undergo.

Comparing STM/WM vs LTM Processes

STM/WM- Happened within the last 30 seconds •LTM- ranges from 5 minutes ago to your earliest life memories •Example •Telling a friend you saw a movie the night prior with another friend your Working memory holds the statement that you saw the movie in your mind. •so, Accessing the meaning of the words from LTM to help you understand the meanings •LTM also contains a great deal of information about movies, the topic relating to the movie you saw, and about the friend you saw the movie with •But, you don't consciously think about all of this information, however it helps to add to your understanding of what you are hearing and interpreting •LTM is an archive that you can refer to

• Scanning a Scene with Eye Movements-

Scanning is necessary because good detail vision occurs only for things we are looking at directly. Directing Attention by Scanning a Scene. Central vision- area you are looking Peripheral vision- everything off to the side Pausing when scanning causes a fixation of the eye Saccadic eye movement- rapid, jerky movement from one fixation to the next Even when not viewing a scene our eyes move 3x per second Overt attention- shifting from one place to another by moving eyes because we can see attentional shifts by observing where the eyes are looking. ( someone who has over attention difficulties,like looking around the whole place, having a real hard time attending to the task at hand. Difficult controlling that part of their attentional system so difficult controlling their eye movements when they are attending to different things or to stop a look at one thing)

Working memory.

Similar concept to short-term memory.Limited-capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning

Modal model of memory:

Simplest model of memory- this proposed the 3 types of memory. Places sensory and short-term memory (STM) at the beginning of the process of memory and long term memory being at the end. •Types of memory in this model called the structural features Control processes- active processes that can be controlled by the person such as rehearsal. There are Strategies used to make a stimulus more memorable. •Strategies of attention that help you focus on specific stimuli.

What happens when we do not attend? • What about in everyday experience?

The world is crowded with overwhelming stimuli, we are only able to pay attention to a small fraction of it we are constantly missing things in our environment. It is Argued to be actually adaptive, so we only can focus on what is important to make optimal use of our limited processing capacity. And our Perceptual system does a good job of taking in what we need to survive, but that doesn't mean that our modern world does not put us in a situation that we are not yet designed or able to deal with

Intermediate Attention Model -

Treisman's attenuation model argues that the Attended message can be separated from unattended message early in the information-processing system and Selection can also occur later. So the Attenuator- It analyzes incoming message in terms of physical characteristics, language, and meaning. The Attended message is let through the attenuator at full strength while the Unattended message is let through at much weaker strength. So after going through the attenuator which then goes to the Dictionary unit. So the dictionary unit is said to Contains words, each of which has a threshold for being activated and that the Words that are common or important have low thresholds while Uncommon words have high thresholds. ( so, you pay attention us words that you are unfamiliar with then words that you are familiar with in the directory unit. So it goes from message to attenuator which goes through full strength to dictionary unit then into memory.

Types of coding:

Visual coding - coding in the mind in the form of a visual image STM- remembering a pattern in your mind just presented to you •LTM- remembering your teachers face from 5th grade Auditory coding - coding in the mind in the form of a sound •STM- misidentifying target letters as another letter that sounds like a target •LTM- "playing a song" in your head Semantic coding - coding in the mind in terms of meaning •STM- recalling words soon after hearing them •LTM- recalling a book you had read from 20 min ago. •Specifics are usually forgotten but the general meaning can be remembered for a long time

Why is more working memory better?

Vogel and coworkers (2005) did an experiment to determine participants WM ability: •2 groups high-capacity WM (more items) and low capacity WM (less items) Shown a simple or complex stimuli While making judgements their event-related potentials were measured which indicated how much space was used in WM as they carried out the task Found that high capacity participants were more efficient at ignoring distractors than low capacity. Highlights our ability to be able to control our attention and our working memory. The more capacity that we place in our working memory, the more attention that it requires and the better we are to ignore our distractors. Low capacity, the more you are distracted. This is important to understand as it is an example of cognitive control

•Iconic memory:

a brief sensory memory of the things that we see.•Responsible for persistence of visionEx: I can remember the image of my room.

Memory-

a processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present. Our memory is Active any time, some past experience has an impact on how you think or behave now or in the future

Attention-

ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations

Late Selection Model- MacKay (1973)-

argued that the Selection of stimuli for final processing does not occur until after information has been analyzed for meaning. So, the Incoming information is processed to the level of meaning before the message to be further processed is selected. So, MacKay (1973) researched had had information put Into the attended ear, participants heard ambiguous sentences such as "They were throwing stones at the bank." In unattended ear, participants heard either "river" or "money." The Participants chose which was closest to the meaning of attended message ( so whether or not they had heard river or money, changed what the individuals had said what they heard before. So people said that they heard "They threw stones toward the side of the river yesterday." Or "They threw stones at the savings and loan association yesterday." • Meaning of the biased word affected participants' choice. ( bank- could mean river bank or bank for money) Participants were unaware of the presentation of the biasing

•Echoic memory:

brief sensory memory of the things that we hear. •Responsible for persistence of sound.•Lasts only for a few seconds after initial presentation of the stimulus. •ex: Ever say "what?" to someone, to have them repeat something they said to you, but before they finish repeating it you know what they originally had said? That is because there is this persistence of sound even when the person is done speaking.

Dichotic Listening-

common used in research to allow us to understand how we attend to certain things using our hearing. So, this the process of where One message is presented to the left ear and another to the right ear. the Participant "shadows" one message to ensure he is attending to that message. ( they were told to focus one ear or the other.) The question: Can we completely filter out the message to the unattended ear and attend only to the shadowed message? Found: that Participants could not report the content of the message in unattended ear: so, they Knew that there was a message and Knew the gender of the speaker but, they weren't able to rely the message that was heard in the unattended ear. However, unattended ear is being processed at some level: Cocktail party effect- ability to focus on one voice at a loud party with multiple conversations, so they were able to hear the Change in gender is noticed and Change to a tone is noticed.

Neuropsychology-

has spent a lot of time to locate what the differences found between STM and LTM in the brain. • HM ( patient) • had the Hippocampus removed on both sides of brain to stop seizures • No longer to form new long-term memories • Short-term memory intact • KF • Suffered damage to parietal lobe after a motorcycle accident • resulted in Poor STM but was able to form new long-term memory • Suggests that different brain regions are responsible for STM and LTM • Establishes double dissociations- the processes were caused by different mechanisms and can act independently • However, brain imaging has shown this separation is not as straightforward

• Broadbent's filter model of attention-

he said that there are Filters for the message before incoming information is analyzed for meaning which is very early on in the information processing. The message goes into Sensory memory which the Holds all incoming information for less than a fraction of a second and then Transfers all information to next stage. The next stage is the Filter which helps to Identify attended message based on physical characteristics and then Only attended message is passed on to the next stage. Detector, is the next stage, which Processes all information to determine higher-level characteristics of the message and then sends the information to the Short-term memory. So, the short term memory Receives the output of detector then Holds information for 10-15 seconds and may transfer it to long-term memory. Attention is important as to what is being transferred into memory.

Phonological loop-

holds verbal and auditory information. •2 components-Phonological story- has limited capacity and holds information only for a few seconds •Articulatory Rehearsal Process- responsible for rehearsal that can keep items in the phonological storage from decaying

Visuospatial Sketch Pad-

holds visual and spatial information. Which allows us to manipulate it in our minds. Visual imagery- creation of visual images in the mind in the absence of a physical visual stimulus Example- mental rotation task- when there is a greater number of rotations, it takes longer for someone to be able to pick out whether or not the picture is similar to another.

•Short-term/ working memory-

information that briefly stays in our memory, 10-15 seconds then converted to long term memory.

Modal model of memory explained-

input (sensory: hear, sight,etc) to sensory memory to short term memory ( the memory can be rehearsed ( not always) so it can turn into long term memory or outputted ( no matter how long ago it was.) to long term memory ( can switch with short term memory to recall a memory in order to output information. But as soon as it comes back to active awareness, it goes back into the short term memory. )

The Episodic Buffer

is important because it adds Somethings that the original model cannot explain- one thing being that WM can hold more than would be expected based on just the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad. So, the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad count for a lot of information but we need the episodic buffer to really account for the rest of the information that these two components really don't. •This is an additive component that can store information ( by providing extra capacity) and is connected to LTM (so it helps making the interchange between WM and LTM possible)

Can we attend to more than one thing at at time?-

it Can be achieved with practice due to our automatic processing system. However, you can not do two things that you are not familiar with at the same time. So, With practice our responses can become automatic and occur: Without intention and At a cost of only come cognitive resources. Example- locking your door when leaving your home or driving somewhere and not being able to remember the trip once you reach a destination. Trip is usually uneventful because it is same place that you are taking so it is automatic for you which is True even for motor components-- try attending the next time you are typing?- When you know the keyboard automatically, attending to this task may slow down your performance. With a familiar word it is easy to type fast while a unfamiliar word is harder to type. Divided attention becomes more difficult when tasks are harder. Example- driving and talking on the phone on a familiar route. It is Easy to do this until we come to an unusual traffic pattern in which we usually have to tell the person, "I have to call you back I need to concentrate."So, The demands on your attention increase when adding complexity to the task so the harder the task, the more demands that are placed on your attention and the more difficult it is to be able divide your attention. So yes, you are able to attend when it is an automatic process, no, it is harder to attend when the process is harder.

• Scanning Based on Cognitive Factors-

knowledge about the scene and past experience with stimuli ex: top-down process and it is Influenced by scene schema- an observer's knowledge about what is contained in a typical scene. So often time, You Will be distracted by and look at things longer that are out of place because your attention is affected by what is usually found in the scene. Directing Attention by Scanning a Scene

Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVA) -

like an fMRI but goes beyond just seeing which areas are activated; determines the pattern of activation within various structures •A study utilizing this method found both theories ( with the consolidation process) are correct: •1. More information about remote memories compared to recent memories was contained in the PFC •2. Information about recent and remote memories was represented throughout the hippocampus, with the posterior hippocampus containing more info about remote memories. ( there is some hippocampus activity, just not a lot.) •Overall- results showed that remote memories are richly represented in the cortex (standard and multiple trace models) and both recent and remote memories are represented in the hippocampus (multiple trace model

Explicit memories-

memories we are aware of •Semantic and episodic memories •Implicit memories- memories we are not aware of •Procedural memories and priming and conditioning.

Central Executive-

middle component of the working memory system which pulls information from LTM and coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad by focusing on specific parts of a task and deciding how to divide attention between different tasks. Where the major work of working memory occurs The attention controller- our ability to focus, divide, switch attention controlled by our central executive and its Related to executive attention - Controls suppression of irrelevant information so you can pull information from your long term memory and still be able to coordinate the activity between the phonological loop and visual sketch. In others it is the central executive that is pointing the orders of your working memory that allows you to best manipulate information in your working memory.

• Visual scanning-

movement of the eyes from one location to the next

• Distraction-

one stimulus interfering with the processing of another

Levels of Processing Theory of encoding-

our Memory depends on the depth/deep of processing that an item receives. Shallow processing- little attention to meaning, focus on physical features Deep processing- close attention and elaborative rehearsal that focuses on the items meaning and its relationship to something else (results in better memory)

• Selective attention-

our ability to attending to one thing while ignoring others

• Divided attention-

paying attention to more than one thing at a time

•3 main components of working memory proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974)-

phonological loop, central executive and visuospatial sketch pad. Working memory is set up to process different types of information simultaneously and it is proposed that we use these components in order to process the information. So, we have trouble when similar types of information are presented at the same time with our working memory system.

•Retrieval-

process of remembering information that was stored to your long-term memory. as soon as the information is retrieved, it goes back into the short term memory.

•Encoding-

process of storing information into your long-term memory by rehearsal

• Attentional capture-

rapid shifting of attention caused by an external stimulus (ex. Loud noise, bright light, sudden movement)

Sensory memory:

retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation. Using five senses. But Information decays very quickly. Ex: Persistence of vision: retention of the perception of light like fire works sparklers. In other words, it is a Continued perception of visual stimuli even after it is no longer present. Ex. Trail of light from a moving sparkler and Frames in film.

•Long term memory-

stores information for long periods of time. Episodic- experiences from the past. ( breakfast). Procedural - muscle/ motor coordination ( riding a bike) Semantic- facts ( who is the president)

•Short-term memory storage-

stores small amounts of information for a brief duration. Ex: " shoot what did I come here for. " •Includes both new information received from the sensory stores and information recalled from long-term memory

Scanning Based on Stimulus Salience-

the physical properties of the stimulus such as color, contrast or movement example: bottom-up process. Being able to do this Depends only on light and dark colors and contrast. A Saliency map- created when we analyze characteristics such as color, orientation, and intensity at each location in the scene and then combining these values to understand the scene that we are looking at. • First fixations are likely to be on high-salience areas like spotting a red flower among a bunch of yellow flowers. after that then top-down processing will take over and you will look at the imagine in the scene such as the yellow flowers, the grass and so on. So you are able to better to look at the scene, once you take the focus off of what first grabbed your which was the red flower.Directing Attention by Scanning a Scene

• Scanning Based on Task Demands-

the timing of when we look certain places is based on task demands. Ex: Think about when you are making a sandwich, so the Eye movements occur by the "just in time" strategy- just before we need the information that the eye movement will provide which is Influenced by people's predictions. In other words, how can you predict how well something might be in your environment for example if you got all of the stuff to make you pj sandwich you would know the order of the sandwich, which tool to use and the location of each item. If you didn't lay everything out, it will increase the task demand because you didn't prepare. So something as simple as making a sandwich places a lot of task demand on our attentional system and the timing that we need to pay attention to things.Directing Attention by Scanning a Scene

•Sensory memory-

when something is briefly presented that influences our perception. Uses of our five senses. Part of our short term memory system.

Neuropsychological Evidence for episodic and semantic memory while understanding the differences between them.

• KC- suffered severe damage to hippocampus and surrounding structures which resulted in lost episodic memory but semantic memory is intact • Lost episodic memory- they can no longer relive any of the events of his past • But does know that certain things happened that correspond to the sematic memory (brother's death), but could not remember his personal experience with hearing that news or recall what they emotionally felt during that day. ( can't relive it but can remember exactly what happened) • LP- suffered encephalitis - poor semantic memory and intact episodic memory • Semantic loss- Couldn't recognize familiar people, had trouble shopping because she couldn't remember the meanings of words on a list, and couldn't recognize famous people or facts about WW-II • however, they were Able to remember events in her life and form new episodic memories. ( they can relive ( emotionally) it but can't remember exactly what happened) • Again, these cases highlight double dissociation and is supported by brain imagining

Priming in everyday experience

• Perfect and Askew (1994) - Propaganda effect: people are more likely to rate statements read or heard before as being true. - it Involves your implicit memory because it can occur when people are not aware of previously seeing or hearing statement but you have an opinion formed about it even though you are not consciously thinking about what had caused that opinion to form. - so, this is Implications for advertisements- you are more likely to buy a product because you have seen it previously because you have been primed that it is a good product.

Why do we need to distinguish different types of memory?

• there is a division between the different types of memory so dividing the smaller and easier to study components in the practical world. • How do we distinguish different types of memory? • through Behavioral experiments, neuropsychological testing, and brain imaging • Long-term memory (LTM)- system responsible for storing information over long periods of time and it Includes memories from a few minutes ago to your earliest memories in life

Matching conditions of encoding and retrieval are important.

•Can be increased by matching the conditions at retrieval to the conditions that existed during encoding (3 ways we do this) •1. Encoding Specificity •Best recall occurs when encoding and retrieving in the same location. Ex: taking the tests in the same room you learned it in. •Tip for studying- might be best to study in the same environment you will be taking an exam (if it is quiet during the exam, best to study under quieter conditions •2. State Dependent Learning •Learning is associated with particular internal states (mood or state of awareness). Happy learning = happy retrieval/ test taking. •Better memory if states at learning match states at retrieval 3. Transfer appropriate processing- matching the cognitive task •Memory task results improve if the type of processing used during encoding is the same as the type during retrieval •Morris et al. (1977)- •Participants who did a rhyming based encoding task did better on the rhyming test than participants who did a meaning-based encoding task. •This result would not be predicted by levels of processing theory but is predicted by the principle that better retrieval occurs if the encoding and retrieval tasks are matched Highlight- the encoding has to match the retrieval.

•What is the duration of STM? •How many items can be held in STM?

•Can last about 15-20 seconds. •Digit span-Most basic measurement of attentional capacity ( ex: remembering numbers) The average capacity of STM is about 5 to 9 items. •Change detection-Ability to detect changes in a scene. ( explain what is different from the scenes ) Hypothesizes about 4 items that people can differentiate from each scenes. •Chunking - Combining elements that are strongly associated with one another. Ex: Arranging words into a meaningful sentence. It can increase capacity to be up to 20 items.

Episodic and Semantic Memory ( explicit memory)

•Distinctions between episodic and semantic memory-- both responsible to remember information, but separated by memory experience •Differences in experience •Think about mental time travel- traveling back in time to reconnect with events that happened in the past •for Episodic memory- you can remember a memory like you are reliving it •Semantic memory- not tied to a personal experience •We are accessing information we are familiar with and know about but we don't actually have an emotional or personal tie to the information.

Procedural memory and attention have an interaction

•Do acts without thinking •Expert induced amnesia- those who are so skilled that they cannot put words to how they are able to do what they are good at (ex. When asking a hockey player how they took their shot/what they were thinking, they wouldn't know how they did it because their minds have been trained to be really good at the sport.) •Result of an automatic response •there is a Connection between procedural memory and semantic memory •Can answer questions related to a procedural memory •Ex. An artist remembering how to remove excess paint from a paint brush. They automatically know how to do that but would need to put in words to explain what they had done by using their semantic memory which is a hard thing to do.

Systems Consolidation •Multiple trace model of consolidation

•Hippocampus is activated during retrieval of both recent and remote memories (Gilboa and coworkers, 2004). We are not as dependent on this because the Response of the hippocampus can change over time with the consolidation. (Viskontas and coworkers, 2009 •Sequence of events that occur during consolidation, according to the multiple trace model of consolidation: we are actually always using our hippocampus, it's just we rely on it in different ways. •(a) As with the standard model, connections between the hippocampus and cortex are initially strong (blue) and intercortical connections are weak (dashed green). •(b) As time passes, intercortical connections strengthen (green) and hippocampus-cortical connections remain. (Source: From Maguire, 2014.

Be an "active" note taker. ( Effective studying)

•Laptop vs handwriting notes •Research shows that handwriting notes is better for recall later despite the convenience of typing •Laptop notes have a more "word for word" transcription of the lecture and does not allow you to actually process the information while hearing it •Goes back to understanding that our memory for information is dependent on how it is encoded •When you handwrite notes you are more likely to put them into your own words rather than what the teacher is saying •Laptop use is a form of shallow processing and handwriting is a form of deeper processing •Suggestion- try switching to handwriting your notes for one lecture, see if this improves your memory

Organize helps to encode info (Effective studying)

•Make "study trees" or outlines •Take Breaks •Spacing effect- memory is better for multiple short study sessions (don't cram) •Consolidation is enhanced by sleep after studying (will talk about this later) •Avoid illusions of learning •Familiarity does not mean comprehension •Highlighting of information turns into an automatic process (good first step, but not all that should be done

Consolidation and Sleep: Enhancing memory

•Memory consolidation appears to be enhanced during sleep (Gais and coworkers, 2006) •One reason: sleeping stops interference from environmental stimuli •Some memories are consolidated more than others (Wilhelm and coworkers, 2011) •Memory for task was stronger when participants expected to be tested after awaking •Think of sleep like restarting your computer when it starts to run slow

Retrieval- transferring info from LTM back to working memory. ( Retrieval: Getting information out of memory)

•Most of our memory failures are failures to retrieve •Retrieval cues •Other words or stimuli that help us remember information stored in our memory •Location can serve as a retrieval cue •Free vs. cued recall •Free recall- asked to recall stimuli with no prompt •Cued recall- presented with cues to help recall previous stimuli. ( people do better with this) •Research shows us that retrieval cues provide effective information for retrieving memories, but they are more effective when created by the individual

Evidence for consolidation

•Müller and Pilzecker (1900)- used word list •(a) In the immediate (no delay) condition, participants used the first list (1) and then immediately learned the second list (2). •The second list immediately interrupted the learning process and the individual's ability to form a stable memory of the 1st list •(b) In the delay condition, the second list was learned after a 6-minute delay. •Numbers on the right indicate the percentage of items from the first list recalled when memory for that list was tested later. Takeaway- our brains need time to process the information in order to remember it.

Reconsolidation have been found to help with PTSD treatment

•Posttraumatic stress disorder causes severe emotional responses to traumatic memories •Brunet and coworkers (2008) •Participants reactivated a traumatic memory A Drug administered to block amygdala stress receptors during reconsolidation of memory (propranolol) •Later reactivation of same memory showed lower stress responses (indicating by blood pressure and skin conductance changes)

Organization, Comprehension, and Memory Bransford & Johnson (1972) experiment ( the organization of information and how we remember it for later.)

•Presented difficult to comprehend information to the examinees •Experimental group 1- saw picture that helped to explain the information before reading it •Experimental group 2- saw a picture after reading the passage •Control- did not see the picture •Results: Group 1 outperformed the other groups •Why? Having a mental framework of comprehension aided memory encoding and retrieval. Ex: watching a movie and decided to read the book. It will enhance you comprehension of the story.

Procedural Memory, Priming, and Conditioning ( implicit memory; unconsciously thought about )

•Procedural memory- skill memory for doing things that involve learned skills. Ex: riding a bike. Automatic •Priming- occurs when there is a presentation of one stimulus (the priming stimulus) changes the way a person responds to another (test stimulus). Ex: advertising. •Conditioning- occurs when 2 stimuli are paired (neutral and conditioning stimulus) to elicit a condition response.

Organizing information ( How else do we encode?)

•Retrieval cue- a word or other stimulus that helps a person remember information stored in your memory. Ex: ice cream = dessert. •Presenting information in an organized way improves memory •Prevention of this reduces your ability to remember •Relating words to survival value ( processing words for your career job) •Considering the function of the words to give them meaning •Retrieval practice •The way information is studied can affect how you retrieve it later from your memory

Systems Consolidation Model

•Standard Model- proposes that memory unfolds according to the following sequence: •a) Connections between the cortex and the hippocampus (blue) are initially strong and connections between cortical areas are weak (dashed green). The activity between the hippocampus and cortex is called reactivation. •Reactivation- helps to form direct connections between various cortical areas •(b) As time passes, connections between the hippocampus ( deals with memory) and cortex weaken (dashed blue) and connections between cortical areas become stronger (green). ( we don't need the memory system as we did before to remember the info) •(c) Eventually, only intercortical connections remain

Memory loss and injury

•Standard model of consolidation based partly on observation of injury/trauma-related memory loss •Retrograde amnesia: loss of memory for events prior to the trauma •Can extend back minutes, hours, or years, depending on the nature of the injury •Graded amnesia: memory for recent events is more fragile than for remote events. No consolidation. Relays on hippocampus •Tends to be more severe for the events that happened just before the injury •Anterograde amnesia- amnesia for events that occur after an injury (the inability to form new memories). •Retrograde amnesia- amnesia for events that happened before the injury (the inability to remember information from the past) •The vertical lines, which symbolize the amount of retrograde amnesia, indicate that amnesia is more severe for events or learning that were closer in time leading up to the injury are more fragile •This is the graded nature of retrograde amnesia.

The neural dynamics of working memory theory.

•Stokes (2015) proposed that information can be stored by short-term changes in neural networks. So the Activity- silent working memory says that changes in connectivity of neurons that lasts only a few seconds but is long enough for information to stay in the working memory to occur. Activity State- information to be remembered causes neurons to fired Synaptic State- neuron firing stops, but connections between neurons are strengthened. How we remember our information is when the neurons are fired again and pulled them into our working memory system to the short term memory system which allow them to be outputted. So, Information is held but not by continuous firing but brief changes in connectivity of neuron network

The neural dynamics of working memory

•There are other models that propose that information can be stored in the nervous system by changes in the connections in neural networks •Working memory is also thought to involve processes beyond PFC •there is a Distributed representation of the working memory system that interplay's between number of areas in the brain. •there is a Distributed representation of the working memory system that interplay's between number of areas in the brain.

Elaborate ( Effective studying)

•Thinking about what you are reading and giving it meaning by relating it to other things you already know •Generate and test •taking an Active role in the material important for strong encoding and good long-term retrieval •Testing is a form of generation because it requires active involvement with the material •Performance on tests will improve if you make up your own questions about information-- strengthens encoding •Self-testing indicates what you know and increases ability to remember later

What happens to episodic and semantic memories as time passes?

•We forget at longer intervals but this is Not an all or nothing process. It just fades as time goes on. •Ex. •When you meet someone and see them a week later you might think: •That person looks familiar. What's their name? •There's XXX. Where did I meet them? •There's XXX, the person I met last week at ____. We spoke about. •Influenced by familiarity (semantic) and recollection (episodic). ( these two are working together) •Remember/Know procedure •Semanticization of remote memories •Loss of episodic details for memories of long-ago events The more we might remember is Influenced by how much familiarity we have with the info and how well we are to recall that info because of longer ago events.

Synaptic Consolidation- LTP

•What happens at a synapse as : ( importance of rehearsal) •(a) a stimulus is first presented. The record next to the electrode indicates the rate of firing recorded from the axon of neuron B. •(b) As the stimulus is repeated, structural changes are beginning to occur. •(c) After many repetitions, more complex connections have developed between the two neurons, which causes an increase in the firing rate, even though the stimulus is the same one that was presented in (a) Highlight- cramming is not good because you are letting synaptic consolidation come through.

Forming Visual Images. ( How else do we encode?)

•ex: Paired associate learning- list of paired words presented and have to remember what the word was presented with on recall. It helps because it Creates images in your head about the words given for deeper processing, which will help with recall later. •Linking words to yourself- ex: Self-reference effect- your memory is better if you relate the words to yourself •Generating information- ex: Generation effect- having participants study a list of words in pairs of 2. Either had to read it or generate the list. Having to generate the information yourself improves performance** important idea for studying for exams.

Brain Imagining has further evidence for episodic and semantics

•fMRI demonstrates that retrieving episodic and semantic memories activate different areas of the brain •This presented brain shows areas which are activated by episodic and semantic memories. •The yellow areas represent brain regions associated with episodic memories. •The blue areas represent regions associated with semantic memories.

Synaptic Consolidation •Hebb (1948)

•it was said that Learning and memory are represented in the brain by physiological changes at the synapse •This was the starting point for modern research on the physiology behind memory •Following this work researchers determined that activity at the synapse causes of sequence of chemical reactions •Resulting in the synthesis of new proteins that cause structural changes at the synapse •Long term potentiation (LTP)- strengthening of synaptic transmission is a result of this activity •Enhanced firing of neurons after repeated stimulation •Structural changes happen and enhanced responding

Priming

- Presentation of priming stimulus changes person's response to a test stimulus • there is evidence of Repetition priming so this is where Test stimulus are the same or similar to what the priming stimulus was. And it's Called implicit memory because as a person may or may not remember, the original presentation of the priming stimuli are the thing that gave you that impression of what it is previously. But you can recall the test stimulus, within real time. • Ex. Amnesiac patients as well as controls doing well on an implicit memory test • so, the patients were Able to recall words when given a stem (ex. Tr_ _) but unable to do it when asked to freely recall