Chapter 5 - Memory Structures & Processes

Clive Wearing

- brain injury due to encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) - hippocampus and surrounding brain tissue were damaged - lost episodic and semantic memories (couldn't remember where he was and why he was there) - continues to play piano (procedural memories)

partial-report method

- subjects are only asked for a partial report of what was presented George Sperling - "visual sensory memory" research - 38% recall vs. 75% with partial-report method - subjects could remember 3-4 letters out of 12 - Sperling systematically delayed the presentation of the tone to measure the duration of sensory memories

What two factors does the capacity of STM depend on?

1) The type of information (less or more syllables) 2) Attentional limits

How long are visual sensory memories held?

About 1 second

How long can tactile sensory memory last?

As long as five seconds

What is required when encoding memories?

Being attentive; attention

How is information stored in LTM from STM?

By connecting the information to other information already stored in long-term memory

What are three important processes in memory?

Encoding, storage, and retrieval

What is the length of short-term memories?

Fairly brief

Where does encoding take place for visual stimuli?

In the visual cortex of the occipital lobe (sight of dog sleeping) Then is processed in the medial temporal lobe where the visual information binds to other sensory information from other areas of the cortex (sound of dog snoring; personal knowledge about dogs) The medial temporal lobe area, the hippocampus, and the other areas where pieces of the memory were stored will become reactivated when we need to retrieve the memory.

Recall Tasks

Intentional-retrieval tasks that either provide specific cues to aid retrieval or do not provide specific cues, as in free-recall tasks. * episodic - read a list, pause, and recall * semantic - What is the capital of Romania? (Cued recall task would add, "It starts with a B")

What is more likely the cause of forgetting in STM?

Interference (retroactive and proactive)

Short-term memory

Intermediate memory storage - information that becomes the focus of attention moves from sensory memory to STM (held by rehearsing the information) - Clive Wearing

Phonological Loop

Like the visuospatial sketchpad but is a storage subsystem for verbal information - an articulatory control process in this subsystem allows rehearsal of the information to hold the information in the loop for a longer period of time

What is the length of long-term memories?

Long-term

Long-term memory

Long-term storage of memory after some elaborative processing has occurred - appears to be an unlimited store of information

Implicit Memory Tasks

Measure memory without intentional retrieval **Subjects may be asked to complete word stems ("app-") and choose the first word they think starts with these letters ("apple") **Having studied some items earlier makes one more likely to complete stems with those items or likely to identify them more quickly

episodic memories

Memories about episodes in one's life/daily experiences - like what you had for breakfast yesterday - some are autobiographical - "flashbulb memories" - significant events in U.S. history, etc - these memories can contain errors - includes contextual information (time, place, mood)

semantic memories

Memories about for general knowledge and facts - like what cognitive psychology means - contribute to many other cognitive abilities such as language and concept formation (does not include contextual information (time, place, mood)

procedural memories

Memories about skills we have developed over time -"how to" instructions for skills and tasks - like how to make scrambled eggs, ride a bike, drive a car - just seems to "flow" without us intending to remember anything

Prospective Memory Tasks

Memory for future intentions - forgetting to turn in an assignment that you had already completed by the due date - call your mother on her birthday

What is the phonological similarity effect?

More errors occur when recalling items that sound alike, like C and T. Similar verbal codes (items that sound alike) can become mixed up when recalling information stored in the phonological loop

Are encoding, storage and retrieval controlled by the same brain area?

No, they are controlled by different areas of the brain.

Recognition Tasks

Participants are asked to verify whether information has been experienced before. * "new" or "old" items --> yes-no recognition test

Which memory tasks so Event-based tasks prompt?

Prospective memory tasks - see a commercial of a cake, and are reminded to call your mom for her birthday

What is articulatory suppression?

Repeating a word out loud while learning a list reduces recall for these items. The phonological loop becomes overloaded with both the repeated word and the items to be remembered. **The list information cannot be rehearsed in the loop while producing a verbal response

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Responsible for the storage of visual information in working memory - like a dry erase board, can be written on, erased, rewritten on - when 2 tasks both rely on brief visual storage information, they interfere with one another

Miller - "The Magical Number Seven, Plus Or Minus Two"

STM of about 5-9 items for most people

What is the function of hippocampus?

Storing and retrieving memories One area of the brain that pulls the pieces of a memory back together when it is retrieved

What is the name of the model of memory created by Atkinson & Shiffrin?

The Modal Model of Memory

What are sensory memories? What is an example in regard to looking out a window?

The briefest form of memory; raw, unprocessed sensory information - looking out the window, closing your eyes, you'll see a brief afterimage of the scene that fades very quickly - visual sensory memory a.k.a. "iconic memory"

Central Executive

The part of the working-memory system that controls the flow of information within the system and into long-term memory. **It controls which information in the other subsystems is in our current focus of attention

Episodic Buffer

The part of the working-memory system that holds episodic memories as an overflow for the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. Brief storage for when the visuo and phono are otherwise engaged.

Which subsystem of the working-memory model has been studied most? And why?

The phonological loop. Verbal codes seem to be the dominant method of storing information for a short period of time

Memories - What is memory retrieval?

The process of outputting information from memory - can be intentional (name of your instructor or what you had for breakfast)

Memories - What is encoding? Is it an active and/or inactive process?

The process of putting information into our memory - can be an active process (like studying) - can be less active when information is encoded without intending to remember

Memories - What is memory storage? Does storage take place in one part of the brain?

The process of storing/keeping information in our memory * there is no single place in the brain where an individual memory is kept * the storage of memories seems to be distributed across multiple brain areas

What subcategory of the Baddeley Model was examined in the Shepard & Metzler Mental Rotation Study?

The visuospatial sketchpad - Subjects created an image of the object on the sketchpad and would rotate them to match the comparison image. - The more they had to rotate them, the longer it took to make the judgement - Shows that the visuospatial sketchpad of working memory is able to hold and manipulate this type of information

How can we increase how long information stays in STM?

Through rehearsal, but attention must be focused on the information (remembering a grocery shopping list)

Why do tactile and echoic memory lasts 4-5 seconds?

Two proposed stages of sensory memory storage - the perceptual information connects with information stored in long-term memory that allows for interpretation of the stimuli.

What is LTM's storage and duration capacity?

Unlimited * what one can retrieve from LTM at a given time is limited

What is the length of sensory memories?

Very brief

What are the three subsystems of the Baddley model under the central executive?

Visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop, and episodic buffer

What is a question that exemplifies long-term memory?

What did you have for breakfast yesterday?

What is a question that exemplifies short-term memory?

What were you just thinking about before you started doing what you are doing now?

What is the word length effect?

When longer words (words with more syllables) show lower recall rates than shorter words. **Due to the longer words being forgotten more quickly because more time is passing when they are rehearsed in the phonological loop than for shorter words

Retroactive interference

When new information interferes with the storage or retrieval of old information - when new information kicks old information out of STM

Proactive interference

When old information interferes with the storage and retrieval of new information - early list items remembered over more recent list items

Autobiographical memories are memories...

about one's self.

echoic memory

auditory sensory memory - could last as long as four seconds

What three types of memories can be stored in and retrieved from LTM?

episodic, semantic, and procedural

Prospective memories are memories...

for tasks we intend to perform in the future.

What is MTL?

medial temporal lobe

chunking

organizing information into fewer meaningful units: 199041191114922015 --> 1990 411 911 1492 2015

Baddley's model

the most prominent model of working memory - it contains multiple storage subsystems for different types of information - proposes the existence of a central executive subsystem that controls the flow of information between the other storage subsystems and long term memory and decides where one's attention will be at any given moment

working memory

the system that controls the memories we are currently "working on" or "operating on" in our minds - ex. biking on a walking path, controlling the input of visual and auditory information and coordinating it to help you decide where to steer bike - the system that controls the processing and activation of the information held in STM that is the current focus of attention - controls the flow of information in and out of STM, keeping important information active in STM when it is needed and using the information to control the output from STM