PSYCH 2: Memory

motivated forgetting

- Freud - painful memories are blocked from one's consciousness

causes of dementia

formation of plaques or tangles in areas of the brain controlling memory or vital cognitive functioning - originally found through autopsies

new memories for old

most recent version is saved

how to measure memory (3)

recall, recognition, relearning

memory

the capacity to retain and retrieve information

dementia

- clinical condition in which an individual loses cognitive abilities and functioning to a degree that impedes on normal activity and social relationships - alzheimer's is the most common form

cue dependent forgetting

- forget because you haven't figured out what you need to help remember - context, mental and physical states can all be retrieval cues - "back to the scene of the crime"

short-term memory

- holds limited amounts of information for up to 20/30 seconds - houses our working memory - uses pattern recognition: compares information already in our long term memory and then decides if the information will be stored or lost

long-term memory

- holds memories for minutes to decades - organized by semantic categories - procedural, declarative, prospective, retrospective memory

symptoms of dementia

- loss of memory for recent events or familiar and simple tasks - changes in personality - 3 A's: aphasia, apraxia, agnosia

post-traumatic amnesia

- memory loss as a result of an accident - often is reduced to just forgetting the events surrounding the accident - EX. Michelle from Full House

ways to improve memory (4)

- more frequency/repetition - greater distinctiveness - chunking items together - expert knowledge helps memory of relevant but not irrelevant information

magic number

- number of items we are able to hold in our short-term memory - research suggests around 4

procedural memory

- part of long-term memory - knowing "how"

declarative memory

- part of long-term memory - knowing "that" - declarative-semantic memories: facts, rules, concepts - declarative-episodic memories: experienced events, personal recollections

eyewitness testimony

- people tend to fill in missing information - how one words things affects memories - errors are greater when the subject's and witness's ethnicities are different

elaborative rehearsal

- retained in long term memory - know it, review it, practice it, give it meaning

sensory memory

- retains for 1-2 seconds - acts as a holding bin before you decide if it is worth processing or not

levels of processing (3)

- shallow, intermediate, deep - impact encoding

recognition

ability to identify previously encountered information

recall

ability to retrieve information which has been previously learned

anterograde amnesia

deficit in recalling events that happened AFTER the onset of amnesia

retrograde amnesia

deficit in recalling events that happened BEFORE the onset of amnesia

flashblub memories

dramatic positive or negative memories

relearning

effort is saved by having already learned something from before

effective encoding (6)

how to best learn information - maintenance rehearsal - elaborative rehearsal - visual imagery - method of loci - mnemonics - dual-coding theory

childhood amnesia

inability to remember things from the first years of life

apraxia

loss of ability to carry our coordinated body movement

agnosia

loss of ability to recognize familiar objects

aphasia

loss of ability to use language

method of loci

match up existing visual images with concepts

decay theories

memories fade with time

information processing model of memory (3 steps)

memory and mind are like a computer - encoding - involved in forming a memory code (entering data through the keyboard) - storage - involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time (saving data in file on hard drive) - retrieval - involves recovering information from memory storage (calling up file and displaying data on the monitor)

amnesia

memory deficit

dual-coding theory

memory is enhanced by using both semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall

primacy effect

memory of beginning pieces of a list

recency effect

memory of end pieces of a list

retroactive interference

new information interferes with old information (retro = new)

proactive interference

old information interferes with new (if you're a pro you're old)

retrospective memory

remember events from the past or previously learned information

prospective memory

remembering to perform actions in the future

maintenance rehearsal

retain in short term memory ex. repeat a phone number

3 box model of memory

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory

intermediate processing

uses phonemic encoding - emphasizes what a word sounds like

deep processing

uses semantic encoding - emphasizes the meaning of verbal input

shallow processing

uses structural encoding - emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus

visual imagery

visual images to represent words/concepts to remember

ineffective encoding

we don't remember something in the first place