Chapter 6 - Memory; Psychology

What is echoic memory?

A fast-decaying store of auditory information. Example: When you have difficulty understanding what someone said, you probably find yourself replaying the last few words. *Holds information for a very short time. but lasts longer than iconic memory. Part of sensory storage.*

What is iconic memory?

A fast-decaying store of visual information. Holds information for a very short time. *Part of sensory storage.*

What is short-term memory?

Holds nonsensory information for more than a few seconds but less than a minute. Ex: remembering a phone number, then forgetting it later. Limited in how long can hold information, and also limited in how much information it can hold. In fact, short-term memory can hold about seven meaningful items at once. Chunking improves storage.

What is collaborative memory?

How people remember in groups. Nominal group: the combined recall of several individuals recalling target items on their own. Collaborative inhibition: the same number of individuals working together recall fewer items than they would on their own

What is semantic memory?

A network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world.

What is retrieval-induced forgetting?

A process by which retrieving an item from long-term memory impairs subsequent recall or related items. Retrieval induced forgetting occurs during conversations and occurs in eye-witness memory.

Long-term potentation?

A process whereby communication across the synapse between neurons strengthens the connection, making further communcation easier.Occurs in the hippocampus. Memory storage depends critically on the synapses in neurons. When you change a synapse, it strengthens the connection between the two neurons, making it easier for them to transmit to each other the next time. Aplysia is a little slug with an extremely simple nervous system consisting of 20,000 neurons. Any experience that results in memory produces physical changes in the nervous system.

Dr. Amit is running a memory experiment using fMRI. One participant is asked to remember a particular set of words, and Dr. Amit notices that the *lower left frontal lobe and inner part of the left temporal lobe* are particularly active during the task. The participant is MOST likely using what type of encoding? visual imagery semantic organizational echoic

Semantic

What are the three judgments of elaborative encoding?

Semantic judgment: thinking about the meaning of words Rhyme judgment: thinking about the sound of the words Visual judgment: thinking about the appearance of the words

Before information can be transferred to long-term memory, it must first be a part of:

Sensory and short-term memory

What is consolidation?

The process by which memories become stable in the brain; stops relying on hippocampus. Shortly after encoding, memories exist in a fragile state in which they can be easily disrupted. The operation of this longer-term consolidation process is why individuals with retrograde amnesia with hippocampal damage can recall memories from childhood relatively normally. SLEEP PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN MEMORY CONSOLIDATION.

What is organizational encoding?

The process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items. For example, suppose you had to memorize the words peach, cow, chair, apple, table, cherry, lion, couch, horse, desk. The task seems difficult, but if you organize the items into three categories-fruit (peach, apple, cherry), animals (cow, lion, horse), and furniture (chair, table, couch, desk)-the task becomes much easier. Stimulates the left frontal lobe.

What is rehearsal?

The process of keeping information in short-term memory by mentally repeating it. ex: repeating the cell phone number

What is semantic (or elaborative) encoding? Where does it take place?

The process of relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already stored in memory. Takes place in the lower left frontal and inner left temporal lobe. The more activity there is in these areas, the more likely the person will remember the information. Ex: such as remembering facts

What is state-dependent retrieval?

The tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval. Is an internal cue. *For example, retrieving information when you are sad or happy mood increases the likelihood that you will retrieve sad or happy episodes.* Retrieval cues can even be thoughts themselves, as when one thought

What are the three key functions of memory?

encoding, the process of transforming what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory; storage, the process of maintaining information in memory over time; and retrieval, the process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored.

What is visual imagery encoding? Why is it so helpful?

the process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures. The first person to display this encoding was Simonides, a Greek poet. Visual imagery encoding is helpful because... First, visual imagery encoding does some of the same things that semantic encoding does: When you create a visual image, you relate incoming information to knowledge already in memory. Second, when you use visual imagery to encode words and other verbal information, you end up with two different mental placeholders for the items-a visual one and a verbal one-which gives you more ways to remember them than just a verbal placeholder alone; activates part of the occipital lobe.

What is long-term memory?

A type of storage that holds information for *hours, day, weeks, or years.* A 27 year old man named HM suffered from intractable epilepsy. In a desperate attempt to stop the seizures, HM's doctors removed parts of his temporal lobes, including the hippocampus. HM had great short-term memory but had absolutely no long-term memory. Had anterograde amnesia. *HIPPOCAMPUS IS NOT THE SITE OF LONG-TERM MEMORY. LONG TERM MEMORY IS SAVED IN DIFFERENT AREAS OF THE CORTEX.* *Some psychologists have argued that the hippocampus region acts as a kind of index that links together all of these otherwise separate bits and pieces so that we remember them as one memory. Hippocampal region index is like a printed recipe. First you need the recipe, but then you get used to it over time.*

What is sensory storage?

A type of storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less.

Neuroimaging studies suggest that trying to remember activates the ___ while successfully remembering activates the ____. A) left frontal lobe B) hippocampal region C) Occipital lobe D) Upper temporal lobe

A, B

What is working memory?

Active maintenance of information in short-term storage. Working memory includes subsystems that store and manipulate visual images or verbal information, as well as a central executive that coordinates the subsystems. Ex. playing chess and remembering where the pieces are There is a direct link between the working memory system and the ability to learn language. Depends on regions in the frontal lobe.

What is priming?

An enhanced ability to think of a stimulus, such as a word or object, as a result of a recent exposure to the stimulus. ex: fill in the blank experiment, people showed priming for studied words even when they failed to consciously remember that they had seen them earlier. Priming is a type of implicit memory. Priming is associated with reduced activity in various regions of the cortex that are activated when people perform an unprimed task. Two different types of priming: Perceptual priming, which reflects implicit memory for the sensory features of an item and conceptual priming, which reflects implicit memory for the meaning of a word or how you would use an object. Perceptual priming relies on the visual cortex, whereas conceptual priming depends more on regions toward the front of the brain, such as the frontal lobe.

What is chunking?

Combining small pieces of information into larger clusters or chunks that are more easily held in short-term memory. Waitresses who use organizational encoding to organize customer orders into groups are essentially chunking the information

One species of scrub jays can remember what type of food they have stored, where they stored it, and when they stored it. Some researchers are still skeptical that this provides evidence for _____ memory in these jays.

Episodic

A year after getting married, Marisol told her friends she was unbelievably happy. Now, Marisol and her husband are getting divorced. Because of the constructive nature of memory, Marisol may now remember: very little about her marriage. her marriage as unbelievably happy. her marriage as unhappy and tumultuous. only the parts of her marriage that were pleasant.

Her marriage as unhappy and tumultuous.

What is the serial position effect?

Experiments show that when participants are presented with a list of words, they tend to remember the first few and last few words and are more likely to forget those in the middle of the list. This is known as the serial position effect. The tendency to recall earlier words is called the primary effect; the tendency to recall the later words is called the recency effect.

What is a retrieval cue?

External information that is associated with stored information and helps bring it to mind. ex: the smell of a lit candle that reminds you of your grandmother's cinnamon apple pie. Information is sometimes available in memory even when it is momentarily inaccessible, and that retrieval cues help us bring inaccessible information to mind.

The _____ is important for the formation of a new memory but is less important in maintaining an older memory.

Hippocampus

Consequences of Retrieval

Retrieval can improve subsequent memory, retrieval can impair subsequent memory, and retrieval can change subsequent memory.

How are memories made?

Memories are made by combining information we already have in our brains with new information that comes in through our senses. In this way memory is like cooking; starting from a recipe but improvising along the way, we add old information to new information, mix, shake, bake, and out pops a memory. Memories are constructed, not recorded, and encoding is the process by which we transform what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory.

What is reconsolidation?

Memories can become vulnerable to disruption when they are recalled, requiring them to become consolidated again.

What is memory?

Memory is the ability to store and retrieve information over time.

Dr. Tshibetta is running a memory experiment using fMRI. One participant is asked to remember a particular set of words, and Dr. Tshibetta notices that the left frontal lobe is particularly active during the task. The participant is MOST likely using what type of encoding? visual imagery organizational echoic semantic

Organizational

During a PET scan, the *upper part of the left frontal lobe* is the most active while Farrah is learning a list of animals for a memory test. This indicates that she is MOST likely using what type of encoding? organizational echoic visual imagery iconic

Organizational

How does encoding information promote one's survival?

Our abilities to memorize mechanisms that help us survive and reproduce are presented by natural selection. Survival encoding results in higher levels of recall than several other non-survival-encoding tasks involving semantic encoding, imagery encoding, or organizational encoding. Also, survival encoding encourages participants to engage in extensive planning, which in turn benefits memory and may account for much of the benefit of survival encoding.

What is retrograde amnesia?

The inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an injury or surgery.

What is anterograde amnesia?

The inability to transfer new information from the short-term store into the long-term store.

Hans is almost killed in a parasailing accident and when he recalls the event, he becomes extremely fearful, almost as if he is reliving the experience. Hans goes to see a psychologist who asks him to recall the event in detail. As Hans does so, he becomes fearful retelling the story. The doctor asks Hans to think about how the event must also have been exhilarating because he was flying, if only for a short period of time. In the future when Hans recalls the event, he does so without fear. Hans's doctor may have influenced Hans's _____ of the event

Reconsolidation

What is elaborative encoding?

Relating new information to knowledge that is already in memory Also, analyzes the physical, sensory, or semantic features of an item. The more you elaborate an item, the better you will remember it. ex: giving words meaning

What is implicit memory?

The influence of past experiences on later behavior and performance, even without an effort to remember them or an awareness of the recollection. ex: typing on a keyboard Hippocampus not needed for these memories.

What is the forgetting curve? What is retroactive and proactive interference?

The Curve of Forgetting describes how we retain or get rid of information that we take in. Interference occurs when information gets confused with other information in our long-term memory. Interference can occur either retroactively or proactively. Retroactive interference occurs when previously learned information is lost because it is mixed up with new and somewhat similar information. For example, if you learn the contents of this chapter today, new information presented to you tomorrow could cause you to become confused about the contents of this chapter. A history student could study the causes and events of the American Revolutionary War and understand these thoroughly. Several weeks later the student could study the causes and events of the American Civil War. If the student thereafter had trouble remembering the causes and events of the Revolutionary War, this would be an example of retroactive interference. Retroactive interference occurs when information works backwards to interfere with earlier information - just as a retroactive pay raise given in July might work backwards to influence pay days from January to June. Proactive interference occurs when current information is lost because it is mixed up with previously learned, similar information. For example, you could have trouble learning the contents of this chapter because it conflicts with preconceived notions in your mind regarding the same topic. Returning to the history example described earlier, if the student who had learned about the Revolutionary War thereafter studied the Civil War and had trouble remembering the events of the Civil War, this would be an example of proactive interference.

What is explicit memory?

The act of consciously or intentionally retrieving past experiences. Ex: recalling last summer's vacation Has two major types of memory: semantic and episodic memory

What is episodic memory?

The collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place. Allows us to mental time travel. Hippocampus and medial temporal lobe are crucial in episodic memory.

What is procedural memory?

The gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or knowing how to do things. A kind of implicit memory.

What is encoding specificity principle?

The idea that a retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the specific way in which information was initially coded. *ex: divers learning words underwater and on land. They remembered the words better in those specific environments because the environments served as a retrieval cue.*

What is transfer-appropriate processing?

The idea that memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when the encoding and retrieval contexts of the situations match.

What are the three types of memory storage?

There are three major kinds of memory storage: sensory, short-term, and long-term.