What is the Method of Loci or the Memory Palace technique?
Memorising long lists of things by associating them with meaningful images.
What is encoding?
Tye process of changing information from one form to another for transmission or later retrieval
What are 5 types of encoding?
Visual, acoustic, olfactory, tactile, semantic
What is visual encoding? Give an example
Memories processed in terms of what they look like e.g. picturing your house in your mind
What is acoustic encoding? Give an example
Memories processed in terms of what they sound like e.g. learning the alphabet with a tune
What is semantic encoding? Give an example
Memories processed in terms of their meaning e.g. the understanding that Paris is a city in France
What is storage?
Storing information in the brain for a period of time so that it can be retrieved later
What are the 3 features of storage?
Capacity-the amount of information that can be stored
Duration-the length of time it can be stored
Coding-the way the information is organised within storage
What is retrieval?
The process of accessing information that has been stored in the brain and utilising it
What is the difference between cued recall and free recall?
Cued recall: retrieval with hints
Free recall: recall freely, without clues/hints
What is recognition?
Being presented with information and being asked if we remember seeing it before
What is relearning?
Being exposed to something we have learned previously but have since forgotten. We relearning the information, however it doesn't take as long the second time
What is retrieval failure?
Occurs when information in the long term memory cannot be accessed because retrieval cues are not present.
What was Tulving's (1974) argument in relation to retrieval?
A memory would be more easily retrieved if the cues present when the memory was first encoded are also present when the memory is retrieved
What are the 2 types of retrieval cues?
External/context: cues in the environment such as smell or place
Internal/state: cues inside us, such as physical or emotional state
Whatbis considered to be the capacity of the STM?
7±2chunks
What are the 3 types of LTM?
Episodic, Procedural, Semantic
What is episodic memory? Give an example
The memory of events or episodes in your life that can be explicitly stated e.g. remembering a birthday party
What is semantic memory?
The memory of meaning and understanding. This includes generalised knowledge that may not be associated with a memory or specific event that is personal to you
What is procedural memory?
The memory of knowing hwo to do things or how to perform certain procedures.
Give one strength of dividing the LTM into 3 types
It is supported by brain scans that have shown separate locations in the brain for each of them
Give one weakness of dividing the LTM into 3 types
In reality, there isn't a clear difference between episodic and semantic memories. Most of our memories are a fusion of the two.
What is evidence for or application of different types for LTM?
People with amnesia often remember how to do things like ride a bike or brush their teeth, but they have almost no memory of their past, facts about the world or personal events. This seems to prove that there are different kinds of LTM.
Who developed the Multi-store Model?
Atkinson and Shriffrin
What does the multi-store model suggest?
That memory comprises of 3separate stores
What is Sensory memory?
Brief storage of information received by the sensory organs
What is rehearsal in terms of the multi-store model?
Repetition of information with the purpose of keeping it in the STM
What is displacement?
When information is pushed out of the STM by new information and is forgotten
What is decay?
When information in the memory fades over time until it is forgotten
When was the multi-store model developed?
1968
Give 2 strengths of the multi-store model
There is evidence for different memory stor3s from the serial position effect studied by Murdock
It is a neat and simple way of understanding the memory, which would be difficult to understand
Give 2 weaknesses of the multi-store model
The model is too simple/the memory is too complex to model-ignores individual differences, some people have better memory than other, STM and LTM are divided into stores
Model suggests all information must be rehearsed to enter the LTM, but events that are traumatic may enter the LTM without rehearsal
What is the serial position effect?
The tendency to recall items at the beginning and end of the list better than the items in the middle
What is the primacy effect?
The idea that words at the beginning of a list are more likely to be recalled than words in the beginning of a list
What is the reason for the primacy effect?
Words have been rehearsed quite well by the time they are recalled so they get put into the LTM
What is the recency effect?
The tendency to recall words at the end of a list better than words in the middle
What is reason for the recency effect?
Words have been heard most recency and will still be in the STM
Who conducted studies that support the Theory of Reconstructive Memory?