Psych - Memory

• Sensation: detection of environmental stimuli by sense organs + conversion of sensory info to electrochemical energy, which is sent to brain
• Perception: mental representation that brain creates using info detected by senses
• Process of Sensation

  1. Reception: detect stimuli
  2. Transduction: convert stimuli into electrochemical energy
  3. Transmission: carried from sense organ to brain (along neural fibres)
• Process of Perception

  1. Selection: separate important info for further processing
  2. Organisation: group + assemble stimuli to be organised
  3. Interpretation: give meaning to stimuli
• Divided Attention: ability to concentrate on 2+ stimuli simultaneously
• Selective Attention: process of concentration on chosen stimuli while disregarding others
• Cocktail Party Effect - Cherry (1953)

  Experiment 1:

  2 messages played simultaneously

  tasked to repeat 1 of speeches word-by-word

  task described extremely difficult, but generally successful

  Experiment 2:

  2 messages played simultaneously in each ear (w/ headphones)

  tasked to verbally repeat back 1 of speeches while listening

  able to complete easily, found difficult to recall any info in speech

  unable to describe anything heard in other ear
• Cocktail Party Effect conclusion:

  demonstrated how we use divided attention via our awareness of simultaneous conversations

  how we are able to focus our attention toward 1 convo + subsequently disregard all other convo using selective attention
• Process of Memory:

  Storage – retention of info w/in memory store

  Encoding – form in which info is stored

  · Acoustic (sound)

  · Visual (images)

  · Semantic (meaning)

  Retrieval – movement of info from long-term store of memory to conscious awareness
• Multi-store Model - Atkinson + Shiffrin (1968)

  environmental input

  sensory registers (visual, auditory, touch, taste + smell)

  short-term memory

        w/ control processes: rehearsal

  long-term memory

     w/ control processes: retrieval strategies

  short-term memory

  response output
• Short-term Memory

  capacity = 5-9 pieces

  duration = 12-30 secs
• Declarative Memory:

  Semantic - facts/general knowledge

  Episodic - episodes/experiences

  • retrospective: past events
  • prospective: things for future
• Hippocampus

  formation of declarative memories

  temporarily holds them + then are moved to pre-frontal cortex

  consolidates info
• Anterograde Amnesia

  inability to form new memories after developing amnesia
• Forgetting: inability to retrieve memories
• Retrieval Failure

  inability to retrieve material due to absence of right cues or failure to use them
• Working Memory Model

  phonological loop: auditory info storage

  visuospatial sketchpad: visual info storage

  central executive: functional component - switching attention from task to task, deciding what is to be retrieved or committed to LTM

  episodic buffer: bridge + filter between LTM + central executive + storage
• Decay Theory

  memory fades over time - memory trace erodes

  memory trace formed when info transferred from sensory to STM
• Role of Recall

  process of retrieving info from LTM w/o cues

  free recall: retrieval of info in any order

  serial recall: retrieval of info in set order

  cue recall: provided retrieval cues
• Role of Recognition

  ability to identify previously stored info by matching stimuli to memories
• Role of Relearning

  reacquiring knowledge/skills that were previously learnt, have decayed

  can then be encoded into LTM via rehearsal
• Levels of Processing Model of Memory - Craik + Lockhart, 1972

  
  

  shallow processing = maintenance rehearsal, deep processing = elaborative rehearsal

  1. Structural: appearance/physical info = shallow processing
  2. Phonemic: auditory info = shallow processing
  3. Semantic: meaning, placed in semantic networks = deep processing
• Depth of Processing + Retention of Words - Craik + Tulving

  IV: type of encoding used to memorise list of words

  DV: number of words recalled

  given list of 60 words, required to answer question for each word (used different encoding)

  then given list of 180 words, including 60 from original

  asked to recall original 60 words

  semantic encoding = more recalled words
• Henry Molaison

  suffered from seizures, retrograde amnesia

  hippocampus + amygdala removed

  procedural memories unaffected

  unable to form declarative memories

  couldn't transfer memories from STM to LTM
• Trauma - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

  brain disease

  cause: repeated traumatic brain injuries

  problems w/ cognition + memory
• Degeneration - Alzheimer's Disease

  brain disease

  degeneration of neurons in brain - neurofibrillary tangles +

  amyloid plaques

  decline in memory, cognitive skills + reasoning
• Drug Induced - Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

  thiamine deficiency

  degeneration of brain cells

  difficulty forming new memories + retrieving stored memories
• Long-term Memory:

  capacity = unlimited

  duration = permanent

  info stored by meaning, in semantic networks

  • Procedural: actions, skills + operations
  • Declarative: factual info
• Motivated Forgetting:

  minimise emotional distress or anxiety

  1. Repression: unconscious
  2. Suppression: conscious
• Sensory Register:

  capacity = unlimited

  duration = 0.3-4 seconds

  • echoic
  • iconic
  • olfactory
  • haptic
  • gustatory
• Interference:

  info can't be retrieved due to it being disrupted by similar info

  1. Proactive: old info interferes w/ retrieval of new info
  2. Retroactive: new info interferes w/ retrieval of old info
• Retrograde Amnesia:

  inability to recall past memories prior to onset of amnesia
• Cerebellum:

  formation + storage of procedural memories

  process + perform motor skills
• Amygdala:

  formation of memories associated w/ fear

  strengthen episodic memories in other brain regions

  consolidates declarative memories w/ emotional content