MIDTERMS COG

• Memory


  The means by which we retain and draw on our past experiences to use that information in the present
• Memory processing


  The dynamic mechanisms associated with storing, retaining, and retrieving information about past experience
• Stages in Memory Processing

  1. Encoding: transform sensory data into a form of mental representation

  2. Storage: keep encoded information in memory

  3. Retrieval: pull out or use information stored in memory
• Tasks used for Measuring Memory

  • Recall
  • Recognition
  • Relearning
• Recall


  Producing a fact, a word, or other item from memory. Requires expressive knowledge.
• Types of Recall Tasks

  • Serial Recall: recall items in the exact order in which they were presented
  • Free Recall: recall items in any order
  • Cued Recall: also called "paired-associates recall"
• Recognition


  Selecting or otherwise identifying an item as being one that you have been exposed to previously. Taps receptive knowledge.
• Explicit Memory


  Participants engage in conscious recollection
• Implicit Memory


  Using information from memory without being consciously aware of doing so
• Implicit Memory Tasks


  • Priming: facilitation of ability to utilize missing information
  • Procedural Tasks: memory for processes
• Traditional Model of Memory


  • Hypothetical constructs that serve as mental models for understanding how a psychological phenomenon works
  • Three memory stores: sensory store, short-term store, long-term store
• Sensory store


  Initial repository of much information that eventually enters the short- and long-term stores. Holds information for very brief periods.
• Iconic store


  Discrete visual sensory register that holds information for very short periods. Holds visual information for 250 msec longer.
• Short-term store


  • Capable of storing information for somewhat longer periods but of relatively limited capacity
• Long-term store


  • Very large capacity, capable of storing information for very long periods, perhaps even indefinitely
• Levels of Processing Model

  • Memory does not comprise three or even any specific number of separate stores
  • Deep processing leads to better memory
  • Shallow processing emphasizes the physical features of the stimulus
• Elaborating according to meaning leads to a strong memory
• The memory trace is fragile and quickly decays with shallow processing
• Semantic processing leads to the best memory
• Working Memory Model


  • Holds only the most recently activated, or conscious, portion of long-term memory
  • Components: visuo-spatial sketchpad, phonological loop, central executive, subsidiary slave systems, episodic buffer
• Semantic memory


  Stores general world knowledge
• Episodic memory


  Stores personally experienced events or episodes
• Exceptional Memory


  • S. (Luria, 1968): remembered long strings of words over 15-18 years
  • Rajan Mahadevan: can recite pi to 31,811 places
• Types of Amnesia

  • Retrograde amnesia: loss of memory for events before trauma
  • Infantile amnesia: inability to recall events of young childhood
  • Anterograde amnesia: no memory for events after trauma
• Alzheimer's Disease


  A disease of older adults that causes dementia as well as progressive memory loss
• Alzheimer's brains show abnormal fibers that appear to be tangles of brain tissue and senile plaques</b>
• Hippocampus and Memory


  • Critical for integration and consolidation
  • Essential for declarative memory
  • Without the hippocampus, only the learning of skills and habits, simple conditioning, and the phenomenon of priming can occur
• Encoding Processes


  1. Creating an acoustic code: what it sounds like

  2. Creating a semantic code: what it means

  3. Creating a visual code: what it looks like
• Acoustic encoding in STM: Conrad (1964) found that visually presenting a series of letters briefly and immediately writing them leads to good recall
• Semantic encoding in STM: Shulman (1970) found that a recognition test using homonyms, synonyms, and identical probe words leads to best memory for semantically encoded words
• Visual encoding in STM: Posner & Keele (1967) found that a letter matching task leads to good visual encoding in STM
• Short-term Memory


  The capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time
• Long-term Memory


  Defined in contrast to short-term and working memory, persists for long periods. Includes explicit/declarative, episodic, semantic, autobiographical, and implicit/procedural memory
• Consolidation


  Integrating new information into stored information
• Metamemory


  Knowing what you know, being able to assess your own memory
• Rehearsal


  The repeated recitation of an item to keep information active
• Elaborative rehearsal


  Elaborating the items to be remembered to move information into long-term memory
• Maintenance rehearsal


  Repeating items to keep them active in short-term memory
• Principles to Strengthen Memory

  • Elaborative rehearsal is better than maintenance rehearsal
  • Distributed practice is better than massed practice ("spacing effect")
  • Organizing information enhances memory
• Theories for Spacing Effect

  • Multiple encoding contexts theory: multiple study sessions lead to multiple types of encoding
  • REM Theory: more REM sessions following study lead to more consolidation