COGPSYCH

• Encoding


  The process of acquiring information and transferring it into LTM
• Retrieval


  Transferring information from LTM into working memory
• Maintenance rehearsal


  • Repeating information without considering its meaning or making connections with other information, helps maintain information in STM but is not an effective way of transferring information into LTM
• Elaborative rehearsal


  • Finding a way to relate information to something meaningful, such as connecting it to something you already know, is a better way to establish long-term memories
• Levels of processing theory

  Memory depends on how information is encoded or programmed into the mind
• Shallow processing


  • Involves little attention to meaning
• Deep processing


  • Involves close attention and elaborative rehearsal
• Memory was better following deep processing than following shallow processing (Craik and Tulving experiment)
• Evidence that encoding influences retrieval

  • Forming visual images
  • Linking words to yourself
  • Generating information (the generation effect)
  • Organizing information
  • Relating words to survival value
  • Practicing retrieval (the retrieval practice effect or the testing effect)
• Five memory principles that can be applied to studying

  • Elaborate
  • Generate and test
  • Organize
  • Take breaks
  • Avoid "illusions of learning"
• Note taking by hand results in better test performance than note taking by laptop, due to deeper encoding for handwritten note taking
• Retrieval cues


  Aids in retrieving long-term memories
• Retrieval can be increased by matching conditions at retrieval to conditions that existed at encoding (encoding specificity, state-dependent learning, and matching type of processing)
• Encoding specificity


  We learn information along with its context
• Godden and Baddeley's diving experiment and Grant's studying experiment illustrate the effectiveness of encoding and retrieving information under the same conditions
• State-dependent learning


  A person's memory will be better when his or her internal state during retrieval matches the state during encoding
• Eich's mood experiment supports the idea of state-dependent learning
• Matching types of processing

  Memory performance is enhanced when the type of coding that occurs during acquisition matches the type of retrieval that occurs during a memory test
• The results of an experiment by Morris support the idea of transfer-appropriate processing
• Consolidation


  The process that transforms new memories from a fragile state into a more permanent state
• Müller and Pilzecker's experiment illustrated how memory is decreased when consolidation is disrupted
• Synaptic consolidation


  Involves structural changes at synapses
• Systems consolidation


  Involves the gradual recognition of neural circuits
• Hebb's idea


  The formation of memories is associated with structural changes at the synapse, which are then translated into enhanced nerve firing, as indicated by long-term potentiation
• Standard model of consolidation


  Memory retrieval depends on the hippocampus during consolidation but that after consolidation is complete, retrieval involves the cortex, with the hippocampus no longer being involved
• Consolidation is facilitated by sleep, and material people expect they will be asked to remember later is more likely to be consolidated during sleep
• Reconsolidation


  When a memory is retrieved (remembered) it becomes fragile, like it was when it was originally formed, and that when it is in this fragile state, it needs to be consolidated again
• Alain Brunet & coworkers (2008) tested the idea that reactivation of a memory followed by reconciliation can help alleviate the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Hupbach emphasizes that memory updating is influenced by the strength of the memory, with strong memories being more resistant to change, and the extent of memory reactivation during new learning predicts the amount of memory updating
• Long-term memory (LTM)


  A system that is responsible for storing information for long periods of time, described as an "archive" of information about past events in our lives and knowledge we have learned
• Serial position curve


  Created by presenting a list of words to a participant, one after another, and then having the participant write down all the words he or she remembers, in any order
• Primary effect


  • Participants are more likely to remember words presented at the beginning of a sequence
• Recency effect


  • Better memory for the stimuli presented at the end of a sequence
• Coding


  The form in which stimuli are represented
• Visual coding


  Coding in the mind in the form of a visual image
• Auditory coding


  Coding in the mind in the form of a sound
• Semantic coding


  Coding in the mind in terms of meaning
• Visual coding in STM is illustrated by remembering a pattern by representing it visually in your mind, and visual coding in LTM occurs when you visualise a person or place from the past
• Auditory coding in STM is illustrated by Conrad's demonstration of the phonological similarity effect, and auditory coding in LTM occurs when you "play" a song in your head
• Wickens' experiment provides an example of semantic coding in STM, and Sachs' study demonstrated semantic coding in LTM