Paper 1

• Episodic memory


  A type of long-term memory that involves the ability to recall specific events experiences and situations from our past
• Episodic memory


  • Holidays
  • Autobiographical memory
• Semantic memory


  Our general knowledge and understanding of the world, involving the ability to recall facts Concepts and ideas that are not tied to a specific event or experience
• Semantic memory


  • Knowing the sky is blue
  • Understanding the meaning of words
  • Knowing historical events
• Procedural memory


  Our ability to learn and remember how to perform various motor skills and actions, often referred to as muscle memory
• Procedural memory


  • Riding a bike
  • Typing on a keyboard
  • Playing a musical instrument
• Encoding and storage of memories


  1. Encoding: Transforming sensory input into a form that can be stored in the brain

  2. Storage: Memories stored in different regions of the brain depending on the type of memory
• Retrieval


  Accessing stored memories, involving the reactivation of the neural code that was initially encoded
• Retrieval


  • Recognition
  • Cued recall
  • Free recall
• Encoding


  • Visual encoding
  • Acoustic encoding
  • Semantic encoding
• The multi-store model of memory is a theoretical framework that describes the process by which information is encoded stored and retrieved from memory
• Stores in the multi-store model of memory

  • Sensory register
  • Short-term memory
  • Long-term memory
• Sensory register


  • Immediate and automatic recording of sensory information from the environment
  • Very short duration (a few hundred milliseconds)
  • Not stored unless attended to
• Short-term memory


  • Temporary storage of information that is currently being attended to or actively processed
  • Limited capacity (about 7 plus or minus 2 items)
  • Short duration (about 20 to 30 seconds unless rehearsed or transferred to long-term memory)
• Long-term memory


  • Storage of information that has been rehearsed or processed in short-term memory
  • Unlimited capacity
  • Indefinite period of time
• The multi-store model of memory proposes that information passes through each of these stores in a linear fashion
• The multi-store model has been influential but also criticized for oversimplifying the complex processes involved in memory and for failing to account for the role of attention and other factors
• Serial position effect


  The tendency for people to remember items at the beginning and end of a sequence better than items in the middle
• Primacy effect


  Superior recall of items that appear at the beginning of a list
• Recency effect


  Superior recall of items that appear at the end of a list
• The Primacy effect is explained by the idea that the first few items in the list were more likely to be transferred into long-term memory due to their extended rehearsal time
• The Recency effect is explained by the fact that the last few items were still fresh in the participants short-term memory when they were asked to recall them
• The theory of reconstructive memory proposes that memory is not an exact recording of past events but rather a construction of what we believe happened based on our previous experiences beliefs and knowledge
• Effort after meaning


  The natural tendency for people to try and make sense of new information and integrate it with their existing knowledge and beliefs
• Schema


  A mental framework or organizational structure that helps us to process and remember information
• Bartlett's study demonstrated the importance of schema in memory recall and provided evidence for the idea that memory is a constructive process that is influenced by our pre-existing knowledge beliefs and cultural background
• Factors affecting memory accuracy

  • Interference (proactive and retroactive)
  • Context
  • False memories
• Sensation refers to the process of receiving and detecting sensory input from the environment through our sensory organs, while perception involves the higher level cognitive processes of organizing and interpreting sensory information
• Monocular depth cues


  • Height in plane
  • Relative size
  • Occlusion
• Sensation and perception


  An area of discussion in psychology as to whether there is a difference between the two
• Monocular depth cues


  • Visual cues that help us perceive depth and distance using only one eye
  • Include height in plane, relative size, occlusion, and linear perspective
• Height in plane


  The placement of objects in a scene in relation to the horizon or ground, with objects higher in the visual field perceived as farther away and those lower as closer
• Relative size


  Using the size of familiar objects as a reference to determine their distance, with objects appearing smaller perceived as farther away and those appearing larger as closer
• Occlusion


  Using overlapping objects to determine their relative distance, with the covered object perceived as farther away than the object covering it
• Linear perspective


  The way parallel lines appear to converge in the distance, providing cues about the distance and depth of a scene
• Binocular depth cues


  • Visual cues that rely on the coordination of both eyes and enable us to perceive depth and distance in three-dimensional space
  • Include retinal disparity and convergence
• Retinal disparity


  The slight difference in the image received by each eye due to their slightly different perspectives, which the brain combines to create a single three-dimensional image
• Convergence


  The inward movement of the eyes when focusing on nearby objects, which the brain uses to estimate the distance of an object
• Gibson's direct theory of perception


  • Emphasizes the importance of direct perception, which refers to the idea that the human visual system can directly perceive and interpret sensory information from the environment without requiring mental interference or processing
  • Believes the environment is structured in a way that presents affordances, which are opportunities for action that are directly perceivable
  • Argues that motion parallax provides direct and reliable information about the layout of the environment
• Visual illusions


  Perceptual phenomena in which our perception of an object or scene does not match its physical reality, often due to ambiguity, misinterpreted depth cues, or the brain filling in gaps