NEUR1020 W12

• What are the 3 different types of storages of memory?

  Sensory, short-term, long-term
• When and where can information be lost?

  Transfer from sensory to short-term memory and transfer from short to long-term memory
• What is sensory memory?

  Includes all the senses, so it is difficult to report all the details
• If a cue appears in a random location and the report is successful, what does this imply?

  A very high storage capacity for sensory memory
• If a cue was presented after a visual image was removed and report is successful, what does this imply?

  Implies that the information was successfully encoded into memory
• What is the difference between full report and partial report in Sperling's test?

  Full report --> performance was around 5 letters (50% of array)

  Partial report --> performance was virtually perfect (100% of cued array)
• What is short-term memory and what is it commonly measured by?

  Current contents of awareness.

  Measured using a span task where you study a list of letters or numbers and recall as many as you can. List length when recall errors occur reflects storage capacity
• What is the duration of short-term memory?

  20-30 seconds, and this can be increased through rehearsal
• What are the 2 ways that information in short-term memory can be forgotten?

  Interference --> harder to specifically locate target information due to other distractors

  Time-based decay/temporal decay --> memories fade with the passage of time
• What does rehearsal also improve the likelihood of?

  Transfer of information from short to long-term memory
• Is the capacity of long-term memory small or massive?

  Massive
• What is forgetting?


  Reflects failures of information transfer from one store to another
• What are the 2 types of retrievals?

  Cue-based retrieval (simple cues to complex chunks) and beyond pure retrieval (reconstructive process)
• What are some common mnemonic strategies under cue-based strategies?

  Method of Loci --> associate memoranda (message) with locations along a familiar route.

  Pegword technique --> pairing vivid imagery with memoranda (eg., one is bun, two is a shoe).

  Keyword method --> pair a word that sounds similar to a target word
• What is grouping into chunks method?


  Elements within a group become associated with each other, so retrieval of one part triggers retrieval of the whole unit
• What are some beyond pure retrieval: reconstructive processes?

  Schemas --> templates or scripts for familiar situations.

  Misinformation

  False memory
• What happens when details of a schema are forgotten?

  The "default" offered by the script can be inserted into one's memory for what happened
• What are other distinctions of memory, other than declarative or explicit memory for specific facts?

  Procedural/implicit = memory for doing things which may not be tied to conscious awareness.

  Episodic = memory for specific events in life.

  Semantic = information about general knowledge that is housed in the long-term memory
• What is the difference between primacy and recency effect?

  Primacy = tendency to recall the first items

  Recency = tendency to recall the most recent or last items