PSYC111 MEMORY BLOCK

• Types of memory


  • Episodic
  • Semantic
  • Autobiographical
  • Emotional

  
• Memory involves


  1. Encoding

  2. Storage

  3. Retrieval
• Encoding


  The conversion of information into a form that can be stored in memory
• Storage


  The creation of a trace of this information within the nervous system
• Retrieval


  An attempt to recover the trace
• Forgetting curve (Ebbinghaus)


  Over time, they forgot nonsense syllables
• Peterson and Peterson study: three letters and three numbers, counted back in threes
• Miller study: memory span of 7 +/- 2 items at a time
• Levels of explanation


  • Biological
  • Individual
  • Social
  • Cultural
• Unitary model of memory

  Encoding -> Storage -> Retrieval -> Forgetting
• Unitary model: Decays in 15-20 seconds, limited capacity -> STM?
• Stage theory of memory

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

  
• Sensory memory


  Lasts for 0.3-3 seconds, sight, touch, noise, smell etc.

  
• Short-term memory


  Lasts for around 15-20 seconds, limited capacity
• Long-term memory


  Retention for decades, massive capacity
• Patient H.M.: Medial temporal lobe damage produced dense anterograde amnesia (LTM) with intact STM
• Patient K.F.: Motorcycle accident resulted removal of left subdural haematoma, LTM tested on incomplete pictures
• Atkinson and Shiffrin's multi-store model of memory

  Sensory -> STM -> LTM
• Serial position effect


  Primacy and recency effects
• Bias in encoding


  Phonetic (STM) vs semantic (LTM)
• Baddeley and Hitch working memory


  Capacity limitation because of processing rather than storage
• Chunking


  Grouping individual items into larger units of meaning to get around the limited capacity of working memory
• Craik and Watkins maintenance rehearsal


  Not effective
• Elaborative rehearsal/encoding


  Enhances encoding in LTM and improves memory
• Depth of processing


  Shallow: sound OR shape, Deep: meaning (semantic structure)
• Schema


  An example of prior knowledge - organised pattern of thought
• Semantic networks


  Prior knowledge networks
• Anterograde amnesia


  Loss of STM
• Retrograde amnesia


  Loss of LTM
• Memory consolidation


  Information in LTM is initially labile then is consolidated over time - alterations of the biological foundations of a trace

  
• Memory improvement techniques


  Visual imagery, Method of loci, Encoding-retrieval context

  
• Types of implicit/procedural memory

  • Skill learning
  • Priming
  • Habit
  • Conditioning

  
• Explicit/declarative memory


  Episodic and semantic memory

  
• Forgetting


  Trace decay, Retroactive and proactive interference, Feeling of knowing
• Memory persistence and trauma

  Arousal and attention enhance memory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  
• Memory distortion


  Misattribution, Bias, Suggestibility, Memory is a reconstructive process

  
• Components of a neuron

  • Dendrites
  • Soma
  • Axon
  • Axon terminal

  
• Resting membrane potential


  The inside of a neuron is negatively charged
• Graded potential


  Information is transmitted within the cell by transient alterations in the membrane potential
• Action potential


  All or none, depending on whether it reaches a threshold of intensity