Chapter 8 psychology

• Memory


  The set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time
• Memory functions


  1. Encoding

  2. Storage

  3. Retrieval
• Encoding


  The input of information into the memory system
• Automatic processing


  The encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words, usually done without conscious awareness
• Effortful processing


  The encoding of information that requires a lot of work and attention
• Semantic encoding


  The encoding of words and their meaning
• Visual encoding


  The encoding of images
• Acoustic encoding


  The encoding of sounds, words in particular
• Self-reference effect


  The tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance
• Storage


  The creation of a permanent record of information
• Parts of the brain involved with memory

  • Amygdala
  • Hippocampus
  • Cerebellum
  • Prefrontal cortex
• Semantic encoding


  Deeper level of processing verbal information compared to visual or acoustic encoding
• Self-reference effect


  Tendency for better memory for information that relates to oneself compared to less personally relevant material
• Engram


  The group of neurons that serve as the "physical representation of memory"
• Storage


  Creation of a permanent record of information
• Lashley's research did not confirm the existence of the engram
• Stages of memory storage

  1. Sensory Memory

  2. Short-Term Memory

  3. Long-Term Memory
• Equipotentiality hypothesis


  If part of one area of the brain involved in memory is damaged, another part of the same area can take over that memory function
• Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory

  • Based on belief that we process memories like a computer processes information
• Role of the amygdala in memory

  • Regulates emotions like fear and aggression
  • Involved in memory consolidation by facilitating encoding of emotionally arousing events
• Inducing cell death in the lateral amygdala


  Causes fear memory to fade (become extinct)
• Baddeley and Hitch's working memory model

  • Short-term memory has different forms like opening different computer files
  • Short-term memory files hold limited information
  • Type of short-term memory depends on type of information received
• Role of the hippocampus in memory


  • Involved in normal recognition memory and spatial memory
  • Projects information to cortical regions to give memories meaning and connect them with other memories
  • Involved in memory consolidation
• Sensory memory


  Very brief storage (up to a couple seconds) of sensory information like sights, sounds, tastes
• Injury to the hippocampus leaves one unable to process new declarative memories
• The cerebellum plays a role in processing procedural memories, such as how to play the piano
• Short-term memory (STM)


  • Temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory
  • Lasts 15-30 seconds
• Rehearsal


  • Active rehearsal: repeating/practicing information to move it to long-term memory
  • Elaborative rehearsal: linking new information to existing knowledge
• The prefrontal cortex appears to be involved in remembering semantic tasks
• Levels of processing hypothesis: the deeper you think about something, the better you remember it
• Short-term memory capacity is about 7 plus or minus 2 items
• Memory trace decay


  Memory trace becomes less activated over time, causing information to be forgotten
• Proactive interference


  Previously learned information interferes with ability to learn new information
• Hippocampus


  • Processes explicit memories (memory tasks like recall tests)
  • Projects information to cortical regions that give memories meaning and connect them with other memories
  • Plays a part in memory consolidation (transferring new learning into long-term memory)
• Long-term memory (LTM)


  • Continuous storage of information
  • Believed to have unlimited capacity
• Semantic networks


  Concepts are arranged hierarchically and linked based on associations
• Famous patient H.M.


  • Had both left and right temporal lobes (hippocampi) removed
  • Declarative memory significantly affected
  • Could not form new semantic knowledge
  • Lost ability to form new memories, yet could still remember information and events prior to the surgery
• Spreading activation


  Activating one part of a semantic network also activates linked concepts to a lesser degree
• Cerebellum


  • Can create implicit memories (procedural memory, motor learning, classical conditioning) even if the hippocampus is lost
• Damage to the cerebellum prevents rabbits from learning the conditioned eye-blink response