Unit 5: Long-Term Memory [Part 1]

2 Basic Categories of Memory

Working Memory & Long-term Memory

Working Memory

The brief, immediate memory for material we are currently processing

The information you want to retain can disappear from memory after less than a minute

Long-term Memory

A high-capacity storage system that contains your memories for experiences and information that you have accumulated throughout your lifetime

Information can last for a few minutes to many decades

Information is stored here if it is not lost or otherwise discarded by your working memory system

3 Subtypes of Long-term Memory

Episodic, Semantic, & Procedural Memory

Episodic Memory

Focuses on your memories for events that happened to you personally; it allows you to travel backward in subjective time to reminisce about earlier episodes in your life

Semantic Memory

Describes your organized knowledge about the world, including your knowledge about words and other factual information

Meaning

The episodic and semantic components of long-term memory store information based on _____

Procedural Memory

Refers to your knowledge about how to do something

Often conceptualized in terms of sequences of motor-based information that are necessary to complete action components of a task

Encoding

You process information and represent it in your memory

Retrieval

You locate information in storage, and you access that information

Levels-of-processing Approach

It argues that deep, meaningful processing of information leads to more accurate recall than shallow, sensory kinds of processing

This is also called the depth-of-processing approach

Predicts that your recall will be more accurate when you use a deep level of processing, in terms of meaning and less likely recall a word when you consider its physical appearance or sound

People achieve a deeper level of processing when they extract more meaning from a stimulus

Distinctiveness & Elaboration

Deep levels of processing ecourage recall because of these two factors

Distinctiveness

A stimulus is different from other memory traces

Elaboration

Requires rich processing in terms of meaning and interconnected concepts

Self-reference Effect

You will remember more information if you try to relate that information to yourself

When we think about a word in connection with ourselves, we develop a particularly memorable coding for that word

People are more likely to recall a word that does apply to themselves, rather than a word that does not apply

Meta-analysis

A statistical method for synthesizing numerous studies on a single topic

Computes a statistical index that tells us whether a particular variable has a statistically significant effect, when combining all the studies

Encoding-specificity Principle

Recall is better if the context during retrieval is similar to the context during encoding

When the two contexts do not match, you are more likely to forget the items

Other similar terms: context-dependent memory, transfer-appropriate processing, reinstatement of context

Recall & Recognition Task

Different kinds of memory tasks

Examples of explicit memory tasks

Recall Task

The participants must reproduce the items they learned earlier

Recognition Task

The participants must judge whether they saw a particular item at an earlier time

Encoding

How items are placed into memory

Retrieval

How items are recovered from memory

The processes that allow you to locate information that is stored in long-term memory and to have access to that information

Emotion

A reaction to a specific stimulus

Mood

A more general, long-lasting experience

Pollyanna Principle

Pleasant items are usually processed more efficiently and more accurately than less-pleasant items

Positivity Effect

People tend to rate unpleasant events more positively with the passage of time

2 kinds of retrieval tasks

Explicit & Implicit Memory Tasks

Explicit Memory Task

A researcher directly asks you to remember some information; you realize that your memory is being tested, and the test requires you to intentionally retrieve some information that you previously learned

Recall

The most common explicit memory test

Implicit Memory Task

Assesses your memory indirectly

You see the material; later, during the test phase, you are instructed to complete a cognitive task that does not directly ask you for either recall or recognition

Repetition Priming Task

A measure of implicit memory

Recent exposure to a word increases the likelihood that you’ll think of this particular word when you are subsequently presented with a cue that could evoke many different words

Dissociation

Occurs when a variable has large effects on Test A, but little or no effects on Test B

Also occurs when a variable has one kind of effect if measured by Test A, and the opposite effect if measured by Test B