9a - retrieval processes

what is retrieval?

a progression from one or more retrieval cues to a target memory trace through associative connections

retreival cues

bits of information about the target memory that guide the search

associations

bonds that link together items in memory

target memory trace

the particular memory we are searching for

activation level

• the internal state of a memory, reflecting its level of excitement, determines accessibiity of the item

• increases when

  • something related to the memory is encountered

  • persists for some time

spreading activation

• the automatic transmission of ‘energy’ from one memory to related items via associations

• proportional to the strength of connections

what is pattern completion

pattern completion = the process by which spreading activation from a set of cues leads to the reinstatement of a memory

• hippocampal mechanism

what factors determine retrieval success?

1. attention to cues → reduced attention impairs its use

2. relevance of cues → most strong if present at encoding

3. cue-target associative strength

4. number of cues

5. strength of target memory

6. retrieval strategy

7. retrieval mode

what are direct/explicit memory tests

• ask people to recall particular experiences

• require a contextual cue

• reveal impaired performance on amnesics

• in many cases rely on hippocampus

what are indirect/implicit memory tests

• measure the unconscious influence of experience without asking the subject to recall the past

• priming: recent experience with the stimulus improves performance

• reveal normal performance in amnesics

what tasks might be used to test explicit memory

• free recall

• cued recall

• yes/no recognition

• forced-choice recognition

what tasks might be used to study implicit memory

• stem completion

• fragment completion

• conceptual fluency

what types of contextual cues are there

• spatio-temporal/environmental → location and time cues during an event

• mood → emotional state during event

• physiological → physical state during event

• cognitive → collection of concepts one has thought about during the event

outline a study that shows context-dependent memory

godden & baddeley: taught divers words in pairs either on land or in water

• materials were recalled best in the environment learned

what did grant et al find about context-dependent memory

pps did better when the testing condition was same as study condition (quiet vs noisy)

what is state dependent memory

• recall depends on the match between pps internal environment at encoding and retrieval

outline some studies that show state-dependent memory

• drunk

• under the influence of weed or caffiene

• exercising or at rest

• mood

cognitive context-dependent memory

• retrieval is better if the same cognitive features/tasks are involved

  • e.g. Marian and Neisser → bilingual people find it easier to access memories that are encoded in same language as retrieval

how is memory reconstructive

• retrieved memories are not entirely intact → reconstructive memory: inferential aspect of memory

what is recognition memory

• decide whether one encountered a stimulus before

• presents the stimulus (i.e. target) unlike in recall

• discrimination between OLD and NEW stimuli

  • old = studied stimuli, new = non-studied distractors, lures or foils

what is signal detection theory (SDT)

• to understand and explore recognition memory decisions, developed from auditory perception

  • e.g. detect a tone (signal) presented against background noise (hard or easy to detect)

evaluate SDT and dual-process theory

• SDT cannot account for all recognition memory phenomena

• word frequency effect: low frequency words are better recognised although high frequency words are better recalled

• SDT incorrectly predicts low-frequency words should be less familiar

what does Mandler say are the 2 types of memory or processes associated with recognition

1. Familiarity: a sense of memory without being able to remember contextual information. described by signal detection, faster and more automatic

2. Recollection: retrieving contextual details about a stimulus - like cued recall. slower and more attention demanding.