Cognitive Psych Exam 2

Broadbent’s Early Selection

-Proposes that attention selects information relatively early

>Uses basic physical characteristics (such as the ear receiving a message)

Late Selection Theory

-Information may be processed for meaning before selection, determining what reaches awareness or influences responses

Anne Treisman’s Attenuation Model

-Unattended information is weakened, rather than completely blocked

Sensory Memory

-First, very brief stages of memory processing

>Unlimited capacity, but rapid decay

Iconic Memory

Holds visual sensory information for approximately 250-500 milliseconds

Echoic

-Holds auditory sensory information for approximately 2-4 seconds
>Helps to understand continuous speech

Attention

-Attention selects for further processing
>May miss an unexpected event when attention is diverted

Explain why brief sensory trace does not mean every detail will enter LTM

-Sensory information decays unless processed using attention; every detail cannot be processed as the system would be overloaded

Short Term Memory

-Emphasizes temporary storage
>Repeating numbers back to someone
>7± 2 items

Working Memory

-Involves temporary storage plus active processing of information
>Adding numbers up

Chunking

-Grouping separate elements into meaningful units

>EX; FROGBATDUCK

Central Executive

-Directs attention, coordinates components, and helps switch tasks or inhibit distractions
>Switching between tasks

Phonological Loop

-Maintains verbal and sound-based information, including inner speech
>EX: Silently repeating a phone number

Visuospatial Sketchpad

-Temporary holds visual and spatial information, such as mental images and locations
>EX: Mentally rotating an object

Episodic Buffer

-Integrates information across systems and helps connect working memory with LTM

What is it called when you repeat an irrelevant word while trying to remember numbers

-Articulatory Suppression
>Disrupts verbal rehearsal

Exceeding Cognitive Load

-When demand exceeds working memory capacity, comprehension and performance may suffer

Strategies for Reducing Working Memory

-Chunking, rehearsal, writing information down, reducing distractions, and dividing complex tasks into steps

Why can we improve recall without necessarily increasing basic working memory capacity

-Applying meaning to terms can create units from figures, allowing for more capacity

Long Term Memory

-Stores knowledge and information about past events
>Larger capacity than working memory and longer duration

>Is forgetting failed retrieval or lost information?

Explicit Memory

-(Declarative) Involves consciously accessible facts and evidence
>Semantic: General facts, meaning, and knowledge without recall needed
*MJ is the goat

>Episodic: Memory involves personal experiences, including their organization in time and the feeling of mentally revisiting an event
*Matching MJ dominating the Detroit Pistons

Implicit Memory

-(Non-Declarative) Can be expressed through behavior without conscious recollection
>Procedural Memory: Motor and cognitive skills

*Driving home (just the driving)

Endel Tulving

-Pioneered the distinction between episodic and semantic memory

>Autonoetic awareness: the subjective feeling of mentally experiencing one’s own past

Memory Triggered Unexpectedly by a Smell or a Song

-Involuntary memory

>Involves PTSD (doesn’t mean all involuntary memories are distressing)

>Episodic memories are conscious, but retrieval is not always voluntary

Childhood Amnesia

-Refers to the relative absence of accessible autobiographical memories from ages 3-4

H.M

-Henry Molaison

>Studied by Renda Milner

>Showed that H.M. improved at mirror tracing (procedural)
*LTM is not a single system; procedural can operate without explicit

Skill Learning

-Involves Basal Ganglia

Pathway

Sensory Input—Sensory Memory—Attentional Selection—Working Memory—Possible Long-Term Encoding

Why Might Texting While Listening to a Lecture Interfere with Learning?

This will force them to compete for further processing through attention, increasing cognitive load and decreases learning ability