BCS 111 Unit 6.4

Episodic vs. Semantic memory

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Episodic memory

• Personal experience from previous events

  • Encoding specificity:
    remember something
    with related context/events/surroundings

  • State-dependent and
    mood-dependent

Semantic memory

General knowledge

• One major difference from episodic memory: “timestamp” of events is not needed in semantic memory but is associated with episodic memory

Procedural vs. Declarative memory

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Declarative memory

things that can be described (may include both episodic and semantic memory)

Procedural memory

things that are hard to describe (e.g., actions)

Implicit vs. Explicit memory

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Implicit memory

• skills/knowledge acquired without being aware of the rules/patterns; or unconsciously processed input

  • Equivalent to Procedural memory

Explicit memory

• things that can be consciously recollected

  • Equivalent to Declarative memory

Long-term memory encoding – levels of processing

Why rote learning (i.e. memorization w/o deep understanding) not always helpful?

• Shallow vs. deep processing = encoding of word form vs. encoding of meaning

Long-term memory encoding – shallow vs. deep processing

Craik & Tulving (1975): word learning and level of processing

(cont)

Target word: shark
• Learning phase: Three types of attention focus:

• Written form: Is the word in capital letters? → SHALLOW processing

• Sound: does it rhyme with park? → Less shallow

• Category (meaning): Is it a type of fish? → DEEP processing

Learn by meaning most helpful → effect of deep processing

• Meaning-based learning (category) much more efficient than form-based method (spellings)

• Sound-based learning not as good as meaning based, but still better than form-based

Why and how does mnemonics help us store and recall better?

Recoding

• Scattered pieces of info (e.g., 9

  planets) → meaningful unit (e.g., a

  sentence)

Involvement of working memory?

• Of course!

• What components of working
  memory are involved?

  • Central executive and phonological loop

Long-term memory encoding and retrieval

After 5-10 years, if you still remember the concept about “introspection”

When the cue and the retrieved info have a close relation in meaning….

Paired-associate task: tests connective
processes (association) in LTM

• Clear relation in meaning between two words/concepts/events → semantic memory

• Opaque relation in meaning between two words/concepts/events (Cute little monkeys vs. Introspection) → episodic memory

Long-term memory retrieval

Bousfield (1953): free recall

• Recall a list of 60 words

• Ss recall words in clusters

• Similar to foraging (as discussed in Ecological Approach)

Ecological approach to the study of LTM retrieval

Memory search: verbal fluency task: recall as many words as possible in a given category

Long-term memory - forgetting

• How do you ”flatten the curve”?

• Study, study and study!

• Mechanisms underlying forgetting?

  • Interference vs. decay (as in STM)

Long term memory – Forgetting (cont)

• Use paired-associates task to test forgetting

  • Pair the same cue word with a different target word

    • Proactive interference: old pairing interferes new

    • (old pairing) Science – cat

    • (new pairing) Science – rain

    • Task: Recall the new pair: Science – cat

(cont)

Use paired-associates task to test forgetting

• Retroactive interference: new replaces old

  • (old pairing) Science – cat

  • (new pairing) Science – rain

  • Q: Recall the old pair?

  • A: Science - rain

Summary of LTM

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3 classification schemes

• Episodic vs. Semantic; Declarative vs. Procedural; Implicit vs. explicit

• We have limited processing capacity but theoretically unlimited LTM storage capacity

Encoding and retrieval

• Deep vs. shallow processing = meaning-based vs. form-based processing

• How does recoding help us remember things better?

• LTM Free recall vs. cued recall: free recall is like foraging

Forgetting

Paired associate learning: Proactive vs. retroactive interference