15. Cognitive Psych (Long-Term Memory Pt. 1)

According to Atkinson & Shiffrin's (1968) modified modal model, what are the three main components of memory?

Sensory Memory, Working Memory, and Long-Term Memory.

What is the term for memory related to events, experiences, and knowledge accumulated over a lifetime?

Long-Term Memory

What is the capacity of long-term memory?

It is thought to have an unlimited capacity.

Which memory process is involved in the acquisition of knowledge?

Encoding

The process of keeping encoded information in memory is known as _____.

Storage

What is the term for the ability to bring a stored memory into consciousness?

Retrieval

The process of _____ involves translating external information into mental representations.

Encoding

What is a key factor that affects the process of encoding?

Prior knowledge

The process of _____ involves maintaining representations in memory and often occurs during sleep.

Consolidation

What two general factors affect the success of memory retrieval?

The quality of encoding/storage and the availability of cues/use of strategies.

What does the Encoding Specificity Principle state?

Memory will be better if the encoding context matches the retrieval context.

If you learn material while chewing a specific flavor of gum and then chew the same flavor during the test, you are leveraging which memory principle?

Context-dependent memory

In Godden & Baddeley's (1975) study, what were the two different physical environments used for learning and recall?

On land and underwater (scuba diving)

What were the results of Godden & Baddeley's (1975) scuba diving memory experiment?

Participants who learned and were tested in the same context (e.g., land/land or water/water) performed the best on the recall test.

What type of memory is demonstrated by the impact of one's internal mental state (e.g., intoxication) on encoding and retrieval?

State-dependent memory

What was the general procedure in the state-dependent memory study by Eich, Heissendorn, & Dienes (2000)?

Participants studied related word pairs and were later tested on their ability to recall the second word after being given the first.

What substances were used to manipulate participants' internal states in the Eich et al. (2000) study on state-dependent memory?

Alcohol and a placebo

What phenomenon describes the tendency for people to more easily retrieve information that matches the mood they were in when they encoded it?

Mood-congruent effects

People who are happy while they encode information are more likely to retrieve _____ information.

Positive

In the Fitzgerald et al. (2011) study on mood-congruent effects, what was used to induce a happy or sad mood in participants?

A short movie clip (happy or sad)

What were the results of the Fitzgerald et al. (2011) study on mood and memory?

People in a happy mood recalled more positive words, while people in a sad mood recalled more negative words.

What is the general conclusion from research on context-, state-, and mood-dependent memory?

The effects are generally small and not always consistent.

What did Saufley et al. (1985) investigate in their study on context-dependent memory?

Whether taking a midterm exam in the same lecture classroom versus a different room affected performance.

What were the results of the Saufley et al. (1985) study on exam performance in different rooms?

The location of the testing site did not matter; performance was similar in both the same and changed room conditions.

The concept of _____ emphasizes that the match between the cognitive processes used at encoding and retrieval is more important for memory than the physical context.

Transfer-appropriate processing

What is autobiographical memory?

Memory for the experiences that comprise a person's life story.

How does the 'experience of remembering' differ between autobiographical memories and facts?

Memories involve personal interpretation, while facts are impersonal.

How does context typically differ between autobiographical memories and general facts?

Autobiographical memories are often context-specific and include sensory details.

What is a major challenge when conducting research on autobiographical memory?

Researchers cannot control the context of encoding, and the accuracy of memories is often difficult or impossible to verify.

What is the 'diary technique' for investigating autobiographical memory?

Participants keep a running record or diary of daily events, which can later be used to test memory accuracy.

Which research method for studying autobiographical memory involves asking about particular, well-defined events or periods of life (e.g., 'the day your sister was born')?

Targeted event recall

The _____ __________ is an investigative method where participants generate memories in response to word cues (e.g., 'success', 'mistake').

Cue-word technique

What is infantile amnesia (or childhood amnesia)?

The inability of adults to retrieve autobiographical memories from very early in life, typically before the age of 3.

What research method did Usher & Neisser (1993) use to study infantile amnesia?

The Targeted Event Recall method, focusing on four specific childhood events.

In the Usher & Neisser (1993) study, which type of event was recalled more often than moving or a death in the family?

Hospital memories

Usher & Neisser (1993) suggested memories are better recalled from childhood if they are _____ and likely to be ____.

Distinctive; re-told

Which brain structure, crucial for forming new episodic memories, is not fully developed in infants, contributing to infantile amnesia?

The hippocampus

Even if the hippocampus is underdeveloped, what types of memories can infants still form?

Associations and procedural memories

How does language development help explain infantile amnesia?

The dramatic increase in linguistic ability around ages 2-4 coincides with the beginning of autobiographical memory, suggesting language helps structure and recount experiences.

What is the 'development of self' explanation for infantile amnesia?

A coherent sense of self is needed to organize memories into a personal life narrative, and this sense is not developed in very young children.

The _____ explanation for infantile amnesia incorporates the roles of biology, language, and self-concept, stating that autobiographical memory gradually emerges from these factors.

Social cognitive development

What is the 'reminiscence bump'?

The tendency for older adults to have an increased recollection for events that occurred during their adolescence and early adulthood (approx. ages 10-30).

The reminiscence bump applies to what two types of long-term memories?

Autobiographical and semantic memories

What does the 'novel cognitive hypothesis' propose as an explanation for the reminiscence bump?

Many distinctive 'first-time' events occur during this period, making them highly memorable.

The _____ ___________ suggests the reminiscence bump occurs because cognitive and brain functions are at their peak during that life stage.

Maturation hypothesis

How does the 'identity formation' hypothesis explain the reminiscence bump?

Events from this period are crucial for forming one's identity and are therefore more likely to be incorporated into the 'life narrative'.

For events occurring between the ages of 30-50, people are generally more likely to remember _____ events.

Recent

What is the general term for the loss of information from memory?

Forgetting

What is the theory of trace decay?

The theory that each memory has a 'trace' that will decay and be forgotten over time if it is not rehearsed or retrieved.

According to the _______ ___ _____, forgetting occurs when other information interferes with memory retrieval.

Theory of interference

What are the two types of interference?

Proactive and retroactive interference

What is proactive interference?

Difficulty recalling new material because previously learned material interferes with the formation of new memories.

Struggling to remember a new acquaintance's name because it is similar to an old friend's name is an example of _____ interference.

Proactive

What is retroactive interference?

Difficulty recalling old material because newly learned material interferes with the retrieval of old memories.

Forgetting an old phone number after learning a new one is a classic example of _____ interference.

Retroactive