Memory Development

Exam 1

Hermann Ebbinghaus

experimental study of memory, using learning lists of non-sense syllables such as TOB & HIF. Testing only himself was not valid, but later studies supported many of his findings.

Retention Interval

Time between initially learning information and latery trying to remember it. EX: Study Sunday and test yourself Tuesday, your rention interval is two days.

Savings Score

Reduction in time or repetition to relearn information compared with learning it originally. Savings %= OG Effort-Relearning Effort/Original effort X 100

Forgetting Curve

Forgetting happens rapidly at first. Intitially drops steeply, becomes flatter as time passes. Forgetting does not occur at constant rate

Overlearning

Continue studies after material is mastered. Slows later forgetting.

Massed Practice

Concentrating practice into one session 'EX: Studing Chp. 1 for 60 min Wed’

Distributed Practice

Spreading Practice across separate sessions EX: Studying chp 1 for 20 min Sunday, Monday, and Wed

Spacing Effect

Memory advantage of distributing practice ‘EX: Better retention after spaced sessions, even with equal total study time’

Direct Measures

How much information you retrieve and ho accurately you retrieve it.

Direct Measures EX

Recall & Recognition

Indirect Measures

Other clues about memory processes, accessibility, and your awareness of memory.

Indirect Measures EX

Errors, reaction time, source judgement, reality monitoring, metamemory judgements

Recall

Producing information from memory rather than choosing a presented answer

Free Recall

remember with a broad prompt, without specific cues fro individual items EX: List of all words you remember

Cued Recall

Remember a specific item using a specific prompt or hint. EX: What word was paired wih dog?

Recognition

Matching memory to something presented to you

Old/new recognition

Whether you encountered an item before “was apple on the study list?”

Forced Choice Recognition

Which presented option is correct “Which was on the list: apple, chair, or river?”

Error Analysis

Examining the kinds of mistakes people make when remembering

Reaction Time

How long it takes to complete a task or give a response

Source Judgments

Deciding where or from whom you learned information.

Reality Monitoring

Distinguishing a memory of an actual event from a memory of something imagined, thought or dreamed .

Metamemory

Knowledge and awareness of your own memory and how memory works.

Judgments of learning

Predictions made during studying about how likely you are to remember information later. '“Will I remember this later”

Implicit memory test

Measure the influence of earlier experience without requiring deliberate, conscious recollection of that experience.

Priming

Change in performance caused by earlier exposure or processing

Relearning

Faster learning can reveal effects of earlier learning even when a person cannot consciously recall it

Experiment

A study conducted under controlled conditions in which researchers manipulate an independant variable and measure its effects.

Independant Variable

What the researcher manipulates

Levels of IV

Different values or conditions

Dependant Variable

Outcome measures

Control Group

Provides a baseline for comparison.

Experimental Groups

Recieve the conditions being compared with the baseline.

Random Assignment

Using chance to place participants into conditions.

Extraneous Variables

Other variables that can affect the DV

Double Blind Procedure

Neither the participant nor the person administering the test knows which condition the participant is in. Reduces Bias

Operational Definition

Exaclty how a variable is measured or manipulated

Hypothesis

Testable prediction about what will happen.

Neuron

Nerve cell that recieves and sends information

Dendrites

Receive messages from other neurons

Cell body

Keeps the cell functioning and combines incoming signals

Axon

Carries messages away from the cell body

Terminal buttons

Release chemical messengers to communicate with the next neuron

Myelin sheath

Fatty insulation around the axon that speeds up messages

Action potential

The electrical impulse that travels along an axon.

Synapse

The connection between neurons; its tiny gap is the synaptic cleft.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers released by terminal buttons that cross this gap and affect the next neuron.

Long-term potentiation—LTP

A lasting strengthening of connections between neurons after repeated activation. Neurons repeatedly activate together, they communicate more effectively.

Memory Consolidation

Making a new, fragile memory more stable and lasting. Key Structure: Hippocampus

LTP

Connections between neurons get stronger

Consolodation

A memory becomes more stable over time.

Cerebral Cortext

Brains outer covering

Frontal Lobe

Planning, decisions, voluntary movement, controlling attention, and managing memory

Parietal Lobe

Touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and attention

Temporal

Hearing, language, forming memories, and recognizing complex objects/faces

Occipital

Vision and visual processing

prefrontal cortex

• Start deliberately remembering.

• Ignore distractions.

• Monitor what you know: metamemory.

• Identify where information came from: source monitoring.

Hippocampus

Helps form and consolidate new memories; also supports spatial learning

Amygdala

Processes emotions and connects emotions with experiences; can influence consolidation

Neuroplasticity

The brain’s ability to change in response to experience.

Brain Change: Reorganize Functions

Other areas may take over some functions after brain damage

Brain Change: Change Connections

Neurons develop or strengthen connections, or unused connections are removed

Brain Change: Grows new Neurons

New nerve cells form: neurogenesis

Neurogenesis

Formation of new neurons.

Synaptic pruning

Removal of unused or less-used connections, helping the brain become more efficient

Patient H.M

Surgery removed medial temporal lobes, including hippocampal tissue. Post Surgery difficulty forming long-term memories and facts.

EEG

Electrodes on the scalp record the brain’s electrical activity

MEG

Detects magnetic fields produced by brain activity

PET

Uses an injected radioactive tracer to help identify active areas

fMRI

Detects changes in blood oxygenation associated with brain activity

TMS

A magnetic coil induces electrical currents that temporarily alter activity in a brain area

EEG & MEG Principle

good at showing when activity happens.

basic principle behind PET and fMRI

More active brain areas need more energy and oxygen, so their blood supply changes

Why TMS is especially useful

temporarily disrupt activity in a targeted brain region. Researchers then examine what changes in the person’s performance.

Atkinson & Shiffrin’s model

modal model, it includes three memory stores:

Sensory memory

Briefly holds incoming sights, sounds, and other sensations. Very large. Fraction of a second to a few seconds, depending on the sense

Short-term memory—STM

Temporarily holds information you are attending to. Traditionally 7 ± 2 chunksAbout 15–30 seconds without rehearsal

Long-term memory—LTM

Retains learned information over longer periods. No known limit.

Attention

Selects information from sensory memory for short-term memory.

Rehearsal

Keeps information active in short-term memory.

Encoding/learning

Establishes information in long-term memory.

Retrieval

Brings information from long-term memory back into current awareness.

Working memory

Holding information while using or manipulating it.

Traditional capacity

7 ± 2 items or chunks, meaning approximately 5–9.

Memory span

The number of items you can immediately repeat in the correct order.

Chunking

Combining information into meaningful groups.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeat it: “482, 482, 482…”

Elaborative

Connect it to meaning, imagery, or something you already know

Serial position curve

where an item appears in a list affects how likely you are to recall it. U shape: better recall at the beginning and end, poorer recall in the middle.

Primacy Effect

The first itemsThey receive more rehearsal and enter long-term memory

Recency Effect

The last itemsThey are still in short-term/working memory when recall begins

What can weaken these effects?

Less time to rehearse during learning, can reduce primacy. A delay filled with a distracting task before recall, can reduce recency

Suffix effect

An extra, irrelevant speech sound added after a list can make it harder to repeat the list accurately, especially the final items.

Phonological loop

Holds and rehearses words and sounds. Silently repeating a phone number

Visuospatial sketchpad

Holds and works with images and locations. Picturing the route to your classroom

Central executive

Directs attention and coordinates the other systems. Deciding what to focus on while solving a problem

Episodic buffer

Combines information from different systems and long-term memory into an integrated experience. Linking someone’s face, spoken name, and what you already know about them

Baddeley & Hitch (1974)

Participants held digits in mind while also completing a reasoning task. Tasks using different systems can interfere less with one another.

• Tasks competing for the same system interfere more.

Central executive: Focus

on relevant information and ignore distractions.

Central Executive Switch

between tasks.