psy 108 LTM

Definition of long-term memory

high-capacity storage system containing memories for experiences + info accumulated throughout lifetime. Information in LTM can last for a few minutes to many decades.

Episodic memory

memories for events that happened to you personally, allows you to travel backward in subjective time to reminisce about earlier episodes in your life (a conversation 10 min ago or a breakup 10 years ago)

Semantic memory

organized knowledge about the world, including your knowledge about words and other factual information (meaning!)

Procedural memory

knowledge about how to do something (sequence of motor based info - play piano)

Similarities and differences between these types of long-term memory

all are forms of LTM that involve learning/retention, and can interact. Semantic and episodic involve consciousness, procedural is implicit. Each relies on distinct brain regions, reflecting functional differences. Procedural most resistant to brain damage, episodic fragile

Definition of encoding

process information and represent it in your memory. two processes cannot be separated, need to test how accurately you can retrieve information in order to examine how effectively you encoded the information.

Levels/depth of processing

deep, meaningful processing of information leads to more accurate recall than shallow, sensory kinds of processing. Encoding specificity shows shallow-shallow and deep-deep.

Why does deeper processing during encoding lead to better recall ?

(distinctiveness, elaboration, self-reference) deeper processing means extract more meaning from stimulus - analyze for meaning and think of other associations, images, and past experiences related to the stimulus - form connections!

Distinctiveness

Distinctiveness - stimulus is different from other memory traces. Conducted mental operations that cause the memory to be different in some way from other potentially similar entries in long-term memory.

Elaboration

rich processing in terms of meaning and interconnected concepts. Make it deep!

Self-reference effect

remember more information if you try to relate that information to yourself. The ‘self’ produces rich set of cues for deep connections

Encoding specificity principle

recall is better if the context during retrieval is similar to the context during encoding, shallow-shallow, deep-deep.

Research supporting the encoding specificity

listen to story in spanish/english. Retrieved in spanish/english. Retrieval best when it matches encoding. Effect is strongest when assessing recall using real-life incidents, and examining events that happened long ago

Recall and recognition tasks – how do they differ?

recall - reproduce items learned earlier. recognition - judge whether they saw a particular item at an earlier time. Lab usually focuses on recognition (did this word appear in a list earlier)

Emotion and memory – what does the research say?

pleasant items recalled better than unpleasant items, neutral worst. More accurate recall for neutral stimuli (commercials) associated with pleasant stimuli (nonviolent movie). Overtime, unpleasant memories fade more than pleasant memories.

Pollyanna principle

pleasant items are usually processed more efficiently and more accurately than less-pleasant items. Better recall for pleasant

Positivity effect

People tend to rate unpleasant past events more positively with the passage of time

Definition of retrieval

locate info in LTM and access it. 2 processes can’t be separated, you need to test how accurately you can retrieve information in order to examine how effectively you encoded the information.

Examples of explicit memory tasks

directly asked to remember something, intentionally retrieve previously learned info.

Examples of implicit memory tasks

see material (ie. series of words/pictures). Later, during the test, complete a cognitive task that does not directly ask you for either recall or recognition: assessing memory indirectly. Shows the effect of previous experience that automatically creeps out - no conscious effort to remember the past - repetition priming task - recent exposure to word increases chance of thinking of that word when presented with cue that could evoke many different words

How are explicit and implicit memory related to anxiety disorders?

implicit - no difference between high/low anxiety. Explicit - high anxiety people more likely to recall negative, anxiety arousing words and less likely to recall neutral + pleasant.

Amnesia

severe deficits in episodic memory.

Retrograde amnesia

cant remember events prior to brain damage and may lose fact based knowledge

Anterograde amnesia

cant from new memories after brain damage, explicit memory fried, implicit memory intact

How do novices and experts differ?

experts have good memory and good performance in a particular area. Outside of the area, they’re most likely average. Experts show less working memory processing than novices because their extensive knowledge eases processing burden

Autobiographical memory

memory for events and issues related to yourself

Source monitoring

trying to identify the origin of a particular memory (did your friend tell you the info or did you see it on instagram). A good example is a songwriter unknowingly plagiarizing a melody he thought he created

reality monitoring

try to identify whether an event really occurred, or whether you actually imagined this event

Definition, example and research studies related to flashbulb memory and eyewitness testimony
Flashbulb memory

memory for the circumstances in which you first learned about a very surprising and emotionally arousing event (what were you doing during 9/11). People make errors recalling detailed events, even though they claim that memories were very vivid. Flashbulb memories and “ordinary memories” grow less accurate with the passage of time at similar rates.

Eyewitness testimony

remember specific details about people and events. Make errors if saw crime while stressed, long delay before testimony, misinfo is plausible, social pressure, and positive feedback.
Post-misinformation effect - errors in eyewitness testimony

Constructivist approach

construct knowledge by integrating new information with what we know. Shows how post-hoc misleading info changes memory

Recovered memory

experience sexual abuse in childhood, forget it, remember it in adulthood. Child blocks memory to preserve relationship with caregiver

False memory prospective

recovered memories not real and implanted by therapists. Evidence includes implanting fake memories (lost in mall), although turnout is low. Lab implantations have little ecological validity

How are case analyses used?

there is legal documentation of abuse happening, and people still forget it - evidence for recovered

Lecture material:
3 parts of long-term memory

encoding (STM → LTM), retention interval, retrieval

Generation effect

read: Hot cold and generate hot c—. Generating leads to better recall than just reading.

Schemas

pattern of thought that categorizes info

Relationship between expertise, schemas and encoding

having expertise provides you w/ a schema that allows you to efficiently encode and understand things

Bransford and Johnson

crazy story, balloon guitar man (or washing machine protocol) makes way more sense once you’re given the schema for it

Expertise studies:

track runners, chess players, waiters good at remembering things related to expertise

Non-schematic information

information in random location on textbook page…how do we remember that?

Retention interval

period of time after memory encoded, but before it’s retrieved

Spacing effect

better memory for info studied few times over long period rather than repeatedly in a single interval. Spacing increases # of separate traces of studying.

Passage of time

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve (initially dramatic and then plateau)

Sleep

Sleep enables memory consolidation (especially for emotional material). Brain is sifting through info experiences that day and prioritizing the most important (emotional material is the most important)

Post-event information

how does retention interval lead to contamination of memories: Loftus misinformation study

Loftus misinformation study

video of car at stop sign. Later some participants heard a question referring to a yield sign. Tested on stop signs or yield signs. More likely to identify yield signs when they hear misleading yield sign comments. Misleading questions can lead to false memories. Shows that memories can be implanted

Suggested autobiographical memories

memory of personal experience. Misinformation can produce false memories of entire events, relevant to child abuse court cases. Loftus fake lost in mall study (25% had false memories, too broad) or loftus stop sign study. Lower probability events (spilling wine on bride) also works. Told they got sick from eggs, then avoided egg foods. Photoshopping a person onto a hot air balloon works. Slime desk - Seeing picture dramatically increased creation of false memory: presenting context can help false memories stick

State dependent memory (maximize retrieval?)

tested in the state that you studied means better memory. Sober study sober test best, alcohol study alcohol test surprisingly good

Mood dependent memory (maximize retrieval?)

recall events in the same, different, or neutral mood. Same mood → best recall. Different mood → worst recall

Context dependent memory (maximize retrieval?)

Divers study words on land/underwater, test (recall/recognition) on land/underwater. State dependent effect for recall (not recognition, recall isn’t context reinstating like recognition).

How can we use context dependent memory in a real-world setting? (Guiselman study)

Witness crime w/ car w/ visible license plate, give them license plate with blanks to fill in (making it a recognition test). Results: fill in blank increased performance by 1.5 items

Impact of schemas on LTM retrieval Deese Roediger Mcdermott paradigm

Study list and then recognize words. Candy schema or how all words associated w/ sweet makes you think word (like sweet) that wasn’t there was there

Impact of schemas on LTM retrieval Jenkins Demo

Old car, girl, cat schema makes you think a sentence that wasn’t there was. Falsely remember seeing sentences corresponding to gist of sentences studied

Big picture conclusions

encoding, retention interval, and retrieval all influenced by schemas (we remember gist), match between retrieval and encoding conditions. Relevant to debate: false memories resulting from integrating abuse schema provided by therapist or genuinely recovered when retrieval conditions resemble encoding conditions.