psychology ch 7

Memory

The nervous system’s capacity to acquire and retain skills and knowledge for later retrieval

Memory consist of

Encoding, storage, and retrieval

Attention allows further processing for

Perception, memory, and response

Because attention is limited conducting different

Tasks at once is difficult and inefficient

Selective attention

Direct mental resources to relevant information to process it further and ignore irrelevant information

Filter theory

Important information is allowed through the filter and irrelevant information is prevent prevented from getting through

You maintain information in three memory stores

Sensory storage, short-term storage, long-term storage

Each memory store serves a different function,

Uniquely retain information that has been encoded, holds information for different links of time, and maintains a particular amount of information differently

Sensory storage

Brief maintenance of sensory information

Only last up to a few seconds

Sensory memory

Visual, auditory, smell, taste, and touch storage

Because sensory storage contains huge amount amounts of information for a fraction of a second we can experience

The world as a continuous stream of information

Blank lets you actively maintain information in short-term storage

Working memory

Short-term storage

Holds working memory, which allows manipulation of different types of information to keep it available for current use

Memory span

Short-term storage has limited capacity and short duration

Short term storage can be improved by

Chunking

Long-term storage

Unlimited in capacity

Levels of processing model

The more deeply an item is processed during encoding the better it is remembered

Maintenance rehearsal

Information is repeated over and over

Elaborative rehearsal

Deeper processing and codes information, more meaningfully, and effectively

Levels of processing model use a combination of both

Visual and semantic and coding called dual coding is a very successful method of transferring the information into long-term storage

IMPACT learning to learn

Thinking deeply, test yourself, studying with a partner or with a group

Primacy effect

People can better remember items at the beginning of a list

Recency effect

People can better remember items at the end of a list

Schemas

Cognitive maps or structures that help organize information in memory

Affected by culture thus prone to distortion and biased in coding

Networks of associations

Basic unit is a node

Information is arranged in categories for easier retrieval

Spreading activation models

Memory notes may have multiple associations thus activating one note may lead to activation of other networks

H.M.

Removal of part of his temporal lobes, including his hippocampus caused him to not be able to form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

Loss of past memories

Anterograde amnesia

Inability to form new memories

Explicit memories or declarative memories

Memories that can be verbalized, system underline, conscious memories

Explicit memories can be divided into

Episodic memories and semantic memories

Episodic memory

Can blur together events that repeat in your life

Who shows better episodic memory across the lifespan, particularly for events that can be described in words

Women

Highly superior autobiographical memory

Research has shown that those with HSAM who number under 100 have accurate memory for autobiographical event events using stringent criteria

Explicit memories involved

Conscious effort

Implicit memories function without

Conscious effort

Procedural, memory or motor memory

Memory for motor skills and behavior

Brain regions involved in memory

Hippocampus – consolidation and spatial memory

Cerebellum – implicit memory, procedural memory

Amyglada– Implicit, memory, emotional memories

Temporal lobes – explicit memory

Prefrontal cortex – working memory

Memory, neurons, and long-term potentiation

Hebbian Learning – neurons that fire together wired together

LTP

Enhanced activity that results from the strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons

LTP effects are most easily observed in

Brain sites known to be active in learning and memory, such as the hippocampus

Consolidation

Transfer of memories into long-term storage

Leads to formation and reinforcement of neural networks

Is aided by sleep

Individuals with HSAM show more connections and activity between

The hippocampus and other regions involved in personal experience than those who do not have it

Reconsolidation

Alteration of memories during retrieval

Retrieval cue

Anything that helps recall information from long-term memory

Context dependent memory

The context of an event is encoded along with the memory as a result. The context produces a sense of familiarity that helps us retrieve the memory.

State dependent memory

Occurs when our internal states are the same during both encoding and retrieval

Prospective memory

Future oriented and helps you remember to do something at an appropriate future time

Mnemonics

Learning strategies that improve recall through retrieval cues

Method of Loki

Consists of associating items you want to remember with physical locations you already know

Forgetting

The inability to access memory from long-term storage, people with HSAM have also reported they find it difficult not to think about bad days and tragic event events, which might contribute to feelings of anxiety or depression

Three main ways we forget

Interference, blocking, absentmindedness

Interference

Retroactive interference is new information interferes with the ability to remember old information

Proactive interference is ultimate information interferes with ability to remember new information

Blocking

Temporary and ability to remember information, tip of the tongue phenomenon

Absentmindedness

Failure to encode information effectively and can occur through either in attention or shallow encoding

Distortion

Human memory is not a perfectly accurate representation of the past, but is flawed

Distorted memories/memory bias

Tendency to make memories, consistent with current beliefs or attitudes

Distorted memory/flashbulb memories

Vivid, but sometimes in accurate memories of significant events

Distorted memories/misattribution

Miss remembering the time, place person or circumstances of a memory

Cryptomnesia is a form of this in which a person thinks an idea is new but it’s really retrieving a stored idea without remembering it source

Distorted memory/suggest ability

Development of biased memories based on misleading information

Creates problems for eyewitness accounts and testimony

Testimony is prone to error because often the eyewitness is not paying attention to the right detail details when the event happens

The way Police interview eyewitnesses may affect memory

Distorted memories/false memories

Researchers have devised test for studying whether people can be misled into recalling or recognizing events that did not happen people with HSAM seem to be just as acceptable to false memories for words they did not actually see