MCAT PSYCH/SOC

Memories 3 Processes

Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Structural Processing

Attend to appearance (the look of a word)

Phonemic Processing

attend to sound (how a word sounds)

Semantic processing

attend to meaning (how a word relates)

Maintenance rehearsal

repeating information

Elaborative rehearsal

links new meaning to previous knowledge

Self-Reference affect

information related to oneself

Chunking

groups into meaningful units

Mnemonics

organized retrieval cures (rhyme, acronym, etc.)

Acronym

uses initial letters of words

method of loci

associates items with locations

peg word system

attaches to an already memorized sequence

dual coding

information in a verbal and visual form

spacing effect

learning is distributed over time

sensory memory

brief duration, large initial capacity

short-term memory

few chunks, lasts seconds

Long-term memory

large capacity, minutes to decades

iconic memory

very short, visual

echoic memory

auditory, very short

information processing model

sensory → short term

encoding → long term

retrieval → brings out long term

short-term memory span

7 ± 2 chunks, limited capacity

Working memory

actively manipulating information

phonological loop

repeating information

visuospatial sketchpad

manipulates visual and spatial information

central executive

coordinates processing

episodic buffer

integrates info across components and long-term

explicit (declarative) memory

conscious recollection

implicit (nondeclarative) memory

without conscious recollection

Episodic (explicit)

personally experienced

semantic (explicit)

facts, concepts, and general knowledge

procedural (implicit)

learned skills/procedures

priming (implicit)

prior exposure influences later

conditioned associations (often implicit)

learned response to cues

Autobiographical memory

both episodic experiences and semantic facts about oneself

prospective memory

remembering to carry out future intention

semantic network

linked concepts or nodes

spreading activation

once concept makes other concepts more accessible

semantic priming

a related work is recognized more quickly after the first word

false recall

recalling a word never presented originally

accessibility does not prove prior exposure

free recall

produces info without hints

cued recall

produces info with hints

recognition

identifies information

relearning

learning previously studied info

savings

the reduction in time or trials needed to relearn

encoding-specificity principal

retrieval is helped by cues that overlap with how the info was learned

context-dependent memory

matching the environment

state-dependent memory

matching the internal state

mood-dependent memory

matching the mood

mood-congruent memory

current mood makes matching emotional memories easier to access

tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

temporary retrieval failure

retrieval practice/testing affect

improves retention by requiring info to be brought to mind

serial position affects

better recall at the beginning and end of a list

primacy effect

early items get more rehearsal, long-term encoding

recency effect

more recent items are more available in the short term memory

flashbulb memories

vivid memories of an emotionally significant/surprising event

vividness and confidence are not guarantees of accuracy

encoding failure

never effectively learned

retrieval failure

stored info cannot be accessed

decay

weakening over time

interference

memories compete

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

substantial forgetting soon after learning followed by a slower rate of loss

proactive

old info interferes with new

retroactive

new info interferes with old

memory aid

proactive acts against forward learning

retroactive acts against backwards learning

schema

organized knowledge structure

misinformation effect

info learned after an event affects later reports of that event

source-monitoring error

misattributes where info came from

source amnesia

retaining info but forgetting its source

false memories

inaccurate recollections

confabulation

unintentionally producing inaccurate accounts

amnesia

impaired memory

retrograde amnesia

affects info from before the onset

can occur with anterograde

anterograde amnesia

affects info after the onset

can occur with retrograde

dementia

severe, not normal aging

alzheimers disease

progressive neurodegeneration, cause of dementia

Korsakoff syndrom

persistent, cause by severe thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency, associated with alcohol misuse and malnutrition, prominent anterograde impairment

Wernicke encephalopathy

acute thiamine (vitamin B1)-deficiency, abnormal eye movements, not alcohol exposure by itself

hippocampus

new explicit memories and their consolidation, not the permanent storage site for every memory

amygdala

emotional learning, modulation of memory

basal ganglia and cerebellum

procedural learning, conditioned responses

prefrontal cortex

working memory

neuroplasticity

nervous systems ability to change with experience

synaptic plasticity

changes how effectively neurons communicate

structural plasticity

changes physical connections, synapse formation/elimination

long-term potentiation (LTP)

lasting increase in synaptic strength, after potentiation produces larger postsynaptic response, helps explain learning and memory

glutamate

important to synapses in learning and memory

Learning

A lasting change resulting from experience

Nonassociative learning

changes the response without requiring association

Habituation

response decreases with repeated exposure, learned decrease

Dishabituation

response returns after a different strong stimulus intervenes

Sensitization

responsiveness increases following stimulation especially an intense or unpleasant event

Sensory adaption

reduced responsiveness

Associative Learning

connects events

Classical conditioning

one stimulus predicts another

(Ivan Pavlov) previously neutral stimulus elicits a response after being pairs with a stimulus that already elicits that response

operant conditioning

behavior predicts a consequence, wither the behavior increases or decreases

Ivan Pavlov

Classical conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus (US/UCS)

Elicits a response without the condition being studied

Unconditioned Response (UR/UCR)

Response to unconditioned stimulus

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

Does not initially elicit response, neutral with respect to the target response

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Previously neutral, now elicits a response

Conditioned Response (CR)

learned response to a conditioned stimulus