Psych Unit 2: Chapter 7 (memory and attention)

Memory

active system that stores, organizes, alters, and recovers/retrieves information

Three stages of memory

1. Encoding

2. Storage

3. Retrieval

Encoding

Converting Information into a usable form (like typing data into a computer)

Storage

Holding information in memory for later use

Retrieval

taking memories out of storage

Three systems model of memory

Sensory, short-term, and long-term

Each system of memory differs in..

span and duration

Span 

how much each system can hold

Duration

over how long a period of time that system can hold information

Sensory Memory

First stage of memory system; stores exact copy of incoming information

• iconic memories and echoic memories

Iconic Memories

fleeting visual or mental images - lasts about half a second

Echoic memories

Brief continuation of the sound in the auditory system - lasts about 2 seconds

Short-term Memory

Retrieves portion of information from sensory memory through the selective attention filter; holds small amounts of information briefly

Information

• can be coded as images or phonetically (based on sound)

• is lost unless rehearsed

• is very sensitive to interruption or interference

Working Memory

Another word for STM - like a mental “scratchpad” and is especially used for thinking/problem-solving

Digit Span

Test of attention and STM - string of numbers is recalled forward or backward

• typically a part of intelligence tests

Magic number for STM

7 plus or minus 2

• can hold this small bit of information at once

Bits of information:

meaningful units of information

Chunking

Process of grouping bits of information into larger units; based on meaningfulness of the bits- (7 plus or minus 2)

• ex. phone numbers (we usually do this in three)

Two types of rehearsal

maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal

Maintenance rehearsal

repeating information silently to prolong its presence in STM; i.e. rote learning

• not effective for long-term learning

Elaborative rehearsal

links new information with existing memories and knowledge in long-term memory

• good way to transfer STM information into LTM

Long-Term Memory

Storing information relatively permanently; stored on basis of meaning and importance

• considered limitless

The more you know, the easier it is to…

add new information

Permanence

Some studies suggest that memories are permanent and others suggest that they are only relatively permanent

• many events never get from sensory memory to STM

Wilder Penfield

Stimulated brain areas with an electrode during brain surgery: patients reported vivid memories of long-forgotten events when stimulated

What percentage of brain stimulation produces memories in cases?

3%

As new LTM memories are formed, old memories are…

updated, changed, lost, or revised

Constructive Processing

Process of reorganizing or updating long-term memories

• gaps are “filled in” using logic, reasoning, or adding new information

Psuedo-Memory

False memories that a person believes are true or accurate 

• e.g. TSITP- Belly associated memory of Conrad with Jeremiah

Elizabeth Loftus

Disney World Study: made subjects read fake new stories about a “mickey mouse molestor” and then people later reported that they were “molested” by Mickey as kids

Information in LTM is arranged according to…

rules, images, categories, symbols, similarity, formal meaning, or personal meaning

Memory structure

Pattern of associations among items of information

Network Model

Collins and Loftus’s “concept” of associations where each unit of information about an item is a single node in the network

• e.g. red, vehicle, emergency for “fire truck”

• the closer the nodes, the stronger the association between them and the more likely that one will activate the other

Spreading Activation Models:

stimuli in working memory activate specific nodes in long-term memory, making retrieval easier

• activation of a node spreads throughout its network, enhancing memory of related items

Associative networks are organized by (…) and structured in (…)

category; hierarchy

• provides blueprint for where to find information

Redintegrative Memory

Memories that are reconstructed or expanded by starting with one memory and then following chains of association to related memories

Procedural Memory (motor)

Long-term memories of conditioned responses and learned skills

• “know how”

• represent basic elements of conditioning

• expressed as actions (i.e., driving)

Declarative Memory (facts)

LTM section that contains factual information

• expressed as words and symbols

Tower of Hanoi (example)

Uses procedural memory- a certain pattern is used to win and a person is shown steps and expected to follow them

• used for memory tests

Two divisions of declarative memory

1. semantic memory

2. Episodic memory

Semantic memory

impersonal facts and everyday knowledge; generally immune to forgetting

Episodic Memory

“autobiographical memory”; personal experiences linked with specific times and places

• allows us to re-experience events

• more easily forgotten than semantic

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT)

Feeling that a memory is available but not quite retrievable; partial memory

Free Recall

To supply or reproduce memorized information with a minimum of external cues

Serial Position effect

the middle of a list is the hardest to recall items from 

What are the easiest items to recall? (list)

the end

Recognition Memory/cued recall

identifying correctly previously learned material; accurate for pictures and photographs; (why multiple choice tests work)

Distractors

False items included with a correct item; if they are similar to the correct item, memory may be poor

False positive

false sense of recognition when only one choice looks correct (e.g. multiple choice questions, police lineup)

Relearning

Learning again something that was previously learned

• used to measure memory of prior learning

• typically the most sensitive measure

• measured by savings score

Savings score

amount of time saved when relearning information

Explicit memory

past experiences that are consciously brought to mind

Implicit Memory

a memory that a person does not know exists; memory that is unconsciously retrieved 

• i.e. typing

Priming

when cues are used to activate hidden memories

Internal images

mental pictures

Hermann Ebbinghaus

tested his own memory for meaningless 3-letter nonsense syllables at various intervals (ex. fej)

Curve of forgettting

graph showing the amount of information remembered after varying lengths of time

• after 2 days, only 30% of information remembered

• meaningful information is not lost as quickly

To get information into memory, a person needs to …

attend

Attention

the ability to focus on certain stimuli

• adaptive by facilitating function by enabling us to block out irrelevant information

Attention can be distracted by:

external sensory cues or by internal thoughts and memories

When attention gets divided among too many tasks, …

performance suffers

Visually, we process basic features of stimuli in…

parallel

• e.g. color, motion, orientation, shape, and size

Parallel processing

Processing multiple types of information at the same time

• single feature searches are fast and automatic and occur via this method

Conjunction tasks

serial and effortful; take longer and require more attention because you need to process each stimulus individually

Cherry’s Cocktail party phenomenon

highlights how a particularly pertinent stimulus can capture your attention; 

• ex. hearing your name or “juicy” piece of gossip or taboo words in the middle of a conversation

Encoding failure

when a memory was never formed in the first place; we often fail to notice (and remember) details 

• i.e. pennies

• often due to a strain on attention

Change blindness

a failure to notice large changes in one’s environment

• illustrates that our perceptions can be inaccurate

• ex. gorilla in basketball passing video

Cue-dependent forgetting

memories may be available (stored in LTM) but inaccessible (cannot be located or retrieved)

Memory Cues

Any stimulus associated with a memory

• usually enhance retrieval of a memory

• person will forget is these are missing at retrieval time

• i.e. where were you on Jan. 26, 2020?

State-dependent learning

when memory retrieval is influenced by body state

• ex. if Robert is drunk and forgets where his car is parked, it will be easier to recall the location if he gets drunk again

Interference

Tendency for new memories to impair retrieval of older memories, and vice versa

Retroactive Interference

Tendency for new memories to interfere with retrieval of old memories

Proactive interference

old memories inhibit/interfere with recall of new memories

repression

unconsciously pushing painful, embarrasing, or threatening memories out of awareness/consciousness

Flashbulb memories

termed by Brown and Kulik: vivid episodic memories for circumstances in which people first learned of a surprising, consequential, or emotionally arousing event

• includes both positive and negative events

• can be biased and inaccurate

Retrograde amnesia

forgetting events that occurred before an injury or trauma

Anterograde Amnesla

Forgetting events that follow (after) an injury or trauma 

• think of 50 first dates

Consolidation

Process of forming a long-term memory; immediate memories become LT memories

Hippocampus

Brain structure associated with information passing from short-term memory into long-term memory

What happens if the hippocampus gets damaged?

person can no longer make new long-term memories

• memories prior to damage usually stay intact

Karl Lashley’s Engram

refers to the physical site of memory storage

• where memory “lives”

Equipotentiality

the idea that memory is distributed throughout the brain rather than confined to any specific location

Multiple brain regions implicated in memory:

hippocampus, temporal lobes, cerebellum, amygdala, and the brain structures involved in perception

Hebb’s postulate

the neurons that fire together wire together

Medial (middle) temporal lobes

may be responsible in early consolidation

storage occurs in the brain regions that are engaged during…

the perception, processing, and analysis of the material being learned

• i.e. sound is stored in areas involved in auditory perception

Remembering something reactivates what?

the cortical circuits involved in the initial perception

Once connections in brain are strenghthened sufficiently, what happens to the medial temporal lobes?

they become less important for memory

What role does sleep play?

plays a role in the consolidation of memories

What did Nader and LeDoux propose?

that once memories are activated, they need to be consolidated again to be stored back in memory

Reconsolidation

neural processes involved when memories are recalled and then stored again for later retrieval (like a librarian returning a book to its proper shelf)

• can explain why our memories change over time as they keep getting activated and placed back into storage

What could be a good method of altering bad memories?

Using extinction during the period when memories are susceptible to reconsolidation