Chapter 08: Memory

Intro to Psychology

What are semantics?

Definition/meaning of a word

The ability to store and retrieve information, indicating that learning has persisted over time.

Memory

The stages of memory consisting of encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Information Processing

Changing information into a neural code the brain can use

Encoding

Maintaining information for some time

Storage

Re-accessing the information for use

Retrieval

The immediate, initial storage of sensory information before it is passed to short-term memory.

Sensory Memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly in awareness.

Short-Term Memory

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Long-Term Memory

The capacity for short-term storage is limited to ______ items.

7 +/- 2

The duration for short-term storage is limited to about _________, unless information is rehearsed to retain it.

30 seconds to 2 minutes

Recall is better for random ________ than it is for random _________.

digits, letters

A strategy to increase the capacity of working memory by grouping information into larger units.

Chunking

The duration of the working memory is about _______ seconds.

20

Name some important study techniques to help store the information in your long-term memory for your next exam(s)!

• Motivation to relate content to your life :)

• Active listening – how does this build on the lecture from last class?

• Immediate review – the same day as lecture

• Distribute your studying – do not cram!

• Review the information again before bed – SLEEP – and then review it again first thing in the morning.

Structural encoding is on the level of _______ processing.

shallow

Phonemic encoding is on the level of _______ processing.

intermediate

Semantic encoding is on the level of _______ processing.

deep

Emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus

Structural Encoding

Emphasizes what a word sounds like

Phonemic Encoding

Emphasizes the meaning of verbal input

Semantic Encoding

__________ is the best and deepest form of encoding.

Self-reference effect

The conscious repetition of information to maintain it in consciousness or encode it for storage.

Maintenance Rehearsal

A method of encoding information more deeply by rehearsing semantic information and thinking about the item conceptually

Elaborative Rehearsal

A cognitive bias where individuals tend to remember the first (primacy effect) and last (recency effect) items in a series best, while items in the middle are forgotten or recalled less accurately

Serial Position Effect

Another name for schema

Mental Closet Organizer

Ways of structuring memories in long-term storage that help us perceive, organize, process, and use information

Schemas

A condition in which people lose the ability to access memories they had before a brain injury

Retrograde Amnesia

A condition in which people lose the ability to form new memories after experiencing a brain injury

Anterograde Amnesia

To relieve seizures, parts of his medial temporal lobes and hippocampus was removed, which resulted in anterograde amnesia

Henry Molaison (H.M.)

The movie “The Vow” features a character that experiences ________ amnesia.

retrograde

The movie “50 First Dates” features a character that experiences _______ amnesia.

anterograde

Explicit memories are processed in the __________.

hippocampus.

Implicit memories are processed (in part) by the ____________.

cerebellum and amygdala

Declarative type of long term memory with conscious recall

Explicit

Facts, general knowledge, and personally experienced events are recalled under ________ memory.

explicit

Procedural type of long term memory without conscious recall

Implicit

Skills (motor and cognitive) and classical/operant conditioning effects are recalled under ________ memory.

implicit

________ and _______ are both types of explicit memories.

Episodic memory, semantic memory

_________, _________, and __________ are all types of implicit memories.

Procedural memory, priming, classical conditioning

Retention of information about the where, when, and what of life’s happenings

Episodic Memory

A person's general knowledge about facts and concepts

Semantic Memory

Memory for skills and actions

Procedural Memory

Activation of information that people already have stored in memory

Priming

Automatic learning of associations between stimuli

Classical conditioning

Autobiographical memories would be recalled by ________ memory.

episodic

Knowledge of vocabulary words would be recalled by _______ memory.

semantic

Riding a bike, driving a car, or typing on a keyboard are all examples of _________ memory.

procedural

The “coffee cup experiment” showed how something as simple as temperature can influence our judgment without us realizing it. In the study, participants briefly held either a hot cup of coffee or an iced drink before evaluating another person. Those who held the warm cup were more likely to describe the person as kind, generous, and trustworthy, while those holding the cold drink judged them more negatively. This demonstrates the concept of __________.

priming.

The “Little Albert” experiment demonstrates the concept of ____________.

classical conditioning.

Anything that helps a person access a memory stored in long-term storage, including context-dependent memory, state-dependent memory, and mnemonics

Retrieval Cues

The inability to retrieve a memory from long-term storage, including interference, blocking, and absentmindedness

forgetting

How memory is flawed in several ways (includes memory bias, flashbulb memories, misattribution, suggestibility, false memories)

distortion

Another name for mnemonics

Memory Tricks

Aids to remembering information, using vivid imagery in aiding memory and other strategies as retrieval cues

mnemonics

_________ and ________ are both types of mnemonics.

Method of Loci, Link Method

Involves imagining yourself moving through a familiar series of locations, and then associating each place with the to-be-remembered topic

Method of Loci

Involves forming a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together

Link Method

The example of the class being unable to identify the true penny out of all the incorrect “pennies” on the screen demonstrated:

encoding failure

Just because someone is more confident in their memories, it does not make them more _________.

accurate.

____________ examined the forgetting curve for Spanish vocabulary learned in school, finding that retention of the information dropped down to almost 40% 3 years after completion.

Henry Bahrick

A retrieval failure phenomenon, where you can’t seem to answer the question even though you are POSITIVE that you know the information!

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) – Blocking

Old information is hard to remember due to new information

Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference

New information is hard to access due to old information

Proactive (forward acting) Interference

You are taking the test and you can’t seem to answer the question, but you are sure you know the answer. All you can remember is the first letter that the answer starts with. Sadly, there is more than one answer starting with that letter! This describes:

a tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experience.

You’re currently learning about Human Development, but that information is interfering with your memory about what you learned in the previous week on Perception. This describes:

Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference

You have a friend named Mary and just met someone named Marie. You might find yourself calling your new friend Mary because the old information (Mary) interferes with the new information (Marie). This describes:

Proactive (forward acting) Interference

The continual recurrence of unwanted memories from long-term storage (example: PTSD)

Persistence

The brains way of saying “Capture this!” It occurs when a unique and highly emotional moment gives rise to a clear, strong, and persistent memory, but can still be subject to distortion.

Flashbulb Memories

The birth of a child, the events of 9/11, and the day of your marriage are all examples of:

significant emotional events that can lead to flashbulb memories.

When misleading information influences an individual's memory of an event.

Misinformation Effect

People have been known to remember themselves getting lost in a mall, taking a hot-air balloon ride, and meeting Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, when none of these events actually occurred. This describes:

Misinformation Effect

___________ are the leading cause of wrongful convictions.

Mistaken eyewitness identifications

We are 1.4 times more likely to correctly identify someone from our own race, in comparison to someone from another race (Meissner, 2001). This is known as the:

Cross-Race Effect

Most people remember where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the attacks on the twin towers on 9/11/2001. This is an example of:

flashbulb memory.

The three-stage model of memory that was initially proposed by Atkinson-Schriffin:

sensory, short-term, and long-term

To remember her nine-digit social security number, Alyssa uses her working memory to place the numbers into three groups. In addition, each group of three or four digits is easy to remember because it is meaningful. This illustrates:

chunking.

A weird phenomenon was discussed where people confidently and wrongly recalled meeting _______ at Disneyland when they were younger. The term used to describe this phenomenon was ________.

Bugs Bunny; Misinformation Effect

If you can remember exactly what you did yesterday but have trouble remembering the names of all 50 states, then you have excellent ________ memory but may have poor _______ memory.

episodic; semantic

If you were only taught a list of vocabulary words under water, according to the context-dependent memory effect, where would be the best place for you to be tested?

Under water.

Forgetting can occur because of ________, __________, and _______.

encoding failure; storage decay; retrieval failure

Kevin so easily remembers his old girlfriend’s telephone number that he finds it difficult to recall his new girlfriend’s number. Kevin’s difficulty best illustrates:

proactive interference.

Trying to remember what you need to buy from the store by imagining the items interacting with each other, such as tomatoes, coffee filters, dish soap, and cat food, is called _______.

Link Method

You are out shopping with your parents at WalMart and you bump into your teacher in the checkout lane. You want to introduce her to your parents but you just can’t remember her name. What is this effect called?

Tip-of-the-tongue

You go to the store to buy milk, eggs, bacon, lettuce, toilet paper, hand soap, and socks. Sadly, when you get to the store, you realized you left your list at home. You can only remember to buy milk, eggs, hand soap, and socks. What is this called?

Serial position effect