Cognition - Chapter 5: Short-term and working memory

Memory

The processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli and other similar things after the original information is no longer present.

e.g. Images, events, ideas, and skills

Memory (con’t)

It has to do with the past affecting the present and the future

Remembering

“Bringing back” or recollection of the elements or parts of a whole memory.

Sensory memory

The (brief) retention of the effects of sensory stimulation

e.g. A face illuminated by a flash

Sensory memory (con’t)

It’s the brief persistence of the image, which is one of the things that makes it possible to perceive movies

Short-term memory

Information that stays in our memory for brief periods, about 10 - 30 seconds, if we fail to constantly rehearse it

e.g Rehearsing someone’s phone number in your head before writing it down

Short-term memory’s capacity

5 - 9 items (7, plus or minus 2)

Working memory

A limited-capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks

e.g. Comprehension, learning, and reasoning.

Long-term memory

Storing information for long periods, which can extend from minutes to a lifetime

Episodic memories

Memories for events, like“episodes” of your life

e.g. What you did last weekend, what happened on April 23rd, 2025

Procedural memories

Memories for physical actions

e.g. How to ride a bike or play the piano

Semantic memories

Memories for facts

e.g. State capitals

The modal model of memory

The model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin describing memory as a mechanism that involves processing information through a series of stages, including short-term memory and long-term memory.

The modal model of memory (con’t)

1. Information is put into sensory memory and is held for a fraction of a second

2. Most of this information is quickly passed to short-term memory, which has a capacity for 5-7 items and holds them for 15-20 seconds (but is sometimes rehearsed)

3. Info can be sent to long-term memory to be held for longer periods, or sent back to short-term memory to be recalled

Structural features

Types of memory indicated by boxes in models of memory

e.g. Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory in the Modal model

Control processes

Active and dynamic processes that the person can control and that may differ from one task to another.

e.g. Rehearsal, mnemonic devices

Rehearsal

The process of repeating a stimulus over and over, usually to remember it, and keeps it active in short-term memory.

Encoding

Storing and transferring information in long-term memory

Persistence of vision

The continued perception of light for a fraction of a second after the original light stimulus has been extinguished.

e.g. Perceiving a trail of light from a moving sparkler is caused by the persistence of vision.

Whole report method

A procedure used in George Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report all of the stimuli they saw in a brief presentation.

Whole report method (con’t)

Participants were asked to report as many letters as possible from the entire 12-letter display; they were able to report 4.5 out of the 12 letters, on average.

Partial report method

A procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly presented display, indicated by a tone telling them which row to report

Partial report method (con’t)

As the tones were presented immediately after the letters were turned off, the participant’s attention was directed to whatever trace remained in the participant’s mind after the letters were turned off.

Delayed partial report method

A procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which the letters were flashed on and off, and then the cue tone was presented after a short delay

Delayed partial report method’s result

When the cue tones were delayed for 1 second after the flash, participants were able to report only slightly more than one letter in a row

Decays

The process by which information is lost from memory due to the passage of time and/or lack of rehersal

Iconic memory/ visual memory

Brief sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a fraction of a second after a stimulus is extinguished.

Iconic memory/ visual memory (con’t)

It corresponds to the sensory memory stage of the modal model of memory

Echoic memory

Brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli that lasts for a few seconds after a stimulus is extinguished.

e.g. When you hear someone say something that you fail to understand at first and say “What?”, but you “hear” (comprehend) it in your mind (even before the person can repeat what was said)

Recall

When subjects are asked to report stimuli they have previously seen or heard

Digit span

The number of digits a person can remember.

Digit span (con’t)

It’s used as a measure of the capacity of short-term memory.

Change detection

Detecting differences between pictures or displays that are presented one after another.

Chunking

Increasing memory’s capacity by combining small units into larger ones

e.g. When individual words are combined into a meaningful sentence

Mnemonics

Any memory strategy or technique that improves encoding, retention, and/or retrieval of information

Story mnemonic

A memory strategy that puts random items into a meaningful order within a story that can then be more easily remembered.

e.g. Arranging a sentence such as The sleek car drove past a towering tree where a playful dog rested beside a leather boot when trying to remember the words car, leather, towering, dog, boot, sleek, playful, tree

Chunk

A collection of elements that are strongly associated with each other but weakly associated with elements in other chunks.

e.g. The word playful is strongly associated with the word dog but is not as strongly associated with other words, such as car or tree.

Chunk (con’t)

Is used in connection with the idea of chunking in memory

Chunking and capacity

Arranging the words to form a meaningful sentence so that the words become more strongly associated with one another increases the memory span from 5-8 words to 20+ words

Phonological loop

The part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information.

The phonological loop’s components

1. Phonological store

2. Articulatory rehearsal process

Phonological store

A component of the phonological loop of working memory that holds a limited amount of verbal and auditory information for a few seconds.

Articulatory rehearsal process

A rehearsal process involved in working memory that keeps items in the phonological store from decaying.

Visuospatial sketchpad

The part of working memory that holds and processes visual and spatial information.

Central executive

The ‘control center’ of working memory that pulls information and coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad by focusing on specific parts of a task and deciding how to divide attention between different tasks

Central executive (con’t)

Is related to executive attention

The phonological similarity effect

An effect that occurs when letters or words that sound similar are confused.

e.g. T and P are two similar-sounding letters that could be confused.

Word length effect

The notion that it’s more difficult to remember a list of long words than a list of short words, as longer words need more time to pronounce and rehearse

Articulatory suppression

Interference and reduction of memory with the operation of the phonological loop that occurs when a person repeats an irrelevant word as it reduces the ability to remember a list of words and eliminates the word length effect

E.g. “The” while carrying out a task that requires the phonological loop.

Visual imagery

A type of mental imagery involving vision, in which an image is experienced in the absence of a visual stimulus.

Mental rotation

Rotating an image of an object in the mind.

Perseveration

Difficulty in switching from one behaviour to another, and can hinder a person’s ability to solve problems that require flexible thinking.

Perseveration (con’t)

It’s observed in cases in which the prefrontal cortex has been damaged.

Episodic buffer

A “backup” store that communicates with both long-term memory and the components of working memory proposed by Baddley

Episodic buffer (con’t)

It holds information longer and has greater capacity than the phonological loop or visuospatial sketch pad.

Delayed-response task

A task in which information is provided, a delay is imposed, and then memory is tested.

Delayed-response task (con’t)

This task has been used to study short-term memory by testing monkeys’ ability to hold information about the location of a food reward during a delay.

Delay and memory

If memory is successful following a brief delay, the person remembers what has happened

Activity-silent working memory

Short-term changes in neural network connectivity that’s been hypothesized as a mechanism for holding information in working memory.

Reading span test

A test carried out by Meredyth Daneman and Patricia Carpenter in 1980 to measure reading span.

Reading span

A measure used by Daneman and Carpenter to determine individual differences in working memory

Reading spans (con’t)

It’s the number of 13 to 16-word sentences that a person can read and then correctly remember the last words of all of the sentences.

The benefits of working memory in regards to everyday life

1. Better academic performance

2. Higher likelihood of graduating from high school

3. Better control of emotions

4. Higher creativity

Memory and parts of the brain

Damage to parts of the brain impacts either a patient’s short or long-term memory, while leaving the other type of memory unaffected

e.g. Damage to the Hippocampus can inhibit a patient’s ability to form long-term memories, but they can still form short-term memories