Understanding Memory: Types, Models, and Techniques

Episodic buffer

A component of the Baddeley and Hitch model of working memory model that assumes a multidimensional code.

Distinctiveness

The processing of difference in the context of similarity.

Disadvantage of Re-reading

May not encourage deep or effortful processing.

Learning

the process by which changes in behavior arise as a result of an individual or organism's experience interacting with the world.

Behavioral Responses

light turns on and rat wants food

Implicit measures

Measure learning and memories that are difficult to report.

Improved skill performance

Procedural memory

Word stem/Word Fragment Completion

Primary/semantic memory

Rapid Perceptual Identification

Priming/semantic memory (seeing things above and below word and having to recall word).

Physiological Measures

Applicable to varieties of memory types: Sensory, short-term, working, long-term, working mem, classical conditioning.

Memory

the individual or organism's internal record of past experiences, acquired through learning.

Stores

creation of a permanent record of information

Duration of Sensory Memory

1-3 seconds.

Capacity of Sensory Memory

high.

Short-term Memory

Performance on experimental tasks involving the capacity to store small amounts of information over brief intervals, tested either immediately or after a short delay.

Duration of Short-term Memory

about 1 minute.

Long-term Memory

A system or systems assumed to underpin the capacity to store information over long periods of time.

Capacity of Long-term Memory

Very high.

Verbal Learning

A term applied to an approach to memory that relies principally on the learning of lists of words and nonsense syllables.

Model

A method of expressing a theory more precisely, allowing predictions to be made and tested.

Modal model

A representative of many similar models of the operation of human memory that were proposed at the time.

Explicit/declarative memory

Memory that is open to intentional retrieval, whether based on recollecting personal events (episodic memory) or facts (semantic memory).

Semantic memory

A system that is assumed to store accumulative knowledge of the world.

Episodic memory

A system that is assumed to underpin the capacity to remember specific events.

Implicit/nondeclarative memory

Retrieval of information from long-term memory through performance rather than explicit conscious recall or recognition.

Classic conditioning

dog sees light turn on, dog knows meat is coming, dog starts drooling.

Priming

The process whereby presentation of an item influences the processing of a subsequent item, either making it easier to process or more difficult.

Universality

Can apply to all people, irrespective of gender and culture.

Sensory Memory

A term applied to the brief storage of information within a specific modality.

Iconic Memory

A term applied to the brief storage of visual information.

Haptic Memory

touch.

Information processing model

Is a cognitive theory that explains how humans process information, and is based on the idea that the brain functions similarly to a computer.

Simple Span Tasks

Asses capacity of STM.

Chaining

One possible method of remembering the order of the items in to link each item to the next item in the series.

Chunking

Grouping a series of apparently random items into a smaller number of meaningful units.

Phonological loop

responsible for the temporary storage of speechlike information.

Phonological similarity effect

A tendency for immediate serial recall of verbal material to be reduced, when the items are similar in sound.

Word length effect

A tendency for verbal memory span to decrease when longer words are used.

Primacy

The first words of a list are easier to recall.

Sperling's whole report

Briefly presented arrays of letters and tested span/duration.

Sperling's partial report

The three rows were announced with different frequencies.

Working memory

Stores and processes that actively manipulate information.

Central Executive

An attentionally-limited system that coordinates a set of two sub-systems.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Stores and maintains visual and spatial info.

Attentional blindness

Trying to pay attention to one specific thing and don't see what is going on around you.

Change Blindness

A distraction comes through and the people switch out.

Semantic coding

Processing an item in terms of its meaning, hence relating it to other information in long-term memory.

Visual Imagery

Being able to remember things you saw from the past.

Strategists

People who use memory strategies.

Testing effect

Testing yourself is better for long-term learning than restudying info.

Distributed practice/spaced learning

Learning is better when it is done across multiple sessions.

Highlighting

Benefits may not be obtained if highlighting is done without understanding the structure of the text.

Explicit measures

Includes anything that can be reported or recognized.

Capacity of Short-term Memory

7 +/- 2 chunks.

Duration of Long-term Memory

Hours to lifetime.

Echoic memory

A term sometimes applied to auditory sensory memory.

Digit span

Maximum number of sequentially presented digits that can reliably be recalled in the correct order.

Recency

The last words of a list are easier to recall.

Nonword Repetition test

Asks children to repeat a series of sounds that could be a word in their language.

Operation span

Psychological test that assesses a person's working memory capacity.

von Restorff effect

The finding that a to-be-remembered item that is distinctively different from other items is especially likely to be remembered.

Mnemonics

Strategies to aid memory.

Method of Loci

A memory technique in which to-be-remembered items are associated with various locations well known to the learner.

Solomon Shereshevskii

Has remarkable memory for numbers and other types of complex info.

Synesthesia

The tendency for one sense modality to evoke another.

Prosopagnosia

Significant difficulty with face recognition.

Flashcards

Poor metamemory may lead to dropping.

Note-taking

Verbatim notes do not encourage deep processing.