PSYCH 200 final

Atkinson and shiffrin model of memory storage

Sensory memory

Holds information long enough to be processed for basic physical characteristics

Large capacity

Very brief retention of images

• .3 sec for visual

• 2 sec for auditory

Short term memory

also called working memory

Stores sounds images and words

stores for about 20-30 seconds then is either commited to longterm memory or is lost

On avg people can hold 7±2 items in their working memory

Free recall

Subjects are free to recall a list of items in any order

Serial recall

Subjects are to recall the list of items in their original order of presentation

Free vs serial recall

In serial recall, subjects have good memory for beginning of list, performance is poorer toward end of the list

In free recall, subjects have good memory for both the beginning and the end of the list

Serial position effect

People have a good memory for items at the beginning of a list (reflects long term memory)

People also have a good memory for items at the end of a list (reflects working memory)

Long term memory

Unlimited capacity store that an hold information over lengthy periods of time

Retrieval failure viewpoint

Assumes that information is never lost from LTM, if you cannot remember something, that thing is lost in memory, not lost from it

Failing to find something does not mean that the thing has vanished

Decay viewpoint

Assumes that information in LTM may decay and hence is lost from it over time

Recall vs recognition test

Recall: Requires participants to reproduce information on their own without any cues

Recognition: Requires participants to select previously learned information from an array of options

Effective encoding

Chunking

Elaboration

Levels of processing

Depth of processing theory

proposes that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes

Assumption is that levels of processing increase from physical structure to phonemic structure to semantic structure

Chunking

Arranging information into meaningful chunks

Good memory involves organization

Memory consolidation

Neural process by which encoded information is stored in memory

Process in which synaptic connection is strengthened

War of ghosts experiment

People tend to shorten the story, terminology became more modern

Specific terminology was replaced by more general expression

Proper names disappeared and direct speech was dropped

Readers were better at remembering what they added themselves to the story

Hypermnesia

Readers can produce verbatim recall what they added to the story

Re consolidation

Testing does more than assessing the outcomes of learning

Testing improves learning

Self testing produces the best learning outcomes

Semantic memory

Object knowledge learned over many interactionsE

Episodic memory

Memory for specific events that you have experienced

Semantic network

Schemas

Organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event

People are more likely to remember things that are consistent with their schemas than things that are not

Retrograde amnesia

Poor memory for events that occurred before brain injury

Anterograde amnesia

Poor memory for events occurring after brain injury

Patient K.C.

• Suffered severe frontal lobe damage in a motorcycle accident.

• Complete loss of episodic memory:

  • Profound anterograde amnesia (cannot form new episodic memories after the injury).

  • Profound retrograde amnesia (cannot recall past episodic memories before the injury).

• Intact semantic memory:

  • Retains factual knowledge (e.g., knows what a funeral is and that it’s sad).

  • Cannot recall personal events (e.g., his brother’s death) but can infer emotions based on semantic knowledge.

• Demonstrates the dissociation between episodic and semantic memory in the brain

Patient HM

• Cause of surgery: Severe epilepsy → bilateral removal of hippocampus + parts of temporal lobes.

• Memory impairments:

  • Severe anterograde amnesia: Could not form new explicit long-term memories (e.g., couldn’t remember meeting researchers).

  • Intact retrograde memory: Could recall childhood events, facts (e.g., baseball rules), and pre-surgery memories.

  • Working memory intact: Could hold conversations but forgot them within minutes (e.g., repeated topics unknowingly).

• Other preserved abilities:

  • Normal IQ, language comprehension, and vocabulary.

  • Could learn implicit/procedural memories (e.g., mirror-tracing task).

• Key findings:

  • Hippocampus is critical for encoding new explicit memories but not for storing old ones or implicit memory.

  • His case showed the dissociation between short-term (working) and long-term memory.

  • Famous quote: “Every day is alone in itself.”

Perceptual priming

aka repetitive priming

exposure to a stimulus will facilitate a future response (more accurately/quickly) to the same stimulus

Conceptual priming

aka semantic priming

Exposure to a stimulus will facilitate a future response to a new stimulus closely related to it.

Explicit vs implicit memory

Amnesiac patients had good implicit memory but had worse explicit memory

Proactive interference

Occurs when previously learned info interferes with retention of new information

Retroactive interference

Occurs when new information impairs the retention of previously learned information

Context dependent memory

/encoding specificity

Misinformation effect

Effect occurs when peoples recall of an event is altered by misleading post even information

1. How It Works

• A person witnesses an event (e.g., a car accident).

• Later, they are given false or misleading details about the event (e.g., "Did you see the broken headlight?" when there wasn’t one).

• When asked to recall the event, their memory may incorporate the false detail, making them believe they saw a broken headlight.

2. Why It Happens

• Memory Reconstruction: Human memory is not like a video recording; it is reconstructive. When recalling an event, the brain fills in gaps using available information, including misleading suggestions.

• Source Confusion: People may forget whether a detail came from the original event or from later misinformation.

• Social Pressure: If others insist on a false version, individuals may conform to avoid disagreement.

Analogic representation vs symbolic representation

Mental representations that physically resemble the objects or concepts they stand for.

VS

Mental representations that use arbitrary symbols (words, numbers, codes) to stand for concepts.

Problem solving

Finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal

Building an analogical representation of a problem is the first step to solve the problemD

Decision making

Cognitive process that results in the selection of a course of action or belief from several options

Dual-process theory

Type 1 processing

• fast automatic

• little conscious attention

• ie stereotyping and use of heuristics

Type 2 processing

• Slow and controlled

• requires focused attention

• think of exceptions to a general rule