Studied by 28 people
Information processing model
Input is information, it is encoded when our sensory receptors send impulses that are registered by our brain
We must store/retain this information for a certain amount of time
We retrieve this information upon demand when it is needed
Donald Broadbent
Modeled human memory + thought processes using a flowchart that showed competing information filtered out early
Focused attention
Trying to attend to one task over another
Attention
Mechanism by which we restrict information
Divided attention
When we try to attend to two complex tasks at once
Dichotic listening experiments
Participants heard different messages through left and right headphones
They were directed to attend to one of the messages and repeat back the words
Very little about the unattended message was processed, unless the participant’s name was said
Cocktail Party Effect
Little about the unattended message was processed, unless the participant’s name was said
Anne Treisman’s feature integration theory
You must focus on complex incoming auditory or visual information in order to synthesize it into a meaningful pattern
Fergus Craik + Robert Lockhart’s Levels-of-Processing theory
How long and well we remember information depends on how deeply we process the information when it is encoded
Shallow processing
We use structural encoding of superficial sensory information that emphasizes the physical characteristics of the stimulus as it first comes in
Atkinson-Shiffrin three-stage model of memory
sensory memory
short-term memory
long-term memory
Semantic encoding
Emphasizes meaning of verbal input
Deep processing
When we attach meaning to information and create associations between new memory and existing memory
Elaboration
When we create associations between new memory and existing memory
Self-referent encoding
Relate the new information to ourselves to facilitate later recall
Sensory memory
External events are held just long enough to be perceived
iconic memory
echoic memory
Iconic memory
Memory that completely represents a visual stimulus for less than a second, long enough to ensure we don’t see gaps
Echoic memory
Lasts for 4 seconds, long enough for us to hear a flow of information
Selective attention
Focusing of awareness on a specific stimulus in sensory memory, determines what small fraction of information perceived is encoded in short-term memory
Automatic processing
Unconscious encoding of information about space, time, and frequency, that occurs without interfering with our thinking about other things
Parallel processing
Natural mode of information processing that involves several information streams simultaneously
Effortful processing
Encoding that requires our focused attention and conscious effort
Short-term memory
Can hold a limited amount of information for about 30 seconds unless it is processed further
Capacity of STM
Seven (+- two) unrelated bits of information at one time
Rehearsing information
Allows us to hold our memory longer in the STM if we consciously repeat it
Chunking
Increases capacity of STM by grouping information in meaningful units
Alan Baddeley’s Working Memory Model
Three-part memory system that temporarily holds information
Phonological loop
Visuospatial working memory
Central executive
Phonological Loop
Briefly stores information about language sounds with an acoustic code from sensory memory and a rehearsal function that lets us repeat words in the loop
Visuospatial working memory
Briefly stores visual and spatial information from sensory memory, including imagery
Central executive
Actively integrated information from the phonological loop, visuospatial memory, and long-term memory as we associate old and new memory
Long-term memory
Permanent, unlimited capacity memory system
Explicit memory
Implicit memory
Explicit (declarative) memory
LTM of facts and experiences we consciously know and can verbalize
Semantic memory
Episodic memory
Semantic memory
Facts and general knowledge
Episodic memory
Personally experienced events
Implicit (non-declarative) memory
LTM for skills and procedures to do things affected by previous memory, without that experience being consciously recalled
Procedural memory
Prospective memory
Procedural memory
Motor, cognitive skills, classical/operant conditioning effects, performed automatically without thinking
Prospective memory
Memory to perform a planned action to remembering to perform that planned action
Organization of LTM
hierarchies
semantic networks
schemas
connectionist networks
Hierarchies
Systems in which concepts are arranged from more general to more specific classes
Concepts
Mental representations of related things, may represent physical objects, events, organisms, attributes, or even abstractions
Prototypes
Most typical examples of the concept
ex: robin is a prototype for the concept bird
Semantic networks
More irregular and distorted systems with multiple links from one concept to another
ex: concept of bird can be linked to fly, feathers, wings, animals, robins, etc.
Dr. Steve Kosslyn
We seem to scan a visual image of a picture (mental map) in our mind when asked questions
Schemas
Preexisting mental frameworks that start as basic operations and then get more and more complex as we gain additional information
organize and interpret new information that can be easily expanded
Script
Schema for an event
Ex: Script for elementary school: expect it to have teachers, students, principal, etc.
Connectionism
Theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections between neurons, which work together to produce a single memory
Changes in the strength of synaptic connections are the basis of memory
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
Learning involves the strengthening of neural connections at the synapses
Increase in the efficiency with which signals are sent across the synapses within neural networks of long-term memories
Requires fewer neurotransmitter molecules to make neurons fire and an increase in receptor sites
Flashbulb memory
Vivid memory of an emotionally arousing event is associated with an increase of adrenal hormones triggering release of energy for neural processes
Role of thalamus in memory
Encoding sensory memory into STM
Hippocampus
+ frontal and temporal lobes + limbic system involved in explicit long-term memory
Anterograde amnesia
Caused by destruction of the hippocampus
Inability to put new information into explicit memory, no new semantic memories are formed
Retrograde amnesia
Involves memory loss for a segment of the past
Role of cerebellum in memory
Involved in implicit memory of skills along w/ basal ganglia
Retrieval
Process of getting information out of memory storage
Recognition
Identification of learned items when they are presented
Ex: MCQ
Recall
Retrieval of previously learned information
Ex: Essay questions
Reconstruction
Retrieval of memories that can be distorted by adding, dropping, or changing details to fit a schema
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Experimentally investiaged properties of human memory using lists of meaningless syllables
Practiced lists by repeating syllables and keeping records of his attempts at mastering them
Tested how long it took to forget a list
Recognition easier than recall to measure forgetting
Savings method
Amount of repetitions used to measure retention of information
Overlearning effect
Continuing to practice after memorizing information well, the information was more resistant to forgetting
Serial position effect
When we try to retrieve a long list of words, we usually recall the last and first words best, and forget the middle
Primacy effect
Better recall of the first items
Recency effect
Better recall of the last items
Retrieval cues
Reminders associated with information we are trying to get our memory
Ex: words, phrases
Priming
Activating specific associations in memory either consciously or unconsciously
Distributed practice
Spreading out memorization of information or the learning of skills is better
Massed practice
Cramming memorization of information into one session
Mnemonic devices
Devices that help us retrieve concepts
Method of loci
Uses association of words on a list w/ visualization of places on a familiar path
Peg word mnemonic
First memorize a scheme and then us it to mentally picture
Ex: Using “One is a bun, two is a shoe” to mentally picture a chicken in the bun, the corn in a shoe, etc.
Context-dependent memory
Recall is better when we try to recall information in the same physical setting as when we encoded it
Mood congruence
We recall experiences better that are consistent with our mood at retrieval
State-dependent memory
Things we learn in one internal state are more easily recalled when in the same state again
Encoding failure
Stimuli to which we were exposed to never entering the LTM because we did not pay attention to them
Relearning
Measure of retention of memory that assesses the time saved compared to learning the first time when learning information again
If relearning takes as much time as initially learning it, then the memory of the information has decayed
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
We know that we know something but can’t pull it out of memory
Interference
Learning some items may prevent us from retrieving others, especially when they are similar
Proactive interference
When something we learned earlier disrupts the recall of something we experience later
Ex: learning a new phone number will disrupt the memory of the old phone number
Retroactive interference
Disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
ex: someone asks us for our old address and is blocked because our new address interferes with our recall of it
Repression + Sigmund Freud
Unconscious forgetting of painful memories occurs as a defense mechanism to protect self-concepts and relieve anxiety
Confabulation
Filling in gaps in memory by combining/substituting memories from events other than the one we are trying to remember
Misinformation effect
We incorporate misleading information into our memory of an event
Misattribution error
Forgetting what really happened, distortion of information as a result of confusing the source of the information
Ex: putting words in someone’s mouth, remembering something on the Internet as what actually happened
Language
Flexible system of spoken, written, signed symbols that help us communicate
Phonemes
Basic sound units
Morphemes
Smallest meaningful units of speech
Ex: simple words, prefixes, suffixes
Grammar
How sounds and words can be combined to communicate meaning
Syntax
Set of rules that states the order in which we can combine words into grammatically correct sentences
Semantics
Set of rules that enables us to derive meaning from morphemes, words, sentences
Stages of children’s language development
4 months- babbling (production of phonemes
1 year- holophrases
2 year- telegraphic speech
2-3 years- expanding vocabulary, more complicated sentences
3 years- following rules of grammar
Overgeneralization/overregularization
Children apply grammatical rules without making appropriate exceptions
Noam Chomsky’s Theory of Language
Brains are prewired for universal grammar of nouns, verbs, subjects, objects, negotiations, questions
Grammar switches are turned on as a child is exposed to language
Critical period
Chomsky’s period for language development
If children are not exposed to language before adolescence, they will be unable to acquire language
Skinner’s Theory of Language
Children learn language by association, reinforcement, and initiation.
Babies imitate the phonemes around them and receive reinforcement
Benjamin Whorf
Proposed radical hypothesis that our language guides + determines our thinking
Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis
[discredited by empirical research] Different languages cause people to view the world differently. People who speak more than one language frequently report a different sense of themselves depending on the language they are speaking at the time
Metacognition
Thinking about how you think
How we solve problems
identify the problem
generate problem-solving strategies (using algorithms or heuristics)
Algorithm
Slow, step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution to many types of problems
Heuristics
Solving problems quickly and use mental shortcuts
Note
Flashcard