Psychology Chapter 7, 8, and 9

Memory

• the active mental system for receiving, encoding, storing, organizing, altering, and retrieving

• method of retaining the info and skills acquired through experience

Encoding

• Converting information into a form in which it will be retained in memory

• transformation of info

Storage

• holding information in memory for later use

• retention of memory over time - UNLIMITED

Retrieval

• recovering information from storage in memory

• no guarantee of retrieval

• interference & stress

Sensory Memory

• the first, normally unconscious, stage of memory, which holds an exact record of incoming information for a few seconds or less

• large amounts

Iconic memory

a mental image or visual representation

Echoic memory

a brief continuation of sensory activity in the auditory system after a sound is heard

Short-term memory (STM)

the memory system used to hold small amounts of information in our conscious awareness for about 12 seconds.

Working memory

• another name for STM, especially as it’s used for thinking and problem solving

• actively manipulates information

• allows for multiple, simultaneous processes

Maintenance rehearsal

silently repeating or mental reviewing information to hold it in short-term memory

7 (+ or - 2)

Magic number

Chunking

grouping things together

Serial Position Effect

• tendency to make the most errors in remembering the middle items of an ordered list

• Primary effect

• Recency effect

Mnemonics

memory brick to remember facts or large amounts of information

Phonological loop

• working memory component

• responsible for verbal and auditory information

Visuospatial Sketch Pad

• Working memory component

• holds visual & spatial information

Episodic buffer

• Working memory component

• provides a mechanism for combining information stored in long-term memory

Central executive

• Working memory component

• parcels out the attention

Long-term memory

• memory system used for relatively permanent storage of meaningful information

• few limitations in capacity or duration

Rehearsal

process through which short-term or working memory goes to long-term memory

elaborative rehearsal

• linking the new material to things you already know

• makes memories more meaningful through processing that links new and previous information together

• occurs at time of original encoding or on subsequent retrievals

• can cause problems

Explicit memory (declarative)

• a memory that a person is aware of having

• a memory that is consciously retrieved

Declarative memory

part of LTM contain specific factual information

• semantic

• episodic

• autobiographical

Semantic memory

records impersonal knowledge of the world

• Ex: basic math skills, facts, vocabulary

Episodic memory

records personal experiences that are linked with specific times & places

• Ex: your high school graduation or what you did yesterday

Implicit memories (nondeclarative)

a memory that a person does not know exists and is retrieved unconsciously

• conditioning

• procedural memory

• priming

Procedural memory

conditioned responses & learned skills

Priming

exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus

• a technique used to train a person’s memory both in positive & negative ways

Eyewitness Testimony

• reconstruction during retrieval may be flawed

• change blindness

False Memories

• Gaps in our memory may be filled in by logic, guessing, or new info

• a memory that can seem accurate but its not

Source Confusion

• occurs when the origins of a memory are misremembered

Cognitive Interview

technique to improve eyewitness memory

Hippocampus

strengthens the memories

Cerebellum

assists in procedural memory

Cues

• retrieval

• any stimulus that helps you access target information

  • recognition

  • recall

• encoding specificity effect

  • context/state dependent learning

Encoding specificity effect

important bits of information that were stored at the same time

Context-dependent retrieval

• context in which we learn something is important

• better recall when same environment used for testing and learning

  • same classroom

Mental state

• state-dependent retrieval

• if you are happy when you learned something, you’ll remember it best when you are happy

• if you experience trauma, you’ll remember previous traumas better

Physical state

• state-dependent retrieval

• If you learn material while drinking, you’ll recall it better when drinking again than sober

Tip of the tongue state

• the feeling that a memory is available but not quite ready

  • availability

  • accessibility

• more frequent in older adults

• sound based retrieval might help

Availability

memories currently stored in memory are available

Accessibility

memories currently stored in memory that can be retrieved when necessary are both available and accessible

Sound based retrieval

• helps with the tip of the tongue state

• thinking of words that you think start with the same letter or sound similar

Recognition

an ability to correctly identify previously learned information

• distractors can decrease this

Flashbulb memories

some memories that seem permanently etched into our brains

• might not be super accurate, however

Episodic code

the neural representation of a specific personal experience, including details about when, where, and what happened during that event

• can be intensely emotional memories

Decay theory

gradual fading of memory traces as a function of time

Interference theory

disruption of memory caused by interference of previously learned material or newly learned material

Retrieval theory

failure to access material stored in memory because of encoding failure or lack of retrieval cues

Motivated theory

repression of anxiety-provoking material

Encoding failure

• failure to store sufficient information to form a useful memory

• disuse

Disuse

theory that memory traces weaken when memories are not periodically used or retrieved

Proactive interference

when information you learned first interferes with and makes it harder to learn new information

Retroactive interference

When information you newly learned makes it hard to recall information you previously learned

Retrograde amnesia

loss of memory for events that preceded a head injury or other amnesia-causing events

Anterograde amnesia

loss of memory to form or retrieve memories for events that occur after an injury or trauma

Eidetic imagery

the ability to retain a “projected” mental image long enough to use it as a source of information

• mental images

• superior autobiographical memory

Mental images

mental pictures or visual depictions used in memory and thinking

Superior autobiographical memory

a rare condition that allows people to recall a large number of their life experiences in vivid detail

Improving your memory - encoding

• Use elaborative processing

• be selective

• organize

• consider whole vs part learning

• beware of serial position

• encode retrieval cues

• overlearn

• spaced practice

Improving your memory - retrieval

• rely on retrieval practice

• mnemonics

• extend how long you remember

• mind sleep and hunger

Cognition

• thinking

• the process of mentally representing and processing info

  • images, concepts, words, rules, symbols

Experiential processing

thought that is passive, effortless, and automatic

• face processing

Reflective processing

thought that is active, effortful, and controlled

• learning to solve a math equation

Image

• most often, a mental representation that has picture-like qualities

  • an icon

• Representations of sensory experiences stored in memory and can be retrieved for use

Concept

a generalized idea representing a category of related objects

Language

words or symbols, and rules for combining them that are used for thinking and communicating

Synaesthesia

experiencing one sense in terms normally associated with another sense

• Ex: “hearing colors”

Image Use

• make a decision or solve a problem

• change feelings

• improve a skill or prepare for some action

• aid memory

Aphantasia

“absence of images”

Concept

a generalized idea representing a category of related objects or events

Concept formation

the process of classifying information into meaningful categories

Prototype

ideal model

Organizing concepts

• superordinate

• basic

• subordinate

Schemas

• representations of a concept stored in memory

• used to guide behavior and interpret news situations

Language

• a system for communicating thoughts and feelings

• set of arbitrary signals that vary geographically

• a way to connect with others, even across space and time

Semantics

meaning of words within languages

Phonemes

the basic speech sounds of a language

Morphemes

the smallest meaningful units of a language, such as syllables or words

Syntax

grammatical rules and structure

Broca’s aphasia

a communication disorder that affects a person's ability to speak and write

Wernicke’s aphasia

a language disorder that affects a person's ability to understand and produce language

Generative

• human language is this

• can communicate an infinite number of ideas from a finite number of parts

Recursive

• Human language is this

• can build upon itself without limits

• describes a language with units (sentences/phrases) that can contain themselves

  • sentences within sentences

Nativist approach

• noam champsky

• universal grammar

• poverty of stimulus

• brain has “language modules”

Behaviorist approach

• environment is rich

• infant-directed speech

Development of Language

1. cooing and babbling

2. communicating

3. single words

4. telegraphic speech

5. pragmatics

Linguistic relativity

the vocabulary a person uses affects how he or she thinks about a topic

Dyslexia

difficulties in learning to read in spite of typical intelligence and exposure to adequate teaching methods

Billingualism

the ability to speak two languages

Intelligence

an overall capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and adapt to one’s surroundings

g-factor

a general ability factor proposed to underlie intelligence; the core of general intellectual ability that involves reasoning, problem-solving ability, knowledge, and memory

Aptitude

a capacity for learning certain abilities

Special Aptitude Test

a test to predict a person’s likelihood of succeeding in a particular area of work or skill

Multitude Aptitude Test

a test that measures two or more aptitudes

Psychometric test

any measurement of a person’s mental functions

Reliability

the ability of a test to yield the same score, or nearby the same score, each time it is given to the person

Validity

the ability of a test to measure what it purports to measure

Objective test

A test that gives the same score when different people correct it

Test standardization

standard procedures for giving the test and same procedures for interpreting the results