CP Lecture 6 - Studying and Memory

What is the general impact of aging on memory, and how do recall vs. recognition data illustrate this?

• General Impact: As we age, there is some decline in our ability to retrieve memories, but this is often overstated.

• Recall vs. Recognition: The deficit is seen almost entirely in recall tasks (e.g., "What was the person's name?"). Performance on recognition tasks (e.g., "Was the name 'Bob' or 'Bill'?") remains relatively high. * Explanation: This suggests the memory is not lost; the retrieval process (which is self-initiated in recall) is just less efficient. The "cue" in a recognition test is enough to access the memory.

How do attitudes and schemas about aging further distort memory performance?

Negative stereotypes about aging and memory (a "self-schema") can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Rahal et al. (2001) Study:

• Method: Had groups of young and old participants perform a memory task.

• Condition 1 (Memory Emphasis): Told the task was a "memory test."

• Condition 2 (Neutral): Told the task was assessing "ability to learn trivia."

• Findings:

  • In the Neutral condition, the old and young groups performed equally well.

  • In the Memory Emphasis condition, the older group's performance dropped significantly.

• Conclusion: Simply labeling it a "memory test" activated the negative stereotype ("I'm old, I have bad memory"), which created anxiety and undermined performance.

Understand how the ‘method of loci’ (or Memory Palace) works

• How it Works: It is a visualization mnemonic that uses a well-known spatial environment (a "palace" or "journey," like the layout of your house) as a framework to store items.

• Steps:

  1. You mentally walk along a familiar route (e.g., from your front door to your bedroom).

  2. You place the items you want to remember (e.g., a shopping list) at specific "loci" (locations) along the route, often as bizarre images (e.g., a giant egg in the living room).

  3. To recall, you "walk" the journey again, "seeing" each item.

What are the key differences between recall and recognition tests?

• Recall: You must generate the answer from your memory with minimal cues.

  • Examples: A short-answer or essay question. ("Describe the components of working memory.")

• Recognition: The answer is provided to you, and you must simply identify it as correct from among other options (distractors).

  • Examples: A multiple-choice question. ("Which of these is NOT a component of working memory? a) Phonological Loop...")

What advice for studying and completing multiple-choice (recognition) exams comes from this distinction?

• The Trap: Students believe that since an MCQ is a recognition test, they only need to study for recognition (e.g., just rereading notes to "be familiar" with them).

• Why MCQs are Hard: Good MCQs are not simple recognition. The distractors are designed to be highly plausible and related. To distinguish the correct answer, you must have a deep, recall-level understanding of the related concepts.

• Advice:

  1. Always study for RECALL. If you can recall the information from scratch, you will easily be able to recognize it.

  2. During the Exam: Try to answer the question with the options covered (as if it's a recall question), then look at the options to find the one that matches. This avoids being tricked by plausible distractors.

Explain the evidence suggesting technology is reducing the amount of material we commit to "organic" (internal) memory.

This is known as the "Google Effect" or cognitive off-loading.

• Evidence (Sparrow et al. 2011):

  • When people expect to have future access to information (e.g., knowing a fact is "saved" on a computer), their recall for the information itself is worse.

  • However, their recall for where to access the information is enhanced.

• Implication: We are training our brains to "hoard" (collect) information in external storage (like slides or Google) rather than learning it (transforming it into organic memory). We are remembering the location of the fact, not the fact itself.

Transfer Appropriate Processing (TAP)

Transfer Appropriate Processing is the principle that memory performance is best when the type of cognitive processing used during encoding (study) matches the type of processing required at retrieval (test).

• Example: If you study by thinking about the meaning of words (semantic processing), you will do best on a meaning-based test. If you study by thinking about how words rhyme (phonological processing), you will do best on a rhyme-based test, even though "rhyming" is a "shallower" level of processing.

Describe Godden & Baddeley’s (1975) swimming pool study and its key findings for recall vs. recognition.

This study demonstrates context-dependent memory, a type of TAP.

• Method: Scuba divers learned a list of words in one of two contexts (on dry land or underwater). They were then tested for their memory in either the same or different context.

• Findings (Recall):

  • Recall was excellent when the encoding and retrieval contexts matched (Land -> Land, or Water -> Water).

  • Recall was terrible (dropped 40%) when the contexts mismatched (Land -> Water, or Water -> Land).

• Findings (Recognition):

  • The context change had NO effect on recognition.

• Conclusion: The physical context (the "room") becomes a strong retrieval cue for recall, but for recognition, the test itself provides such a strong cue that the environmental context becomes irrelevant.

Define and distinguish between Proactive Interference and Retroactive Interference.

Interference is when competition from other material causes forgetting.

1. Proactive Interference (Pro = Forward):

   • Definition: Old information interferes with the retrieval of new information.

   • Example: You can't remember your new password because your old password keeps "popping into your head." (Old interferes with New)

2. Retroactive Interference (Retro = Backward):

   • Definition: New information interferes with the retrieval of old information.

   • Example: You learn a new phone number, and now you find it difficult to recall your old phone number. (New interferes with Old)

"Levels of processing" and the problem of circular logic.

Levels of Processing (Craik & Lockhart): The theory that memory durability depends on the depth at which information is encoded.

• Shallow (Structural): "Is the word in capitals?" (Poor memory).

• Intermediate (Phonemic): "Does the word rhyme with 'cat'?" (Better memory).

• Deep (Semantic): "Would the word fit in this sentence?" (Best memory). * Problem (Circular Logic):

• Question: "How do we know semantic processing is 'deep'?"

• Answer: "Because it results in better memory."

• Question: "Why does it result in better memory?"

• Answer: "Because it's 'deep' processing." This is a circular argument. "Depth" was never independently defined, making the theory hard to falsify. (The concept was later improved by "Transfer Appropriate Processing").

Describe Bransford and Johnston’s (1972) balloon study, its findings, and its implication for encoding.

• Method: Participants read a very abstract and ambiguous passage of text (the "balloon" or "washing clothes" story).

  • Group 1 (No Context): Just read the passage.

  • Group 2 (Context After): Saw a clarifying picture (schema) after reading.

  • Group 3 (Context Before): Saw the clarifying picture before reading.

• Findings:

  • The "No Context" and "Context After" groups had terrible comprehension and recall.

  • The "Context Before" group had excellent comprehension and recall (twice as good).

• Implication: This powerfully demonstrates that a schema (a mental framework) must be active before encoding for information to be properly understood and stored. The schema provides the structure to organize the incoming information.

What did Dunlosky et al. (2013) find regarding the utility of Rereading, Practice Testing, and Distributed Practice

Dunlosky's team reviewed the evidence for popular study techniques.

• Rereading (Massed):

  • Finding: LOW UTILITY. This is the most popular, but least effective, technique. It gives you a false "illusion of fluency" (it feels familiar) but doesn't lead to durable memory.

• Practice Testing (Self-Testing):

  • Finding: HIGH UTILITY. Actively retrieving information (e.g., doing practice questions, using flashcards) is one of the most effective ways to strengthen long-term memory.

• Distributed Practice (Spacing Effect):

  • Finding: HIGH UTILITY. Spacing your study sessions out over time (e.g., 1 hour a day for 5 days) is far superior to "massing" your study (cramming for 5 hours in one night).

Describe Roediger & Karpicke’s (2006) test-enhanced learning study and its key findings.

• Method: Had participants learn a prose passage in one of two ways:

  • SSSS Group: Studied the passage four times in a row.

  • STTT Group: Studied the passage once, then was tested on it (free recall) three times.

• Key Findings (The Crossover):

  • At 5 Minutes: The SSSS (rereading) group did better.

  • At 1 Week: The STTT (testing) group's recall was dramatically superior. The SSSS group had forgotten over 50%, while the STTT group retained the vast majority. * Implication: Testing is studying. Actively retrieving information is far more powerful for building long-term, durable memory than passively rereading it, even though rereading feels more effective in the short term (the "illusion of fluency").