PSC 100 Midterm 2

What condition does patient Clive Wearing suffer from?

Amnesia from a viral infection.

What is Clive Wearing's ability regarding skill sets?

He can remember skill sets, such as how to play music.

What does Clive Wearing remember about his personal life?

He remembers his wife.

What is a key limitation of Clive Wearing's memory?

He cannot remember being with his wife a few minutes prior.

What are the three stages of learning and memory?

Acquisition, Storage, Retrieval.

What analogy is used to describe the process of memory?

Creating, storing, and opening a computer file.

What is the modal model of memory according to Atkinson & Shiffrin?

It includes sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

How long does sensory memory last?

Less than a second.

What has largely replaced short-term memory in modern theories?

Working memory.

How is working memory best understood?

As a dynamic status or activity rather than a fixed storage place.

What does working memory contain?

Currently activated ideas or thoughts being worked on, including items from recent experience or retrieved from LTM.

What is the primacy effect in memory recall?

Better memory for the first few items in a list relative to middle items.

What is the recency effect in memory recall?

Better memory for the last few items in a list.

What is one explanation for the primacy effect?

Memory rehearsal increases the chance of transferring items from working memory to long-term memory.

What happens to the last few items in a list during recall?

They are still in working memory at the time of recall.

How does delaying recall affect memory?

It displaces content in working memory, affecting recent items but not early items.

What is the average capacity of working memory?

Estimated at 7 plus or minus 2 items.

What is chunking in the context of working memory?

Condensing a set of information into smaller 'chunks' to reduce working memory load.

What does operation span measure?

The capacity of working memory when it is actively processing information.

How does working memory capacity correlate with academic performance?

It correlates strongly with scores on standardized tests, reasoning tests, and reading comprehension tests.

What is the difference between static span measures and operation span measures?

Static span measures (like digit span) do not assess the active nature of working memory.

What are the main components of the working-memory system?

Central executive, visuospatial buffer, articulatory rehearsal loop (phonological loop), and episodic buffer.

What is the function of the articulatory rehearsal loop?

It uses subvocalization (inner voice) to rehearse information and includes a phonological buffer that stores sound representations.

How does concurrent articulation affect working memory capacity?

Repeating syllables while completing a verbal span test reduces working memory capacity by making the articulatory loop unavailable.

What are sound-alike errors in memory recall?

Errors where similar-sounding items are confused, such as misremembering 'F' as 'S', occurring even with visual presentation.

What is the role of the episodic buffer in working memory?

It helps the central executive organize information into a chronological sequence.

What types of rehearsal are there for entering long-term storage?

Maintenance rehearsal (shallow processing) and relational or elaborative rehearsal (deep processing).

Which type of rehearsal is superior for long-term memory retention?

Relational or elaborative rehearsal is superior to maintenance rehearsal.

What is incidental learning?

Learning that occurs without the intention to learn.

What is intentional learning?

Deliberate learning with the expectation that memory will be tested later.

How does shallow processing differ from deep processing?

Shallow processing involves superficial engagement with material, while deep processing requires thinking about the meaning.

Give an example of shallow processing.

Determining if the word 'DOG' is in capital or lower-case letters.

Give an example of deep processing.

Considering if the word 'DOG' fits in the sentence, 'He walked his _______.'

What is the impact of depth of processing on learning?

Depth of processing has a strong effect on recall and retrieval.

How do connections promote retrieval in memory?

Connections between items, memories, and contexts facilitate retrieval by establishing indexing paths.

What is the benefit of elaborate encoding for memory?

Elaborate sentences create richer retrieval paths, improving the likelihood of remembering words.

What mnemonic strategies can improve memory?

First-letter mnemonics, visualization strategies, and peg-word systems.

What is a peg-word system?

A mnemonic technique where to-be-remembered items are associated with a sequence of words (e.g., 'One is a bun, two is a shoe').

What role does organization play in memorizing information?

We memorize better when we find or impose order and connections in the material.

How does maintenance rehearsal differ from elaborative rehearsal?

Maintenance rehearsal focuses on repetition, while elaborative rehearsal involves deeper engagement with the material.

What factors contribute to effective memorization?

The memorizer's actions during exposure and their prior knowledge influence memory retention.

What is the significance of attention to meaning in learning?

Thinking about relationships and meanings enhances memory retrieval.

What does research indicate about intention in learning?

Intention to learn has little effect on memory; how one approaches the material is more significant.

What are the three main processes involved in memory?

Acquisition, storage, and retrieval.

How does effective learning depend on retrieval?

Effective learning depends on how the information will later be retrieved.

What is maintenance rehearsal and when is it more effective?

Maintenance rehearsal is more effective than elaborative rehearsal when the test involves rhyming words.

How is new learning connected to previously learned knowledge?

New learning is grounded in previously learned (stored) knowledge.

What is a recommended strategy for studying effectively in college?

Connect new material to older material learned, possibly from other courses.

What role do schematics play in learning?

Creating schematics helps in making connections among information.

What happened to H.M. after his brain surgery?

He lost the ability to form new explicit memories.

What is a characteristic of patients with Korsakoff's syndrome?

They are profoundly amnesic and have 'unconscious' memories that can be tested indirectly.

What are the two ways to retrieve information from memory?

Recall and recognition.

How does the method of learning affect retrieval?

How information was learned interacts with how it is retrieved later.

What is context-dependent learning?

It is dependent on the state in which the learner is during acquisition.

What did Smith et al. (1978) find about room change and performance?

Performance was not affected by the room change if participants thought about the original room before the test.

What is context reinstatement?

Re-creating the context (e.g., thoughts, feelings) of the learning episode.

What does encoding specificity refer to?

Placing in memory both the materials to be learned and the context of those materials.

How does the memory network function?

Memory is a vast network of ideas represented as nodes connected by associative links.

What is spreading activation in memory networks?

Activation travels within a network from node to node via associative links.

What is semantic priming?

Activation of an idea in memory causes activation to spread to other ideas related in meaning.

What is recall in memory testing?

An individual generates the memory after being given a broad cue identifying the information sought.

What is recognition in memory testing?

Information is presented, and the individual must decide if it is the sought-after information.

What is the difference between familiarity and source memory?

Familiarity is the feeling of having encountered something, while source memory is the recollection of when and where it was encountered.

What is the remember/know distinction?

'Remember' judgments are typically accompanied by source information, while 'know' judgments are not.

What are 'remember' judgments typically accompanied by?

Source information.

What are 'know' judgments typically accompanied by?

Feelings of familiarity.

How is source memory different from familiarity in terms of memory judgment?

Source memory is TRUE/FALSE; familiarity is graded.

What do indirect memory tests examine?

How a second encounter yields different responses than the first encounter.

What does repetition priming indicate?

Lexical decisions are faster if the word has been recently seen, even without recollection of the first exposure.

What is a word-stem completion task?

Participants are given a string of letters and asked to produce a word beginning with that string, e.g., CLA- evokes responses like 'clam' or 'class'.

What is explicit memory?

Memory revealed by direct testing, such as recall or recognition tests, involving conscious awareness.

What is implicit memory?

Memory revealed by indirect testing, such as lexical-decision or word-completion tasks, involving unconscious awareness.

What was the False Fame Experiment by Jacoby et al. (1989)?

Participants read fictitious names and later rated their fame, often misattributing familiarity to real fame.

What is the illusion of truth?

The effect of implicit memory where familiar claims seem more plausible, increasing their credibility.

What is source confusion as demonstrated by Brown et al. (1977)?

29% of participants falsely believed they saw a person commit a crime after only seeing their photograph.

What is meant by 'memory without awareness'?

People can remember something as familiar without recalling why it is familiar.

What is processing fluency?

The ease of recognizing or remembering a stimulus due to the repeated use of a processing pathway.

How does processing fluency affect memory?

Increased fluency can enhance familiarity and trigger attribution processes.

What is the double dissociation between episodic and semantic memory?

Cases like Clive Wearing and Patient K.C. show intact semantic memory but impaired episodic memory.

What evidence do cases of anterograde amnesia provide regarding memory?

They show impaired episodic memory but intact implicit memory.

What is a characteristic of patients with Korsakoff's syndrome?

They are unable to recall explicit memories but have intact implicit memories.

What informal experiment did a Swiss neurologist conduct with a woman with Korsakoff's amnesia?

He pricked her hand with a pin while introducing himself, demonstrating implicit memory.

What is the role of familiarity in memory attribution?

Familiarity can influence perceptions and judgments about the credibility of information.

What is the difference between episodic and semantic memory?

Episodic memory relates to personal experiences, while semantic memory relates to general knowledge.

How can discrepancies between expected and experienced fluency affect memory?

They can trigger attribution processes, leading to interpretations of familiarity.

What is the significance of the priming effect in memory studies?

It shows that previous exposure can influence responses without conscious recollection.

What is the relationship between familiarity and source memory?

Familiarity can occur without recalling the source of the memory.

What did the woman in the example refuse to do, and why?

She refused to shake Claparède's hand, saying, 'Sometimes pins are hidden in people's hands.'

What is double dissociation in memory?

It refers to the phenomenon where hippocampal damage leads to fear without explicit memory, while amygdala damage results in explicit memory without fear.

What is the optimal learning strategy according to the notes?

Using multiple perspectives.

What is 'Highly Superior Autobiographical Recall' (HSAM)?

It is a remarkable autobiographical memory while having otherwise normal cognition.

What are some possible outcomes when attempting to retrieve memories?

Low-confidence recall, drawing a blank, incorrect recall, and false memories.

What significant event occurred in Amsterdam in 1992?

A cargo plane lost power to two engines and crashed into an apartment building, killing 43 people.

What percentage of participants in the Amsterdam crash study falsely recalled seeing the crash on TV?

55% of participants.

What drives recall according to the notes?

Expectations rather than reality.

What is the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure?

A procedure where participants are presented with a list of related words and often mistakenly recall a related theme word that was not on the list.

What is a schema in the context of memory?

Knowledge about what is typical of a given situation, event, or location.

How can schemata help and hurt memory?

They can aid in remembering and reconstructing events but can also lead to errors in memory.

What did Frederick Bartlett's 1932 study demonstrate about memory?

Memory is reconstructive and not a veridical record.

What happens to memories when people use their schema to recall events?

They reconstruct what must have happened, which can lead to inaccuracies.