memory 2 - cog psych

memory (encoding, storing, retrieval)

1. encoding: info is acquired and processed into neural code

2. storage: info is stored in brain

3. retrieval: info is retrieved when needed

encoding in long term memory

craik and lockhart (1972) - suggested deeper level of processing someone engages in on that the material the better it will be remembered later

• maintenance rehearsal: repeating the item over and over

• eloborative rehearsal: encodes the info in more meaningful ways (making associations, attending to meaning of info etc)

levels of processing

• the more an item is elaborated, the richer the later memory will be as more connections can serve as retrieval clues

• visual: what word looks like (less retrieved)

• acoustic: how word sounds (bit more retrieved)

• semantic: what the word means (well retrieved)

levels of processing 2

• structural (shallowest) - eg count vowels and consonants in word

• phonemic - eg does the word rhyme with bat

• categorical - eg what type of thing is this

• sentence (deepest) - fit the word into a sentence

schemas

decisions of how to chunk info depends on schemas

• schemas - cognitive structures that help us perceive, organise, process and use info

culture shapes our schemas and can lead to biased encoding, schemas influence how we encode info in our daily lives

association networks (collins and loftus)

• networks of associations where each unit of information abt an item is a single node in the network

• eg. red, vehicle, emergency, fire truck

• closer the nodes, stronger the association and therefore more likely it is that activating one node will activate the other

spreading activation models

stimuli in working memory activate specific nodes in the long term memory, making retrieval easier

retrieval cues

retrieval cue: anything that helps a person (or a nonhuman animal) recall information stored in long term memory - retrieval cues, including contextual cues and internal states, help us access stored information

mnemonics

• learning aids, strategies and devices that improve recall through the use of retrieval cues

  • mnemonics: including method of loci and verbal mnemonics, involve the use of retrieval cues to improve recall

• method of loci (memory palace): consists of associating items you want to remember with physical locations

encoding specificity

• memory is improved when info available at encoding is also available at retrieval

• people encode text with target material

  • physical match (class, diving, smell)

  • emotional match (happy, depressed)

  • understanding match (childhood amnesia, under influence of drugs)

• your memory is biased by your current situation

  • mode is not generated based on logical processing of all available information

encoding specificity - state dependant learning

• people learned info in water, others on land

• all people then recalled info on land

• people that learned on land had better retrieval on land

• people that learned in water had worse retrieval on land

high imagery words and low imagery words

high: easy to picture (cat)

low: hard to picture (knowledge)

long term storage

explicit memory (declarative) - requires conscious effort and often be verbally described

implicit memory (nondeclarative) - does not require conscious effort and often cannot be verbally described

explicit (declarative memory)

• episodic - memory for one’s personal past experiences

• semantic - memory for knowledge around the world

• in research instruction participants to remember info

  • they are conscious their memories are being tested

• common explicit tests are recall and recognition

• recall: requires participant to reproduce items learned earlier

• recognition: require participant to identify which items had been presented at earlier time

recognition memory

two parts:

• familiarity - knowing if an item is new or old (signal strength)

• recollection - actively remembering details of how an item was learned

• dual-process signal detection theory

implicit (non-declarative)

• implicit memory - memories that exist without our awareness of them and do not require conscious effort

  • classical conditioning, priming

• procedural (motor) memory - type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioural habits

  • coordinating muscles movements to ride a bike

priming

implicit memory effect where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus

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prospective memory

• prospective memory: remembering to do something at a future time

  • remembering takes up valuable cognitive resources and reduces the number of items we can deal with in working memory and number of things we can attend to

  • without a retrieval cue, remembering requires conscious effort