Memory Types, Processes, and Models

Episodic memory

Memory for remembering episodes of your life.

Semantic memory

General knowledge of facts.

Collective memory

The memory that a group shares.

Three core memory processes

Encoding, storing, and retrieving.

Encoding

The experience of perceiving and learning information.

Flashbulb memory

A vivid memory of finding out an important piece of news.

Recoding

Converting given information into something understandable, such as using mnemonics.

DRM Paradigm (Deese-Roediger-McDermott)

A common procedure for studying memory, in which participants read and then immediately recall a list of related words, but the word providing the "theme" for the list is not included.

Pragmatic inferences

Inferences one is naturally likely to make from a statement.

Memory traces (engrams)

The changes in the nervous system that represent a memory.

Consolidation

The process occurring after encoding that stabilizes memory traces.

Retention interval

The time between learning and testing.

Retroactive interference

New activities during the retention interval that interfere with recalling specific memories.

Proactive interference

Past memories that interfere with the encoding of new ones.

Misinformation effect

Retroactive interference occurring during the retention interval via misleading details.

Encoding specificity principle

Cues become part of experiences and evoke them to the extent that they overlap.

Cue overload principle

To be effective, a retrieval cue cannot be overloaded with too many memories.

Retrieval practice / testing effect

Retrieving information makes it more likely to be retrieved again.

Declarative memory

Memories you have conscious access to, such as facts and personal life experiences.

Non-declarative memory

More unconscious memories, such as skills, priming, and conditioning.

Patient HM

Patient with hippocampal surgery who had severe anterograde amnesia but intact non-declarative memory. (could learn tasks)

Consolidation during sleep

During deep sleep, neurons in the hippocampus reactivate to glue memories together.

Recall vs. recognition

Recall is actively retrieving details; recognition is a lower bar of familiarity like multiple choice.

Spacing effect

Memories are stronger if accessed multiple times over different environments.

State-dependent memory

Memory retrieval is best when internal or external states match encoding (e.g., Godden and Baddeley scuba study).

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

Shows the steepest decline in memory retention within the first 20 minutes, following a power law.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

Multistore model involving sensory memory and short-term store, requiring attention to transfer information.

Level of Processing Theory

proposes that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes

procedural memories

memories for the performance of actions or skills

priming/conditioning

automatic associations learned through experience

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

Teasdale and Russell

learned positive, negative and neutral words. experimenter induced positive or negative mood. remembered words based on mood.

decay vs interference

Decay is information lost over time vs interference of different information

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

Craik and Tulving

semantically processed words (meaning over feature) were remembered more than the others.

Sensory memory AS

hangs onto info for recognition, fraction of a second, capacity ~4 items

short term memory AS

5-9 items - (single or chunk)

Non-rehearsal - half a minute, rehearsal - longer

Transfer AS

converts short term memory into a long term memory

Long-term memory AS

theoretically infinite and lifelong

Retrieval AS

from LT to ST, easier to access

Flashbulb vividness

adrenaline, which improves memories

Adrenaline and memory

When people were told an unpleasant story with adrenaline, they could remember mundane details later; when it was a bland or adrenaline-less story, they couldn’t

McClosky et al

did challenger survey, found that stories had changed 3 years later, w/ more visceral experiences taking precendent

Loftus and Palmer

participants watched a staged car crash, asked about the speed using “smashed” or “hit”

speed estimates and broken glass recollections varied

Loftus and Zani

“did you see THE broken headlight” vs “A broken headlight”

Loftus and Pickrell

gave participants memories that happened to them + a false one about being lost in the mall, one fourth “remembered“

Kassin et al

participants told not to tap the ALT key were more likely to remember/confess to doing it if a confederate said they did AND they were going fast

Peg words

words associated w/ numbers, rhyming

Method of loci

associating words to remember w/ objects on a path

BHM central executive

CEO that does the work

BHM VS sketchpad

Corners of the f, mental walking in head

Takes you longer to respond if you’re pointing to what angle it is than speaking

BHM phonological loop

language and sound - easier to remember different, shorter words

BHM model

working/short-term memory model