Cognitive Psychology: Memory and Neurological Disorders Flashcards

This set covers key concepts from the Cognitive Psychology lecture, including the multi-store and working memory models, types of long-term memory, mnemonic systems, specific brain structures, and various neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Memory

A collection of systems that work together to take in information, hold it, and bring it back when needed; it is the mechanism used to create, maintain, and retrieve information about the past.

Encoding

The process of transforming sensory input into a memory trace, similar to typing data into a computer.

Storage

The process of maintaining information over time, comparable to saving a file to a hard drive.

Retrieval

The process of getting stored information back out when needed.

Sensory Memory

A stage in the multi-store model where raw input is held for a fraction of a second, containing iconic (vision) and echoic (sound) channels.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

A passive store that holds $7 \text{ ± } 2$ items for $15-30$ seconds; information is lost without rehearsal.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

A memory stage with potentially unlimited capacity and duration, serving as the final destination in the linear flow of information.

Miller's Magic Number

The finding by Miller ($1956$) that the capacity of short-term memory is approximately $7 \text{ ± } 2$ items.

Chunking

The process of taking individual pieces of information and grouping them into larger, meaningful manageable units to increase the capacity of STM.

Recency Effect

The tendency for individuals to recall items at the end of a list best during free recall.

Primacy Effect

The phenomenon where the first few items in a list are recalled more frequently than middle items.

Sternberg Paradigm

An experiment measuring reaction time to digits (probes) to determine how information is retrieved from short-term memory.

Brown-Peterson Technique

A method used to show the limited duration of STM by having participants count backwards in $3\text{s}$ to prevent rehearsal.

Working Memory Model

Proposed by Baddeley as an active workspace rather than a passive store, including the Phonological Loop, Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad, and Central Executive.

Phonological Loop

The component of working memory that deals with spoken and written material, often called the 'inner ear'.

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad

The component of working memory responsible for handling visual images and mental maps.

Central Executive

The 'boss' of the working memory system that coordinates attention and decides which information to focus on.

Free Recall

A high-effort retrieval process of generating items from memory without specific help or using only general cues.

Cued Recall

A guided memory search using specific reminders or 'retrieval cues' to jog memory for missing items.

Recognition

Identifying a target item when it is presented again, such as in a multiple-choice examination.

Encoding Specificity Principle

The principle stating that retrieval cues are most effective when they match the specific information stored during the original event.

Mnemonic Devices

Techniques or strategies used to improve memorability by adding meaningful associations to information.

Method of Loci

The oldest known mnemonic involving the placement of items to be remembered at specific spots along a familiar mental path.

Pegword System

A mnemonic system linking new information to a pre-memorized list of 'peg' words that represent numbers.

Keyword (Linkword) System

A strategy often used in language learning by converting a foreign word into a similar-sounding English keyword and linking them via mental imagery.

Declarative Memory (Explicit)

Conscious 'knowing that' involving memories for facts (semantic) and events (episodic) that can be deliberately recalled.

Non-Declarative Memory (Implicit)

Unconscious 'knowing how' involving memories for skills and habits that influence behavior without conscious awareness.

Episodic Memory

A type of declarative memory for specific life events tied to a particular time and place, such as one's first day of college.

Semantic Memory

A type of declarative memory for general knowledge and facts, such as word meanings, independent of personal experience.

Procedural Memory

A type of non-declarative memory involving skills and habits that become automatic with practice, like riding a bike.

Proactive Interference

A type of forgetting where old memories disrupt the recall of new information.

Retroactive Interference

A type of forgetting where new memories disrupt the recall of old information.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new memories after a brain injury, often associated with damage to the hippocampus.

Retrograde Amnesia

The loss of memories that were formed before a brain injury occurred.

Patient H.M.

Henry Molaison, who underwent bilateral removal of his medial temporal lobes in $1953$; he could not form new declarative memories while his procedural memory remained intact.

Hippocampus

A brain structure key for forming new declarative memories and transferring them to the cortex.

Amygdala

A brain area that modulates emotional memory, such as vividly remembering traumatic events.

Acetylcholine (ACh)

A neurotransmitter essential for encoding and attention; its depletion is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Glutamate

A neurotransmitter that mediates long-term potentiation ($LTP$) to strengthen synaptic connections during learning.

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

A memory disorder caused by thiamine (Vitamin $B_1$) deficiency, often associated with chronic alcoholism and confabulation.

Confabulation

The act of fabricating memories, often seen in patients with Korsakoff's Syndrome.

Speech

The motor process of producing sounds that represent language; it is the physical expression through sound.

Broca’s Area

Located in the left frontal lobe, it is responsible for speech production and motor planning; damage leads to non-fluent, effortful speech.

Wernicke’s Area

Located in the left temporal lobe, it is responsible for speech comprehension; damage leads to fluent but meaningless speech.

Ischemic Stroke

A type of cerebrovascular accident caused by the blockage of a blood vessel, accounting for $80–100$% of strokes.

Hemorrhagic Stroke

A type of cerebrovascular accident caused by the rupture of a blood vessel, leading to bleeding within the brain.

Epilepsy

A neurological disorder involving recurrent, unprovoked seizures resulting from abnormal electrical brain activity.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

An autoimmune demyelinating disease where the immune system attacks myelin in the central nervous system.

Schizophrenia

A psychiatric disorder characterized by positive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions) and negative symptoms (flat affect, avolition).

Intellectual Disability

The current term for deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, categorized by severity from mild to profound (IQ scores).