Cognitive Psych Exam 2

Memory

The processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present. Active any time some past experience has an effect on the way you think or behave now or in the future.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeating/Rehearsing without making connections. Rehearsal that involves repetition without any consideration of meaning or making connections to other information. Typically, this type of rehearsal results in little or no encoding and therefore poor memory, so you don’t remember the number when you want to call it again later.

Elaborative Rehearsal

Repeating/Rehearsing with meaning-making or chunking.  Rehearsal that involves thinking about the meaning of an item to be remembered or making connections between that item and prior knowledge.

Levels of Processing Theory

 Memory depends on how information is encoded (shallow or deep continuum). The deeper the level of processing, the better the performance on the test. The idea that the processing that occurs as an item is being encoded into memory can be deep or shallow. Deep processing involves attention to meaning and is associated with elaborative rehearsal. Shallow processing involves repetition with little attention to meaning and is associated with maintenance rehearsal.

Shallow Processing

 Level of Processing; Little attention to meaning, little meaning is given to a word (ex. Visual appearance, uppercase letters). This memory is susceptive to decay. Processing that involves repetition with little attention to meaning. Usually associated with maintenance rehearsal. Such as when a phone number is repeated over and over or attention is focused on a word’s physical features such as whether it is printed in lowercase or capital letters.

Medium Processing

 Level of Processing; Can think of acoustic features (ex. Rhyming, reading aloud)

Deep Processing

Level of Processing; close attention to meaning, focuses on semantics and meaning. Durable and solid memory trace. Can lead to longer lasting memories, less likely to decay. Processing that involves attention to meaning and relating an item to something else. Usually associated with elaborative rehearsal. According to levels of processing theory, this results in better memory than shallow processing.

Varying Levels of Processing

Placing Words in a Complex Sentence, Forming Visual Images, Linking Words to Yourself, Generating Information, Organizing Information, Testing

Generation Effect

Memory for material is better when a person generates the material him- or herself, rather than passively receiving it.

• by having participants study a list of word pairs in two different ways:

  • Read group: Read these pairs of related words. king–crown; horse–saddle; lamp–shade; etc.

  • Generate group: Fill in the blank with a word that is related to the first word. king–cr ;horse–sa;lamp–sh;etc.

• After either reading the pairs of words (read group) or generating the list of word pairs based on the word and first two letters of the second word (generate group), participants were presented with the first word in each pair and were told to indicate the word that went with it. Participants who had generated the second word in each pair were able to reproduce 28 percent more word pairs than participants who had just read the word pairs

How to Study More Effectively

Elaborate; Organize (and Retrieval Cues); Avoid “Illusions of Learning”; Generate and Test (e.g., Testing effect); Match Learning and Testing Conditions (e.g., Encoding Specificity, State-Dependent Learning, Transfer-Appropriate Processing); Take Breaks (e.g., Spacing Effect)

Elaborate

How to Study More Effectively; Giving material meaning and/or relating it to other things that you know. Rehearsal. Levels of Processing. Self-reference effect. Thinking about what you are reading and giving it meaning by relating it to other things that you know. Reason why students using longhand vs. computers for note-taking perform better on conceptual knowledge (despite equal factual recall)

Self-reference Effect

Memory should be best when you connect the material to yourself.  Memory for a word is improved by relating the word to the self.

Organize

How to Study More Effectively; Organization helps encoding and retrieval; Participants demonstrate significantly poorer recall when encoded information is structured randomly (n=21 items) vs. organized (n=71items); Can organize a list or words into different categories (ex. Food, professions); This reduces the load on our memory, since there are built in retrieval cues. When something is complicated to understand, you remember it more poorly. Such as if you know a passage is about laundry and understand it in that way, you will remember it better than if you don’t know an ambiguous statement is about laundry. This helps you encode the information better, so you remember better. By not saying the passage is about laundry you are preventing organization.

Retrieval Cues

Words or other stimuli that help us remember information stored in our memory. A tool that aids in the retrieval of information. Why organization can help memory, you organize information into categories, and someone telling you the categories can help you remember the items within it. a word or other stimulus that helps a person remember information stored in memory. In this case, a word in a particular category, such as fruits, serves as this for other words in that category. So, remembering the word apple is this for other fruits, such as grape or plum, and therefore creates a recall list that is more organized than the original list that you read.

Avoid “Illusions of Learning” (Testing Effects)

How to Study More Effectively;  Enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered. When we test ourselves, it helps avoid any illusions of knowing. Sometimes we only think we know something, but we cannot recall it. We can mistake familiarity with something with actually knowing it. So testing our knowledge allows us to make sure we actually know it, we don’t just think we do. Rereading (and highlighting) lead to false feelings of fluency and familiarity. Poor metacomprehension: most people do not have strong metacognition skills, thinking about thinking.  When students answered correctly their confidence rating was 70%, when they were wrong their confidence rating was 66%. So we are equally confident whether we are right or not. We estimate knowing more than we actually do. The only way to actually know if you know something, you must test yourself. The test cues you in what you don’t know, and creates a more durable memory.  Testing results in a more durable longer term memory. People remember pairs better if they got the pair wrong before being told the correct answer, compared to people who were just told the correct pair.

Encoding Specificity

How to Study More Effectively; We encode information along with its context. Testing in a noisy environment will lead to testing better when the environment is noisy. Best recall when encoding and retrieval occurred in the same location. A word enters our memory along with the context that we connect with it. The principle that we learn information together with its context. This means that presence of the context can lead to enhanced memory for the information. Matching the context in which encoding and retrieval occur. Can also see this when the same or similar cue is give for a word, instead of a different one.

State-Dependent Learning

How to Study More Effectively; if a person's mood at encoding matches mood at retrieval they will retrieve better than if their mood is different between the two times. The principle that memory is best when a person is in the same state for encoding and retrieval. This principle is related to encoding specificity. Matching the internal mood present during encoding and retrieval. Memory will be better when a person’s internal state (mood or awareness) during retrieval matches his or her internal state during encoding.

Transfer-Appropriate Processing

How to Study More Effectively;  Memory is enhanced if the type of task at encoding matches the type of task at retrieval. Matching the task involved in encoding and retrieval. When the type of task that occurs during encoding matches the type of task that occurs during retrieval. This type of processing can result in enhanced memory. Better performance when the type of processing matches in encoding and retrieval

• Morris’ Experiment: Meaning condition and rhyming condition. When the rhyming condition had a rhyming test people did better than if the meaning condition was given a rhyming test. Even though the meaning should mean better encoding (levels of processing) the match between the encoding and retrieval task matter more than the type of encoding.

Spacing Effects

How to Study More Effectively; easier to remember items when they are studied over a spaced versus massed presentation. Spaced is always going to be better than massed learning if there is a delay. But if the test is right after the studying, cramming can help, and mass studying is actually more efficient. The advantage in performance caused by short study sessions separated by breaks from studying.

Modal Model of Memory

Atkinson and Shiffrin's model. Memory flows through a system. Goes from sensory (experience) to short term (awareness) to long term (storage). The model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin that describes memory as a mechanism that involves processing information through a series of stages, including short-term memory and long-term memory.

Sensory Memory

A brief stage of memory that holds information for seconds or fractions of a second. It is the first stage in the modal model of memory. The retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation. Component of memory where information is detected by sensory organs and enters sensory score. An initial stage that holds all incoming information for seconds or fractions of a second. Capacity probably cannot be extended with practice, although there is evidence that people get better at reporting it. Will decay unless we give it attention. Short lived persistence of sensory stimulus.  When something is presented briefly, such as a face illuminated by a flash, your perception continues for a fraction of a second in the dark. This brief persistence of the image, which is one of the things that makes it possible to perceive movies.

Echoic Memory

Brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli that lasts for a few seconds after a stimulus is extinguished. An example of echoic memory is when you hear someone say something, but you don’t understand at first and say “What?” But even before the person can repeat what was said, you “hear” it in your mind. Aspect of Sensory Memory;  sensory memory of audio information. Lasts a few seconds. Lasts longer than iconic memory (8-10 seconds). Requires more integration over time. Vibrations in the inner ear lasts longer. Example is when we don’t understand what someone says but then realize what they said a second later.

Iconic Memory

Brief sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a fraction of a second after a stimulus is extinguished. This corresponds to the sensory memory stage of the modal model of memory. Aspect of Sensory Memory; sensory memory of visual information. Lasts for less than 1 second. Just giving us a quick snapshot of a visual stimulus, but we get a visual representation that hangs on for a second which allows us to integrate the information, and can connect it with following information. Created continuity in everyday life. Results in the persistence of vision: retention of the perception of light (sparkler).

Sperling’s Experiments

This person wondered how much information people can take in from briefly presented stimuli. He determined this in a famous experiment in which he flashed an array of letters on the screen for 50 milliseconds (50/1000 second) and asked his participants to report as many of the letters as possible. Interested in sensory memory capacity. How much information can we hold in sensory memory? Said we store an exact copy of the world for just a second. Keep your eyes on the cross and 12 letters will appear for just 100msec. Used the whole and partial report. Used matrixes of letters to see how long sensory memory lasts. Found we have a larger sensory capacity than we thought. This can be captured by the partial report method. He concluded from these results that a short-lived sensory memory registers all or most of the information that hits our visual receptors, but that this information decays within less than a second.

Whole Report

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report all of the stimuli they saw in a brief presentation. Participants were asked to report as many letters as possible from the entire 12-letter display. Given this task, they were able to report an average of 4.5 out of the 12 letters. Aspect of Sperling’s Experiments; keep your eyes focused on the location of the cross when the array flashes on the screen. 12 letters will be displayed for 100ms. After the array disappears, write down all 12 letters. Required to report the entire matrix. Exposure is so brief people can only see 4 of 12 letters. Subjects recalled 4-5 letters, but claimed they could see more. So Sterling started to think people see everything, but it fades before they could report everything (after 4-5 letter).

Partial Report

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly presented display. A cue tone immediately after the display was extinguished indicated which part of the display to report. Aspect of Sperling’s Experiments; We see everything but we can only write down about 4 items. So give participants the entire array, when it disappears play a sound that lets them know whether to repeat the high, medium, or low row. Logic: if a participant could recall X letters from any one row, then the participant had available in memory X x Y, where Y is the total number of rows. Subjects recalled row accurately (shows retention of whole matrix). People see everything, but fades before they could report everything (after 4-5 seconds). Because the tones were presented immediately after the letters were turned off, the participant’s attention was directed not to the actual letters, which were no longer present, but to whatever trace remained in the participant’s mind after the letters were turned off. When the participants focused their attention on one of the rows, they correctly reported an average of about 3.3 of the 4 letters (82 percent) in that row. Because this occurred no matter which row they were reporting, Sperling concluded that immediately after the 12-letter display was presented, participants saw an average of 82 percent of all of the letters but were not able to report all of these letters because they rapidly faded as the initial letters were being reported.

Delayed Partial Report

Aspect of Sperling’s Experiments; Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly presented display. A cue tone that was delayed for a fraction of a second after the display was extinguished indicated which part of the display to report. The result of this was that when the cue tones were delayed for 1 second after the flash, participants were able to report only slightly more than 1 letter in a row. This graph indicates that immediately after a stimulus is presented, all or most of the stimulus is available for perception. This is sensory memory. Then, over the next second, sensory memory fades.

Capacity and Duration of Sensory Store

registers all or most of the information that hits our visual receptors, but that this information decays within less than a second.

Masking (Interference)

In sensory memory, Stimuli that occur close together in time can interfere with each other. Stops you from holding onto the icon. Can only see for 20ms, not 20ms plus however long you hold it in your mind. Because another image will lock you from holding the first one in your mind. So if you present criss cross lines after 12 letters, people will not be able to remember any of them. Because you stopped the image from sticking around, blocked it.

Short Term Memory

A memory mechanism that can hold a limited amount of information for a brief period of time, usually around 30 seconds, unless there is rehearsal (such as repeating a telephone number) to maintain the information. Component of memory that is lost within 20-30 seconds. It will be lost unless we purposely keep it in through rehearsal.  Information that stays in our memory for brief periods, about 10 to 15 seconds if we don’t repeat it over and over.

Capacity and Duration of Short Term Memory

Holds 5-9 items for up to approximately 30 seconds. But there is evidence that it might only be 4 items for about 20 seconds or less. The number of items does not just matter for memory but also the size or complexity of those items

Chunking

Putting terms together to remember them more easily. Such as knowing 5 and then everything after is adding 12. Or grouping the terms together so you only need to remember a few chunks, not everything individually. Combining small units into larger ones, such as when individual words are combined into a meaningful sentence. Can be used to increase the capacity of memory. Enables the limited-capacity STM system to deal with the large amount of information involved in many of the tasks we perform every day, such as chunking letters into words as you read this, remembering the first three numbers of familiar telephone exchanges as a unit, and transforming long conversations into smaller units of meaning.

Brown/Peterson-Peterson Experiment

Studied How much information can STM hold? Did this by blocking rehearsal. Give 3 letters, then give a number and ask participants to count back by 3s, wait, then recite the original 3 letters. Shows there can be interference to remembering. Remembering can be blocked, you can’t rehearse the letters. You have to rely on just what's in short term memory, you can’t use repetitive rehearsal. The longer between the presentation of letters and recall the less people remember. Shows there is a rapid decay when there is no rehearsal. Presented participants with three letters, such as FZL or BHM, followed by a number, such as 403. Participants were instructed to begin counting backwards by threes from that number. This was done to keep participants from rehearsing the letters. After intervals ranging from 3 to 18 seconds, participants were asked to recall the three letters. Participants correctly recalled about 80 percent of the three letter groups when they had counted for only 3 seconds, but recalled only about 12 percent of the groups after counting for 18 seconds. Results such as this have led to the conclusion that the effective duration of STM (when rehearsal is prevented, as occurred when counting backwards) is about 15 to 20 seconds or less

Sternberg Search

Studied how is information received from STM? Study different amounts of numbers. Will wait during a delay. Will be asked if 1 presented number was present or absent in that group of numbers. Changed the memory set size and the presence/absence of a target and studied the reaction time. found that STM search is serial and exhaustive. We look through all the items even after finding the answer. His data was consistent with an exhaustive serial search. Reaction time grew linearly, and present and absent trials took the same amount of time.

Parallel Search

Possible explanation in Sternberg’s experiment; Do you search your memory all at once, taking in all the numbers at the same time. See all the numbers at the same time. Would not matter how many numbers there are (memory set size). reaction time would always be the same. Sternberg disproved this theory. (Focus on memory set size)

Serial Search

Possible explanation in Sternberg’s experiment;  You go back through your memory one item at a time. The memory set size would change the reaction time. More numbers would take longer reaction times. Sternberg’s results supported this theory. (Focus on memory set size)

Self-Terminating Search

Type of Serial Search in Sternberg’s Study; If you find that the item was present halfway through recalling the terms you would respond before going back over all the terms. You terminate the search once you know. Would be supported by the present search being faster than the absent search. Sternberg did not find this. (Focus on if the object is present/absent)

Exhaustive Search

Type of Serial Search in Sternberg’s Study; You go through all the numbers before deciding if the number was present or absent. Even if you already realized it was present/absent. Would be supported by the present and absent search taking the same amount of time. Sternberg’s findings supported this idea. (Focus on if the object is present/absent)

Digit Span

The number of digits a person can remember. Used as a measure of the capacity of short-term memory. According to measurements of this, the average capacity of STM is about five to nine items—about the length of a phone number. This idea that the limit of STM is somewhere between five and nine was suggested by George Miller (1956), who summarized the evidence for this limit in his paper “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two,”

Serial Position Effect

In a memory experiment in which participants are asked to recall a list of words, a plot of the percentage of participants remembering each word against the position of that word in the list. Created by presenting a list of words to a participant, one after another. After the last word, the participant writes down all the words he or she remembers, in any order. Indicates that memory is better for words at the beginning of the list (primacy effect) and at the end (recency effect) of the list than for words in the middle. The order of the terms you hear/take in affects which ones you remember. Last ones you remember best. First you remember second best. Middle you remember worst. Changes in primacy and recency effect if you delay recall or if you speed up the presentation. For Delay Recall: A few seconds after to a few minutes after. Recency effect eliminated, primacy effect unaffected. For Speed up Presentation: recency effect unaffected, primacy effect reduced.  Example of a double dissociation. So primacy and recency effects are connected to different areas of memory. The recency effect is tied to short term or working memory. The primacy effect relies more on long term memory. So they involve different mechanisms.

Primacy Effects

Part of the serial position curve; Quite good recall (second best after recency) you better remember the first items you heard because you rehearse it the most. In a memory experiment in which a list of words is presented, enhanced memory for words presented at the beginning of the list. (related to the longer rehearsal time available for words at the beginning of the list). A possible explanation of this is that participants had time to rehearse the words at the beginning of the sequence and transfer them to LTM. According to this explanation, participants begin rehearsing the first word right after it is presented; because no other words have been presented, the first word receives 100 percent of the participant’s attention. When the second word is presented, attention becomes spread over two words, and so on; as additional words are presented, less rehearsal is possible for later words. Reduced for sped up presentation. Reliant upon LTM.

Asymptote

Part of the serial position curve; Worse recall with the terms in the middle.

Recency Effects

Part of the serial position curve; Best recall with the last terms you heard. Because you still have these items in your short term memory. In a memory experiment in which a list of words is presented, enhanced memory for words presented at the end of the list. The explanation for this is that the most recently presented words are still in STM and therefore are easy for participants to remember. If you prevent rehearsal and lose information from STM the recency effect is eliminated. Eliminated with delayed recall (lost from STM). Reliant upon STM.

Auditory Coding

Coding in short term memory; Hold a phone number in your mind to repeat it later. Most common type in STM. Can see the image visually at first but you hold it in your mind by repeating it as a sound in your mind. Like if you see a phone number you repeat it in your mind to type it. In STM this is illustrated by Conrad’s demonstration of the phonological similarity effect, which showed that people often misidentify target letters as another letter that sounds like the target (confusing “F” and “S,” for example, which don’t look alike but which sound alike).

Visual Coding

Coding in short term memory; holding onto visual information in mind. See a tiger go behind a tree, you still know it's behind a tree. Represented in STM if you remember the pattern by representing it visually in your mind.

Semantic Coding

Coding in short term memory; Represented by placing words into categories that involve the meanings of the words. For the Fruits group, banana, peach, and apple were presented in trial 1 and plum, apricot, and lime were presented in trial 2. Proactive interference is illustrated by the falloff in performance on each trial. Because participants get the new fruits confused with the old fruits. The categories involved the meaning of the word (fruits).

Attention

What allows information to get from sensory memory to short term memory. Decides what we are aware of and can attend to.

Encoding

In the modal model of memory when memory goes from short term to long term memory. The process of storing a number in long-term memory.

Retrieval

Retrieving long term memories to short term memory to be aware of it in the moment. The process of remembering information that is stored in long-term memory.

Control Processes

 In Atkinson and Shiffrin’s modal model of memory, active processes that can be controlled by the person and that may differ from one task to another. Rehearsal is an example of these. Dynamic processes associated with the structural features that can be controlled by the person and may differ from one task to another Other examples are strategies you might use to help make a stimulus more memorable, such as relating the digits in a phone number to a familiar date in history, and strategies of attention that help you focus on information that is particularly important or interesting.

Rehearsal

In the modal model of memory what keeps information in short term memory. The process of repeating a stimulus over and over, usually for the purpose of remembering it, that keeps the stimulus active in short-term memory.

Problems with Short Term Memory

STM does not account for manipulative processes we do in the mind. STM is just a short term storage. But we also manipulate this memory in the short term which is not accounted for in the modal model of memory.

Working Memory

A limited-capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning. Baddeley and Hitch proposed the name. Active processing and temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex cognitive tasks. Adds more than just storage. Required for multiplication, spelling a word backwards, imagining how to fold a cube, remembering previous words and using them with more recent words to make a complete understanding. People with superior this tend to have higher linguistic complexity and perform better on SAT, tests of reasoning, and IQ tests. This is a crucial source of individual differences in reading comprehension. Other research has shown that higher this capacity is related to better academic performance. 

Working Memory vs. STM

• STM: Emphasis on input/storage, passive, older term, Ex. reciting phone numbers, linear and sequential process, unitary (single system of STM). Concerned mainly with storing information for a brief period of time (for example, remembering a phone number).

• WM: Emphasis on process, active, newer term, Ex. doing math in your head, interactive and dynamic, mulit-component (auditory and visual STM). Smaller capacity (about 4 items). Concerned with the manipulation of information that occurs during complex cognition (for example, remembering numbers while reading a paragraph).

Working Memory Model

Baddeley model; has the central executive and the two component systems, visuospatial sketch pad and phonological loop. Baddeley concluded that working memory must be dynamic and must also consist of a number of components that can function separately. He proposed three components: the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketch pad, and the central executive.

Phonological Loop

Temporary store and manipulation of verbal and auditory information. Reading, learning new words, mentally rehearsing a phone number. The part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information. Thus, when you are trying to remember a telephone number or a person’s name, or to understand what your cognitive psychology professor is talking about, you are using this. Consists of two parts the phonological store and articulatory rehearsal process.

Phonological Store

Part of the phonological loop; (i.e. inner ear - passive reservoir that briefly holds sounds). Very similar to sensory memory. Component of the phonological loop of working memory that holds a limited amount of verbal and auditory information for a few seconds.

Articulatory Control Processes

Part of the phonological loop; i.e. inner voice - maintenance rehearsal/subvocal articulation and modality translation). Rehearsal process involved in working memory that keeps items in the phonological store from decaying.

Phonological Similarity Effect

Connected to the phonological loop, support the idea of a system specialized for language;  More difficulty remembering words or letters that sound similar compared to words that sound distinct. Shows that the articulatory control process is trying to rehearse but gets confused. Shows the phonological loop relies heavily on sound-based encoding. An effect that occurs when letters or words that sound similar are confused. For example, T and P are two similar-sounding letters that could be confused. Occurs when words are processed in the phonological store part of the phonological loop.

Word Length Effect

Connected to the phonological loop, support the idea of a system specialized for language; easier to recall shorter words than longer words because shorter words take less time to rehearse. Shows the phonological loop has a time-limited rehearsal system. Going a step further, even if a word has the same number of syllables and letter if two sets take different amounts of time to say. The set that takes a shorter amount of time to say will be more easily remembered. The notion that it is more difficult to remember a list of long words than a list of short words.

Modality Translation

Connected to the phonological loop, support the idea of a system specialized for language; Translating visual information (like reading printed words) into an auditory/phonological format (the inner voice or speech sounds) It is directly related to articulatory suppression because articulatory suppression blocks this translation process from happening. Articulatory Suppression: taking away ability to subvocally rehearse. Repeat the word in between the letters being presented to you. Because your speech mechanisms are busy repeating the irrelevant sound, the articulatory control process is hijacked. Completely blocks modality translation. You cannot use your inner voice to turn the printed words into speech sounds because your inner voice is trapped saying "the, the, the." Reduced memory span for sound-based information, shows evidence for sound-based code.

Articulatory Suppression

Interference with operation of the phonological loop that occurs when a person repeats an irrelevant word such as “the” while carrying out a task that requires the phonological loop. Reduces memory because speaking interferes with rehearsal. Makes it more difficult to remember the second list because repeating “the, the, the …” overloads the phonological loop, which is responsible for holding verbal and auditory information. Not only reduces the ability to remember a list of words, it also eliminates the word length effect. Reduces memory span for sound-based information, shows evidence for sound-based code

Visuospatial Sketch Pad

Temporary storage and manipulation of visual and spatial information. The part of working memory that holds and processes visual and spatial information. When you form a picture in your mind or do tasks like solving a puzzle or finding your way around campus, you are using this.

Visual Cache

Part of the visuospatial sketchpad; (i.e. stores visual and spatial features; passive store system).

Inner Scribe

Part of the visuospatial sketchpad; (i.e. responsible for tracking movements of objects, actively processes, rehearses and refreshed, manipulates, and assists with planning movements, navigation, and spatial relationships)

Mental Rotation

Rotating an image of an object in the mind. An example of the operation of the visuospatial sketch pad because it involves visual rotation through space. Part of the visuospatial sketchpad; Mind is actively simulating a physical transformation on a visual “mental canvas.” Visual cache stores the shape and form, while the inner scribe handles the active spatial rotation.

Why we know the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are independent systems.

• Brain damage patients show selective impairment 

• Neuroimaging studies show that they involve different brain regions 

• Dual Task experiments (simultaneous operation without interference)

  • If there is only one store (i.e., storage “compartment”) in memory, should 2 types of tasks interfere with each other?

  • If there are multiple stores, should 2 types of tasks (e.g., visual and auditory) interfere with each other 

  • Approach: store maximum capacity of one type, then see if the person can remember any of the other type. (Imagine a grid and a set of letters)

Dual Task Processing

Reason why we know the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are independent systems, studies interference. Imagine a capital letter F, imagine you’re walking along the border and decide at each corner whether it is an outside or inside corner. Example: when you imagine the top of the “F”, decide: is this corner pointing inward or outward? Two response methods

• Speaking: “in” or “out” (uses the phonological loop)

• Pointing: in or out (uses the visuospatial sketchpad)

This shows the visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop are independent systems. Because  pointing which is a spatial task takes much longer than just speaking because speaking is a verbal task. The F path is a spatial task, so trying to do another spatial task “pointing” overloads the visuospatial sketch pad so it's harder to do both at the same time than a spatial and verbal task.

Central Executive

Conductor or Traffic Cop. Plans and coordinates, but does not store information. Executive supervisor (manages and directs sub-components). Facilitates task switching. Control attention (focus, suppresses irrelevant information). Monitors and updates information in working memory. Selects a strategy, decides how to tackle a problem. The part of working memory that coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketch pad. The “traffic cop” of the working memory system. Pulls information from long-term memory and coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad by focusing on specific parts of a task and deciding how to divide attention between different tasks. Focuses attention on relevant messages. Its mission is not to store information but to coordinate how information is used by the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad. Baddeley describes this as being an attention controller. It determines how attention is focused on a specific task, how it is divided between two tasks, and how it is switched between tasks.

Episodic Buffer

Accounts for chunking, multi-modal integration and binding (PL and VS), including organization, sequencing, combining. Connects to LTM. We use knowledge from the LTM which affects working memory. Added to account for the fact we are connecting to LTM, chunking, and connecting to multiple systems. A component added to Baddeley’s original working memory model that serves as a “backup” store that communicates with both long-term memory and the components of working memory. It holds information longer and has greater capacity than the phonological loop or visuospatial sketch pad. This can store information (thereby providing extra capacity) and is connected to LTM (thereby making interchange between working memory and LTM possible). Notice that this model also shows that the visuospatial sketch pad and phonological loop are linked to long-term memory. It represents a way of increasing storage capacity and communicating with LTM.

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

This brain area controls tasks related to working memory. Most consistently implicated during tasks requiring working memory and attention. By using TMS disrupting this area we can see disruption in working memory capacity. Important for holding information for brief periods of time. In fact, it has been suggested that one reason we can describe the memory behavior of very young infants as “out of sight, out of mind” (when an object that the infant can see is then hidden from view, the infant behaves as if the object no longer exists) is that their frontal and prefrontal cortex do not become adequately developed until about 8 months of age.

Prefrontal Neurons that Hold Information

Recordings from PFC during delayed response task - firing is the neural record of the monkey’s working memory for the position of the square. During the delay the PFR stays active. Shows working memory is an active process, because it stays in the PRF until the information is needed. Shintaro Funahashi and coworkers (1989) conducted an experiment in which they recorded neurons in a monkey’s PFC while the monkey carried out a delayed-response task. The monkey first looked steadily at a fixation point, X, while a square was flashed at one position on the screen. This caused a small response in the neuron. After the square went off, there was a delay of a few seconds. The nerve firing records show that the neuron was firing during this delay. This firing is the neural record of the monkey’s working memory for the position of the square. After the delay, the fixation X went off. This was a signal for the monkey to move its eyes to where the square had been flashed. The monkey’s ability to do this provides behavioral evidence that it had, in fact, remembered the location of the square.

Delayed Response Task

The PFC is important for holding information for brief periods of time. Task where the monkey sees food in one of the two wells, both wells are covered and a screen is lowered during a delay period, and the monkey must determine where the food reward is hidden. A task in which information is provided, a delay is imposed, and then memory is tested. This task has been used to study short-term memory by testing monkeys’ ability to hold information about the location of a food reward during a delay. If the PFC is removed, their performance drops to chance level, so they pick the correct food well only about half of the time.

Attic Metaphor

LTM is like an attic

•...how do we fit so much stuff in there?

•...why can’t we always find what we’re looking for?

•...where is it located?

•...how can the stuff we take out be different than the stuff we put in?

Long Term Memory

A memory mechanism that can hold large amounts of information for long periods of time. One of the stages in the modal model of memory. Component of memory that stores and holds onto memory, responsible for storing information for long periods of time—which can extend from minutes to a lifetime. The continuous storage of information. Unlike short-term memory, this storage capacity is believed to be unlimited, encompassing all the things you can remember that happened more than just a few minutes ago. We remember things that happened earlier this day and things that happened 10 years ago. BUT hard to prove unlimited capacity of anything.

Explicit Memory

Those memories we consciously try to remember, recall, and report.

Episodic Memory

Type of explicit LTM. Long-term memories of experiences from the past. Memories about personal experiences, events, past experiences, any memories hooked to a certain time and place. Takes mental time travel. Depends on having certain experiences. Doesn’t necessarily need to be personally relevant. Tied to spatial and temporal contexts (what, when). (example: where were you at 8pm on Sunday evening). “I remember”; Tagged with spatial and temporal context (can be personal experiences); Often learned in single exposure; “Mental time travel” reliving the experience; More prone to fading or distortion over time. Tested through verbal paired associations, information that is tied together at a certain time. (memory for experiences)

Semantic Memory

Type of explicit LTM. Part of long term memory, memories of facts such as an address or a birthday or the names of different objects (“that’s a bicycle”). Facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge about the world. (example: what is the capital of France, name 25 birds). “I know”; Not necessarily tagged with context; Generally needs repeated exposure; awareness of knowing something, without reliving it; More stable over time. (memory for facts)

Distinguishing Episodic and Semantic Memory

• Endel Tulving (1985), who first proposed that episodic and semantic memories handled different types of information, also suggested that episodic and semantic memory can be distinguished based on the type of experience associated with each (mental time travel vs. not)

• Episodic: “I remember”; Tagged with spatial and temporal context (can be personal experiences); Often learned in single exposure; “Mental time travel” reliving the experience; More prone to fading or distortion over time. KC lost this ability because of damage to his hippocampus, but intact semantic memory.

• Semantic: “I know”; Not necessarily tagged with context; Generally needs repeated exposure; awareness of knowing something, without reliving it; More stable over time. LP lost this ability, but still had episodic memory.

• Both: Unmeasurable capacity to hold information; Consciously accessible long-term memory (you know that you know); Can be communicated flexibly - in a format other than that in which it was acquired. In real life, episodic and semantic memories are often intertwined. In how knowledge (semantic) affects experience (episodic) and the makeup of autobiographical memory.

Free Recall

Generate response from memory, hardest (example: recall the names of the seven dwarfs from the classic Disney movie).

Cued Recall

Prompt given to facilitate response (Example: given a picture of the dwarves and the first 2 letters of each of their names - cues).

Recognition

Identity target from distractor items, easiest (Given a list of 24 possible names and asked to pick out which ones are true).

Prospective Memory

Type of episodic memory; remembering to perform actions in the future. Ex. Take medicine at night, Buy flowers for anniversary, Meet your friends at a coffee shop.

Time Based Cues

Type of prospective memory; remembering to carry out an intended action at the right time, Ex.set alarm clock at night.

Event Based Cues

Type of prospective memory; Remembering to perform an intended action when the circumstances are suitable. Ex. bring an umbrella when it's going to rain. Much easier to remember, better accuracy in studies of this actually being done.

Retrospective Memory

Type of episodic memory; Remembering events from the past; previously learned information.

The Forgetting Curve

Forgetting over time as indexed by reduced savings/accuracy. Creating by Ebbinghaus.

Semanticization of Remote Memories

The gradual transformation of detailed autobiographical, context-rich episodic memories into general, context-free semantic knowledge (facts, meanings, or schemata) as time passes. Episodic memories show a sharper forgetting curve. Semantic memories have a more leveled out forgetting curve. Loss of episodic details for memories of long-ago events. Thus, the knowledge that makes up your semantic memories is initially attained through personal experiences that are the basis of episodic memories, but your memory for these experiences often fades, and only semantic memory remains.

Motivated Forgetting

Can we stop ourselves from retrieving unwanted memories.

Reconsolidation

Memories that are brought up return to a fragile state where they are subject to change, and then are are consolidated again (possibly differently). Reflects the fragility of a memory when it is received, like when it was originally formed. When it is in this fragile state, it needs to be consolidated again. Can be used to help deal with traumatic memories. Remembering the event can change how you think about it or remember it later. A process proposed by Nader and others that occurs when a memory is retrieved and so becomes reactivated. Once this occurs, the memory must be consolidated again, as it was during the initial learning. The idea that when a memory is retrieved (remembered), it becomes fragile, like it was when it was originally formed, and that when it is in this fragile state, it needs to be consolidated again.

Reconsolidation Rat Experiment

• If you inject a drug that inhibits consolidation after consolidation has already occurred, the drug will have no effect and the animal will still remember (shows fear when it hears the tone that was previously paired with a shock)

• If you inject the drug that inhibits consolidation before learning occurs it will block the consolidation, and the animal will not remember (not react to tone)

• If you condition the rat to associate the tone and shock, and then play the tone again the memory will resurface and the rat will freeze (memory was reactivated), if you inject the drug at reactivation it will block reconsolidation and the rat will not react to the tone anymore

Alain Brunet and coworkers (2008) tested the idea that reactivation of a memory followed by reconsolidation can help alleviate the symptoms of PTSD. The basic method involved is to reactivate the person’s memory for the traumatic event and then administer the drug propranolol. This drug blocks activation of stress hormone receptors in the amygdala, a part of the brain important for determining the emotional components of memory. He found that the propranolol group experienced much smaller increases in heart rate and skin conductance than the placebo group. Apparently, presenting propranolol when the memory was reactivated a week earlier blocked the stress response in the amygdala, and this reduced the emotional reaction associated with remembering the trauma.

Autobiographical Memory

Memories we hold regarding ourselves and with the world around us. Sense of self and what is relevant to us. Different than episodic because episodic memory is about one clear event, this is about many events. Memory for specific events from a person’s life, which can include both episodic and semantic components. Memory for specific experiences from our life, which can include both episodic and semantic components. For example, an autobiographical memory of a childhood birthday party might include images of the cake, people at the party, and games being played (episodic memory); it might also include knowledge about when the party occurred, where your family was living at the time, and your general knowledge about what usually happens at birthday parties (semantic memory). In the experiment showing students photos they took, the own-photos caused more activation in the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with processing information about the self, and in the hippocampus, which is involved in recollection (memory associated with “mental time travel”). Hard to study because Subjectivity/bias: No control over learning, No objective verification, Complexity of events, Forgetting/reconstruction, Influence of cues

Infantile Amnesia

We do not have autobiographical memories before about 2 years of age. Difficulty retrieving autobiographical memory of early childhood experiences.

Language Development

Possible explanation for infantile amnesia; infantile amnesia lifts around the time language is gained. May reflect inability to organize information into a life narrative that aids retrieval. Preverbal children are not able to translate the prevebal to the world after they are able to talk.

Emergent Self-View

Possible explanation for infantile amnesia; removal of infantile amnesia is a function of developing a unique and identifiable sense of self. How do we keep a memory and associate it with ourselves when we do not have a sense of self. We construct an autobiographical memory around our sense of self. The sense of self does not develop until about 2.

Psychodynamic View

Possible explanation for infantile amnesia; infantile amnesia reflects our unconscious blocking our taboo thoughts/events. To protect ourselves from our previous idea about ourselves (wanting to have sex with our parents).

Neurological View

Possible explanation for infantile amnesia; brain regions needed to maintain information are not sufficiently developed/mature in infancy. (Hippocampus).

Reminiscence Bump

When you ask older people to reflect on their life, there are more autobiographical memories between 15-25 years of age. (There is also a lot of memories that are more recent - period of recency). Greatest recall for events that occurred between ages of 10 and 25 years. The empirical finding that people over 40 years old have enhanced memory for events from adolescence and early adulthood, compared to other periods of their lives.

Self-Image Hypothesis

Possible explanation of the reminiscence bump; Period of assuming self image, as we form our identity (how do you identify, who are our friends) we are able to remember this better. Memories are stronger for events that make us who we are and form our identity. The idea that memory is enhanced for events that occur as a person’s self-image or life identity is being formed. This idea is based on the results of an experiment in which participants with an average age of 54 created “I am” statements, such as “I am a mother” or “I am a psychologist,” that they felt defined them as a person. When they then indicated when each statement had become a significant part of their identity, the average age they assigned to the origin of these statements was 25, which is within the span of the reminiscence bump.

Cognitive Hypothesis

Possible explanation of the reminiscence bump; Encoding is better during periods of rapid change. Many changes in adolescence. Memories are stronger for events that are more significant. Supported by people who immigrated later in life (change) leads to the reminiscence bump being later. Looking at individuals who immigrated at different times, the period of change being later will make the reminiscence be later. An explanation for the reminiscence bump, which states that memories are better for adolescence and early adulthood because encoding is better during periods of rapid change that are followed by stability.