Memory Retrieval I

Flashcards about facts and theories of memory

What are the two main theories of forgetting?

Trace decay theory and interference theory

Who conducted the first experimental investigation of memory?

Hermann Ebbinghaus

What is the method of savings, as used by Ebbinghaus?

Studying nonsense syllables and testing himself to see how many repetitions he 'saved' compared to the initial learning.

Describe the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve.

Forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off over time.

In Henderson's 1985 experiment with rats, how did shock intensity affect licking behavior?

The more intense the shock, the more suppression of licking.

How long can memory traces last in rats, according to the excitatory conditioning experiment?

As long as 60 days

In the fear conditioning procedure with a shock US, what is B?

Excitatory CS paired with a shock.

In the fear conditioning procedure with a shock US, what is X?

The trained inhibitor; when B is presented with X, shock was omitted, so X became a signal of the absence of shock.

How did a reminder affect memory performance in the avoidance learning procedure?

Memory performance improved when the reminder (apparatus and CS exposure) was presented 24 hr or 10 min prior to the test.

In the Krechevsky maze experiment, what duration of reminder restored performance completely?

90 seconds

What does the interim summary suggest about forgotten memories?

Forgotten memories are not gone or erased but are instead a retrieval failure.

Describe the trace decay theory of forgetting.

In the absence of rehearsal, memory traces become weaker with the passage of time.

What is Hebbian learning?

Cells that fire together wire together.

How does interference theory explain forgetting?

Multiple items may become associated with the same cue, causing interference in recalling the target response.

What did McGeoch argue about human memory?

Human memory is fundamentally associative.

What is the significance of reminders jogging memories?

It suggests that memories can be forgotten without necessarily having decayed.

Explain the anecdote from Marcel Proust in relation to principles of association.

A stimulus (varnish smell) becomes associated with a thought/feeling (sadness) through experience, triggering the feeling upon re-exposure.

What was the purpose of the cross-over design in Godden & Baddeley's 1975 study?

To examine the influence of environmental context on memory.

Define encoding specificity.

Encoding in context provides memory triggers.

Describe the findings of Parker et al.'s (2001) study on odours and memory.

Learning and testing with the same odour resulted in good recall. Changing the odors for recall impairs memory.

What is context-dependent memory expression?

Contextual and other external cues can aid memory retrieval.