6: Memory-Acquisition of Memories and Working Memory

Who is Clive Wearing?

Man who suffered amnesia from a viral infection in the brain. He was unable to form new memories. Had anterograde amnesia.

• He remembered to play piano and his wife

Memory

processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present

What was Atkinson and Shiffrin’s approach to studying memory?

Information processing approach

3 Types of memory according to the Modal Model of Memory

1. sensory memory

2. short-term memory

3. long-term memory

sensory memory

the initial stage that holds all incoming information for seconds or fractions of a second

short-term memory

holds 5-7 items for about 15-20 seconds

long-term memory

can hold a large amount of information for years or even decades

iconic memory

what you see

working memory

limited-capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning

primacy effect

better memory for the first few items relative to middle items

recency effect

better memory for the last few items

Retrieval from LTM specifically activates the ___

hippocampus

Retrieval from working memory specifically activates the _____ _____

perirhnial cortex

digit-span task

participants hear a series of digits read to them and must immediately repeat them back

what reduces working memory load?

chunking

operation span

a measure of working memory capacity

Braddeley’s working memory model

includes the central executive, phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketch pad

Visuospatial sketch pad

aka the “visuospatial buffer”

phonological loop

aka the “articulatory rehearsal loop”. it passively stores the sound representations.

episodic buffer

helps the central executive organize information into chronological sequence

concurrent articulation tasks

support the model of the articulatory rehearsal loop

maintenance rehearsal

repeating the items over and over. based on how something sounds. very shallow encoding. less successful for long-term storage

elaborate rehearsal

encoding the information in more meaningful ways. based on the meaning of something. leads to deeper encoding, much more successful for long-term storage.

____ ____ is superior to ___ ___ for long-term memory

relational rehearsal; maintenance rehearsal

___ ___ does NOT guarantee memory

repeated exposure

what are the levels of processing?

1. shallow processing

2. deep processing

shallow processing

little attention to the meaning. focus on physical features. poor memory

deep processing

close attention to the meaning. better memory.

incidental learning

learning in the absence of an intention to learn

intentional learning

deliberate, with the expectation that memory will be later tested