Memory PART 1

This is about to be a big one!!!

What is the general definition of memory?

The retaining, retrieving and reusing of information

True of false: memory acts as a passive store?

false

What are the 5 different types of memory?

Sensory, Short term, Episodic, Procedural and Semantic

What is the name given to the model that looks at memory in a modular way including control processes like rehearsal?

Atkinson’s

What is the control process in Atkinson’s model that relies on creating a story with the information that you know?

Mnemotechniques

What is the name given to the loss of information from the memory pathway?

Decay

What is the main purpose of sensory memory?

Retain the effects of sensory stimulation

What is a visual example of our sensory memory in action?

Light trails from a sparkler at night

Who was the name of the experimenter that tested sensory memory using slides of letters at quick intervals?

Sperling

Outline how Sperling tested sensory memory using the partial report method?

Participant was asked to recall the letters on the row that corresponded to the tone being at the time of the image shown

Between partial and full report method, which was the participant more accurate at during recall?

Partial report

After delaying the tone by a second after the image was shown, Sperling saw a dramatic decrease in recall accuracy, what did he conclude?

Sensory memory decays in less than a second

What information does the short term memory represent?

What we experience in the present

How long does the short term memory usually last?

15-20 seconds

What is the name of the test that uses STM to recall a series of digits in a specific order?

Digit span task

Define Proactive interference

Previous knowledge inhibits the memory of new information

Define Retroactive interference

New information inhibits recall of previous knowlege

After changing the semantics of the word series during the experiment, subjects recall ability begins to drastically increase again. What is the name for this phenomena?

Release from Proactive Interference

What is chunking?

The combining of smaller items into larger semantically driven units

With chunking, what is the capacity of the STM?

7 (±2)

Without chunking what is the capacity of the STM?

4

How can we test the STM capacity without chunking interference?

use abstract shapes or colours instead of numbers and words in your tests

What was the name of the experiment that asked participants to asses the changes in colored squares between two slides?

Change detection

How did Luck and Vogel adjust the change detection experiment to allow them to test the STM under higher item complexity?

Changed the colours for abstract shapes

If the complexity of an item increases, what happens the to the STM capacity for those items?

Decreases

What is the purpose of the Working Memory?

To manipulate information

What are the three main components of the Baddeley dynamic model for working memory?

Phonological loop, Visiosensory sketchpad and the Central Executive

What is the function of the phonological loop?

Process auditory-linguistic information

What are the three types of interference with the phonological loop?

Phonological similarity, Articulation suppression and the Word length effect

What is the function of the visiosensory sketchpad?

process visual and spatial information in absence of physical stimulus

Give an example of an action that uses visiosensory sketchpad

Rotating an apple in your mind

What is the function of the central executive

Retrieves, manipulates and suppresses information from the two other areas

What observations can we see from a patient who has damage to the central executive?

Inability to move on from one type of solution when solving a problem

How can we test working memory

Reading-operation span (i.e. 2+2=4 CAT)

When Baddeleys model was updated, what was the new component added?

Episodic Buffer

What is the function of the episodic buffer?

integration of information from the long term memory to the working memory

True or False: There is not one neural correlate for working memory?

True

What are the 4 areas associated with long-term memory?

sustained attention, Parietal attention, LTM and perception

True or false, working memory requires all of neural capacity?

true

What is the function of the long term memory?

Relating past archival information to the current situation being perceived

What are the two main types of long term memory?

Declarative and non-declarative

What types of memory come under declarative?

Explicit, Episodic and semantic

What types of memory come under non-declarative?

Implicit, Procedural, priming and classical conditioning

How do we conduct a serial position test?

Observe a list of words in order, make participant memorise then write down words in any order

Experimenters found that participants had the highest accuracy for words at the beginning and the end of the order. What was the name given to this phenomena?

the primary and recency effect

What are the main two sources of information encoded into the LTM?

Sensory and semantic

True or false: STM and LTM encode information in the same way

False

What happened to Patient HM?

Hippocampus was removed

What happened to patient HM’s LTM post surgery?

Unable to form new memories

What was the condition of patient HM’s STM post surgery?

Perfectly normal

What happened to Patient KF?

Damage to executive loop

What happened to KF’s STM post injury?

severely inhibited capacity

What happened to KF’s LTM post injury?

perfectly functioning

What can we learn about the neural relationship of the LTM and STM from patient’s KF and HM?

double dissociation