Cognitive Psychology - Exam 2

Acquisition

Process of gaining information and placing into memory

Storage

State in which a memory, once acquired, remains until it is retrieved. Older scientists thought this was a dormant process, but now seen as more dynamic

Retrieval

Process of locating information in memory and activating that information for use

Modal model

Early information-processing view of memory. Captures important truths but needs updating

Working Memory

Information currently in conscious awareness (even if attention shifts briefly); limited capacity, getting information in and out is easy, contents are fragile (susceptible to interference). Representations maintained by processes.

Long Term Memory

Relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system; includes specific and general knowledge as well as episodic memories, getting information in and out can be difficult, more concrete

Free Recall Procedure

Task where participants repeat words back in any order they choose

Primacy effect

Tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list, happens because there's less competition for attention (will be from long-term memory)

Memory rehearsal

Any mental activity that has the effect of maintaining words in working memory (like repetition)

Recency effect

Tendency to remember last few words of a list, because everything else gets pushed out of working memory but nothing is coming behind words at end (adding a delay with distraction eliminates this)

Serial Position Curve

A U-shaped graph that shows how people tend to remember items from the beginning and end of a list better than those in the middle

Digit-span Task

a research procedure in which people are given a list of digits and asked to repeat it, number of digits goes up when they succeed until limit is found

7 +/- 2

What we know to be the capacity of working memory, sometimes called magic number (flexible definition of "items")

Chunking

Combining small pieces of information into larger clusters that are more easily held in working memory

Operation Span

A measure of working memory capacity that better predicts real life, can be reading or math - if chunking and rehearsal is prevented, avg is 3+/- 1 items

Central Executive

The center of the working memory network, governing selection and sequence of thought, working with ideas

Phonological Loop

A part of working memory that uses subvocalization (inner voice), passive storage for holding a representation, using articulatory control system

Phonological similarity effect

A string of similar sounding letters (E D C B) will be held in working memory better than different sounding letters (K G R W)

Double dissociation of visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop

Shown to be distinct systems when participants were faster at a verbal task/visual response or visual task/verbal response vs visual/visual or verbal/verbal (caused overload)

Concurrent Articulation Task

A task where participants take a span task while vocalizing a repeating sound, blocking speech production in working memory which prevents subvocalization and shortens memory span

Maintenance Rehearsal

Mechanical process of focusing on the items to be remembered, with little thought to their meaning

Relational/elaborative rehearsal

Active process of thinking about what the items to be remembered mean and how they're related to each other or existing knowledge

Intentional learning

Learning that is deliberate, with an expectation that memory will be tested later

Shallow processing

Engaging with material in a superficial way, only paying attention to appearances, poor memory retention

No

Does the sheer will to remember have any impact on your ability to?

Deep processing

Paying attention to the meaning and and implications of material, leads to excellent memory retention

Transfer Appropriate Processing

Processing at encoding should match processing at retrieval, regardless of depth

Effect of Deep Processing on Memory

Deep processing leads to better recall because it facilitates connections which are how we retrieve things

Mnemonic Strategies

Techniques specifically designed to improve memory accuracy and make learning easier, usually by imposing an organization (first letter, peg-words, mental images - may help memorizing but no meaning)

Recollection

Memory that includes episodic content

Familiarity

The general feeling you've been exposed to something before, without memory of source content. Based on processing fluency - recent use of a pathway will make it noticeably easier to use. A conclusion that is drawn

Traumatic memories

Have more sensory reactivation than other memories, possibly less linked to context -> more available

DRM Paradigm

A task to display false memories, when participants study a list of words in a category but not the actual category word, they'll be confident they did, even when warned

Procedural memory

A type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits, like riding a bike (Patient HM's was not affected)

Context-dependent learning

The mental state one is in during acquisition can affect what is learned

Context Reinstatement

Re-creating the context present during learning, even just mentally, improves memory performance

Encoding Specificity

The tendency to memorize both material and part of its context, causing materials to only be recognized as familiar in certain contexts;

the way we think about something determines exactly what gets encoded into memory

Generation-recognition theory

The idea that all meanings and contexts of a word are attached to a single representation and will be activated, states recognition will always be better than recall

Memory Network

The idea that memory is a collection of nodes and associative links, spreading activation to connected ideas (retrieval pathway)

Lexical-decision task

Participants shown a string of letters and must quickly decide if it's a word in their language, presumably searching mental dictionary

Semantic priming

Activation of an idea causes activation to spread to words close in meaning

Recall

task of memory retrieval in which one is presented with a retrieval cue broadly identifying the information they seek, and must come up with the information on their own

Recognition

task of memory retrieval in which information is presented to an individual and they must decide whether it's the sought-after information

Remember/know distinction

Having the source memory vs a sense of familiarity -

"Remember" shows heightened activity in the hippocampus while "know" shows up in anterior parahippocampus

Explicit/Declarative memories

Revealed by direct or declarative memory testing (recall, recognition, source memory), asks participants to remember the past. Types include episodic and semantic memory

Declarative memory tests

Recall, recognition, source memory, 2 alternative forced-choice (relative familiarity)

Implicit/Non-declarative memories

Revealed by indirect or non-declarative memory testing, participants current behavior is influenced by prior events, but they may be unaware of it. Types include procedural memory, priming, perceptual learning, and classical conditioning.

Illusion of truth

familiarity may give false impressions of credibility

Source confusion

Participants in line-up recognition task may remember someone's face as familiar and mislabel it as from the crime, when really they were just shown in earlier mugshot lineups

Priming

Non-declarative memory test, when same stimulus is repeated, the stimulus is processed more "fluently" (quickly and easily)

Word-stem completion task

Participants given incomplete words, fill in the blanks with whatever comes to mind first

Cortex

The part of the brain responsible for non-conscious priming

Source memory test

A test of declarative memory in recognition tasks to determine whether its based on contextual retrieval or familiarity (ex: was it bold or underlined?)

Forced choice task

Declarative memory task, participant must choose one option as recognizable, can be completely by familiarity (no confidence required)

Processing fluency

The speed and ease with which a pathway will carry activation, grows with use of the pathway, creates feeling of familiarity

Amnesia

A disruption of memory, often due to brain damage. Retrograde = forget before the event, anterograde = forget after the event

Forgetting

Inability to recall or recognize previously encoded information

Selective attention

The skill through which a person focuses on one input or task while ignoring other stimuli in the environment

Dichotic listening task

An experimental setup where participants have two auditory inputs coming into each ear and are told to only focus on one (attended channel) by shadowing, ignoring the other (unattended channel)

Filter

A hypothetical mechanism that would block potential distractors from further processing, involves inhibiting responses

Change blindness

Observer's inability to detect changes in scenes they're looking directly at

Early selection hypothesis

Attended input is privileged from the start, so unattended input receives little analysis and is never perceived

Late selection hypothesis

All inputs receive relatively complete analysis, and selection occurs just after analysis is finished - perhaps just before the stimuli reaches consciousness so we are only aware of attended input, or later, so we are briefly conscious of all input but only remember attended

Both

Is the early selection hypothesis correct, late selection hypothesis, or both?

Biased Competition Theory

Proposal that attention functions by shifting neuron's priorities, so that the neurons are more responsive to inputs that have properties associated with the desired or relevant input (takes energy), happens at EVERY STAGE

Endogenous attention

attention that is directed voluntarily/consciously

Exogenous attention

automatic attraction of attention by a sudden visual or auditory stimulus (fire alarm)

Limited-capacity system

The idea that you only have so much attention you can give at any moment, so must select what's most important; attention determines conscious processing!

Spatial Attention theory

Attention as a spotlight; The beam shines on what's visually prominent, you see everything in that area, ignoring object boundaries

Object-based attention theory

The proposal that all parts of an object are selected simultaneously and attention spreads within the objects' borders, supported by Wuhr and Wuszak paper

Ultra-rare item effect

pattern in which rare items are often overlooked; "if you don't find it often, you often don't find it" (has to do with expectations of environment)

Feature integration theory

proposal about function of attention in "gluing" together elements and features in view; selective attention required for binding of multiple features

Divided attention

the skill of performing multiple tasks simultaneously, will be easier if they draw from different systems (language vs motor), or if the task has been repeated a lot (automacity)

Preservation error

tendency to produce the same response over and over even when it's obvious the task requires a change in the response

Goal neglect

failing to organize behavior in a way that moves someone toward their goals - patients may get caught up in features without seeing big picture or be carried away by personal impulses

Stroop inference

well known task with color names printed in other colored ink - participants have trouble saying the color and ignoring word content even though it has no value in the task, demonstrates automacity

Transplant errors

elements that were part of your thinking get misremembered as if they were actually part of the original experience, connections from memories overlapping

Schema

knowledge describing what is typical or frequent in a situation; helps fill in the gaps during recall BUT can promote errors in perception and memory - you assume what's most likely even if it's not reality

False memories

Can be implanted by leading questions, more likely if information is plausible, adding to existing memory, and imagine it rather than just hear about it

Misinformation effect

memory errors that result from misinformation received after an event was experienced

No

Does a person's confidence in their memory accurately predict the accuracy of the memory?

Retention Interval

the amount of time that elapses between the initial learning and subsequent retrieval - as it grows, forgetting is more likely

Decay Theory of Forgetting

proposes that memories fade/erode with the passage of time (relevant brain cells may die off, or connections weaken w/o use)

Interference theory

passage of time isn't the direct cause of forgetting, but creates the opportunity for new learning, and that disrupts the older memories.

Sometimes new information changes the old, or erases it

Retrieval failure

forgotten memory is still in long-term storage, but person cannot locate it, using the wrong cues. Cognitive interview used by detective to try to put people back in the context and reinstate cues

All

Which of the three theories of forgetting are correct?

TOT phenomenon

often-observed effect where people are unable to remember a particular word, even though they are certain that the word is in their vocabulary ("tip of their tongue")

Retrieval Strategies

Elaboration (interpret and assess, building connections), distributed practice (spread out sessions), retrieval practice (strengthen pathway)

Consolidation

The biological process through which new memories are "cemented in place," acquiring some degree of permanence through the creation of new (or altered) neural connections; basically the only thing we know about storage, key steps take place during sleep

Autobiographical memory

Same as episodic memory; better when involved in an event (rather than passively witnessing), information relevant to the self is remembered better, schematic knowledge about your current self may create bias for the past

Emotional memories

Emotion enhances consolidation; triggers response in amygdala -> increase activity in hippocampus which is crucial for memory establishment.

An emotional event will also be given more attention as it unfolds, and mulled over more in the time after

Flashbulb memories

Memories of extraordinary clarity, typically for highly emotional events, retained even after many years (JFK assassination, 9/11). Usually not as accurate as people claim, social aspect changes recollection

Single features

The only thing we can detect without selective attention resources; if only one single feature differentiates an item from the group, then no matter how many are added, we'll spot it right away

Hemispatial neglect

Seen in patients failing to attend to the left side of their visual environment, spatially-defined deficit. Circle task, selected object holds attention even if it moves into the left side

Indefinite

How long can something be held in working memory if continuously reactivated?

Patient HM

Surgery for epilepsy removed parts of his medial temporal lobe, disconnecting hippocampi and causing anterograde amnesia (some retrograde). Intact WM but unable to form new episodic memories. Can gain familiarity w/ many exposures but has no context/source, forced-choice recognition largely preserved along with implicit memory. More placid due to amygdala damage

Episodic Long-term memory

Which memory system was damaged in Patient HM?

Episodic Memories

personally experienced events stored in LTM, memory affected by the cognitive processing you do during the event