PSYC 213 - Chapter 7: Long-term memory, encoding, retrieval

What is encoding?

-Acquiring info and transcribing it into memory

What is retrieval?

-Transferring the info from LTM → working memory

What is maintenance rehearsal?

-Repetition of stimuli that maintains info but does not transfer it to LTM

What is elaborative rehearsal?

-Using meanings and connections to help transfers info to LTM

What is shallow processing?

-Little attention to meaning

-Focus on physical features

-Poor memory

What is deep processing?

-Close attention to meaning

-Better memory

How does visual imagery aid encoding?

-When you create images in your head about something you want to remember

How does the self-reference effect aid encoding?

-How you make information relevant to yourself or a situation with someone you know

-Everytime you think about the subject, you’ll associate it with your own experience

How does the generation effect aid encoding?

-” Fill in the blank”: you’re generating words that relate to a series of words

• Ex: generating your own MCQ

Does organizing information help with encoding?

Yes, organizing and classifying information to be remembered aids in structuring words in a clear manner that your brain will remember

Does relating words to survival value help with encoding?

-Words related to survival are more easily remembered, evolutionary pov

What is retrieval practice?

-Testing effect: the importance of testing yourself on the content you learn

• The more you test yourself, greater remembering

What is the “illusion of learning,” and what are examples of it?

-When you think you’ve learned info, you actually haven’t learned it

• Re-reading notes, not learning

• Fluency: “easy” to read content → you don’t go much over it

• Familiarity: you know it, so you skip it

How do you recall information from the LTM?

-Cue-recall: cue presented to help us with recall

• Free recall: easier to remember cues when you create them from scratch

What is encoding specificity?

-Context during retrieval matches the context or cues present when the info was originally learned

-Context of condition matches the condition of encoding

-Any matching condition could be external as well as internal

What is state-dependent learning?

-Info encoded in a specific internal state is easier to recall when that same internal state is present again

-Mood is all about association

What is transfer-appropriate processing?

-Results of memory tasks will be better if the type of processing used in encoding is the same type used during retrieval

-Context: type of info you’re encoding

-Mental operation, type of task, “how” you think about the material matters

What is consolidation and the types?

-New fragile memories turned into a more permanent state

• Synaptic: consolidation occurs at synapses, rapidly

• Systems: consolidation involves gradual reorganization of circuits in the brain

-Once consolidated → difficult to disrupt

What is long-term potentiation? (LTP)

-Enhanced firing of neurons after repeated stimulation

• Structural changes and enhanced response

• Makes connections easier between neurons

What is the difference between retrograde and graded amnesia?

-Retrograde amnesia: loss of memory for events before trauma

-Graded amnesia: memory for recent events is more fragile than remote events

How does consolidation work neurologically?

-Consolidation requires protein synthesis to form connections

-Retrieval depends on the hippocampus during consolidation; after consolidation, the hippocampus no longer needed

-The hippocampus replays neural activity associated w/ memory

What is the multiple trace hypothesis?

-Demonstrates that the hippocampus is not only needed at the beginning of consolidation

• It is activated during retrieval of recent and remote memories

• Damage can affect systems

How is the hippocampus important for memory?

-Important for episodic memory and the spatial context of situations

-Every time you remember something, you remember it in the context it was learned

What is the difference between remembering and familiarity?

-Remembering: dependent on hippocampus; episodic memory

-Familiarity: NOT dependent on the hippocampus; semantic memory

• Different concepts = different brain regions

• Know response: you know something but cannot remember details of when/where you learned

What is reconsolidation?

-Every time you recall a consolidated memory, it becomes fragile again, like a short-term memory

-You can disrupt the memory and lose it