PSY 324 Exam 2

Rules

definition or a description, provides essential features for belonging to a category; difficult to get a exact set of rules that captures a category that includes all members and excludes all non members perfectly

Prototypes

average representation that has most common features that are present in the category; more like prototype more likely to be part of category

Exemplars

memory is central to this approach; examples themselves of the category are the exemplar; examples serve as a basis for understanding of the category; most accurate predictions over all but not 100%

Category structure

rely on three details for mapping: number of items, relationships of the dimensions (color, shape, and size) and their values (options/levels), dimensions themselves

6 structures by Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins

32[4], 3 dimensions 2 values each and 4 items; 6 types: type 1 easiest to learn, type 6 hardest

Hierarchical concepts

a broader concept broken down into more specific concepts/details in a hierarchy format from general to specific; superordinate, basic, subordinate

Basic level advantage

given brief exposure to something we tend to identify at the most basic level

Conceptual combination

even if we haven’t seen a specific object we can still imagine it or conceptualize it usually because we have encountered similar concepts

Sensory memory (iconic, echoic, haptic)

 iconic = visual stimuli, echoic = auditory, haptic = tactile

Short term memory limitations

20-30 seconds; acts as intermediary system between info in the environment and permanent memory storage

Acoustic encoding

encoding into memory based on the way it sounds, rhyming; Conrad study

Semantic encoding

committing something to memory based on our understanding; Wickens study on categories of flowers

Working memory and its components

3 components: phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive 

Serial position effect

our ability to remember items in a list depends on where they fall on the list

Primacy effect

advantage for items at the beginning of the list holds strong

Recency effect

advantage for items at the end of the lists; doesn’t hold strong

Levels of processing effect (Craik and Tulving 1975)

studied three types of encoding: visual, auditory, and semantic; found semantic to be most effective, then auditory, then visual

Context effects

the environment within which we learn will influence how well we recall it 

Forgetting (decay, interference, overwriting)

decay suggests memory is impermanent (use it or lose it); interference (proactive and retroactive) something gets in the way of accessing the memory; overwriting suggests memory is replaced

Explicit/declarative memory

retrieve the memory consciously and actively

Episodic memory

memory of our own past and events we have experienced

Semantic memory

general knowledge and what we believe to be facts

Hierarchical model of semantic memory

takes longer to travel more levels of the model

Amnesia (anterograde and retrograde)

can’t form new memories; can’t recall old memories

Implicit/procedural memory

automatic retrieval of memory without trying

Relationship of understanding and memory

two way street; understanding is typically informed by memory; doesn’t mean it’s necessarily true; understanding also informs memory

Schemas

organized framework for constructing memory

Reconstructive memory

requires constructing complex memories piece by piece which could lead to incorrect data

Eyewitness testimony

negatively affected by the misinformation effect

Misinformation effect

in an effort to recall info, we may be misled based on info we’ve been told after

Flashbulb memories (and the role of personal impact)

memories of high significance; historically negative things; more precisely remembered if there was a personal connection

Repression and suppression 

unconscious and conscious loss of access to a memory

Analog representations

mimics the visual characteristics of the object in the world that we’ve seen

Propositional representations

abstract relations between the parts we had seen

Mental rotation

ability to mentally rotate an object to match another visual

Selective interference

interference affects memory when the competing info is the same type as the primary info; ex both verbal

Picture superiority effect

easier time remembering images than non-images

Dual coding hypothesis

possible explanation for why the picture superiority effect might happen

Face recognition

extension of picture superiority effect; additional advantage of recognizing faces over other types of image