Cognitive Psychology Chapter 5 Memory Alexanders VER

What are the two ways to study memory?

Memory can be studied as a structure and as a process.

What is memory structure?

The parts or systems that make up memory.

What is memory as a process?

The stages used to put information into memory, maintain it, and bring it back.

What is the Modal Model of memory (The General Structure of Memory)?

Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model stating that information moves through sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

What are the three systems in the Modal Model?

Sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

What is sensory memory?

A brief copy of information received by the senses Doesn’t last very long.

What is short-term memory?

A limited system that temporarily stores and uses information.

What is long-term memory?

A system that stores information for an extended period of time.

How does information move through the Modal Model?

Information moves from sensory memory to short-term memory and then to long-term memory.

What role does rehearsal play in memory?

Rehearsal helps transfer information from short-term memory into long-term memory.

What is encoding?

Entering information into memory by turning it into a neural code. Entering Information into memory.

What is storage?

Maintaining information in memory for later use. You need to keep using it to maintain it.

What is retrieval?

Bringing stored information back into consciousness to make a response.

What is iconic memory?

A very brief visual copy of something seen (smooths out our vision).

What is echoic memory?

A very brief auditory copy of something heard. Helps mostly with smoothing language.

How are iconic and echoic memory different?

Iconic memory stores visual information; echoic memory stores auditory information and lasts slightly longer.

Short-term memory & limited duration -> Brown/Peterson & Peterson

Supposed to make it harder to hold things in short-term memory in a distractor test. Short-term memory only lasts for about 18 seconds.

Short-term memory & small capacity -> Miller’s magic number

The average human short-term memory can hold about seven items (plus or minus two), meaning between 5 and 9 items at one time

What is chunking?

Grouping individual pieces of information into meaningful units. Helps fit letters into short-term memory

How does chunking change memory capacity?

It increases the amount of information that can be held as meaningful chunks.

What is an example of chunking?

Remembering FBI NBC IBM NBA TNT as five chunks instead of fifteen separate letters.

What is the relationship between chunking and expertise?

Experts can create meaningful chunks because of their prior knowledge and experience.

What did Chase and Simon’s chess study show?

Expert chess players remembered meaningful game positions better than novices.

When did expert chess players lose their memory advantage?

When the chess pieces were placed randomly in positions that had no meaning.

Why is meaningfulness important for chunking?

Chunking works best when information can be connected to existing knowledge.

What is interference?

Competing or overlapping information disrupts encoding, retention, or retrieval.

What is decay?

The automatic fading of information as time passes.

How does interference explain forgetting?

Other information competes with or disrupts the information being remembered.

How does decay explain forgetting?

The memory trace becomes weaker over time.

What did Waugh and Norman’s digit study examine?

Whether forgetting was caused more by time or by interfering information.

What was manipulated in the Waugh and Norman study?

The number of interfering digits and the rate at which digits were presented.

What does decay theory predict?

Recall should decrease mainly when the rate of presentation creates more time for the memory to fade.

What does interference theory predict?

Recall should decrease mainly when more interfering information is presented.

What did the Waugh and Norman results support?

Interference, because the number of interfering digits had the stronger effect on recall.

What is retroactive interference?

When new information interferes with memory for old information.

What is proactive interference?

When old information interferes with memory for new information.

How do retroactive and proactive interference differ?

Retroactive interference occurs when new information disrupts old memories; proactive interference occurs when old information disrupts new memories.

What task was used in Waugh and Norman’s study?

Participants identified the digit that followed a probe digit. The results demonstrated retroactive interference.

What did Jenkins and Dellenbach (1924) find about sleeping after studying?

Sleeping after studying decreases retroactive interference and leads to more consistent recall.

Why did sleeping after studying reduce interference in Jenkins and Dellenbach’s study?

Students were not receiving interfering information while asleep.

What did Keppel and Underwood (1962) demonstrate?

Memory performance declined across trials because information from earlier lists interfered with later lists. (People remember short lists of fruits/ veggies -> people would make mistakes later on -> old items pop up on later lists) Items with similar meanings interfere with memory for later items.

What did Wickens (1976) find about semantic changes across trials?

Changing the meaning or category of items can reduce proactive interference.

What is release from proactive interference?

A reduction in proactive interference when new items differ in meaning or category from earlier items.

What does release from proactive interference reveal about short-term memory?

Short-term memory uses semantic coding, meaning it encodes information based on meaning.

How does sound similarity affect short-term memory?

Items that sound similar can cause confusion and interference.

What did Wickelgren’s research show about short-term memory?

People make sound-based confusions in short-term memory. T → D 2 → U

What does sound confusion suggest about how short-term memory encodes information?

Short-term memory uses sound to encode information.

What are the four components of Baddeley’s working memory model?

The phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer.

What is the function of the phonological loop?

It holds verbal material, such as words and language sounds, using maintenance rehearsal.

What is the function of the visuospatial sketchpad?

It stores visual and spatial information and allows people to imagine objects and move them mentally in space.

What is the function of the central executive?

The (BOSS) directs information, integrates information from other systems, makes decisions, and coordinates cognitive activities.

What is the function of the episodic buffer?

It temporarily combines information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory.

Approximately how long does the phonological loop store information?

About two seconds. Just long enough for LTM or dump it.

What does the vocal rehearsal process do?

It repeats information held in the phonological store.

What is the phonological sound component of the phonological loop?

The hearing or sound component.

What is the articulatory component of the phonological loop?

Subarticulation, which repeats motor commands for speech movements without speaking aloud. (Motor commands involving the jaw and tongue).

What five effects provide evidence for the phonological loop?

Rehearsal rate effects, phonological confusions, the word length effect, irrelevant speech effects, and articulatory suppression effects.

What do rehearsal rate effects support?

(words around the same length… one will be read faster than the other) → The two-second rule of the phonological loop. Evidence for the phonological loop

What are phonological confusions?

Interference or confusion between words that sound similar. Evidence for the vocal rehearsal process. Evidence for the phonological loop

What is the word length effect?

Shorter words are more easily remembered than longer words. Longer words take longer than 2 seconds to process → evidence for the 2-second rule. Evidence for the phonological loop

What is the irrelevant speech effect?

Hearing other words while trying to remember a word list causes interference. Evidence for the vocal rehearsal process. Evidence for the phonological loop

What is the articulatory suppression effect?

Speaking while trying to hold information in short-term memory causes interference → vocal rehearsal process and evidence for the phonological loop

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad

(What something looks like and play with it) Stores visual and spatial information and spatial words.

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (Cone Demonstration)

Imagine a cone and spin it…(we feel like we can do it, but there is not alot of evidence)

Central Executive (the boss)

Integrates info from other two systems and makes decisions. Plans and coordinates cognitive activities. Does not store information

Episodic Buffer

Temporary storage… Similar to RAM in a computer → (Workspace to combine information from the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad, and LTM)

What method did Lauro et al. (2010) use to study the phonological loop?

Used Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) to investigate the neural architecture of the phonological loop and its causal role in sentence comprehension.

How did TMS affect performance with short, simple sentences in Lauro et al.’s study?

Stimulation of either the left frontal lobe or the left parietal lobe did not affect performance.

How did TMS affect performance with long, simple sentences?

Stimulation of the left parietal lobe caused more errors.

How did TMS affect performance with long, complex sentences?

Stimulation of either the left frontal lobe or the left parietal lobe caused more errors.

What role does the left frontal lobe play in the phonological loop?

It aids in rehearsal.

What role does the left parietal lobe play in the phonological loop?

It aids in storage.

Which brain areas are associated with the visuospatial sketchpad?

Several regions in the right hemisphere, the occipital lobe, and regions of the frontal lobe.

How do frontal and parietal areas contribute to visuospatial working memory?

They help maintain attention so information can be held long enough.

Why is the brain location of the visuospatial sketchpad not clear-cut?

The areas involved depend on the task.

Which brain areas are associated with the central executive?

The frontal lobes in both hemispheres. → based on Alzheimer’s research.

What is known about the brain location of the episodic buffer?

The responsible brain area is not really known.

Individual Differences and WM

Some people have larger digit spans (average 5-9), etc. Leads to better… Reasoning, Reading comprehension, and Scores on academic tests → Seem to have better cognitive control…

What are the three types of long-term memory in Tulving’s model?

Episodic, semantic, and procedural memory.

What is episodic memory?

Memory for personal events—your life story.

What is semantic memory?

General knowledge about the world.

What is procedural memory?

Memory for skills.

What do PET studies show about the three types or storage in LTM?

They show which brain areas are activated during memory tasks.

Which brain area is activated during episodic memory

The frontal lobe.

Which brain area is activated during semantic memory

A broader area of the posterior cerebral cortex.

What is amnesia?

Memory loss that can result from an accident or brain injury.

How can amnesia affect episodic memory?

People may forget personal events from hours or even years ago.

Which types of memory generally remain intact when amnesia?

Semantic and procedural memory → Describing things, remembering preferences, and playing instruments.