Chapter 5: Long-Term Memory

what is long-term memory?

long-lasting and durable memory comprising of events over a lifetime

what are the two types of LTM?

declarative (explicit) with conscious recall and procedural (implicit) without conscious recall

where are declarative memories processed in the brain?

hippocampus

where are procedural memories processed in the brain?

in part in the cerebellum

what are the two types of declarative memories?

semantic and episodic

what are semantic memories?

general knowledge, facts about the world

what are episodic memories?

personally experienced events

what are the two types of procedural memories?

skills memories and conditioning

what are skills memories?

motor or cognitive skills, like writing

what is conditioning in procedural memories?

classical or operant, leads to forming memories based on associations between stimuli and responses

how can neural code be encoded in the LTM?

shallowly (doesn’t last very long) or deeply (lasts for perhaps a lifetime)

factors affecting the depth of processing?

distinctiveness and elaboration

how does distinctiveness affect depth processing?

if aspects of a stimulus stand out form other stimuli, we process the stimulus more deeply

how does elaboration affect depth processing?

rich processing of information in terms of meaning and related concepts leads to better recall. More elaboration and longer sentence lengths mean deeper processing

what is elaborative rehearsal?

deep processing, enhancing our memories for faces

what is the self-reference effect?

elaboration can improve recall when information is related to ourselves

factors affecting encoding

distinctiveness, elaboration, and self-reference

what is the encoding specificity principle?

states that recall is better in a context where the original items to be remembered were learned

two other names for encoding specificity principle

context-dependent memory and trasnfer-appropraite processing

what did Godden and Baddeley (1975) investigate about the encoding specificity principle?

if participants learned their list of words on land, their recall was better on land than underwater, and vice versa.

why is the encoding specificity principle easy to demonstrate in real life but not in a lab, according to Roediger and Guynn (1996)?

due to recognition (vs. recall), artificial materials (vs. real-life situations), and short delays

why is the encoding specificity principle easy to demonstrate in real life but not in a lab, according to Eich (1995)?

the physical context of the lab may not be as important? as the mental context (feel) of another place to bring back memories

according to Craik and Lockheart (1972), what is the gradient of memory?

gradient of memory is based on levels of processing during the encoding process

what are emotions?

quick reactions (pleasant or unpleasant) to stimuli

what is mood?

longer lasting experiences, pleasant or unpleasant

what is mood congruence?

recalling material more accurately if mood matches the emotional nature of material

do we remember pleasant or unpleasant stimuli/memories more?

pleasant stimuli/memories

what did Matlin and Stang (1978) propose about pleasant emotions and recall?

that pleasant items should lead to better, more accurate recall than unpleasant items, based on the Pollyanna Principle

what is the Pollyanna Principle?

states that pleasant items are encoded more efficiently and accurately than unpleasant ones

what did Murray et al. (1999) show with depression and memory?

that students with depressive/non-depressive tendencies recalled positive and negative trait words differently. Participants with no depressive tendencies recalled more positive stimuli, and the opposite was for depressive tendencies

what are social goals?

your style of interacting with other individuals

if one has approach social goals, they…

emphasise interrelationships, and recall neutral statements as positive

if one has avoidance social goals, they…

don’t emphasise interrelationships, and recall neutral statements as negative

what are the two tasks to study memory?

explicit memory task and implicit memory task

what is the explicit memory task?

requires the subject to recall contents of information previously learnt with the instructions that would be tested for recall, e.g. ‘define cognitive psych’

what is the implicit memory task?

information recalled by the subject where no specific instructions were given for subsequent recall, e.g. ‘what did you eat for dinner yesterday’?

in normal adults is implicit or explicit memory more difficult to recall?

explicit memory, i.e., recalling exam material is more difficult than recognising answers on a M/C exam

when are explicit memory tasks better recognised?

when they are semantic (M/C exam) than when they are procedural

retrieval difficulties can result from…

amnesic conditions by brain damage or a traumatic experience

what is retrograde amnesia?

when a patient can’t recall past events after a traumatic experience

what is anterograde amnesia?

when a patient can’t recall new information

how did Henry Molaison (HM) get anterograde amnesia?

experienecd seizures so got surgery on his temporal lobe and lost both his hippcampi (consolidates memories)

what happened to HM’s ability to form memories?

he couldn’t make new declarative memories but could make new procedural memories

what does the hippocampus do?

consolidates memories and assigns them to associative areas of the brain for long-term deposition

how did HM remember old memories?

they’d been preserved in the associative areas of the brainLTM for eve

what is autobiographical memory?

LTM for events and issues related to oneself

what does autobiographical memory consist of?

verbal narrative, imagery, emotional reactions, and procedural information

are autobiographical memories highly accurate?

yes

what are schemas?

our general knowledge or expectation distilled from our past experiences of an event, object, or person

what are schemas used for?

guiding our recall, remembering the gist of events, forgetting irrelevant information to schemas

what is source monitoring?

process of identifying the origins of memories and beliefs, e.g. recalling background information on a movie and questioning where you got it from

what were the results when Marsh et al. (1997) asked ‘how could the university be improved?’

a week later, the students identified if the ideas were their own or not, and they never made source monitoring mistakes

what is reality monitoring?

process of identifying whether an event really occurred or was merely imagined

what were the results of Henkel (2011) showing students a series of common objects (e.g. pencil)?

they asked one group to break the pencil and asked the other to imagine breaking the pencil. A week later, they either saw pictures of the broken pencil or they didn’t. 2 weeks later, less than 10% were confident they’d broken the pencil if they’d seen no picture and 25% were confident they’d broken the pencil if they’d seen the picture

what are flashbulb memories (FBM)?

memories of a situation in which you first learned of a vert surprising and emotionally arousing event, usually very vivid

what are FBMs affected by?

high level of surprise, emotional arousal and rehearsal (silently or in conversation)

what are the 6 types of information that can be recalled from FBMs?

place of event (where you were), ongoing event that was interrupted by the news, the person who gave the news, your own feelings, the emotions of others, the aftermath

who suggested that people’s FBMs were better than ordinary memories?

Brown and Kulik (1977)

who disproved the idea that FBMs were better than ordinary memories?

Talarico and Rubin (2003)

what is eyewitness testimony?

another form of autobiographical memory which is reasonably accurate, but not flawless

what is the misinformation effect?

incorporates misleading information into one’s memory of an event

what is the study for misinformation effect?

Loftus - students shown 2 cars in accident and used different language (e.g. hit, smashed). Higher speeds given for smashed than hit. Week later asked ‘was there any broken glass?’, ‘smashed’ reported more glass

factors affecting eyewitness memory

distraction in attention by something arousing during the event (e.g. weapon), if misinformation is/not plausible, if there is social pressure, if there is positive feedback given to the eyewitness

what are recovered memories?

when memories of long lost events flood back into consciousness through assistance

what are false memories?

recovered memories are merely reconstructions and represent incorrect memories

recall of false memories is based on what?

schemas

what is the recovered memory perspectives ideas of trauma?

trauma may leave an indelible mark on memory and therefore doesn’t falsely recall sources