PSYCH 104 - Unit 7b

implicit memory(LTM)

• priming → unconscious recall of info

• procedural(skills) and emotional conditioning

  • priming effect and conditioned reflex

explicit memory(LTM)

• intentional recall of information

• episodic(biographical events) and semantic(words,ideas,concepts)

memory retrieval

• reactivation of reconstruction of what is memory storage → memory doesn’t always match original event/fact

• memory is stored but available cues are too weak to trigger full retrieval

encoding specificity

• more likely to remember when conditions at time of initial learning and retrieval are the same

• context dependent learning(external conditions)

• state dependent learning(internal conditions ex. mood)

explicit memory: recall

• retrieve without any cues → produce information from memory

• harder because no cues to generate answer

explicit memory: recognition

• retrieve with cues → identify the correct info from options

• easier due to cues and more accurate

flashbulb memories

• unusually vivid and long lasting memories of emotionally rousing events

• the amygdala helps turn emotion into enduring memory → stringer encoding

proactive interference

• earlier learning interferences with new learning → especially if competing information is similar in content

retroactive interference

• new information interferes with old info → especially if competing info is similar in content

Decay theory

• memory traces fade over time like a signal losing strength

• insufficient b/c interference and retrieval failure explains forgetting better

Normal forgetting

• part of normal brain function due to overload, lack of focus, time

• temporary gaps, retrieval issues but long-term memories mostly intact

Amnesia

• profound loss of memory systems and inability to form new memories

• caused by brain injuries, strokes, disease, significant trauma

retrograde amnesia

• memory loss before the critical event

• loss of previously acquired long-term memories → crumbled past timeline, fragmented old photos

• caused by traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative disease

anterograde amnesia

• inability to form new memories after the critical event

• failure of encoding and consolidation → stm to ltm transfer is blocked

• caused by severe hippocampal damage

infantile amnesia

• inability of adults to retrieve accurate memories a certain age

• hippocampus is underdeveloped at childhood and no concept of self

prospective memory

• forgetting to do things

• does not correspond to retrospective memory

• worse in older adults

alzheimer’s disease

• cause of 50% of dementia cases

• increased risk with increased age

• memory and language deterioration → forget new memories first

misinformation effect

• strongly encourage people to recall memories that were never present to begin with

• make decisions based on schema

source monitoring confusion

• lack or clarity about origin of memory

• source monitoring: identify origin of memory by seeking encoding cues → confusion of reality and fantasy

suggestibility and child testimony

• children especially vulnerable → cling to false memories even when told untrue

• affected by schemas

Engram(Donald Hebb’s theories)

• “Neurons that fire together wire together”

• engram located in neuronal assemblies(organized groups) → physical trace of memory in the brain

• when presynaptic neuron repeatedly and persistently helps to activate a postsynaptic neuron = synapse from a to B becomes stronger

long term potentiation(LTP) → physiological basis of memory

• correlate of memory; not the basis of memory

• gradual strengthening of connections among neurons by repetitive stimulation over time

• first discovered in hippocampus

synaptic mechanism of LTP

• tends to occur at glutamatergic synapses

• glutamate interacts with AMPA and NMDA receptors

• LTP increases glutamate release