PSYCH240 EXAM 2

Raven’s Progressive Matrices

The first idea that thinking involves working memory, as RPM is a working memory task. A non-verbal test typically used to measure general human intelligence which gives an estimate of fluid intelligence. Individuals must analyze abstract patterns, relying on working memory for pattern recognition.

Individual Differences

Variations in cognitive abilities among individuals.

Interference (Proactive V Retroactive)

When irrelevant information disrupts cognitive tasks. Reading comprehension can be significantly affected by interference as irrelevant details or thoughts may interfere with the understanding and retention of the main ideas in a text. Think Brooks.
Proactive: When past learning disrupts the ability to learn and remember new material.
Retroactive: Newly learned information disrupts the retention or recall of previously learned information.

Random Number Generation

Individuals are asked to produce a series of random numbers (interference might manifest as the intrusion of non-random patterns or sequences into the generated numbers.) GOES WITH SYLLOGISMS, AND INTERFERENCE.

Syllogistic Reasoning

Recognizing correct/incorrect answers based on logic. All comprise a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. Can be influenced by interference when irrelevant information introduces confusion or biases. ("All mammals are animals. All elephants are mammals. Therefore, all elephants are animals.”)

Evidence that Working Memory ≠ Long Term Memory

Evident in conditions such as anterograde amnesia, where individuals experience difficulties forming new long-term memories but may retain intact working memory capacities. In contrast, working memory disorders may exhibit impairment in the active manipulation and temporary storage of information while maintaining relatively intact long-term memory functions. The serial position curve (“U” shaped learning curve, the recall of words from the beginning and end of the list is more accurate than words from the middle of the list) reveals the primacy effect at the beginning (indicating reliance on long-term memory) and the recency effect at the end (indicating reliance on working memory).

Double Dissociation Logic

(Brain Damage Affects One, Not Other) An effect you see in research when you have two opposite effects. (Think H.M. and K.F., who had opposite memory problems.) A method used to understand the specific functions of different brain areas. By studying cases where damage to a particular region leads to the impairment of one cognitive function while sparing another, researchers can draw conclusions about the specialized roles of brain regions. Lesions, or physical damage to specific brain areas, can provide insights into the functions of those areas by observing changes in cognitive abilities.
Behavioral dissociations involve observing differences in behavior that result from damage to specific brain regions, providing further evidence for the unique roles of those regions.
Neuroimaging studies allow researchers to observe brain activity in real-time and identify areas associated with specific cognitive functions.

Baddeley’s 3-Part Model (Tripartite Theory of WM)

Detailed explanation of how working memory works. (A ←→ B ←→ C)
A: The phonological loop (when you repeat words over and over as a memory retention technique, vocal or sub-vocal rehearsal.)
B: The central executive (the control center, keeps everything organized; tells the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad what to do, and it also handles paying attention and making decisions.)
C: The visuospatial sketchpad (imagery and spatial skills, all about dealing with things you see and where they are, helping with mental pictures or finding your way around.)

Acoustic Similarity (NOT CONFUSABILITY)

You do better at retaining words that are distinguishable compared to ones that sound similar.

Articulatory Suppression (during phonological loop)

Method shown in experiment involving putting individuals in a secondary task that requires continuous vocalization or verbalization. This continuous vocalization disrupts the silent rehearsal process that typically occurs within the phonological loop during memory tasks. By preventing inner speech, researchers can assess the role of rehearsal in working memory tasks and gain insights into the functioning of the phonological loop.

Phonological Storage Capacity - chunks

The amount of auditory information that can be held and manipulated within the phonological loop. This capacity is often measured in chunks, which represent meaningful units of information.

Time Effects in context of the phonological loop (think in terms of remembering)

How factors like word length and the speed of speech influence the efficiency of information processing and retention, the time it takes to articulate words impacts memory performance.

Phonological Loop Neuroimaging Evidence

When individuals engage in the phonological loop, heightened activity is observed in the left hemisphere (specifically, the Broca's area.) Notably, the right frontal lobe does not exhibit significant activation during this rehearsal process, indicating a lateralized pattern of brain activity.

Visuospatial Sketchpad WW

Responsible for processing visual (what) and spatial (where) information.

Behavioral Double Dissociation (Brooks Letter Scanning)

Observing how different response modalities (pointing V vocal responses) interact with distinct aspects of visuospatial processing. This method helps researchers isolate specific functions within the visuospatial sketchpad.

Patterns of Interference

Reveals instances where irrelevant visual information interferes with the successful operation of the visuospatial sketchpad. (Trying to assemble furniture with a TV show playing in the background can hinder your ability to visualize the assembly steps or spatial orientation of the pieces, potentially resulting in errors or slower progress.)

Neuroimaging Evidence for Visuospatial Sketchpad

Neuroimaging studies, particularly positron emission tomography (PET), demonstrate that when individuals engage in visuospatial working memory tasks, the right frontal lobe exhibits activity and not the left. PET studies also show a double dissociation between the activation patterns of the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad, reinforcing the idea that these components function independently.

Central Executive

Responsible for supervising attention and planning coordination.

Frontal Lobe Syndrome

A dysfunction in the frontal lobes; makes it hard to concentrate, hard to plan/organize, and causes inappropriate behavior. Utilization behavior involves an automatic and inappropriate response to environmental stimuli.

Preservation

The repetitive continuation of a response beyond what is appropriate/necessary.

Distributed Representation of Information

Information is not localized to specific brain regions but rather distributed across neural networks.

Sensory Recruitment (&Infinite Buffers)

Working memory works with lots of other senses, shows the ideas of infinite buffers (all areas of the brain are used.) Sensory areas of the brain, traditionally associated with perception, play an active role in cognitive processes such as working memory. This suggests that sensory regions contribute to the maintenance of information beyond their primary role of sensory perception.

Infinite Buffers?

The potential for an extensive or even unlimited ability to store and manipulate information. Prompts revaluation of traditional strict working memory models.

DD Between LTM and ST/WM

When impairments in one type of memory system do not necessarily affect the other (eg: people with anterograde amnesia may show deficits in forming new LT memories while maintaining intact ST/WM capacities.)

Recency Effect

You are likely to better recall items presented at the end of a list. Observed through the serial position curve.

Acoustic Coding

Coding information based on its auditory characteristics. Prominent in the phonological loop.

Modal Model

A 3 stage model which describes the structure of memory:
Sensory memory (briefly holds incoming sensory info) → short-term memory (temporary storage and manipulation) → long-term memory (info stored semi-permanently.)
Problems:
1, levels of processing (items processed more elaborately, not necessarily longer, are more likely to be learned.)
2, K.F.! His LTM was fine, even though his STM (working memory) was not.

Levels of Processing

Deep processing results in better memory outcomes, shallow processing results in lesser memory outcomes.

Working Memory Span Capacity + reading span task

The maximum amount of information an individual can hold and process in their working memory. The reading span task requires individuals to read sentences and remember the final words while simultaneously performing a secondary task.

The Phonological Similarity Effect (Acoustic Confusability)

It can be hard to distinguish two words that sound similar.

Explicit V Implicit Knowledge

Conscious recollection/recall/recognition (facts) V unconscious procedural knowledge (skills)

Recall V Recognition

Remembering without cues V remembering with cues

Conscious Recollection V Unconscious Change

Intentional remembering V unintentional alteration in behavior (think explicit V implicit experiment with amnesia patients)

Psychogenic Amnesia

Amnesia due to psychological trauma. So rare that many argue if it exists. (Think Jason Bourne.)

Organic Amnesia

Amnesia due to physical trauma.

Anterograde V Retrograde Amnesia

Cannot learn new explicit info or make new memories V cannot retrieve explicit info/memories (memory for old info is often intact, recent info is much more vulnerable)

Patient H.M.

Had hippocampal issues after brain surgery; trouble forming new memories (anterograde amnesia), fuzzier recent memories (temporally graded retrograde amnesia), demonstrated through tasks like mirror reading and Tower of Hanoi. Didn’t remember doing the tasks previously, yet his time got faster. Could talk about his childhood, had less and less memories the farther he got into his teenage years (temporally graded retrograde amnesia). Patient K.F. had the opposite problem, shows double dissociation.

Priming

When exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus. (Being in a kitchen makes it easier to come up with words related to cooking, watching a scary movie might prime you to interpret ambiguous stimuli as threatening, after discussing environmental issues, you're faster to recognize words like "recycling" or "conservation.")

Word Fragment Completion Task (EvI)

Participants are presented with incomplete words or words missing certain letters. Their task is to fill in the missing letters to form complete words. Explicit tasks involve intentional word completion, while implicit tasks involve completing stems without awareness. (Connect back amnesia example, implicit V explicit and double dissociation.)

Behavioral Double Dissociation (modality and depth)

Showing two tasks have independent neural mechanisms.
(Modality of Presentation): Different ways of showing information (like seeing or hearing) doesn’t matter for explicit and implicit memory; but visual priming is a lot stronger than verbal priming.
(Depth of Processing): Remembering things deeply helps explicit memory, while just recognizing surface-level features might be enough for implicit memory. This suggests separate brain systems for each.

Taxonomy (types) of LTM (know subtypes and brain regions for both!)

Explicit Memory (Declarative Memory): Conscious recollection of factual information, experiences, and concepts.

Subtypes: Episodic Memory (recall of specific life events with contextual details) and Semantic Memory (Knowledge about the world independent of personal experience.)

Brain Regions: Hippocampus, medial temporal lobe, and prefrontal cortex.

Implicit Memory (Non-Declarative Memory): Influence of experience on behavior without awareness of the experiences.

Subtypes: Procedural Memory (Memory for performing actions), Priming (Subconscious memory effect on response to stimuli) and Classical Conditioning (Conditioned responses to stimuli.)

Brain Regions: Basal ganglia, cerebellum, amygdala.

Episodic V Semantic Memory (what are each dependent on)

Memory of personal experiences (specific time and place from your POV) V general knowledge, memory of facts (not tied to specific time or place). Both are explicit.

Categorization (Pigeonsss)

The process of organizing information into groups based on shared characteristics. Pigeons can sort things into groups. In an experiment, they could tell food from non-food even if the shapes were similar.

Classical View of Categorization

Assumes categories have defining properties that are necessary and sufficient. The problem arises when defining properties don't apply universally, like in the case of defining what constitutes a "game."

Modern Probabilistic View of Categorization

The idea that category membership is not deterministic, but rather is based on the probability that an object belongs to a category given its features. It acknowledges that some members may not possess all defining features.

Typicality Evidence (R+SV+H)

How people categorize items.
Ratings: People give scores to things based on how normal they are in a category.

Sentence Verification: People check if sentences about category membership make sense, responding more quickly for typical members.

Hedges: Words like "typically" or "sort of" express how certain or typical something is in a category.

Exemplars V Prototype

Compare to specific examples V compare to the average idea of a category

Geometric Approach to Showing Similarity

Start with subjective ratings (1-6 of how similar something is to another thing), and these ratings make up a map showing a 2D space of how similar things are. Distance represents similarity. The closer two things are, the more similar they are.

3 Metric Axions

Minimality: The dissimilarity between a concept and itself must be the smallest possible. More known objects are rated more similarly to itself that lesser known objects as things you know well have more features to compare.
Symmetry: The similarity between objects must be the same regardless of order.
Triangle Inequality: If A is similar to B, and B is similar to C, then A and C have to be somewhat similar. However, two things can be similar to a third for two separate reasons but have little in common themselves.

Feature-Based Measure

Categorization based on the features or characteristics of items. Each item is represented by a set of features, and the similarity between items is determined by comparing these features. Does not require metric axioms.

Tversky's Model (I+J=)

A model on how similar things are. Looked at:
1. Features they share (apples and oranges are both fruits and round)
2. Features unique to each other (apples are red and oranges are orange.)
3. Weights (like priorities. Some features have more weight (priority) than others. Eg, apples being a fruit is a more important feature than them being Apple’s logo)
(I = item 1 unique characteristics, J = item 2 unique characteristics)

Encoding by Category

Instead of remembering each event separately, we group them into categories. For instance, instead of recalling every individual dog you've seen, your brain might have a category for "dogs," making it easier to manage and remember.

Categories Allow Inferences

Organizing experiences into categories enables us to make better inferences. If you encounter a new dog, your brain might use the "dog" category to predict certain behaviors or characteristics, even if you've never seen that specific dog before. Categories act as mental shortcuts for making sense of the world.

Greater Similarity Among Items Within Category Than Between Categories

When comparing items, you're likely to see greater similarity among things within the same category than between categories. Categories create a mental framework that emphasizes shared features. (You might find more similarities among different breeds of dogs than between a dog and a cat.)

(Original) Teachable Learning Comprehender (TLC)

A (strictly hierarchal)semantic network that arranges conceptions like a family tree. Each node (concept) has “is a”s that connect them to higher or lower level nodes. Cognitive economy is when lower level nodes don’t have to repeat all of the higher level nodes that would still apply; saves space in your mind.

Evidence for Hierarchies (TLC)

1.) Semantic dementia patients lose lower level categories (canary) before higher level categories (bird.)
2.) Kids learn higher level (bird) before lower level

Evidence Against Hierarchies (TLC)

1.) Typicality Effects: The more typical an answer, the quicker one will respond despite how many links.
2.) Reverse Distance Effect: According to TLC, people should always be faster (in SVT) at saying whatever the closest node is , eg: dog — mammal — animal, but this isn’t true. People usually say a dog is an animal faster than they would mammal, as animal is more typical of a word.
3.) Base Level Categories (privileged categories): People will name an object by it’s base level description. For example, when shown a picture of a German Shepard, most people think “dog.” It’s easier to define something by it’s basic level (basic ≠ highest level, just what term people use the most.) TLC (and revised TLC) does not mention BLC at all.

Sentence Verification Task (TF) & Distance Effect

A true or false question task with simple questions, such as “a canary is a bird” (one link) or “a canary is an animal (two links). The point of a SVT is to prove distance effects, which says that the more links, the longer it should take for one to answer the T/F question.

Revised TLC Model

Changed the family-tree structure to a web like structure, aka no longer hierarchal. The “is a” links can now have new labels to be more fluid. Links still have distance, but distance represents “strength” (the closer the distance of two nodes, the stronger activation. Activation spreads to adjacent webs (you hear “fish,” you may think of salmon.")

PET DD (word stem task)

In a working memory task,
Explicit: complete the word stem with a previously-seen word. Increases in hippocampus, frontal lobe.
Implicit: Complete the word stem with the first word that comes to mind. Decreases in visual areas.

Behavioral Study (hearing V reading)

Single dissociation.
Presentation modality:
Explicit: “Do you recognize this word? (no difference between visual and auditory processing.)
Implicit: “Read the word as fast as you can.” (faster with words that were visually presented - priming!)
Levels of processing:
Explicit: recall the words from the list, deeper processing improves recall.
Implicit: Word stem completions, deeper processing doesn’t affect priming.

Verbatim V Gist

Remembering word-for-word V remembering a basic premise; overview. You rarely remember things verbatim (proven in “memory for sentences” demo/experiment, Galileo experiment.)

Memory for Sentences Demo

Experiment where people are read multiple sentences, and then they have to choose which sentences were really read.
a.) If you hear the real sentence, you’re more likely to recognize sentences with less ideas (less complex.)
b.) Same results for fake sentences.
c.) You don’t remember specific details but instead the overall gist.

Semantic V Syntactic Info

Meaning; definition V grammar; word order.

Galileo Experiment *recall* (Sach)

Sachs' study investigated how people recall sentences from meaningful paragraphs, focusing on whether they remember exact wording (syntax) or general meaning (semantics). Participants heard stories and later identified sentences from the stories. Results: strong recognition of same or syntactically changed sentences initially; over time, memory shifted towards general meaning. Sentences with semantic changes seen as different; altered word order affected comprehension and recognition.

Central (vital) Information

What’s most important is remembered best; an implicit process. Children can’t always tell what is the most important idea when asked, but later when asked to recall they will mention the important parts.

Prior Information Facilitating Comprehension

Having prior info (illustration or basic summary/premise) to organize your thoughts before reading something really helps memory. Getting that information after reading it has similar results to getting no info at all. (Shown in laundry and balloon demo.)

Prior Knowledge Hindering Comprehension

Shown in The War of the Ghosts example, your prior knowledge can sometimes hinder your memory. For example, when the British students read canoe (which they do not have in Britain apparently,) they implicitly change the term to rowboat.

You Have a Constructive Memory

You don’t remember verbatim, you reconstruct what you remembered with the help of prior information.

Schema

Generalized conceptual knowledge used in understanding. How we meaningfully organize concepts which tells us what to expect.
Think of it as a brain folder labeled with categories; when you encounter something that fits, you file it away. Later, your brain retrieves the folder to guide your expectations and behavior.

Event Schema (Script)

A sequence of actions related to a specific event. It provides a guide for behavior by outlining the typical sequence of steps or events in a familiar situation.
Evidence: People agree on scripts (order of how common events go, eg: going to dinner.) You recall things in script order. You sometimes recall script items that were not in a story scene schema.

Scene Schema

Our understanding of typical physical settings or environments. They contain information about the objects typically found in those settings and the spatial relations among those objects.
Evidence: Studies of visual perception and memory show that participants demonstrate quick recognition of familiar settings and detect objects that do not fit the typical scene.

Story (Narrative) Schema

The structure and elements of a typical story. It includes components such as setting, characters, plot, conflict, resolution, and moral. Story schemas help us understand, predict, and remember narrative content.

Transience

The decreasing accessibility of memory over time. This memory decline can happen rapidly (as with short-term memory) or gradually (as with long-term memory.) Transience illustrates that our memories can become less detailed and more difficult to retrieve as time passes.

Absent-mindedness (& change blindness)

Lapses of attention that result in forgetting. It often occurs because the information was not properly encoded into memory due to shallow or superficial processing. Basically, if you’re not paying attention to stimulus it is gonna be pretty hard to encode it. This term also relates to change blindness, where individuals fail to notice changes in their environment due to a lack of attention.

Blocking

The inability to retrieve information that is stored in memory, leading to the frustrating "tip-of-the-tongue" state, where you know that you know something but cannot immediately recall it. Is often a result of interference at retrieval and can become more pronounced with age. The act of retrieving similar items can inhibit the recall of the blocked item.

Misattribution

Assigning a memory to the wrong source, leading to incorrect details or context in memory recall. Source confusion occurs when the details of an event are remembered, but the source is forgotten or confused with another.

Cryptomnesia

When a person thinks they've come up with a new idea when in reality they're recalling a previously experienced one without attributing it to the correct source.

False Fame Effect

A type of misattribution bias where people incorrectly identify someone as famous simply because they are familiar from a previous encounter.

The Roediger & McDermott

Demonstrated that it's possible to induce false memories through suggestive techniques. The frontal lobes are important for monitoring such solicitation processes, and damage to this area can lead to an increase in attribution errors and false recognition.

Suggestibility (Loftus)

The vulnerability of memory to the power of suggestion, where memories can be influenced or created based on misleading information. The pioneering work of Elizabeth Loftus demonstrates that memories can be influenced by external factors, such as the wording of questions or the introduction of false information.

Bias (& consistency bias)

The skewing of memories by current knowledge and beliefs. The consistency bias, for example, is the tendency to retrospectively fit one's current attitudes and beliefs into past behaviors and decisions, making one's history appear more internally consistent than it might actually be.

Persistence

The repeated recall of a memory, often a disturbing one, when such recall is not desired. This can lead to issues like PTSD, where traumatic events cannot be forgotten and continue to intrude upon a person's thoughts. Directed forgetting is an attempt to willfully suppress such memories, but persistence can make this challenging.

The 7 Sins of Missattribution (STAMPBB)

1. Suggestibility

2. Transcience

3. Absent Mindedness

4. Misattribution (false-memory)

5. Persistence

6. Bias

7. Blocking

Using Prior Knowledge to Make Inferences

Conclusions drawn about information that is not explicitly stated. These inferences help us understand new information by filling in gaps based on what we already know.

Logical Inferences

Inferences that must be true. Used in spatial relations (eg, if we're told that "the cat is under the table," we can infer that the cat is not on the table, although it's not explicitly stated.)

Pragmatic Inferences

Occur during comprehension when we read between the lines or assume things that make sense in a given context. A common example might be assuming that "fixing the birdhouse" means using tools, even if the use of tools wasn't explicitly mentioned.

Pragmatic Inferences in Advertising

Assertion: Direct claims in ads that require evidence. Regulated by advertising standards.
Implication: Suggestions not directly stated but likely inferred by consumers, shaping perceptions without explicit claims.
Hedges: Softening linguistic terms in ads to make claims less certain. Create impressions without firm commitments. ("Helps," "can," "up to," "virtually," "may," "as much as.")
(Empty) Comparisons: Claims of product superiority without specifying what it's compared to. Misleading without a clear benchmark for evaluation. (“700x quieter!” Quieter than what?”)

When Inferences are Made (E-S-R)

Encoding: context effects what is encoded; think of the laundry and balloon demo
Storage: memory changes during storage to fit your schema better; the longer you wait the more you forget, think War of Ghost demo
Retrieval: think Hellen Keller demo; when asked about a reading you may infer ideas about the subject, that were not there, based on your prior knowledge of the topic.

Misinformation Effect and Experiment (Loftus)

The phenomenon where a person's recall of an event becomes less accurate due to the introduction of misleading information. In one experiment, participants were shown a video of a car crash, and then were asked questions about it. Participants were more likely to report seeing broken glass if an accident was described as a "smash" rather than a "hit." Similarly, using different terms like "yield sign" or "stop sign" influenced their memories of the traffic signs in an event.

Overwriting Hypothesis (&hammer theory)

Suggests that new, misleading information that a person is exposed to after an event may modify their original memory.
Hammer Experiment (falsifies this OH): (Original Event:) Participants view images or a video of someone using a hammer. (Misleading Information:) Later, participants receive narratives with false details, like stating the person held a wrench. (Memory Test:) Participants recall the original event afterward. For the most part, they still recalled a hammer. Still, some were incorrect which illustrates memory’s malleability.

Interviewing Techniques (how to get most accurate info)

1. Reinstate conditions had at encoding (memories are tied to the context in which they were acquired)

2. Let them tell their story without interruption (prevents you from adding any misinfo to their story)

3. Ask questions in reverse chronological order (primacy and recency; prevents memory contamination)

4. Sequential questioning (multiple interviews instead of one long interview)

5. Hypnosis (not helpful, leads to misinfo by cuasing the interviewee to be anxious and spew out answers)

Proactive V Retroactive Interference

P: Old info interferes with the encoding of new info.

R: New info interferes with the retrieval of old info.

Problems Illustrated by the Brewster Case (misidentification)

Witnesses may not recall events accurately, yet their testimony can heavily influence jury decisions. Factors like the stress during the event, the presence of a weapon (weapon focus effect), suggestive questioning by authorities, or the passing of time can all lead to distorted memories. Misidentification can result in innocent people being convicted while the true perpetrator remains free.

Planting False Childhood Memories (Lost-in-the-Mall Study)

Demonstrated that it is possible to implant entirely false memories by suggesting events that never happened. Participants were given descriptions of childhood events, one of which was false (the lost-in-the-mall scenario). Many participants developed full, detailed memories of the false event, which they believed to have truly occurred. This study showed that memories can be highly suggestible, raising concerns about the reliability of memories recovered through therapy or interrogation.

Effects of Imagining Fictitious Events - Imagination Inflation

Can make the fake events feel more familiar, and over time, some people might even begin to remember these imagined events as if they actually happened. This is due to a psychological phenomenon known as “imagination inflation.” When a person vividly imagines a fictitious event, it can create a memory trace similar to a trace created by experiencing a real event, leading to the potential for confusion between real and imagined memories.

General Impairment vs. Suspect-Bias Variables in Eyewitness Identification

In eyewitness identification,
GI factors, like bad visibility or stress, lower memory accuracy overall.

SB factors explains why the witness chose a particular subject, like suggestive police lineups or feedback, push witnesses to choose a suspect, even if they're not the real culprit.

Problem of Relative Judgments in Lineups

Witnesses compare lineup members to each other instead of to their memory of the suspect. This can lead to a high risk of misidentification, as the witness may pick the person who looks most like the perpetrator relative to others in the lineup, even if the actual perpetrator is not present.

Sequential Presentation (suspect lineup works)

Researchers have proposed using sequential lineups, where suspects are viewed one at a time instead of all at once (simultaneously). This encourages absolute judgments, where witnesses compare each lineup member to their memory of the suspect without making comparisons between lineup members. Sequential presentation can reduce misidentifications because the witness isn't picking the "best match" from a group but rather has to make an individual judgment about each person without the influence of seeing all prospective choices at once.