Review of Serial Position Effect and Memory Concepts

This set of flashcards focuses on key concepts from the lecture related to memory, including the serial position effect, types of interference, and short term memory capacity.

What does the serial position effect refer to?

It refers to the tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of a list better than those in the middle.

What is proactive interference?

Proactive interference is when old information interferes with the recall of new information.

What is retroactive interference?

Retroactive interference is when new information interferes with the recall of old information.

According to Atkinson and Shiffrin, why are items at the beginning of a list recalled better?

Items at the beginning of the list are more likely to be rehearsed and moved into long term memory.

What is the Von Restorff effect?

The Von Restorff effect describes the phenomenon where an item that stands out (is distinctive) is more likely to be remembered.

What does George Miller's 'magic number' refer to?

It refers to the capacity of short term memory, which is approximately seven items, plus or minus two.

How does the capacity of short term memory change based on type of information?

The capacity can vary and may be smaller than seven, depending on how complex the items are.

What type of memory task did Luck and Vogel conduct?

They conducted tasks to measure the capacity of short term memory using colored boxes and other visual stimuli.

What happens to recall performance when the nature of information changes, as in proactive interference?

Recall performance declines because the new information begins to interfere with the ability to remember the old information.

What is rehearsal in the context of memory?

Rehearsal is the process of repeating information to hold it in short-term memory or to encode it into long-term memory.