Dawson, Daymee Unit 7 Outline P1

Module 31: Studying and Building Memories

1. Studying Memory

   1. Memory - the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

   2. Memory Models

      1. Encoding - the processing of information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning.

      2. Storage - the process of retaining encoded information over time.

      3. Retrieval - the process of getting information out of memory storage.

      4. Parallel processing - the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

      5. Sensory memory - the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

      6. Short-term memory - activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.

      7. Long-term memory - the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

      8. Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) Memory Model

         1. We first record to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory.

         2. From there, we process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal.

         3. Finally, information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval.

      9. Working Memory

         1. Alan Baddeley and others challenged Atkinson and Shiffrin’s view of short-term memory as a small, brief storage space for recent thoughts and experiences.

         2. This is called the working memory

            1. Working memory - a newer understanding of short term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

2. Building Memories: Encoding

   1. Dual-Track Memory: Effortful vs Automatic Processing

      1. Explicit memory - memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”

         1. AKA declarative memory

      2. Effortful processing - encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

      3. Automatic processing - unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.

      4. Implicit memory- retention independent of conscious recollection

         1. AKA nondeclarative memory

   2. Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories

      1. Implicit memories include procedural memory for automatic skills and classically conditioned associations among stimuli.

   3. Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories

      1. Automatic Processing is created by effortful processing gradually becoming more automatic.

      2. Iconic memory - a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

      3. Echoic memory - a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

      4. Capacity of Short-Term and Working Memory

         1. Working-memory capacity varies, depending on age and other factors.

      5. Effortful Processing Strategies

         1. Chunking - organizing items into familiar manageable units; often occurs automatically

         2. Mnemonics - memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

         3. Hierarchies - a collection of objects, events, or other items with common properties arranged in a multilevel structure

      6. Distributed Practice

         1. Spacing effect - the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

         2. Testing effect - enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.

      7. Levels of Processing

         1. Shallow processing - encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

         2. Deep processing - encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words, tends to yield the best retention.

      8. Making Material Personally Meaningful

         1. We more easily remember material that is personally meaningful - the self-reference effect.

Module 32: Memory Storage and Retrieval

1. Memory

   1. Retaining Information in the Brain

      1. Despite the brain’s vast storage capacity, we do not store information as libraries store their books, in discrete, precise locations. Instead, many parts of the brain interact as we encode, store, and retrieve the information that forms our memories.

      2. Explicit-Memory System: The Frontal Lobes and Hippocampus

         1. Hippocampus - A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.

            1. Memories are not permenantly stored in the hippocampus; the hippocampus acts as a loading dock where the brain registers and temporarily holds the elements of a remembered episode - its smell, feel, sound, and location. Then, like older files shifted to a basement storeroom, memories migrate for storage elsewhere.

      3. Implicit-Memory System: The Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia

         1. The cerebellum plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning.

         2. The basal ganglia, deep brain structures involved in motor movement, facilitate formation of our procedural memories for skills. The basal ganglia receive input from the cortex but do not return the favor of sending information back to the cortex for conscious awareness of procedural learning.

   2. The Amygdala, Emotions and Memories

      1. Our emotions trigger stress hormones that influence memory formation. These hormones provoke the amygdala (two limbic system, emotion-processing clusters) to initiate a memory trace in the frontal lobes and basal ganglia and to boost activity in the brain’s memory-forming areas.

      2. Flashbulb memory - a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

      3. Long-term potentiation (LTP) - an increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

2. Retrieval: Getting Information Out

   1. Measuring Retention

      1. Recall - a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

      2. Recognition - a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

      3. Relearning - a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

   2. Retrieval Cues

      1. Priming

         1. Priming - the activation, often unconsciously; of particular associations in memory.

         2. Priming is often “memoryless memory” - an invisible memory, without your conscious awareness.

      2. Context-Dependent Memory

         1. Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something can prime your memory retrieval.

      3. State-Dependent Memory

         1. Closely related to context-dependent; what we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state.

         2. Mood congruent memory - the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

      4. Serial Position Effect

         1. Serial position effect - our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list.

Module 33: Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Memory Improvement

1. Forgetting

   1. Forgetting and the Two-Track Mind

      1. Anterograde amnesia - an inability to form new memories

      2. Retrograde amnesia - an inability to retrieve information about one’s past.

   2. Encoding Failure

      1. Much of what we sense we never notice, and what we fail to encode, we will never remember.

   3. Storage Decay

      1. Even after encoding something well, we sometimes later forget it.

      2. One explanation for these forgetting curves is a gradual fading of the physical memory trace.

   4. Retrieval Failure

      1. Often, forgetting is not memories faded, but memories retrieved.

      2. Interference

         1. Proactive interference - the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

         2. Retroactive interference - the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

   5. Motivated Forgetting

      1. Repression - In psychoanalytical theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

2. Memory Construction Errors

   1. Misinformation and Imagination Effects

      1. Misinformation effect - incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.

3. Source Amnesia

   1. Source Amnesia - attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. (Also called source misattribution). Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.

   2. Deja vu - that eerie sense that I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger of an earlier experience.

4. Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse

   1. Sexual abuse happens

   2. Injustice happens

   3. Forgetting happens

   4. Recovered memories are commonplace

   5. Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable

   6. Memories “recovered” under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable

   7. Memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting

5. Improving Memory

   1. Rehearse repeatedly

   2. Makes the material meaningful

   3. Activate retrieval cues

   4. Activate retrieval cues

   5. Use mnemonic devices

   6. Minimize interference

   7. Sleep more

   8. Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse it and to find out what you don’t yet know.

Module 34: Thinking, Concepts, and Creativity

1. Thinking and Concepts

   1. Cognition - all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

   2. Concept - a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

   3. Prototype - a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin.)

2. Creativity

   1. Creativity - the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

   2. Convergent thinking - narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

   3. Divergent thinking - expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions).

   4. Sternberg and Lubart’s Five Components of Creativity

      1. Expertise

      2. Imaginative Thinking Skills

      3. A “venturesome” personality

      4. Intrinsic motivation

      5. A creative environment

Module 35: Solving Problems and Making Decisions

1. Problem Solving: Strategies and Obstacles

   1. Algorithms - a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier - but also more error-prone - use of heuristics.

   2. Heuristics - A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.

   3. Insight - a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

   4. Confirmation bias - a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

   5. Mental set - a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

2. Forming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgement

   1. Intuition - an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

   2. The Representativeness Heuristic

      1. Representativeness Heuristic - judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

   3. The Availability Heuristic

      1. Availability Heuristic - estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

   4. Overconfidence

      1. Overconfidence - the tendency to be more confident than correct - to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements.

   5. Belief Perseverance

      1. Belief perseverance - clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

   6. The Effects of Framing

      1. Framing - the way and issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements.

   7. The Perils and Powers of Intuition

      1. Intuition is huge.

      2. Intuition is usually adaptive.

      3. Intuition is recognition born of experience.

Module 36: Thinking and Language

1. Language - our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

2. Language Structure

   1. Phoneme - in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

   2. Morpheme - in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).

   3. Grammar - in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with an understand others. In a given language, semantics is a set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

3. Language Development

   1. When Do We Learn Language?

      1. Receptive Language

         1. Children’s language development moves from simplicity to complexity.

      2. Productive Language

         1. Babbling stage - beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

         2. One-word stage - the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

         3. Two-word stage - beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements.

         4. Telegraphic speech - early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram - “go car” - using mostly nouns and verbs.

   2. Explaining Language Development

      1. Noam Chomsky states that humans are born with a predisposition to learn grammar rules and that all languages share some basic elements (universal grammar).

4. The Brain and Language

   1. Aphasia - impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damaged either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).

   2. Broca’s area - controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

   3. Wernicke’s area - controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.

5. Language and Thought

   1. Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956) contended that language determines the way we think.

      1. Linguistic determinism - Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.