Cognition+Exam+2

Topics to Study

Memory (Galotti Ch. 5 & 6 or Goldstein Ch. 5-8)

• Definition of Memory: Memory is the cognitive process that enables the storage, retention, and retrieval of information over time.

• Ebbinghaus’ Research: The Forgetting Curve illustrates the decline of memory retention over time, demonstrating that without reinforcement or practice, learned information will be forgotten at an exponential rate.

• Meaningfulness & Distinctiveness: Meaningfulness refers to how well information connects to existing knowledge, enhancing retention. Distinctiveness indicates how unique the information is, making it easier to remember.

• Spacing Effect: This phenomenon suggests that spaced learning (distributing study sessions) leads to better long-term retention than massed practice (cramming).

Basic Model of Memory

• Types of Memory and their Characteristics: Memory can be categorized into different types based on duration and characteristics:

  • Sensory Memory: Briefly holds sensory information in a raw format; lasts for only a fraction of a second.

  • Iconic Memory: A type of sensory memory for visual stimuli; studied through Sperling's Research, which showed that people can remember more visual information than they can consciously report when prompted quickly.

  • Echoic Memory: A type of sensory memory for auditory stimuli; lasts slightly longer than iconic memory and allows for the recall of sounds even when they are no longer present.

• Short Term/Working Memory:

  • Capacity: Typically limited to 7 ± 2 items, as stated in Miller's Law.

  • Chunking: A technique to enhance memory capacity by grouping information into larger units (e.g., remembering a phone number in segments).

  • Baddeley’s Working Memory Model: Proposes that working memory consists of a Central Executive that manages different memory functions, and components like the Phonological Loop (for verbal information), Visuospatial Sketchpad (for visual data), and Episodic Buffer (integrates information across modalities and time).

Long Term Memory (LTM)

• Types:

  • Explicit Memory: (conscious) Includes memories that can be intentionally recalled.

    • Episodic Memory: Personal experiences and specific events.

      • Flashbulb Memories: Vivid, detailed memories of significant or shocking events (e.g., recalling where one was during a major historical event).

    • Semantic Memory: General knowledge about facts, concepts, and information not tied to personal experience.

  • Implicit Memory: (unconscious) Contains memories that are not consciously recalled but influence behavior.

    • Priming: Exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus.

    • Procedural Memory: Memory for skills and actions, such as riding a bike or playing an instrument, developed through practice.

Memory Retrieval Techniques

• Different Ways to Test Memory:

  • Recall: The ability to retrieve information without cues (free recall) or with prompts (cued recall).

  • Recognition: Identifying previously learned information from options presented.

• Effects on Memory:

  • Serial Position Effect: Suggests that items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list are remembered better than those in the middle.

  • Levels of Processing: According to Craik & Lockhart, deeper semantic processing leads to better retention compared to shallow processing (e.g., focusing on superficial aspects like font).

  • Self-reference Effect: From Rogers et al., it states that information related to oneself is better remembered, as it is more meaningful.

  • Context Dependence: Refers to Godden & Baddeley’s finding that memory retrieval is enhanced when the context during recall matches the context at the time of encoding.

Control Processes

• Movement of information between memory types is managed by control processes such as attention and rehearsal, crucial for transferring information from short-term to long-term memory.

Information-Processing Model

• Memory Analogy: In the information-processing model, memory functions can be compared to computer operations: sensory memory serves as a buffer, short-term memory operates like RAM (fast access but limited), and long-term memory functions like a hard drive (large capacity and persistent storage).

Memory Loss and Relation to Brain Function

• Case of HM: Research on patient HM provided insights into how different types of memory systems operate and what happens when parts of the brain responsible for memory formation are damaged.

• Amnesia Types:

  • Retrograde Amnesia: An inability to retrieve memories formed prior to trauma or injury.

  • Anterograde Amnesia: The inability to form new memories after the event that caused the amnesia.

Normal Errors in Memory

• Forgetting Mechanisms:

  • Transience: The gradual loss of memory over time, especially if not revisited or practiced.

  • Absent-mindedness: Forgetfulness that results from lapses in attention during encoding or retrieval.

  • Interference: The disruption of memory retrieval due to the presence of other information; can be proactive (old information interferes with new) or retroactive (new information interferes with old).

Memory Distortion (False Memories)

• Types of Distortion:

  • Bias: Memory recall can be influenced by beliefs and expectations.

  • Misattribution: Misremembering the source of a memory.

  • Suggestibility: Memories can be altered by misinformation or leading questions.

• Creating False Memories:

  • Distortion Paradigms: Studies like DRM demonstrate how memory gaps can lead to false recollections; examples include people believing they were lost in a mall or other fabricated events such as the asparagus study.

Knowledge Representation (Galotti Ch. 7 or Goldstein Ch. 9)

• Concepts:

  • Definition: Concepts are mental representations of categories of objects, events, or ideas that help us organize and interpret information.

  • Prototype Approach: Proposes that people categorize based on idealized representations or prototypes of a given category (e.g., thinking of a robin as a prototypical bird).

    • Verification Techniques: Examining how quickly and accurately people can identify if an example fits in a category.

    • Rosch’s 1975 Priming Experiment: Confirmed the use of prototypes by measuring response times to verify category membership.

  • Exemplar Approach: Suggests categorization involves comparing new instances to stored examples from memory.

    • Family Resemblance Effect: Refers to the idea that members of a category share characteristic features but do not have to be identical.

  • Category Hierarchy according to Rosch: Categories can be organized at varied levels of specificity - global (broad categories like 'furniture'), basic (more specific like 'chair'), and specific (e.g., ‘recliner’).

  • Semantic Networks & Connectionist Models: Illustrate how concepts are interrelated, showing how activation spreads through networks of related concepts.