Memory - Module Notes PDF

Preview

Summary

Weekly module notes w/ examples from psych 1x03...

Description

Memory Unit 1 - Introduction ● Memory is complex and serves many functions ● Commonsense analogies fall short because memory is reconstructive Unit 2 - Basic Terminology ● Studying memory requires use of terminology ● Researchers describe memory in terms of encoding, storage and retrieval ● Memory experiments usually contain an encoding phase and retrieval phase ● Retrieval Cue ○ Any piece of information that can be used to access other information that is stored in memory ■

Information can act as a cue to retrieve other similar information

from memory ● Retention Interval ○ The interval of time between the encoding of information and its retrieval ● Two common ways to test memory ○ Free recall test ■

Asked to remember as many items as they can from the encoding phase, with no additional information to help them remember

○ Recognition test ■

Shown several items, some of which are old, meaning they were previously shown in the study phase and some of which are new

● Precise terminology allows us to convey nuanced ideas about memory Unit 3 - The Multi-Store Policy ● Much of what we know about memory comes from studies of amnesiacs ● Deficits in amnesiacs have led researchers to propose various memory systems ○ Patient H.M. experience chronic seizures ■ Removal of a large portion of both hippocampi: seizure frequency reduced ● Anterograde amnesia ● IQ unaffected, short term memory intact, ability to learn complex new motor skill ● The Multi-Store Model suggests memory has temporary and more permanent storage ○ Short term memory → rehearsal → Long term memory ● Short term memory storage has a capacity of 7 +/-2 items ● Organizing items into meaningful chunks expands the capacity of short term memory

● Models of memory can be tested through simple but clever experiments ● Memory is strongest for items at the beginning and end of a list ○ Increased rehearsal of early items over later ones leads to the primacy effect ■

Rehearsing items increases their chance of being transferred to long

■

term memory Items in the middle of a list have less opportunity for rehearsal than those at the start

○ Recency effect ■

Encoded information is first help in the short term memory ● The more recent items replace the previous items to occupy short term memory

● Manipulating the presentation time between items affects the primacy effect ○ Increasing time between item presentation increases: ■

Amount of times each item can be repeated

■ ■

Probability of item being stored in long term memory Performance recalling first few of items items on the list

● Disrupting the short term memory buffer affects the recency effect ○ Performing a distractor task diminishes recency effect ■

Recalling after performing different task for 30s, diminishes

■ ■

Recalling after 30s of silence, recency is untouched Recalling immediately, there is an increase of recalled words

● The multi store model is still foundational to the field of memory Unit 4 - General Principles of Memory ● Information is encoded at different Levels of Processing ○ Shallow level ■

Encoding requires little effort

■

Encode physical characteristics

■

Poor memory performance

○ Moderate level ■ Encoding requires some effort ■

Encodes acoustic characteristics

■

Moderate memory performance

○ Deeper level ■ ■

Encoding requires significant effort Encode semantic characteristics

■

Better memory performance

● Memory performance improves for increasingly deeper levels of processing: DOG ○ Shallow/Physical ■

Is the word written in capital letters

○ Moderate/Acoustic ■ Does this word rhyme with fog? ○ Deep/Semantic ■

Does the word fit in the sentence? “I walked my ___.”

● Level of Processing Principle ○ The more we try to organise and understand the material, the better we remember it ● Environmental cues are encoded together with memories for items and events ● Encoding specificity can affect later retrieval for events ● Preserving encoding context improves subsequent recall of a memory ● Internal stats can also act as retrieval cue to facilitate remembering ● The particular manner of encoding also acts as a form of context Unit 5 - Forgetting ● What determines whether information is remembered or forgotten? ● Our ability to recall recently encoded information decreases rapidly overtime ● Decay models suggest that forgetting occurs based on the passive flow of time ● What we call “forgetting” may be interference from similar information that is also competing for retrieval ● Interference model often explains forgetting better than decay models ○ Initial encoding → play more games → WORSE memory ○ Initial encoding → sat out games because of injury → BETTER memory ● Forgetting should be viewed as loss of access rather than passive decay Unit 6 - Memory Illusions and Fluency ● Our memories are prone to error ● Elizabeth Loftus’s research on false memories suggests that memory is a reconstructive process ● Imagination of any event can lead to the event being falsely remembered ○ Our memory can confuse false, imagined events with actual, performed events ● Memory is reconstructive and constantly open to reinterpretation ● We experience familiarity on many occasions ● Fluency ○ The ease with which an experience is processed, some experiences are easier than others ● Attribution

○ Judgement trying togher causes with effects ● A feeling of fluency precedes an attribution ● We use attribution to make sense of our feelings of fluency ● How does family affect the fame rating of names ○ Phase 1: Pronunciation Task ■ Group 1, no delay ■

Group 2, 24hr delay

○ Phase 2: Frame Rating Task ■

Group 1, no delay ● Celebrities, novel generic names, generic names from pronunciation list

■

Group 2, 24hr delay ● Celebrities, novel generic names

○ The times between exposure and recall affects our attributions to fluency ● The reconstructive nature of memory Unit 7 - Conclusions ● Remembering is the act of reconstructing prior experiences ● Understanding how memory is processed can improve our own memory performances...