PSYC 289 Unit 7 Study Guide PDF

Preview

Summary

Study Guide ...

Description

UNIT 7 STUDY GUIDE

1

1.

Define and describe the three basic memory processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval Be able to provide and recognize original examples of these processes. (p. 302) Encoding: Getting Information into Memory Encoding involves forming a memory code  For example, when you form a memory code for a work, you might emphasize how it looks, how it sounds, or what It means.  Encoding requires attention.  Encoding is analogous to entering data using a computer keyboard. Storage involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time (Storage is analogous to saving data in a file on your computer) Retrieval involves recovering information from memory stores (Retrieval is analogous to calling up a file and then displaying it on your computer monitor.) Comment: It has become popular in psychology to talk about remembering as though it does not involve behaviour. Terms such as encoding, storage, and retrieval suggest that humans have a computer inside them that is busy putting material into codes for storage, which can later be retrieved. The disadvantage of this terminology is that it detracts attention from the basic facts that paying attention and recalling past events are behaviours, and that these behaviours are subject to the same kinds of influences as other behaviours. When you come across terms like memory, recognize that the speaker is referring to a form of behaviour: remembering.

2.

What is attention? How does it influence memory? Describe the cocktail-party phenomenon. (p. 303) Attention involves focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events. Selective attention is critical to everyday functioning. In order to remember information, you must pay attention to it, if attention was distributed equally among all stimulus inputs, life would be chaotic. The Cocktail-Party Phenomenon suggests that attention involves late selection. For example, imagine a young woman named Tamara at a crowded party where many conversations are taking place. Tamara is paying attention to her conversation with a friend and filtering out the other conversations. However, if someone in another conversation mentions her name, Tamara may notice it, even though she has been ignoring that conversation. This cocktail phenomenon suggests that attention involves late selection, based on the meaning of input. Comment: Weiten and McCann suggest that attention is like a filter that selects some material for admission and rejects other material. Keep in mind, however, that people do not have filters in their heads that work in this way. Many psychologists dismiss the usefulness of conceiving of attention like a filter. Even so, people do attend selectively to stimuli. For example, when we hear our name spoken, we are often able to pay attention to the stimulus even if we are surrounded by distracting stimuli. We do not need to invent a mental filter to explain this effect. As children, we learned that paying attention to someone who is calling our name produces reinforcement, whereas ignoring our name produces aversive consequences! This kind of history of behavioural consequences produces selective attention, not a mental filter.

3.

Describe the early- and late-stage interpretations of selective attention. How do early-selection and late-selection theories of attention differ? (pp. 303-304) Early-selection suggests stimuli are screened out early, during sensory input. Late-selection suggests stimuli are processed/recognized late, after the brain has processed the meaning or significance of the input.

UNIT 7 STUDY GUIDE 4.     

2

Describe the results of experiments in which people are required to divide their attention between two separate sources of input. (p. 304) When participants are forced to divide their attention between memory encoding and some other task, large reductions in memory performance are seen. Wherever filtering occurs it is clear that people have difficulty if they attempt to focus their attention on two or more inputs simultaneously. Studies by Fergus Craik indicate that when participants are forced to divide their attention between memory encoding and some other task, large reductions in memory performance are seen. A recent study shed some light on cell-phone conversations are more distracting to drivers than conversations with passengers. Research showed that passengers adapt their conversation to the demands of the traffic and provide assistance to the driver.

5.

Describe the three levels of information processing proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972). Outline the relationship between depth of processing and probability of recall. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of each of the levels of processing. (pp. 304-305) Structural Encoding is a relatively shallow processing that emphasis the physical structure of the stimulus. Phonemic Encoding emphasizes what a word sounds like and involves saying or naming the words Semantic Encoding emphasizes the meaning of verbal input; it involves thinking about the objects and actions the words represent. Levels-of-Processing theory propose that deeper levels of processing result in longer lasting memory codes.

6.

Identify and describe three ways to enrich encoding. (pp. 305-307) Semantic Encoding can often be enhanced through a process called Elaboration Elaboration is linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding. For example, you read that phobias are often caused by classical conditioning, and you apply this idea to your own fears. In doing so you are engaging in elaboration. For example, Let’s say you read that phobias are often caused by classical conditioning, and you apply this idea to your own fear of spiders. In doing so, you are engaging in elaboration usually help people to remember information. Visual Imagery is the creation of a visual image that represents the word to remember and can be used to enrich encoding. Self-Referent Encoding involves deciding how or whether information is personally relevant. Making material personally relevant.

7.

Describe Paivio’s dual-coding theory. (p. 306) Imagery facilitates memory because it provides a second kind of memory code. Dual-Coding theory holds that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall.

UNIT 7 STUDY GUIDE

3

8.

How has technology influenced our conception of memory? (p. 307) The use of technology as an analogy for memory has been used for centuries from Plato’s analogy of memory with a block of wax to modern day analogies of memory as a sort of computer or information processor. However, memory is described it is understood that it can not be viewed as anatomical structures in the brain, but rather as functionally distinct types of memory. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model. Incoming information passes through two temporary storage buffers before it is transferred to long term memory. Modern theories of memory reflect the technological advances of the 20th century. For example, many theories formulated at the dawn of the computer age drew an analogy between information storage by computers and information storage in human memory.

9.

Describe the sensory stage of memory. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of sensory memory. Describe Sperling’s (1960) study of sensory memory. (pp. 307-308) The Sensory Memory preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually a fraction of a second, Sensory memory allows the sensation of a visual pattern, sound, or touch to longer for a brief moment after the sensory stimulation is over. The brief presentation of sensations in sensory memory gives you additional time to try to recognize stimuli. However, you’d better take advantage of sensory storage immediately as it doesn’t last long. Sperlings study presented subjects with 3 rows of letters flashed on a screen for 1/20th of a second a tone following the exposure signalled to the subjects which row to report to the experimenter, the study showed a better success when the tone was played immediately following the exposure compared to a delay of 1 second. Sensory Storage decays in about ¼ of a second. Memory traces in the auditory sensory store also appear to last less than a second.

10. Define short-term memory and rehearsal. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of shortterm memory. Specify how long content remains in short-term memory without rehearsal. Is material lost from short-term memory due to decay or interference? Explain. (pp. 308-309) Short-Term Memory is a limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for about 20 seconds, whereas Long Term memory can store information for weeks, months, or years. There is a way to maintain short-term memory information indefinitely, by engaging in Rehearsal – the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information. The practice of reciting a phine number to yourself so you can dial it is an example of rehearsal. Information from short-term memory is lost due to time-related decay of memory traces and interference from competing information. This information generally only last about 15 seconds. For example, focusing on the meaning of the words in the list you are trying to remember. Without rehearsal, information in short-term memory is lost in less than 20 seconds. Theorists originally believed that loss of information from short-term memory was due purely to timerelated decay of memory traces, but follow-up research showed that interference from competing material also contributes.

UNIT 7 STUDY GUIDE

4

11. What did George Miller mean by “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”? Define chunk. Describe the importance of chunks in remembering. Do experts and nonexperts in a field differ in the way they chunk information? Explain. (pp. 309-310) Miller’s expression of “seven plus or minus two” refers to our capacity for processing information. Miller noticed that people could recall only about seven items in tasks that required them to remember unfamiliar information. It is known that you can increase the capacity of your short-term memory by combining stimuli into larger, possibly higher-coded units called Chunks. A Chunk is a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit. Experts and non-experts in a field differ in the way the chunk information, take the example of the expert and novice chess player remembering the layout of a chess board, if arranged in a meaningful way the expert will recall with greater accuracy than the novice, however if arranged randomly the expert will be no better than the novice. The key to chunking is to organize, recognize and recall information in a meaningful way. 12. Describe the developments that led to the concept of working memory. List and describe the four components of working memory. Define working memory capacity. (pp. 310-311)  Studies showed that short-term memory is not limited to phonemic encoding and that decay is not the only process responsible for the loss of information from short-term memory.  These and other findings suggested that short-term memory involves more than s simple rehearsal buffer, as originally envisioned.  To make sense of such findings, alan Baddeley proposed a more complex modularized model of short-term memory that characterizes it as “working memory”. Working Memory is a limited capacity storage system the temporarily maintains and stores information by providing an interface between perception, memory, and action. This model of working memory consists of four components. Phonological Loop, this component is at work when you use recitation to temporarily remember a phone number. Visuospatial Sketchpad permits people to temporarily hold and manipulate visual images. This element is at work when you try to mentally rearrange the furniture in your bedroom or map out a complicated route that you need to follow to travel somewhere. Central Executive System, which controls the development of attention, switching the focus of attention and dividing attention as needed. Episodic Buffer, a temporary limited-capacity store that allows the various components of working memory to integrate information and serves as an interface between working memory and long-term memory. Working Memory Capacity refers to one’s ability to hold and manipulate information in conscious attention. 13. Define long-term memory. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of long-term memory. Identify the two types of research that supported the notion that long-term memory is permanent. Explain why these two types of research do not provide compelling evidence for the permanence of long-term memories. (pp. 311-312) Long Term Memory is an unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time. The first line of research- consisted of some landmark studies conducted by neuroscientist Wilder Penfield in the 1960s He reported triggering long lost memories through electrical stimulation of the brain ESB during brain surgeries to map brain function in patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy, he found that stimulation of the temporal lobe sometimes elicited vivid descriptions of events long past. Patients would describe events that apparently came from their childhood such as “being in a lumberyard” or “watching mom make a phone call” as if they were there once again. Penfield and other inferred that these descriptions were exact playbacks of long-lost memories unearthed by electrical stimulation of the brain. The second line of research- centres on the phenomenon of flashbulb memories, which are unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.

UNIT 7 STUDY GUIDE

5

For intense- many people remember exactly where they were, what they were doing, and how they felt when they learned of the death of princess diana or micheal Jackson. Another example concerns the events surrounding the terrorist attacks that took place in the United states on September 11th 2001 the events were traumatic for people all over the world. The vivid detail of people’s memories of such events especially those from decades ago would seem to provide a striking example of permanent storage. Memories activated showed that by ESB in Penfields studies often included major distortions of factual impossibilities. For instance the people who recalled being in a lumberyard had never actually been to one. The ESB-included recollections of penfields subjects apparently were hallucinations, dreams or loss reconstructions of events rather than exact replays of the past In similar fashion although flashbulb memories tend to be strong, vivid, and detailed, studies suggest that they are neither as accurate nor as special as once believed. 14. Define flashbulb memories. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of flashbulb memories. (p. 311) Flashbulb Memories are unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events. When I was four years old, I could remember my mom not letting my dad see me and I was watching bugs bunny. I looked over to see it and that’s all I remember. ***The is no evidence to suggest that the theory of LTM’s being permanent is indeed accurate.*** 15. Define clustering. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of clustering. (p. 313) Clustering is the tendency to remember similar or related items in groups. Participants would remember words grouped in bunches that belonged to the same category. Factual information is routinely organized into conceptual hierarchies. 16. Define conceptual hierarchy. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of conceptual hierarchies. (p. 313) A Conceptual Hierarchy is a multilevel classification system, based on common properties among items. Organizing information into a conceptual hierarchy can improve recall dramatically.

17. Define schema. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of schemas. Specify how schemas influence remembering. What are relational schemas? (pp. 313-314) A Schema is an organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event. People are more likely to remember things that are consistent with their schemas that things that are not. Alternatively, people sometimes exhibit better recall of things that violate their schema-based expectations. For example, university students have schemas for what professors offices are like. Relational schemas- represent regularities in your interpersonal experience, much in the same way that your office schema represents regularities in your exposure to offices. For example, if you enter a situation expecting that the other in that context will dislike and reject you, you may interpret ambiguous cues in a way that reflects badly on you and then act in a way that serves to elicit negative reactions from others.

UNIT 7 STUDY GUIDE

6

18. Define semantic network. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of semantic networks. What is meant by spreading activation in a semantic network? (p. 314) A Semantic Network consists of nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts. Semantic networks have proven useful in explaining why thinking about one word (butter) can make a closely related word (bread) easier to remember. When people think about a word, their thoughts naturally go to related words, this process is referred to as Spreading Activation within a semantic network. 19. Describe connectionist models of memory that make use of the notion of parallel distributed processing. (pp. 314-315) Connectionist, or Parallel Distributed Processing models assume that cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly interconnected computational networks that resemble neural networks. A PDP system consists of a large network of interconnected computing units, or nodes, that operate much like neurons. These nodes may be inactive or they may send either excitatory or inhibitory signals to other units. Like an individual neuron, a specific node’s level of activation reflects the weighted balance of excitatory and inhibitory inputs from many other units. Given this framework PDP models assert that specific memories correspond to particular patterns of activation in these networks. 20. Describe Tulving’s distinction between availability and accessibility. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of these concepts. (p. 316) Availability: Information is unavailable (no longer present in the memory system) Accessibility: Information is present but not accessible at the moment. You might not be able to answer a particular question because the information is unavailable (no longer present in the memory system) or because it is not accessible (present in the system but not accessible to you at the moment). The information may not be accessible because the cues you are using in your attempt to answer the questions are not effective. 21. Describe the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon (TOTTP). Define retrieval cues. How can the TOTTP be shown to be a failure of retrieval? (p. 316) Tip-Of-The-Tongue Phenomenon- the temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that its just out of reach. TOTTP constitutes a failure in retrieval. Retrieval Cues Stimuli that help gain access to memories. 22. Define encoding specificity principle. Be able to provide and recognize original examples of this principle. What are context cues? Describe how the encoding specificity principle can be used to account for state-dependent and mood-dependent memory effects. (pp. 316-317)  Encoding specificity Principle suggests that your memory for information would be better when the conditions during encoding and retrieval were similar.  For example, Being in the same room that you studied in for an exam.  Context cues are environmental cues which aid in accessing the memories formed in a certain context. It has been...