Flashcards
PSYC 1010 Part 9
Cards in this deck (38)
- 1Multiple-choice questions test our ____________. Fill-in-the-blank questions test our _________.recognition; recall
- 2If you want to be sure to remember what you’re learning for an upcoming test, would it be better to use recall or recognition to check your memory? Why?It would be better to test your memory with recall (such as with short-answer or fill-in-the-blank self-test questions) rather than recognition (such as with multiple-choice questions). Recalling information is harder than recognizing it. So if you can recall it, that means your retention of the material is better than if you could only recognize it. Your chances of test success are therefore greater.
- 3Working Memoryshort-term memory as a small, brief storage space for recent thoughts and experiences. This stage is not just a temporary shelf for holding incoming information. It’s an active desktop where your brain processes information by making sense of new input and linking it with long-term memories. Whether we hear eye-screem as “ice cream” or “I scream” will depend on how the context and our experience guide our interpreting and encoding the sounds. To focus on the active processing that takes place in this middle stage, psychologists use the term working memory.
- 4What two new concepts update the classic Atkinson-Shiffrin three-stage information-processing model?(1) We form some memories through automatic processing, without our awareness. The Atkinson-Shiffrin model focused only on conscious memories. (2) The newer concept of a working memory emphasizes the active processing that we now know takes place in Atkinson-Shiffrin’s shortterm memory stage.
- 5What are two basic functions of working memory?(1) Active processing of incoming visual-spatial and auditory information, and (2) focusing our spotlight of attention.
- 6What is the difference between automatic and effortful processing, and what are some examples of each?Automatic processing occurs unconsciously (automatically) for such things as the sequence and frequency of a day’s events, and reading and comprehending words in our own language. Effortful processing requires attention and awareness and happens, for example, when we work hard to learn new material in class, or new lines for a play.
- 7At which of Atkinson-Shiffrin’s three memory stages would iconic and echoic memory occur?Automatic processing occurs unconsciously (automatically) for such things as the sequence and frequency of a day’s events, and reading and comprehending words in our own language. Effortful processing requires attention and awareness and happens, for example, when we work hard to learn new material in class, or new lines for a play.
- 8At which of Atkinson-Shiffrin’s three memory stages would iconic and echoic memory occur?sensory memory
- 9Which strategies are better for long-term retention: cramming and rereading material, or spreading out learning over time and repeatedly testing yourself?Although cramming may lead to short-term gains in knowledge, distributed practice and repeated self-testing will result in the greatest long-term retention.
- 10If you try to make the material you are learning personally meaningful, are you processing at a shallow or a deep level? Which level leads to greater retention?Making material personally meaningful involves processing at a deep level, because you are processing semantically—based on the meaning of the words. Deep processing leads to greater retention.
- 11What is memory, and how is it measured?Memory is learning that has persisted over time, through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. Evidence of memory may be recalling information, recognizing it, or relearning it more easily on a later attempt.
- 12How do psychologists describe the human memory system?Psychologists use memory models to think and communicate about memory. Information-processing models involve three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Our agile brain processes many things simultaneously (some of them unconsciously) by means of parallel processing. The connectionism information-processing model focuses on this multitrack processing, viewing memories as products of interconnected neural networks. The three processing stages in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. This model has since been updated to include two important concepts: (1) working memory, to stress the active processing occurring in the second memory stage; and (2) automatic processing, to address the processing of information outside of conscious awareness.
- 13How do explicit and implicit memories differ?The human brain processes information on dual tracks, consciously and unconsciously. Explicit (declarative) memories—our conscious memories of facts and experiences—form through effortful processing, which requires conscious effort and attention. Implicit (nondeclarative) memories—of skills and classically conditioned associations—happen without our awareness, through automatic processing.
- 14What information do we process automatically?In addition to skills and classically conditioned associations, we automatically process incidental information about space, time, and frequency.
- 15How does sensory memory work?Sensory memory feeds some information into working memory for active processing there. An iconic memory is a very brief (a few tenths of a second) sensory memory of visual stimuli; an echoic memory is a three- or four-second sensory memory of auditory stimuli.
- 16What is the capacity of our short-term and working memory?Short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two, but this information disappears from memory quickly without rehearsal. Working memory capacity varies, depending on age, intelligence level, and other factors.
- 17What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remember new information?Effective effortful processing strategies include chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, and distributed practice sessions. The testing effect is enhanced memory after consciously retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information.
- 18What are the levels of processing, and how do they affect encoding?Depth of processing affects long-term retention. In shallow processing, we encode words based on their structure or appearance. Retention is best when we use deep processing, encoding words based on their meaning. We also more easily remember material that is personally meaningful—the self-reference effect.
- 19Which parts of the brain are important for implicit memory processing, and which parts play a key role in explicit memory processing?The cerebellum and basal ganglia are important for implicit memory processing and the frontal lobes and hippocampus are key to explicit memory formation.
- 20Your friend has experienced brain damage in an accident. He can remember how to tie his shoes but has a hard time remembering anything told to him during a conversation. What’s going on here?Our explicit conscious memories of facts and episodes differ from our implicit memories of skills (such as shoe tying) and classically conditioned responses. Our implicit memories are processed by more ancient brain areas, which apparently escaped damage during the accident.
- 21Which brain area responds to stress hormones by helping to create stronger memories?the amygdala
- 22The neural basis for learning and memory, found at the synapses in the brain’s memory-circuit connections, results from brief, rapid stimulation. It is called _________-_________ _________.long-term potentiation
- 23What is priming?Priming is the activation (often without our awareness) of associations. Seeing a gun, for example, might temporarily predispose someone to interpret an ambiguous face as threatening or to recall a boss as nasty.
- 24When we are tested immediately after viewing a list of words, we tend to recall the first and last items best, which is known as the__________ __________ effect.serial position
- 25What is the capacity of long-term memory? are our long-term memories processed and stored in specific locations?Our long-term memory capacity is essentially unlimited. Memories are not stored intact in the brain in single spots. Many parts of the brain interact as we encode, store, and retrieve memories.
- 26What are the roles of the frontal lobes and hippocampus in memory processing?Explicit (declarative) memories―our conscious memories of facts and experiences―form through effortful processing, which requires conscious effort and attention. The frontal lobes and hippocampus are parts of the brain network dedicated to explicit memory formation. Many brain regions send information to the frontal lobes for processing. The hippocampus, with the help of surrounding areas of cortex, registers and temporarily holds elements of explicit memories before moving them to other brain regions for long-term storage. The neural storage of long-term memories is called memory consolidation.
- 27What roles do the cerebellum and basal ganglia play in memory processing?Implicit (nondeclarative) memories―of skills and classically conditioned associations―happen without our awareness, through automatic processing. The cerebellum and basal ganglia are parts of the brain network dedicated to implicit memory formation. The cerebellum is important for storing classically conditioned memories. The basal ganglia are involved in motor movement and help form procedural memories for skills. Many reactions and skills learned during our first three years continue into our adult lives, but we cannot consciously remember learning these associations and skills, a phenomenon psychologists call “infantile amnesia.”
- 28How do emotions affect our memory processing?Emotional arousal causes an outpouring of stress hormones, which lead to activity in the brain’s memory-forming areas. Significantly stressful events can trigger very clear flashbulb memories.
- 29How do changes at the synapse level affect our memory processing?Long-term potentiation (LTP) appears to be the neural basis of learning. In LTP, neurons become more efficient at releasing and sensing the presence of neurotransmitters, and more connections develop between neurons.
- 30How do external cues, internal emotions, and order of appearance influence memory retrieval?External cues activate associations that help us retrieve memories; this process may occur without our awareness, as it does in priming. The encoding specificity principle is the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it. Returning to the same physical context or emotional state (mood congruency) in which we formed a memory can help us retrieve it. The serial position effect accounts for our tendency to recall best the last items (which may still be in working memory) and the first items (which we’ve spent more time rehearsing) in a list.
- 31What are three ways we forget, and how does each of these happen?(1) Encoding failure: Unattended information never entered our memory system. (2) Storage decay: Information fades from our memory. (3) Retrieval failure: We cannot access stored information accurately, sometimes due to interference or motivated forgetting.
- 32What—given the commonality of source amnesia—might life be like if we remembered all our waking experiences and all our dreams?Real experiences would be confused with those we dreamed. When meeting someone, we might therefore be unsure whether we were reacting to something they previously did or to something we dreamed they did.
- 33What are the recommended memory strategies you just read about?Rehearse repeatedly to boost long-term recall. Schedule spaced (not crammed) study times. Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material. Make the material personally meaningful, with well-organized and vivid associations. Refresh your memory by returning to contexts and moods to activate retrieval cues. Use mnemonic devices. Minimize interference. Plan for a complete night’s sleep. Test yourself repeatedly—retrieval practice is a proven retention strategy.
- 34Why do we forget?Anterograde amnesia is an inability to form new memories. Retrograde amnesia is an inability to retrieve old memories. Normal forgetting can happen because we have never encoded information (encoding failure); because the physical trace has decayed (storage decay); or because we cannot retrieve what we have encoded and stored (retrieval failure). Retrieval problems may result from proactive (forward-acting) interference, as prior learning interferes with recall of new information, or from retroactive (backward-acting) interference, as new learning disrupts recall of old information. Some believe that motivated forgetting occurs, but researchers have found little evidence of repression.
- 35How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction? How do we decide whether a memory is real or false?In experiments demonstrating the misinformation effect, people have formed false memories, incorporating misleading details, after receiving wrong information after an event, or after repeatedly imagining and rehearsing something that never happened. When we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may attribute it to the wrong source (source amnesia). Source amnesia may help explain déjà vu. False memories feel like real memories and can be persistent but are usually limited to the gist of the event.
- 36How reliable are young children’s eyewitness descriptions?Children are susceptible to the misinformation effect, but if questioned in neutral words they understand, they can accurately recall events and people involved in them.
- 37Why are reports of repressed and recovered memories so hotly debated?The debate (between memory researchers and some well-meaning therapists) focuses on whether most memories of early childhood abuse are repressed and can be recovered during therapy using “memory work” techniques using leading questions or hypnosis. Psychologists now agree that (1) sexual abuse happens; (2) injustice happens; (3) forgetting happens; (4) recovered memories are commonplace; (5) memories of things that happened before age 3 are unreliable; (6) memories “recovered” under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable; and (7) memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting.
- 38How can you use memory research findings to do better in this and other courses?Memory research findings suggest the following strategies for improving memory: Study repeatedly, make material meaningful, activate retrieval cues, use mnemonic devices, minimize interference, sleep more, and test yourself to be sure you can retrieve, as well as recognize, material.
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- PSYC 1010 Flashcards on PSYC 1010 Part 9, created by Gurpreet Singh on 08/01/2017.
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