Psych Chapter 6 Summary

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What is Memory?

6.1 Identify the 3 processes of memory

Memory can be defined as an active system that receives information from the senses, organizes and alters it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage.

The 3 processes are encoding, storage, and retrieval.

6.2 Explain how the different models of memory work

In the levels-of-processing model of memory, information that gets more deeply processed is more likely to be remembered

In the parallel distributed processing model of memory, information is simultaneously stored across an interconnected neural network that stretches across the brain

The Information-Processing Model: The 3 Memory Systems

6.3 Describe the process of sensory memory

Iconic memory is the visual sensory memory, in which an afterimage or icon will be held in neural form for about one-half second.

Echoic memory is the auditory form of sensory memory and takes the form of an echo that lasts for up to 4 seconds.

6.4 Describe short-term memory and differentiate it from working memory.

Short-term memory is where info is held while it is conscious and being used It holds about 3 to 5 items of info and lasts about 30 seconds without rehearsal.

STM can be lost through failure to rehearse, decay, interference by similar information, and the intrusion of new information into the STM system, which pushes older info out.

6.5 Explain the process of long-term memory, including nondeclarative and declarative forms

LTM is the system in which memories that are to be kept more or less permanently are stored and is unlimited in capacity and relatively permanent in duration

Info that is more deeply processed, or processed according to meaning, will be retained and retrieved more efficiently.

Nondeclarative, or implicit, memories are memories for skills habits and conditioned responses.

Declarative, or explicit memories are memories for general facts and personal experiences that including both semantic memories and episodic memories

Implicit memories are difficult to bring to conscious awareness, wheres explicit memories are those that a person is aware of possessing

LTM is organized in the form of semantic networks, or nodes of related info spreading out from a central piece of knowledge

Getting It Out: Retrieval of Long-Term Memories

6.6 Identify the effects of cues on memory retrieval

Retrieval cues are words, meanings, sounds, and other stimuli that are encoded at the same time as a new memory.

Encoding specificity occurs when context-dependent information to be retrieval must be "pilled out of memory with few or no cue whereas recognition involves matching information with stored images or facts.

The serial position effect, or primacy or recency effect, occurs when the first items and last items in a list of info ar recalled more efficiently than items in the middle of the list.

Loftus and others have found that people constantly update and revise their memories of events. Part of this revision may include adding information acquired later to a previous memory. That later information may also be in error, further contaminating the earlier memory.

6.8 Describe how some memories are automatically encoded into LTM

Automatic encoding of some kinds of info requires very little effort to place info in LTM

Memory for particularly emotional or traumatic events can lead to the formation of flashbulb memories, memories that seem as vivid and detailed as if the person we're looking at a snapshot of the event but that are no more accurate than any other memories.

The Reconstructive Nature of LTM Retrieval: How Reliable Are Memories

6.9 Explain how the constructive processing view of memory retrieval accounts for forgetting and inaccuracies in memory

Memories are reconstructed from the various bits and pieces of information that have been stored away in different places at the time of encoding in a process called constructive processing.

Hindsight bias occurs when people falsely believe that they knew the outcome of some event because they have included knowledge of the event's true outcome in their memories of the event itself.

The misinformation effect refers to the tendency of people who are asked misleading questions or given misleading info to incorporate that info into their memories of a particular event.

Rather than improving memory retrieval, hypnosis makes the creation of false memories more likely.

Rather than improving memory retrieval, hypnosis makes the creation of false memories more likely.

False-memory syndrome is the creation of false or inaccurate memories through suggestion, especially while hypnotized.

Pezdek and colleagues assert that false memories are more likely to be formed for plausible false events than for implausible ones.

What Were We Talking About? Forgetting

6.10 Describe "the curve of forgetting"

Ebbinghaus found that information is mostly lost within 1 hour after learning and then gradually fades away. This is known as the curve of forgetting

6.11 Identify some common reasons people forget things

Some "forgetting" is actually a failure to encode information

Memory trace theory assumes the presence of a physical memory trace that decays with disuse over time.

Forgetting in LTM is most likely due to proactive or retroactive interference.

Neuroscience of Memory

6.12 Explain the biological bases of memory in the brain

Evidence suggests that nondeclarative memories are stored in the cerebellum, whereas short-term memories are stored in the prefrontal and temporal lobes of the cortex.

Semantic and episodic memories may be stored in the frontal and temporal lobes as well but in different locations as STM, whereas memory for fear of objects is most likely stored in the amygdala.

Consolidation consists of the physical changes in neurons that take place during the formation of a memory.

The hippocampus appears to be responsible for the formation of long term declarative memories. If it is removed, the ability to store anything new is completely lost.

6.13 Identify the biological causes of amnesia

In retrograde amnesia, memory for the past (prior to injury) is lost, which can be lost for only minutes or a loss of several years.

ECT, or electroconvulsive therapy, can disrupt consolidation and cause retrograde amnesia.

In anterograde amnesia, memory for anything new becomes impossible, although old memories may still be retrievable.

The primary memory difficulty in Alzheimer's disease is anterograde amnesia, although retrograde amnesia can also occur as the disease progresses.

Alzheimer's disease has many causes, many of which are not discovered yet.

There are various drugs in use or in development for use, with the hopes of slowing, or possibly in the future halting, the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Most people cannot remember events that occurred before age 2 or 3. This is called infantile amnesia and is most likely due to the implicit nature of infant memory.

Applying Psych to Everyday Life: Health and Memory

6.14 Explain how sleep, exercise, and diet affect memory

Good nutrition, physical exercise, and adequate sleep contribute to memory functions.

Research results suggest diets high in omega-3's, and especially DHA, may help hippocampal cells communicate better, whereas norepinephrine release during physical exercise appears to strengthen memories.

Sleep is a critical component, both in the consolidation of memories and the normal functioning of the hippocampus.