Introduction to Psychology I Quiz

Introduction to Psychology I

• Course code: PSYC 1110
• Instructor: Dr. David O'Neill

Mandela Effect

• A social phenomenon where a large group of people misremember a fact, event, or detail that never happened.
• Coined in 2009 by Fiona Broome.
• Example: Falsely remembering Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s.

Memory

• Encoding: Forming a memory code.
• Storage: Maintaining encoded information over time.
• Retrieval: Recovering information from memory stores.
• Includes Sensory Memory, Short-Term Memory (STM), and Long-Term Memory (LTM).

Memory - Encoding

• Incoming stimuli require attention.
• Attention narrows focus to specific stimuli.
• Attention acts as a filter for specific sensory information.
• Filtering may occur early or late during sensory input processing.
• Cocktail party phenomenon: Overhearing your name despite concentrating on something else.

Models of Selective Attention

• Early-selection models filter input before meaning is processed.
• Late-selection models filter input after meaning is processed.
• Recent evidence suggests an intermediate placement; filtering can occur at varying points depending on the situation.

Memory - Multitasking

• Multitasking involves switching attention between tasks, not doing them simultaneously.
• Reduced performance in tasks needing total attention (e.g., driving).
• Switching attention between tasks reduces performance.

Memory - Levels of Processing Theory

• Deeper processing leads to longer-lasting memories.
• Structural encoding: Shallow processing focusing on physical traits (shape, color).
• Phonemic encoding: Focuses on word sounds
• Semantic encoding: Emphasis on word meaning and the objects/actions they represent

Memory - Levels of Processing Theory - Example Questions

• Structural encoding example: Is the word written in capital letters?
• Phonemic encoding example: Does the word rhyme with weight?
• Semantic encoding example: Would the word fit in the sentence "He met a ____ on the street"?

Memory - Retention at Three Levels of Processing

• Retention improves as processing depth increases (structural < phonemic < semantic encoding).
• Findings from Craik & Tulving (1975) support this.

Memory - Enhancing Retention

• Elaboration: Linking stimuli together during encoding.
• Visual imagery: Creating visual images to represent words.
• Self-referent encoding: Deciding how information is personally relevant.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory Storage

• A model of memory comprising three information stores: Sensory, Short-Term, and Long-Term memory.
• Sensory memory briefly holds information in sensory form.
• Short-term memory has limited capacity and duration unless aided by rehearsal.
• Long-term memory has potentially unlimited capacity and duration.

Memory - Sensory Memory

• Sensory information is stored briefly in sensory form.
• Visual memory example: afterimages.

Memory - Short-Term Memory (STM)

• Limited capacity (approximately 7 +/- 2 items).
• Information lost after about 20 seconds without rehearsal.
• Improving capacity through chunking (grouping into units).

Memory - Working Memory

• Short-term memory viewed as a working system.
• Capacity to hold and manipulate information.
• Capacity influenced by cognitive load.
• Subcomponents include phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, episodic buffer

Memory - Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• Unlimited capacity.
• Stores information over a long duration.
• Potential for flashbulb memories (vivid recollections of momentous events), but not necessarily permanent
• Question: is LTM capacity truly unlimited?

Memory - Forgetting

• Forgetting: failure to recall or retrieve information, affected by various factors.
• Retention: proportion of material retained.
• Retention interval: Length between presentation and measurement of memory
• Retrieval: process of accessing stored information.

Memory - Retrieval Cues & Failures

• Accessibility: Ability to access stored information.
• Availability: Information being stored in memory.
• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: temporary inability to recall information.
• Retrieval cues: Stimuli that help access memories

Memory - Retrieval Monitoring & Errors

• Source monitoring: process of determining the origin of memories.
• Source-monitoring error: Misattributing a memory to the wrong source.

Memory - Forgetting Curves

• Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve: graphs the rate of forgetting after learning.
• Shows rapid initial forgetting followed by a slower rate of decline in retention.

Memory - Forgetting Theories

• Ineffective coding: Forgetting what you didn't learn in the first place.
• Pseudoforgetting: Forgetting due to lack of learning or paying attention.
• Decay: Fading of memory traces over time.
• Interference: Competition from other information
  • Retroactive interference: new learning disrupts old learning.
  • Proactive interference: prior learning interferes with new learning

Memory - Forgetting Factors

• Retrieval failure.
• Encoding specificity: Retrieval cue effectiveness correlated with memory code.
• State-dependent learning: Recall is better when retrieval contexts match encoding contexts.
• Motivated forgetting: Deliberately (or unconsciously) suppressing memories.

Memory - Repressed Memories

• Question of whether repressed memories are real or fabricated.
• Importance of verifying memory accuracy.

Memory - Physiology of Memory

• Consolidation: gradual conversion of information to durable memory codes
• Memories can become unstable and require reconsolidation following retrieval.

Memory - Types (explicit and implicit)

• Explicit Memory (Declarative): Conscious recall of factual information and personal experiences. Includes semantic and episodic memory.
• Implicit Memory (Nondeclarative/Procedural): Unconscious memory influencing behavior, including perceptual and motor skills.

Memory - Types (declarative)

• Semantic Memory: General knowledge, not tied to a specific time.
• Episodic Memory: Chronological recollection of personal experiences.

Memory - Types (other)

• Retrospective Memory: Recalling past events.
• Prospective Memory: Remembering to do something in the future.

Memory - Amnesia

• Retrograde Amnesia: Loss of memories prior to the onset of amnesia.
• Anterograde Amnesia: Loss of memories after the onset of amnesia.

Memory - H.M. Case Study

• HM's brain damage: Studied to understand the role of the hippocampus in memory.
• Impact on memory understanding.

Memory - Consolidation

• Hypothetical, gradual process transforming temporary memories into durable long-term memory codes.

Memory - Implicit Memory

• Memory influencing actions/behaviors without conscious awareness.
• Mostly perceptual and motor skills.

Test your knowledge on fundamental concepts of psychology, including memory processes and the Mandela Effect. This quiz covers topics such as encoding, storage, and retrieval of memories, as well as models of selective attention. Challenge yourself to understand how we remember and misremember information.