Psychology Chapter 7 Overview

Memory Overview

• Memory is a complex cognitive process crucial for learning and functioning.

The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

• Stores information in memory without specific purpose.
• Control processes shift information between sensory, short-term, and long-term memory.

Sensory Memory: Sperling Task

• Sensory memory briefly holds perceptual information.
• Iconic memory (visual) and echoic memory (auditory) are types.

Sensory Memory and Attention

• Attention interacts with sensory memory to allow for continuous perception.
• A "spotlight of attention" transfers some sensory information to short-term memory.
• Change blindness occurs when information is outside this spotlight.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

• STM is a limited-capacity memory store (approximately 7±2 items or chunks).
• Duration is short, less than one minute.
• Chunking organizes smaller units of information into larger, more meaningful units.

Short-Term Memory Duration

• Brown-Peterson Task demonstrates STM duration, with rapid decay without rehearsal.
• Rehearsal allows some information to enter long-term memory for later recall.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• LTM stores information for extended periods.
• Encoding, storage, retrieval are crucial processes.
• Deficits can occur at any stage, impacting memory performance.
• Students often practice encoding (learning) but not retrieval (accessing).

Organization of Memory

• Memories are structured according to similarity.
• Memories are represented by connected nodes.
• Activating one node can activate related ones.
• This organization plays a role in recall (the "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon).

Serial Position Effect

• Tendency to recall earlier and later items from a list better than middle items.
• Primacy effect: superior recall of early items (likely transferred to LTM).
• Recency effect: superior recall of later items (still in STM).

Distinguishing STM from LTM

• Variations in methodology can selectively disrupt primacy or recency effects.
• Delayed recall reduces the recency effect.
• Rapid presentation reduces the primacy effect.
• Hippocampus is crucial for LTM, while sensory and association areas are involved in STM.
• Brain damage can selectively impair one memory system.

Working Memory Model

• A more detailed model of short-term memory.
• Central executive coordinates attention and the exchange of information among storage components.
• Phonological loop (rehearsal of verbal information),
• Visuospatial sketchpad (processing visual and spatial information).
• Episodic buffer (integrating information from various sources).

The Phonological Loop

• Storage component of working memory relying on rehearsal for verbal information.
• Phonological store: stores auditory information
• Articulatory control process: rehearses sounds and stores them.
• Word-length effect: longer words are harder to recall.
• Length of the loop (approx. 2 seconds).

The Visuospatial Sketchpad

• Processes visual and spatial information.
• Feature binding: combining visual features.
• Visual chunking: grouping visual information.

The Episodic Buffer

• Integrates information from the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad into coherent episodes.
• Links working memory to long-term memory.

The Central Executive

• The control center of working memory.
• Coordinates attention and exchanges information among components.

Elaborating on Long-Term Memories

• Declarative (explicit) memories: conscious memories (semantic and episodic).
• Semantic memories: general knowledge and facts.
• Episodic memories: personal experiences.
• Nondeclarative (implicit) memories: not dependent on conscious awareness (procedural and conditioning).
• Procedural memories: muscle memory and skills.
• Classical conditioning: learning through association.

Encoding

• How information is transferred into memory systems.
• Maintenance rehearsal: simple repetition (ineffective).
• Elaborative rehearsal (connecting new information with existing knowledge) is a more effective encoding strategy.
• Deep processing (focusing on meaning): improves encoding.

Depth of Processing

• Different levels of processing (shallow, intermediate, deep) impact how well information is encoded.
• Shallow: surface features (capital letters, rhyming).
• Deeper: connecting to existing knowledge.
• Deeper processing generally leads to better recall.

Incidental vs. Intentional Learning

• Intentional learning (actively trying to learn the material) is more effective than incidental learning (learning something without actively trying).
• Learning through varied levels, such as focusing on the meaning of words or counting the letters within them.
• Different instructional types (explicit learning, implicit learning) influence recall in varying degrees.

Self-Reference and Survival Processing Effect

• Information related to oneself is easier to recall.
• Emotional information is processed more deeply, which improves encoding, aiding recall.
• Flashbulb memories are vivid memories of highly emotional events.

Retrieval

• Recognition: identifying a stimulus previously encountered.
• Recall: retrieving information when asked.
• Free recall: retrieving information without cues.
• Cued recall: retrieving information with cues.

Encoding Specificity Principle

• Retrieval is most effective when the context at encoding matches the retrieval context.
• Context-dependent learning: matching situations of learning and testing.
• State-dependent learning: matching internal states (mood, physical condition) of learning and retrieval.
• Mood-dependent learning: matching mood states of learning and retrieval.

Combating Forgetting

• The forgetting curve shows how memory decays over time.
• Mnemonics: memory aids that use mental imagery.
• Strategies include acronyms, first-letter techniques, dual coding, cue overload and method of loci.
• Spacing sessions and testing regularly aids memory encoding.

Improving Studying

• Testing effect: testing improves retrieval and retention of information.
• Spacing effect: distributing study sessions over time.
• Interleaving: mixing different types of information during study.
• Desirable difficulties: engaging in challenging learning. - Effortful and deep processing is needed for stronger memory encoding.
• Note-taking facilitates learning by engaging attention and promoting active learning.

The Importance of Understanding

• Expertise enhances memory by organizing information.
• Understanding facilitates the integration of new knowledge into existing frameworks, improving memory.

Memory Errors

• Errors occur in recall.
• Schema-consistency: tendency to encode and retrieve memories consistent with pre-existing schemas.
• Misinformation effect: information after an event influences memory, especially impactful after leading questions or staged events.
• Children are more susceptible.
• Imagination inflation: increases confidence in false memories following repeated imagination.
• Memory errors can manifest in forms like reality monitoring errors, source memory errors (inability to distinguish the origin of a memory), and familiarity-based errors (mistaking familiarity with truth).

Eyewitness Testimony

• Eyewitness misidentification is common and can lead to wrongful convictions.
• Confidence in eyewitness testimony is not a reliable indicator of accuracy.
• Factors contributing to eyewitness error include flawed lineups (simultaneous vs sequential).
• Strategies include careful witness instructions and double-blind procedures to ensure the witness, and tester don't influence the outcome.

Explore the intricate processes of memory in this quiz based on psychology Chapter 7. Understand the Atkinson-Shiffrin model, sensory memory, and the dynamics of short-term memory. Test your knowledge on attention's role in perception and memory retention.