Semantic Memory and Statistical Learning
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Questions and Answers

According to Cahill et al.(2003), how does stress affect memory retention for emotionally arousing material versus neutral information?

Stress increases memory retention for emotionally arousing material but not for neutral information.

What does the dot probe task evaluate?

  • Memory consolidation
  • Language processing
  • Attentional capture by emotional stimulus (correct)
  • Motor skills

    • In the dot probe task, participants exhibit faster reaction times when the dot is paired with a scary stimulus.

    True

    ______ stimuli can enhance the perception of emotional stimuli and entry into working memory.

    <p>Emotional</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following mechanisms of forgetting with their descriptions:

    <p>Decay = Memory traces weaken over time Cue Availability = Lack of effective retrieval cues Proactive Interference = Old memories hinder retrieval of newer memories Retroactive Interference = New memories obstruct retrieval of older memories</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is semantic memory?

    <p>Memory for facts and general information about the world that has been acquired over multiple learning episodes.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two main theories of categorization discussed in the text?

    <p>Classical view and Probabilistic view</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the exemplar model?

    <p>It stores every example of a category and compares probes to all, assessing aggregate similarity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Statistical learning differs between infants and adults primarily in its efficiency.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Semantic Dementia results in the progressive loss of ______ knowledge.

    <p>semantic</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one benefit of forgetting according to the content?

    <p>Saving energy by not having to suppress memory traces</p> Signup and view all the answers

    False events in memory can be recalled even after a long period of time.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the percentage of participants who reported false memories in the example of spilling punch at a wedding?

    <p>25%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The _______ effect occurs when attempts to suppress a thought can actually increase the frequency of the thought.

    <p>rebound</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following memory issues with their descriptions:

    <p>Exaptation = Adaptations co-opted to perform functions other than their original selection Transience = Forgetting over time due to interference or lack of rehearsal Source Memory Confusion = Confusion between original events and subsequent exposure to facts Age-related Stereotype Threat = Impact of stereotypes on memory performance in aging individuals</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one role that feedback and focused attention play in overcoming plateaus in skill development?

    <p>overcoming plateaus</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the importance of failure for new learning?

    <p>Enhances learning through mistakes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Thorndike's 'identical elements theory' states that transfer of learning depends on the similarity of the training and new task demands.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The rotarod is often used to assess motor coordination and balance and is closely linked to the function of the _________.

    <p>basal ganglia</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the brain structure with its function:

    <p>Amygdala = Processing emotions and modulating perception, action, and memory Basal Ganglia = Coordinating movement, facilitating motor learning, maintaining balance Hippocampus = Formation of declarative knowledge and episodic memory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the basic emotions according to the Ekman model?

    <p>happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which brain structure is critical for emotion processing and can modulate perception, action, and memory?

    <p>Amygdala</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Stress can only hinder memory recall and never have any positive effects.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What variable was measured in the Mitchell study?

    <p>d'</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In the Trelle et al., 2020 study, what decline did the researchers observe in older adults?

    <p>Cortical reinstatement</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Jacoby's source memory paradigm, younger adults are more likely to reject a word they heard auditorily if they saw it multiple times.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following brain regions with their roles:

    <p>Angular Gyrus = Integrates sensory and cognitive inputs to reconstruct memories Ventral Temporal Cortex = Processes visual information and contributes to recalling visual representations</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What mechanism is associated with reduced processing speed according to Inglis & Caird?

    <p>Limited time mechanism</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are some ways to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's Disease?

    <p>Prevent and manage high blood pressure, manage blood sugar, maintain a healthy weight, be physically active, quit smoking, avoid excessive drinking, get the recommended amount of sleep each night, prevent (and correct) hearing loss.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was discussed regarding reinstatement strength average and chronological age?

    <p>Strength of react at retrieval becomes significantly weaker as a function of age; as people get older, the intensity of similarity of representations at retrieval declines.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Jacobe aging paradigm (1999), familiarity is necessary for recollection.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one of the potential mechanisms at play in age-related cognitive decline?

    <p>Limited time mechanism</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Semantic Memory

    • Lacks 'when and where', can be personal or general, strengthened by repetition of similar events
    • Definition: Memory for facts and general information about the world that has been acquired over multiple learning episodes
    • Does not include information about a specific context/event in which the knowledge was originally acquired

    Theories of Categorization

    • Classical view: A category is a combination of defining features, rule-based and hierarchical, with necessity and sufficiency
      • Challenges: Hard to come up with features that are both necessary and sufficient for category membership
    • Probabilistic view: Concepts aren't defined by rules, but are built up over experience, with fuzzy boundaries
      • Exemplar model: Stores every example of a category and compares a probe to all, assessing aggregate similarity
      • Prototype model: Common features repeat across category members and are averaged into a prototype

    Posner & Keele (1968) Study

    • Tested categorization using the Posner random dot pattern task
    • Results: Support for both prototype and exemplar theories
      • Prototype theory: Classification of the prototype is better than classification of studied exemplars
      • Exemplar theory: Studied exemplars are classified better than unstudied exemplars

    Role of Consolidation

    • The hippocampus rapidly binds together information from neocortex to form a conjunctive representation of an episode
    • The hippocampus guides reinstatement of that material during episodic retrieval

    Parallel Distributed Processing

    • A model that simulates the slow learning process of the cortex acquiring semantic knowledge over multiple learning episodes
    • Results in storage of probabilistic relations between concepts and their properties

    Semantic Dementia

    • A degenerative neuropathological condition resulting in progressive loss of semantic knowledge
    • Characteristics: Gradual, selective deterioration of semantic memory, with preservation of non-verbal delay recall
    • Temporal structure of semantic loss: Loss of unique information first, then general information

    Statistical Learning

    • We extract information about statistical regularities in our environment, even if not consciously aware
    • Infants use statistical learning to identify patterns and regularities in speech to acquire language naturally and rapidly
    • Adults use statistical learning within the constraints of their already established language frameworks

    Skills and Habits

    • Procedural memory/skill learning: Improved performance on perceptual-motor or cognitive tasks with practice
    • Open loop vs closed loop skills: Open loop requires adjustments based on input; closed loop involves performing pre-defined sequences of actions
    • Deliberate Practice: Failure is important; desirable difficulty allows getting past a plateau; practice should be challenging
    • Transfer: Generalization of skills from one context to another, with transfer specificity and the "identical elements theory"

    Neural Bases

    • Basal Ganglia: Receives input from a wide range of cortical areas, regulates the direction, speed, and strength of movements, and plays a key role in reinforcement learning
    • Cerebral Cortex: Cortical plasticity – learning skill-relevant perceptual, conceptual, and motor representations### Parkinson's Disease and Memory
    • Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder that impairs procedural learning.
    • Amnesia is a condition that impairs declarative memory.

    Emotion and Memory

    • Emotion is an episode of synchronized responses, including physiological, overt behavioral, and conscious feeling responses.
    • Emotion helps us communicate and adapt to situations by coordinating our physiology and behavior.
    • The role of emotion in memory:
      • Emotion enhances memory consolidation, especially for emotionally charged events.
      • Emotion can impair memory recall, especially under stress.

    Emotion Processing in the Brain

    • The amygdala is a critical structure for emotion processing, modulating perception, action, and memory.
    • The amygdala receives multimodal sensory input and outputs to various regions, including the prefrontal cortex, medial temporal lobe, and basal ganglia.

    Conditioning

    • Classical conditioning: a process of learning associations between stimuli and responses.
    • Elements of conditioning: unconditioned stimulus (US), unconditioned response (UR), conditioned stimulus (CS), and conditioned response (CR).
    • Stages of classical conditioning: acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery.

    Fear Conditioning

    • Fear conditioning is a type of classical conditioning that involves learning to associate a stimulus with a fearful response.
    • Fear conditioning can lead to phobias, which can be treated with exposure therapy.
    • The amygdala plays a critical role in fear conditioning.

    Emotion and Learning

    • Stress can both enhance and impair memory, depending on the context and timing of the stress.
    • Emotion can enhance episodic memory, especially for emotionally charged events.
    • The amygdala is involved in enhancing episodic memory for emotional events.

    Emotion and Attention

    • Emotional stimuli can capture attention and bias attention towards them.
    • The dot probe task and attentional blink task demonstrate the attention-grabbing effect of emotional stimuli.
    • The amygdala is involved in attentional modulation.

    Forgetting

    • Forgetting can be defined as the loss of a memory trace or the inability to retrieve a memory.
    • Mechanisms of forgetting:
      • Decay: the weakening of memory traces over time.
      • Cue availability: the lack of effective retrieval cues.
      • Interference: the presence of competing memory traces.
      • Retrieval-induced forgetting: the forgetting of a memory due to retrieval of a competing memory.

    Types of Forgetting

    • Proactive interference: the negative effect of old memories on new memories.
    • Retroactive interference: the negative effect of new memories on old memories.
    • Cue overload: the negative effect of multiple cues on memory retrieval.

    Retrieval-Induced Forgetting

    • Retrieval-induced forgetting is a phenomenon where retrieving a memory can lead to the forgetting of a competing memory.
    • The debate surrounding the mechanism of retrieval-induced forgetting: blocking vs. inhibition.

    Motivated Forgetting

    • Motivated forgetting is the volitional effort to prevent a memory from reaching awareness.
    • The think/no-think paradigm demonstrates the effect of motivated forgetting on memory retrieval.

    Benefits of Forgetting

    • Forgetting can be beneficial by reducing cognitive load and increasing the likelihood of remembering recent experiences.
    • Forgetting may also be protective and confer wellness benefits.

    False Memory

    • False memories can be implanted through suggestion and manipulation.
    • Lab-based studies demonstrate the ease of false memory implantation.
    • The Deese-Roediger/McDermott paradigm demonstrates the false recall of semantic associates.
    • Confabulation and spreading activation are mechanisms of false memory.

    Confabulation

    • Confabulation is the filling of gaps in memory with fictional information.
    • Confabulation can lead to false memories and is a common phenomenon in human memory.

    Spreading Activation

    • Spreading activation is the collateral activation of related concepts and words due to previous memory traces.
    • The Deese-Roediger/McDermott paradigm demonstrates the effect of spreading activation on false memory.Here are the study notes for the provided text:
    • Bias and the Suggestion Effect*
    • Memory is reconstructive
    • Misinformation effect: new information from a trustworthy source influences original memory, leading to source memory confusion and the sleeper effect
    • Source memory confusion: difficulty in figuring out where information was learned
    • Sleeper effect: delayed increase in belief in a persuasive message despite initial skepticism
    • Mandela Effect*
    • A type of false memory where many people incorrectly remember the same thing
    • Explanations for the Mandela effect:
      • Confabulation: brain fills in gaps with statistically likely information
      • Post-event interference: edited stimuli makes it harder to remember the truth
      • Priming: misleading representations or cues that falsely construct stimuli
    • Imagination and Memory*
    • Imagination inflation: behavioral and EEG studies on imagination inflation
    • Source memory confusion and imagination inflation
    • Source memory failures
    • Wrongful Convictions*
    • Memory confidence and memory accuracy
    • Signal detection theory explains why memory confidence and accuracy should be correlated
    • Erroneous memory in the courtroom is often expressed with high confidence
    • Witness is not remembering the original event, but rather the intervening acts of remembering and exposure to facts about the event
    • False Memories*
    • Situations that lead to false memories:
      • Source confusion
      • Memory for "gist" (similarity-based false recognition)
    • "Gist error": false remembrance due to similarity between current stimulus and previous experiences
    • Koutstaal et al. (1999) study: tested old/new recognition of a given "prototype" on three conditions
    • Seven Sins of Memory*
    • Define each of the "seven sins" of memory
    • Provide a real-world or experimental example for each "sin"
    • Rebound Effect*
    • Instructing people not to think about a particular item or object can produce a rebound effect
    • Studies by Wegner and associates (e.g., Wegner & Erber, 1992)
    • Expatation*
    • The idea that current functions of memory systems were not originally selected for their current functions
    • Sherry and Schacter (1987) emphasized the possible role of expatations in human memory
    • Aging and Memory*
    • How the brain changes across the lifespan:
      • Anterior to posterior gradient in cognitive decline
      • Brain volume decreases slowly but steadily
      • Cognitive processing speed slows
      • Fluid intelligence declines
    • Impacts to:
      • Episodic memory
      • Working memory
      • Semantic memory (preserved in healthy aging)
    • Age-related stereotype threat:
      • Evidence for multiple system changes in memory with healthy aging
      • MTL dysfunction
      • Age-related decline in associative binding (Chalfonte & Johnson, 1996; Mitchell et al., 2000)
    • Recollection vs. Familiarity-based Memory*
    • Recollection: retrieval of qualitative information about a specific study episode
    • Familiarity: global measure of memory strength/stimulus recency
    • Consequences of diminished item context binding:
      • Jacoby (1999) source memory paradigm

    Let me know if you'd like me to clarify or expand on any of these points!

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    Quiz about semantic memory, its definition, features, and characteristics. Learn about the difference between semantic memory and other types of memory.

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