PSYCH 104 Memory Material PDF

Memory General Memory Info ​ Memory illusion → false but subjectively compelling memory ie.) recalling the word “sleep” during the in-class experiment -​ Brain attempts to fill in gaps with info it currently has and info it has learned in the past, you are tricked into...

Memory General Memory Info ​ Memory illusion → false but subjectively compelling memory ie.) recalling the word “sleep” during the in-class experiment -​ Brain attempts to fill in gaps with info it currently has and info it has learned in the past, you are tricked into remembering false info because it fits within the stimuli you’ve been exposed to ​ Retrieving memories: instead of signing out a book, you are rewriting a book based on the information we have access to in the present moment; our brain must reconstruct all memories before they can be used. There is no cortical or cognitive shelf where memories are actually “stored” -​ Reconstruction is based on new information experienced since the original event ​ ie.) building a lego house as a child vs. building a lego house now: over time we gain new pieces to add to our lego model but we also lose old pieces ​ Follows a three component model → sensory, short-term, long-term ​ Primacy Effect → remembering former information especially well (reflects OP LTM) ​ Recency Effect → remembering latter information especially well (reflects OP STM) ​ Visual stimuli -​ Study with students being shown photographs, 10 seconds at a time -​ Paired photo that had been shown to them with foreign photo, students had to guess which one they had seen before -​ Even after 4 days, students could identify with 85% accuracy which photos they had seen -​ Study was repeated but with a 17 year gap, students did not perform as well!! -​ Demonstrates that our ability to remember stuff does deteriorate with time but is TIME the cause? ​ Library analogy In which memory is referred to as a “book”. There is information stored within a book and the book has been filed away within the “library” of our mind. Sometimes we need to go  and retrieve that book, sifting through the other “books” or memories to find what we need. The Storage Metaphor Comes from cognitive psychology (late 1960s-1970s) Encoding ​ Process of getting information Storage ​ Information becomes stored in the brain Retrieval ​ Stored information can be retrieved at a later point Problem: our memories should be flawless if the storage metaphor is correct; this is not the case. Overtime, this metaphor has lost luster due to inconsistencies with contemporary research on memory. Forgetting A deterioration in our learned behavior following a retention interval ​ Retention interval → a period where learned behavior is not exercised or practiced ie.) do you even remember the information from topics 1 and 2 without doing a review? ​ Is behavior actually being erased (such as data from a harddrive) or is it just changing over time? ie.) Forgetting where you’ve placed your keys. A few hours later you see your jacket and remember that you put your keys in the jacket. ​ The first instance when you couldn’t remember → did you truly forget where the keys were? If forgetting is deterioration then you shouldn’t have been able to remember where they were later. Some researchers believe behavior is never really forgotten the sense of time, rather learned responses to stimuli are changing or was never learned well enough to override past learning experiences ​ Forgetting is the reconstruction process → an instance of learning? Sensory Memory ​ Stuff acting on sensory receptors enters sensory memory ( first component) ​ A brief storage of perceptual info before it is passed to short term memory → info obtained from sensory receptors in eyes and ears, works as a buffer to help process external information (½ second)  -​ This buffer allows for us to store a continuous stream of events rather than sparse moments (video vs. picture slideshow) ​ Composed of various subsystems → different subsystem for each of 5 senses -​ Iconic memory store: visual sensory memory (~1 second) -​ George Sperling (1960s) ​ Quickly flashed array of 12 letters for 1/20 of a second then asked subjects to recall the letters → could only recall 4 or 5 letters shown ​ Method of Partial Report -​ Immediately following the flash, he would play one of three tones to a participant. The tone was randomly assigned and would indicate which row of letters they were required to recall. -​ “Partial report” → reporting part of the visual stimuli -​ Participants were generally accurate (75% - 95%) of recalling the row regardless of which row it was -​ Echoic store → auditory equivalent of iconic store (~5-10 seconds) Short-Term Memory -​ Retains information for limited durations -​ Information we are currently attending to or processing is held here -​ Preferably called “working” memory -​ (10-15 seconds) short!! NOT forgetting what you had for breakfast because: ​ Decay: info naturally decays and fades over time ​ Interference: due to constant stream entering short term memory, only so much info can be held at this station! Old information and new information get in each other’s way, “interfering” with each other → the dominant explanation for why STM is short ie.) list of 16 random digits displayed sequentially; within this sequence you must focus on the target digit (appears twice) and you must report what # comes after its first instance -​ Retroactive: interference with retention of old info due to learning new info ​ ie.) messing up in mother tongue when learning a new language -​ Proactive: interference with learning new info due to retention of old info ​ ie.) trying to learn to play guitar a new way but you keep using old habits -​ Capacity for STM: 7 +/- 2 items → “Magic number” of our memory ​ Researchers are not unanimous on this # ​ Tested through digit span task -​ Chunking  ​ Info is organized into meaningful groupings, allowing us to extend the span of short-term memory ie.) Instead of learning the whole textbook, it is split into chapters or sections based on content -​ Rehearsal → repeating info to extend the duration of STM retention ​ Maintenance -​ Repeating stimuli in original form ​ Elaborative -​ Linking stimuli to each other in a meaningful way ie) remembering list of random words → individuals may create a picture with the words provided to remember this information → chunked into one item rather than many -​ Levels/Depth of Processing LTM → STM or STM → LTM ​ Model of memory that suggests the more “deeply” we process info, the better we are at remembering it (ie. transferring it to LTM) 3 Levels ie.) Memorizing the lyrics for “Never Gonna Give You Up” ​ Structural (visual) -​ Visual characteristics -​ ie.) curves of letters, font used, how many words ​ Phonological (auditory) -​ ie.) sound each word produces when sung, imagining Rick’s voice ​ Semantic (meaning) -​ ie.) meaning of the song lyrics ​ The more levels we include when attempting to memorize something, the stronger our memory will be! ​ On their own, strength of levels increases from top to bottom (Semantic > Phonological > Structural) ​ Problems -​ Unfalsifiable ​ How can it be falsifiable when the only metric for depth of processing relies on an individual's internal processings? -​ Circularity ​ ie.) Person X and memorize item Y because they have “deeply processed it” but how do we know that? They must have processed it deeply because they memorized it! ​ The cause becomes the explanation → not good science Memory as a Network Concepts are known as “nodes” the further the lines are, the weaker the relationship. Theory that memory can be represented as a network of associated concepts. Each node is equivalent to a neuron (which are linked to other neurons) ​ Favoured memory model due to similarities to neural network models Problems -​ Neurons are not just activated, they can also be inhibited which is not taken into account by model -​ Unfalsifiable → no results that this memory model cannot account for, limitless nodes, limitless lengths to associations, not based on verifiable things Long-Term Memory Relatively enduring (from minutes to years) retention of information stored regarding our facts, experiences, and skills ​ If STM is seconds, LTM is everything other than that! ​ Larger capacity than short-term memory ​ Lasts from hours to years -​ Permastore → type of LTM that appears to be permanent ​ We can improve LTM of given information through the use of repeated retrieval or active recall over time ie.) the way I study for PSYCH 104 exams Long-term memory can be further split into several categories Explicit → memories we recall intentionally ​ Episodic (past events/episodes)  ​ Semantic (declarative) Implicit → memories we do not intentionally recall ​ Priming → the activation of one concept by another ​ Procedural → memory for how to perform motor skills and habits ie.) riding a bike → not thinking about balancing or process of riding Semantic Priming Semantically (meaningfully) related words will result in faster reaction time ie.) when presented with word like doctor, and followed with nurse, you get faster responses vs. doctor followed by bread Neural Basis of Memory Storage Engram A word meant to denote the physical traits of the memory within the brain Karl Lashley → on the hunt for an engram; in order to try and find it he would train rats to solve a maze, then lesion the brain hoping to find the area required to solve it; area that stored the memory of the maze, if he could do this he would discover where memory is located within the brain → he didn't even find it ​ Cemented idea that memories are not stored in specific area, distributed throughout different brain locations ​ There is no such thing as an engram Hebbian Learning Donald Hebb 1949 (30 years post rats) ​ Memory is an assembly of firing neurons, pattern of activation ​ When one neuron is near enough to another in order to excite it and that neuron takes part in making it fire, there must be a chemical process that takes place in one or both of the cells such that the first cell becomes better at getting the second cell to fire ​ Neurons that fire together wire together Long-Term Potentiation of Synapses (LTP) ​ 1960s discovered in hippocampus of rats ​ Similar to Hebb’s proposition ​ A long lasting enhancement in signal transmission between 2 neurons that result from stimulating them (excitatory or inhibitory) ​ Unfair democracy recall → one cell or neuron tells the other one what to do Amnesia Retrograde  -​ Loss of memories from the past (usually recent) -​ People very rarely lose all past memories, maybe they’ll forget what happened moments before the head trauma but not their whole life story ​ Amnesia as most commonly understood, frequently portrayed in films Anterograde -​ Inability to form new memories from our experiences ​ ie.) memento, clive wearing ​ Patient H.M Consolidation -​ Hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of info into durable memory codes stored in LTM -​ Hypothesized to involve the hippocampus and amygdala -​ Essential for creating long term memories Alzheimer’s -​ Predominate cause of dementia (vague label that result from brain trauma → memory loss) -​ Irreversible -​ Degenerative, genetic disease that increases with age -​ Language ability deteriorates along with other bodily functions -​ Associated with a number of neurological abnormalities ie.) death of ACTH neurons in the cortex ​ Drugs that prevent ACTH breakdown can be administered to slow down disease -​ Early lifestyle may play a large part in its progression ie.) Nun study ​ Harvested the brains of Nuns → Nuns live ideal “clean” lives and are highly educated. This is hypothesized to better develop the brain, which in turn helps to combat neurological deterioration Infantile Inability of adults to remember personal experiences that took place before a given age (typically 2-3) May be due to: ​ Underdeveloped hippocampus ​ No sense of self False Memories Flashbulb Memories -​ Exceptionally vivid or detailed snapshots of very emotional or significant events -​ ie.) 9/11, death of a family member, getting into dream school, etc. -​ Can be false but are not necessarily Cryptomnesia -​ Failure to realize that our ideas originated from someone else -​ Result of source monitoring confusion, lack of of clarity about memory origin ​ ie.) accidental plagiarism -​ The lack of clarity we sometimes experience when attempting to recall something ​ ie.) whenever Heidi asks me what our prof says and I respond with “____ but also I’m not really sure!” Misinformation Effect -​ Creating fictitious memories by providing misleading info about an event after it takes place ie.) Showing participants clips of traffic accidents and then asking how fast the cars were moving when they hit, bumped, crashed, made contact with each other ​ The phrasing of these questions influenced participant responses Implanted Memories -​ “Can you implant a false memory into a person?” ​ Not misinformation or illusion → can we implant something completely drawn from scratch? -​ Elizabeth Loctus ​ Asked relatives of participants of her study to describe events that had occurred in participants’ past. She gave them each booklets containing details of the events the relatives had described along with an additional event which had never taken place. ​ Participants were then asked to write about their experiences for each event described; about 25% of participants “recalled” this additional event -​ 1980s, Lawrence Pazder’s “Michelle Remembers” ​ He helped Michelle recall “repressed memories” as a result of “trauma” which were false Motivation and Emotion Motivation!! In General Motivation → a process that influences the type of behavior expressed and its persistence ​ Motivation is NOT an explanation for behavior ​ It is a vague description of a behavior we are observing Why? ​ Think about a rat pressing a lever.  -​ He pressed it because he was highly motivated. How do we know he was highly motivated? Because he pressed it. CIRCULAR LOGIC -​ He pressed it because he was highly motivated by food. SOUND LOGIC ​ Sound logic provides new information in its explanation which we can apply to the scenario Drive Reduction Theory ​ Clark Hall (1940s-1950s) -​ Evolutionary POV on what motivates us → we allocate our behavior such that it helps our survival and reproduction -​ Certain drives such as hunger or sexual frustration motivate us to act in ways that will allow us to minimize aversive states (distress or discomfort) ​ Drive → a hypothetical, internal state of tension that motivates us to engage in activities to reduce aversive states ​ Homeostasis → a state of balance across all systems within an organism’s body achieved by the body constantly interacting with and adjusting to changes in the internal and external environment ​ Problems with DR Theory: -​ Why does our behavior continue even when our drives are already satisfied? -​ Why do we engage in behaviors that have no biological significance? → ie.) What motivates us to read a book or paint a picture? These have no importance for our survival? Think of starving artists → if we know pursuing artistic passions will highly result in low economic stability why do we do it? Incentive and Expectancy The theory that we are motivated by positive goals, in which stimuli have different levels of “incentive” value → Incentive: external goal which has capacity to motivate one’s behavior Note: drives push us, incentives pull ie.) I don’t want to be hungry so I eat vs. I crave something sweet so I eat cake ​ Expectancy theories: -​ Assume this positive goal directed behavior is determined by expectancy and value (incentive) -​ Motivation = expectancy that behavior will result in a goal x incentive value of the goal ie.) a student who studies hard for a test vs. a student who does not Student A will have higher motivation than Student B → why? ​ Maybe student B does not care about getting good grades → incentive = 0 ​ Maybe student B does not believe studying is beneficial → expectancy = 0 Intrinsic Motivation ​ Motivation by internal goals  ie.) I read because I love it Extrinsic Motivation ​ Motivation by external goals ie.) I work because I want money Note: Many believe that extrinsic rewards are controlling in nature which reduces their intrinsic motivation and creativity ie.) if a child who loves to play music is rewarded with praise or money, the child will slowly enjoy the music less → reward takes over their internal passion for music ​ This is not true → why don’t we just reward murders for killing people and then they’ll stop? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ​ Developed by Abrham Maslow (HUMANIST POV) ​ Proposes that we must satisfy physiological needs and needs for safety/security (basic) before progressing to more complex needs ie.) You have a final tomorrow and need to study because you procrastinated but you have not eaten in the last two days. You must eat before focusing on the goal of studying. ​ Physiological > Safety > Love > Esteem > Self Actualization (self fulfillment) ​ Contradictions: → Does not account for those who have basic needs met but no real goals → Does not account for those who have goals without basic needs being met ie.) How do we explain the concept of the starving artist? What about anorexia? ​ Self Determination Theory is not falsifiable or quantifiable The Physiology of Hunger Metabolism → body’s rate of caloric utilization (food → energy) ​ Homeostasis is maintained through short term and long term signals ​ Basal metabolism: metabolic rate at rest → what we are usually talking about ​ Set point: value that establishes a range of body or muscle mass we tend to maintain Short Term Signals ​ Hunger -​ Hunger pangs → muscle contractions in the stomach ​ Corresponds to feelings of hunger and satiety ​ A.L Washburn’s balloon experiment of 1911 ​ Note: Muscle contractions do not cause hunger -​ Glucose levels ​ Regulated by hypothalamus within liver and fat  ​ Glucostatic Theory: when blood glucose levels drop, hunger creates a drive to eat in order to restore glucose balance -​ Problem: glucose doesn’t predict hunger, ghrelin (peptide hormone produced by stomach and small intestine) levels also influence this and operate on typical schedules we maintain during everyday life ​ Satiety -​ Distention (stretching) of stomach and intestine ​ Peptide hormones released into blood and suppress appetite → Cholecystokinin released by small intestine Note: Nutritious foods are more satiating than non-nutritious ones Long Term Signals (Appetite and Weight) ​ Leptin -​ Hormone secreted by fat cells -​ Causes appetite to be suppressed by acting on effectiveness of other physiological signals -​ Demonstrated in mice ​ Mice with obesity gene do not produce leptin and become obese ​ Mice with db gene do produce leptin but it does not react with sensors in brain Brain Mechanisms ​ Lateral Hypothalamus → stimulation leads to increased eating → lesioning will destroy hunger responses ​ Ventromedial Hypothalamus → stimulation leads to decreased eating → lesioning will increase hunger responses ​ Paraventricular Nucleus → cluster of neurons in hypothalamus that contains neuropeptide Y releasing neurons which stimulate the appetite → neuropeptide Y inhibited by Leptin The Psychology of Hunger Behavioural Perspective ​ Respondent Conditioning → food related stimuli function as CS eliciting food related CRs ie.) seeing Mcdonald’s logo results in increased ghrelin release ​ Operant Conditioning → CRs and other stimuli can function as discriminative cues for obtaining food (behavior) and consuming it (reinforcer)  ie.) smell of food signals that obtaining the food will be reinforced, increasing the likelihood of consumption → going to kitchen after smelling cookies will be reinforced and we will get cookies! Cognitive Perspective ​ The expectation that eating will be pleasurable and reduce hunger stimulates eating Other Factors (found to be true across species) Palatability → how much we like the taste of something will influence how much we eat Quantity Available → amount of food available will influence how much we eat Variety → different types of food lead to greater overall consumption ​ Satiation usually corresponds to a specific group/food/thing. If there are more groups, there is more in need of satiation. ie.) craving something salty and then sweet Eating Disorders Obesity ​ More men are obese than women ​ No consistent psychological differences observed between those who are obese and those who are not → goes against popular media or social assumptions/critiques ​ Highly influenced by genetics (40% → 70% contribution in variation) ​ Influenced by many environmental factors → easier access to high caloric foods → less active lifestyles due to new technologies → costco type marketing ​ BMI > 30 *Overweight occurs when BMI > 25 Bulimia Nervosa ​ Associated with binge-purge cycles ​ Maintained through positive (binge) and negative reinforcement (purge) cycle → consumption makes you happy, purging occurs due to removing the guilt from consumption ​ 1% → 3% of population ​ 95% affected are women ​ Some individuals are more genetically predisposed to experience bulimia → the likelihood of engaging in this behavior can increase due to media representation and social pressures Anorexia Nervosa ​ Associated with excessive weight loss, food restriction, and desire to be thin ​ Extreme emaciation and malnourishment (BMI < 17) ​ 0.5% → 1% of population (very rare)  -​ 28% → 58% hereditary -​ 5% → 10% mortality rate ​ Similarly to bulimia, individuals have high body dissatisfaction ​ Precise causes are unknown ​ Has existed across different cultures and throughout history ​ Affected individuals do not view it as a problem; existing social culture eg.) ED twt, ED tiktok Emotion!! Cognitive Component The subjective conscious experience eg.) feeling afraid, anxious, angry, in love, in pain, etc. ​ Qualitative feeling of emotion is a private event outsiders do not have access to → cannot verify the accuracy or validity of someone’s emotions ​ Psychologists rely on verbal self reports to assess this (behavior which is highly dependent on language being spoken, cultural background and education of speaker, wording of questions) ​ Has demonstrated that emotions are automatic in the sense that we cannot choose what emotions we experience ​ Emotions are evaluative, some are considered good (pleasant) or bad (unpleasant) ​ Given the problems studying this and its mid results, why study it? -​ How a person verbally describes their emotions is to an extent reflective their quality of life ​ If someone is regularly sad, anxious, fearful → this can be informative of the other behaviors they are likely to engage in or stresses they are experiencing -​ ie.) good mechanic can determine what is wrong with a car just by listening to engine even though engine doesn't make car run -​ Many people see the subjective element of emotion as initiating something → that feeling is what initiates a person to act even though we cannot demonstrate it, that feeling is assumed to be the reason for a given action ​ Is this just a bioproduct of us being an operating machine? (ie. car engine doesn't sound make it move, it just happens) Physiological Component Autonomic responses eg.) sweaty palms, dilated pupils, increased heart rate, goosebumps, etc. ​ Responses are complex ​ Occurring as a result of the actions of autonomic nervous Polygraph Tests ​ Measures physiological responses, not “lies” eg.) heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, galvanic skin response (increased electrical conductivity of skin when sweat increases) ​ Pinnochio response → his nose grows when he lies ​ Cannot distinguish physiological arousal from guilt → just being questioned can elicit physiological arousal Voice stress analysis → tries to determine lies by assessing pitch of voice (but person’s voice can raise for a number of reasons, being stressed, etc.) Guilty knowledge test → pose questions abt scene to the person attached to the polygraph ​ Works on the assumption that a guilty person will have knowledge about a crime that innocent people do not. Some questions will contain factual information that only guilty individuals will be able to respond to. -​ Produces less false positives than polygraph and voice stress but produces more false negatives → criminals may not notice this “factual information” or maybe they have Isaac level memory Behavioural Component Overt behavioural expressions eg.) screaming, blushing, kissing, etc. ​ Primary Emotions -​ ~7 emotions believed by some to be cross-culturally universal; suggest our emotions have some explicit evolutionary roots that everyone more or less displays ​ Evidence of this: newborn babies will smile during REM sleep, babies blind from birth still smile, cry to same stimuli as babies who can see -​ Happiness, Sadness, Surprise, Anger, Disgust, Fear, Contempt -​ Combine to form secondary emotions -​ Paul Eckman ​ Studied individuals 100% isolated from Western culture ​ Had a translator read the group a story before presenting them with images of Western faces depicting emotions → participants had to match the expressions to the story ​ Repeated the study with a Western group and used faces of the isolated group ​ Discovered that there were 7 primary emotions that were commonly detected by the groups ​ Display Rules -​ Cross cultural guidelines for how and when to express emotions  ie.) in Western culture, boys are encouraged to be stoic whereas it is normalized for women to cry or be more emotional ie.) women in Japan cover their smile whereas it is expected of women to openly smile in North America ​ Facial Feedback Hypothesis -​ Facial expressions are capable of influencing emotions ie.) smiling should make you feel happier ​ Most researchers agree there is some legitimacy, tough to research because we need a verbal report of person’s emotions ​ Non-Verbal Leakage -​ Unconscious spillover of emotions into verbal behavior ie.) banging fist against table is an instance of behaviors labeled under the category of “angry” ie.) letting out a sigh can indicate being tired, fed up, etc. -​ It is easier to be deceitful with our words than it is with our actions or body language ​ Think about text → due to lack of expression or tone it is hard to tell how a person is feeling through their messages. This is why emojis can be beneficial. ​ Personal Space -​ Emotional distance is often positively correlated with physical distance -​ “Proxemics” → study of personal space ​ Physical distance between two individuals will correlate with emotional distance ie.) how close I sit to Colton vs. how close I sit to Brandon Theories of Emotion “Common Sense” ​ “I tremble because I feel afraid” -​ We encounter stimuli and believe our measurable behaviours are initiated by the conscious feeling created by the stimulus → we have fear and then respond accordingly -​ Stimulus → Conscious feeling → Autonomic arousal James-Lange Theory ​ “I feel afraid because I tremble” ​ Conscious experience of emotion results from autonomic arousal ​ Different patterns of autonomic variation lead to different emotional experiences -​ Perception of all the “stuff” your body is doing leads to our conscious experience of emotion ​ ie.) your heart beats rapidly because your toy doll turned its head 180 degrees → many individuals say “my heart is racing because im afraid” whereas James-Lange says “you are afraid because your heart is racing” -​ Makes some sense  → have you ever felt afraid without experiencing these bodily sensations? No, but common sense explanation suggests that this occurs. → think of how we train individuals to not be afraid or crash out; we reinforce them to behave how a relaxed individual would ie.) take some deep breaths to calm down Cannon-Bard Theory ​ “Godzilla makes me feel afraid and tremble” ​ Walter Cannon and Philip Bard posited that subcortical regions of brain (ie brain stem) send signals to cortical regions of brain which elicit conscious experience and autonomic arousal simultaneously → to get around criticism of James-Lange theory ​ Bridge experiment → carnal reactions influenced by bridge experiment took place on (we need 2 factor theory) Two-Factor Theory ​ “I label my trembling as fear because I appraise the situation as dangerous” ​ Environment influences the reaction provoked by the emotional stimulus ​ ie.) heart racing because of fine shyt vs heart racing because of grizzly bear are the same autonomic responses Mere Exposure Effect Phenomenon in which repeated exposure to a stimulus makes us more likely to feel favourably towards it eg.) Ty Trimble ​ Possible explanations: -​ Familiar things require less cognitive work to comprehend -​ Respondent conditioning eg.) learning something is safe and reliable Grocery shopping for macaroni?? ​ Confronted w options on store shelf → probably gonna pick KD (in middle) because everyone knows KD and it's in the OG box → familiarity