Study Guide - Lecture 3: Methods and Memory Research

Study guide Lecture 3: Methods and Memory Research Empirical evidence: The product of scientific research. To be empirical evidence, data must be verifiable; that is, another scientist must be able to get the same results by conducting the same or similar experiment. Experiment: Set of observatio...

Study guide Lecture 3: Methods and Memory Research Empirical evidence: The product of scientific research. To be empirical evidence, data must be verifiable; that is, another scientist must be able to get the same results by conducting the same or similar experiment. Experiment: Set of observations that occur under controlled circumstances determined by the experimenter. Independent variable: Independent variables are the factors that the experimenter manipulates across different conditions. Dependent variable: Dependent variables are the observation that we measures or record in response to the independent variable. Random Assignment: Any particular participant is equally likely to be assigned to any of the conditions. Double-blind procedures: Experimental structure in which neither the tester nor the participants know what condition the participants is in. Free recall: A person must generate memories with minimal or no curing of the memories. Cued recall: If given a specific cue, a person must generate a target memory corresponding to that cue. Useful in looking in association memory which is connecting between two ideas of two memoirs. Reconnection test: Person must identify the target memory from among a set of presented items. Means matching one's memory to a presented choice. Rather than having to produce the item itself, the person must match what is stored is memory with what they see on a list. Reconnection can be Old/New Reconnection: A person must decide whether an item was son the list. Reconnection can be Forced-Choice Reconnection: A person must identify the answer from among a series of possible answers. Implicit Memory test: tests that draw on the nonconscious aspects of memory. Memory is being tested without the person being conscious of the fact that their memory is being assessed (spelling test). Reaction times: The measured amount of time required to perform a particular task. Reaction times varies as a function of the number or the difficulty of the tasks. Source memory: Our attribution of where or from whom we learned something. Source memory is the concept of reality monitoring. Reality monitoring: Our ability to distinguish whether our memory if of a real or an imagined event. Metamemory: Our knowledge and awareness of our own memory processes. Ex: when we say "I am good at remembering faces," we are making a metamemory statement. It includes ease-of-learning judgments, confidence judgments, feelings of knowing, and tip-of-the-tongue states. Judgments of learning: Prediction we make as we study items of the likelihood that we will remember them later. Neuropsychology: the study of patients with brain damage. Neuroimaging: Refers to a seat of techniques that allow researchers to make detailed maps of the human brain and assign functions to particular regions in the brain. EEG (electroencephalography) Using electrodes to measure the electrical output of the brain by recording electric current at the scalp. MEG (magnetoencephalography) Using a magnetic sensor to detect the small magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain. PET (positron emission tomography) Radioactive chemicals are placed in the blood, allowing scientists to obtain a three-dimensional image of the intact brain. Successive images can be made only every 30 seconds, so it does not help determine the flow of information in the brain. fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imagery): magnetic fields create a three-dimensional image that can capture both the structure and function of the brain. TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation): using a magnetic coil to electrically stimulate particular areas of the brain. This stimulation causes cognitive changes in the participants.