Lecture 7: Memory PDF

Lecture 7 Memory Memory - Retention of info over time → actively constructed - Brain regions: - Hippocampus → explicit and new memories - Cerebellum → implicit memories - prefrontal cortex → semantic and short-term memory - Entire cortex →...

Lecture 7 Memory Memory - Retention of info over time → actively constructed - Brain regions: - Hippocampus → explicit and new memories - Cerebellum → implicit memories - prefrontal cortex → semantic and short-term memory - Entire cortex → explicit memory - Types: - Amnesia → loss of memories - Misinformation effect → creating fictitious memories after giving misleading info after the event takes place - Dr. Elizabeth Loftus made people watch video of car crash, gave them questions, then changed verbs to describe what happened (contacted, smashed) which affected the recall of events and made some thing it was a real memory - Flashbulb memories → vivid and emotional memories, may fluctuate overtime - Three systems: - Sensory memory → holds sensory info, allows elaborate perceptual processing, short duration but large capacity - Each sense has its own system - Iconic (vision, ½ a sec) - Echoic (hearing, 2-4 secs) - Short-term memory → working memory, temporary info, 20-30 secs w/out rehearsal, limited to 5-9 items - Long-term memory → info acquired overtime, unlimited duration and capacity - Explicit (declarative) → consciously recalled - Episodic → events in our lives - Semantic → facts of the world - Implicit (non-declarative) → doesn’t require conscious thought - Procedural → habits and how to do things (skills and actions) - Priming → exposure to a stimulus influences future response (seeing red on the board then thinking of a red fruit)  - Primacy → remembering things better at the start of a list - Recency → remembering things better at the end of a list Memory Processes - Stages: 1. Encoding → getting info into memory (pay attention, use mnemonics) 2. Storage → maintaining it overtime - Engrams → physical basis of memory, structural and functional changes in our CNS as a result of experience - Consolidation → affixes engrams into long-term memory - Schemas → mental models 3. Retrieval → accessing it when you need it - Recall → generating remembered info on your own - Recognition → selecting previously remembered info from options - Retrieval cues → hints making it easier to remember - Encoding to retrieval: - Context dependant memory → best when physical or external contexts b/w encoding and retrieval are similar - State dependant memory → match in mental context b/w both - Mood dependant memory → match in mood Biological Basis of Memory - Engram → physical changes in our brain as a result of experience (memory traces) - Karl Lashley → tried to find where engrams are stored - Trained rats to run in mazes - Created lesions in brain → found no memory problems arose - Showed engrams are distributed throughout the brain - Donald Hebb → neurons activated at the same time become associated - Long-term potentiation → strengthening connections b/w two neurons after activated - Long-term depression → weakening connections b/w neurons after low or no activation