Week 1
Week 2
Week 2
Week 3
Week 3
Week 4
Week 4
Week 4 + 3
Week 5
Week 5
Week 5
Week 5
Labs
MISC
MISC 2
100
What are the five main tips for studying given to us in week one?
1) Take notes, but don't be a robot. 2) Remove distractions, like laptops. 3) Learning styles are false. 4) Test yourself to improve your memory. 5) Use distributed practice
100
What is the difference between short-term memory and working memory?
STM: holds small amounts of information for immediate recall or after a short delay.
WM: Temporary store that manipulates information to perform the current task - 'temporary workspace'
100
Pair these non-memory related contexts with the SPE that is observed:
Jury Duty, Humour, Enjoyment Ratings, Evaluations
Jury duty: primacy (first impressions matter)
Humour: recency (become sensitised to the humour)
Enjoyment: recency: (peak-end rule - evaluate based on most intense part and its end)
Evaluations: recency (later items preferred)
100
What are the four aspects of the revised Multicomponent model created by Baddeley and Hitch?
1) Phonological Loop, 2) Visuospatial Sketchpad, 3) Central executive, 4) Episodic Buffer
100
How can WMC impact performance on a Stroop test of varying levels of congruency?
Conditions with high word-colour congruency (75%) enforce the habit of using automatic processing (reading) to identify the colour, as this is successful 75% of the time. People with low WMC perform worse than high WMC in all congruency conditions (0%, 50%, 75%), but especially in the high congruency condition, as they are unable to disengage with the habit of reading the word. High gF can do this more.
100
What does the sleep-dependent triage state?
Sleep improves memory certain memories (often emotional or salient material) while facilitating the forgetting of other memories
100
What is an example of how episodic memory and semantic memory can overlap?
'Personal semantics' combines autobiographical information from EM and context-free facts about the past from SM. For example: "Do you drink coffee every day?" combines information from both.
100
What was the study that showed how we remember emotional events better?
Participants were asked to remembers pictures of a hospital visit, one group was told the pics were real and others were told they were staged. The emotional version had better recall
100
What are four unique features of episodic memory, according to the textbook?
1. Incorporates diverse content (e.g., senses, thoughts, emotions). 2. Contains spatial and temporal context. 3. Contains information on the serial order of events. 4. 'Time travel' - we experience a 'reliving' of the memory during retrieval.
100
Why are we not constantly bombarded by memories because of the cues around us?
Retrieval mode: being in the frame of mind to focus on retrieving allows us to interpret stimuli as cues. Otherwise, stimuli are not treated as cues.
Study: more brain electrical activity when preparing for retrieval compared to preparing for a semantic task.
100
What is the nature of interaction between blocking and associative unlearning?
They work together and are both needed - according to the two-factor model of retroactive amnesia
100
What are the 5 forgetting mechanisms from the online content? What do they mean and do they make the information unavailable or unaccessible
1. Absent mindedness. We forget because we didn't encode it (attentional issue). Unavailable
2. Decay. We forget because the cue association is degraded or the memory itself is degraded. Unavailable
3. Interference. We forget because the cue is being contaminated by competing associations. Unaccessible
4. Retrieval induced forgetting. We forget because the retrieval of one memory prevents recall of other related memories. Unaccessible
5. Intentional forgetting. We forget because of the deliberate effort to forget a memory. Eg. updating the memory and removing the irrelevant or undesirable parts. IDK??
100
How does a hypothesis and a prediction differ?
A hypothesis is a general expectation about relationships between variables, while a prediction is a specific, measurable outcome derived from the prediction, includes the operational variables and is directional.
100
What are two issues with studying and improving WM?
1) Control groups (controlling for the placebo effect and confounding variables) and 2) Issue of samples (e.g., healthy adults vs elderly)
100
Cognitive offloading may be most helpful for the _____ population.
Elderly
200
Describe a study that supports not using laptops in class.
A study found that non-work-related use of computers during class/study is negatively correlated with exam scores. Additionally, people who were within eye sight of the computer showed this effect.
200
What is memory span?
The limited STM capacity to hold and recall items and their order in a list (e.g., digit span)
200
Does age/dementia impair the SPE?
No, older or dementia patients will remember less overall but will show the same SPE curve.
200
Why does the theory that the phonological loop was developed for language comprehension fail? What is a more accurate theory?
People with WM or STM deficits show no disruptions in comprehension. Instead, it is likely that it was developed for language acquisition. This is supported by the fact that children with WM deficits show impaired acquisition of their native language and adults with WM deficits show impairments of second language or nonsense words.
200
High WMC is most advantageous in _____ situations where you need to ___ a habit or _____ your initial hypothesis.
Difficult, break, change.
200
What are two explanations for how sleep improves consolidation?
1) Protection from interference
2) The brain is replaying information learned before sleep, which strengthens the connections across the brain and neuron-level
200
The process where episodic memories are transformed into semantic memories is called what? Give an example.
Semanticization. For example, the episodic memory of your 5th birthday turns into the fact that you went to the pool for your 5th birthday, without being able to recall the episode.
200
2 reasons why might emotionally arousing information is better consolidated?
1. We pay more attention during encoding (it is advantageous to remember the emotional context)
2. Emotions release stress hormones which activate the amygdala which is connected to the hippocampus
200
What is the role of the hippocampus in retrieval?
The hippocampus acts like an index for cortical reinstatement of episodic memories. After a cue is presented, it orchestrates the activation of various cortical areas needed to reconstruct the memory.
200
What are four examples of indirect memory tests?
1) Lexical decision (word vs non-word) 2) Perceptual identification (e.g., did you see flashing word) 3) word fragment completion (A_PL_) 4) word stem completion (AP___)
200
If the media reports on an event continuously to distract from another event that has happened, they are drawing upon what principle?
Socially shared retrieval induced forgetting
200
What are 3 limitations to decay as a forgetting mechanism?
1. We don't know what happens during the decay process. We know that metal rusts over time because of oxidation, not because of time itself, so what is the memory equivalent of oxidation?
2. Can't disentangle decay from interference, which also increases overtime
3. Difficult to tell whether the memory is actually gone or we just haven't provided the right cue
200
What are the two types of experimental designs?
Within subjects: Participants experience all conditions
Between subjects: Different participants for each condition
200
Which types of reasoning tasks/sentences are the hardest and easiest? Give examples for each.
Hardest: passive negative sentences (e.g., circle is not proceeded by square)
Easiest: Active positive sentence (e.g., Circle proceeds square)
200
While hippocampus memory acquisition is (fast/slow) and ___-term, cortex acquisition is (fast/slow) and ___-term
While hippocampus memory aquisition is fast and short-term, cortex acquisition is slow and long-term
300
What evidence would be needed to provide evidence of learning styles? What evidence do we see instead?
If there was an interaction, there would be a crossover. Instead ,we see that one learning style is better for a certain task for both subjects (no interaction). This suggests some learning styles are just better overall for certain tasks rather than being dependant on the learner.
300
The phonological similarity effect is supported by the fact that _____ sounding words are ____ even when ____ down. We use an ____ code which rapidly fades.
The phonological similarity effect is supported by the fact that similar-sounding words are confused even when written down. We use an acoustic code that rapidly fades.
300
What is a consistent pattern of subjective temporal distance people show?
We feel closer to our successes and further from our failures.
300
What are the five key roles of the Central Executive, according to the textbook?
Attentional control, behaviour monitoring, attentional focus, dividing attention, switching attention
300
What study shows that high-WMC individuals can better adapt to suit the current goal?
Dichotic listening: less likely to be distracted and hear their name in the audio stream they are tasked to ignore, but better at detecting their name when instructed to identify it. Low WMC does poorly on both, but especially the distraction task.
300
What impact did Frederic Bartlett have on psychology?
Unlike Ebbinghaus, Bartlett used less 'scientific' methods of studying memory and emphasised the importance of meaning. He studied memory errors as a measure. He created the concepts of 'effort after meaning' (we seek to identify meaning in new information) and the schema - both showing how meaning and experience can impact memory.
300
What were the three conditions for the 'meaning of life' study and what did they find?
Told to: 1) Remember the image (deep), 2) Estimate the % of the image that the sky takes up (shallow), 3) contemplate the meaning of life (deep). Found that shallow conditions produced the worst recall, but the latter two had similar results - suggesting the meaning of life is relatively deep.
300
What is the relationship between rest and consolidation
Simply resting during wake time is helpful for consolidation. Participants in the quiet wake group had improved memory compared to active wake
300
True or false: all sensory and multimodal information (e.g., thoughts and feelings) is combined into a single trace.
True. While this information is distributed across the brain, the hippocampus pieces all this information back together in a single trace (cortical reinstatement).
300
_____ _______ involves reduced activity for repeated stimuli.
Repitition suppression
300
When groups are tested on recall together, they perform worse than when tested alone. Why is this?
Part-set cuing, hearing their answers will cause more interference. This phenomenon is called collaborative inhibition.
300
What is the study about learning french and spanish words for cat regarding retroactive and proactive interference?
Proactive interference - one group of participants studied french and the other group nothing, then they both learnt spanish and were tested later. Participants who learnt french earlier performed worse because old information interfered with ability to recall new information.
Retroactive interference - both groups studied spanish, then one group also studied french. When tested about spanish the group who studied french after performed worse because the new information interfered with their ability to recall old information
300
Which experimental design has the most statistical power?
Within-subject design: eliminates participant differences as a factor by comparing participants to themselves. To reduce carry-over effects, we can use counterbalancing (random order of conditions).
300
Order these features by the level of processing: Spoken sound, meaning, and visual characteristics.
Visual > spoken sound > meaning
300
People with MTL (including hippocampus) damage can still recall childhood memories, but those with a damaged MTL and damaged cortex can not. Does this definitively prove that the hippocampus is no longer needed?
No - multiple trace theorists argue that these memories have been semanticized over time, and that is why the hippocampus is no longer essential.
400
What pattern do we see in test results when either a self-test or a rereading method are used to study?
The rereading method will create better performance if the test takes place only after a short delay e.g., 5 min. Any time after this (e.g., 2 days or 3 weeks later), the self-test method produces better results.
400
What are the stages of Atkinson's and Shiffrin's Modal Model of memory?
400
How can depression impact subjective temporal distance?
While healthy people feel close to success and far from failure, depressed people feel far away from positive events (NOT closer to bad), and struggle to recall specific positive memories.
400
What is the episodic buffer?
A storage system in WM that binds information from LTM and multiple sensory modalities (e.g., auditory, visual and spatial) to create a cohesive perception. This aids in explaining the connection between WM and LTM.
400
Are there significant differences in success measures within the top scorers on the math section SAT at 13 years old?
Yes - when broken down into quartiles, the top quartile is significantly more successful than the bottom quartile of high scorers. They have higher education, more publications, and higher-paying jobs. Shows that high WMC and gF even at a young age predict success years later.
400
One study provided a text describing a man - one condition where the man was nameless and one where it was Hitler. The fact that people in the 'Hitler' condition made more errors after a long delay by recalling the passage as more negative tells us what?
Schemas influence how we interpret information, and schematic information is longer lasting in memory
400
While researchers were unsure of what people actually did when asked to contemplate the meaning of life, what are two possible explanations why recall was good for this condition?
1) They related the image to a personal experience or 2) contemplation creates an altered state of consciousness where we are more attuned to the environment
400
In a study on reconsolidation, under what conditions did participants have intrusions from word list 2 when recalling word list 1?
When they were reminded of list 1 before learning list 2
400
You are recalling the memory of your first job interview. Provide some examples of brain areas that may be activated during this process.
Hippocampus (cortical reinstatement), Amygdala (anxious affect), fusiform face area (recalling interviewer's face), visual cortexes, parietal cortex (spatial)
400
Give a study that supports context-dependent memory.
Deep sea divers: information learned underwater is better recalled under water, vice versa for on land. Effect increases when attention during encoding is environmentally focused rather than internally focused.
400
According to Jost's law, if two memory traces are equally strong, which is less likely to be forgotten?
The older memory, it is more woven into LTM
400
What are real life example of proactive and retroactive inference?
Proactive - trying to unlearn myths is difficult because any new information is biassed by your expectations from what you learnt in the past R
Retroactive - eye witness testimony, new information interferes with memory of what actually happened
400
What does a confidence interval of 95% tell us?
If we were to conduct this experiment again repeatedly, we can be confident that the mean will lie within the interval 95% of the time (e.g., 95 times out of 100 studies).
400
Are memories passively stored?
No, and consolidation is a continuous process
400
How would someone supporting the standard consolidation theory dispute the evidence that the hippocampus is always active during retrieval, according to brain imaging?
The activation is due to the brain reconsolidating the memory.
500
Why does testing yourself improve performance?
1) identify what you do and don't know 2) Organise and elaborate on material, 3) Improves memory transfer and general understanding
500
Describe the phonological loop.
A component of working memory that handles auditory and verbal information through 1) storing short-term (1-2 secs) and 2) rehearsing
500
How does PTSD affect subjective temporal distance?
People with PTSD feel very close to negative events, as they experience a 'reliving' of those events.
500
What does Cowan's embedded processes model say about the connection between WM and LTM?
Cowan claims that there is a workspace within LTM where WM functions occur. LTM is temporarily activated to create this workspace, which is maintained through continued attention and rehearsal.
500
People with low WMC always 'minds-wander' more, but especially when the task at hand requires high _____.
Concentration
500
Paivio's Dual coding hypothesis states what?
Information that is highly imaginable are easier to remember as they can be encoded visually and verbally
500
If a sound is played with the presentation of spatial information, and the same sound is played during sleep afterwards, what results do we expect to find when they are tested on the spatial information?
Recall of the spatial information will be better when the accompanying sound is replayed during sleep. This suggests information presented in sleep can influence retrieval during waking.
500
what are place and time cells
Place cells are tuned to specific locations in an environment, they fire when you approach a particular part of the learned environment. Time cells encode temporal information, they fire at specific times during a task in relation to serial order.
500
Which part of the brain is involved in EM familiarity?
Perirhinal cortex
500
In relation to encoding and retrieval conditions, what kind of dependent memories can we have?
1) Context dependent, 2) State dependent (e.g., drunk, during exercise) 3) Mood dependent (e.g., sadness retrieves sad memories) 4) Cognitive context dependent (e.g., language used)
500
Shifting your perspective from your own eyes to an outside observer in memory recall makes memories ____ vivid and involves _____ distortions.
Less vivid, more distortions. Example: discussing an event with someone else
500
How does the hippocampus create and retrieve episodic memories?
The hippocampus sits at the top of the hierarchy of cortical systems, so recieves converging information from all the senses which has already been highly processed. The hippocampus binds all the info together into a single representation supported by time and place cells. The index for combining the info together is stored in the hippocampus so that when one piece of that index is activated via a cue the hippocampus sends back projections to all the neurons in cortical regions to which the trace/index is linked to. And so the coordinated activity of the hippocampus trace creates a conscious experiences that mimics the original one (less well). That effect of reliving when all the encoding activities are reactivated is called cortical reinstatement
500
What type of t-tests are used for the various experimental designs?
Independent t-test: between-subjects design
Paired t-test: within-subjects design
500
Hubbach got participants to learn two lists of words. Half the participants were reminded of list one before learning the second list. What pattern would we expect to see for their recall of list one?
Recall of list one will be worse for the reminded group, containing many intrusions from list two. This is because the list one memory was retrieved and therefore vulnerable, and the items from list two contaminated list one before it was reconsolidated. Provides evidence that memories become vulnerable between retrieval and reconsolidation.
500
How was transfer appropriate processing principle used to disprove the levels of processing theory, and how did they rebuttal?
Transfer appropriate process was used to show that there was a bias in the testing conditions which caused people in the rhyming condition to perform worse because the test was a rhyming test. They showed that people who encoding using rhymes performed better than deep processing people in a rhyming test. However, the levels of processing people showed that when transfer wasn't appropriate the deep processing performed better, so that method is better overall
600
What are 3 reasons why distributed practice works?
1) Changes study context cues, 2) increases attention, 3) Retrieving prior study episodes strengthens traces
600
Why are longer words in sequences harder to remember than short words (The word length effect)?
Active rehearsal (phonological loop) means we can only actively rehearse what we can say in 2 seconds. When suppression is used to stop rehearsal, this effect is lost.
600
How do we create memory distortions to enhance our current self?
To support the belief that we are better now than we were in the past, we devalue our past selves and distance ourselves from them.
600
What are the two factors of forgetting in STM?
Trace decay and interference
600
Studies of _____ deprivation for _____ and fighter pilots show that although we can not ______ WMC, we can ____ it.
Studies of sleep deprivation for doctors and fighter pilots show that although we can not train WMC, we can harm it.
600
Does a task involving memorising a list of words involve episodic memory?
Yes - we are recalling information from a certain point in time and within a certain context. Also, we have idiosyncratic thoughts during the encoding process, which creates a 'mini episode'
600
Are encoding, storage, and retrieval processes discrete from one another?
No
600
What did the study on how we later draw ambiguous items tell us about schematic knowledge and memory
Appropriate information was stored but retrieval was influenced by the our prior experience with the label the stimulus figure was given
600
Describe 3 studies that confirm the 'tip of the tongue' effect (that we have more information in our memory than we can access at any given moment)
1) Participants are given definitions for obscure objects. Even when they could not name it, they could provide the first letter or number of syllables more accurately than the control. 2) Memory of capital cities jogged after receiving the first letter. 3) People with PFC damage couldn't name famous celebrities but could recognise them the same as the control group.
600
What is the difference between inaccessible and unavailable?
Inaccessible = do not currently have the right cues to access the trace (but its there)
Unavailable = trace is not stored
600
Describe the method for the 'selective role of the hippocampus' study and what their overarching finding was.
Participants were asked to memorise words and then completed a recognition test, asking if they had studied the word or not. They then indicated if this memory was episodic (r= 'remember') or if it was semantic (K= 'know it' without context). They then measured brain activity for either semantic or episodic responses, and if recognition was correct or not. The main finding was that the hippocampus is involved in EM (conscious recollections) but not for familiarity or semantic memory.
600
What did Jon teach us about episodic memory?
Unlike HM, Jon surrounding cortical regions of the hippocampus were still intact. He developed excellent semantic memory and could experience familiarity. Tells us that semantic memories and feeling familiarity (but not remembering the event itself) do not rely on the hippocampus
600
What is an attentional blink?
The brief period (200-500ms) after a stimulus is presented where a second stimulus can not be detected. This is because our limited attentional resources are being used by the first and have not had time to recuperate.
600
Describe Plihal and Born's study on sleep and memory consolidation.
Groups learned word pairings (declarative) and the mirror tracing task (procedural). Participants were then broken into three conditions. 1) Learned tasks, got 3 hours of sleep (Early sleep = slow wave), then tested. 2) Slept 3 hours (slow wave), learned tasks, slept another 3 hours (later sleep = REM), tested. 3) No Sleep. They found that performance was best for declarative memory when they experienced slow wave sleep right after learning (poor performance for the REM condition. REM sleep right after learning improved performance on the mirror task (procedural) but not the word pairings task. Shows a double disassociation.
600
how does episodic memory differ from other forms of learning?
1. It has diverse content - details from many sensory modalities
2. It contains a representation of spatio-temporal context - where you were and what time
3. Represents serial order in a flow of actions
4. Retrieval involves mental time travel
700
What study methods are ineffective?
Highlighting and underlying (reduces inference and crossover), rereading, summarising, and mnemonics
700
The feature model of memory suggests what?
1)STM and LTM are part of one system
2) Items are identified by modality-dependant (e.g., the font or case of a word) and modality-independent features (e.g., meaning of the word)
700
Do we believe we have improved more or less than our peers over time?
More
700
How do we know that there is a phonological store, rather than just the activation of LTM structures?
1) Phonological deficits can still occur when there is no LTM damage. 2) The LTM does not explain the other WM functions/features *
* Like what?
700
How did Gohar et al., study the impact of sleep and working memory capacity?
Measured the number of errors Doctors made on a WM test on non-call days (sufficient sleep), call days (less sleep) and post-call days (even less sleep). Found that more errors were made in the low sleep conditions.
700
Which rats will do better on a memory task: rats whose hippocampus was deactivated after learning but before a nap, or those whose hippocampus was deactivated right before the test?
Deactivated right before the test. This suggests that the memories have been transferred by this point and no longer rely on the hippocampus. However, deactivating before sleep hinders consolidation.
700
Describe Ebbinhaus' forgetting curve.
Initially, forgetting happens rapidly—about 50% of information is lost within an hour and 70% within a day. However, the decline slows over time. Spaced repetition and meaningful learning help improve retention and combat forgetting.
700
What study showed a positive impact of prior schematic knowledge on recall ability
When random doodles were given an interpretive label our recall improved because we used our schemas as a cue for later recall
700
Define retrieval.
Bringing a target memory into awareness based on one or more cues.
700
When studying 'forgetting', do we look at the accessibility or availability of the trace? Why?
We must focus on the accessibility of the trace, because there is no way of measuring what is available. We can only know if a memory is stored if it can be retrieved.
700
In the 'selective hippocampus' study, correct R responses showed more activation in which areas?
Hippocampus (mainly left, due to verbal nature), inferior parietal gyrus, and the left mid frontal gyrus.
700
What is content addressable memory?
'Mental Google' - That any part of the memory can act as a retrieval cue
700
Describe the attentional blink letter Experiment.
IV: separation between target letters. DVs: proportion of correct detection for both the first and second target letters.
Conditions: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 letters separating the target letters.
Within subjects design.
700
Participants are given symbols and asked to create objects from these using imagery. What effect would be seen if articulatory suppression vs a spatial tapping task is used during the task?
Articulatory suppression (Phon loop) would disrupt the ability to recall what symbols were given
Spatial Tapping (VS sketchpad) would disrupt the ability to create novel objects.
700
What are the surrounding cortical regions of the hippocampus and what are their functions
Entorhinal cortex: major input and output pathway for hippocampus - crucial for memory processing and spacial navigation
Perirhinal cortex: visual recognition of complex objects and familiarity - connected to ventral stream (what)
Parahippocampal gyrus: viewpoint specific scene representation - connected to dorsal stream (where)
800
What is the self-reference effect? Recall a study that shows this effect in real-world contexts.
We remember better when we relate the information to ourselves somehow. For example, a study found people remembered friends and strangers birthdays better when they were close to their own (within 3 months).
800
What are some limits of STM?
1) Attentional Blindness
2) Small capacity in size + time
3) Fixed slots vs flexi resources: we can either remember complex short lists or basic long lists
800
What are the three features of memory across the lifespan?
1) Memory retention as a power function 2) Childhood amnesia 3) The reminiscence bump
800
What are the three assumptions that Baddeley and Hitch's model make about working memory?
1) WM is a system including a 'holding cell' (STM) and a manipulator of information (WM). 2) Information in the holding cells requires attention or they will be forgotten. 3) High cognitive load means the holding cell will interfere with WM task performance
800
How did high and low WMC individuals differ on Engles's animal recall test?
1) LWMC retrieved animals more often because they could not disengage or suppress previously recalled animals. 2) HWMC were more hindered by cognitive load during recall
800
When presented with a list of words, we might use our prior knowledge to find a common theme. This displays Bartlett's concept of ________.
Effort after meaning
800
What alone does not improve memory encoding?
Repetition and intention to learn. These need to be paired with additional strategies to be effective.
800
What is chunking
When we use our prior knowledge to cluster words together even though they were presented separately. The amount we can recall is higher when we can reduce the cognitive load into meaningful chunks
800
How is activation involved in memory retrieval?
Each memory trace has varying levels of activation, where more active traces mean they are more accessible. Activation increases when focusing directly on it or when we encounter related cues. If a target accumulates enough activation from the cue it will be retrieved. Reinstating a memory involves the spreading activation across memory features (e.g., sights, smells, spatial info) to duplicate neural activity during encoding.
800
How can neurogenesis possibly cause forgetting? What memory phenomena can this help explain?
Neurogenesis can involve the slow restructuring of the hippocampus via the growth of new neurons, which can make old memories very hard to access. This could explain childhood/infantile amnesia.
800
Parahippocampal activation during encoding is related to what?
Novelty - more activation for unfamilar stimuli - BUT also extends to more general memory encoding mechanisms since it is the principal neocortical input pathway to HC
800
What 8 factors determine retrieval success and what is the evidence?
1. Attention to cues - retrieval grows worse when we have to perform a second task during retrieval (more so when second task involves processing of similar content - largest effect for recall and then recongition)
2. Relevance of cues - encoding specificity principle
3. Cue-target associative strength - when cue has weak association to target we need to engage a controlled retrieval process mediated by prefrontal cortex which biases processing to parts of neocortex that represent the retrieval content
4. Number of cues - dual cuing and elaboration (elaborating on info makes more cues and thus better retrieval)
5. Strength of target memory - Subsequent memory effect (words that people recognised were likely to have been encoded more effectively - greater activation of brain areas in medial temporal lobe and relevant parts of neocortex)
6. Retrieval strategy - Using good retrieval strategy reflects good cue specification (relies on prefrontal cortex). Memory is biassed to your perspective so you need to have congruent perspective during encoding and retrieval. eg. burglary vs home owner study and own eyes vs observer perspective
7. Retrieval mode - activation of right frontal cortex needed to prepare to recall
8. Context cues - eg. studies on congruent spatial-temporal context, mood context, physiological context, cognitive context
800
Obscure words under the von Restorff effect are most likely stored in which memory store?
LTM
800
Spatial information involves the ____ pathway in the _____ cortex, whereas object identification involves the ______ pathway in the ____ cortex.
Spatial information involves the dorsal pathway in the parietal cortex, whereas object identification involves the ventral pathway in the temporal cortex.
800
What does HSAM stand for?
Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory
900
Testing yourself ____ the number of retrieval ____ to stored information.
Testing yourself multiplies the number of retrieval routes to stored information.
900
What is the subjective temporal distance?
How far we feel from an event or point in time. Correlated to actual time but not completely.
900
How do we know that the reminiscence bump isn't occurring because people are searching for memories within those decades?
Studies measure reaction time as well, the reaction time doesn't slow when retrieving these memories, so we know there are simply more memories from that period being retrieved.
900
What have studies found about improving working memory?
Training specific tasks related to WM will improve performance on that task and similar tasks (near transfer), but will not improve dissimilar tasks (far transfer) or WM as a whole system.
900
Working memory capacity and fluid intelligence are often conflated because they both involve ______.
Attentional control (engaging vs disengaging)
900
What are two critiques of Craik and Lockhart's level of processing model?
1) Circular reasoning - memory is better because of deep processing, but we know deep processing has occurred because memory performance was better.
2) Transfer-appropriate processing - performance is better when the depth of processing matches the test. I.e., performance on the rhyming recall test is better when participants focus on rhyming words rather than meaning.
900
Why might you not remember a word better in a list even if you have more time to rehearse it (rehearsal weight)?
Simply using maintenance rehearsal does not improve encoding or memory, elaborative rehearsal is needed. Example: study where we remember 'G' words.
900
What were 4 criticisms of levels of processing
1. people process features simultaneously - eg. asking someone to only encode whether dog rhymes with log doesn't mean they won't encode meaning of dog
2. Transfer appropriate processing
3. Incidental learning has advantage over intentional learning becuase the brain is not overwhelmed by learning goals/processes
4. Circular reasoning: recall is better because they used deep processing, we know they did deep processing bc recall was good
900
What four things are needed when intentionally retrieving a target trace, according to the textbook?
Cue specification, Cue maintenance, interference resolution, and post-retrieval monitoring (have I succeeded?)
900
What are correlates of time that cause forgetting?
Indirectly, through 1) Interference, 2) Context fluctuation. As we age, we constantly learn new information, which can interfere with target traces, making them harder to access. Our context also changes lot throughout the lifespan, which reduces the amount of relevant cues available to us (e.g., live somewhere different, have different friends)
900
In the 'building memories' study, which brain areas were activated more by semantic encoding compared to visual encoding?
Left prefrontal cortex, left parahippocampal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus.
900
What is the difference between indirect and direct memory tests?
Direct tests test explicit memory using contextual cueing to recall past whereas indirect tests rely on repetition priming of implicit memory. Therefore while direct tests rely on increased activation of hippocampus and relevant neocortical areas to access memory, indirect tests rely on decreased neural activity which reflect repetition suppression (increased processing efficiency arising due to a stored memory trace)
900
'The plausible range of values for the true effect size in the population' refers to what?
Confidence intervals
900
How does perception differ from WM?
Perceptions constantly change and update, whereas memories in WM remain unchanging so we can perform cognitive tasks with them. The retention interval in perception is too short to perform WM memory tasks.
900
In the study which presented penguin facts in 3 conditions (no app, snapchat, text) what condition were we most likely to remember
they were all equal despite expectation that we would remember better for snapchat condition
1000
What part of the brain was removed in the case of HM?
The medial temporal cortex (bilaterally). Includes the hippocampus, parahippocampal region, and amygdala (+ surrounding cortical areas)
1000
How can we explain why some cultures remember earlier childhood memories than others (i.e., less childhood amnesia).
Childhood amnesia is very influenced by the amount and way in which the parents discuss the past with their children. Some cultures value the past more than others (e.g., Maori), so they discuss more memories with their children, which leads the children to have less childhood amnesia. Differences could also be due to the nature of the memory and the cultural significance of that event (e.g., Tangi).
1000
When discussing childhood events, parents can either have a high ____ style or a low _____.
Elaborative. High elaborative is related to earlier and more vivid memories (reduced childhood amnesia)
1000
Why does hearing 'halfalogues' disrupt spatial tasks more than hearing full dialogues?
Trying to fill in the blanks of the halfalogues is more effortful than simply listening, which uses more cognitive resources. Since verbal and spatial functions rely on the same systems, spatial performance on the dot task is impaired due to a lack of resources.
1000
WM in the 'mind' space can be conceptualised as a set of '______' that store code and _____ during rehearsal.
WM in the 'mind' space can be conceptualised as a set of 'buffers' that store code and refresh during rehearsal.
1000
Why does 'deeper processing' lead to better recall?
Meaningful processes lead to more elaborate memory traces which connect to more concepts and prior knowledge. This means the trace can be accessed in many different ways.
1000
What are three methods that improve memory encoding?
1) Organising material, especially linking it to prior knowledge, 2) 'Deep' or semantic processing, 3) Moderate amounts of emotional arousal
1000
what will make it more likely for us to remember the name of someone you have just been introduced to? eg. Henry
If you think of anyone else you know named Henry and compare them, this integrates the person with things successfully stored
1000
Describe cortical reinstatement.
Corical reinstatement, during retrieval, is the recreation of neural activity at the time of encoding. This involves the hippocampus triggering activation in the parts of the neocortex that were involved in encoding.
1000
Define retroactive vs proactive interference.
Retroactive: newer traces interfere with older ones. Proactive: older traces interfere with newer ones
1000
In the 'Building memories' study, what pattern of activation was seen for subsequently remembered vs forgotten words?
More activation in the left prefrontal cortex, temporal regions, and the left parahippocampal gyrus during encoding corresponded to remembering. This effect was not due to more 'time-on-task' because the same regions demonstrated greater activation for subsequent remembering even when RT was matched.
1000
What is the difference between mood congruent and mood dependent memory?
Mood congruent memory is the bias in recall of memories where a negative mood makes negative memories more available (doesn't include neutral mood)
Mood dependent memory is where what is learnt in a given mood is best recalled in that mood (includes neutral mood)
1000
What does a large confidence interval mean?
We have a relatively imprecise estimate of the true effect size in the population.
1000
Spatial information activates the _____ cortex in the ____ lobe, which is ______ organised
Spatial information activates the extrastriate cortex in the occipital lobe, which is topographically organised (near locations in space represented by near locations in the brain.
1000
Under what tasks did people who were told the information is saved vs not saved perform best
People told information was saved remembered location better. People told information was not saved remembered info better
1100
The fact that HM maintained retrograde memories from up to 3 years before the surgery suggests what about the MTL?
The medial temporal lobe is only a temporary store/ not the main storage sight for long-term memories - some suggest transference to the neo-cortical areas.
1100
What are some explanations for both the primacy and recency effects?
Primacy: longer time to rehearse and consolidate
Recency: less interference from other items, and less time for the memory to decay
1100
What patterns do we see among Maori and Asian cultures for childhood amnesia?
Maori had earlier and more vivid memories (likely due to cultural emphasis on the past) and used family stories as their source of information.
Asian women had the latest first childhood memories, likely due to Asian culture valuing and investing more time into boys.
1100
After Baddeley and Hitch found no effect in their experiment on digit span and reasoning multitasking, what changes did they make for their subsequent experiment?
The second experiment involved a much longer sequence of digits to remember (to increase cognitive load) and participants were either given instructions to focus on both tasks or prioritise the digit span task.
1100
Is there a positive correlation between vivid imagery and accurate memories?
No- being able to picture images vividly often leads to worse memory performance. This is likely due to overconfidence that a vivid memory is accurate
1100
While maintenance rehearsal involves continued processing at the same level of depth, ______ rehearsal involves integrating information from prior knowledge and concepts ('deeper' processing)
Elaborative
1100
What is memory consolidation?
The process of short-term memories being stabilized and stored in long-term memory
1100
what is long term working memory
the development of refined structures in long term memory that are used for temporary storage of new information. It involves a particular function developed through expertise to help perform specific cognitive tasks within that realm. It has unlimited capacity
1100
What is pattern completion, and how does it differ from cortical reinstatement?
Pattern completion involves the reconstruction of a whole memory representation based on a partial or degraded cue - 'filling in the blanks'. Pattern completion leads to cortical reinstatement
1100
Your friend is trying to recall a song by the Beatles. According to part-set cueing impairment, what should you not do?
Start naming other Beatles songs (not the target). Why? This will create more interference for the cue 'Beatles song' and make it harder for them to retrieve the right one.
1100
Verbal memory is best when the left _______ processes semantic information and inputs this into the _____ and other ______ lobe systems.
Verbal memory is best when the left prefrontal cortex processes semantic information and inputs this into the parahippocampal gyrus and other medial temporal lobe systems. Some experiences recruit this process more than others.
1100
what is the 'permastore'
Forgetting occurs only a to a certain point beyond which the memory trace appears frozen. Occurs for information more thoroughly and deliberately learned. Shows that memories are not equally vulnerable to forgetting. Eg. second language learning or lady who retrieved memories from diary
1100
What are the cutoffs for a Pearson's R correlation to be considered weak, moderate or strong?
Weak= <0.3, Moderate= 0.3-0.6, Strong = >0.6
1100
Left posterior regions are involved in _____ WM while right posterior regions are involved in ____ WM.
Left= Verbal WM
Right= Spatial
1100
What is subitising and how do low vs high spans perform in the counting task
our ability to look at an amount of objects and know how many without counting. We can usually only subitise for up to 4 objects. Low spans RT increased more than high spans as amount of objects increased, took 3 seconds longer to count to 12
1200
While declarative memory involves the medial temporal lobe, non-declarative memory primarily relies on which areas of the brain?
Basal ganglia, cerebellum, amygdala, and the neocortex
1200
What are the four assumptions/requirements for the Serial Position Effect to work?
1) No items have especially personal significance
2) No items stick out from the list/weird within the category
3) Items are independent of one another (one does not cue the next)
4) Items are equally imaginable
1200
How is point of view related to subjective temporal distance? How can we use this concept in treatment?
For events we feel temporally or psychologically close to, we are likely to remember them from the first person whereas we view distant memories in the third person. We can get people to write memories in the third person to help them feel more distant from it, reducing distress and enhancing understanding.
1200
What evidence did Baddeley and Hitch provide that showed remembering information in STM and performing a complex cognitive task relies on the same system?
Study: participants were asked to remember a sequence of numbers, and asked to complete a reasoning task of variable difficulty. They found, based on which task they were asked to prioritise, participants could either remember a high amount of digits OR answer the reasoning task quickly. They either had speed on one task or accuracy on another - but not both, showing they use the same resource pool.
1200
Can the phonological loop aid in controlling actions like task switching?
Yes - it's not just a store.
1200
How can we organise or link even completely unrelated words to improve memory?
Visual imagery and creating a coherent story using the words
1200
What are three methods of consolidation?
Synaptic consolidation: structural remodelling of neurons (dendrite spines enlarge and stabilise)
Long-term potentiation: connections between neurons become stronger and efficient via repeated activation
Systems consolidation: memories are transferred from the hippocampus to locations in the neocortex (trace is no longer stored in the hippocampus)
1200
what are personal semantics
Like semantic memory they are factual and don't have spatial/temporal details but like episodic memories they are idiosyncratically personal
1200
True or false: Attention is involved in encoding, but not in retrieving memories.
False: we need to attend to cues for them to activate target traces in retrieval. One study found that divided attention during retrieval reduced retrieval success. This effect was enhanced when the cue and distractors were in the same format (e.g., both words) and when the distracter task was demanding. Also hindered recognition.
1200
How do we know that the effect of part-set cueing is not due to simply being exposed to those cues, and this strengthening is what causes the interference?
One study showed that the condition in which participants simply re-read the cues did not show any interference. It is the act of using the information as a retrieval cue that causes interference.
1200
What are some ways in which EM and SM interact?
Crossover in brain activity, EM memories contain semantic knowledge (e.g., schemas, facts), and SM memories began as episodic before the context where you learned it was forgotten.
1200
What is ECT as a psychological treatment and how does it relate to what we know about consolidation?
Electroconvulsive therapy - Treatment for depression involving electrical stimulation directly onto skull to induce permanent forgetting (blocks synaptic consolidation process) of very recent or reactivated unconsolidated memories
1200
What is a median split?
Using the median to divide the sample into two groups: low scoring (under the median) and high scoring (above the median).
1200
How can a Stroop test tell us if searching information on the web has become an 'external memory system'?
Sparrow et al., used a modified Stroop test where the words were either neutral brand names or search engine names (e.g., Yahoo or Google). Words were shown after being asked either a simple or a difficult trivia question. They found that the response time for search engine words was much longer after a difficult trivia question, suggesting we are primed to think about googling an answer when we are unsure.
1200
what is the spotlight analogy for high vs low spans
high spans have better control over their attention and can broaden or narrow the spotlight to suit the needs of the task
1300
What is the deficient processing hypothesis?
We pay more attention to information we have not recently encountered. This is one reason why spaced out study / distributed practice works
1300
Based on the SPE, what should the distribution of remembered items look like?
A 'U' shape, with the first and last items being remembered more. However, over time there is a decline in the recent items, primacy effect is more resilient.
1300
Besides having more memories in the reminiscence bump, what are some other features of memories in this period?
1) They are more vivid, 2) We prefer these memories, 3) We view events during this time as more significant, 4) memories are more accurate, 5) the bump only exists for positive events, and 6) the bump exists for other peoples lives and general events.
1300
What are the two types of intelligence, and which is related to working memory capacity?
Crystalised (gC): involving skills, knowledge and experience - increases with age and training.
Fluid (gF): comprehension, reasoning, and problem-solving of new problems. Independent of training.
1300
What are two types of attention control?
1) Automatic, based on habits, 2) Supervisory attentional system (SAS) - conscious, effortful, conflict resolving and related to the central executive
1300
Why does being an expert in a certain domain enhance memory for items within that domain?
Expertise and prior knowledge help us better organise information in a meaningful and effective way. For example, SF organising digits through running concepts, or chess players remembering board positions better.
1300
What are two reasons why emotional experiences are better remembered?
1) We pay more attention to emotional events, 2) emotional arousal aids in consolidation by releasing stress hormones that activate the amygdala
1300
What is the problem of 2 and which theory is it a limitation for
problem of 2 is a limitation for cowans embedded processing model regarding sequences which contain a repeated item. if it is our long term memory involved in retrieving the items how do we distinguish between them since they will have the same representation in memory
1300
Cues that have a strong ______ to the target (based on time and attention learning this) are more effective in retrieval
Association
1300
Retrieving target items impairs the later ability to retrieve similar target items. This is called...
Retrieval induced forgetting
1300
Provide two conflicting beliefs about the importance of the hippocampus in retrieval, and evidence for each.
Standard consolidation theory: Memories become independent of the hippocampus over time. Evidence: people with damaged hippocampus/MTL can still recall childhood memories, but people with MTL and cortex damage cannot.
Multiple trace theory: the hippocampus is always involved in retrieval. Evidence: Hippocampus is always activated on brain imaging during retrieval, no matter how old the memory.
1300
What is a limitation of the memories being retrieved during retrieval?
People often believe they are recalling the original memory from 20 years ago but they are actually retrieving what was consolidated the last time they reactivated the memory (could have been interfered with)
1300
If the correlation between OSPAN score and Stroop test errors is -0.73, what is the relationship?
A strong negative correlation. If the number is negative, it means that as one variable decreases, the other increases (opposite directions). It is a strong correlation as R is higher than 0.6.
1300
One study found that people remember information better when led to believe a computer will not save it, compared to when told the computer will save this information. Why can we not use this alone to prove 'digital amnesia'?
There is not enough evidence from replicated studies. For example, Kahn and Martinez did not find a difference in recall of information presented via Snapchat (unsaved) or text (saved).
1300
What results were shown by high vs low spans on the dichotic listening task and proshadowing task
During pro shadowing task, instead of listening to speech in left ear low spans were more likely to hear then name from right ear which meant they engaged in off task behaviour
During dichotic listening task, high spans were more likely to report hearing their name and suppress irrelevant speech
1400
Non-declarative memory is _____ and takes a long time to learn.
Inflexible.
1400
What are some functional or evolutionary explanations for the primacy and recency effect?
Primacy: maybe the first things are novel and important
Recency: the most recent items are more threatening
1400
Why do the 'novelty' and 'identity formation' explanations of the reminiscence bump fail?
Novelty: states that we experience many things for the first time in this period, therefore these memories are more impactful and retrievable. However, the distribution of new experiences across the lifespan is actually flat.
Identity: If this era shapes who we are, then we should expect a bump for significant positive and negative events. Instead, its only for positive.
1400
What are the differences between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity?
WMC involves the ability to engage with and maintain the task at hand. It involves identifying a problem and forming and testing a hypothesis. Alternatively, fluid intelligence involves the ability to disengage, discard or suppress irrelevant information and stop pursuing the incorrect hypothesis.
1400
Perseveration shows an issue with _____ and likely signals _______ damage.
Perseveration shows an issue with attentional control and likely signals frontal lobe damage.
1400
In a list of 10 different number sequences, one sequence is repeated 3 times. Even when participants don't notice the repeat, recall for this sequence is better than the others. What effect does this display?
The Hebb Effect - repeated presentation of a sequence improves immediate serial recall. This also connects to language acquisition, repetition of certain syllables chained together helps us learn new words.
1400
Which type of sleep is associated with declarative and procedural memory, respectively?
Slow wave=declarative
REM = procedural
1400
what is Engle and Unsworths model for individual differences in working memory
involves 2 components - primary and secondary memory. Primary component is a dynamic attentional capacity for temporary maintenance of items. Secondary component is the capacity for cue dependent search in LTM. Recent review accepts there are multiple mechanisms needed to explain individual differences in WMC
1400
One study found that participants were 97% likely to retrieve the word 'ghost' when given a rhyming and semantic cue together compared to a rhyming (14%) and semantic (19%) cue alone. What hypothesis does this support?
Dual cueing: a combination of two cues together is better than two cues individually (in terms of retrieval probability)
1400
What are two mechanisms of interference?
Blocking: If a cue retrieves a stronger competitor instead of the target, we give up on retrieving the target. This strengthens the association between the cue and the competitor and makes retrieving that more likely next time, creating a cycle of blocking.
Associative unlearning: The association between a cue and a trace is weakened when it is retrieved incorrectly while searching for another trace. 'Punishment' for retrieving it in the wrong context.
1400
In direct memory tests what are the 3 levels of retrieval cues? Name them from hardest to retrieve to the easiest and an example of each
1. Recall - eg. "remember all information from last lecture"
2. Cued recall - eg. "remember all information about interference"
3. Recognition - eg. multiple choice question
1400
What are the potential mechanisms which explain how memory traces decay with time?
Activation decay, synaptic pruning, neurogenesis. But there is no behavioural evidence for it because we cannot isolate the effect of time based decay without interference etc
1400
True or false: A positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other variable also increases.
False - a positive correlation can also mean both variables decrease. Positive correlation means that both variables 'move' in the same direction, but can be increasing or decreasing.
1400
What is cognitive offloading?
Transferring mental information to a source outside of your mind. E.g., calendar, GPS, shopping lists, asking someone else to remind you.
1400
what is the relationship between low spans and mind wandering
they were more likely to report mind wandering when the task was challenging, involved high concentration, and more effort
1500
What two parts of the brain are primarily involved in classical conditioning?
The cerebellum and amygdala
1500
What are some disruptions to the SPE?
Von Restorff: weird items will be remembered regardless of position in the list.
Reverse Von Restorff Effect: items before and after a weird item will not be encoded as your attention is on the weird word (attentional blindness)
Next in-line effect: when asked to speak out loud in a line/circle, the answer before and after you will be either not/poorly encoded as you focus on yourself. Also applicable to focusing on your romantic partners answer
1500
What is the best explanation for the reminiscence bump?
Life Scripts: Many culturally important and emotionally salient events occur during this period. Since life scripts shape expectations about which events are memorable and meaningful, they enhance the encoding and retrieval of experiences from this phase of life, leading to the prominence of these memories in later years. This has been proven cross-culturally and explains why the reminiscence bump is only for positive memories.
1500
What patterns are seen in high vs low working memory capacity on saccade tasks?
Low WMC participants perform worse on both the prosaccade (reflexive eye movement towards a stimulus) and antisaccade (voluntarily looking away from the stimulus - suppressing reflexes). However, the gap between low and high WMC is much larger for the antisaccade test as this involves the gF ability to disengage from bad habits.
1500
What were the results of the Cogmed study (Klingberg, 2002) ?
The Cogmed computer-based training improved performance on WM tasks for both neurotypical and ADHD participants and generalised to other WM tasks. However, a meta-analysis found that generally, WM training can not be generalised, doesn't work in the long term, and is not effective outside of lab conditions.
1500
Damage to the _____ ______ lobe inhibits semantic memory but not episodic. Damage to the _____ hinders episodic memory but only slightly hinders semantic memory.
Anterior Temporal Lobe: Semantic
Hippocampus: episodic
1500
Provide one animal study that supports the idea that memory traces become vulnerable during retrieval.
Rats learned a fear association between a sound and receiving a shock. Half the rats were reminded of the sound. Protein inhibitors were applied to both rat groups. Most rats that were not reminded froze at the sound when tested (remembered the association) whereas most rats that were reminded did not freeze (they forgot). Explanation: The reminded rats retrieved the memory, but the inhibitors meant they could not restabilise the memory, so it was lost.
1500
How can changing retrieval 'perspective' improve retrieval success?
Changing your perspective can allow to to remove schematic constraints of what you expect or focus on. Example study: homeowner vs burglar perspective impacted recall of related items in a home. Changing perspectives improved the recall of items related to the new perspective.
1500
According to the textbook, what are the five properties of retrieval-induced forgetting?
Cue independence: Items affected by RIF are often less accessible when tested with different cues (forgetting is not tied to a specific retrieval cue).
Retrieval Specificity: It is the retrieval of a competitor trace that causes the forgetting of another; simply studying the cue-competitor pair doesn't.
Strength independence: idk girl LOL - strengthening of items doesn't induce forgetting of competitors, but it is the act of retrieving the item which triggers forgetting of competitors
Interference dependence: High frequency competitors (common associations, e.g., fruit-banana) will be inhibited more than low frequency competitors (same mechanisms as continuous reinforcement)
Attention dependence: competitors can only be inhibited if we have the attentional capacity to do so.
1500
What 3 studies showed that our encoding environment, state, and cognitive processes provides a retrieval cue?
Environment - studying underwater vs on land, divers who learnt underwater performed better when tested underwater
State - participants retrieved autobiographical memories during happy/sad/neutral music, the next day when asked to recall those same memories participants were more accurate if the music matched (also drunk vs sober study)
Cognitive process - Participants who encoded words through deep (put words into sentences) or shallow (rhyme) performed best when testing conditions required same cognitive processes
1500
Why should we not just use WMC to determine who will move into successful careers?
People can train to be specialized in one task, but this does not reflect all WMC, and even high WMC does not completely predict success (you use multiple skills: people skills, listening, etc)
1500
How is cognitive offloading beneficial?
It can improve memory for other information not offloaded. Study example: learnt two lists. One group was told that list A would be externally saved, one group was told it would not be saved. They found that memory for list B was improved when participants were told list A would be saved.
1500
What was the results of the umbrella task which tested interaction of visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop?
When participants were asked to tap a series of spatial locations they could visually manipulate the objects since sketchpad was busy. Participants asked to do articulatory suppression couldn't recall the objects involved since phonological loop was busy.