MEMORY PROCESSES
What are the 3 main steps /processes of memory?
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Which type of memory store has unlimited capacity and duration
Long Term Memory (LTM)
Mary suffered a brain injury and since then cannot form any new memories... What kind of amnesia does she have?
Anterograde Amnesia
True or False, VICNERD is a mnemonic?
TRUE! Acrostics – The first letter of each word in a list is used to make a word or ‘catch-phrase’ (e.g. ROYGBIV). Helpful because of cues and chunking
What is a biological factor that could improve memory?
Sleep
Diet/Nutrition
Exercise
Medication
What are the two processes involved in the Serial Position Effect?
The primacy effect is the concept that the first items in a list receive a great deal of rehearsal
More likely to be transferred into LTM because they have longer to transfer and consolidate
What is the duration of iconic memory
1/3 of a second
blink of an eye! ;)
Define Forgetting in psychological terms
Forgetting refers to the inability to retrieve information that has previously been stored in memory, despite efforts to do so.
Does not necessarily mean the info is lost!
Describe a mnemonic of your choice
Acronym
Music mnemonics
Acrostics
Method of Loci
Chunking
Rhyme
Visual Imagery
While looking at the BACK of the room, describe one ethical concept of your choice
Any from
VICNERD :)
Explain one type of rehearsal with an example
Either;
Maintenance Rehearsal (example of repeating to yourself)
or
Elaborative Rehearsal (example of making meaningful connections)
If I was to ask you to " List all the suburbs of Adelaide that you know in one minute"... what kind of LTM would this be and why
Semantic information
Semantic memory stores general knowledge such as facts, word meanings, rules, concepts, everyday knowledge and specialised knowledge
e.g., the names of suburbs in Adelaide
Explain the findings of Herman Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve
He concluded that the most forgetting occurs within an hour after we learn something.
After an hour, the rate of forgetting tends to be more gradual / plateaus
Explain which type of rehearsal would allow for enhanced memory capacity
How we rehearsal to encode and consolidate information
Should be active, conscious process
Deep processing using elaborative rehearsal most effective
Describe three social factors that could impact someone
Distractions
Other people
Relationships with others (Friends/Family)
Workplace / Education
Cultural factors
Media / News
Explain what a retrieval cue is and give an example of one type
1. Context dependent cues = environmental cues in the specific situation (context) where a memory was formed
E.g., Sights, sounds, smells
2. State dependent cues = associated with individual’s internal psychological and physiological state at the time the memory was formed
E.g., Emotions, mood, state of arousal, thought-association
Why do they call 'procedural' memory implicit memory
Procedural Memory is also referred to as implicit memory
Refers to our memory of how to perform different actions, operations and motor skills
Unconscious (automatic), without awareness
What is 'retrieval' failure as a psychological reason for forgetting
This theory suggests that forgetting is due to failure to use appropriate retrieval cues to recall information, rather than the information being lost.
With an example, explain 'Chunking' as a strategy
If we group separate items of information so they form a larger single item, we can effectively increase STM’s normal storage capacity.
•This process is known as chunking.
•Chunking – clustering smaller bits of information into larger, more meaningful single units of information.
Explain 2 ethical concepts that might apply to a memory study on people with concussions
Any explained appropriately from
Voluntary participation
Informed consent
Confidentiality
No harm
Experimenter Responsibilities
Right to Withdraw
Debrief
Explain what a neural pathway is and how it might relate to repetition and rehearsal
How well info will be stored depending on the strength of neural pathways in the brain. Neural pathways are like a roadmap for memory - and can expand and become strengthened through repetition and rehearsal of information (Studying).
Roger is at a wedding reception where he has been introduced to over 50 guests whom he has never met. He would like to remember as many names as possible. Describe the role that sensory storage, short-term memory, and long-term memory play for Roger in this situation.
Sensory - paying attention to the iconic and echoic information presented
STM - trying to use rehearsal techniques and mnemonics to encode and consolidate names learned
LTM - being able to store and retrieve people's names when needed and bring them back to conscious thought (STM)
Explain 1 type of 'interference' as a reason for forgetting
Retroactive interference - new info interferes with recalling old info. Example: Confusing concepts that you learnt last week in psychology with info from this week
Proactive interference - old info interferes with recalling new info. Example: Trying to remember a new pin number.
Sally is trying to learn for her Nutrition test but there's so much content. Describe multiple strategies she could use to improve her learning?
- Mnemonics (strategies / cues)
- Repetition and rehearsal (elaborative)
- Organise her life (sleep, diet, exercise)
- Minimise interference
Describe an objective quantitative way to assess memory
Counting standardised test results on memory test
Behavioural Observation of memory skills