MEMORY PROCESSES
MEMORY TYPES
FORGETTING
MNEMONICS
BPS/Ethics/SIS
100

What are the 3 main steps /processes of memory?

Encoding

Storage

Retrieval

100

Which type of memory store has unlimited capacity and duration

Long Term Memory (LTM)

100

Mary suffered a brain injury and since then cannot form any new memories... What kind of amnesia does she have?

Anterograde Amnesia

100

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

 

100

What is a biological factor that could improve memory?

Sleep

Diet/Nutrition

Exercise

Medication

200

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

  • The recency effect is the concept that people tend to report the last items of a list first while those items are still in their working memory
200

What is the duration of iconic memory

1/3 of a second 


blink of an eye! ;)

200

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!

200

Describe a mnemonic of your choice

  • Acronym 

  • Music mnemonics  

  • Acrostics

  • Method of Loci

  • Chunking

  • Rhyme

  • Visual Imagery

200

While looking at the BACK of the room, describe one ethical concept of your choice

Any from 

VICNERD :) 

300

Explain one type of rehearsal with an example

Either; 

Maintenance Rehearsal (example of repeating to yourself)

or

Elaborative Rehearsal (example of making meaningful connections)

300

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

300

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

300

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

300

Describe three social factors that could impact someone

Distractions

Other people

Relationships with others (Friends/Family)

Workplace / Education

Cultural factors

Media / News

400

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

400

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

400

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.

400

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. 

400

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

500

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). 

500

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)

500

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.

500

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


500

Describe an objective quantitative way to assess memory

Brain scans - objective 

Counting standardised test results on memory test

Behavioural Observation of memory skills