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Psy 325
Question | Answer |
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How do we get information into LTM? | Rehearsal - two main types |
What are the 2 main types of rehearsal? | • 1. Maintenance rehearsal • 2. Relational or elaborative rehearsal |
What is Maintenance rehearsal? | Just repeating the item over and over with little thought about to how items might be related to each other or to other items in long-term memory. • Doesn’t necessarily lead to LTM |
What is Relational or elaborative rehearsal? | Involves deeper thought processes about the item and thinking about how it relates to other things in your surroundings and knowledge. |
What is LOP? | • Depth of processing - the deeper the processing the more likely it will get into LTM • Shallow vs. Deep |
What is Shallow processing? | • Little attention to meaning • Attention is focused on physical features • Occurs during maintenance rehearsal |
What is Deep processing? | • Close attention • Focusing on an items meaning and relating it to something else |
Incidental vs. intentional learning | • Processing can lead to learning, even in the absence of intention to learn or memorize (incidental learning) • Intentional learning is just that, we try to learn |
What is Incidental vs. intentional learning: Shallow-Incidental learning? | Same typeface? “HOUSE-trick” |
What is Incidental vs. intentional learning: Shallow-Intentional learning? | Same typeface? AND try to remember these words “HOUSE-trick” |
What is Incidental vs. intentional learning: Medium-Intentional learning? | Do they rhyme and remember them. “BALL-TALL” |
What is Incidental vs. intentional learning: Medium-Incidental learning? | Do these words rhyme? “BALL-TALL” |
What is Incidental vs. intentional learning: Deep-Incidental learning? | Are they synonyms? “CAR-AUTOMOBILE” |
What is Incidental vs. intentional learning: Deep-Intentional learning? | Are they synonyms and remember them. “CAR-AUTOMOBILE” |
Incidental vs. intentional learning - the results | Shallow-Incidental learning: 30% Medium-Incidental learning: 60% Deep-Incidental learning: 80% |
How to improve LTM? | Diversity and Distribute |
What is Diversity in LTM? | Diversify: encode the material in a slightly different way each occasion • Creates multiple interrelated memory records |
How to Distribute in LTM? | Distribute: spacing the repetitions of to-be-remembered information over time • Opposite of cramming • Inserting spaces between repetitions increases the likelihood of diversification |
Encoding for long term memory What is Elaboration ? | An encoding process that involves the formation of connections between to-be remembered input and existing memory stores • Elaborating on the relationship between new and existing information strengthens long term memory for this information |
Encoding for the long term What is Relational Processing? | Can use existing knowledge stores to draw connections between multiple pieces of new information • Remember more about the environment by chunking information together |
When should memory for information should be better? | when the conditions during encoding and retrieval are similar. • Scuba divers remember things better underwater than on dry land!! |
What was the Encoding specificity Butler & Rovee-Collier 1989? | 3 month old infants • Study phase: learn to move something by kicking it • Test phase • Same crib = strong kicking • Different crib = much less kicking |
What are Eyewitnesses encouraged to do? | • Eyewitnesses are encouraged to replay the sequence of events. |
What helps aid eyewitness memory? And why? | • Perhaps that’s why hypnosis sometimes helps to aid memory...the hypnotist usually attempts to reinstate the context of an event. |
Encoding specificity principle: What are State and mood-dependent effects? | • Matching the person’s internal state of encoding at the retrieval stage helps retrieval. • If you encoded information while intoxicated, recall should be better while in that same state! |
What are Mood dependent memory examples? | • Depressed patients find it difficult to remember times of well-being. • Psychiatric patients have better memory when moods match. |
Mood dependent memory example Bower, Monteiro, & Gilligan (1978). | Used hypnosis to induce happy and sad states. • Had participants study a list of words. • Memory test for the words. 1/2 of the participants were put in the same mood, and 1/2 in the other mood. |
What are Conditions for mood dependent memory? Eich (1995) | • 1. Mood dependent effects are most reliable when the memory is generated by the participant • 2. More likely when the memory test does not contain explicit cues • 3. Stronger when the mood states are strong |
What is Transfer-appropriate processing? | • The more closely the content of cues matches the content of a memory, the more likely the cues will retrieve the memory • Example: playing squash brings back procedural memory for playing tennis |
What is something that transfer-appropriate processing tends to do? | • Sometimes can override levels of processing. • An example: • Morris et al., 1977 - rhyming and meaning experiment |
Transfer-appropriate processing example: | • “The ______ kicked the ball” • “girl” • Does that fit or not? • “_________ rhymes with toy” • “boy” • Does that rhyme? |
Transfer-appropriate processing • Recognition test for words • Results | • Meaning - 82% • Rhyming - 62% • This is to be expected, different level of processing - semantic meaning vs. a more shallow phonetic processing. |
Transfer-appropriate processing What happens when you use the Rhyming test for retrieval instead of recognition? | • Presented with same words from recognition test, but asked if a word rhymes with a previously presented word • Results • Meaning - 33% • Rhyming - 49% • Can’t be explained by LOP, but can by transfer-appropriate processing |
What role does meaningfulness play? | Meaningfulness of material • Your own name, pictures = very meaningful • Picture (cat) vs. (my cat) • Expertise |
Expertise: Chase & Simon (1973) How did they test expertise? | Compare memory for configuration of pieces on a chessboard in experts and non experts |
What were the results of Expertise: Chase & Simon (1973)? | When the pieces on the chess board were arranged in a meaningful way , chess experts displayed far superior memory for these configurations relative to novices • Expertise allowed information to be processed deeply due to meaning |
What happened Criticisms of Levels study by: • Nelson (1977)? | • wrong = even maintenance rehearsal does improve memory • circularity = there is no independent measure of depth in the framework |
What are some difficulties in the critisms of levels? | 1. • Difficult to determine where along certain tasks lie • how can you rank these “levels”? • Is it green? 2. Difficulty explaining amnesia • Deep elaborative processing still possible • formation of new long term memories is severely impaired |
How to get better memory? | • Form connections with other information • Self-reference effect • Generate information • Other ‘tricks’ |
How to Form connections? | • Try to connect information that you want to remember to something already stored in LTM. • Relational processing |
Forming connections - deeper and personalized processing | • Is the word long? < Does the word describe you? |
How to Generate information? | • Self-generating information can lead to much better memory. Just read the word pairs and then memory test tennis-racket Generate the 2nd word and then memory test tennis-ra_____ |
How do we improve memory? • 2002 memory champion Andi Bell | Method of loci • Taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations. |
How do we improve memory? | Engage in adequate rehearsal • Practice makes perfect • Schedule distributed practice and minimize interference • Take breaks! |
How do we improve memory • Emphasize deep processing? | How often you go over material is less critical than the depth of processing that you engage in. • Perhaps spend less time on rote memorization, and more time analyzing and paying attention to the material |
How do we improve memory • Acrostics | Phrases where the first letter of each word functions as a cue. e.g., “every good boy does fine” |
How do we improve memory • Narrative | To remember a list of words, make up a story that includes the words in order. |
Memory and the brain – how and where: | At the synapse Long-term potentiation • Enhanced firing of neurons after repeated stimulation |
What is memory consolidation? | • Transforms new memories from a fragile to a more permanent state. |
Whats Synaptic consolidation? | - occurs at synapses, over a matter of minutes |
Whats Systems consolidation? | gradual reorganization of circuits, lasts weeks or more. |
Whats Memory consolidation • Standard model? | • Memory relies on the hippocampus when new memories are being consolidated • Once the memory is intact, the hippocampus then plays only a small role • What would happen if you damaged your hippocampus? |
What are Important brain structures? | Medial temporal lobe • Contains • Hippocampus • Perirhinal cortex • Parahippocampal cortex • Entorhinal cortex |
What is MTL and new memories? | • When learning new memories, the MTL is active. • When retrieving memories for things that were remembered long ago the MTL isn’t activated. • Note - this is the case for semantic memory.. |
What is Memory for emotional stimuli? | • Amygdala • Activity in amygdala higher for emotional words or pictures (when compared with neutral words or pictures) • Capgras syndrome |
What is Capgras syndrome? | - rare, belief that a close acquaintance has been replaced with an impostor |
What is autobiographical memory? | • Memories for events and issues related to yourself • Similar to episodic memory with extras • Initially of interest to researchers they assumed it was more resistant to distortion than other memory types • Neisser’s story shows can make mistak |
What are Characteristics of autobiographical memory? | • long-term recollection of general features of an event • interpretations of an event • Memory of your wedding day... • What happened? --> memory for general features and specific details • What was it like |
Are autobiographical memories true? | • autobiographical memories may be accurate without being literal & may represent personal meaning of an event at the expense of accuracy • accuracy of personal memories (Field, 1981): • .88 correlation for factual information among family members |
Whats the problem with testing autobiographical memory? | • Questions of accuracy (better in lab) • Questions of full disclosure (are you going to tell embarrassing personal stories to complete stranger) • And of course, the underlying problem of all research, does it generalize outside of the laboratory? |
Ways to test autobiographical memory Galton’s cuing technique (1883) | • Recall a personally related event to a cue word • problems: too open-ended |
Ways to test autobiographical memory Autobiographical memory schedule (Kopelman, Wilson, & Baddeley, 1989)? | • Ask people about personal info and events from different periods of one’s life...usually used to compare memories across time periods • This is what led to the discovery of the reminiscence bump |
Ways to test autobiographical memory The diary entry method (Wagenaar) | • Cued to write down what you’re doing at various points during the day • Problems: extremely time consuming, personally invasive • Researchers usually use it on themselves |
What does the reminiscence bump say? | We have better memory for things from childhood to early adulthood (10-30). Rubin (1987) – “we remember more about the periods in time that define us as people” (e.g., reminiscence bump, age 10-30) |
What did Reminiscence bump initially make researchers think? | That autobiographical memory was resistant to distortion...not so |
What are the 3 reasons for the reminiscence bump? | 1. Life-narrative hypothesis 2. Cognitive Hypothesis 3. Cultural life script |
What is the life-narrative hypothesis? | this is when we assume our life identities. Nostalgic for ‘our’ generation. Lots of firsts happening. |
What is the cognitive hypothesis? | Encoding is better for periods of rapid change that are followed by stability |
What is the cultural life script? | Culturally shared expectations structure recall. |
What was Bartletts roll in memory? | One of the first to suggest that memory was a constructive process |
What did Bartless suggest? | remembering material/episodes, individuals do 3 1.Leveling - making story simpler 2.Sharpening - highlighting certain details 3.Assimilating - changing details to fit one's personal background • Led to conclusion memory is constructive |
What are flashbulb memories? | - memory for the situation in which you first learned of a very surprising and emotionally arousing event - typically memories of events of national or international significance • the assassination of JFK • the assassination of MLK |
What are Major determinants of flashbulb Memories? | • high level of surprise • high level of emotional arousal • more likely to be rehearsed |
What did Neisser say about flashbulb memories? | Just because flashbulb memories seem exceptionally clear, does not mean they are not prone to distortion |
What did Neisser and Harsch (1992) do to prove complications in flashbulb memory? | Pearl Harbor example • asked subjects to describe what was happening when they heard about the Challenger explosion then asked again two and a half years later |
What does confidence have to do with memories? | • Most people are highly confident in their memories. In the Challenger study, subjects indicated a high confidence • No correlation between confidence and accuracy, even with flashbulb memories |
How accurate are flashbulb memories over time. • Schmolck, Buffalo, & Squire, 2000. | Event: Announcement of the O.J. Simpson murder trial (1995). Asked Reactions • After 15 months, predominantly memories had no distortions • After 32 months, predominantly memories had major distortions |
Why are eyewitness unreliable? | 1. Because beliefs and expectations can distort memories. 2. Post-event misinformation seems to reliably lead to incorrect memories regarding the original source |
What are Memory schemas? | • Knowledge structure in LTM used to store information • Schemas developed based on relationships between units of knowledge • Related information stored within the same schema |
Whats the implication of Memory schemas? | Implication: Memories retrieved from a schema will often be influenced by related knowledge that is stored within the same schema |
What was the Eye Witness testimony Experiment done by Loftus and Palmer (1974)? | • Undergrads shown a film of a car crash and later asked to estimate the speed of the two cars when they • (a) smashed into each other • (b) contacted each other |
What is the misinformation effect? | Misleading information after witnessing an event can change how someone describes that event at a later date. |
Why does the misinformation effect occur? | 1. Memory-trace replacement 2. Retroactive interference 3. Source confusion |
What is memory trace replacement? | Misinformation replaces or impairs original memory |
What is Retroactive interference? | More recent learning interferes with past memories |
What is Source confusion? | Incorrectly attributes the memory to a different source. |
Source Errors: What is source memory? | the origin of our memories, knowledge, or beliefs. |
What is Source monitoring error? | Misidentifying the source of a memory. • Shows how we can ‘construct’ memories. Can be influenced by our knowledge |
What is a Schema? | knowledge about what is involved in a particular experience. |
What are Retrieval biases? | Schema-consistent information is remembered for longer and more accurately than schema-inconsistent or schema-irrelevant information |
What are False Memories and when do they occur? | • False memories occur when we use schematic knowledge to “fill in” memory blanks • Experienced as real memories • People report great confidence in false memories |
How did one college professor create false memories? | College students given information of personal events from their lives and told to elaborate. • 20% of them later ‘remember’ these events and believe they happened! |
What was the Eyewitness errors study done by Wells & Bradfield, 1998? | • Video of crime shown. • Criminal shown for 8 seconds. • Subjects were shown photographs of potential criminals. • Every participant picked someone who they thought was the gunman. • The actual gunman wasn’t even shown! |
What is eyewitness errors: weapons focus? | • In situations of high stress and emotion, we tend to focus attention on a weapon. • Other information is processed at a much shallower level. |
What is Eyewitness errors • Familiarity? | Mistakenly identifying an innocent bystander as the perpetrator. |
How was Eyewintness errors familiarity tested? | Participants watched a series of videos • Experimental group • Film of male teacher reading to students, film of female teacher getting robbed, pick robber from photospread • Control group (same but with f teacher) |
What are Eyewitness errors Errors due to suggestion? | After the fact questioning • After someone describes a crime scene, questions can increase their confidence in their memory. • “Did you see a red bandana?” • “Which one of these men did it?” |
How to minimize eye witness errors? | 1. Tell witnesses that the perpetrator might not be in the line-up they see 2. Use similar looking people 3. Sequential rather than simultaneous presentation (reduces comparisons between the line-up 4. Improved interview techniques. |
Whats a big problem with weapon focus? | weapon focus is often used as a defense and has led to the acquittal of actually guilty individuals |
How has the law been influenced by cognition? | 1) Try to make distractors similar enough-elimination isn’t possible 2) Inform the victim that the suspect may not be in the lineup to get a fairer criterion 3) sequential rather than simultaneous presentation 4) No longer rely on victim’s confidence |
Other studies influencing the law Loftus and Palmer | Estimate speed at which cars were going when they (smashed/hit/ contacted) each other...change in verb leads to drastic change in speed estimate... smashed also leads to false memory for broken glass (inferences occur) |
What have eyewitness studies lead to? | • Disbelief in accuracy of flashbulb memory • Changes to the way police interrogate people (positively) • Changes to the way lawyers interrogate people (negatively) |
What have eyewitness studies lead to? Design of vehicles/equipment | Cognitive ergonomics (engineering psychology) – concerns mental processes such as perception, attention, cognition, motor control, and memory storage and retrieval as they affect interactions among humans and other elements of a system |
What is Cognitive ergonomics? | • Numerous cognitive findings applied to design of equipment • For example, handedness affects performance can be important to design equipment in such a way that both left and right handed individuals can operate it efficiently |
Other factors influencing human/computer Interaction, Visual acuity: | need to ensure all dials/buttons/ signs are of an appropriate size • need to ensure that operating panels are not overcrowded so as not to overwhelm the visual system • Also want to reduce likelihood of interference (either operational or visual) |
What is the simon effect? | The Simon effect is the finding that reaction times are faster when stimulus and response occur at the same location (same visual/ response field) • Used in the design of airplanes and equipment where ms can make a difference |
How was the Simon effect tested? | • Task is press button with your left hand when the color green appears, and press a button with your right hand when the color red appears • Targets can appear at any of 3 locations on the screen (left, center, right) but location is task irrelevant |
Other ergonomic factors What is Attentional capture? | The notion that events can ‘capture’ your attention automatically. • Need to know when it can be used to ones advantage (peripheral onsets as warning lights) and how to prevent the effects of capture in situations where it can be detrimental. |
How has ergonomic factors affected public safety? | Making instructions (particularly emergency instructions) clearer and more straightforward to the public. |
What did File and Jew (1973) discover about public safety and ergonomic facors? | – examined effectiveness of airline emergency landing instructions • Discovered that negation has a very negative impact on comprehension |
Clark and Chase (1972) Sentence verification task | True or false: “Star is above plus” is responded to faster than “Plus isn’t above star” or “Star isn’t below plus” even though both sentences are true |
How to apply the sentence verification task to cognition and public safety in aiplanes? | • Physical change from male to female voice • Details given with minimum negation • Details are repeated in an easy to understand way • The message is given as though from an authority figure |
Public safety, what did Potter (1972) notice about road signs? | Potter (1972) noted that road signs are usually bunched together causing confusion and, in extreme cases, masking |
What did Potter recommend to make road signs safer? | •repeating key signs, somewhat ahead of where they are needed •illuminating or flashing key signs •showing pictures are processed more rapidly than words), recommended using pictures •Many of these changes used over the past 25 years |
What is the best technique for advertising, knowing cognition facts? | Repetition |
What did Harris and Monaco show about people and making inferences? | People also tend to make inferences as a function of how a message is presented • Harris and Monaco showed that people will remember incorrect inferences as assertions, even if warned to watch out for this |
Battle of the Brandy’s | Christian Brothers changes their packaging and regains their market share. |
What is Subliminal advertising? | • Based on early ideas of subliminal perception/ perception without awareness • Popcorn in theatres – not a true story • Later research has shown that subliminal advertising may not be effective but lots of effort still goes into it. |
What are the physical limitations of reading? | The eyes cannot take in 1500 wpm About three saccades per line at a rate of 250 ms per fixation/saccade With 44 lines a page, it would take about a minute to read each page • Typical page contains 500 words, that’s as fast as you can go |
How has cognitive research shown people how to study? | • Distributed, not massed practice • Using self testing to enhance studying rather than just rote memorization |
How to properly set goals? | • set a specific (higher) goal—e.g., 90% correct on the test—rather than setting the standard goal—i.e., “doing your best” • People perform better when set high goals relative to standard goals...has been shown to work in workplace |
Does Taking notes and underlining help? | • taking notes in class or underlining in books does not help on tests unless you study them later (Carter & Van Mater, 1975) • Just the process of doing this does not ensure success or enhanced attention |
What are Concepts? How do we know the things we know? | • Our mind is full of concepts. • Mental representation that is used for a variety of cognitive functions • E.g., when you think about dogs, you think of the concept of dogs, which includes information on how they look, behave... |
What is Creating categories? | • We have to be able to place new things in categories |
What makes categories useful? | If you didn’t have categories you would have to investigate every object to figure out what it is |
What is the Definitional approach to categorization? | Does the item meet the definitions of a category? |
Why is Defining categories often difficult? | Not all members of a category have the same features. |
What are some Ways to determine categories? | By the similarity an object has to a standard representation. Prototypes and exemplars |
How are Prototypes vs. exemplars similar? | Both refer to how something compares to a ‘standard’ member of the category • Differ in what a ‘standard’ is. |
What is a Prototype? | Standard is an average of category members |
What is an Exemplar? | Standard created by considering a number of typical members of a category |
Members of a category: High prototypicality vs low. | • Can strongly match a prototype • High prototypicality • Don’t strongly match a prototype • Low prototypicality |
When can people answer questions about a category fastest? | If the prototype has a high family resemblance. |
Prototypical object facts: | 1. Prototypical objects are named first •a. Think of all the birds you can. 2. • Prototypical objects are more affected by priming. |
What were the main conditions for Rosch’s (1975) priming experiment? | • Same color - good examples • Same color - bad examples • Different color • We are interested in the priming conditions (same colors as spoken word). |
What is the The exemplar approach? | • Involves many examples of a category • Actual members of a category • Exemplar • Can better account for atypical cases (penguins/ostriches) • Remembers individual cases • A better example - games. Is there really a prototypical game? |
What’s better? Exemplar or Prototype | • We might use both • Initially learn a prototype, and then keep in mind specific cases (exemplars). |
Rosch’s privileged level – Basic: An example | • List as many features that would be common to all or most of the objects in the following category. • Furniture • Chair • Office chair |
What are the 3 levels in Roschs priming experiment? | 1. Superordinate 2. Basic 3. Subordinate |
What is Superordinate level? | The highest level. Corresponds to general categories (sports) |
What Basic level? | In the middle. Psychologically privileged. More info than superordinate, subordinate doesn’t provide much more |
What is Subordinate level? | The lowest level. Corresponds to specific items of a category |
What is Semantic networks? | • Concepts are arranged in networks that represent the way concepts are organized in the mind. |
Semantic Networks: why do we go from ‘parrot’ to ‘bird’ to find out that it can fly? | Because Cognitive Economy: Inefficient to store redundant information at each node. Problem – not all birds fly. Not all birds can talk |
Why does it take longer to say • A parrot is an animal • Vs. • A parrot is a bird? | Further distance to travel. |
Semantic networks and spreading activation? | Activating a category in the network will activate closely related nodes. |
In semantic networks what does spreading activation do? | It allows for other related concepts to be primed. Example: parrot→ bird→ crow→ animal etc. |
What was the Spreading activation – experiment? | • Lexical decision task • Push YES if the following word is a word • Push NO if the following word is not a word Myer & Schvaneveldt - variation of the LDT - are the pairs of items words or not? HOUSE WATCH→ yes, PLANT RANET→ no |
What are criticisms of the hierarchical semantic network? | 1. Typicality effect 2. Sentence verification technique |
What is the Typicality effect? | Model would say equal RTs for less and more typical members in a category A parrot is a bird < A penguin is a bird |
What is the Sentence verification technique? | For certain concepts A pig is an animal < A pig is a mammal |
How to answer critics of the semantic network? | • Shorter links that are more closely related • This abandons the hierarchical structure • More experience based |
What are good theories? | 1. Explanatory power 2. Predictive power 3. Falsifiability 4. Generation of experiments |
What is the new semantic model? | • Lengths of links are determined by experience. • Any different result can be explained by a variation in one’s experience • No rules for determining the lengths |
What a different way of looking at the new semantic model? | • Connectionism • Similar to a semantic network, but functions differently. • A series of networks |
What are Connectionist models? | Networks consist of units that can function like neurons (excited or inhibited). |
Connectionist models activation? | • Knowledge activates a distributed network of units. • Processing occurs in many parallel lines • Parallel distributed processing approach • Processing depends on the weights at each connection • Positive or negative |