Cognitive Psychology: Memory Classification

Cognitive Psychology Memory Classification - Memory - defined as learning that has persisted over time - These memories can be utilized both explicit and implicit - Explicit memory - the memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare (aka declarative memory) - For ex. - if i declare or state “the hippocampus is part of the limbic system of the brain,” it would be an example of explicit memory because i am consciously recalling and share the info - Implicit memory - the retention of information independent of conscious recollection. This is memory information that one can’t explain (ex - you don’t consciously think about walking-you just walk) - Recall - the measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier (having another stimuli to help remember something) - Ex - a fill-in-the-blank test would be recall memory - Recognition - the measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned - Ex - a multiple-choice test would be recognition memory - Relearning - the phenomenon in which one saves a substantial amount of time when learning material - Ex - if you are talking U.S. History in 11th grade, after having already learned many U.S. history topics in 8th grade, you will learn the previously-learned info much more quickly - Three-step process - encoding, storage, and retrieval - Encoding - the process of information into the memory system by extracting meaning. The encoding process is much like warehouse workers labelling and placing the materials into the warehouse for storage - Storage - the process of retaining encoded information over time. The storage process is much like the organization of stored materials in designated sections in a warehouse - Retrieval - the process of getting information out of the memory system. This is similar to the warehouse workers getting the material location information, and removing it from the storage - The process is completed and associated with many parts of the Cerebral cortex - The hippocampus helps process explicit memories for storage. It functions as a sort of loading dock where the brain registers and temporarily holds information - Cerebellum - largely associated with procedural memory and associations as a sort of classical conditioning center. If damaged, one cannot develop certain associations - For ex - during an experiment, people with disabled cerebellum were unable to automaticaly anticipate a puff of air after the sound of a tone - Effortful processing - Ex - practicing and rehearsing terms for a quiz or test - - - - - - Automatic processing - Ex - listening to or reading words you already know and understand. The word meanings are automatically processed without effort. While at one point in your life it took effortful processing to learn those word meanings, they are now automatically processed without conscious effort. Shadow processing - encoding on a basic level, based primarily on the structure or appearance of words - This would be like memorizing a list of words from a foreign language Deep processing - the encoding of information semantically, based on the meaning of the word, its context, or its significance. Deep processing tends to yield the best retention of information Working memory - short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of information retrieved from long-term memory - For ex. - one cannot teach a person to create words or read well without first knowing the letters of the alphabet. Learning the alphabet, its sounds, and then small words provides a foundation of knowledge, skills, and experience that we are able to build upon, and learn complex materials more quickly Short-term memory (STM)- activtaed memory that holds few information - Ex - we can often remember seven digits of a phone number briefy when entering a contact, and the info is soon stored or forgotten shortly after entering - Can be divided into sensory, iconic, and echoic - Sensory memory - the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information into the memory system. System memory usually refers to touch, taste, and smell - Ex - a scent can be recalled immediately after encountering the smell, but if asked an hour or day later, you would likely not remember - Iconic memory - memory forming seeing (visual stimuli) - Ex - if you are shown an image for a few seconds you can recall and recreate the details for a short time, but, as the second go by, the detail and accuracy diminish - Echoic memory - the momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli. Occurs even if attention is elsewhere, as sounds and words seem to echo in our heads for 3-5 seconds - Ex - if the teacher feels like you arent paying attention and ask: WHAT DID I JUST SAY? You can think and recall the words siad from the last few seconds even though you weren’t actively listening long-term memory - the relatively-permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory includes our knowledge, skills and experiences - procedural memory - memory involved in automatic motor movement - - - - - - - - - Ex - riding a bike (once learned, one does not often forget how to use the skill, even after extended periods of non-use Flashbulb moments - vivid memories of an often emotionally-significant moment or event (something special that stands out in your life) Long-term potentiation - an increase in neuron-firing potential after a brief, rapid period - When a particular memory is coupled with a surge of neural or emotional activity, we seem to recall the memory with better detail, accuracy, and vivid imagery - Emotion linked with memory retrieval cue - (setting plus what is happening to you may affect you remember) - other bits of spatial information that help recall memories from a web of neurons - Ex - when learning the names of new people in a classroom we are often able to better recall their name when we think about where they sit Mood congruency - the tendency to recall memories that are consistent with one’s current mood - can help us recall memories - Ex - when one is angry at their partner, they are often reminded of other times they were angry at their partner. Serial-position effect - the tendency to remember the names or info at the beginning or end of a list Stereotype threat - a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group Chucking - the organizing of info into familiar, manageable units - Ex - learning history in historical eras, psychology in specific fields (cognition, social, etc) all help us to remember the info Mnemonics - memory aids, like acronyms, and other tricks we use to remember info - Ex - when learning the colors of the rainbow, the acronym ROYGBIV can be helpful Spacing effect - ex - studying and relearning info across several days or weeks rather than cramming ex - studying and reviewing a test little each day rather than cramming Testing effect - ex - using flash cards Hierarchies Herman ebbinhaus - pioneered research regarding relearning, and analyzed memory data for patients finding that most info tended to drop off quickly, leaving one with less than 25% of their originally-learned knowledge after a month. These results can be see of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve - - - - Amnesia - Antrerograde amnesia - the condition in which patients fail to develop new memories - Retrograde amnesia - the failure to retrieve old info from one’s past - Protective interference - (difficult to remember the past) ex - accidentally calling your new boyfriend or girlfriend by your old boyfriend or girlfriend’s name - Retroactive interference - (past preventing us from learning new thing) ex - when the song you are currently listening to activity prevents you from remembering the words or melody of an older song Memory errors - Misinformation effect - the incorporating of misleading information into one’s memory of an account - can cause one to distort or misremember certain information - Elizabeth Loftus - pioneered research on the misinformation effect by working with eyewitness accounts in the legal system. Loftus successfully showed tht simply re-working questions altered the recollection of witnesses. Ex - using the word “smashed” when referring to a car accident, witnesses consistently recalled broken glass and fire when the accident contained neither - Source amnesia - attributing an event memory to the wrong source occurs when brail fail to retrieve a memory Problem-solving methods - The right hemisphere - the one that specializes in the unknown - Algorithm - a methodical, logical approach that guarantees solving particular problems (a set way to solve a problem) - Test all possible solutions to systematically solve the problem - Ex - if one was looking for sweet chili sauce in the grocery stores, going up and down every single aisle systematically from left-to-right would be an algorithmic approach - Heuristics - a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and educated guesses to solve problems efficiently. This is the preferred approach of humans as it is far quicker than an algorithm. - Ex - finding the sweet chili sauce would be going directly to condiment or ethnic foods aisle, as it is likely in those areas - Insight (a light bulb moment) (Wolfgang Koshler) - studied chimpanzees that were given fruit out of reach and later used sticks to get fruit. When chimps had the moment of insight, the clear electrical and chemical activity came from the right hemisphere Mental set - the tendency to approach a problem the same way - Ex - once one has attempted to solve a problem, like fixing a broken-down car, they are often unable to think of other mental approaches to solving the problem. It often requires a second opinion or perspective to break one’s own mental set - - - - - - - - - - A mental set can be impaired with functional fixedness - a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it traditionally used Intuition - an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning. Judgements made based on intuition lead smart people to make poor or uninformed decisions - Jonathan Haidt confirmation bias - profoundly misleads our judgements we tend to almost-exclusively use or remember info that confirms what we already know, and readily dismiss info that runs counter to our intuitions Belief perseverance - (to stick to what you believe no matter what) the clinging to one’s initial belief after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. - Ex - continuing to think that going outside without a jacket causes one to get a “cold” despite mountains of evidence linking colds not to temperature, but to viral infection Representative heuristics - may cause one to judge the likelihood of events or situations based on stereotypes, cause them to miss or dismiss relevant ino - Ex - if shown a pitbull and a golden lab many people may pre-judge the pitbull as move aggressive when that may not necessarily be the case availability heuristic - may also mislead us in regards to memory as they cause us to estimate the likelihood of an event based on the availability in memory when one does win can mislead one to think win more often than they actually do Overconfidence - the tendency to be more confident than correct - may also evoke certainty in our judgement or ability when the evidence or likelihood of success may not be as good as we feel Framing - the wording or way as issue or question is posed - ex - people are much-less likely to to agree to a surgery if they are told their chances of dying at 10% as opposed to hearing the surgency has a 90% success rate. The info is the same, but the framing of information impacts one intuition and therefore judgement Creativity - the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas (true creativity is very rare) - Convergent thinking - thinking that narrows the available promblem solutions to determine the single, best solution - Ex - set of correct or incorrect answer, such as 2+2=4 - Divergent thinking - expands the number of possibilities to a solution, diverging from one of a possible set of correct answers. (thinking and searching for answers that have many different options) - Both are innate (are not taught) Components of creativity - Expertise - a well-developed based of knowledge provides more building blocks with which to create novel ideas and uses - Imaginative thinking - having mastered a problem’s basic elements, we tend to redefine or explore it in a new way, allowing different perspectives - - - A venturesome personality - seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguities and risks, and perseveres by overcoming obstacles - Intrinsic motivation - being driven, interested in, or satisfied to constantly think about and analyze (Issac Newton, for example, obseesed over thoughts until they were solved or completed) - A creative environment - support innovation, team-building, and communication Language development - Noam Chomsky - discovered that human beings are predisposed to grammatical structures; phonemes (letters) morphemes (words and prefixes), and grammar. While we are not born with language, we are born with an innate ability to recognize, learn, and create language - Babbling stage - from 4-10 months - a series of indiscernible sounds and noises - Components for language acquisition - phonemes, morphemes, and syntax - Phonemes - any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specific language that distinguish one word from another - Ex - p, b, d, and t in pad, bad, dad, tad - Morphemes - a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided (e.g. in, come, -ing, forming incoming) Intelligence - the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations - Intelligence test - a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes (a natural ability to do something) and comparing them with the aptitudes of others through the use of numerical scores - grif/conscientiousness - The size and activity of frontal and parietal lobes when measured for grey (neural cell/dendrites) and white (axons) brain matter - crystallized intelligence - the ability to use previously-learned skills, knowledge, and experience. It grows as we age but does not exactly equate to memory - fluid intelligence - the ability to learn quickly, adapt, and problem solve in new situations - Charles Spearman’s general factor of intelligence (g) - An overall intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on a test - Used factor analysis - a statistical procedure the identifies clusters of related items called factors - to develop a test with the purpose of identifying different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score