Memory I

Posted 2/11/06

Reading Assignment: Chapters 5 & 6

Memory storage theories

• Modal theory of memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)
• ________ stores: brief, modality-specific
• ____-term memory: brief, limited capacity
• ____-term memory: unlimited capacity, extremely long-duration

Short-term memory

• Characterized by
• Limited capacity: about __________
• Fragility of storage: distraction or ____________ causes forgetting
• Methods for measuring capacity:
• ___________ test
• ___________ effect

Digit span

• Give lists of increasing length until S cannot accurately recall all the items.
• Longest list accurately recalled indicates the _____, a measure of STM capacity.
• Span is roughly equal to the largest amount that S can _______ quickly in 2 sec. Suggests an _______ loop mechanism of STM
• Covert ___________ of items maintains them in STM. If can't rehearse an item at least once every 2 sec, it decays and is lost.

Decay from STM

• Brown-Peterson paradigm
• Give S list of letters to remember
• Then S does distractor task, e.g. ___________
• Finally recall list of letters
• Recall dimishes with ________________- distractor tasks
• Shows that information in STM decays after a few seconds if not rehearsed

Recency effect

• Demonstrating the recency effect
• Give list much longer than the _____.
• Last items ____ likely to be recalled than earlier items
• Recency effect is eliminated if a __________ (lasting 20 - 30 sec) separates list and recall.
• Suggests that STM storage decays during that time.
• Separated-item testing procedure
• Distracting activity after ______________, as well as after the last item.
• Still get the recency effect
• STM should have ______ during distraction period
• Puts STM explanation of recency effect into ____________

__________ memory

• Specific theory of how STM works
• Alan Baddeley (1986)
• _________ memory consists of
• Central Executive which coordinates
• _________ loop
• Visuospatial sketchpad
• Evidence for the __________ loop
• STM span is amount you can say in 2 sec.
• Span larger for ______ words than _______ words
• STM errors are often _________

Long-term memory

• Characterized by
• Seemingly __________ capacity
• Information maintained long-term
• Forgetting
• Memory retrieval less successful after a delay
• Why is this?

Forgetting

• 3 stages of memory
• ________
• Storage
• _________
• Forgetting could occur because of
• Failure to encode (not really forgetting)
• Decay of memory trace (lost from storage)
• Failure to retieve (although still in storage)
• ____________

____________ Interference

	Learn	Learn	Test
Exp’t			A-C
Control			A-C

____________ Interference

	Learn	Learn	Test
Exp’t			A-B
Control			A-B

Recognition vs. Recall

• Recognition is usually _______, which suggests a two-process account:
• Recall involves a search or retrieval process, followed by a decision or recognition process
• Recognition involves only the second process
• Can estimate probability of recall from the probability of (1) ________- a given item and (2) recognizing it as correct
• But, sometimes recognition is _________ than recall
• Circle names of people famous pre-1950:  (Muter, 1978)
• Doyle
• Ferguson
• Thomas
• Author of Sherlock Holmes: Sir Arthur Conan ______ ;Welsh Poet: Dylan _________

Encoding specificy account

• Retrieval is improved if the retrieval ________ matches the  ________________
• Recognition usually provides more _______________
• But recognition will be harder in those cases where it has a poor match between ________ and _________ context

Tulving & Thomas (1973)

1. Learn target words (in caps)
• head LIGHT
2. Free association: Generate 6 words to cue
• dark light, black, room
3. Recognition: mark any generated works that were on the study list (22% success)
4. Recall words from study list
• head ____________ (59% success)

Memory systems

What categories of information are stored in memory?

• ___________ memory: temporally dated, spatially located,and personally experienced events or episodes
• ___________ memory: knowledge about words and concepts; general knowledge
• ___________ memory: memory for how to do something (skill, action).

Examples

• I know that flu shots can't cause the flu, but I don’t remember where I read that. (_________ memory but not _________)
• I remember that you showed me how to retrieve that file, but I don’t remember how to do it. (_________ memory but not __________).
• I can't recite her telephone number, but if you give me a phone I can dial the number (__________ memory but not ____________)

Evidence for different systems

• Tulving & Thomson (1972)
• ________ / __________ distinction
• Phase 1: learn weak cue - target associations (e.g., plant - BUG)
• Phase 2: present strong cues (e.g., insect - _____?)
• Subjects asked to list a work that fits and was included in the list in phase one.
• Subjects are good at generating words that fit (__________)
• Even occasionally use a word from the list (sem or ep?)
• But don't recognize it as from the list (no ____________)
• Phase 3: present weak cues, fill in words from list (e.g., plant - _____ ?)
• Subjects perform well (____________)
• What does this experiment show?
• Weak cues were good cues for _________ memory-- what words were presented in this experiment
• Strong cues were good cues for _________ memory --what words do I know that are related to this cue word
• Cues for semantic memory are not necessarily good cues for episodic memory
• Consequently, Ss can __________ words, but not ____________ them as belonging to the list

Amnesia Data

• Memory losses due to amnesia are primarily ____________ memory.
• But, some _____________ memory losses occur
• So, not a perfect distinction

What about procedural memory?

• J.R. Anderson (1983) distinguished between procedural and _____________ (semantic & episodic) memory
• Knowing that vs. knowing __________
• Amnesia data
• Amnesic patients have impairments to __________ memory but not to ___________ memory
• E.g., H.M. could learn a ____________ task
• Got better with practice (____________)
• But didn't remember every doing the task before (_____________)

Implicit vs. Explicit Memory Tests

• _________ memory tests require conscious recollection of previous experience
• _________ memory test is facilitation of performance on a task in the absence of consious recollection

Implicit Memory Experiments

• Tulving, Schacter, & Stark (1982) asked subjects to learn rare words (e.g, toboggan)
• 1 hour or 1 week later given two memory tests
• ________ ___________ (e.g., _O_O_GA_)
• Standard _________ test
• Recognition memory ___________ with delay
• Fragment completion performance did not
• Fragments often completed with list words even when those words were not recognized.
• Amensia data
• Graf, Squire & Mandler (1984) Figure 6.5, page 214 of text
• On cued recall, amnesics do _______ controls (________ test)
• On fragment completion, amnesics do ________controls (_________ test)
• Jacoby et al. (1993)
• Two types of fragment completion memory tests:
• ________ test: complete fragment with word from list or, failing that, first word that comes to mind
• ________ test: complete fragment with word that was not on list
• If explicit memory were perfect, would give list words for ______% of inclusion test and _____% of exclusion test
• If no explicit memory (only implicit), % of list words should not differ between inclusion and exclusion tests
• Two learning tests:
• _______ attention (learn this list)
• _______ attention (read list words while performing complex listening task. No warning of memory test)
• Later tested with inclusion and exclusion tests
• Divided attention group gave ________ % of list words for inclusion and exclusion test
• Full attention group gave ________ list words for inclusion test
• Shows implicit memory for _________ info.

Recap on memory systems

• Episodic vs. __________
• Specific setting vs. general knowledge
• Declarative vs. ___________
• General knowledge vs. how-to
• Explicit vs. Implicit
• Requires conscious recollection vs. not