Psych7: Attention and Memory

the nervous system' capacity to acquire and retain usable skills and knowledge

• theory of attention and recognition:
•    we automatically identify "primitive" features (color, shape, orientation, movement, etc)
• separate systems analyze objects' difference visual features
• visual search tasks (feature search tasks): look at objects searching for targets that differ from the others in only one feature. other objects are distractors
• color, movement, orientation, size

• serial: looking at stimuli one at a time
• effortful: takes longer and requires more attention
• conjunction task: the stimulus you are looking for is made up of two simple features

systems all process information at the same time, and we can attend selectively to one feature by effectively blocking the further processing of the others

• E.C. Cherry
• focus on one conversation at a party, but in hearing your name or gossip, your attention can quickly change direction

• participant wears headphones and focuses on the sound on one side, though sounds come to both sides
• names might be noticed, but the rest goes unnoticed.

• Donald Broadbent
• people filter information and only let in the most important

we are often "blind" to large changes in our environments because we cannot attend to everything in a vast array of visual information available

(change blindness blindness: people's unawareness that they often do not notice apparently obvious changes in their environments)

• encoding: processing of information so that it can be stored (into a neural code)
• storage: retention of encoded representations over time that correspond to some change in the nervous system that registers the event (at least 3 storage systems)
• retrieval: act of recalling or remembering stored information to use it

• Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin
• 3 stage memory system that involves sensory memory, short term memory, and long-term memory

• sensory memory: memory for sensory information that is stored briefly close to its original sensory form
• short-term memory: a limited-capacity memory system that holds information in awareness for a brief period
• working memory/immediate memory: an active system that keeps different types of information available for current use

organizing information into meaningful units to make it easier to remember

• central executive: presides over actions in the phonological loop
• phonological loop: encodes auditory information and is active when someone tries remembering words by speaking them, reading them, or repeating them
• visuospacial sketchpad: processes visual information, such as objects' features and where they are located
• episodic buffer: holds temporary information about oneself

relatively permanent storage of information

primacy effect: better memory people havefor items presented at the beginning of the list

recency effect: refers to people's better memory for the most recent items, the items at the end of the list.

keep rehearsing the material you already know

material studied in multiple sessions over time

(cramming) material studied in a brief period

the system underlying unconscious memories

includes procedural/motor memory

the process involved when people remember specific information

the cognitive information received from explicit memory; knowledge that can be declared (consciously brought to mind)

memory for one's personal past experiences

ex. about an old birthday party..

memory for knowledge about the world

ex. capitals of states we've never visited...

improvement in identifying or processing a stimulus that has been experienced previously

a type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits

ex. riding a bike..

remembering to do something at some time in the future

certain features or feelings associated with the object/thing in question 

memories are stored representations

a hypothetical cognitive structure that helps us perceive, organize, process, and use information

the web of related things (like the firetruck)

nodes: each unit of information in the network (red, truck, ambulance, etc.)

spreading activation: idea that activating one node will trigger others to be activated as well

anything that helps a person (or other animal) recall information from memory

ex. sticky notes to get groceries.. etc.

any stimulus that is encoded along with an experience can later trigger memory for the experience

context dependent memory: location, scent, odors, background music, etc.

state dependent memory: high, sober, drunk, etc.

• Karl Lashley
• idea that memory is distributed throughout the brain rather than confined to any specific location (partially right)

truth: stored in multiple regions of the brain and linked through memory circuits (Donald Hebb)

• prefrontal cortex: working memory
• hippocampus: spatial memory
• temporal lobe: declarative memory
•          medial section: important for this memory
• cerebellum: motor action learning and memory
• amygdala: fear learning

inability to store new explicit memories

due to damage to the hippocampus

a hypothetical process involving the transfer of contents from immediate memory into long-term memory

neural processes involved when memories are recalled then stored again for later retreival

memory for the physical environment, it includes things such as location of objects, direction, and cognitive maps

neurons that modulate, or modify memory storage

memory involves alterations in connections across synapses

a mental disorder that involves frequent nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks related to an earlier trauma

the inability to retrieve memory from long-term storage

• (Daniel Schacter)
• 1. transience (forgetting): reduced memory over time
• 2. absentmindedness (forgetting): reduced memroy due to failing to pay attention
• 3. blocking (forgetting): inability to remember needed information
• 4. misattribution (distortion): assigning a memory to the wrong source
• 5. suggestibility (distortion): altering a  memory because of misleading information
• 6. bias (distortion): influence of current knowledge on our past events
• 7. persistence (undesirable): the resurgence of unwanted or disturbing memories that we would like to forget

the pattern of forgetting over time

when prior information inhibits the ability to remember new information

ex. new locker number to replace the old one

when new information inhibits the ability to remember old information

ex. finally remember the new locker, and forget the old

the temporary inability to remember something that is known

the inattentive or shallow encoding of events

deficits in long-term memory that result from disease, brain injury, or psychological trauma

the condition in which people lose past memories, such as memories for events, facts, people, or even personal information

an inability to form new memories

memory disturbance linked to chronic alcoholism

vivid memories for the circumstances in which one first learned of a surprising, consequential, and emotionally arousing event

a distinctive event might simply be recalled more easily than trivial events, however inaccurate the result

memory distortion that occurs when people misremember the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory

a type of misattribution that occurs when a person thinks he or she has come up with a new idea, yet has only retrieved a stored idea and failed to attribute the idea to its proper source

the development of biased memories when people are provided with misleading information

a type of amnesia that occurs when a person shows memory for an event but cannot remember where he or she encountered the information

the false recollection of episodic memory

patients delusionally believe their family members are imposters, and they cannot be convinced otherwise

the changing of memories over time in ways consistent with prior beliefs

strategies for improving memory