(3) Remembering and Forgetting Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in (3) Remembering and Forgetting Deck (31)
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1
Q

Three processes involved in remembering

A
  • Encoding
  • Storage
  • Retrieval
2
Q

What is encoding?

A

registering new information

3
Q

What is storage?

A

storing the newly encoded information in the memory

4
Q

What is retrieval?

A

recovery of previously stored information

5
Q

Rehearsal is…

A
  • According to the modal model, likelihood of transfer from STM to LTM is a function of amount of rehearsal
  • Rehearsal in STM
6
Q

What are the two types of rehearsal?

A

maintenance rehearsal (type 1) and elaborative rehearsal (type 2)

7
Q

What is elaborative rehearsal?

A

not repeating in a phonological form, taking meaning and turning it into a story

8
Q

What was Glenberg, Smith, and Green (1977) recall test with a distractor?

A
  • Participants had to recall four-digit numbers
  • In between study and recall, they had to rehearse a “distractor” word for some period (2 vs6 vs 18 seconds), e.g., 4863, table, table, table, …, “4-8-6-3”
  • There were 54 trials, and a different interpolated word was used on every trial
  • After these 54 trials, the participant (unexpectedly) asked to recall the words…
9
Q

What is the Levels of processing view?

A
  • Craik and Lockhart, 1972
  • Perceptual and comprehension processes leave behind memory trace
  • The deeper an item is processed, the better it’s retained
  • Important thing to study is not the inherent properties of memory systems, but rather the nature of encoding processes
10
Q

Support for levels of processing view

A
  • Presented a list of words e.g., MEAL
  • Each word could be associated with one of three types of encoding:
    1. Structural (Orthographic): Is the word in upper case? (Yes)
    2. Phonological: Does the word rhyme with “mat”? (No)
    3. Semantic: Does the word (e.g., ‘meal’) fit in this sentence: “the man ate his _____” ? (Yes)
  • Deeper the process, better the retrieval
11
Q

What is Transfer appropriate processing?

A
  • Morris, Bransfor & Franks
  • Memory performance depends on the extent to which processes used at the time of learning are the same as those used when memory is tested
  • Levels-of-processing approach simply assumes that semantic processing is always better than non-semantic processing
  • But encoding that is poor (“shallow”?) for one purpose might be good (“deep”?) for another.
12
Q

A test of the transfer appropriate processing view (Morris, Bransford and Franks, 1977)

A
  • Participants performed deep (semantic) vs shallow (rhyme) orienting tasks
  • After 32 of these sentences, participants were given a recognition test: Either: Standard recognition: LEAF SHEEP TRAIN or Rhyming recognition: STREET GRAIN PLOT
13
Q

Results of Morris et al (1977)

A
  • Effect in standard test consistent with levels of processing view
  • But opposite result for rhyming test
  • Semantic processing does not always enhance memory
14
Q

What is Encoding Specificity Principle?

A
  • Tulving and Thomson, 1973

- The likelihood of retrieval depends on the overlap between cues present at encoding and retrieval

15
Q

How can the encoding specificity principle be tested?

A
  • Which of the following cues will be more effective for recalling the word PIANO? – 1) something melodious? or – 2) something heavy?
  • Depends on the learning context (Barclay et al., 1974)
  • Participants who learn in this context: The man tuned the PIANO showed better recall with cue (1) than cue (2)
  • Participants who learn in this context: The man lifted the PIANO showed better recall with cue (2) than cue (1)
  • Conclusion: Participants encoded words with their context
16
Q

What are contextual cues?

A

-Inability to recognize a face when it is seen out of context is a common example of the importance of contextual cues.

17
Q

What are extrinsic contextual cues?

A

-Extrinsic - other features present at time of encoding (including one’s own cognitive state)

18
Q

What are intrinsic contextual cues?

A

-Intrinsic - features that are integral to the stimulus

19
Q

How can contextual cues be tested?

A
  • Which of the following names refer to people who were famous before 1950?
  • Then asked in context
  • Muter (1978) found that participants scored 29% correct in the name recognition task, versus 42% recall when cues were provided.
20
Q

What is State dependent recall?

A

-Recall is better if one’s internal state during recall mirrors state during encoding
-Effect demonstrated for participants under influence of drugs, including:
– alcohol (Goodwin et al., 1969; Overton, 1972),
– caffeine (Kelemen & Creeley, 2001),
– nicotine (Kunsendorf & Wigner, 1985), and
– marijuana (Eich et al., 1975)

21
Q
  • Organising information improves recall

- What did Mandler (1967) find?

A

(Some) participants asked to organise words on printed cards into different piles => had to come up with 5-7 piles

  • Group 1 told that there would be a memory test for the words
  • Group 2 told about test and asked to organise the words
  • Group 3 only asked to organise the words
  • The results showed the following pattern of recall: Group 2 = Group 3 > Group 1
22
Q

What is forgetting?

A
  • Forgetting often reflects (possibly temporary) inability to access memory (i.e., retrieval failure) rather than a loss of memory
  • We can often recognise things we can’t recall, and cued recall is much better than free recall (Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966).
  • Availability versus accessibility.
  • Retrieval failure
23
Q

What do recognition tests show in terms of forgetting?

A

Testing memory through recognition tests compared to recall tests often reveals that more is available than is necessarily accessible (e.g, Bahrick & Phelps, 1987)

24
Q

Why do we forget?

A
  • Decay? Perhaps long-term memories gradually fade over time
  • The Law of Disuse? (Thorndike, 1914).
  • Bahrick and Phelps’ (1987) study of memory for classmates is not compatible with this account.
  • Decay theory suggests that rate of forgetting should be fixed over a given period of time, whatever the individual does in that time
25
Q

What did Jenkins and Dallenbach (1924) find about sleep and forgetting?

A
  • Participants learned nonsense syllables either: A) immediately before bed or B) at the beginning of the day
  • Tested either immediately, or 1, 2, 4, or 8 hours later
  • Rate of forgetting is not constant – slower when people are sleeping. Why is forgetting faster when people are awake?
26
Q

What did the decay theory suggest?

A

-According to decay theory, there should be more forgetting after longer retention intervals even though the amount of new information remains constant

27
Q

What did the interference theory suggest?

A

-According to interference theory, there should be more forgetting after more new learning even when length of retention interval remains constant

28
Q

What did Baddeley and Hitch (1977) test with rugby players?

A
  • Rugby players recalled games played in a season.
  • General decline in recall over time/number of games
  • Players had missed some games, so could compare number of games and elapsed time as predictors of forgetting:
  • Number of intervening games was the only significant predictor
29
Q

What is Retroactive interference ?

A
  • Baddeley and Hitch’s (1977) study demonstrates retroactive interference (RI): later learning disrupts earlier learning, especially if it is similar
  • First language attrition: RI may also explain why people forget words from their native language after acquiring a second language (e.g., Isurin & McDonald, 2001)
  • Also has implications for distortion of eye witness memory by questioning
30
Q

What is Proactive interference?

A
  • Previous learning disrupts later learning
  • Hugo Münsterburg: Habit was to keep watch in his left pocket; when he switched to his right pocket, often forgot and looked in wrong pocket
  • Hot water taps in Italy! (Hot = ‘caldo’; cold = ‘freddo’
  • Often seen in skill learning
31
Q

Forgetting follows what function?

A

Forgetting follows a logarithmic function first discovered by Ebbinghaus