Chapter 5: Short-Term and Working Memory – Flashcards

The process involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no loner present. Memory is active any time some past experience has an effect on the way you think or behave now or in the future. "Everything in life is memory, saved for the thin edge of the present." Literally every moment we have is in the past because what we are experiencing consciously has been processed a few milliseconds ago. There are many different kinds of memory.

Looks a bit like Broadbent's filter model of attention. It is a flow diagram which proposed three types of memory and how they interact with one another. (input) 1. Sensory memory is the initial stage (box) that holds all incoming information for seconds or fractions of seconds. (attention) (rehearsal) 2. Arrow to Short Term Memory in the next box which holds five to seven items for about 15-20 seconds. (output) (encoding and retrieving) 3. Arrows back and fourth from Long Term Memory which can hold a large amount of information for years or even decades. EX: Rachel trying to look up the number of the pizza place on the internet. All info on screen enter sensory memory Focuses on phone number and enters it into STM Rehearse the number to keep it in STM while making the phone call Store the number in LTM Retrieve number from LTM. It goes back to STM where it is remembered.

The retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation. It has a large capacity and brief duration: How much information it can hold when the information first comes in and hits our memory is the closest we will get to a photographic memory. We are taking in so much all the time, but the catch is it only lasts for a couple of milliseconds and fades very quickly. We are always updating ourselves on our surroundings and our eyes are always darting around. (because of persistence of vision we don't notice). Every time our eyes move, and shift to the next thing, the previous image is replaced. EX: Think of a reverse polaroid picture. We start off with a perfect image and then we shake it until it goes away. EX: Fourth of July- fireworks lit up your face. When something is present briefly, such as a face illuminated by a flash, your perception continues for a fraction of a second in the dark. Sensory memory makes this brief persistence of the image, and the ability to perceive movies, possible. EX: See the trail left by the sparkler because of this.

The continued perception of a visual stimulus even after it is no longer present. This persistence only lasts for a fraction of a second. EX: This is why we are able to write our name with sparklers because the image lingers. EX: This is why we are able to watch a movie even though (back in the day) they were only still images being shown very quickly. The image would linger and we would see motion.

Measured the capacity and duration of the sensory store. He wondered how much information people can take in from briefly presented stimuli. He had an array of letters flash across the screen for 50 milliseconds and asked the participants to report as many letters as possible. He used three methods: Whole report method- where he had them report as many letters as possible from a 12 letter display. They averaged 4.5 letters. He concluded that they saw all the letters but their perception was fading as they were reporting them so by the time they had reported 4 or 5, they could no longer see or remember the rest. Partial report method- he thought that if they couldn't report the letters because of fading, then they would preform better when there were only 4 total letters (row). (still 12 letters but they would hear a tone- high, middle, or low, that would indicate which row to report). They averaged about 3.3 letters per row. Would recite immediately after the tone. This average was about the same no matter what row they were looking at. Delayed Partial Report Method- he flashed the display of numbers and then played the tone (which corresponded to a particular letter row). Participants did not do very well. He concluded that sensory memory lasts for a second. He did this through iconic (remembering visual for a second) and through echoic (remembering sound for a second).

System for holding small amounts of information for brief periods of time (lasting about 15-20 seconds or less). Has a really small capacity (smallest in the memory system) and is very limited. Even though it is very brief, it is responsible for a great deal of our mental life. This is the early version. Thought as a leaky bucket that could hold a limited amount of water at a time. It since has been updated to Working Memory. EX: Went to go meet you later and get your phone number but I forgot my phone so I had to repeat it in my head until I could write it down somewhere. Information stays in our memory for brief periods, of about 15-20 seconds if we don't repeat it over and over.

A method of experimentation where subjects are presented with stimuli and then, after a delay, are asked to report back as many of the stimuli as possible. Memory performance can be measured as a percentage of the stimuli that are remembered.

Used a method of recall to determine the duration of STM. (The first people to figure out the actual duration of STM, especially as you're busy doing something else). They had participants try to remember three random letters (constant trigram) after a certain amount of time, after counting down (commonly by threes). And did a number of trials. They found that their subjects remembered about 80% of their three letter groups if they were only counting down for 3 seconds. But they only remembered 12% when counting down for 18 seconds. Take Away: The subjects memory began to decay due to the passage of time in that 18 seconds. When the results were closely examined, they found that on the first trials, the subjects preformed well, even on the 18 second delay. Further into the trials, their performance began to drop. Their memory would become worse over the course of the trials because of proactive interference. (Rapid forgetting was due more to proactive interference and not decay).

Memory fading over time just because time passes.

Occurs when information that was previously learned interferes with learning new information. EX: Like on the brown-peterson task when the recall performance of subjects dropped over the trails. They were getting confused after seeing list after list of 3 random syllables, and they were having a hard time remembering which syllabus were on their current or previous trial. EX: If you were taking Spanish in high school, and then started taking french in college, the french vocal list may be harder to remember because Spanish and french are similar and you might mix up the words.

Occurs when new learning interferes with remembering old learning.

Looked at proactive interference's role in the rapid forgetting over the course of a number of trials. They looked at the same type of experiment, but instead of the constant trigram, they used fruits. By the time that you get the the fourth trial, it gets hard to remember (ex: was mango in the last one? or was it this one?) After that fourth trial, they do it again, but change it to vegetables, and they saw improvement. They saw even more improvement as they changed it flowers, and they saw the most improvement when they change it to professions. Its like you got refreshed and your memory rebounds, releasing you from proactive interference. This shows that proactive inference is affected mostly by things are are similar to each other.

Looks at how much information can be stored in STM (or how many items can be held there). One measure of capacity is digit span (which is the number of digits a person can remember). "The Magical Number 7, plus or minus 2" Found that on average a person can remember 5-9 numbers, averaging 7. Most string of numbers people have to remember fall in this category EX: phone numbers and license plates But when you change to anything but numbers, like letters, the number drops (more like 4). The fact that digits (phone number length) are able to be remembered more is because of chucking.

When you change the stimuli to anything else but digits, the number of items remembered drops (more like 4). An experiment was conducted using change detection where a simple image (maybe consisting of a few colored squares) was compared to another with a few second black delay in-between (as we know this will inhibit people detecting the change based on movement) and participants were asked to recall the differences. Their performance was perfect when there were only about 3 squares or images, but as soon as they increased them beyond 4 performance began decreasing significantly.

Capacity depends on chucking. It is used to describe the fact that small units (like numbers or words) can be combined into meaningful units, like phrases, or even larger units like sentences, paragraphs, or stories. (Taking units of information and putting them into smaller packets so they are easier to remember.) If you are an expert chunker, your STM would seem huge. This also why we can remember more numbers because things such as cellphone number have dashes, separating numbers into chunks and not just one long list of numbers. EX: If a memory task asked you to recall this: TMAFDLYDXCS vs. YMCALSDTVFX The second one would be easier to remember because it is not just a list of random letters, it is comprised of multiple acronyms that we are familiar with: YMCA, LSD, TV, FX. This is far easier because we have prior knowledge that we pull from our long term (top down processing) to help you learn. EX: S.F. did the memory task (like above) totaling 200 hours, which helped him become an expert chucker and improve his STM. Eventually he could recall up to 79 digits after hearing them one time. He was a runner and he would think of the number like times for a race (8452 could be 8 mins and 45 point 2 secs). When you're really good at a task, you should be able to get new information and put them in packages easier and recall them. EX: Expertise v. Chunking When it comes to memorizing a the set up of a chessboard mid game, someone who is a chess master would be able to remember the set up of the pieces better than someone who didn't play because of the prior knowledge they have of where things go and what it means to them, and they chunk based on this. But when they can't chunk, the master does not have an advantage over the rookie, they are on equal footing.

Capacity is also determined by complexity as well. Rather than memory capacity being described as "number of items" it should be described as "amount of information" EX: When storing pictures on a flash drive, the number of pictures it can store depends on the amount of photos, but also the size (quality) of the photos. EX: The study with colored squares found that the magic number is 4, but what about things that are more complex? colored squares (4) Chinese characters (2-3) random shaped polygons (2) shaded cubes (1-2) As complexity increases, the number of items remembered decreases.

A more contemporary version of STM. Defined as a limited capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning. Created because STM and the modal model to not consider the dynamic processes of STM, so working memory was created. They are used interchangeably in the field however. STM is concerned mainly with storing information for a brief period of time (output and storage), whereas WM is concerned with the manipulation of information that occurs during complex cognition. It extends past the role of storage, but also things such as transferring information from STM to LTM and vice versa. EX: When Rachel is ordering her pizza, the guy says :I'm sorry, we are out of mushrooms. Would you like to substitute pizza instead?" She was able to keep the first part in her memory while listening to the second sentence and making a connection between the two. If she just heard the second part, she wouldn't know if she would be substituting mushrooms or broccoli, etc. STM is not just used for storage, but also for active processes, such as understanding a conversation.

Wanted to create a memory model that can take into account 2 things: 1. the dynamic processes involved in understanding cognitions such as language or doing math problems 2. The fact that people can carry out two tasks simultaneously. He proposed three components of this diagram: the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the central executive.

A specialized system for language. Attached to Central Executive. Holds verbal and auditory information. Has two components: 1. Phonological store- which has a limited capacity and holds information for only a few seconds. 2. Articulatory rehearsal process- responsible for rehearsal that can keep items in phonological store from decaying. EX: When you are writing down notes, and trying to remember what the teacher is saying at the same time, repeating what the teacher said over and over to keep it in your memory until you finished writing down the text in that side so you don't forget it.

The confusion of letters or words that wound similar. (We have a lower recall for words that sound the same than words that sound different). EX: A study gave a list of words that rhymed with each other (such as bat, hat, mat, sat, cat). They were harder to recall in that same order vs. a bunch of words that are not similar or have any meaningful connection. EX: (Acoustic Confusion Error) In a study a series of letters were flashed up on a screen and subjects were instructed to write them down in the order that they were presented. The letter "F" was most likely to be confused with "S" or "X" (because it sounded like the target letter) and not the letter "E" (because it looked like the target letter) This means that we code for the way things sound acoustically. (We usually remember phone numbers by repeating them over and over, and not because of the way that they look separated by the dash).

Occurs when memory for a list of words is better for short words than for long words. It occurs because it takes longer to rephrase the long words and to produce them during recall. (If you have to take longer to say it to yourself, you are going to remember less of those words). The pacing of your external speech is the same as your internal speech. Study found our digit span is equal to how many digits we can say out loud in 2 seconds. (When we are saying stuff in our head, we are doing microscopic movements mimicking what you do when you actually talk) This is why when you talk out loud, it is hard to mentally rehearse something. What about across cultures? If their numbers are longer and take longer time to pronounce, they are going to seem to have a shorter digit span. It has nothing to do with cognitive ability.

The repetition of irrelevant sounds reduces memory because speaking interferes with rehearsal. When we are saying stuff in our head, we are doing microscopic movements mimicking what you do when you actually talk. This is why when you talk out loud, it is hard to mentally rehearse something. EX: Trying to remember something while saying um uh um, will interfere with remembering and rehearsal and won't help you. EX: Like the study that has you say the the the over and over while trying to remember a list of words. It overloads the phonological loop.

Handels visual and spatial information, and is therefore involved in the process of visual imagery (creation of visual images in the mind in the absence of physical, visual stimulus). EX: Mental Rotation: rotating an image of an object in your mind. (Like in the comparison of a 3D object that was rotated). It takes longer to (4 seconds) to figure out if two objects were the same when they were rotated 140 degrees and then (2 seconds) when they were rotated 40 degrees. EX: Patterns are hard to code verbally, so completing them depends on visual memory. This was tested with a 2x2 (small) matrix and a 5x6 (larger) matrix. Some squares were shaded, and subjects were able to complete on average 9 shaded squares correctly before making a mistake. (How is this possible when the magic number is 4? This is because the individual squares can be chunked into sub-patterns of shapes that can be recognized and recalled).

The component that makes working memory "work," because it is the control center of the working memory. Pull information from LTM and coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad by focusing on specific parts of a task and deciding on how to divide attention between the different tasks. Called the "traffic cop" of the working memory system or "attention controller". (Determines how attention is focused on a specific task, how it is divided between two tasks, and how it switches between two tasks.) EX: You're driving in a strange city. You're friend is the passage reading you directions to a restaurant while the radio is on. PL is taking in the verbal directions and VS is helping you visualize the map of the streets. The CE helps you combine and coordinate these two types of information, and ignore messages from the radio. EX: We study CE by looking at patients with brain damage (frontal lobe plays a central role in WM). These patients display preservation in their behavior.

A typical behavior of frontal lobe patients, where they repeatedly preform the same action or thought even if its not achieving the desired goal. The frontal lobe plays a central role in WM. Therefore, it is not surprising that patients with frontal lobe damage have problems controlling their attention. EX: consider a problem that might easily be solved by following a simple rule (ex: pick the red object). A patent with frontal lobe brain damage might respond correctly on each trial, as long as the rule stays the same. When the rule is switched (ex: pick the blue object) the person will continue following the same old rule even when they are told they are incorrect. This preservation represents a breakdown in the central executive's ability to control attention.

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A new component to the working memory model to show the potential of increased capacity in working memory due to things such as chunking. It can store information (thereby providing extra capacity) and is connected to LTM (thereby making the interchange between working memory and LTM possible). In this new model, the phonological loop and the central executive are also linked to long term memory. This model is vague as it is still a "work in progress," however the main idea is that the episodic buffer provides a way of increasing storage capacity and communicating with LTM.

EX: The rest was history. I can especially remember going on long bike rides with you in the crisp fall air to have a picnic in the woods. Long term memory is responsible for storing information over long periods of time which can range from a few minutes to a life time. There are three different types of long term memory: episodic, procedural, and semantic.