Chapter 7: Cognition
Module 31:
Memory = Persistence of learning over time (encoding, storage, retrieval)
Q1 – What would life look like without the capacity for memory?
Events, Faces, Tasks & Skills (we take it for granted)
Q2 – What 3 steps are required to “remember” something (create memory)
Encoding, Rehearsal, Retrieval
Q 3 – What are the 3 components of memory forming process
Sensory – (Echoic and Iconic) – 9 Letters Flashed Experiment – Fleeting (.5 - 2 seconds)
STM – 7-9 Bits of Info for several seconds
LTM – Unlimited (storage and retrieval difficulties)
Q4 – Working Memory (another way of viewing STM)
Auditory – Executive – Visual ---- LTM (2 Different ways of processing information)
Windows / Words in Sentence Demonstration
Q5 – How do we move things from STM to LTM
(Rehearsal & retrieval)
Q6 – What is the difference between Explicit and Implicit Memory
Explicit = events, specifics (Effortful Processing)
Implicit = Procedures (Automatic Processing)
 Brain operates with a duel track system
Q7 – Limits to working memory?
Age (younger = better) – multi-tasking
Q8 – Effortful Strategies?
Chunking, Mneumonics (Peg Word, Acronym, Method of Loci), Heirarchies
Visual, Auditory, Semantic (give meaning)
Q9 – What are Effective ways of remembering information / learning?
1. Spacing Effect –
2. Testing Effect 3. Deep Processing (Semantic Encoding) – (Example in Book)
4. Make it personally meaningful (Laundry Example in Book)
5. Eliminate Distractions
o More Time is not necessarily better
Module 32
MEMORY STORAGE
Q1 – Is memory like an Attic storage w/ limited capacity?
Q2 – What role do the Frontal Lobes and Hippocampus play in Memory?
- Process Explicit Memories
Q3 – How does sleep effect memory?
Q4 – Which parts of brain influence forming/storing Implicit Memory
Cerebellum (Classical Conditioning) - Woman pinched by doctor still reluctant to shake
Q5 – Role of the Basil Ganglia
Procedural Memory – Skill
Q6 – Why limited memory from early childhood
1. Language limitation in encoding/indexing
2. Development of Hippocampus
Q7 – Role of emotion in memory
 Emotions = Stress Hormones = Something important is happening (Amygdala)
 First Kiss, First Fight, Death of loved one (Intense emotion = vivid memory)
 Flashbulb memories – Big Events captured in detail…can be blurred
Q8 – What is LTP? How does it affect memory?
 Long Term Potentiation – increase in a cell’s firing potential after stimulation
o Neural Basis for Memory Formation
 Synaptic – Neurons aspect of Memory
 Drugs to generate LTP (cure neurocognitive disorders, boost memory)
Q9 – Why do people not remember the events prior to getting knocked out?
- Jolt prevents the working memory from processing and storing
Q10 – What are the 3 measures of memory retention?
 Recall (retrieve from previous learning)
 Recognition (identify and recognize information previously learned…M.C. Tests)
o Impressively Quick and Vast (Have you seen this person before?)
 Relearning – Easier to relearn information presented a 2nd, 3rd time
o Nonsensable Syllables Experiment (Book Pg. 335)
MEMORY RETRIEVAL : What impacts our retrieval ability?
Q11 – What is “Priming”
 Activation (unconscious) of particular associations of memory (warming up)
o Specific smell in kitchen evokes a specific memory
o Rabbit = Hare instead of Hair
o “Money” associations made people less willing to help others (Non Memory)
Q12 – Give me an example of a time where context was necessary for memory? Why?
 Worked even with 3 month olds - Setting jogs memory
Q13 – State Dependent (Mood, Drug Use)
 If Event happened in a certain state, it is most easily remember in similar state
o Drunk, Depressed (What about Caffeine or Sugar)
 Emotions become retrieval cues
 Mood perpetuates memories which continue mood
o (perception/memory of events is tainted by our mood)
Q14 – Give an example the serial position effects impact on memory
 Tendency to recall the first (primacy) and last (recency) parts of information