Memory, Intelligence, and Testing- Unit 2b

1/28/25

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. There are two extreme sides of memory that we research to help us obtain a better understanding of memory.

Ex: Listening to four-tenth of a second snippets of songs, and more than 25% of the time the songs could be recognized and the singer as well.

Ex: We can on average remember 5,000 different faces.

Ex: When associating faces with food, animals like sheep and fish were able to recognize faces.

Alzheimer's disease- a disorder that strips away memory- it begins as difficulty remembering new info, progressing to an inability to do everyday tasks as the brain's memory centers become weak and wither away.

-complex speech---> simple sentences

friends---> strangers

Super recognizer- some people win gold medals in memory competitions.

Ex: Feng Wang- remembered all his friend's phone numbers easily

Ex: Rajveer Meena of India broke the world record by reciting 70,000 digits of pi.

Ex: Recognizing-- 18 months after a robbery, a policeman recognized the robber on the street and apprehended him.

By 3 retention measures:

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier (info that is not currently in conscious awareness)

Ex: Recalling the faces of classmates , or their names

Ex: Fill in the blank tests

a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned- is quick and vast.

Ex: A multiple-choice question

Ex: Looking at photos in a yearbook and identifying people is much easier than recalling and 90% of people could do it in an experiment.

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again (you learn it more quickly, as it is now easier)

Ex: Speak a language you used to speak when you were a child

Ex: Reviewing material for a Final

(1850-1909) A memory researcher showed that the speed at which we recall and recognize and relearn information indicates memory strength- in the 19th century he showed this by selecting random nonsense syllables, and he randomly selected a sample of them and practiced them by repeating 8x verbally and quickly which increased his retention, especially when he made additional repeats (overlearned it) or practice over time- it was easier for him to relearn the syllables the next day. He then tested himself the next day- he could only recall few of them.

(We remember more than we recall)

stages, like a computer: 3

the process for getting information into the memory system-- for example, by extracting meaning.

the process of retaining encoded information over time within the brain.

The process of getting information out of memory storage- get back out of our brain

processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously, some of them unconsciously, unlike computers, which process many things sequentially

memories are products of connected neural networks- specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within these networks. Every time you learn something new, your brain's neural connections change-- neuroplasticity, forming and strengthening pathways that allow you to interact with and learn from your constantly changing enviroment.

Richard Atkinson and Richard Schiffrin- three part process....: (ASK; has been updated to add newer concepts, including working memory and automatic processing)- diagram in notebook - Alan Baddeley

a fleeting stage in which we first record to-be-remembered info. It is immediate-a very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

then we process information into this briefly activated memory of a few items (such as digits of a phone number while calling someone) that is later shared or forgotten. We can encode it through rehearsal, where it then goes to...

The relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills and experiences, all for later retrieval.

a newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both (1) incoming sensory information and (2) information retrieved from long-term memory. It is a scratch pod where the brain actively processes important info by linking our new experiences with our long-term memories. Hold and work on it...

The working stage helps use prolong memory storage through rehearsal of the info over time (matanence rehearsal) and through rehearsing info in ways that promote meaning (elaborative rehearsal)

-When we are in this stage our attention is focused- selective attention.

a memory component within short-term memory stage that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad- without the info fades.- helps create selective attention and focused state

a memory component that briefly holds auditory information in short-term memory

Ex: when you repeat a friend's phone number before entering it into your contact list

a memory component that briefly holds info about object's appearance and location in space. Ex: Where the car is sparked, or what is the route to go home?

As we think and learn, increased activity in particular pathways w/neural interconnections are forming and strengthening.

the formation of new neurons (in response to exercise, sleep and non-stressful but stimulating environments.

Exp: sea slug- 20k large and accessible nerve cells- learns to reflexively withdraw it's gills when squirted with water (like a soilders traumatized by combat may jump because of a fire cracker). When learning occurs, the researchers discovered, the slug releases more of the neurotransmitter serotonin into signals. (experience and learning can increase of even double the number of synapses, even in slugs)

an long-lasting increase in nerve cells firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural, physical basis for learning and memory (experiments w/people, stimulate certain memory-circuit connections increase sensitivities, more connections as receptor cites double- receiving neuron has increased sensitivity for detecting the prescence of the nuerotransmitter molecules released by sending neuron)Ex: drugs that block LTP with proprontol or a placebo interfere w/learning while those that mimic it increase LTP through glutamate, LTP's enhancing neurotransmitter, CREB which releases proteins that reshape synapses and transfer short term memory to long term- Rats learn maze with half of usual mistakes

Passing an electric current through the brain of a patient would only wipe out new memories, not oldEx: animals and depressed people given this electro convulsive therapy.

-blow to the head can do the same, as the working memory does not have time to consolidate information- to shift it to long term memory storage-.

Ex: Anesthesia, before go out say something

Memories are not stored like photos in an album- or in single spots. Many brain structures interact to able encoding, storage, and retrieval of our memories.

-Frontal lobes and hippocampus control explicit memories (what we consciously know)

-cerebellum and basal ganglia control implicit memories (learned skills and associations)

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retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and "declare"

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

unconscious, behind the scences encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and familiar or well-learned information, such as sounds, smells, and word meanings straight into storage and not on the conscious encoding track.

SPACE- encode place on a page or in your notebook where certain material appears- later may visualize its location to retrieve info. Ex: look for vocab terms.

TIME- note the sequence of a day's events, then retrace steps with the event sequence encoded, and find a backpack.

FREQUENCY- how many things happen Ex: the third time I ran into you today!

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection (Also called non-declarative memory)

automatic skills (such as how to ride a bike) and classically conditioned associations among stimuli.

Classically conditioned- a type of learning which an organism comes to associate stimuli and anticipate events

Ex: Attacked by a dog in the past, may flinch when we see a dog.

learning to read wasn't automatic, but through experience one learns- develop, become implicit with conscious practice before.

Ex: Driving, texting, playing an instrument.

the short-lived memory for sensory details of events. It feeds our active working memory, recording momentary images, sounds and strong scents, but is fleeting.

Ex; people viewed 3 rows of 3 letters each, for one twenthieth of a second- after nine letters disappeared, they could recall about half of them.

-Not because had little time to glimpse (we all see everything but only momentarily) EXP: George Sperling sounded a high, medium and low pitch, directing people to the highest, middle and lowest rows- remember each respectively.

-Iconic memory- ASK a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli, a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second. - Register picture-image memory of a scene, recall any of it, but in delaying the tone signal by more than a half a second, it can cause the image to fade and memory to suffer.

Echoic Memory- a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli, if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. Ex: thinking about your weekend, then teacher asks what did I just say- can repeat the last few words of the mind's echo chamber (3-4 sec)

George Miller propose 7 pieces of info (give or take two) begin psychology's contribution to the magically 7 (seven deadly sins, etc..)

-Other researchers found that if nothing distances us yes, but varies by task- (6 letters, 5 words) and age- adolescents juggle more simultaneously than younger and older- task switching reduces memory.

EXP: Lloyd Peterson and Margaret Peterson asked people to remember 3 consonant groups (CHJ) to prevent rehearsal they distracted the participants asking them to count backwards from 100 by 3s. After 3 sec- only half remember, 12, rarely anything. -Without active processing in working memory?? short term memories have limited lives.-

What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remember new info?

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units like acronyms, letters, words and phrases- often occurs automatically.

Ex: "try remembering 43 individual numbers and letters" Would be impossible unless.. in meaningful chunks

Ex: Flipped letters ex

When something is personally meaningful, like for varsity basketball players they can see positions of all players after a 4 sec peak, or musician able to count immediately??? Or mandirin, able to reproduce strokes

memory aids, especially those techniques that see vivid imagery and organization ideas (helps to remember lengthy passages and speeches.- effortful processing strategies(trying to encode)

- the peg-word system- involving words with numbers

Ex: One is a bun; two is a shoe... then visually associate these words with the to-be-remembers items. Ex: three is a tree; drape towel must buy over the tree.

-method of loci

-hierarchies-

-acornym

-uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments in order to enhance the recall for information.

Ex: Joshua Foer won U.S. memory championships, memorized a pack of 52 playing cards in under 2 minutes. Added vivid new detail to memories of a familiar place- his childhood home. Each card in order could then match up with an image in his head.

systems where individuals or concepts are ranked one above another based on ?Specific criteria? when a person has developed an expertise in a area?? (broad categories divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts)

Ex: Gordon Bower and colleagues presented words either randomly or grouped into categories- when grouped, recall was 2 to 3 times better.

Ex: hierarchy of our automatic and effortful processing systems.?? ASK how automatic?

How do distributed practice, deep processing and making new material personally meaningful aid memory?

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention that is achieved through massed study or practice.

cramming- produces speedy, short-term learning and an inflated feeling of confidence. "Those who learn quickly also forget quickly"-Hermann Ebbinghuas.

produces better long-term recall. (After studied long enough to master, studying inefficient. better to spend that time to review later.

Ex: 1 day if need in 10, 1 month if need in 6

-more durable learning.

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information. Also referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning (often repeated)- not only assesses learning and memory but improves them both. (Better than rereading)

...verbal only?

Encoding on a basic level, based on the structure of the words, an elementery level with words and letters called structural encoding and phonemic encoding at an intermediate level - which looks at the sound.

Ex: there, mean their, write when mean right.

Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the word; tends to yeild the best retention. (Deeper=more meaningful=better retention)

Exp: Fergus Craik and Endel Tulving flashed words at viewers, asked them questions that would elicit different levels of processing-

Shallowest: Is the word in capital letters?

Shallow: Rhymes with train?

Deep: Would the word work in this sentence

-w/deep able to recognize words better.

* Neither meaningful nor related to experience material is more difficult to process and remember

Ex: Line about washing clothes, not said what context, but after easier to remember when re-read- less effort 1/10th compared to nonsense syllables.

*Meaning encoding words changes the memory over it

Ex: studying for a test, remember class notes, not class itself

*reference previously learn to match and mismatch, make meaningful.

Ex: actors understand how of meaning in their dialogue can divide into 3 intentions, make easier to remember.

tendency to remember self-relevant info- western, individualist cultures, while in eastern family is just as relevant.

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Contrary to Holmes' memory model- the brain is an attic-limited:

- our short-term memory capacity is about 7 bits of info

-our working memory capacity varies based age + other factors

-our long-term memory capacity is limitless like the internet

Ex: Aging mother, 88, blind- but sit a her keyboard and playing flawlessly 100s of hymns, even ones not thought of for 20 years

Ex: Surgeons marvel at a patient's vivid memories triggered by brain stimualtion during surgery (past can be relived, waiting to do so?)- found that flashbacks inverted and not vivid.

No, brain-based but the brian dsitrubtes the components of a memory across a network of locations- including neural circuitry involved in the original experience: some brain cells that fire when we experience something, fire again when recalled.

EXP: Karl Lashely, trained rats to find a way out of a mazy, surgically removed pieces of their cortex and retested memory. No matter which brain section remove, rats maintained a partial memory of how to navigate the maze.

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explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two concscious memory systems

- connect concepts, helping us group objects based on charechteristics they share and do not- our schemas affect memory processing, as we more readily store new explicit memories if it fits within our existing schemas.

explicit memory of personally experience events, one of our two concsious memory systems.

The hippocampus: WHAT DOES? ask- WHAT THIS FOR?

Frontal cortex and prefrontal cortex--

prefrontal cortex: when summon up past experience many brain regions send input to prefrontal cortex for working memory processing?

frontal lobes: left frontal lobe- recalling a password, hold in working memory. Right, calling up a visual party scene

A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process epxlicit (concious) memories- of facts and events- for storage (like a save button)

- as you mature, the hippocampus grows and it is able to construct detailed memories. Ex: Brain scans reveal activity in hippocampus and nearby brain networks as people form explicit memories of names, images, and events.

Left side- verbal info, right side with visual designs and locations

Ex: Hippocampus severed, chikadees and other birds will continue to cache food in 100s of places, but later cannot find those places.

one part is active as people and mice learn social info, and the rear end processes spatial memory, grows bigger as we learn to navigate (Ex; London cabbies)

- loading dock where brain registers and temporarily holds the elements of a to-be-remembered episode- smeel, feel, sound, location, then archive to cortex for storage.

the neural storage of a long-term memory- supported by sleep.

EXP: students who learned material in a study/sleep conditions remembered material better in 1 week or 6 months latter than students who studied both morning and evening without an intervening sleep. (During sleep, the hippocampus processes memories for later retrieval- after training, the more activity in the brain at night the better memory the next day)

- the hippocampus and brain talk- brain relays days experiences transfers to cortex for long-term. When learning is distributed, we experience more sleep induced memory consilidation- the spacing effect.

You could lose the hippocampus and frontal lobe and still, thanks to automatic processing, lay down implicit memories for skills and newly conditioned associations.

Ex: Patient with brain damage- amnesia left them unable to recognize her physician as he each day shook her hand and introduced himself. One day when she shook his hand she got pricked by a tack in his palm, and the next time she shook hands with him she refused to, didn't know why.

-She was classically conditioned to associate the handshake with pain- implicitly, she felt what she couldn't explain.

plays a key role in forming and storing implicit memories created by classical conditioning, and conditioned reflexes.

Ex: Associating a tune with an impending puff, do not blink in anticipation of puff.

facilitates formation of procedural memories for skills. Recieve input from cortex, but do not return favor by sending info back to cortex for awareness of procedural learning.

Ex: riding a bike

concsous memory of the first 4 years of life blank.

Ex: Disney world visit at 2, do not remember.

Two things influence infantile amnesia and contribute to it:

1- we index ecplicit memories with better language command as adults compared to children.

2-the hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to form, and as it does more info is retained.

-when we are excited or stressed, stress hormones are triggered that make more glucose energy available to fuel brain activity and signal something important is happening.

- stress hormones focus memory, and provokes the amygdala (two limbic system emotion-processing clusters) to initiate a memory trace.

A lasting physical change as the memory forms, boosts activity in the brain's memory forming areas- it seers certain events into the brain for future reference.

Ex: a school shooting, house fire, or sexual assault.

-it can produce a tunnel-vision memory, where we focus attnetion and recall on high priotity info and reduce recall of irrelevant details (the surrounding context)

-more emotion makes more reliable memories stronger- vivid reccolation of events can intrude again and again, strengthening recall for relevant, immediately proceeding events- protecting from future dangers- memory waves a warning flag.

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment/event- a snapshot

Ex: first kiss, whereabouts where learning about a loved ones death.

Survey: 95% of American adults in 2006 Pew survey said they could recall exactly where and what they were doing when they first heard of 9/11 terrorist attack, but over time there were errors compared to their reports right after the attack.

- it is vivid and can be shared with confidence

-rehearsing can help us remember them but also mess us up, especially old people, mix things up as describe it to others instead of making it clearer.

-memories of personally important experiences also endure.

.... ASK Intro

Passwords that open memories, which are stored within semantic networks, in an association web. The more you have, the better you chances of finding a route to the memory. Best retrieval cues come from associations we form when we encode a memory-- smells, tastes and sights that can evoke our memory of the associated person or event.

-the more ways you encode information,- form associations, the more retrieval cues you can have, ability to get those associations and remember

Ex: encoding the name of the person sitting next to you-- associate it with other bits of info about your surroundings (mood, seating position, etc)

when we retrieve memories for our future actions (past is retrospective memory)- to remember to do something or remember that something has to be done in the future- one effective strategy is to mentally associate the act with a cue.

Ex: need to text someone before leaving the house- put the phone by the door as a cue.

best retrival cues come from--the activation, often unconciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory or response (William Jones)

Ex: "rabbit" more likely to spell the spoke word hair/hare as hare even if we don't recall seeing a rabbit.

Seeing rabit--- activates concept----primes us to spell the spoken word hair as hare.

Ex: poster of missing child, see adult and child interaction think kidnapping

- it can influence behaviors too

Ex; adults and children primed with money related words and materials change their behavior in various ways, such as by becoming less helpful.

Our memory is context dependent as when we put ourselves in the same enviroment as an original memory was formed, recall is stronger.

Ex: where to take your test- same location where you learn the information

Ex: visting your childhood home

Ex: scuba divers recalled more water related words when under the water, where they first heard the list of words.

the idea that cues and and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it. (experiencing something outside this visual setting is confusing otherwise)

Ex: ran into former teacher in a park, etc, felt a glimmer of recognition but struggeled to realize who and how aqquainted.It was a new setting, and so they msised these specific cues needed for race recognition

Ex; infants learned when they kick their crib the crib mobile moves, kicked more when they were in the same crib they learned this in.

the phenomenon where memory retrieval is influenced by the individual's internal state during encoding. What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when in that state again (MENTAL STATE)

Ex: Mrs. Pretet is in a hurry so she put her keys in her coat. After school she was calmer couldn't find the keys, began to panic and then remembers put keys in her coat pocket.

Ex: Drunk person hid money, wont remember where money is unless drunk again

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's good or bad mood- becomes a retrieval cue for past experiences. ex: bad day, gloomy mood- may facilitate recalling other bad times, cause depression- sours memories by priming negative associations, used then to explain our current mood as bad.

Ex: Ariel when angry at me point out all other times when I was bad to her, when I pushed her down a flight of stairs.

EXP: people nput in a happy mood see the world through rose colored glasses

- also influences perception of others

EXP: study of adolsencets ratings of parental warmth, different from one week to 6 weeks after, and when older recall caregiving linked less with actual caregiving quality that was measured earlier than with current moods.

-Moods magnify- glare to one could be stare to the other, make day better or worse.

our tendency to recall best the last items in a list intially (a recency effect) and the first items in a list after a delay or distraction (primacy effect)- it is why we have holes in our memory for recent events.

EXP: viewed a list of items and tried to recall in any order, breifly recalled the last items quickly and well, (still in working memory) but after a delay attention diverted, best remember first few items.- Night word chart ex

-U shaped graph

Ex: new workplace, as greet each new coworker repeat names in order from the beginning, but spend more time working on first few names than last, so recall better.

inability to recall what is said by the person just before us; when we are next in line, we focus on our own performance and fail to process the last person's words

Ex: Gabi not remembering what Leo said "kiwi"

self-testing, figure out what you don't know, thinking about thinking- students who do this preform better.

repeated self-testing and rehearsal beats re-reading

EXP; english speaking students who tested repeatedly recalled more of the 20 words in a list than did students who used the same amount of time to restudy the words.

- this is reinforcing, if it works once, do it again- 200+ studies show the benefit of frequent quizzes

an extra retrieval practice method that involves mixing the study of different topics- boosts retention and protects against overconfidence- constant review in different areas with more associations.

It helps us make room for newer, more relevant things (Ex: Last year's locker combination) But some are unable to forget- it is a blessing.

Ex: Russian journalist Solomon Shereshevsky only needed to listen to interview people, not scribble notes, and he can pick up streams of nonsensical or random info and remember it when in a crowd- this dominated his conscious mind, making it difficult to think abstractly and organize his thoughts.

the ability to recall accurately an exceptional number of experiences occurring throughout much of one's lifetime (e.c; shoes worn on a first date, the day of the week ate a their favorite childhood resteraunt) - one memory cues another like a movie nonstop- never leaves storage

(60 individuals like this found worldwide- found enlarged brain areas and increased activity in memory centers)

Ex: Jill Price, remembered everything since 14

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an inability to form new memories despite being able to recall past ones.

Ex: Henry Molaison- had much of his hippocampus removed to prevent seizures- severe disconnection, and he had no tissue to turn new info into long-term memory.

Ex: Jimmie, saw himself as still 19 but when shown a mirror, he panicked at the truth, and then got distracted and forgot what had happened.

an inability to remember info from one's past. (old info stored in long-term memory)

For people who lost their ability to form explicit memories from certain damage to a part of their brain like Molasion Jimmie, their implicit and automatic processing ability is still intact- explicit for new people and events lost like Alzheimers)

although cannot recall what he had done recently, can learn nonverbal tasks

(e.c; quickly respot hard-to find figures, find way to the bathroom, but unable to tell the way- can learn procedural job skills, and be classically conditioned, but no awareness of having learned them)

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much of what we sense we never notice, and what we fail to encode, we never remember (sensations, emotions-- too complex to grasp any one in entirety)

- this is because our short term memory has a limited capacity- as new info enters short term but old is not yet encoded, it is displaced and lost. Ex: Dialing a list of phone numbers

Ex: Apple logo recalling? Not selectively attended to.

-encoding efficiency varies with age, as brain areas that jump to action when young adults encode new info become less responsive.

Hermann Ebbinghuas learned lists of random syllables, and measured how much he retained when relearning each list, from 20 minutes to 30 days later- created forgetting curve; initially rapid, levels off with time.

Ex: students who stopped learning Spanish, remember less quickly after a bit of not studying, but then after a year what they remembered stayed about that much.

- explanation: a gradual fading of physical memory trace- some not encoded, discarded, or out of reach

retrieval cues help, but more retrieval problems as you get older, more frustrated by tip-of-tongue forgetting. Word there but unable to be reached

Ex: word shark " the fish attacked the swimmer" shark works more than fish to remember??

A way of forgetting, keeping tidy: as you collect more info, new info fills in and it gets cluttered. Sometimes the clutter wins...

Old- Pro active- post active, O- forward like time, walking forward and disrupting new

the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall for new info

Ex: buy a new combination lock, your well-rehearsed old combination may interfere.

New, retro, backwards, walking back and disrupting old

the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on recalling old info.

Ex: someone sings new lyrics to old song's tune- may have trouble remembering the original words

Ex: second stone tossed in a pond, disrupts the ripples from the first.

- Info you present info to yourself before you got to sleep (in the hour before) you suffer less from this, as the opportunity for new things to happen and interfere with your memory is less. Ex: Two people tried recalling nonsense syllables- after being awake all night or sleeping- forgetting occurred more rapidly when involved with other activities

when previously learned a info facilitates our learning of new info

(Ex: Latin and French)- similar ?

- Memory is self-serving

Ex: determining who ate all the cookie sin a cookie jar- revising past in memory to favor oneself- ate less than did

Ex: After told brushing teeth frequently good, people reported brushing teeth more in recollection than those who did not hear this

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings and memories. (Sigmund Frued said this is heavily linked to motivated reasoning and is central, to his psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theory as a way of protecting self-concept and ego, and can be retrieved by cues or therapy. this idea was thought untrue and rare by memory researchers- said truama releases stress hormones that make the person attend to and remember the threat).

Ex: Margaret Mckinnon, survived plane crash, any survivors later talked to remember it well.

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contrary to belief, memories may not be an accurate reproduction of events (e.c; like a camera), but can be altered by new info related to beliefs, attitudes and perceptions to fill gaps in memory.

Ex: inferno a dinasour's appearance from its remains- from standing info, what we imagined, saw and heard.

Ex: Wikipedia passes constant revision