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Chapter 8
Basic Components of Memory
37
Education
Undergraduate 1
02/03/2013

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Term
The Dual-Store Model
Definition
Many variables determine what information gets into memory in the first place and what information stays there long enough for you to recall it when you need it.

• It claims that working memory and long-term memory are distinctly different entities.
• The dual-store model is an information selection and storage system.
Term
What is memory?
Definition
Memory is related to the ability to recall previously acquired information.
Term
What is storage?
Definition
the process of putting new information in memory.
Term
What is encoding?
Definition
this involves modifying information, changing the form, simplifying, or adding to new information.
Term
What is retrieval?
Definition
the process by which people find information they’ve previously stored so they can use it again.
Term
What are the three components of memory, according to William James?
Definition
1. After-image
2. Primary memory
3. Secondary memory
Term
Control process
Definition
Cognitive processes that directly affect memory’s functioning.
Term
Sensory Register
Definition
Sensory register holds incoming information long enough for it to undergo very preliminary cognitive processing.
• Virtually everything in your surrounding environment has been recorded in your sensory register despite your mental absence from it.
Term
What are some characteristics of the sensory register?
Definition
1. Capacity: very large capacity
2. Forms of storage: information appears to be stored in the sensory register in basically the same form in which it has been sensed.
3. Duration: Brief period of time.
Term
What are some factors that account for the rapid disappearance of information?
Definition
1. Interference: new information coming in effectively replaces and thereby erases the information already there.
2. Decay: existing information in the sensory register seems to quickly fade away over time.
Term
What are some factors influencing attention?
Definition
1. Motion: moving objects are more likely to capture attention.
2. Size: attention tends to be drawn to large objects.
3. Intensity: bright colors.
4. Novelty: Stimuli that are unusual in some way.
5. Incongruity: objects that don't make sense in the context.
6. Social Cues: People pay attention to things other people pay attention to.
7. Emotion: Stimuli with emotional associations attract attention.
8. Personal significance: the meaning and relevance that people find in something.
Term
Cocktail-party phenomenon
Definition
The ability to attend to one spoken message while ignoring others.
Term
How does auditory attention work?
Definition
Like a filter, a listener uses physical characteristics to select one message and screen out others.
Term
Figure-ground
Definition
When people are focusing the details of one object (figure), they cannot also inspect other things in their line of sight (ground).
Term
Limited processing capacity
Definition
depends on the number of stimuli being attended to depending on how much cognitive processing is required for each one.
Term
Automaticity
Definition
People become more adept at splitting their attention among two complex tasks, but only when they have considerable practice in performing both tasks at the same time, ideally making the execution of one or both of them automatic.
Term
Short-term memory
Definition
refers to a storage mechanism that holds information for a brief time after its attended to so that it can be mentally processed, it is also where cognitive processing itself takes place.
• W.M. is the component of memory in which active thinking occurs.
• W.M. also holds and processes information that it retrieves from long-term memory.
Term
What is the central executive?
Definition
Working memory has a subcomponent known as central executive, the “head of the head,” since it controls and monitors the flow and use of information throughout the memory system.
• Central executive components appears to be the home of may processes important for learning, thinking, and behavior.
Term
What are some of the characteristics of working memory?
Definition
1. Capacity: a very limited capacity.
• Seven, plus or minus two: People can hold from 5-9 units of information in working memory at one time. → the AMOUNT of information in each unit can be increased.
2. Forms of storage: is encoded in an auditory form, especially when the information is language based.
3. Duration: less than 30 seconds.
Term
Chunking
Definition
Process of combining pieces of information in some way, chunking, increases the amount of information that the limited space of working memory can hold.
Term
Phonological loop
Definition
can keep a small amount of auditory information fresh through constant repetition.
Term
Visuospatial sketchpad
Definition
allows manipulation and short-term retention of visual material.
Term
Episodic buffer
Definition
involves a “place” where information from multiple modalities can be integrated into an overall understanding of a particular situation or episode.
Term
Control processes in working memory
Definition
1. Organization: people increase what they can hold in working memory by organizing it in some way.
2. Retrieval: how quickly and easily something is retrieved depends on how much information is stored there.
3. Maintenance rehearsal: repeating information to keep it alive in working memory, which provides a means for saving information from the forgetting processes of decay and interference.
Term
Word length effect
Definition
Being able to remember a greater number of short items than longer items.
Term
What two components make up the storage process?
Definition
Anything sensed is presumably stored in the sensory register, and anything attended to is stored in working memory.
Term
What does the dual-store model tell us about our memory?
Definition
A dual-store model of memory tells us that further processing is necessary for information to go from working memory to long-term memory.

• Processing involves combining new information with information already in long-term memory.
Term
Declarative knowledge
Definition
the nature of how things are, were, or will be.
Term
Procedural knowledge
Definition
knowledge about how to do things.
Term
What are some of the characteristics of long-term memory?
Definition
1. Capacity: Unlimited.
2. Forms of storage:
o Explicit knowledge: easily recall and explain it
o Implicit knowledge: affects people’s behavior even though they can’t consciously retrieve and inspect it.
o Interconnectedness: related pieces tend to be associated together.
3. Duration: Some theorists believe that once information is stored in long-term memory, it remains permanently, and thus any “forgetting” is simply a retrieval problem.
Term
What are some of the challenges of the dual-store model?
Definition
A number of theorists have argued that working memory and long-term memory are actually different aspects of a single storage mechanism vs. Other believe that active, conscious processing in working memory is really necessary for storage in long-term memory.
Term
Is conscious thought necessary for long-term storage?
Definition
Some kinds of information seem to be automatically stored in long-term memory even if not specifically selected for further processing → such automatic storage of frequency information and locations begins quite early in life and may help to establish a knowledge base on which future learning can build.
Term
Levels-of-processing model
Definition
The levels-of-processing model of human memory was the first major theoretical alternative to the dual-store model.
• Incoming information is processed by a central processor, which has a limited capacity.
• How long and how well information is remembered depends on how thoroughly the central processor deals with it.
Term
Intention to learn
Definition
People who intend to learn something are more likely to learn and remember it; the depth of processing matters.
Term
Incidental learning
Definition
Nonintentional learning, is just as effective as intentional learning if the degree of processing is equal in the two situations
Term
Activation
Definition
Working memory and long-term memory are different activation states of a single memory.
• Information that is currently active include both new information and previously stored information.
Term
Priming
Definition
A key idea in this perspective is that activation almost invariably spreads from one piece of information to associated pieces.
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