Cognitive Psychology Winter 2004 Discussion Section Memory III

Ψ Cognitive Psychology Winter 2004 -Discussion Section-

Memory III. Memory for general knowledge

Cognitive functions • • Perception Emotion Attention Motivation Memory Action Imagery Decision-making Reasoning, problem-solving Language

Overview • (Briefly): 7 sins of memory review • Memory for general knowledge. • Nickerson & Adams paper • Review for midterm (except categorization).

Take home from seven sins: • Transience • Absentmindedness • Blocking • Misattribution • Suggestibility • Bias • Persistence A central paper. You should be able to: • Name them • Explain what they are • Know empirical evidence of their reality • Explain the adaptive system they derive from.

Memory for general knowledge • Basic distinction: Episodic vs. Semantic. • Many differences Endel Tulving • Intuitively clear: State, Chicago? Knowing Facts, „Knowledge“ Ate, Breakfast? Recall of Personal experiences Repetition with invariant core

Memory for general knowledge • Semantic memory models: • Hierarchical model • Feature comparison model • ACT model • Schemata • Scripts • Connectionist models, neural networks • Episodic memory models: ? Networks, Feature lists, etc. Very 70´s and 80´s style. Inspired by Computer science 90 s, Neuroscience inspired

Memory for general knowledge • Hierarchical model -Spread of activation -Nodes -Semantic priming -RT based studies -Typicality Semantic network Hierarchical • Feature comparison model • Memory as a linked feature list • Every concept consists of a set of elements (features) • There are defining and characteristic features • The more defining features, the easier. Explains category size effect (abstractness)

Memory for general knowledge • ACT theory • A central psychological theory • Combines working memory, declarative and procedural memory. • Nodes, Production rules • Conditions, actions • Activated production rules create nodes John Anderson

Memory for general knowledge • Schemata • Organized information • Contain fixed slots and variable content • Questionnaire (template) model of memory • Default values • Scripts • Schema for routine events • Restaurant example • Allows inferences, leaving things unsaid. Problem: Intrusions.

Memory for general knowledge • Connectionist models • Parallel processing • Learning (unobserved) • Layers (Input, Processing, Output) • Nodes and Links • Weights • Increasingly popular, powerful • Hard do damage, robust plausible James Mc. Clelland

Nickerson & Adams

Nickerson & Adams 1 c

Nickerson & Adams 1$?

Nickerson & Adams • Basic points: • Familiarity does not guarantee retention. • Even if there were literally thousands of presentations of the information. • Crucial are importance, which generally leads to the deployment of attention. • In the absence of these, memory is poor. • People are not necessarily aware of this. Introspection is a bad measure of memory for everyday objects.

Nickerson & Adams Study tip: Try to think that the course material is important and pay attention. Try to care. That way, memory will naturally be much better than if you just read/hear the stuff.

Review for midterm: • 2 nd midterm is on next Wednesday, as scheduled • Topics are basically Memory and Categorization • No cheating! • Try to study on the weekend. Email me for questions • QALMRI: As usual, thu night. But it helps to understand Classification. • Material from Lecture, Book, Discussion section and papers. Look online for my slides. • No screwed up questions this time. (I hope) • Don´t panic, it could be worse.

Concepts to know • Interference: Proactive 1 vs. 2 Retroactive 1 • Explicitness: Explicit vs. Bla Implicit 2

Concepts to know • Modal model of memory: Sensory memory Short term memory Storage Long term memory Retrieval Information Response • Encoding specificity -Context effect -State dependent learning -Cues!

Concepts to know • Working memory = structured STM Central executive Visuospatial sketchpad • Memory structure Phonological loop LTM Knowing how to. . . Knowing that. . . Declarative Procedural Implicit Episodic Vivid Recall Semantic Knowing Explicit

Concepts to know • Basic functions of memory Encoding Storage Retrieval • Sins of memory 7

Topics to know

Short term memory Coding, Capacity, Retention duration, etc. Serial position effects (primacy, recency, use). Mnemonic strategies: Chunking, rehearsal. Working memory Inferference (Proactive, retroactive) Memory search (serial, exhaustive)

Long term memory Coding, Capacity, Retention duration, etc. Levels of processing theory Forgetting: Decay, Interference, Overwriting Encoding specificity: State-dependent learning, Context effects, spacing, cues, mood dependent learning.

Autobiographical memory -Flashbulb memory (Vivid, yet not more accurate) -Eyewitness testimony (Constructive, Post hoc) -Repressed memories (Controversial, doubtful) -Amnesia (Symptoms)

Memory for general knowledge • Dichotomies: Implicit vs. Explicit memory Declarative vs. Procedural memory Semantic vs. Episodic memory • Models: Hierarchical model ACT model Network models Connectionist model Feature comparison model Scripts Schemata Highly inspired by Computer Science, Linguistics