Psychology 3130A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Intentionality, Explicit Memory, Motor Learning
Chapter 3 – Knowledge and Memory
Introduction
- People use memories to solve problems, assess situations, make judgements, make decisions
- Experts => have rich knowledge base and useful accessible memories
How does Memory influence thinking?
- NFL domestic violence epidemic => data does NOT support, but the public accepted it b/c of availability
heuristic
-Availability heuristic: people make judgements/decisions on basis of relevant memories
oEg. See a couple riots on news => assume that riots happens ALL THE TIME
oOverestimate/underestimate likelihood of disaster, etc
-Judgement, reasoning, and decision making is highly dependent on memory!
How does Memory Function?
- 3 areas:
oEncoding
oStorage
oRetrieval
Encoding
- Way in which info is put INTO memory
- Stimuli observed => mental representation of stimuli created in memory (memory trace)
- Stronger attention/processing => Stronger encoding => Stronger memory trace
Storage
- Storage of the encoded memory traces
- These memory traces are stored and organized into “script” or “schema”
Retrieval
- Retrieval of the correct memory traces => successful recall
- This is where we OBSERVE mistakes/errors (NOT always caused by faulty retrieval)
Eg.
- Encoding => Go to farmers market to buy squash => see unusual shaped squash => strong encoding into memory
- Schema => farmer’s market is where you go to buy squash and other vegetables
- Retrieval => forget what you went to farmer’s market to buy (faulty encoding of shopping list)
Varieties of Memory
- Memory is NOT single process; many ways to divide/analyze memory
Short Term Memory
-Working memory model – Baddeley
oSystem of structures that process immediate sensory information
oModality specific => separate circuits for audio and visual info
oPhonological loop: processes auditory/verbal info
Memory trace will disappear in 2 sec unless subvocal rehearsal (inner voice)
Inner Voice (Verbal working memory) - Formulate basic hypotheses, read problem, frame
decisions, etc
oVisuospatial sketchpad: processes visual/spatial information
oCentral executive: allocates resources, switches b/w systems, plans, inhibits, etc
-Executive Functions
oDomain-general (task-switching, inhibition, selective attention)
oTask switching: switching attention from one behaviour to another
oInhibition: ignoring irrelevant stimuli/emotions
Declarative & Non-declarative memory
- Declarative: memory for facts, ideas, events, places, characteristics, etc
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Document Summary
People use memories to solve problems, assess situations, make judgements, make decisions. Experts => have rich knowledge base and useful accessible memories. Nfl domestic violence epidemic => data does not support, but the public accepted it b/c of availability heuristic. Availability heuristic: people make judgements/decisions on basis of relevant memories: eg. See a couple riots on news => assume that riots happens all the time: overestimate/underestimate likelihood of disaster, etc. Judgement, reasoning, and decision making is highly dependent on memory! Way in which info is put into memory. Stimuli observed => mental representation of stimuli created in memory (memory trace) Stronger attention/processing => stronger encoding => stronger memory trace. These memory traces are stored and organized into script or schema . Retrieval of the correct memory traces => successful recall. This is where we observe mistakes/errors (not always caused by faulty retrieval)