Exam 2 Study Guide Evolved Function of Multiple Memory systems 1 Evolutionary Functions of Memory Recognition Context Setting o People places things predators o Example Status Hierarchies o Example Vampire bats and the memory needed for cooperation Prediction based on what happened already o Reward availability like food mates o Food toxicity Garcia Effect other avoidance learning mechanisms o Predictive cues to presence and intrusion by predators o Challenging for status and mates Spatial mapping and Foraging how to return somewhere Skill Learning aka automating tasks through repetition o Example Running throwing sewing carving speaking 2 Evidence Supporting the Multiple Memory Systems View The Debate Is memory a singular unitary system or multiple systems o The Answer Memory and learning mechanisms are multiple adaptive specializations shaped by selection to solve specific problems in the environment Functional Incompatibility o This specialized nature prohibits some memory systems from solving problems they were not specialized to solve o Adaptations that serve one function can not solve other functions because they are too specialized Functional Incompatibility in Bird Memory Systems o Songs must be learned because they enable organisms to attract mates and defend breeding territories What gets in Only songs of conspecifics are copied Swamp sparrows won t learn from closely related song sparrows When it gets in Song learning only occurs in critical periods of development 2 10 weeks depending on species How it gets retained and for how long No songs produced until roughly 1 year old next breeding season months later without initial practice Songs of other territorial birds can be recognized without replacing sung songs Functionally Incompatible Song Learning Mechanisms and Foraging Mechanisms May store several hundred food items per day over a wide o Chickadees range Never reuse sites Re collect food several days later o Differs from Song Learning What gets in No restrictions on what kinds of locales can be mapped and learned as opposed to very specific songs Sensitive Periods No special memory for locales mapped earlier in life new learning is constant over lifespan Retention and Unlearning Where as songs resist decay for months and years food cache maps decay after as much as one unsuccessful revisiting There is incredible turnover Conclusion o Because the two memory systems seem to have very different rules for what gets retained for how long and when they should be considered separate memory systems o We see the same multiple memory system architecture in humans Memory Systems I II in Humans o Gradual Incremental Learning Implicit Procedural System I Recollection of specific events is not required Learning to type play piano juggle Learning and Remembering language Mirror drawing in amnesics Pattern learning and recognition chess players the card game Mao Habits and addiction cues Goal is to automate behaviors and responses across a wide variety of nonspecific circumstances Thus specific cues about time place context SHOULD be ignored during this kind of learning o Rapid One shot Learning Declarative Episodic System II Goal is to differentiate and remember contextual details that uniquely mark that experience of knowledge Episodic memory for 9 11 Autobiographical memory for a fight with you significant other Semantic memory for the state capitals Enables finely tuned predictions and experience simulations when planning behavior Short term Memory 1 Span of Short Term Memory STM is the term for short term storage of information with no manipulation or organizational element Time span without rehearsal o Short term memory seems to last roughly 12 seconds without rehearsal o Duration How long does short term memory last o The Brown Peterson Technique I will read you 3 letters to remember then a number Once you hear the number count backwards by 3 s from that number Stop counting when I say Recall When I say Recall write the letters down This technique showed that our memory is fragile for material stored for just a few seconds Holding information in Short Term Memory o We hold info in STM through Maintenance Rehearsal The process of continually attending to and mentally repeating information to keep it in short term memory If we are unable to rehearse new information we have very poor memory for it it decays Also as new information interferes with working memory rehearsal info is rapidly lost Example the primacy recency effect Capacity With rehearsal o Capacity How much can we store at one time o Originally tested by Waugh Norman using the digit span test o Digit span Hear the string of number Write them down We add a number each time and test when capacity is maxed out Chunking Small units can be combined into larger meaningful units Chunk Strongly associated collection of elements 2 Working Memory refers to the structures and processes used for temporarily storing and manipulating information Executive control system planning initiating and integrating information high cognitive abilities o Example Doing mental math in your head like what is 24 X 12 Two subordinate systems that carry out Maintenance Rehearsal o Articulatory or phonological loop rehearses verbal information auditory and semantic coding o Visual spatial sketchpad maintains images and spatial representations visual coding Long Term Memory 1 Declarative Memory Episodic memory memory for events episodes o I remember what happened in Castle last night Autobiographical o I remember my first soccer game Semantic memory memory for knowledge not tied to personal experience o I remember that the D Day was June 6th 1944 2 Elaborative Encoding Elaborative Rehearsal Encoding The process of converting information in short term memory into permanent long term memories Retrieval The process of accessing stored declarative info from long term memory into working memory Our ability to retrieve info primarily depends on how we encode it o Encoding failure A primary source of forgetting Having divided attention when encoding or auto pilot Example Following a lead car and forgetting how you went The more associations we can make between new info and existing info the more retrieval cues we have and the better our memory will be Encoding is an active multi component process o Visual auditory semantic emotional etc features populate a schema or stored memory o Not stored in a single place o Hippocampus is important for
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