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OLEMISS / Psychology / PSY 320 / How is information stored once it moves into long-term memory?




School: University of Mississippi
Department: Psychology
Course: Cognitive Psychology
Professor: Mervin matthew
Term: Fall 2016
Cost: 25
Name: Exam 2 day 4 notes
Description: exam 2 day 4 notes Dr. Mervin Matthew, this will cover the first half of chapter 6, the next half of chapter 6 will be discussed next class.
Uploaded: 02/28/2017
4 Pages 32 Views 2 Unlocks

Chapter 6  


Retrieving memories from long-term storage

∙ Aspects of long term memory

o Capacity

 Can take two tiny chunks and make it into one  big chunk

 With long term memory, once its in there, its in there

 You never run out of room

 Can always add new stuff in

o Coding

 acoustic, visual, and semantic

 once info moves into long term memory, it is  mostly stored semantically.

 You will occasionally mistake for something  

that has similar meanings (you might be  

talking about one of your uncles, but you call  

him the name of another uncle

 If you originally code it visually or acoustically,  it will eventually turn into semantic

What is the difference between proactive and retroactive reference?

o Duration

 Is infinite, it will never disappear

 Once it goes into long-term memory, it will  

never leave

 Proactive vs. retroactive interference

∙ Retroactive interference

o New information is causing you to  

forget the old information

o Retrieval cues got reassigned

∙ Proactive interference

o Old information is blocking you from  

learning the new information.

o Retrieval cues are pulling old  

information because they have not  

reassigned to receive new  


∙ Mnemonics

What are the sub-divisions of long-term memory?

o method of loci

 Based on visual or acoustic coding

 In terms of remembering the order that  

something occurs, attach it to a place.

o Method of Interacting images

 Visual coding

 When you can visualize two terms together, it  makes them easier to remember We also discuss several other topics like Who si rutherford hayes?
Don't forget about the age old question of Is it innate or developed through experience?

o Powered method

 Take something that you are trying to  

remember, and connect it to a term that  

rhymes with it.

o Mediating phrases

 Visual coding

 First letter of each word of a sentence is going  to remind you of the first letter of the word that you are trying to recall. Don't forget about the age old question of Which part of cerebral cortex is responsible for visual context?

∙ Other principles- context-dependent and state  dependent

o Context dependent

 Deals with what is going on around you.

 The more similar the environment, the easier it is to remember that info. You learned from that  exact environment

 It is best to go to multiple places to study, that  way your memory wont get locked on to one  

exact environment

o State dependent

 Internal state matches the internal state of the  information that you were trying to learn (ex.  

Remember when the drunk guy walked into  


merv’s class and made a B while he was drunk. He did this because he was drunk while he was studying)

o Spacing effect

 Deals with how long you are studying the info.  If you do a long massive study session, you will have a hard time remember the info

 Studying in shorter spans over a period of time  will make you remember the information Better  When you have longer spaces between study  sessions, you will remember the info. Even  


o Testing effect

 If you are testing yourself, it will help you even  more

∙ Type of test will not matter (multiple  Don't forget about the age old question of When does sensory adaptation happen?

choice, short answer, etc.)

∙ Will help you remember later on, no  

matter how you do on the practice test.

∙ This happens because we remember the  

mistakes that we made on the practice  

test, so we will not make the same  

mistakes later on. Don't forget about the age old question of How was the first hypothesis tested?

∙ Subdivisions of long-term memory

o Semantic memory vs. episodic

 Semantic memory

∙ Memory for facts

∙ Ex. The state capitol of California is  


 Episodic memory

∙ Memory for events

∙ Not only understanding what happened,  

but HOW it happened.

∙ Ex. 1996 world series was won by new  

York Yankees


o Merv remembers cutting class to get  

the parade, this is merv remembering

HOW it happened.

∙ Explicit vs. implicit

o Explicit

 Deals with info. That you can easily recall

 Ex. Yankees have 16 world championships

o Implicit

 Not aware of remembering information, but can still use it.

∙ Declarative vs. procedural If you want to learn more check out How do geologists classify metamorphic rocks?

o Declarative

 Described in words

 Ex. I play basketball

o Procedural

 Shown by actions

 Ex. I can shoot, but I cant explain HOW I can  shoot.

 We tend not to learn them by directions, we  see how others do it and learn from that

 The better you understand something, the  

harder it is to explain to somebody.


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