Chapter 5 Short Term and Working Memory
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the intricacies of short-term and working memory, highlighting the Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory systems. It explains sensory memory's brief retention and the importance of rehearsal for information transfer to short-term memory, which can hold 5-9 pieces of information for about 20 seconds. The script also discusses strategies to enhance memorability, the concept of chunking, and the components of working memory, including the phonological loop, visual spatial sketch pad, and central executive. It emphasizes the active role of working memory in complex tasks and its connection to the prefrontal cortex, concluding with insights on individual capacity differences in working memory.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Memory involves any process that allows us to retain, retrieve, or use information from our senses like sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing.
- 🔁 Atkinson and Shiffrin's model from 1968 describes three parts of the memory system: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
- 👀 Sensory memory is the initial stage that holds information for a few seconds before it potentially transfers to short-term memory.
- 🕒 Short-term memory can hold about 5 to 9 pieces of information for approximately 15 to 20 seconds and requires rehearsal to transfer information to long-term memory.
- 🔑 Long-term memory can store information for potentially infinite amounts of time and is influenced by active control processes like rehearsal and mnemonic strategies.
- 👁️ Iconic memory refers to visual perception and echoic memory to auditory perception, both part of sensory memory.
- 🔢 Short-term memory's capacity is limited, typically remembering about 5 to 8 items, with digits often being easier to remember than letters due to chunking.
- 🔄 Chunking is a method of grouping small units of information into larger, meaningful parts to enhance memory retention.
- 🤔 Working memory is the system for temporary storage and manipulation of information, crucial for complex tasks like comprehension, learning, and reasoning.
- 🔄 The phonological loop and the visual-spatial sketchpad are components of working memory that handle different types of information.
- 🧠 The central executive is the part of the brain that controls attention, focus, and suppression of irrelevant information in working memory.
- 🧬 Research indicates that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for executive functioning and processing of visual and auditory information in working memory.
Q & A
What are the three components of the memory system according to Atkinson and Shiffrin's model?
-The three components are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the initial stage for all sensory input, short-term memory holds information briefly, and long-term memory can store information for an extended period.
How long does information typically stay in sensory memory?
-Information in sensory memory stays for a very brief period, typically just a few split seconds.
What is the capacity of short-term memory, and how long does it last?
-Short-term memory can hold about 5 to 9 pieces of information for approximately 15 to 20 seconds.
What is the significance of rehearsal in the process of moving information from short-term to long-term memory?
-Rehearsal is a critical process that helps encode information from short-term memory to long-term memory by repeating the information, thus aiding in its retention.
What are the two types of memory associated with sensory memory, and what do they represent?
-Iconic memory represents visual perception and is involved in remembering images, while echoic memory is associated with auditory perception and retains information about sounds.
What is the concept of chunking in the context of memory, and how does it help in remembering information?
-Chunking is the process of combining small units of information into larger, more meaningful units, which can help in remembering longer strings of information by making it more manageable.
How does the capacity of working memory differ from that of short-term memory?
-Working memory is a more complex system designed for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks, whereas short-term memory is limited to holding information briefly without manipulation.
What is the role of the phonological loop in working memory?
-The phonological loop is responsible for holding and manipulating verbal and acoustic information, and it can be affected by the similarity of sounds and the length of words.
What is the function of the visual spatial sketch pad in working memory?
-The visual spatial sketch pad allows for the creation and manipulation of visual and spatial information in the mind, even in the absence of a physical stimulus.
What is the central executive in working memory, and how does it contribute to cognitive tasks?
-The central executive is the part of the working memory responsible for controlling attention, focus, and the suppression of irrelevant information, and it plays a key role in tasks like comprehension, learning, and reasoning.
How does the prefrontal cortex relate to working memory and executive functioning?
-The prefrontal cortex is involved in executive functioning and the processing of visual and auditory information, playing a crucial role in the capacity to engage in complex cognitive tasks and maintain information in working memory.
Outlines
🧠 Understanding Memory Systems
This paragraph delves into the concept of memory, highlighting its role in retaining, retrieving, and using information from various stimuli. It introduces the Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory, which consists of sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the initial stage, holding information briefly before it potentially moves to short-term memory, which can hold about 5 to 9 pieces of information for 15 to 20 seconds. Rehearsal and repetition are key for information to be encoded into long-term memory, which can store data indefinitely. The paragraph also touches on control processes like note cards and mnemonic devices to aid memorization and mentions iconic and echoic memories as part of sensory memory.
📚 Short-Term Memory and Working Memory
The second paragraph focuses on the specifics of short-term memory, which retains small amounts of information for a short period, typically 15 to 30 seconds. It discusses the capacity of short-term memory, the phenomenon of chunking, and how it can be enhanced through training, as demonstrated in a study by Ericsson and colleagues. The paragraph also explains working memory as a system for temporary storage and manipulation of information, necessary for complex tasks. It describes the phonological loop, articulatory suppression, the visual spatial sketch pad, and the central executive, which are components of working memory, and their roles in maintaining attention and suppressing irrelevant information.
🔬 Research Insights into Working Memory
This paragraph presents research studies that provide insights into the capacity and functioning of working memory. It discusses the role of the prefrontal cortex in executive functioning and the importance of neural activity for information retention. The paragraph highlights how the brain's neural networks can be influenced by short-term information storage and how the synaptic state strengthens connections between neurons even after the firing ceases. It also references a study by Vogel and colleagues that examined individual capacity in working memory, showing that high-capacity individuals were more efficient at ignoring distractors, thus outperforming those with lower capacity.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Memory
💡Sensory Memory
💡Short-term Memory
💡Long-term Memory
💡Rehearsal
💡Control Processes
💡Iconic Memory
💡Echoic Memory
💡Chunking
💡Working Memory
💡Central Executive
💡Neural Networks
Highlights
Memory involves processes that allow us to retain, retrieve, or use information from various senses.
Memories are active and can impact our behavior based on past experiences.
Atkinson and Shiffrin's 1968 model proposes three parts of the memory system: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory.
Sensory memory holds information briefly, for a few seconds, before it decays.
Short-term memory can hold 5-9 pieces of information for about 15-20 seconds.
Repetition and rehearsal are crucial for information to transfer from short-term to long-term memory.
Long-term memory can store information indefinitely, unlike short-term memory.
Control processes, such as note cards and mnemonic strategies, help make information more memorable.
Persistence of vision is the retention of light perception, like trailing light from a moving object.
Iconic and echoic memories are specific to visual and auditory perceptions, respectively.
Short-term memory's capacity is limited, typically remembering 5-8 items, with better recall for numbers than letters.
Chunking information into meaningful parts can significantly increase short-term memory capacity.
Working memory is a system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks.
The phonological loop and the visual-spatial sketchpad are components of working memory, handling auditory and visual information.
Articulatory suppression, like speaking, can reduce the memory span by preventing rehearsal of items.
The central executive controls attention, focus, and suppression of irrelevant information in working memory.
The prefrontal cortex is crucial for executive functioning and processing in working memory.
Neural activity and synaptic connections are strengthened when information is to be remembered, affecting brain structure.
Individual capacity in working memory affects the ability to ignore distractors and focus on relevant information.
Transcripts
okay so chapter five is about short-term
and working memory
so when we think about memory we have to
remember that it involves any type of
process
that allows us to retain
retrieve or use information we take in
anything we see smell touch taste here
feel can all be implanted on our memory
so that can include stimuli images
events ideas and skills
so after something has taken place it
stays with us through our memories
our memories are active at any time some
past experiences have an impact on us
and
um how we behave in the future
so when we think about the model
um there are a few different models that
come into play but Atkinson and Cher
friend came up with a
model in 1968 that said that there are
three parts of our memory system their
sensory memory which involves everything
we take in we see smile touch taste here
it's the initial stage that everything
goes into but it only stays there for a
few split seconds
and then hopefully
the information that transfers to our
short-term memory which is also going to
be very quick it's a split second you
know five to seven seconds holding
tank of information as well and it can
hold
um usually what we say seven plus or
minus two so five to nine bits or pieces
of information for about 15 to 20
seconds
and then something has to happen there
has to be some type of rehearsal there
has to be some type of repetition
something that happens something
information then encodes from short-term
memory to long-term memory long-term
memory can hold the information
for an infinite amount of time years
decades
control processes are active processes
that can be controlled by a person so
these are the things we can do ourselves
we can rehearse we can come up with
strategies that make information more
memorable to us like we can decide I
want to use note cards to study
something or I want to come up with some
type of monitor so that I remember the
information
these different strategies can help us
control and process the information help
us focus on it
when it comes to our sensory memory
we're going to retain the information
for split seconds brief periods of time
through our senses
the information we take in from our
senses will quickly Decay or Fade Away
unless something else is done and is
transferred to short-term memory
Persistence of vision is the retention
of our perception of light and it's how
we Trail light
from like a moving sparkler or in a
frame in a film
so again we take in first information
through our senses
if we want to measure the capacity and
duration of our sensory memory we can
look at how letters flash on a screen
you can report how many of them you see
there was a study done where
participants were asked to report as
many as they could see during a research
study by Stripling in 1960 and most
people averaged about four and a half
out of 12 letters that were flash on
their screen
the partial report method says that
participants heard a tone that told them
which row of letters to report
and that was about 3.3 out of four
letters
and then the delayed partial report
method found that
um
when a tone was included
um
for a fraction of a second after the
letters were extinguished their
performance decreased rapidly
within our sensory memory we also have
iconic and echoic memories iconic
memories are our memories for things we
see in our perception of vision
all right colic memories are our
memories for things we hear and our
perception of South
so if you've ever you know gotten
somewhere based on directions by oh I
remember that you turn at that building
that is your iconic memory or if you've
ever said to yourself
I don't know how I know this but I heard
it somewhere that is your echoic memory
when it comes to our short-term memories
our short-term memory stores small
amounts of information for a brief
period of time again for 15 20 maybe 30
seconds this could be information that
is new to us and received from our
senses or information that could be
recalled from long-term memory
capacity of short-term memory is
actually very short that's why it's
called short term
for most people they can remember about
five to eight items or seven plus or
minus two
um when it comes to numbers and we tend
to remember digits better than we can
remember letters and if you think about
it when we look at letters we want to
form words and we don't have that same
connection with digits
chunking occurs when we take small
amounts or units of information and we
make it into meaningful Parts sometimes
chunking the information like 492 into
492 will help us remember it
so Erickson and co-workers in 1980 did a
research study where they trained a
college student with average memory
ability to use the chunking method
that student from that research has an
initial initial digit span of about
seven
so before he had any type of training he
could remember a string of digits that
were about seven long
but then after 231 hour training
sessions the student could remember up
to
79 digits because that student was able
to chunk them into meaningful units
so this is huge research especially if
it comes to you having to know a bunch
of information if you can Chuck it
together that's going to extend your
capacity to remember
men in 2004 Alvarez and Kavanaugh did
another research study where they used
colored squares as well as complex
objects and they used to change the
detection method to see if those things
could be remembered as well
when it comes to our working memory
working memory is the limited capacity
system for temporary storage and
manipulation of information for tasks
that can be complex like comprehension
learning and reasoning it's called our
working memory because it's the memory
we use to process to learn to comprehend
to reason
it's very different from short-term
memories so whereas short-term memory is
only going to hold information for a
brief period of time your working memory
is going to try to store and process and
manipulate information so it's working
memory because it's always active as
we're thinking
so when it comes to our working memory
it's set up to be able to process
different types of information at the
same time but it struggles to work
properly when similar types of
information is presented at the same
time you can see that from the chart
there
a phonological loop is the similarity
effect which says that letters are words
that sound similar can cause confusion
there are different word length tasks
such as memorizing lists of words when
we do that it's going to be better for
short words than for long words and it's
going to take longer to rehearse long
words and for to produce them during
recall
when it comes to a phonological loop and
articulate
articulatory suppression
speaking prevents one from rehearsing
items to be remembered so that's going
to reduce your memory spray span it's
going to eliminate word links and reduce
the phonological similarity effect
when reading the words
the visual spatial sketch pad is how we
can create visual images in the mind
whenever there's no physical
stimulus there
it's how you can mentally rotate
something and still imagine how it might
look
the central executive is our
part of the brain that controls your
ability to maintain your attention focus
and
control your suppression of irrelevant
information
it's involved in perseveration which is
when you repeat something and you
perform it at the same time
or if you just can't sort of take your
mind off something the central executive
is controlling that
all right
it's also a backup store that
communicates with long-term and working
memory components it holds information
longer and has greater capacity for
phonological Loop or and the visual
spatial sketch pad so when we think
about the central executive we can think
about it as being sort of an overarching
component of long-term memory
the prefrontal cortex is responsible for
our ability to engage in executive
functioning and processing of visual and
auditory information
there have been lots of research studies
on the capacity of the prefrontal cortex
monkeys who have been studied and don't
have a prefrontal cortex often have
difficulty holding information in their
working memories
neurons in the brain
respond when the stimulus is flat
flashed in a particular location and
during delay as part of the working
memory and that information remains
available when those for those neurons
as long as they fire so the main thing
you want to know about the working
memory is that it is always working it
is always thinking it is always active
Stokes in 2015 said that information is
stored in short-term information that is
stored in the short term can change how
the brain is made up and and change
based on neural networks
an activity state is when information in
to be remembered causes neurons to Fire
and the synaptic State occurs when the
neuron stops firing
but the connections between the neurons
are strengthened
and you can see kind of what that looks
like from the picture below
so vocal and co-workers in 2005 did a
working memory study about individual
capacity and the results of their study
they had two groups at high capacity
working memory group and a low capacity
working memory group and the results of
the study show that the high capacity
participants were more efficient at
ignoring distractors and therefore they
were
more successful than low capacity than
the low capacity group because the
distractors were there and that was
taking away their ability to focus
hopefully this information will be
helpful to you in understanding
short-term and working memory
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