Course 2.1 Problem 1
Important theories:
Broadbents filter theory, morays selective filter model, treismans attenuation theory and deutsch and deutschs
theory
Learning goals 1A:
1. What factors influence remembering?
1. E.g. load
2. What factors interfere with remembering?/What causes forgetting?
3. Why does order play a role in retrieval?
The magical number 7
- George miller proposed limited number of items in short-term memory
- 7 items (chunks) (+-2) 5-9 items
- Item chunk is the basic unit in short-term memory
o Chunk consists of several components that are strongly associated with each other
- Millers article published during behaviorism which means it was unusual for that time (external vs internal
events)
Early research on short-term capacity limits
The brown/Peterson and Peterson technique:
- Demonstrated that material held in memory for less than 1
minute is frequently forgotten
- Involves presenting participants with items they should
remember and then perform a distracting task, after
spending time on the distracting task participant are asked
to repeat the original terms distracting task prevents
participants from repeating the words in working memory
- After several trails previous letters produced
interference and recall was poor memory is fragile
most important finding proactive interference
- The graph the longer delay before recall (without
rehearsal) the worse was the recall
Serial position effect:
- U shaped relationship between words position in a list and recall probability
- curve shows strong recency effect better recall for items
at end of the list items still in short-term memory
- Measuring the size of short-term memory counting the
number of accurately recalled items at the end of the list
(estimated to be about 3-7 items)
- Curve also shows primacy effect items at the beginning
are easier to remember because they don’t have to
compete with other items and bc they are rehearsed more
frequently no interference
- Less accurate recall for middle items
Semantic similarity of the items in short-term memory
- Semantics can influence short-term memory
- Proactive interference ppl have trouble learning new
material bc previously learned material keeps interfering with their new learning primacy effect
- Release from proactive interference when category of items is shifted
, o XCJ; HBR; TSV KRN difficult to remember but if KRN is shifted to numbers or geometrical forms than
memory will improve
o PI can also be released when semantics
shift
o The condition that was semantically
furthest away from fruits (occupation)
performed best on the last trial because
fruits and occupation are the
semantically most different from each
other the fruit group performed worst
on the last trial because they had to
remember only fruits
o Similar words in meaning can interfere
greater with previously stored items
o Retroactive interference (recency effect)
later words interfere with words
learned earlier (opposite of proactive
interference) middle words are
remembered worst
Short-term memory capacity depends on
chunking strategies and semantics
Learning goal 1B:
1. Factors involved in attention and distraction?
2. What do we do to remember and integrate information?
3. What memory systems do we need to integrate new information with previous information?
4. How does distraction play a role in one's ability to complete a task?
Working memory (not short-term memory called anymore like by Atkinson and Shiffrin)
- 4 components: BY BADDLEY
o Central executive most important; limited
capacity, resembles attention and deals with
cognitively demanding tasks; phonological loop and
visuo-spatial sketchpad are slave systems used by the
central executive, no storage
o Phonological loop processing and storing
information briefly in a phonological (speech-based)
form
o Visuo-spatial sketchpad specialised for spatial and
visual processing and temporary storage
o Episodic buffer temporary storage for integrated
information coming from the visuo-spatial sketchpad
and phonological loop; added 25 years later
- 2 key assumptions:
1. If two tasks use the same component cannot
perform successfully together
2. If two tasks use different components they can be performed successfully together and separately
- Articulatory suppression (because other articulations are suppressed) rapid repetition of a simple sound (the
the the) which uses the articulatory control process of the phonological loop phonological loop is supressed
,Phonological loop
2 components:
- Passive phonological store directly concerned with speech
perception
- Articulatory process linked to speech production giving
access to the phonological store
Phonological similarity effect:
o Phonological similar words reduce the immediate recall chance (happens at encoding level)
depends more on the acoustic similarity (sound) than on articulatory similarity (movements)
but there was a significant effect of articulatory similarity when recall was spoken but not when
written
word-length effect:
o number of words recalled immediately in the correct order is greater for shorter than for longer words
o this effect depends on rehearsal if rehearsal is suppressed the effect decreases
o orthographic neighborhood same words differing in one letter greater recall similar words are
helping each other on retrieval level to reconstruct almost forgotten items
- Phonological loop is helpful in learning a language
- Inner articulatory suppression reduces the use of phonological loop slows down the learning of a foreign
language takes up space in the phonological loop by repeating unnecessary words
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
- Remembering what and where
2 components:
- Visual cache stores information about visual form and colour
- Inner scribe processes spatial and movement information; involved in the rehearsal of information in the
visual cache and transfers information from the visual cache to the central executive
Is there a single system combining visual and spatial processing or is it a partially or completely separate visual and
spatial system? most evidence suggests that it consists of somewhat separate components but it is not
researched to the fullest extent
- More activity in the right hemisphere (parietal cortex) during the spatial task than the visual task and more
activity in the left hemisphere (occipital and temporal lobes) during the visual task than the spatial task
- Areas withing the occipital and temporal lobes were activated during visual processing
- Areas within the parietal cortex were activated during spatial processing
There are general attentionally based interference effects when tasks are demanding (visual
interference interferes with visual and spatial task performance equally), but interference effects
are specific to the type of interference when tasks are relatively undemanding (visual interference
interferes with visual performance and vice versa)
Central executive
- Attentional system
- Involved in almost all cognitive activities does not store information
- Prefrontal cortex most involved but not entirely
- Executive processes processes that organise and coordinate the cognitive system achieving current goals
Baddleys:
o Focusing attention and concentration
o Dividing attention between two stimuli
o Switching attention between two tasks
o Interfacing with long-term memory
Miyake:
1. Inhibition function stroop task
2. Shifting function
3. Updating function rapid addition and deletion of working memory contents
unity/diversity framework
Inhibition does not have any extra features
, Episodic buffer
- Acts as buffer between the other components of WM
- Links WM to perception and LTM
- Baddeley suggested the capacity to be four chunks
- Central executive controls access to and from the episodic buffer Baddeley’s current position is that
integrated information can be stored in the episodic buffer without the direct involvement of executive
processes
- Immediate recall depends on
1. Capacity of the episodic buffer
2. An efficiently functioning central executive to integrate or chunk sentence information
Information is integrated within the episodic buffer with the assistance of the central executive but
not necessary
Critics:
- It remains unclear how exactly information from the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad are
combined
- Research on smell or taste is lacking
Overall evaluation:
- WM model has many advantages over the short-term store proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin
- Greater scope (active and passive processes)
- WM model explains the partial deficits of short-term memory observed in brain-damaged patients
Limitations:
- Oversimplified
- Difficult to identify the number and nature of the main executive processes associated with the central executive
- More research is needed on the interactions among the 4 components
Learning goals 1C:
1. Can we hear or process multiple messages at one time? / Can we attend to more than one thing?
2. To what extent and under which circumstances can we attend to more than one thing?
3. Why do certain things catch your attention?
4. What catches your attention?
What is selective attention?
Cocktail party problem listening to one conversation under many other distracting conversations
Dichotic presentation each ear is presented with different information shadowing task is ignoring one
message but listening to the other one and repeating it (the shadowed message is the one you attend to)
o The participants are able to notice significant things (change of male to female voice) out of the
unattended message but not small semantic changes
o When hearing their own names in unattended message catches attention
o 3 factors that help selective attention:
Distinctive sensory characteristics (high vs. low pitch, pacing, rhythmicity)
Sound intensity (loudness)
Location of the sound source (far vs. near)
Theories of selective attention
2 types filter and bottleneck theories
Broadbent’s model (filter):
- One of the earliest theories of attention filter information right after we sense it
- Multiple channels reach an attentional filter
- Channels can be distinguished by their characteristics like loudness, pitch or accent
- The filter permits only one channel of sensory information to proceed to the process of perception
- Simple changes in the unattended ear can be noticed if no elaborate processing is necessary but if the
information required higher perceptual processes and it is not attended to it is often not noticed (bc attention is
necessary for the information to proceed to further processing)
Important theories:
Broadbents filter theory, morays selective filter model, treismans attenuation theory and deutsch and deutschs
theory
Learning goals 1A:
1. What factors influence remembering?
1. E.g. load
2. What factors interfere with remembering?/What causes forgetting?
3. Why does order play a role in retrieval?
The magical number 7
- George miller proposed limited number of items in short-term memory
- 7 items (chunks) (+-2) 5-9 items
- Item chunk is the basic unit in short-term memory
o Chunk consists of several components that are strongly associated with each other
- Millers article published during behaviorism which means it was unusual for that time (external vs internal
events)
Early research on short-term capacity limits
The brown/Peterson and Peterson technique:
- Demonstrated that material held in memory for less than 1
minute is frequently forgotten
- Involves presenting participants with items they should
remember and then perform a distracting task, after
spending time on the distracting task participant are asked
to repeat the original terms distracting task prevents
participants from repeating the words in working memory
- After several trails previous letters produced
interference and recall was poor memory is fragile
most important finding proactive interference
- The graph the longer delay before recall (without
rehearsal) the worse was the recall
Serial position effect:
- U shaped relationship between words position in a list and recall probability
- curve shows strong recency effect better recall for items
at end of the list items still in short-term memory
- Measuring the size of short-term memory counting the
number of accurately recalled items at the end of the list
(estimated to be about 3-7 items)
- Curve also shows primacy effect items at the beginning
are easier to remember because they don’t have to
compete with other items and bc they are rehearsed more
frequently no interference
- Less accurate recall for middle items
Semantic similarity of the items in short-term memory
- Semantics can influence short-term memory
- Proactive interference ppl have trouble learning new
material bc previously learned material keeps interfering with their new learning primacy effect
- Release from proactive interference when category of items is shifted
, o XCJ; HBR; TSV KRN difficult to remember but if KRN is shifted to numbers or geometrical forms than
memory will improve
o PI can also be released when semantics
shift
o The condition that was semantically
furthest away from fruits (occupation)
performed best on the last trial because
fruits and occupation are the
semantically most different from each
other the fruit group performed worst
on the last trial because they had to
remember only fruits
o Similar words in meaning can interfere
greater with previously stored items
o Retroactive interference (recency effect)
later words interfere with words
learned earlier (opposite of proactive
interference) middle words are
remembered worst
Short-term memory capacity depends on
chunking strategies and semantics
Learning goal 1B:
1. Factors involved in attention and distraction?
2. What do we do to remember and integrate information?
3. What memory systems do we need to integrate new information with previous information?
4. How does distraction play a role in one's ability to complete a task?
Working memory (not short-term memory called anymore like by Atkinson and Shiffrin)
- 4 components: BY BADDLEY
o Central executive most important; limited
capacity, resembles attention and deals with
cognitively demanding tasks; phonological loop and
visuo-spatial sketchpad are slave systems used by the
central executive, no storage
o Phonological loop processing and storing
information briefly in a phonological (speech-based)
form
o Visuo-spatial sketchpad specialised for spatial and
visual processing and temporary storage
o Episodic buffer temporary storage for integrated
information coming from the visuo-spatial sketchpad
and phonological loop; added 25 years later
- 2 key assumptions:
1. If two tasks use the same component cannot
perform successfully together
2. If two tasks use different components they can be performed successfully together and separately
- Articulatory suppression (because other articulations are suppressed) rapid repetition of a simple sound (the
the the) which uses the articulatory control process of the phonological loop phonological loop is supressed
,Phonological loop
2 components:
- Passive phonological store directly concerned with speech
perception
- Articulatory process linked to speech production giving
access to the phonological store
Phonological similarity effect:
o Phonological similar words reduce the immediate recall chance (happens at encoding level)
depends more on the acoustic similarity (sound) than on articulatory similarity (movements)
but there was a significant effect of articulatory similarity when recall was spoken but not when
written
word-length effect:
o number of words recalled immediately in the correct order is greater for shorter than for longer words
o this effect depends on rehearsal if rehearsal is suppressed the effect decreases
o orthographic neighborhood same words differing in one letter greater recall similar words are
helping each other on retrieval level to reconstruct almost forgotten items
- Phonological loop is helpful in learning a language
- Inner articulatory suppression reduces the use of phonological loop slows down the learning of a foreign
language takes up space in the phonological loop by repeating unnecessary words
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
- Remembering what and where
2 components:
- Visual cache stores information about visual form and colour
- Inner scribe processes spatial and movement information; involved in the rehearsal of information in the
visual cache and transfers information from the visual cache to the central executive
Is there a single system combining visual and spatial processing or is it a partially or completely separate visual and
spatial system? most evidence suggests that it consists of somewhat separate components but it is not
researched to the fullest extent
- More activity in the right hemisphere (parietal cortex) during the spatial task than the visual task and more
activity in the left hemisphere (occipital and temporal lobes) during the visual task than the spatial task
- Areas withing the occipital and temporal lobes were activated during visual processing
- Areas within the parietal cortex were activated during spatial processing
There are general attentionally based interference effects when tasks are demanding (visual
interference interferes with visual and spatial task performance equally), but interference effects
are specific to the type of interference when tasks are relatively undemanding (visual interference
interferes with visual performance and vice versa)
Central executive
- Attentional system
- Involved in almost all cognitive activities does not store information
- Prefrontal cortex most involved but not entirely
- Executive processes processes that organise and coordinate the cognitive system achieving current goals
Baddleys:
o Focusing attention and concentration
o Dividing attention between two stimuli
o Switching attention between two tasks
o Interfacing with long-term memory
Miyake:
1. Inhibition function stroop task
2. Shifting function
3. Updating function rapid addition and deletion of working memory contents
unity/diversity framework
Inhibition does not have any extra features
, Episodic buffer
- Acts as buffer between the other components of WM
- Links WM to perception and LTM
- Baddeley suggested the capacity to be four chunks
- Central executive controls access to and from the episodic buffer Baddeley’s current position is that
integrated information can be stored in the episodic buffer without the direct involvement of executive
processes
- Immediate recall depends on
1. Capacity of the episodic buffer
2. An efficiently functioning central executive to integrate or chunk sentence information
Information is integrated within the episodic buffer with the assistance of the central executive but
not necessary
Critics:
- It remains unclear how exactly information from the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad are
combined
- Research on smell or taste is lacking
Overall evaluation:
- WM model has many advantages over the short-term store proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin
- Greater scope (active and passive processes)
- WM model explains the partial deficits of short-term memory observed in brain-damaged patients
Limitations:
- Oversimplified
- Difficult to identify the number and nature of the main executive processes associated with the central executive
- More research is needed on the interactions among the 4 components
Learning goals 1C:
1. Can we hear or process multiple messages at one time? / Can we attend to more than one thing?
2. To what extent and under which circumstances can we attend to more than one thing?
3. Why do certain things catch your attention?
4. What catches your attention?
What is selective attention?
Cocktail party problem listening to one conversation under many other distracting conversations
Dichotic presentation each ear is presented with different information shadowing task is ignoring one
message but listening to the other one and repeating it (the shadowed message is the one you attend to)
o The participants are able to notice significant things (change of male to female voice) out of the
unattended message but not small semantic changes
o When hearing their own names in unattended message catches attention
o 3 factors that help selective attention:
Distinctive sensory characteristics (high vs. low pitch, pacing, rhythmicity)
Sound intensity (loudness)
Location of the sound source (far vs. near)
Theories of selective attention
2 types filter and bottleneck theories
Broadbent’s model (filter):
- One of the earliest theories of attention filter information right after we sense it
- Multiple channels reach an attentional filter
- Channels can be distinguished by their characteristics like loudness, pitch or accent
- The filter permits only one channel of sensory information to proceed to the process of perception
- Simple changes in the unattended ear can be noticed if no elaborate processing is necessary but if the
information required higher perceptual processes and it is not attended to it is often not noticed (bc attention is
necessary for the information to proceed to further processing)
