SEPTEMBER 2018
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:
THINKING AND REMEMBERING
2.1 C
JIM LEFERINK OP REININK
ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM
Psychology, Ba-2, 2018-2019
, COURSE SUMMARY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROBLEM 1: ACTIVE LEARNING AND REMEMBERING ....................................................................... 2
SHORT-TERM MEMORY .............................................................................................................................................3
WORKING MEMORY .................................................................................................................................................7
ATTENTION .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
PROBLEM 2: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY .................................................................................... 15
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................... 16
THEORY ............................................................................................................................................................... 19
FALSE MEMORIES .................................................................................................................................................. 24
PROBLEM 3: RIGHT, WRONG OR SOMETHING ELSE? ...................................................................... 25
MISINFORMATION ................................................................................................................................................. 25
AMNESIA ............................................................................................................................................................. 31
PROBLEM 4: SCATTERGORIES............................................................................................................. 33
ORGANISATION OF CONCEPTS.................................................................................................................................. 33
SCHEMAS ............................................................................................................................................................. 40
PROBLEM 5: IMAGINE THIS! .................................................................................................................. 43
VISUAL IMAGERY ................................................................................................................................................... 43
COGNITIVE MAPS .................................................................................................................................................. 50
PROBLEM 6: HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND AND REPRESENT LANGUAGE? ................................... 54
DISCOURSE COMPREHENSION .................................................................................................................................. 54
SOCIAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE................................................................................................................................ 61
PROBLEM 7: ESTIMATING CHANCES .................................................................................................. 65
OVERVIEW OF HEURISTICS ...................................................................................................................................... 66
DECISION MAKING IN REAL LIFE ............................................................................................................................... 69
PROBLEM 8: PROBLEM SOLVING AND CREATIVITY ......................................................................... 73
PROBLEM SOLVING ................................................................................................................................................ 73
CREATIVITY........................................................................................................................................................... 79
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................................... 84
1
,PROBLEM 1: ACTIVE LEARNING AND REMEMBERING
Short-term memory (STM) – A term applied to the retention of small amounts of material over periods of a few
seconds. STM has a limited capacity, both in terms of the amount of time that the system can hold onto
information (few seconds), and in the amount of information that it can hold (five to nine, approximately seven
chunks or bits of information). Although people often use verbal rehearsal to help maintain their level of
performance over a brief delay, it is important to bear in mind that the STM is not limited to verbal information,
but also has been studied for visual and spatial information. Note that, to psychologists, remembering over a
few minutes, hours, or a few years all seem to depend on the same long-term memory system, whereas
remembering over a few seconds is only reserved for short-term memory.
Working memory (WM) – A concept based on the assumption that a system exists for the temporary
maintenance and manipulation of information, and that this is helpful in performing many complex tasks as
working memory underpins our capacity to “keep things in mind” during performance of a complex task.
The memory system or systems responsible for STM form part of the WM system. That is, “short-term memory”
only refers to the capacity to store small amounts of information over brief intervals, whereas “working
memory” is the much broader term for a system that not only temporarily stores information but also
manipulates it so as to allow people to perform such complex activities as reasoning, learning, and
comprehension. The term “short-term memory” may also be considered as outdated when considering human
memory, as it implies a passive process, whereas working memory is an active workbench were material is
constantly being handled, combined, and transformed. Working memory may thus be seen as a more popular
reconceptualization of STM that places an emphasis on simultaneous processing and storage of information.
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) proposed one classic information-processing model. Put generally,
the information-processing approach is one approach to cognition, arguing that (1) our mental processes are
similar to the operations of a computer, and (2) information progresses through our cognitive system in a series
of stages, one step at a time. The Atkinson-Shiffrin model (or modal model) proposed that memory involves a
sequence of separate steps. In each step, information is transferred from one storage area to another. Each
subsequent storage area has a bigger capacity than its predecessor, and in each transfer from the one area to
another, a substantial amount of information is lost through forgetting.
Nowadays, the influence of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model is diminished. For instance, most cognitive psychologists
now consider sensory memory to be the very brief storage process that is part of perception, rather than an
actual memory. Many researchers also question the clear-cut distinction between STM and LTM.
The multicomponent account of working memory (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) is based on many experimental and
neuropsychological studies of human memory and has proved durable and widely applicable. However, it should
be seen as complementary to a range of other approaches rather than as the theory of working memory.
Nevertheless, all theories assume that WM provides a temporary workspace that is necessary for performing
complex cognitive activities.
2
, SHORT-T ERM MEMORY
Memory span – A concept that measures (1) remembering what the items presented are; and (2) remembering
the order in which they were presented.
• Memory span is limited to about six or seven digits for most people, although some people can do
better (ten or more) or worse (four or five). Now, why is it limited to six or seven items? Consider the
case of digit span. If there are few digits in the sequence, then one can say them all in less time than it
takes for the first digit to fade away from STM. However, as the number of digits increases, total time
to rehearse them all will be greater, and hence the chance of items fading before they are refreshed
will increase, thus setting a limit to memory span.
• If the order of the items allows for breaking it up into subgroups or chunks (i.e., the items are sufficiently
distinctive in its features), memory span can greatly be improved. That is, STM capacity seems limited
not by the number of items to be recalled, but by the number of chunks. Chunking typically is a process
on the basis of long-term memory (LTM) which may influence STM (e.g., long-term language habits can
help remembering a sequence of letters or words).
Phonological loop – A speech- and sound-related system for holding and rehearsing words and sounds in STM.
It briefly holds verbal information and keeps it active by keeping it “in the loop”, that is, rehearsing and paying
attention to the information. Baddeley (2007) suggests that we can hold as much in the phonological loop as we
can rehearse in 1.5 to 2 seconds. The phonological loop is assumed to have two subcomponents, a short-term
store and an articulatory rehearsal process.
• The short-term store of speech- and sound-related items is assumed to be limited in capacity, with the
items registered as memory traces, which decay within a few seconds.
• The memory traces can be refreshed by subvocal rehearsal (i.e., saying the items to yourself at an
unarticulated level), which depends on a vocal or subvocal articulatory rehearsal process.
The “loop model” is able to account for the following prominent features of verbal STM:
Phonological similarity effect – A tendency for immediate serial recall of verbal material to be reduced, when
the items are similar in sound (i.e., letter span is reduced for similar sounding items).
• Although phonological similarity leads to poor immediate recall, we observe that semantic similarity
appears to have little effect. However, similarity of meaning does become important when the lists are
increased in length and participants are allowed several learning trials. Under these circumstances,
(phonological) LTM is coming into play as LTM typically gains more from relying on meaning than on sound.
Nevertheless, a study of Wickens, Dalezman, and Eggemeier (1976) shows that semantic factors can indeed
influence the number of items that we can store in STM. Specifically, words that we have previously stored
may interfere with the recall of new words that are similar in meaning. Furthermore, the degree of semantic
similarity is related to the amount of interference. As the importance of semantic factors in working memory
has also been confirmed by other researchers, we may state that the number of items stored in STM
depends on both chunking strategies and word meaning.
• Auditory speech is assumed to feed directly into the phonological store, whereas visually presented items
can also be fed into the store if they are nameable (e.g., digits, letters, objects) through a process of vocal
or subvocal articulation (i.e., saying the items to yourself). This subvocal rehearsal system can be blocked if
you are required to repeatedly say something unrelated (e.g., the word “the”), an activity known as
articulatory suppression. Saying “the” means that one is not able to refresh the memory trace by subvocally
pronouncing the remembered material or naming visually presented items, which prevents them from
being registered in the phonological store. For that reason, it does not matter whether items are
3
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:
THINKING AND REMEMBERING
2.1 C
JIM LEFERINK OP REININK
ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM
Psychology, Ba-2, 2018-2019
, COURSE SUMMARY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROBLEM 1: ACTIVE LEARNING AND REMEMBERING ....................................................................... 2
SHORT-TERM MEMORY .............................................................................................................................................3
WORKING MEMORY .................................................................................................................................................7
ATTENTION .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
PROBLEM 2: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY .................................................................................... 15
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................... 16
THEORY ............................................................................................................................................................... 19
FALSE MEMORIES .................................................................................................................................................. 24
PROBLEM 3: RIGHT, WRONG OR SOMETHING ELSE? ...................................................................... 25
MISINFORMATION ................................................................................................................................................. 25
AMNESIA ............................................................................................................................................................. 31
PROBLEM 4: SCATTERGORIES............................................................................................................. 33
ORGANISATION OF CONCEPTS.................................................................................................................................. 33
SCHEMAS ............................................................................................................................................................. 40
PROBLEM 5: IMAGINE THIS! .................................................................................................................. 43
VISUAL IMAGERY ................................................................................................................................................... 43
COGNITIVE MAPS .................................................................................................................................................. 50
PROBLEM 6: HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND AND REPRESENT LANGUAGE? ................................... 54
DISCOURSE COMPREHENSION .................................................................................................................................. 54
SOCIAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE................................................................................................................................ 61
PROBLEM 7: ESTIMATING CHANCES .................................................................................................. 65
OVERVIEW OF HEURISTICS ...................................................................................................................................... 66
DECISION MAKING IN REAL LIFE ............................................................................................................................... 69
PROBLEM 8: PROBLEM SOLVING AND CREATIVITY ......................................................................... 73
PROBLEM SOLVING ................................................................................................................................................ 73
CREATIVITY........................................................................................................................................................... 79
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................................... 84
1
,PROBLEM 1: ACTIVE LEARNING AND REMEMBERING
Short-term memory (STM) – A term applied to the retention of small amounts of material over periods of a few
seconds. STM has a limited capacity, both in terms of the amount of time that the system can hold onto
information (few seconds), and in the amount of information that it can hold (five to nine, approximately seven
chunks or bits of information). Although people often use verbal rehearsal to help maintain their level of
performance over a brief delay, it is important to bear in mind that the STM is not limited to verbal information,
but also has been studied for visual and spatial information. Note that, to psychologists, remembering over a
few minutes, hours, or a few years all seem to depend on the same long-term memory system, whereas
remembering over a few seconds is only reserved for short-term memory.
Working memory (WM) – A concept based on the assumption that a system exists for the temporary
maintenance and manipulation of information, and that this is helpful in performing many complex tasks as
working memory underpins our capacity to “keep things in mind” during performance of a complex task.
The memory system or systems responsible for STM form part of the WM system. That is, “short-term memory”
only refers to the capacity to store small amounts of information over brief intervals, whereas “working
memory” is the much broader term for a system that not only temporarily stores information but also
manipulates it so as to allow people to perform such complex activities as reasoning, learning, and
comprehension. The term “short-term memory” may also be considered as outdated when considering human
memory, as it implies a passive process, whereas working memory is an active workbench were material is
constantly being handled, combined, and transformed. Working memory may thus be seen as a more popular
reconceptualization of STM that places an emphasis on simultaneous processing and storage of information.
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) proposed one classic information-processing model. Put generally,
the information-processing approach is one approach to cognition, arguing that (1) our mental processes are
similar to the operations of a computer, and (2) information progresses through our cognitive system in a series
of stages, one step at a time. The Atkinson-Shiffrin model (or modal model) proposed that memory involves a
sequence of separate steps. In each step, information is transferred from one storage area to another. Each
subsequent storage area has a bigger capacity than its predecessor, and in each transfer from the one area to
another, a substantial amount of information is lost through forgetting.
Nowadays, the influence of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model is diminished. For instance, most cognitive psychologists
now consider sensory memory to be the very brief storage process that is part of perception, rather than an
actual memory. Many researchers also question the clear-cut distinction between STM and LTM.
The multicomponent account of working memory (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) is based on many experimental and
neuropsychological studies of human memory and has proved durable and widely applicable. However, it should
be seen as complementary to a range of other approaches rather than as the theory of working memory.
Nevertheless, all theories assume that WM provides a temporary workspace that is necessary for performing
complex cognitive activities.
2
, SHORT-T ERM MEMORY
Memory span – A concept that measures (1) remembering what the items presented are; and (2) remembering
the order in which they were presented.
• Memory span is limited to about six or seven digits for most people, although some people can do
better (ten or more) or worse (four or five). Now, why is it limited to six or seven items? Consider the
case of digit span. If there are few digits in the sequence, then one can say them all in less time than it
takes for the first digit to fade away from STM. However, as the number of digits increases, total time
to rehearse them all will be greater, and hence the chance of items fading before they are refreshed
will increase, thus setting a limit to memory span.
• If the order of the items allows for breaking it up into subgroups or chunks (i.e., the items are sufficiently
distinctive in its features), memory span can greatly be improved. That is, STM capacity seems limited
not by the number of items to be recalled, but by the number of chunks. Chunking typically is a process
on the basis of long-term memory (LTM) which may influence STM (e.g., long-term language habits can
help remembering a sequence of letters or words).
Phonological loop – A speech- and sound-related system for holding and rehearsing words and sounds in STM.
It briefly holds verbal information and keeps it active by keeping it “in the loop”, that is, rehearsing and paying
attention to the information. Baddeley (2007) suggests that we can hold as much in the phonological loop as we
can rehearse in 1.5 to 2 seconds. The phonological loop is assumed to have two subcomponents, a short-term
store and an articulatory rehearsal process.
• The short-term store of speech- and sound-related items is assumed to be limited in capacity, with the
items registered as memory traces, which decay within a few seconds.
• The memory traces can be refreshed by subvocal rehearsal (i.e., saying the items to yourself at an
unarticulated level), which depends on a vocal or subvocal articulatory rehearsal process.
The “loop model” is able to account for the following prominent features of verbal STM:
Phonological similarity effect – A tendency for immediate serial recall of verbal material to be reduced, when
the items are similar in sound (i.e., letter span is reduced for similar sounding items).
• Although phonological similarity leads to poor immediate recall, we observe that semantic similarity
appears to have little effect. However, similarity of meaning does become important when the lists are
increased in length and participants are allowed several learning trials. Under these circumstances,
(phonological) LTM is coming into play as LTM typically gains more from relying on meaning than on sound.
Nevertheless, a study of Wickens, Dalezman, and Eggemeier (1976) shows that semantic factors can indeed
influence the number of items that we can store in STM. Specifically, words that we have previously stored
may interfere with the recall of new words that are similar in meaning. Furthermore, the degree of semantic
similarity is related to the amount of interference. As the importance of semantic factors in working memory
has also been confirmed by other researchers, we may state that the number of items stored in STM
depends on both chunking strategies and word meaning.
• Auditory speech is assumed to feed directly into the phonological store, whereas visually presented items
can also be fed into the store if they are nameable (e.g., digits, letters, objects) through a process of vocal
or subvocal articulation (i.e., saying the items to yourself). This subvocal rehearsal system can be blocked if
you are required to repeatedly say something unrelated (e.g., the word “the”), an activity known as
articulatory suppression. Saying “the” means that one is not able to refresh the memory trace by subvocally
pronouncing the remembered material or naming visually presented items, which prevents them from
being registered in the phonological store. For that reason, it does not matter whether items are
3
