Memory systems, processes and forgetting
Introduced| English |
|---|
| working memory/ˈwɜːkɪŋ ˈmeməri/ |
| proactive interference/prəʊˈæktɪv ˌɪntəˈfɪərəns/ |
A decision before an answer
- A letter array masked within 300 milliseconds reveals a store that is nearly photographic and almost instantly gone.
- Your goal: Order the memory stores by duration and capacity.
Order the stores
- The modal model orders stores by duration. Sensory memory holds a brief, nearly complete trace — iconic for vision, echoic for hearing — and a mask within 200–300 ms destroys it.
- Short-term or working memory holds a few chunks for seconds; Miller's classic estimate is 7±2 chunks, and rehearsal keeps material active. Long-term memory is durable and effectively unlimited.
A letter array masked 250 ms after presentation is poorly reported. The store revealed by this masking sensitivity is:
The brief, mask-sensitive iconic trace is sensory memory.
Open the working system
- Baddeley's model has a central executive with a phonological loop for speech-like material and a visuospatial sketchpad for images.
- Chunking recodes items into familiar units, expanding effective capacity without expanding the store.
After switching from one textbook to a similar new one, old definitions keep intruding on the new ones. This is:
Old learning disrupting new is proactive interference; new disrupting old would be retroactive.
Sort the long-term types
- Long-term memory divides by content and awareness. Episodic memory is personal events; semantic memory is facts and knowledge; procedural memory is skills.
- Implicit memory shows in performance without deliberate recall (priming, skills); explicit memory is deliberate recall or recognition. A person can show priming for material they cannot consciously recollect.
A masked letter array is lost within 300 ms — sensory memory. Remembering a phone number by 3-4 digit chunks uses chunking in working memory. Recognising a face without recalling the meeting is implicit memory. After learning French then Spanish, French vocabulary intrudes into Spanish recall: proactive interference.
Miller's classic estimate of short-term capacity is 7±2 ____.
Capacity is measured in chunks, so chunking expands effective capacity.
Explain the forgetting
- Proactive interference is old learning disrupting new; retroactive interference is new learning disrupting old.
- Retrieval failure follows encoding specificity: cues matching the encoding context restore recall. The serial position curve (primacy and recency) separates long-term from immediate-store contributions.
Treating working memory as a single box, or calling every memory failure decay; interference and cue-dependent retrieval failure account for most exam cases.
Which answer fits this case?
Order the memory stores by duration and capacity
Implicit memory requires deliberate conscious recall.
Implicit memory appears in performance (priming, skills) without deliberate recall.
Keep the distinctions
- working memory 工作记忆 — The limited active system holding and manipulating a few chunks for seconds.
- proactive interference 前摄干扰 — Older learning disrupting the retention of newer material.
- Order the memory stores by duration and capacity.
- Distinguish memory types by content and awareness.
- Explain forgetting through interference and retrieval failure.
Match each term with its precise meaning in this lesson.
Keep the distinctions stated in the teaching example.
Put this lesson’s reasoning or event sequence in order.
The order follows the stated process; check each stage before the next.