HPS203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Anterograde Amnesia, Encoding Specificity Principle, Speaker Types
HPS203 Week 7
TOPIC 4: ACQUISITION AND RETRIEVAL
Define context-dependent learning and describe how Godden and Baddeley (1975)
demonstrated it
• Context-dependent learning: a pattern of data in which materials learned in one setting
are well remembered when the person returns to that setting, but less well remembered in
other settings
Godden and Baddeley (1975)
• Godden and Baddeley (1975) asked scuba divers to learn various materials
o Some learnt material while on dry land
o Some learnt material 20 feet underwater (hearing material
through a special communication set)
• Within each group, half the divers were then tested above
water, half were tested below
• Underwater: world has a different look, feel, and sound à could
easily influence what thoughts come to mind for the divers in this situation
o “Cold related thoughts” and connection to the materials being learnt
o Being back underwateràmay lead to “cold-related” thoughtsànow connected to
target materials
o On land, the “cold-related” thoughts are not triggered
Define context reinstatement and describe how Fisher and Craik (1977) demonstrated it
• Context reinstatement: a procedure in which someone is lead to the same mental and
emotional state he or she was in during a previous event; context reinstatement can often
promote accurate recollection of that event
o Improved memory performance if we re-create the context that was in place
during learning
o The context has its effects only because it influences how you think about the
materials to be remembered
o It’s these thoughts, and the perspective you had taken during learning and during
the test, that matter for memory (not the physical environment per se)
Fisher and Craik (1977)
• Presented their research participants with a series of word pairs
• The participants were instructed to learn the second word in
each pair and to use the first word in the pair only as ‘an aid to remembering the target
words’
o For half of the pairs, the other word was semantically associated with the target
word (e.g. ‘cat’ and ‘dog’) à should have encouraged them to think about the
words’ meanings
o For the other pairs, the context word was one that rhymed with the target (e.g.
‘cat’ and ‘hat’)should have encouraged them to think about the target word’s sound
• When tested, participants were given a retrieval cue: an instruction or stimulus input,
provided at the time of recall, that can potentially guide recall and help the person to
retrieve the target memory
o Meaning focused: ‘was there a word on the list associated with dog?’
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o Cue focused: ‘was there a word on the list associated with hat?’
• Thinking about meaning lead to better memory
• People who thought about meaning at the time of learning
remembered about 50% more than people who thought about
sound
• However if people thought about some at the time of learning,
they still did better with a cue concerning the word’s sound
• Two separate influences on memory:
o An advantage for thinking about meaning
o An advantage for matched learning and test conditions
Define encoding specificity and describe how Barclay, Bransford, Franks, McCarrell &
Nitsch (1974) demonstrated it
• Encoding specificity: the tendency, when memorizing, to place in memory both the
materials to be learned and also some amount of the context of those materials
o As a result, these materials will be recognised as familiar, later on, only if the
materials appear again in a similar context
• There is a suggestion that what’s preserved in memory is some record of the target
material and also some record of the connections you established during learning
• Encoding specificity- what you encode is indeed specific- not just the physical stimulus as
it was encountered, but the stimulus together with its context
o If you’re later presented with the stimulus in a different context, you ask yourself- does
this match anything I learned previously? answer is no
Describe the process of spreading activation and explain how it can account for context
reinstatement
• Spreading activation: a process through which activation travels from one node to
another, via associative links.
o As each node becomes activated, it serves as a source for further activation,
spreading onward through the network
o Activation spreads out from its starting point in all directions simultaneously,
flowing through whatever connections are in place
• Nodes receive activation from their neighbours
• As more and more activation arrives at a particular node, the
activation level for that node increases
• Eventually, the activation level will reach the node’s response
threshold
• Once this happens, the node fires
• Activation levels below the response threshold (subthreshold activation) also have an
important role
• Activation is assumed to accumulate
• Two subthreshold inputs may summate and bring the node to
threshold
• If a node has been partially activated recently, it is in effect
already ‘warmed up’
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Document Summary
Define encoding specificity and describe how barclay, bransford, franks, mccarrell & If you remember" having encountered a stimulus before, then you can usually offer information about that encounter, including when, where, and how it occurred. Heightened activity in the hippocampus- brain structure is crucial for source memory o know": Activity in the anterior parahippocampus, this brain site could be crucial for familiarity. Source memory and familiarity can be distinguished during learning: if certain brain areas e. g. the rhinal cortex are especially active during learning - stimulus is likely to seem familiar later on trigger a know" response. Suggestion that the hippocampal region is crucial for establishing source memory. People are given 3-4 letters and must produce a word with this beginning. People are more likely to offer a specific. Participants are shown strings of letters and must indicate, as quickly as possible, whether each string of letters is a word in word if they have encountered it recently.
