Memory

Mr. Koch

AP Psychology

Andover High School

What is memory?

The persistence of learning over time via storage and retrieval of information

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Multi Store Model of Memory

Encoding

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Storage

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Retrieval

(write to file)

(save to drive)

(read from drive)

Multi Store Model of Memory

• Encoding
• Processing information into the memory system
• Automatic vs. Effortful processing

(where, time, frequency) (what)

• Storage
• The retention of encoded information over time
• Retrieval
• Process of getting information out of memory

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Multi Store Model of Memory

Multi Store Model of Memory

• Sensory Memory
• Immediate, initial recording of sensory info in memory system – info is either processed or lost
• Iconic
• Visual – eyes register exact representation of scene in amazing, but fleeting detail (lasts ~ ¼ sec.) (#2)
• Echoic
• Auditory – hold for 3-6 sec.

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How much information can you hold?��Try to see if you can remember all of the following numbers

(#3)

736

3795

06935

759354

8340385

02148594

395076395

1793057848

Multi Store Model of Memory

Multi Store Model of Memory

• Short Term Memory (STM)
• Limited capacity, but very accurate type of memory that lasts from a few seconds to ~ ½ min.
• “Magic number” 7+/-2
• Varies by individual
• Maintenance Rehearsal – conscious repetition
• Ex. – phone number
• maintain in consciousness
• encode for storage or will be forgotten

Working Memory Model

• Challenged the multistore model idea of STM as overly simplistic
• This model describes how we temporarily store and manipulate information

• Central Executive: controls the flow of information, directs attention, suppresses irrelevant information (“little boss”)

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• Phonological Loop: stores verbal information

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• Visuospatial Sketchpad: stores visual and spatial information

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• Episodic Buffer: communicates between WMM systems and LTM

#4

Multi Store Model of Memory

Multi Store Model of Memory

• Long Term Memory (LTM)
• Relatively permanent, limitless type of memory
• Eidetic – “photographic” memory (does it exist???)
• “Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory” (#5)

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• Long-Term Potentiation
• increased synaptic firing efficiency in a particular neural sequence – the neural basis of learning/memory

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Types of Memory

• Implicit Memory – without conscious recall (cerebellum)
• Procedural – motor/cognitive skills (how to do things)
• Dispositional – classical/operant conditioning

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• Explicit (Declarative) Memory – conscious recall (hippocampus)
• Semantic – facts, names
• Episodic – personally experienced events
• “flashbulb” memory – clear memory of emotionally significant moment/event (i.e. JFK, 9/11)

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• Prospective Memory
• The ability to remember to carry out a planned action in the future (the retention and activation of intentions at the right time/place)
• i.e. – remembering to take your medicine later, to call your mother on her birthday, to feed your dog before school, to take the pizza out of the oven

Another memory test

Try to remember as much as possible of the following long string of letters.

When I give you the cue, see how many you can write down.

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(#6)

N

B

C

C

I

A

F

B

I

P

B

S

Write down what you remember.

“Chunking”��

NBC

CIA

FBI

PBS

Memory Encoding Strategies

• Mnemonics
• Imagery/Visualization – loci method
• “Self-Reference Effect”
• Chunking
• Categories/Hierarchies
• “Spacing Effect”
• Massed Practice: encoding information all at once
• Distributed Practice: distributing encoding over time
• Overlearning
• Multi-sensory

Elaboration Test

As you see the words, follow the instruction to either:

-count the e’s

or

-place in a category

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At the end, see how many you can remember and write down.

(#7)

Date

Pitcher

Violet

Black

Maine

Wind

Spring

Bridge

Jefferson

Lead

Jam

Rattle

Grass

Marker

Page

Cookie

Bat

Plumber

Chair

Perch

Host

File

Beethoven

Bulb

Rock

Anger

Freud

Giggle

Egg

Notwithstanding

• Date
• Black
• Bridge
• Grass
• Cookie
• Bat
• Chair
• Host
• File
• Beethoven
• Bulb
• Anger
• Freud
• Giggle
• Egg

• Pitcher
• Violet
• Maine
• Wind
• Spring
• Jefferson
• Lead
• Jam
• Rattle
• Marker
• Page
• Plumber
• Perch
• Rock
• Notwithstanding

Sorted E’s

Category

Levels of Processing Model

• Proposes that the deeper information is processed (encoded), the longer a memory trace will last

• Structural: encoding the physical qualities of something (visual/appearance)
• i.e. – is the word in capital letters or small letters?

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• Phonemic: encoding the sound (auditory)
• i.e. – does the word rhyme with…?

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• Semantic: encoding the meaning of a word and relating it to words with similar meanings (#8)
• i.e. – does the word go in this sentence…?

Shallow Processing

(maintenance rehearsal)

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Deep Processing

(elaborative rehearsal)

Serial Position Test

Listen to the list of words that I will read aloud. When I give you the cue, try to write down as many as you can remember.

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(#9)

Serial Position Effect�(Primacy Effect & Recency Effect)

• Nation
• Uncle
• Valley
• Skin
• Question
• Record
• Animal
• Roof
• Weather
• Doctor
• Circle

• Friend
• Railroad
• Shade
• Machine
• Thought
• Gold
• Season
• Class
• Movie

• The order of how information is presented affects the encoding process

Recall vs. Recognition

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(#10)

Remembering without retrieval cues

(ex – free response/essay tests)

Ability to identify information as previously encountered – relies on retrieval cues

(ex – multiple choice tests)

Retrieval Cues

• Priming
• The effect in which recent experience of a stimulus facilitates or inhibits later processing of the same or a similar stimulus

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• Context-Dependent Memory
• More likely to retrieve memories when in the same environmental space as when information was encoded
• Mood-congruent memory
• More likely to retrieve memories consistent w/ current mood
• State-dependent memory
• More likely to retrieve memories when in same physical state

Retrieval Practice

• Successful retrieval is more likely when using retrieval practice processes (strategy of recalling facts, concepts, or events from memory to enhance learning)

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• “Testing Effect”
• Taking a test on previously studied material leads to better retention than restudying for an equivalent amount of time

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• Metacognition
• Awareness of one’s own cognitive processes and attempting to control them (i.e. identifying strengths/weaknesses)

How about another memory test?

I will read a list of words aloud. Try to remember as many of the words as possible and write them down when I give the cue.

(#11)

Did you write the word sleep?…

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…It wasn’t in there.

False Memories / Deja Vu

• cues from current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier, similar experience

Forgetting/Memory Failure

• Can be result of failure in encoding, storage, or retrieval

(#12)

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Ebbinghaus’ “forgetting curve”

Time is a significant factor in forgetting!!!

Forgetting

"You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all... Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it we are nothing. I can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life, as it did my mother's..."

- Luis Bunuel

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As quoted in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

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#13

Forgetting/Memory Failure

• Chemicals
• Nicotine (+), caffeine (+)
• Marijuana (-), alcohol (-)
• Amnesia
• Infantile
• Anterograde
• Retrograde
• Source Amnesia

(how/when/where info was learned)

• Repression

(Psychodynamic – defend Ego from distress)

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• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Interference
• Proactive
• Retroactive (#14)
• Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

(incomplete retrieval)

• “Misinformation Effect” (#15)
• Constructive Memory
• Memory consolidation
• Imagination inflation