Memory

Mr. McElhaney

PLHS

Remembering is an Active Process

• Memories can be lost and revised
• Types of Memory
• Short Term Memory
• Long Term Memory
• Info that appears to be lost may still be in memory
• Problems with memory:
• Forgetting and storage issues
• Recovered memories are problematic
• Strategies such as Mnemonics can improve memory

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Basics

• Definition- Memory is an active system that receives, stores and organizes, alters, and recovers information

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• Encoding- info is changed into usable and storable form
• Encoding-Storage-Retrieval

3 Part System Memory

• Sensory
• STM (Working)
• LTM

Sensory Memory

• New info is perceived through the senses

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• Info is held exactly as perceived for a few seconds (Transduced)
• Preceding short term Memory

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• Iconic memory
• Sensory Memory using visual stimuli
• Echoic memory
• Auditory stimuli, lasts 3-4 seconds

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All of the Senses:

• Use Transduction:
• The process of changing energy (stimulus) to a form that can be processed by the nervous system-
• For example- light to a form that can be recognized by the retina.

Dual System in Memory

• Short Term Memory
• Long Term Memory

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• Small desk and file cabinet concept

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Fig. 9.2 Remembering is thought to involve at least three steps. Incoming information is first held for a second or two by sensory memory. Information selected by attention is then transferred to temporary storage in short-term memory. If new information is not rapidly encoded, or rehearsed, it is forgotten. If it is transferred to long-term memory, it becomes relatively permanent, although retrieving it may be a problem. The preceding is a useful model of memory; it may not be literally true of what happens in the brain (Eysenck & Keane, 1995).

Short Term Memory 1

• Is working memory
• Includes Selective attention
• Holds small amounts of info for a brief time
• Encoding in STM-
• memories are stored by images
• And phonetically- by sound, words and letters

Short Term Memory 2

• Storehouse for small amounts of info
• Phone numbers/shopping lists

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• Working memory holds info while other activities are taking place.

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• Is sensitive to interruption + interference

Connectionism (theory)

• Says memory is a product of interconnected neural connections
• Specific memory = neural connections

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Processing info helps Memory

• Connecting to LTM
• Chunking
• Rehearsal
• Elaborative Rehearsal

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Today

• Short Term Memory finish
• Long Term Memory
• Brain and Memory

Short Term Memory 3

• Limited size = 7 “slots”/Information bits
• Good mem = 9 bits
• Recoding= reorganizing information
• Chunking = form of recoding, creating connections/groups between info
• Rehearsal- repeating info increases STM and can lead to transfer to LTM

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Elaborate Rehearsal –

• Linking new info to memories in LTM will improve memory
• Elaborate = extend, think about info as you study
• Ask yourself “why” why would that be true?
• Try to relate new ideas to your own experiences and knowledge

Elaborate Rehearsal when you don’t even know you’re doing it.

• Your understanding of academic material improves and your memory improves with the number of content interactions;
• For Example when we are in class we:
• Above all the organism needs to try to learn the stuff
• Listen (auditory interaction)
• Visualize
• Take notes (processing the visual, and auditory)
• Think (which is processing)
• Asking questions (evidence of thinking)
• Summarize (which is thinking, and engaging in the material/ also monitoring comprehension)
• Reviewing notes at home (more thinking and engaging in the material)
• READ (tons of processing if you really read)
• Discussion (shows you are thinking)
• Extended writing (massive amounts of thinking)

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Long Term Memory

• Encoding = storage (LTM) stored based on meaning
• Recoding/reorganizing/revision is present in LTM
• example- Chunking can/will work in LTM
• Constructive Processing = updating memory
• Fills in the gaps of memory with logical conclusions or extensions, or inferences
• (Pseudo Memories are false memories)
• Relates to how we can sometimes not know the source of some memories

Organization of Info in LTM

• Patterns of Association = memory structure
• Examples: rules, images, symbols, similarities, formal meaning, personal meaning

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• Network Model (or schema)
• Associations of new of linked ideas
• We make organization based on linked meanings

Memory Aids

• Chunking info= try to link 2-3 or more facts into larger chunks and your memory will improve

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• Key to memory is to find meaning
• Always think about how you feel about things

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Fig. 9.7 In the model shown here, long-term memory is divided into procedural memory (learned actions and skills) and declarative memory (stored facts). Declarative memories can be either semantic (impersonal knowledge) or episodic (personal experiences associated with specific times and places).

Types of LTM = skill and fact

• Procedural- Skill
• Conditioned Response
• Learned Actions
• Automatic
• Lower brain-cerebellum
• Typing and Driving Actions

Long Term Memory

• Found in the Cortex of Brain
• Hippocampus clearly associated with memory (see brain map of memory)
• permanent storehouse for Memory
• Everything you know goes into LTM

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• Important + Meaningful info gets transferred to LTM

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• The more you know the easier it is to add memory

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Brain Anatomy and Memory

• Locations of memory is identified through brain mapping

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• Experiments through Electroconvulsive Shock destroys memory
• Mostly effects recent memories
• Before Consolidation

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Brain #2

• Hippocampus= closely associated with LTM (Thalamus is also associated with LTM)
• Used in Consolidation of memory
• Known as the “Switching Station” between STM and LTM
• Grows neurons that make new connections with in the brain
• Damage to hippocampus = Anterograde amnesia= inability to store new memories LTM (“50 First Dates”)

Brain 3

• 3lbs of brain
• Cerebral Cortex- multiple areas associated

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• Pre-Front of Cortex = Episodic Memory- events
• Back area of Cortex = Semantic Memory- ideas

Current Research:

• Stimulation from environment promotes new synapses
• New experiences alter the functioning of existing synapses
• Neurotransmitters associated in memory- Glutamate, acetylcholine,
• Memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s related to a deficiency in neurons that use acetylcholine and found in hippocampus and cortex
• Drugs that increase Acetylcholine in synapses improve memory
• “Formation of memories is associated with changes in synapses and strengthens and networks”

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Types of Memory

• Episodic Memory= experiences
• Autobiographic

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• When we access we re-experience
• Most easily forgotten LTM

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• Declarative- Facts
• Names, faces, dates, words, ideas
• Expressed in words and symbols
• Semantic Memory
• Encyclopedia of basic knowledge
• You don’t forget

Memory Formation

• Consolidation- the forming of LTM memory
• Takes time to move info from STM to LTM

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• Meaning is key

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Models of Memory

• Why do some stimuli leave no more than a fleeting impression and others remain in memory forever? (see chart Pg. 244)
• 5 models or explanations for how memory works

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1. Information Processing
2. Levels of Processing
3. Transfer Appropriate Processing
4. Parallel Distributed Processing
5. Multiple Memory System

Re-integrative Memories

• Memories in LTM
• Can be triggered by cues
• Cues (associations/clues) always enhance memories
• Triggered memories are cues to other connected memories
• Pictures, smells, songs, sounds

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• Cue-Dependent Forgetting

Stimuli associated with memory are missing

Memory Tasks- LTM

Serial Position Effect

• STM
• Being able to memorize the beginning and end of a list
• But not the middle
• Why?-
• The end- interference, STM has limited capacity
• Primacy Effect- first 2-3 words on list recall is good
• Probability of recall decreases for words in the middle of the list and then rises dramatically
• Recency Effect- easier to recall end of list because first are in STM rehearsal helps the last are close in STM.

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Implicit and Explicit Memories

Implicit Memories

• We are not aware
• Unconscious

Priming

• Giving a person limited cues
• Info previously learned is reflected in cued responses
• Related to implicit memory
• Sub-conscious

Explicit Memories

• Recall is used
• Conscious memories
• Trying to remember

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Forgetting

• Encoding Failure: When a memory was never formed in the first place

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• Memory Traces: Physical changes in nerve cells or brain activity that occur when memories are stored

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• Memory Decay: When memory traces become weaker; fading or weakening of memories

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• Disuse: Theory that memory traces weaken when memories are not used or retrieved

Activity Definition of these terms

1. State Dependent Learning (Remembering)
2. Context Dependent Learning (Remembering)
3. Interference (Forgetting)
4. Decay (Forgetting)
5. Proactive Interference (Forgetting)
6. Retroactive Interference (Forgetting)
7. Positive Transference (Remembering)
8. Negative Transference (Forgetting)
9. Repression (unconscious)
10. Suppression (conscious)

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Why do we forget? The Role of Decay and Interference:

• Decay- the gradual (over time) disappearance of the mental representation of a stimulus (wears out) especially in STM
• Interference- a process through which either the storage or retrieval of information is impaired by the presence or other information. (STM forgetting too)
• Might occur because one piece of information might interfere with other pieces of info (displaces) pushing it out of memory. (rehearsal prevents displacement STM)
• Or, one piece of info makes storage or recall more difficult.
• LTM- two types of interference:
• Retroactive interference- learning of new info interferes with recall of old info
• Proactive Interference- old info interferes with learning or remembering new info.

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Remembering

• Context Dependent Memory:
• “People remember more of what they learned when conditions during recall match encoding”
• Why? We tend to encode features of the environment in which the learning occurred and these features may later serve as retrieval cues.

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• State Dependent Memory:
• A person’s internal state can aid or hamper retrieval (mood)
• Positive-recall is easier when positive mood occurs during encoding

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Positive and Negative Transference

• Positive Transference
• Mastery of one task aids mastery of a second task
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• Knowledge and skill in one adds to another
• Negative Transference (language)
• Skills developed in one situation conflict with those required to master a new task

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Repression and Suppression

• Repression (unconscious)
• Memory motivated by forgetting
• Forgetting painful troubling or embarrassing memories
• Held out of consciousness
• Sensitive to emotional events
• Use repression to protect themselves from threatening thoughts
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• Suppression (conscious)
• An active conscious attempt to put something out of mind
• We actively avoid remembering upsetting information
• Painful upsetting event avoided suppression could be repression

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Amnesia

Retrograde (before) Amnesia

• Forgetting events that occur before an injury or trauma

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• Korsakoffs Syndrome
• Korsakoff's syndrome (also called Korsakoff's dementia, is a neurological disorder caused by a lack of thiamine (vitamin B₁)) in the brain. Its onset is linked to chronic alcohol abuse and/or severe malnutrition.

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• Anterograde- Amnesia
• “50 First Dates”
• Forgetting invents that follow an injury
• “These patients are also able to keep information temporarily in working memory, which depends on the activity of dopamine neurons in the prefrontal cortex. So the hippocampus is crucial in the formation of new episodic memoires, but implicit memory, procedural memory, and working memory appear to be governed by other regions of the brain.”

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Sleep + Memory

• Sleep improves brains ability to remember info
• Important for memory consolidation
• Increases procedural memory

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• During sleep-
• Short term memories in Hippocampus and are then transferred to long term storage in Neo-Cortex

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• 90 minute nap helps speed up learning
• Naps help

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• Using your brain reduces  risk of Alzheimer’s (crosswords)

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False Memories videoFalse Memories video Video 2

• Repressed Memories
• Many traumatic events retained in the unconscious mind which affects conscious thoughts feelings and behavior no conscious memory.

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• 1-4 girls are molested
• When people say they have recovered memories it is probably true, but still is a problem for false memories.

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• Spontaneous Recovery (study said)
• 37% of time spontaneous recovery memories were corroborated
• Memories recovered in Therapy were not corroborated – should be seen cautiously

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Memory Supports

• Making Notes- write things down
• Prevents info from slipping out of short term memory before you can review it and store it more permanently

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• Mnemonics “strategies for placing information into an organized context in order to remember it”

To Improve Memory

• Training to improve memory
• Use chanting
• Association
• Memory Strategy is Mnemonics

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• Basic Principles
• Use mental pictures
• Make things meaningful
• Make info Familiar- connect to what you already know
• Mental associations- more outrageous = easy to remember

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Memory Aides

• Recitation
• Summarize aloud while you learn
• You practice retrieving information
• While reading stop and try to reinforce by re-stating info

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• Elaborate Rehearsal
• Emotion aides memory

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• Method of Loci: remembering through visualization of location and associations- Use the location like a map as mental picture.

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Guidelines for Effective Studying

• Relate new info to knowledge already stored.
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• Organize The Information:
• Create an outline or overall context for learning
• Repetition- (rehearsal) not necessarily works well for LTM (but on a limited basis)
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• Distributed Practice-
• Spread out learning over time
• Use Elaborative Rehearsal
• Self-Testing:
• Practice retrieving information you want to remember
• Address main points from memory
• Flashcards

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Reading A Textbook: What do successful students do?

• Monitor understanding
• Re-read difficult sections
• Deep level processing
• think about each new topic in relation to other material
• Helps organize material

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Lecture Notes:

• Take notes on the important ideas
• Use your own words to express ideas
• Think about what is being said, draw connections with other matieral
• Review the lecture note and fill in missing details
• Summarize major points

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PQ4R (strategy)

• Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, Review
• All designed to increase the depth of processing
• Preview: Skim the chapter- look at headings, bold face, italicized words. Get a general idea of what is in the chapter and how it is organized (review the entire chapter then, more closely the individual sections)
• Question: before reading each section ask yourself what content will be covered and what information you should be getting from it.
• Read: and think about the material, monitor understanding. Are you able to answers earlier questions?
• Reflect: as you read think of your own examples, create visual representations of the content; Ask yourself what the material means; consider how each section relates to other sections in the chapter and other content in the book
• Recite: at the end of each section, recite the major points out loud; be active… put the ideas in your own words (a form of self testing)
• Review: at the end of the chapter, review all the material, review how the material is organized

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Basics: from Idiots Guide to Psych: Memory

• Our memory doesn’t mind very well—it often misremembers, forgets, and makes mistakes.
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• The three mental operations required for memory are encoding (putting information in), storage (filing it away), and retrieval (finding it); forgetting is a failure in one of these areas.
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• Mnemonics are very effective memory aids that help us store information in a way that enables us to easily recall it later on. And the use of written reminders and other memory strategies can be especially useful for the elderly, who have more problems remembering recent events.
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• Sleep is believed to be actively involved in consolidating memory, especially procedural memories.
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• Mental and physical exercise can slow the impact of degenerative neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.
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• False memories can fool us and professionals as well; although not likely, it is possible to remember serious childhood trauma that never that never happened. As far as forgetting traumatic things that did happen, the truth is still up in the air. However, the vast majority of people remember ongoing traumatic events.

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