ENCODING MEMORIES

Module 2.4

Learning Targets

• LT 2.4-1

​

​

• LT 2.4-2

​

​

• LT 2.4-3

​

​

​

​

​

Explain the differences between explicit and implicit memories.

Explain what type of information we process automatically.

Explain how sensory memory works.

Learning Targets

• LT 2.4-4

​

​

• LT 2.4-5

​

​

• LT 2.4-6

​

​

​

​

Explain the capacity of short-term memory.

Explain the effortful processing strategies that help us remember new information.

​

Explain how distributed practice, deep processing, and making new material personally meaningful aid memory.

​

Types of Memories

/SEMANTIC

2 Types of Implicit Memories

Memories you use without conscious awareness

Procedural Memories – How to swim, ride a bike or read

- Required effort and practice at first but later it’s automatic!

​

Classically Conditioned/Learned Responses –

- Learned Associations that result in Emotional

or Nervous System reactions (automatic)

2 Types of Explicit Memory�Memories that you are consciously aware of

1. Episodic information—information about events or “episodes” (typically automatically processed)

​

​

• Semantic information—information about facts, general knowledge, school work (declarative memory – effortfully processed)

​

Episodic Memory

• Memory tied to your own personal experiences
• Examples:
• What was the best birthday gift you ever received?
• Do you like to eat caramel apples?
• Your first kiss.��
• Q: Why are these explicit memories?
• A: Because you can actively state your answers to these questions

Semantic/Declarative Memory

• Memory not tied to personal events
• General facts and definitions about the world (School Stuff)
• Examples:
• Who was the first President of the U.S.?
• How many tires on a car?
• What is a cloud?
• What color is a banana?

​

Automatic vs. Effortful Processing

• Automatic: Some information, such as where you ate dinner yesterday, you process automatically.
• We Automatically encode information about:
• Space – Where things are you’ve encountered
• Time – Sequence of events in your day
• Frequency – How often something happened

​

• Effortful: Other information, such as this chapter's concepts, requires effort to encode and remember. (requires maintenance & elaborative rehearsal)

​

• Some things like reading and driving started off as effortful but eventually with rehearsal became automatic!

​

Types of LTM

Implicit

Explicit/Declarative

General Knowledge

(semantic memory)

Personal Events

(episodic memory)

Skills and

Procedures

(procedural memory)

Classically Conditioned Emotions/Reactions

Hippocampus

Cerebellum

Explicit Memories are easy to explain facts or experiences.

Implicit Memories are hard to put into words. They

Involve skills and reactions we’ve learned.

Processing/Encoding leads to LTM

Memory’s 1^st Stage: Sensory Memory

• Iconic Memory or Visual sensory memory—brief memory (.3 second) of an image or icon.
• George Sperling studied iconic memory
• (try his experiment yourself with a link on our website)

​

• Echoic Memory or Auditory sensory memory—brief memory of a sound or echo.

Auditory sensory memories may last a bit longer than visual sensory memories (3 seconds)

Sperling’s Sensory Memory Experiment�How much does it hold and for how long?

• Presented matrix of letters for 1/20 of a second
• Report as many letters as possible
• Subjects recall only half of the letters
• Was this because subjects didn’t have enough time to SEE entire matrix? No
• How did Sperling know this?

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s Experiment

• Sperling showed people can SEE and recall ALL the letters momentarily
• Sounded low, medium or high tone immediately after matrix disappeared
• tone signaled 1 row to report
• recall was almost perfect

• Sensory Memory for images (Iconic Memory) fades after .3 seconds or so, making report of entire display hard to do.

Memory’s 2^nd Stage: �Short-Term Memory/Working Memory

• Function - conscious processing of information
• where information is actively worked on
• Capacity - limited (holds 7 +/- 2 items)
• Holds about 7 numbers, 6 letters or 5 words before forgetting occurs
• Duration - brief storage (about 30 seconds)
• Code - often based on sound or speech even with visual inputs

​

​

Information you select and pay attention to makes it to…�SHORT-TERM MEMORY

• STM has a very limited capacity for short amount of time.
• It can multi-task but better off giving one thing at a time your complete attention.
• Multi-taskers are Jack of Trades but a Master of None.
• Young Adults have the best working memory

Working Memory’s Storage Ability

• What happens if you need to keep information in working memory longer than 30 seconds?
• To demonstrate, memorize the following phone number (presented one digit at a time)...

8

3

6

1

9

7

5

Working Memory Storage

​

• What is the number?

​

857-9163

​

The number lasted in your working memory longer than 30 seconds

So, how were you able to remember the number?

Maintenance Rehearsal

• Mental or verbal repetition of information

Working or

Short-term

Memory

Sensory

​

Input

Sensory

Memory

Attention

• Allows information to remain in working memory longer than the usual 30 seconds

Maintenance rehearsal

Maintenance Rehearsal

• What happens if you can’t use maintenance rehearsal?
• Memory decays quickly
• To demonstrate, again memorize a phone number (presented one digit at a time)
• BUT, have to count backwards from 1,000 by sevens (i.e., 1014, 1007, 1000 … etc.)

6

4

9

0

5

8

2

Working Memory Store

What is the number?

​

628-5094

Without rehearsal, memory fades

Peterson’s STM Task

• Test of memory for 3-letter nonsense syllables
• Participants count backwards for a few seconds, then recall
• After 3 seconds recall drops by half
• Without rehearsal, memory fades

​

Ways to Improve STM: �Chunking

• Organizing a variety of items into understandable smaller units
• More information can be encoded if organized into meaningful chunks
• Which is easier to remember?
• 4 8 3 7 9 2 5 1 6 2
• 483 792 5162

Effortful Processing Strategies:�Mnemonic Devices�Key & Peele Mnemonics Skit (2 min)

Mnemonic Devices

• A memory trick or technique for remembering specific facts
• “Every good boy deserves fudge” to remember the notes on the lines of the scale
• Click HERE for a quick 6 minute review of the types of mnemonics from Western Sydney University

Peg-Word System

• A mnemonic device in which the person associates items to remember with a list of peg words (or a jingle) already memorized.
• Goal is to visualize the items to remember with the items on the pegs

Method of Loci�(Memory Palace)

• Associate items to be remembered with imaginary places you know well.
• Want to remember the first 100 digits of Pi? Here’s how! (5 min)

Acronyms

• Formed by the initial letters of INDIVIDUAL words.
• Example: HOMES = Names of the Great Lakes

Acrostics

• Create an entire sentence from the first letter of each item you want to remember.
• Serves as a memory prompt for actual items.
• Example: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (Math)
• Example: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (Music)

Interactive Images

• Link a set of isolated words by creating visual representations for the words & then picturing interactions among the items.
• Example: If you had to remember a list of random things like an aardvark, pencil, table and book…
• Picture the aardvark sitting on a table holding pencil in its claws and writing in a book.

Keyword System

• Learning isolated words by linking sounds and meanings together.
• Example: Elvis shook his pelvis
• Stalactite holds tight to the ceiling
• Cation is pawsitive
• Tibia is on top of the fibula

​

Hierarchies:�Categorical Clustering

• Organizing items you want to remember by categories
• A type of chunking
• Example: Grocery list organized by aisles or food category.

Other Ways to Improve Memory

Spacing Effect = �Distributed Practice = Success!

Massed Practice = Cramming

• Putting all rehearsal together in one long session (cramming)
• Not as effective as distributed practice

Testing Effect

• Better to practice retrieval through testing yourself than to just reread the material.
• Use daily quizzing or the book’s review questions to test your knowledge rather than just rereading your notes.

Encoding:�“Saving” info from STM to �Memory’s 3^rd Stage: Long Term Memory (LTM)��How you study matters!

Types of Encoding/Processing

• Encoding information based on the meaning of the information

Semantic Encoding is BEST�(From Craik & Tulving, 1975)

What level are you encoding the info?�Shallow vs. Deep Processing

• Shallow is simple memorizing without thought.
• Deep is finding meaning to what you’re learning

Types of Effortful Processing

• Maintenance Rehearsal – go over something repeatedly till it is encoded in LTM
• Elaborative Rehearsal – relate the info to info you already know.
• Self-reference effect – applies info to yourself.
• Visual imagery – vivid images you can remember.

Semantic Encoding is Deep Processing

• “What does this mean?”
• What are examples of this?
• How can I apply this to my life?
• Actively question new information
• Think about its implications
• Try to generate your own examples based on your experiences
• Encoding information that is meaningful enhances recall

​

How does this apply to me?

• How well does this work? Watch this 8 minute video on how the world’s best memory competitors use mnemonics. Watch 4:05-7:15 for a quick look at how memory competitors use semantic encoding & mnemonics to improve their memories.

​

Self-Reference Effect

• Type of semantic encoding/deep processing
• Making information meaningful to a person by making it relevant to one’s life
• See how the “mental athletes” at the annual Memoriad do it – ABC News Report (4 min)