Chapter 8Memory

Numbers

How well can you remember these?

Quiz

Memory: Some Key Terms

• Memory: Active system that stores, organizes, alters, and recovers (retrieves) information

• Encoding: Converting information into a useable form

• Storage: Holding this information in memory for later use

• Retrieval: Taking memories out of storage

Fig. 8-1, p. 252

In some ways, a computer acts like a mechanical memory system. Both systems process information, and both allow encoding, storage, and retrieval of data.

Sensory Memory

• Sensory memory: Storing an exact copy of incoming information for a few seconds or less (either what is seen or heard); the first stage of memory

• Iconic memory: A mental image or visual representation

• Echoic memory: After a sound is heard, a brief continuation of the activity in the auditory system

Short-Term Memory (STM)

• Storing small amounts of information briefly– Working memory: Part of STM; like a

mental “scratchpad”– Selective attention: Focusing (voluntarily)

on a selected portion of sensory input (e.g., selective hearing)

– Phonetically: Storing information by sound; how most things are stored in STM

• Very sensitive to interruption or interference

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• Storing meaningful information relatively permanently

• Stored on basis of meaning and importance

Culture?

• Members of cultures that trade beads can remember color patterns of long strands of beads; those who herd cattle can remember and recognize dozens of individual animals. Name some type of information that is easily remembered in our culture, but that might be difficult for a member of another culture to encode? Include subculture

Fig. 8-2, p. 253

The Atkinson-Schiffrin model. 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 (STM). If new information is not rapidly encoded, or rehearsed, it is forgotten. If it is transferred to long-term memory (LTM), it becomes relatively permanent, although retrieving it may be a problem. The preceding is a useful, but highly simplified, model of memory; it may not be literally true of what happens in the brain

Short-Term Memory Concepts

• Digit span: Test of attention and short-term memory; string of numbers is recalled forward or backward

• Magic number 7 (±2): STM is limited to holding seven (plus or minus two) information bits at once– Information bit: Meaningful single piece of

information, like numbers or letters

More Short-Term Memory Concepts

• Recoding: Reorganizing or modifying information to assist storage in memory– Information chunks: Bits of information that

are grouped into larger units

Chunking Activity

Maintenance Rehearsal• Repeating information silently to prolong its presence in STM

Elaborative Encoding: Links new information with existing memories and knowledge in LTM– Good way to transfer STM information into LTM

• Long-Term Memory Concepts: Constructive processing: Updating memories on basis of logic, reasoning, or adding new information• Pseudo-memories: False memories that a person believes are true or accurate

Remember these words:

• Ask them to introspect about their initial processing of the words. Are they aware of an echo? Do they silently rehearse the words? Do they attempt to chunk them in some way? Do they try to link them to knowledge in long-term storage?

Fig. 8-3, p. 256

Exposed cerebral cortex of a patient undergoing brain surgery. Numbers represent points that reportedly produced “memories” when electrically stimulated. A critical evaluation of such reports suggests that they are more like dreams than memories. This fact raises questions about claims that long-term memories are permanent

p. 257

Eyewitness memories are notoriously inaccurate. By the time witnesses are asked to testify in court, information they learned after an incident may blend into their original memories.

Cognitive interview: Use of various cues and strategies to improve eyewitness memory

Redintegration

• Memories that are reconstructed or expanded by starting with one memory and then following chains of association to related memories

Fig. 8-4a, p. 258

Suppose you are shown a series of photographs that depict various scenes related to having lunch at the campus commons. One of the photos shows an unexpected event (the spilled soda). If you were to see all of the photos again a few days later, it’s likely that you would “remember” seeing the image on the right (next slide), even though it wasn’t in the original group of photos. When we see an unexplained event, we are very likely to think about its cause. Later, it is easy to mistake these thoughts for an actual memory

Fig. 8-4b, p. 258

Types of Long-Term Memories

• Procedural (skilled): Long-term memories of conditioned responses and learned skills (e.g., driving)

• Declarative (fact): Part of LTM that contains factual information

Subparts of Declarative Memory

• Semantic memory: Includes impersonal facts and everyday knowledge

• Episodic: Includes personal experiences linked with specific times and places

Fig. 8-5, p. 259

A hypothetical network of facts about animals shows what is meant by the structure of memory. Small networks of ideas such as this are probably organized into larger and larger units and higher levels of meaning.

Fig. 8-6, p. 260

The tower puzzle. In this puzzle, all the colored disks must be moved to another post without ever placing a larger disk on a smaller one. Only one disk may be moved at a time, and a disk must always be moved from one post to another (it cannot be held aside). An amnesic patient learned to solve the puzzle in 31 moves, the minimum possible. Even so, each time he began, he protested that he did not remember ever solving the puzzle before and that he did not know how to begin. Evidence like this suggests that memories for skills are distinct from memories for facts.

Fig. 8-7, p. 260

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).

Measuring Memory

• Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state: Feeling that a memory is available but not quite retrievable

• Feeling of knowing: Feeling that allows people to predict beforehand whether they’ll be able to remember something

Recall

• Direct retrieval of facts or information– Hardest to recall items in the middle of an

ordered list; known as the serial position effect – Easier to remember first and last items in a list

Fig. 8-8, p. 262

Measuring Memory Continued

• Recognition memory: Previously learned material is correctly identified– Usually superior to recall

• Distractors: False items included with a correct item– Wrong choices on multiple-choice tests

• False positive: False sense of recognition

More on Measuring Memory

• Relearning: Learning again something that was previously learned– Used to measure memory of prior learning

• Savings score: Amount of time saved when relearning information

Measuring Memory Concluded

• Explicit memory: Past experiences that are consciously brought to mind

• Implicit memory: A memory not known to exist; memory that is unconsciously retrieved

• Priming: When cues are used to activate hidden memories

p. 266

External cues like those found in a photograph, in a scrapbook, or during a walk through an old neighborhood often aid recall of seemingly lost memories. For many veterans, finding a familiar name engraved in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial unleashes a flood of memories.

Curve of Forgetting

• Graph that shows the amount of memory information remembered after varying lengths of time

• Nonsense syllables: Meaningless three-letter words (fej, quf) that test learning and forgetting

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

Don’t Forget These Terms!

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

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

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

Handout 8.1

• When I say “GO”, you have 45 seconds to try and remember and learn as many words as you can from your list

Forgetting

• A. What is the difference between the two lists? You should project the two lists together on an overhead projector so the students can compare them.

• B. Why is there a difference in performance on the two lists?

• C. Some students who had the second list, the one lacking organization, will still do as well as or better than those in the other group. Identify those persons and try to find out what they did to recall so much. This could lead to some interesting discussion of memory techniques.

• D. Can what has been found in this exercise apply to the study habits of the students? Discuss ways to make it work for them.

Fig. 8-9, p. 264

Some More Theories of Forgetting

• Memory cue: Any stimulus associated with a memory; usually enhances retrieval of a memory– A person will forget if cues are missing at

retrieval time

Fig. 8-14, p. 268

The amount of forgetting after a period of sleep or of being awake. Notice that sleep causes less memory loss than activity that occurs while one is awake.

What is your earliest memory and how old were you?

Psychology Today has surveyed its readers regarding their earliest memories. Ninety-six percent of the respondents reported having memories prior to the age of six, with sixty-eight percent reporting recall for events occurring when they were two or three. Furthermore, a surprising seven percent said they had memories prior to age one, and a few even claimed to have prenatal recollections as well as memories of their own birth! While some of the early memories were of traumatic experiences (such as the birth of a sibling, being injured, or the death of relatives or pets), the majority of recollections were of more mundane things (like being given a bath, having a picture taken, or being pushed in a swing). Interestingly, most of the memories involved images rather than events. People remembered things like curtains blowing in the breeze, a light shining on someone’s face, and a mobile hanging in the air. This is probably because small children generally lack the language skills necessary to encode a complicated series of events. Many psychologists, in fact, believe that it is rare for people to remember things that occurred before they were able to talk.

State-Dependent Learning

• When memory retrieval is influenced by bodily state at time of learning; if your body state is the same at the time of learning AND the time of retrieval, retrievals will be improved– If Robert is drunk and forgets where his car is

parked, it may be easier to recall the location if he gets drunk again!

– Can include moods also

Fig. 8-13, p. 267

Interference

• Tendency for new memories to impair retrieval of older memories, and the reverse

• Retroactive interference: Tendency for new memories to interfere with retrieval of old memories

• Proactive interference: Prior learning inhibits (interferes with) recall of later learning

Fig. 8-16, p. 268

Retroactive and proactive interference. The order of learning and testing shows whether interference is retroactive (backward) or proactive (forward).

Transfer of Training

• Positive transfer: Mastery of one task aids learning or performing another

• Negative transfer: Mastery of one task conflicts with learning or performing another

Repression and Suppression

• Repression: Unconsciously pushing painful, embarrassing, or threatening memories out of awareness/consciousness– Motivated forgetting

• Suppression: Consciously putting something painful or threatening out of mind or trying to keep it from entering awareness

Memory Formation

• Retrograde Amnesia: Forgetting events that occurred before an injury or trauma

• Anterograde Amnesia: Forgetting events that follow an injury or trauma

• Consolidation: Forming a long-term memory in the brain

Electroconvulsive Shock (ECS)

• Mild electrical shock passed through the brain produces a convulsion, destroys any memory that is being formed

• One way to prevent consolidation

Memory Structures

• Hippocampus: Brain structure associated with emotion and transfer of information passing from short-term memory into long-term memory– If damaged, person can no longer “create”

long-term memories and thus will always live in the present

– Memories prior to damage will remain intact

Flashbulb Memories

• Memories created during times of personal tragedy, accident, or other emotionally significant events– Where were you when you heard that

terrorists had attacked the USA on September 11th, 2001?

• Includes both positive and negative events• Not always accurate• Great confidence is placed in them even though

they may be inaccurate

Your own Bulbs

• Ask students to report a “flashbulb” memory that is especially vivid for them. What role did emotion play in the formation of the memory? Have they rehearsed and retold the memory unusually often? How can flashbulb memories be explained?

Ways to Improve Memory

• Spaced practice: Alternating short study sessions with brief rest periods

• Massed practice: Studying for long periods without rest periods

• Lack of sleep decreases retention; sleep aids consolidation

• Hunger decreases retention

Ways to Improve Memory (Cont)

• Selection: Selecting most important concepts to memorize

• Organization: Organizing difficult items into chunks; a type of reordering

Ways to Improve Memory Concluded

• Whole Learning: Studying an entire package of information at once, like a poem

• Part Learning: Studying subparts of a larger body of information (like text chapters)

• Progressive Part Learning: Breaking learning task into a series of short sections

• Serial Position Effect: Making most errors while remembering the middle of the list

• Overlearning: Studying is continued beyond bare mastery

Retrieval Strategies

• Knowledge of Results: Feedback allowing you to check your progress

• Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are learning

• Rehearsal: Reviewing information mentally (silently)

Mnemonics: Memory “Tricks”

• Any kind of memory system or aid – Use mental pictures– Make things meaningful– Make information familiar– Form bizarre, unusual, or exaggerated

mental associations

Mneunomic Activity

Keyword Method

• Aid to memory; using a familiar word or image to link two items

Using Mnemonics to Remember Things in Order

• Form a chain or story: Remember lists in order, forming an exaggerated association connecting item one to two, and so on

• Take a mental walk: Mentally walk along a familiar path, placing objects or ideas along the path

• Use a system