Psychology 001Introduction to Psychology

Christopher Gade, PhDOffice: 621 Heafey

Office hours: F 3-6 and by apt. Email: gadecj@gmail.com

Class WF 7:00-8:30 Heafey 650

In the last lecture we learned about…

►How memory was first studied.

►Memory testing techniques.

►Different types of memories Temporal Content specific

Today, we’re going to discuss how our memories can be erroneous at

times.► Problems with our

memories Interference Serial order effects Reconstruction

effects

► How to improve our memories Levels of

processing Encoding

specificity Learning intervals Mnemonic devices

Let’s Test Our Memories►We’ll be going

over several lists of words. Please follow the instructions and try to the best you can in each activity.

Problems with our memories…

►Interference: a loss of memory accuracy that is due to an overlap of information when trying to recall specific details of lists/events/people. Proactive interference: new material is lost

(not easily stored) due to old material.►Flowers►New addresses (zip codes)

Retroactive interference: old material is lost (forgotten) due to new material.►Fruits►Specific details about ex’s

Problems with our memories (cont.)►Serial order (position) effect: the

better retention of information/items due to their position in a list of information/items. Primacy effect: the ability to remember

information at the beginning of a list more easily.►Word lists 1 & 3 (primacy effect)►Word list 2 (primacy effect removed)

Recency effect: the ability to remember information at the end of a list more easily.►Word lists 1 & 2 (recency effect)►Word list 3 (recency effect removed)

Problems with our memories (cont.)►Reconstruction effect: our tendency to

include inaccurate information into our memories in an attempt to “fill in the gaps”. Reconstructing stories and adding details

►Subway video►Word list 4►Note: This happens a lot more than we think it does!

Creating false memories versus uncovering of forgotten memories►Freud’s work on repression►Elizabeth Loftus research (in the text)

Hindsight bias►“I remember thinking that today would not be my day.”►“I never really liked him/her much anyway.”►“I knew we shouldn’t have invested in that company.”

How do we improve our memories?

► Let’s try something out…

Task 1►In this task, you’ll see a list of words,

remember how many of these words have at least three vowels in them.

Task 1►In this task, you’ll see a list of words,

remember how many of these words rhyme with the word stack.

Task 1►In this task, you’ll see a list of words,

remember how many of these words relate to something that you valued from your past.

Mouse Shore Flight

Shack Sheet Kayak

House Attack Assure

Unpack Blouse Smack

How to improve our memories (cont.)

►Levels of processing: The deeper you think about something, the more likely you are to remember the information. More time spent on the information

More retrieval cues are available

More neural connections are formed

How to improve our memories (cont.)

►Encoding specificity: we’re more likely to remember information when we are in a condition that resembles the condition that we were in when we learned the information. Mood dependency

►Recollection of traumatic events

Situation dependency►Baddelley’s scuba diving experiment

State dependency►When you’re using caffeine…►When you’re using alcohol?

How to improve our memories (cont.)

► Increased learning intervals Allows for deeper processing Counteract proactive and retroactive interference Allow for more encoding specificity opportunities

► Mnemonic devices THE mnemonic device

► EGBDF►OCEAN

Chunking► Phone #’s► List #1

Information pairings► List #2

Method of loci►Grocery Lists

So what have we learned?►We learned about how our memories

can go awry at times.

►We also learned about a few methods that we can use in order to improve our memories.

►We learned that studying memory can be fun!!!