Seven Dwarfs• Can you name the seven

dwarfs? (In your notebook, write down all the responses that come to mind in the order in which they occur… KEEP INFO TO YOURSELF!!!)

Seven Dwarfs

• From the following list, pick out the names of the seven dwarfs:

Grouchy Shy Teach Shorty

Gabby Droopy Dopey Nifty

Fearful Sniffy Wishful Happy 

Sleepy Puffy Dumpy Doc

 Smiley Sneezy Lazy Wheezy

Jumpy Pop Grumpy Stubby

Hopeful Bashful Cheerful

Seven Dwarfs

• Here is the correct list: Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Doc, & Bashful

Forgetting• How difficult was this task? Why?

• Have you ever seen the movie?

– Encoding Failure = we failed to get the information into our memory – cannot attend to more than a few things at a time.

• How long has it been since you seen the movie?

– Decay Theory = gradual fading of the physical memory trace (when new memory forms, there is a change in brain structure or chemistry. If unused, normal brain metabolic processes erode memory trace.

• Did you have the feeling that you knew the name but could not retrieve it?

– Retrieval Failure = forgetting often results from an inability to get the memory out TOT (tip of the tongue) - Subjective sense of being on the verge of remembering a piece of information but retrieval process does not produce a complete response

• Forgetting can occur at any memory stage

Forgetting: Encoding Failure• Encoding Failure = we failed to encode the

information – cannot attend to more than a few things at a time.

EncodingX Long-termmemory

Encoding failureleads to forgetting

Short-termmemory

Forgetting: Encoding Failure• Examples of encoding failure…

– Selective Attention (Everyday Questions pgs 321-322 in course packet)

– Next-in-line Effect

• Ways to promote encoding…

– Spacing Effect

– Overlearning

• Ebbinghaus’ list of nonsense syllables and forgetting curve

– Organization of information

• Chunking

• Hierarchies

– Self-reference Effect

– Mnemonic Devices

• Loci Method

• Peg Word Method

Which is the real penny?

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

(f) (g) (h) (i) (j)

(k) (l) (m) (n) (o)• Even though you’ve seen thousands of pennies, you’ve probably

never looked at one closely to encode specific features

8

RehearsalIn relearning, the individual shows how

much time (or effort) is saved when learning material for the second time.

ListJetDaggerTreeKiteSilkFrogRing

It took 10 trialsto learn this list

ListJetDaggerTreeKiteSilkFrogRing

It took 5 trialsto learn the list

1 day laterSaving

OriginalTrials

RelearningTrials

RelearningTrials

10 510

50%

X 100

X 100

Forgetting: Decay Theory• Decay Theory = gradual fading of the physical memory trace (when new memory forms, there is a change in brain structure

or chemistry). If unused, normal brain metabolic processes erode memory trace. – Long-term potentiation – increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation, such as a result of

learning or retrieving memories. • The sending neuron now needs less prompting to release its neurotransmitter, and receptor sites may increase.• If memory trace is not activated there will be a decrease in LTP and an eventual eroding of actual memory trace

Alzheimer’s Disease• One of the most devastating forms of

memory loss is Alzheimer's disease, an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills.

• Today, Alzheimer's is the second most-feared illness in America, following cancer, and may affect as many as five million Americans. It is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. 

• Has no current cure.

Inside the Brainhttp://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_4719.asphttp://www.alzheimers.org/rmedia/adanimation.htm

• Alzheimer's destroys brain cells.  Two abnormal structures called plaques and tangles are prime suspects in damaging and killing nerve cells. – Plaques build up between nerve cells. They

contain deposits of a protein fragment called beta-amyloid (BAY-tuh AM-uh-loyd).

– Tangles are twisted fibers of another protein called tau (rhymes with “wow”) and form inside dying cells.

• Most experts believe they somehow block communication among nerve cells and disrupt activities that cells need to survive.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease

Forgetting: Retrieval Failure• Retrieval Failure = the inability to access stored information in LTM

• If you experienced retrieval failure, what were you focusing on to try to retrieve the info?

– The syllables? (6 of the 7 dwarfs have 2 syllables); What letter it started with? (s and d occur most frequently); The meaning or connotation the name had? (most names are vivid adjectives)

• TOT (tip of the tongue) - Subjective sense of being on the verge of remembering a piece of information but retrieval process does not produce a complete response

EncodingLong-term

memoryShort-term

memoryRetrievalX

Retrieval failureleads to forgetting

Seven Dwarfs• Did you have a run or pattern based off the organizational cues? For

example: Did you recall words similar in meaning to the actual dwarfs? (Lazy, Clumsy, Droopy, or Grouchy?)

– Spreading Activation Model - memories stored as a web of associations. To retrieve a specific memory, you first need to identify one of the strands that leads to it. Often our associations are activated or primed without our awareness.

PrimingUnconscious activation of a

connected associations

PrimingUnconscious activation of a

connected associationsDozy

Weary

Drowsy

Tired

Web of Associations Sleepy

• Look at the picture. Then when the instructor says a word, write it down.

Conceptual Priming

Perceptual priming

• Can you identify the fragmented stimulus below?

Perceptual priming

• What if you were shown the following slide earlier in the lecture?

Forgetting: Retrieval Failure• Were you better at Recall or Recognition?

RecognitionIdentification of items

previously learned

RecallRetrieval of informationpreviously learned w/out

assistance

Retrieval Cues – a clue, prompt or hint thatcan help us to remember

VS.

• Ways to promote retrieval…

– Encoding Specificity Principle – cues used during initial learning are more effective during later retrieval than novel cues based on spreading activation model + priming

• Internal Cues

– State Dependent Memory

– Mood Congruence Memory

• External Cues

– Context Effects

Déjà vu (pg297 of packet)

Retrieval Cues

State-Dependent

Memory increases if mood at recall is the

same as retrieval

• Internal, physiological factors (mood, emotions, stress, etc)

• If happy when learned info recall info more easily when happy; alert and hyper when learned info recall info more easily when alert and hyper, etc

• Memories are mood-congruent = remembering experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood. EX: depressed people more likely to recall parents as rejecting and punitive.

Retrieval CuesContext EffectMemory increases if

recall occurs in the same context as encoding.

• External, environmental factors (same room, same time of day, listening to music, eating, etc

• Better recall if tested in classroom where you initially learned info than if moved to a new classroom

• If learning room smells of chocolate or mothballs, people will recall more info if tested in room with the same smell compared to different smell or no smell at all

• Learn at 3pm perform better at 3 pm than 9 pm

Interference

Proactive Interference = Something learned earlier disrupts something learned later.

Retroactive Interference = Something learned later disrupts something learned earlier.

PastPast PresentPresent

PastPast PresentPresent

InterferenceInterference - learning some items may interfere with learning other items. One memory competing with or replacing another memory

EX: Memories of where you parked your car on campus the past week interferes with ability find car today

EX: When new phone number interferes with ability to remember old phone number

Previously learned language interferes with ability to remember newly learned language

Learning a new language interferes with ability to remember old language

24

Retroactive Interference

Sleep prevents retroactive interference. Therefore, itleads to better recall.

Serial Position Effect

• Serial Position Effect

– Primacy Effect = enhanced ability to recall items from the beginning of the list

– Recency Effect = enhanced ability to recall items from the end of the list

Accident

Leading question:“About how fast were the cars going

When they smashed into each other?”

Memory construction

Reconstructing What We’ve Forgotten• Recall not an exact replica of original events; recall is

a construction built and rebuilt from various sources• Misinformation Effect – distortion of memory by

incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event: photos – media coverage, our schemas, retellings, questioning – interrogation

– As a memory fades with time following an event, the injection of misinformation becomes easier

– Loftus’ Experiments: two cars hit or smashed each other type of questioning influences whether witnesses believe they saw broken glass or not

• Imagination Inflation – repeatedly imagining nonexistent actions and events can create false memories

• Source Amnesia – attributing an event to the wrong source an event that we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. EX: Have a dream and think it really happened to us. A week later they were asked: Was

there any broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported more broken

glass than Group A (hit).

Reconstructing What We’ve Forgotten

• Ways to Prevent Misinformation– Ask less suggestive questions. Ask open-ended

questions in which the other person has to provide the DETAILS.

– Involved adults should not discuss the issue with the other person prior to questioning

– Memories before the age of 3 (infantile amnesia) or recovered under hypnosis (most do not believe in repression) = UNRELIABLE

Motivated Forgetting• Motivated Forgetting: People

unknowingly revise their memories.

• Are memories of abuse repressed or constructed?– Many psychotherapists

believe that early childhood sexual abuse results in repressed memories.

• Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

– However, other psychologists question such beliefs and think that such memories may be constructed.

Sigmund Freud

29

Improving Memory

1. Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall.

2. Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material.

3. Make material personally meaningful.4. Use mnemonic devices:

associate with peg words — something already stored

make up a story chunk — acronyms

30

Improving Memory

5. Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate the situation and mood.

6. Recall events while they are fresh — before you encounter misinformation.

7. Minimize interference:1. Test your own knowledge.2. Rehearse and then determine what you

do not yet know.