Memory

1. Memory • persistence of learning over time via the process of encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

2. Memory • Memory as Information Processing • similar to a computer • write to file • save to disk • read from disk

3. Memory • Encoding • the processing of information into the memory by making mental representations (image, event, sound) • Storage • the process by which encoded information is placed into relatively permanent storage (making associations or files). • Retrieval • process of getting information out of working memory (stm) or long-term memory (ltm).

4. Sensory Memory • the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system (0-2 secs) • Short Term Memory • activated memory that holds a few items briefly • look up a phone number, then quickly dial before the information is forgotten (2-30 secs) • Long Term Memory • the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system (forever)

5. Attention to important or novel information Sensory input Encoding External events Sensory memory Short-term memory Long-term memory Encoding Retrieving A Simplified Memory Model

6. Encoding Effortful Automatic Encoding- Getting Information In

7. Encoding • Automatic Processing • Unconscious or automatic encoding of information from STM to LTM without any awareness • Why is it so easy to remember a conversation? • Why do sports fans remember their team’s statistics? • Why do you remember how to ride a bike or play tennis? • Interesting to Us (Episodic Memory) • Holds Our Attention • We Have Prior Experiences or “Hooks” to associate it • It’s Procedurally Encoded In Us Through Practiced Skills • On the other hand, encoding factual is very difficult for us and requires lots of effort (like notetaking)

8. Encoding • Effortful Processing • requires attention and conscious effort by working hard to rehearse the information or making associations between new and old information (1st time is the hardest!) • Rehearsal • conscious repetition of information • Maintenance Rehearsal Repeating or rehearsing the information rather than forming new associations (phone number/shopping list) • Elaborative Rehearsal Involves making meaningful associations between material to be learned and information already learned (Dog, Bicycle, Street)

9. Encoding • Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables • TUV ZOF GEK WAV • the more times practiced on Day 1, the fewer repetitions to relearn on Day 2 • Spacing Effect • distributed practice yields better long term retention than massed practice

10. Time in minutes taken to relearn list on day 2 20 15 10 5 0 8 16 24 32 42 53 64 Number of repetitions of list on day 1 Encoding

11. Encoding • Serial Position Effect Please read this list once and try to remember the animal’s names: Giraffe, bear, elephant, fly, deer, elk, parrot, gorilla, wolf, robin, snail, turtle, shark, ant, butterfly, dog, whale, mouse

12. Encoding • Serial Position Effect People tend to remember the first and last terms best in a list of terms • Primacy Effect • First 4-5 items are best recalled • Often have more time to rehearse • Recency Effect • Last 4-5 items in a list are more easily recalled • Often they are still available in STM and still “heard”

13. 90 Percentage of words recalled 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Position of word in list Encoding-Serial Position Effect

14. What Do We Encode? • Semantic Encoding • encoding of meaning and facts • including meaning of words, concepts, definitions, and rules • Echoic Encoding • encoding of sound • especially sound of words • Iconic Encoding • encoding of picture images

15. Encoding

16. Encoding • Imagery • mental pictures • a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding • Mnemonics • memory aids • especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

17. Encoding • Chunking • organizing items into familiar, manageable units • like horizontal organization- 1776149218121941 • often occurs automatically • use of acronyms • HOMES- Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior • ARITHMETIC- ARat In Tom’s House Might Eat Tom’s Ice Cream

18. Encoding- Chunking • Organized information is more easily recalled

19. Encoding (automatic or effortful) Meaning (semantic Encoding) Imagery (visual Encoding) Organization Chunks Hierarchies Encoding • Hierarchies • complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided into categories and subcategories

20. Storage-Retaining Information • Sensory Memory • the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system • Iconic Memory • a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli • a photographic or picture image memory lasting no more that a few tenths of a second • Registration of exact representation of a scene • Echoic Memory • momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

21. Storage-Short Term Memory • Short Term Memory • limited in duration and capacity “CHJ” example: a.) Subjects were challenged to remember a simple 3-letter series. b.) To Prevent rehearsal they were asked to count backwards immediately after seeing the letters. c.) 80% recalled after 3 seconds, however, only 10% recalled after 15 seconds. d.) Demonstrates that without rehearsal, information disappears from STM • “magical” number 7+/-2 • Interference of new information prevents us from memorization, but we can use “Chunking” to aid in retention.

22. Try This… • MJL • ATB • RMD • OAM • DPM • CAM • CDH

23. Percentage who recalled 3 Letter Series 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 Time in seconds between presentation of contestants and recall request (no rehearsal allowed) Storage-Short Term Memory

24. Storage-Long Term Memory • Unlimited Capacity • Permanent Storage Once information is stored in LTM, it is there permanently, unless drugs, disease, or injury damage the brain’s circuits. • Retrieval Although all information has the potential to be retrieved, how much depends on a number of factors including encoding, storage, and retrieval Example: (300 vocabulary terms recalled at 92% immediately, but only 35% 5 years later) • Emotion Highly emotional or physical experiences trigger a release of hormones that either help or hinder strong memory storage.

25. Storage-Long Term Memory • Amnesia- the loss of memory • Explicit Memory • memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare • hippocampus- neural center in limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage • Implicit Memory • retention without conscious recollection • motor and cognitive skills • dispositions- conditioning

26. Types of long-term memories Explicit (declarative) With conscious recall Implicit (nondeclarative) Without conscious recall Personally experienced events (“episodic memory”) Dispositions- classical and operant conditioning effects Facts-general knowledge (“semantic memory”) Skills-motor and cognitive Storage- Long Term Memory Subsystems

27. Hippocampus Storage-Long Term Memory • MRI scan of hippocampus (in red)

28. Retrieval- Getting Information Out • Recall • the ability to retrieve info learned earlier and not in conscious awareness-like fill in the blank test • Recognition • the ability to identify previously learned items-like on a multiple choice test

29. Retrieval • Relearning • amount of time saved when relearning previously learned information • Priming • activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

30. Retrieval Cues • Reminders of information we could not otherwise recall • Guides to where to look for info • Context Effects • memory works better in the context of original learning

31. Percentage of words recalled 40 30 20 10 0 Water/ land Land/ water Land/ water Land/ land Different contexts for hearing and recall Same contexts for hearing and recall Retrieval Cues

32. Retrieval Cues • Deja Vu- (French) already seen • cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience • "I've experienced this before" • Mood Congruent Memory • tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood • memory, emotions or moods serve as retrieval cues • State Dependent Memory • what is learned in one state (while one is high, drunk or depressed) can more easily be remembered when in same state

33. Retrieval Cues • After learning to move a mobile by kicking, infants had their learning reactivated most strongly when retested in the same rather than a different context (Butler & Rovee-Collier, 1989).

34. Forgetting • Forgetting as encoding failure • Information never enters the memory system • Attention is selective • we cannot attend to everything in our environment • William James said that we would be as bad off if we remembered everything as we would be if we remembered nothing

35. Attention External events Sensory memory Short- term memory Long- term memory Encoding Encoding Encoding failure leads to forgetting Forgetting as Encoding Failure

36. Forgetting • Forgetting as encoding failure • Which penny is the real thing?

37. Percentage of list retained when relearning 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 10 15 20 25 30 Time in days since learning list Forgetting • Ebbinghaus- forgetting curve over 30 days • initially rapid, then levels off with time

38. 100% 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Percentage of original vocabulary retained Retention drops, then levels off 1 3 5 9½ 14½ 25 35½ 49½ Time in years after completion of Spanish course Forgetting • The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in school

39. Attention Encoding External events Sensory memory Short-term memory Long-term memory Encoding Retrieval Retrieval failure leads to forgetting Retrieval • Forgetting can result from failure to retrieve information from long-term memory

40. Forgetting as Interference • Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other information • Proactive(forward acting) Interference • disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information • Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference • disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information

41. Forgetting as Interference

42. 90% 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Without interfering events, recall is better Percentage of syllables recalled After sleep After remaining awake 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hours elapsed after learning syllables Forgetting • Retroactive Interference

43. Forgetting • Forgetting can occur at any memory stage • As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it

44. Sensory memory - the senses momentarily register amazing detail Short term memory - a few items are both noticed and encoded Long-term storage - Some items are altered or lost Retrieval from long-term memory - depending on interference, retrieval cues moods and motives, some things get retrieved, some don’t Information bits Forgetting

45. Forgetting- Interference • Motivated Forgetting • people unknowingly revise history • Repression • defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories • Positive Transfer • sometimes old information facilitates our learning of new information • knowledge of Latin may help us to learn French

46. Memory Construction • We filter information and fill in missing pieces • Misinformation Effect • incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event • Source Amnesia • attributing to the wrong source an event that we experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (misattribution)

47. Depiction of actual accident Leading question: “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” Memory construction Memory Construction • Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when questioned

48. Memory Construction • People fill in memory gaps with plausible guesses and assumptions • Imagining events can create false memories • Children's eyewitness recall • Child sexual abuse does occur • Some innocent people suffer false accusations • Some guilty cast doubt on true testimony

49. Memory Construction • Memories of Abuse • Repressed or Constructed? • Child sexual abuse does occur • Some adults do actually forget such episodes • False Memory Syndrome • condition in which a person’s identity and relationships center around a false but strongly believed memory of traumatic experience • sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists

50. Memory Construction • Most people can agree on the following: • Injustice happens • Incest happens • Forgetting happens • Recovered memories are commonplace • Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs are unreliable • Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable • Memories, whether false or real, are upsetting