Memory

1. Memory Are memories real? Are they true?

2. Memory as information processing • Selecting, structuring, organizing, categorizing, storing, and retrieving sensations, perceptions, dreams, fantasies, thoughts, words, and results of learning. • With all of these and more involved in memory, is it any surprise that there are glitches and that two people’s memory of the same event can be so different? • Digital computer metaphor vs. brain system adaptation • Categories of processes: • Encoding • Storage • Retrieval

3. Two models of memory • 1. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s 3-stage model (1962) • Sensory memory • Short-term memory • Long-term memory • 2. Contemporary model (Baddeley, 1992) • Working memory • Rehearsal systems • Phonological loop • Visuospatial sketchpad • Central executive

4. Phenomena of memory • Flashbulb memories • Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon • The Jeopardy effect • Processing as organization of memory • Sound • Letter • Meaning • Recall vs. recognition • 90% recognition of 2500 slides (Haber, 1970)

5. Recall vs. recognition Grouchy Gabby Puffy Fearful Sleepy Dumpy Smiley Jumpy Sneezy Hopeful Shy Lazy Droopy Dopey Pop Sniffy Wishful Grumpy Bashful Cheerful Teach Shorty Nifty Happy Doc Wheezy Stubby

6. The real seven dwarfs • Sleepy • Dopey • Grumpy • Sneezy • Happy • Doc • Bashful

7. Transient memories • Sensory memory • Visual sensory memory: the iconic store • Auditory sensory memory: the echoic store • Sperling (1960) and visual sensory memory • Ready to participate in Sperling’s study?

8. S R J V M Q D T F W H N

9. Sperling’s test phase: • high

10. Sperling’s test phase • medium

11. Sperling’s test phase • low

12. Sperling’s experimental condition • Ready?

13. G M Q B Z N K R P L T X

14. . Sperling’sresults: • Iconic store is transient, decaying to less than 50% of peak performance within one second. • All items in the array are placed in the iconic store.

15. Auditory sensory memory • Several studies have shown analogous results in auditory memory. • Echoic store studies often use dichotic listening. • Echoic memory disappears by 5 seconds. • The suffix effect: Conrad (1960) and Crowder and Morton (1969): zero • Is the suffix effect like real backmasking?

16. The suffix effect • I am going to say some numbers. At some point, I will say the number zero. When you hear me say zero, ignore the zero and say the numbers that preceded it. • The suffix effect disappears if you use non-language sounds, like buzzers or musical notes, so it is not just a delay effect. • When you hear the tone, ignore it and say the numbers that preceded it.

17. Encoding • Information in sensory stores is lost unless it is encoded, or processed into long term memory. • Does encoding occur in a special Short Term memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin model) or in rehearsal systems? • How much of it happens unconsciously or automatically? • Space • Time • Frequency • But do we form memories while we sleep?

18. An encoding task x z r j f . g h a d f . J O N A H . L Q P D N .

19. Memory principles • What memory principles applied on the previous slide? • When and where did J O N A H appear on the screen? • How many of the characters can you recall now? • Why was J O N A H the easiest one to recall?

20. Short-term memory • Attention • Serial position: Primacy and recency effects • Encoding uses different brain systems. • Acoustic • Visual • Semantic • Combining encoding systems enhances not only memorability, but even believability: “If it doesn’t fit, you must _______.”

21. More encoding factors • Context effects • Using your own words • Connecting to yourself (Symons & Johnson, 1997) • Imagery • Mnemonic aids • Chunking • Limits of working memory • Phonological working memory • Visual working memory

22. Forming Long-term memories • Shallow vs. deep processing • Effortful vs. automatic processing • Context cues

23. Long-term memory • Massed vs. spaced practice: Consolidation • Method of loci • Peg-word method • Narrative stories • Episodic/autobiographical and semantic memory • Explicit and implicit memory

24. Organization in memory • Episodic and semantic memory • Form vs. meaning • Explicit or declarative memory • Implicit or procedural memory

25. Retrieval and forgetting • Encoding failure • Storage decay • Reconstructing memories • Amnesia • Retrograde • Anterograde • Interference • Retroactive • Proactive

26. Emotion and memory • Mood-dependent recall • Emotion focuses attention • Less peripheral memory (Christianson & Loftus, 1991): The weapon focus • Dissociation: Amnesia, Fugue, DID • Motivated forgetting: Repression?