MEMORY

1. MEMORY Can be studied from 2 perspectives: • Information-processing research (software) • uses computer concepts such asencoding, storage, and retrieval • Biological research (hardware) • maps the physical structures and “wiring” of the brain and nervous system *Each has produced an independent line of research.

2. INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH: SOFTWARE OF MEMORY • its goal is to discover what people do with information from the time they perceive it until they use it • particularly suited to describing changes that take place over the lifespan • can distinguish between functions that change a great deal and those that change very little, either in one person or in comparison with another

3. INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH: SOFTWARE OF MEMORY (Cont’d) • assumes that people can handle only a limited amount of information at a given time • assumes that information that comes in through the senses is transformed by a series of mental processes into a form suitable for storage and later recall

4. INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH: SOFTWARE OF MEMORY (Cont’d) *Most information-processing studies are cross-sectional • findings may reflect cohort differences rather than age-related changes

5. Processes: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval 3 step filing system: encoding, storage, retrieval Before encoding: • sensory input, attention, begin processing (do I want to keep this? for how long?) • encoding: the process by which information is prepared for long-term storage and later retrieval • attaches a “code” or “label” to the information to prepare it for storage; will be easier to find when needed • storage: the process by, or location in which, memories are retained for future use

6. retrieval: the process by which information is recalled from storage *The precise mechanisms involved in encoding, storage, and retrieval may vary with the situation, the type of information and how the information is to be used. Difficulties in any of these steps may impair memory. • the ability to retrieve newly encountered information seems to drop off with age • younger adults can remember word pairs or recognize pictures better than older people.

8. *More sophisticated strategies to encode information for long-term storage are: • Organization: encoding strategy or mnemonic device, consisting of arranging or categorizing material to be remembered • Elaboration: consisting of making associations, often between new information and information already in memory • the capacity of working memory to hold and process information is widely believed to shrink with age

9. Encoding Problems • older adults seem to be less efficient than younger ones at encoding new information to make it easier to remember (e.g. less likely to spontaneously arrange material in alphabetical order to create mental associations) • older adults can improve their encoding skills through training or instruction (how much they benefit depends on task) • older people’s encoding seems to be less precise, may reflect less education

10. key factor = complexity of the task (effort) • Tasks that require reorganization, elaboration, or mental manipulation show the greatest falloff • Some researchers suggest that as people get older they have less attentional resources to focus on a task

11. Storage Problems: • stored material may deteriorate to the point where retrieval becomes difficult or impossible • a small increase in “storage failure” may occur with age

12. Retrieval Problems: • older adults may be able to answer a multiple choice question but not an open-ended one (recognition) • have more trouble recalling items (pure recall vs. cued recall) • do as well in recognizing items they know • takes longer to search their memories • age differences are minimized when older adults • are familiar with the material • have an opportunity to practice, and • can work at their own pace

13. “Storehouses”: Sensory, Short-term (STM), and Long-term (LTM) • If you tried to assimilate all the sensory inputs that flood your brain daily, you would suffer from information overload and be unable to focus. • Sensory memory is fleeting to avoid this problem

15. Processing begins in short-term memory: STM: • temporary storage (20-30 sec.) If content not rehearsed and processed further, it disappears. Newer concept: WORKING MEMORY (WM): Intermediate Short-Term Storage • working memory: current thoughts and processes. Whether from sensory storage or from long-term storage. • this information is consciously manipulated or reorganized.

16. working memory capacity varies across individuals, related to intelligence. • better, more complex processing • more attentional resources • more items that can be brought out from storage (retrieval) • juggling many balls at once • working memory contains whatever is in consciousness at a given moment

17. current thoughts new information information retrieved from LTM WORKING MEMORY

18. can normally hold only about 5-9 separate chunks of information at a time • possible to increase the amount of material held in working memory by grouping items into larger chunks • items will remain in working memory only about 30 seconds unless you engage in rehearsal or some other purposeful effort

19. other processes become automatic, so as to free space in working memory: the more automatization, the better working memory works, e.g. multiplication tables • simple STM: no age differences • working memory: age differences • working memory for spatial tasks declines more than for verbal tasks • some areas decline more than others

20. memories not lost in STM are assumed to be stored in LTM • so how come we can’t remember so many things? • problems with retrieval: bringing contents from LTM into working memory. It’s there, but inaccessible.

21. Many reasons for retrieval failure: • poorly encoded • interference of other material • conflicting emotions • lack of practice Types of retrieval: • recognition • recall • cued recall

22. LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM) • very large capacity (unlimited?) Everything that has been stored at any time in one’s life. • multiple systems with different brain parts involved • each system involved in a different type of memory • difficult to study in the laboratory: artificial situation unlike real life, DVs not representative of everyday life • some research with real life variables: difficult to pick the right ones, more difficult to ascertain verosimilitude

23. LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM) • impossible to function without it at any age! • important for sense of self (predicament of amnesia sufferers). • “Pure” memory: exercises in remembering lists, words, numbers, etc. (most of lab research) • “Applied” memory: necessary for social interaction, enjoyment of life and daily functioning in any area

25. TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM) • DECLARATIVE: (you say something you remember) • NON-DECLARATIVE OR PROCEDURAL: (you do something you remember) Some of this bypasses working memory. • EXPLICIT MEMORY: conscious – most declarative • IMPLICIT: unintentional, unconscious – most procedural

26. TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM) DECLARATIVE: EPISODIC AND SEMANTIC • Episodic: events, activities, personal experiences, discrete episodes affected by age, similar events merge as one • Semantic: general knowledge, can be from accumulation of many episodic events (language part of this), little decline except for names

27. TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM) PROCEDURAL: MOTOR, PERCEPTUAL AND CONDITIONED • Motor: riding bike, playing instrument, automatic • Perceptual: recall of features we were not focusing on • Conditioned: classical conditioning

28. Examples of Differing Contents of Declarative and Nondeclarative Memory DeclarativeNondeclarative Facts Habits Language Motor skills Social Customs Perceptual skills Personal episodes Conditioned responses

29. Relationship Between Aging and Performance in Various Types of Memory Sensory No change or small decline Working Organization Moderate to large decline Elaboration Moderate to large decline

30. Long-term Declarative Episodic Memory for experience and activities moderate to large decline Personal history moderate to large decline Semantic World knowledge increases with age Vocabulary increases with age

31. Nondeclarative Skills no change or small decline Perceptual skills no change or small decline Motor learning no change or small decline Classical conditioning no change or small decline

32. TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM) PROSPECTIVE MEMORY: • remembering to do something in the future AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY: • events from one’s life, hard to check out. Moderately traumatic events remembered more than extremely traumatic events (repression). Also important historical events (very talked about at the time) or any event with high emotional content. • Flashbulb memories: very vivid, photo or video-like. More from 10-20 years of age than from later, for both young and old adults. • Very long term memories sometimes called remote or tertiary.

33. Age differences in episodic: Recall: older adults worse off: • omit more information • include more extraneous material • repeat previously recalled items Cued recall: some improvement Recognition: better, but still slightly worse than young

34. Some variables that affect episodic memory tests: • attentional factors • encoding strategies (e.g. imagery, mnemonic aids such as method of loci) • level of arousal • time and speed, pacing • cautiousness • meaningfulness of material • motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic)

35. Some variables that affect episodic memory tests (Cont’d): • incentives • health status • previous experience with test • how organized is the material • expectations • SES • interference: proactive (old material affects new) and retroactive (new affects old), the first is stronger in older adults

36. Some variables that affect episodic memory tests (Cont’d): • expertise • self-efficacy (confidence in self) • anxiety, stress and depression • exercise • nutrition (B vitamins) • alcohol and other drugs • medical drugs (interactions) • smoking

37. Priming: an increase in ability to do a previously encountered task or to remember previously encountered material • Both declarative and nondeclarative memory can show effects of priming • An unconscious, automatic process • Speed is one indication that priming has occurred • To be effective, earlier and later stimuli should be as close to identical as possible • Seems to be equally efficient in younger and older adults • Normal older people whose episodic memory has weakened can benefit as much from priming as younger ones

38. Long-term Memory: Inactive Storage • Not all contents within the long-term memory are equally accessible • Long-term memory is divided into “rooms” with different kinds of contents, and aging affects them differently

39. Overall, age is NOT a good predictor of memory and learning capacity. • Importance of psychosocial and cultural factors: if good expectations of elders, good memory

41. HARDWARE OF MEMORY • There are several memory systems • These systems are anatomically different • They are involved in acquiring and storing different kinds of information Currently studied using • MRI: magnetic resonance imaging • fMRI: functional MRI, taken during brain activity • PET: positron emission tomography • EEG: electroencephalograph: still used

42. BIOPHYSIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF MEMORY: • HIPPOCAMPUS and other structures in the medial temporal lobe. “Old brain” • FRONTAL LOBES: executive function • Hippocampus crucial for memory formation – except unconscious memory formation. • Hippocampus forms and activates cortical connections • Once memories are well stored, hippocampus not necessary for recall

43. THE HUMAN BRAIN

44. THE LIMBIC SYSTEM

45. With related structures in the cortex, it acts like a switchboard, controlling the ability to remember many kinds of declarative information • Is vital to the encoding functions of working memory • Its role is temporary • Is involved in the creation and immediate retrieval of new memories • Loses an estimated 20% of its nerve cells with advancing age

46. Particularly vulnerable to injury from changes in blood pressure that often occur during adulthood and to stress • If older adults suffer hippocampal deterioration, the alertness, concentration, and organizational abilities needed to process new information efficiently may decline • Recall of prior learning (independent of the hippocampus) may improve as a result of the growing complexity of neural connections in the cortex

47. A continuous stream of stress hormones appears to affect the hippocampus, reducing performance on tests of attention and memory • Encodes consciously perceived information rapidly, almost automatically, and without organization

48. Hippocampal deterioration can be due to: • blood pressure problems • stress • oxygen deprivation • accumulation of lipofuscin • insufficient stimulation • decrease in neurotransmitters production Affects: • alertness • attentional factors • concentration • organization Works in conjunction with the RAS (reticular activating system)

49. Non-declarative memory (motor skills, habits) are not dependent on the hippocampus. Instead, on the cerebellum and neostriatum • Emotional responses: amygdala. Independent from conscious memory systems

50. Frontal lobes: front portions of the brain’s cerebral cortex, which form and direct strategies for encoding, storage, and retrieval of memories • Play a role in both normal and pathological memory changes • They coordinate, interpret, and elaborate information to provide proper instructions for encoding and retrieval