The Cognitive Perspective II

1. The Cognitive Perspective II Memory Studies and application to healthcare (Lecture by Janet Jagger)

2. Learning outcomes • At the end of this lecture and seminar it is expected that students will – • Have some understanding of the information –processing model • Have an appreciation of characteristics of sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory processing • Be able to apply the principles to giving information to (or teaching) clients

3. Memory Processes • Like perception, memory is selective • While people retain a great deal of information, they also lose a great deal • We sometimes completely forget where we have put something , or where we have parked the car – why is this?

4. First, information must be put into memory – this requires encoding . Memory codes can be acoustic (sound), visual (pictures) or semantic (meaning) • The second stage is storage – this is the maintenance of information, often over a period of many years • The next stage is retrieval - when we bring something back into conscious awareness

5. Retrieval processes • These involve both recall and recognition • Recall is when we try to remember something, as in an exam, without much assistance • Recognition is when you are aided by clues – such as in a multiple choice test – when something is presented to you- this tends to be easier than recall

6. Types of Memory • Some theorists suggest that there are different types of memory. Research suggests there are at least three types: episodic, semantic and procedural • Episodic – for events, e.g. what did you have for lunch yesterday? Where were you last Friday night? • Semantic – for knowledge,e.g. how is a nurse different to a physiotherapist?

7. Procedural – for skill learning, how to do things, e.g. how to ride a bike, how to give an injection, change a catheter bag • Many activities require all three types of memory – for example, showing someone how to monitor their blood sugar levels requires episodic memory for knowing what that person has already achieved, semantic memory for explaining why this needs to be done, and procedural memory for showing how to use the equipment

8. The Three Stages of Memory Model • Historically, the most influential model of memory – the information-processing model – suggests three stages of processing • Sensory memory • Short-term memory • Long-term memory

9. Sensory • Sensory memories are fleeting impressions – such memories fade because we don’t need to store all the sensations that bombard us. However, we give selective attention to certain experiences or stimuli- in order to process some things further

10. Short-term or working memory • Stores limited amounts of information for up to about 18 seconds • A temporary storehouse for information • Also known as working memory as it enables people to do much of their mental work – from dialling a phone number to solving a maths problem (or a drugs calculation) – (Baddeley, 1992)

11. Short term memory characteristics • It seems to be acoustically dominated • Most people can hold six or seven items in short term memory • George Miller (1956) defined the STM capacity as “seven plus or minus two” – in lab settings. Possibly less in naturalistic, everyday settings • This magic number also applies to “chunks” of information which have meaningful associations • (see Bower, 1975)

12. Bower, 1975 • Try to remember the following sequence:- • FB – ITW – AC – IAI – BMB – MW • (difficult for most people to recall as it seems to be 15 random letters in 6 meaningless chunks) • Try this instead:- • FBI – TWA – CIA – IBM – BMW • This is easier to recall as it is now grouped into five recognisable chunks ( initials of well known organisations)

13. The Power of Chunking • Chunks can be very complex but may be easily recalled • E.g. “the American plastic surgeon made a mess of the woman’s nose”- 3 chunks ? • We build up bigger and bigger chunks of information • The size of the chunks can be quite large – e.g. Chase and Ericsson (1981): 100 items

14. Duration of STM • Most info in STM is quickly forgotten if it is not rehearsed • Brown and Peterson 1958,1959) studied forgetting. They prevented rehearsal (of a list of syllables) in their experiment and found that 18 seconds is about the length of STM- after which their subjects could recall virtually nothing

15. Long Term Memory • Some information goes into LTM without conscious effort • usually this involves semantic coding (how meaningful the event was) • People also use visual coding – this has been demonstrated in experiments using pictures /photographs. Here the semantic coding i.e. the meaning(significance) of the visual image is a factor in recall

16. Primacy and Recency Effects • Experiments on recall – using the serial position curve with 20 or more pieces of information– show that initial information (presented first) and the most recent (last) information is recalled better than that encountered in the middle. • Recall of the first info is called the Primacy Effect; recall of the last information is known as the Recency effect • Examples – being introduced (names), remembering stories, instructions, social encounters (first impressions)

17. Results of brain damage • Evidence for different type of memory from observation of how different brain injuries affect memory • Damage to hippocampus (part of limbic system) often results in anterogradeamnesia- loss of memory of any event happening after the injury • Case of H.M. – an epileptic patient who had part of hippocampus removed to end severe epileptic seizures (Milner, 1966)- at age 27. Affected his self – concept, knowledge of where he lived, and could not remember being told his uncle had died even though he was told repeatedly

18. Retrograde amnesia involves loss of memory for events prior to some critical injury – sometimes this relates to the months or even years prior to the injury • In most cases, memory returns gradually; the most distant events usually recalled first, gradually leading up to the point of injury • Recovery is seldom complete ( e.g. Baddeley’s (1982) study of man injured in motorcycle accident- at first thought he was eleven years old, gradually recalled more but never able to recall events prior to being injured – as this information had not been processes into long –term memory

19. Physiology of long term memory • Psychologists do not yet fully understand how knowledge is transferred within the brain from STM to LTM • We do know that it involves the movement of electrochemical impulses within clusters of neurons within the brain • Events that suppress neural activity within the brain –blows to the head, anaesthetic, carbon monoxide and other poisons- all disrupt STM-LTM transfer. Electroshock treatments also disrupt this.

20. Retrieval of Memory • In general, people remember things better when in the same environment in which they were learned – there are cues in the environment- this is context- dependency • The internal physical environment is also a factor in recall – this is state- dependency. • E.g. learning under the influence of marijuana- people recall the material better when tested under the influence of marijuana. This also applies to alcohol, other drugs and other mood states ( positive and negative)

21. Forgetting • Hermann Ebbinghaus – a German psychologist - began the systematic study of memory and forgetting about a hundred years ago • His important finding produced the forgetting curve and the method of savings. • He showed how savings declines (and forgetting increases) as time passes • The most dramatic loss in what people retain in LTM occurs during the first nine hours, especially in the first hour. After this the rate of forgetting slows down considerably

22. His second important finding was how long –lasting the “savings” in LTM can be • This can be over a series of decades • You may forget something you have learned if you do not use the information for many years (e.g. how to swim or ride a bike) but you can quickly relearn when the need arises

23. To summarise some points • Different types of encoding—acoustic, visual, semantic • Remembering is recall or recognition • Memory-episodic, semantic, procedural • Fleeting sensory memory • Selective attention -> sensory to STM • STM : 5-9 items, 18 seconds • Chunking and rehearsal important • LTM –primacy and recency effects • Context and state dependency in recall • Decline of memory rapid in first hour after learning • LTM memories – can last decades

24. Application • Use the given principles/findings in teaching a patient a procedure or when giving information, such as instructions and advice when being discharged from hospital or community care • You may also want to consider ways of enhancing memory – such as use of mnemonics and acronyms