Memory

1. Memory Chapter 6

2. Three Processes of Memory • Memory – an active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, and organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage • Although there are several different models of how memory works, all of them involve the same 3 processes • Getting the information into the memory system • Storing the information • Retrieving the information

3. Encoding: Putting Information In • The first process in the memory system is to get sensory information (ex. Sight, sound, etc.) into a form that the brain can use • Encoding – the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems • Ex. When people hear a sound, their ears turn the vibrations in the air into neural messages from the auditory nerve (transduction), which make it possible for the brain to interpret that sound • Encoding is not limited to turning sensory information into signals for the brain • It is accomplished differently in each of the three different storage systems of memory • In one system, encoding may involve rehearsing information over and over to keep it in memory, whereas in another system, encoding involves elaborating on the meaning of the information

4. Storage: Keeping Information In • The next step in memory is to hold on to the information for some period of time • Storage – holding onto information for some period of time • The period of time will actually be of different lengths, depending on the system of memory being used • Ex. In one system of memory, people hold on to information just long enough to work with it, about 20 seconds or so; but in another system, people hold on to information more or less permanently

5. Retrieval: Getting Information Out • The biggest problem many people have is retrieval • Retrieval – getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used • Ex. You have taken an essay exam, later after the test is over, you remember several other things you could have said

6. Models of Memory: Information-Processing • Many researchers feel the information-processing model of memory is the most comprehensive and has been the most influential • Assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages • Focuses on the way information is handled, or processed, through three different systems (sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory) • The processes of encoding, storage, and retrieval are seen as part of this model

7. Models of Memory: Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Model • It is common to refer to the three memory systems of the information-processing model as stages, BUT that implies a sequence of events • While many aspects of memory may follow a series of steps or stages, there are those who see memory as a simultaneous process, with the creation and storage of memories taking place across a series of mental networks “stretched” across the brain • Parallel distributed processing (PDP) model – memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections • Derived from work in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) • In the AI world, PDP is related to connectionism (the use of artificial neural networks to explain the mental abilities of humans)

8. Models of Memory: Levels-of-Processing Model • The information-processing model assumes that the length of time that a memory will be remembered depends on the stage of memory in which it is stored • Levels-of-processing model – assumes information that is more “deeply processed,” or processed according to its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words, will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time • Ex. If the word BALL is flashed on a screen and people are asked to report whether the word was in capital letters or lowercase, the word itself does not have to be processed very much – only its visual characteristics need to enter into conscious attention • But, if those people were asked to use that word in a sentence, they would have to think about what a ball is and how it can be used • They would have to process its meaning, which requires more mental effort than processing just the word’s “looks” • Numerous experiments have shown that thinking about the meaning of something is a deeper level of processing and results in longer retention of the word

9. Which Model Explains Which Aspects of Memory • All of three models can be used to explain some, if not all, research findings about memory • Information-processing model • Provides a “big picture” view of how the various memory systems relate to each other – how the “memory machine” works • PDP model • Is less about the mechanics of memory and more about the connections and timing of the memory process • Levels-of-processing model • The depth to which information is processed addresses the strength of those parallel connections within each of the three memory systems, with strength and duration of the memory increasing as the level of processing deepens • Although the information-processing model takes center stage for explaining memory for now, it is important to remember the concepts of the levels at which information is processed and the way that those processes may take place

10. Information-Processing Model: 3 Memory Systems • Information-processing theory bases its model for human thought on the way a computer functions • Data are encoded in a manner that the computer can understand and use • The computer stores that information on a disk, hard drive, or memory stick • Then, the data are retrieved out of storage as needed • Information-processing theorists were the first to propose that there are three stages or types of memory systems • Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

11. Sensory Memory • Sensory memory – the first stage of memory, the point at which information enters the nervous system through the sensory systems • Information is encoded into sensory memory as neural messages in the nervous system • As long as those neural messages are traveling through the system, it can be said that people have a “memory” for that information that can be accessed if needed • Example: the “double take” • Imagine you are driving down the street, looking at the people and cars on either side of your car. All of a sudden you think “Wait a minute, was that guy not wearing pants?!” then you look back to check. • How did you know to look back? Your eyes had already moved past the possible pants-less guy, but some part of your brain must have just processed what you saw. • This can only be explained by the presence, however brief, of a memory for what you saw • There are 2 kinds of sensory memory that have been studied extensively • Iconic (visual) and echoic (auditory) sensory memories

12. Iconic Sensory Memory: Capacity • Iconic sensory memory – visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second • George Sperling (1960) • Partial report method: presented subjects with a grid of letters and sounded either a high, medium, or low tone immediately after the grid of letters was taken away, which signaled which row subjects were to report • The tone was sounded after the grid was taken away to that subjects couldn’t just memorize one row of letters • Found that subjects could accurately report any of the three rows, meaning that the entire grid was in iconic memory and available to the subjects • Thus, the capacity of iconic memory is everything that can be seen at one time

13. Iconic Sensory Memory: Duration • Sperling also found that if he delayed the tone for 1 second, subjects could no longer accurately report letters from the grid • The iconic information had completely faded out of memory in that brief time • In real life, information that has just entered iconic memory will be pushed out very quickly by new information, a process called masking • Research suggests that after only a quarter of a second, old information is replaced by new information • Eidetic imagery – the ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more • Very rare condition, often called photographic memory, cause is unknown • People with eidetic imagery ability might be able to look quickly at a page in a book, then by focusing on blank wall or piece of paper, “read” the words from the images that still lingers in their sensory memory • More common in children and tends to diminish by adolescence or young adulthood

14. Iconic Memory: Function • Iconic memory actually serves a very important function in the visual system • Remember that the eyes make tiny movements called saccades that keep vision from adapting to a constant visual stimulus, so that what is stared at steadily doesn’t slowly disappear • Iconic memory helps the visual system to view surroundings as continuous and stable in spite of the saccadic movements • It also allows enough time for the brain stem to decide if the information is important enough to be brought into consciousness • Like the possibly pants-less guy from the example earlier

15. Echoic Sensory Memory • Echoic memory – the brief memory of something a person has just heard • Ex. The “What?” phenomenon • When you are reading, watching TV, or concentrating on something and someone walks up to you and asks you if your ready for dinner. You sit there for a second or 2, and then say “What? Oh … yes I’m ready to eat now” • You didn’t really process the statement from the other person as he or she said it, you heard it, but your brain didn’t interpret it immediately. • Instead, it took several seconds for you to realize that • 1) something was said • 2) it may have been important • 3) you’d better try and remember what it was • If you realize all this within about 4 seconds (the duration of echoic memory), you will likely be able to “hear” an echo of the statement in your head • Like a kind of “instant replay” Oh, yea I’m ready what?!?... Dude, you ready to eat?

16. Echoic Sensory Memory • Capacity is limited to what can be heard at any one moment and is smaller than the capacity of iconic memory, although it lasts longer (about 2-4 seconds) • Useful in conversations, allows a person to remember what someone said long enough to recognize the meaning of a phrase • And like iconic memory, it allows people to hold on to incoming information long enough for the lower brain centers to determine whether or not processing by higher brain centers is needed

17. Short-Term and Working Memory • Short-term memory (STM) – the memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used • Like a sort of “desk” where people hold and work on information for a short time • If an incoming sensory message is important enough to enter consciousness, that message will move from sensory memory to short-term memory • This is accomplished through the process of selective attention – the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input • Dr. Donald E. Broadbent’s original filter theory of memory suggests a kind of “bottleneck” occurs between sensory memory and STM • Only a stimulus that is “important” enough will be passed on to be analyzed for meaning in STM • What is important is determined by a kind of “pre-analysis” in attention centers in the brain stem • Other stimuli are filtered out and will not reach consciousness • Also, when a person is thinking actively about information, that information is said to be conscious and in STM

18. Short-Term and Working Memory • But, it is difficult to use this original selective attention filter theory to explain the “cocktail-party effect” • Ex. When you’re at a party somewhere and there’s a lot of noise and several conversations going on in the background but you are still able to notice when someone says your name • In this situation, the higher areas of the brain that are involved in selective attention had to be working – even though you were not consciously aware of it • Then, when that important bit of information (your name) “appeared,” those areas somehow filtered the information into your conscious awareness – in spite of the fact that you weren’t paying conscious attention to the background noise • In the original theory, selective attention only operates after you are consciously aware of a stimulus Doug Did someone just say my name?

19. Short-Term and Working Memory • A newer theory, proposed by Dr. Anne M. Treisman, suggests that selective attention operates in a two-stage filtering process • 1st stage: incoming stimuli in sensory memory are filtered on the basis of simply physical characteristics • This is similar to Broadbent’s original idea • However, the filtering in this case is not an “all-or-nothing” event as in Broadbent’s theory, rather it is a lessening or decrease (attenuation) of the signal strength of those unattended sensory stimuli when compared to attended stimuli • In other words, we lessen the signal strength of stimuli that are not important and not attended to • 2nd stage: involves the processing of only the stimuli that meet a certain threshold of importance • Attenuated stimuli are present at this 2nd stage so something as subjectively important as one’s own name may be able to be “plucked” out of the attenuated incoming stimuli • Ex. Selective attention is still working even when we’re asleep. This is why when a mother is asleep she can be awakened by her baby’s cries but sleep through the noise of the nightly train passing by (the noise of the train is unimportant and has been attenuated while the baby’s cries are important)

20. Short-Term and Working Memory • What happens when information does pass through the selective attention filter and into STM? • STM tends to be encoded primarily in auditory (sound) form • That means that people tend to “talk” to themselves inside their heads • Although some images are stored in STM in a kind of visual “sketchpad,” auditory storage accounts for much of STM encoding • Research in which participants were asked to recall numbers and letters showed that errors were nearly always made with numbers or letters that sounded similar (T-3)than errors with those that looked similar (l-1)

21. Short-Term and Working Memory • Some memory theorists use the term working memory as another way of referring to STM • This usage is not entirely correct: STM has traditionally been thought of as a thing or a place into which information is put • Working memory is an active system that processes the information in STM and is thought to consist of 3 interrelated systems • The central executive (“CEO” or “Boss”): controls and coordinates • The visual “sketchpad”: for visual information • A kind of auditory “recorder”: for auditory information

22. Short-Term and Working Memory • The central executive interprets visual and auditory information and the visual and auditory information is itself stored in STM • Ex. When someone is reading a book • The sketchpad will contain images of the people and events of the particular passage being read • The recorder “plays” the dialogue in the person’s head • The central executive helps interpret the information from both systems and pulls it all together • So in a sense, then, STM can be seen as being a part of the working memory system

23. Short-Term and Working Memory • For instance, if you see someone familiar at the mall • You pull that person’s name from your more permanent memory and visualize that name along with the memory of the last time you saw the person, almost like you’re viewing it on a screen in your head • At the same time, you will hear the name in your head • The central executive pulls these different types of information together and you are able to successfully greet the person • Where you see and hear this information is in STM • The process that allows this to happen and coordinates it all is working memory

24. STM Capacity: The Magic Number 7 • George Miller (1956): reviewed research on memory, including studies using a memory test called the digit-span test • A series of number is read to subjects, then, subjects are asked to recall the numbers in order • Each series of numbers gets longer and longer, until subjects cannot recall any of the numbers in order • Most everyone gets past the first 2 sequences of numbers • But some people will make mistakes on the 6 digit span, about half will make mistakes on the 7 digit span, and very few people will be able to get past the 9 digit span without making any mistakes • This lead Miller to conclude that the capacity of STM is about seven items or pieces of information • He called this the magic number 7, plus or minus 2 items (from 5-9 bits of information) • Current research suggests younger adults can hold 3-5 items of information at a time if a memory strategy is not being used • When the information is in the form of longer, similar-sounding words or unfamiliar words, that capacity reduces until it is only about 4 items

25. STM Capacity: Chunking • Chunkingis a way to sort of “fool” STM memory into holding more information than usual • It is a process of recoding or reorganizing information • If the bits of information are combined into meaningful units, or chunks, more information can be held in STM • Ex. Remembering the digit span: 4,8,3,9,4,3,7,1,6,2 • Would be easier if you grouped the numbers together into chunks: 483-943-7162 • Instead of 10 separate bits of information, there would only be 3 “chunks” that read like a phone number

26. “Short”-Term Memory: How Long Does it Last? • Research shows that STM lasts from about 12-30 seconds without rehearsal • After that, the memory seems to rapidly “decay” or disappear • The findings of one recent study with mice suggest that in order to form new memories, old memories must be “erased” by the formation of newly formed neurons • The hippocampus only has so much storage room • Many of the memories formed there will be transferred to more permanent storage in other areas of the brain • But, some memories, without rehearsal, will decay as new neurons (and newer memories) are added to the already existing neural circuits

27. STM: Maintenance Rehearsal • Maintenance rehearsal – practice of saying some information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in STM • Ex. Like repeating a phone number over and over again just long enough for you to dial it • A person is simply continuing to pay attention to the information to be held in memory, and since attention is how that information got into STM in the 1st place, it works quite well • Information will stay in STM until rehearsal stops, then the memory will rapidly decay and is forgotten • If anything interferes with maintenance rehearsal, memories are also likely to be lost • Ex. If you are trying to count a stack of dollar bills by reciting each number out loud while counting, and someone asks you what time it is, you will probably forget what the last number was and have to start all over again (so annoying) • Interference in STM can also happen if the amount of information to be held exceeds capacity (5-9 bit of information) • This is why it’s possible to remember the 1st few names of people you meet at a party, but as more names are added, they displace the older names • FYI: a better way to remember people’s names is to associate the name with something about the person’s appearance, this may help move the name from STM into more permanent storage

28. Long-Term Memory • Long-term memory (LTM) – the system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently • The capacity of LTM seems to be unlimited for all practical purposes • Think about it, would there ever really come a time when you couldn’t fit one more piece of information into your head? • As for duration of LTM, there is a relatively permanent physical change in the brain itself when a memory is formed • That means that many of the memories people have stored away for a long time (even ones from childhood) may still be there • BUT, that doesn’t mean that people can always retrieve those memories, they may beavailablebut notaccessible, meaning they are still there, but for various reasons people cannot “get to” them • Ex. Its like knowing that there is a certain item on the back of the top shelf of the kitchen but having no ladder to reach it, the item is there (available) but you cant get to it (accessible)

29. Long-Term Memory • Information that is rehearsed long enough may actually find its way into LTM • Most people tend to learn poems and the multiplication tables by maintenance rehearsal, also known as rote learning • Rote is like “rotating” the information in your head, saying it over and over again • But maintenance rehearsal is not the most efficient way of putting information into LTM, because to get the information back out, you have to remember it almost exactly as it went in • Ex. Try this: what is the 15th letter of the alphabet? • Did you have to recite or sing the alphabet song to get to that letter? Bet you did. • Although, many long-term memories are encoded as images, sounds, smells, or tastes, in general, LTM is encoded in meaningful form • A kind of mental storehouse of the meanings of words, concepts, and all the events that people want to keep in mind • Even the images, sounds, smells, and tastes involved in these events have some sort of meaning attached to them that gives them enough importance to be stored long term • If STM can be thought of as a working “surface” or desk, then LTM can be thought of as a huge series of filing cabinets behind the desk • Files are stored in an organized fashion, according to meaning • Files have to be placed in the cabinets in a certain organized fashion to be useful

30. LTM: Elaborative Rehearsal • Elaborative rehearsal – a method of transferring information from STM to LTM by making that information meaningful in some way • The easiest way to do this is to connect new information with something that is already well known • Ex. The French work maison means “house.” • A person could try to memorize that (using maintenance rehearsal)by saying over and over “Maison means house.” • But, it would be much easier and more efficient if that person simply thought, “Maison sounds like mason, and masons build houses.” That makes the meaning of the word tie in with something the person already knows (masons who lay bricks to build houses) • The levels-of-processing approach discussed earlier proposes that information that is more “deeply processed,” or processed according to meaning will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time • This is true, elaborative rehearsal is a deeper kind of processing than maintenance rehearsal and also leads to better long-term storage

31. Types of Long-Term Information • Long-term memories include general facts and knowledge, personal facts, and even skills that can be performed • Procedural (nondeclarative) memory is memory for skills • Because it usually involves a series of steps or procedures • Ex. How to make a sandwich • Declarative memory is memory for facts • Because facts are things that are known and can be declared (stated outright) • Ex. Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina

32. Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM • Type of long-term memory including emotional associations, memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses • These memories are not conscious but are implied to exist because they affect conscious behavior • Ex. Tying shoes or riding a bicycle • There is evidence that different areas of the brain are responsible for procedural memories and declarative memories • The amygdala is the most probably location for emotional associations, such as fear • The cerebellum in the hindbrain is responsible for storage of memories of conditioned responses, skills and habits

33. Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM • Evidence that separate areas of the brain control memory comes from studies of people with damage to the hippocampus • This damage causes anterograde amnesia – the loss of memory from the point of the injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term declarative memories • In one study, patients with this disorder were taught how to solve a particular puzzle • Patients were able to learn the sequence of moves necessary to solve the puzzle • But, when brought back into the testing room at a later time, they could not remember ever having seen the puzzle (or the examiner) before • Each trial was like the first one ever for these patients, as they were unable to store the long-term memory of having been in the room or having previously met the examiner • Yet, they were able to solve the puzzle even while claiming that they had never seen it before • Their procedural memories for how to solve the puzzle were evidently formed and stored in a part of the brain separate from the part controlling the memories they could no longer form

34. Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM • The patients in the previous study had the kind of memory problems that people with Alzheimer’s disease have • Yet even people with Alzheimer’s disease do not forget how to walk, talk, fasten clothing, or even shoes (although they do lose motor ability because the brain eventually fails to send the proper signals) • These are all procedural, nondeclarative memories • They may not be able to tell someone that they know how to do these things, but they can still do them • Alzheimer’s disease affects the hippocampus and the frontal cortex (involved in decision making and planning) and eventually affects other areas of the brain after it has progressed nearly to the end • In fact, it would be rare to find someone who has lost procedural memory • Literally, these are the kind of memories people “never forget”

35. Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM • Procedural memory is similar to the concept of implicit memory – memory that is not easily brought into conscious awareness • Because memories for these skills, habits, and learned reflexes are also not easily brought into conscious awareness • Ex. The fact that people have the knowledge of how to tie their shoes is implied by the fact that they can actually tie them • Such knowledge is in people’s memories because they use this information, but they are often not consciously aware of this knowledge • Although procedural memories are very often implicit, not all implicit memories are necessarily procedural • A memory from one’s early childhood of being frightened by a dog may not be a conscious memory in later childhood but may still be the cause of that older child’s fear of dogs • Conscious memories for events in childhood, on the other hand, are usually considered to be a different kind of long-term memory called declarative memory

36. Declarative LTM • Declarative memory – type of LTM containing information that is conscious and known • This type of memory is about all the things that people know • Including general facts such as the names of the planets in the solar system, that adding 2 and 2 makes 4, and that a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing • Also includes what people know about the things that have happened to them personally like what you ate for breakfast this morning and what you saw on your drive to class • There are 2 types of declarative long-term memories • Semantic and episodic

37. Declarative LTM: Semantic • Semantic memory – type of declarative memory containing general knowledge, such as knowledge of language and information learned in formal education • This is the general knowledge that anyone has the ability to know • Most of this information is what is learned in school or by reading • Includes the awareness of the meanings of words, concepts, and terms as well as names of objects, math skills, and so on • Type of knowledge used on games shows like Jeopardy • Semantic memories, like procedural memories, are relatively permanent • But it is possible to “lose the way” to this kind of memory

38. Declarative LTM: Episodic • Episodic memory – type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events • Includes memory of daily life and personal history, like a kind of autobiographical memory • Ex. Certain birthdays or anniversaries that were particularly special, and childhood events • Unlike procedural and semantic LTM, episodic memories tend to be updated and revised more or less constantly • Ex. You can probably remember what you had for breakfast today, but what you had for breakfast 2 years ago on this date is most likely a mystery • Episodic memories that are especially meaningful, such as the memory of the first day of school or your first date, are more likely to be kept in LTM • Although these memories may not be as exact as people sometimes think they are • The updating process is a kind of survival mechanism, because although semantic and procedural memories are useful and necessary on an ongoing basis, no one really needs to remember every little detail of every day • The ability to forget some kinds of information is very necessary

39. Declarative LTM: Episodic & Semantic • Episodic and semantic memories are examples of declarative or explicit memory – memory that is consciously known • Explicit memories are easily made conscious and brought from long-term storage into short-term memory • The knowledge of semantic memories such as word meanings and episodic memories such as what you ate for breakfast can be brought out of the “filing cabinet” and placed on the “desk” where that knowledge becomes explicit, or obvious • The difference between implicit memories (like how to ride a bike) and explicit memories (like the names of all the planets) is that it is impossible or extremely difficult to bring implicit memories into consciousness • Explicit memories can be forgotten but always have the potential to be made conscious • Ex. When someone reminds you what you had for breakfast the day before, you will remember and realize that you had that information all along

41. LTM Organization • LTM has to be fairly well organized for retrieval to be so quick • Research suggests that LTM is organized in terms of related meanings and concepts • In one study (Collins & Quillian, 1969) subjects had to respond “true” or “false” as quickly as possible to sentences such as “a canary is a bird” and “a canary is an animal” • Found that responses to sentences such as “canary is an animal” took longer than responses to sentences such as “a canary is a bird” • Why? Because information exists in a kind of network, with nodes (focal points) of related information linked to each other in a kind of hierarchy

42. To verify the statement “a canary is a bird” requires moving to only one node • But, “a canary is an animal” would require moving through two nodes and, therefore, takes longer

43. LTM Organization • The results of this study led the researchers to develop the semantic network model – assumes information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are related stored physically closer to each other than concepts that are not highly related

44. LTM Organization • The parallel distributed processing model can be used to explain how rapidly the different points on the networks can be accessed • Although the access of nodes within a particular category (ex. Birds) may take place in a serial fashion, access across the entire network may take place in a parallel fashion • Allowing several different concepts to be targeted at the same time • Ex. You might be able to think about birds, cats, and trees simultaneously • Maybe, the best way to think of how information is organized in LTM is to think about the internet • A person might go on one website and from that site link to many other related sites • Each related site has its own specific information but is also linked to many other related sites • And you can have more than one site open at the same time • This may be very similar to the way in which the mind organizes the information stored in LTM

45. Retrieval of Long-Term Memories: Retrieval Cues • Most people’s problems with getting information stored in LTM back out again has to do with how the information was stored • Retrieval cue – a stimulus for remembering • The reason that maintenance rehearsal is not a very good way to get information into LTM is that saying something over and over gives only one kind of retrieval cue • The sound of the word or phrase • When people try to remember a piece of information by thinking of what it means and how it fits in with what they already know, they are giving themselves cues for meaning in addition to sound • The more cues stored with a piece of information, the easier the retrieval of that information will be

46. Encoding Specificity and State-Dependent Learning: Context & Mood • Although most people assume that cues for retrieval would have to be related to the information to be remembered, almost anything can become a cue • Encoding specificity – the tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surroundings or physiological state) that is available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved • Ex. The best place to take a final exam is in the same room in which the class was held, because this was the environment where the information was encoded and will facilitate better retrieval of that information • Ex. Its very common to walk into a room and know that there was something in the room you wanted, but in order to remember it, you have to go back to the room you started in to use your surroundings as a cue for remembering what it is

47. Encoding Specificity and State-Dependent Learning: Context & Mood • In one study, students who were learning to scuba dive in a pool were asked to learn a word list when they were either out of the pool or in the pool under the water • Words that were learned while out of the pool were remembered significantly better when the subjects were out of the pool • Words that were learned underwater were more easily retrieved if the subjects were underwater while trying to remember

48. Encoding Specificity and State-Dependent Learning: Context & Mood • Physical surroundings at the time of encoding are not the only kinds of cues that can help retrieval • In state-dependent learning, memories formed during a particular physiological or psychological state will be easier to remember while in a similar state • Ex. When you are fighting with someone, it’s much easier to remember all the bad things that person has done than to remember the good times • In one study, researchers had subjects try to remember words that they had read while listening to music • Subjects read one list of words while listening to sad music (influencing their mood to be sad) and another list of words while listening to happy music • When it came time to recall the lists, researchers again manipulated the mood of the subjects • The words that were read while subjects were in a happy mood were remembered better if the manipulated mood was also happy, but far less well if the mood was sad (the reverse was also true)

49. Difference Between Recall and Recognition • 2 kinds of retrieval of memories • Recall – memories are retrieved with few or no external cues • Like fill in the blank or essay tests • Recognition – the ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact • Like multiple choice tests • This is why multiple choice tests are easier

50. Recall: Retrieval Failure • When ever people find themselves struggling for an answer, recall has failed (at least temporarily) • Tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon • Sometimes the answer to a question seems so close to the surface of conscious thought that if feels like the word is on “the tip of the tongue” • People may be able to say how long the word or name is, or even the first letter, but the cannot retrieve the sound or actual spelling of the word to allow it to be pulled into the auditory “recorded” part of STM so that it can be fully retrieved • Ex. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ev-BtPMM8