Memory

1. Memory Chapter 10

2. Memory Reconstructing the past. Memory and the power of suggestion. In pursuit of memory. The three-box model of memory. How we remember. Why we forget. Autobiographical memories.

3. The Manufacture of Memory Memory is the capacity to retain and retrieve information Memory is a reconstructive process. Recovering a memory is not playing a videotape. Source misattribution The inability to distinguish what you originally experienced from what you heard or were told later about an event.

4. The Fading Flashbulb Some unusual, shocking or tragic events hold a special place in memory. These memories were called Flashbulb memories because the term captures the surprise, illumination & photographic detail that characterize them. Even flashbulb memories have errors.

5. The Conditions of Confabulation Confabulation Confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you, or a belief that you remember something when it never actually happened. Confabulation is most likely when you have thought or heard about the event many times. the image of the event contains many details. the event is easy to imagine

6. The Eyewitness on Trial Eyewitnesses are not always reliable. Factors which influence accuracy Cross race identification. Question wording. Crashed versus hit. Misleading information.

7. Children�s Testimony Under what conditions are children more suggestible? Being very young. When interviewers� expectations are clear. When other children�s memories for events are accessible.

8. Children�s Testimony If asked if a visitor committed acts that had not occurred, few 4-6 year olds said yes. 30% of 3-year olds said yes When investigators used techniques taken from real child-abuse investigations, most children said yes.

9. Explicit Memory Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or of an item of information. Assessed through: Recall The ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously learned material. Recognition The ability to identify previously encountered material.

10. Implicit Memory Unconscious retention in memory, as evidenced by the effect of a previous experience or previously encountered information on current thoughts or actions.

11. Priming A person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects performance on another type of task.

12. Relearning Compares the time required to relearn material with the time used in the initial learning of the material.

13. Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Model of memory in which knowledge is represented as connections among thousands of interacting processing units, distributed in a vast network, and all operating parallel.

14. Three-Box Model of Memory

15. Sensory Memory A memory system that momentarily preserves extremely accurate images of sensory information. Pattern Recognition The identification of a stimulus on the basis of information already contained in long-term memory. Information that is not quickly passed to short term memory is gone forever.

16. Short-term Memory A limited capacity memory system involved in the retention of information for brief periods; it is also used to hold information retrieved from long-term memory for temporary use. Working memory A memory system which includes STM and mental processes that control retrieval of information from LT memory and interpret that information appropriately for a given task. Chunk Meaningful unit of information which may be composed of smaller units.

17. The Value of Chunking You have 5 seconds to memorize as much as you can Then, draw an empty chess board and reproduce the arrangement of pieces Figure 6.6 from: Kassin, S. (2001). Psychology, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Figure 6.6 from: Kassin, S. (2001). Psychology, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

18. Long-term Memory The memory system involved in the long term storage of information One way information is organized is in semantic categories (i.e., animals).

19. Conceptual Grid

20. Types of Long-term Memories

21. Contents of Long-Term Memory Procedural memories Memories for performance of actions or skills. �Knowing how.� Declarative memories Memories of facts, rules, concepts, and events; includes semantic and episodic memory. �Knowing that.� Examples include semantic and episodic memories.

22. Contents of Long-Term Memory Semantic memories General knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, and propositions. Episodic memories Personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred.

23. Serial-Position Effect The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list.

24. The Biology of Memory Forming a memory involves chemical and structural changes at the level of neurons. In short-term memory, changes within neurons temporarily alter the neuron�s ability to release transmitters. In long- term memory, long-term potentiation or a long-lasting increase in the strength of synaptic responsiveness occurs. Most researchers believe this is the process underlying learning and memory yet exact biochemical and molecular changes still debated.

25. Brain Areas Involved in Memory

26. Consolidation Neural and synaptic changes take a while to develop fully. The process by which a long term memory becomes durable and stable is called consolidation.

27. Locating Memories New brain imaging and testing shows us that: During short-term memory tasks, areas of the frontal lobes show activity. Long- term memory tasks, the hippocampus. Encoding of pictures and words, prefrontal cortex and areas adjacent to the hippocampus. Procedural memories, specific changes to cerebellum. Formation of long-term memories, cerebral cortex.

28. Rehearsal Maintenance Rehearsal Rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory. Elaborative Rehearsal Association of new information with already stored knowledge and analysis of the new information to make it memorable.

29. Deep Processing In the encoding of information, the processing of meaning rather than simply the physical or sensory features of a stimulus.

30. Mnemonics Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such as the use of a verse or a formula. Examples include: HOMES ROYGBIV Thirty days hath September�

31. Decay Theory The theory that information in memory eventually disappears if it is not accessed; it applies more to short-term than to long-term memory.

32. Replacement The theory that new information entering memory can wipe out old information. In one study, researchers showed subjects slides of a traffic accident. The experimental group was mislead into thinking there was a stop sign instead of a yield sign. Even after being debriefed on the purpose of the study, subjects insisted that they really saw the stop sign (Loftus et al., 1978). The new information which came from the researchers replaced what the subjects saw.

33. Interference Similar items interfere with one another. Retroactive Interference Forgetting that occurs when recently learned material interferes with the ability to remember similar material stored previously. Proactive Interference Forgetting that occurs when previously stored material interferes with the ability to remember similar, more recently learned material.

34. Cue-dependent Forgetting The inability to retrieve information stored in memory because of insufficient cues for recall. Physical state can be a memory cue. State-Dependent Memory The tendency to remember something when the rememberer is in the same physical or mental state as during the original learning or experience.

35. Mood-congruent Memory The tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with one�s current mood and overlook or forget experiences that are not.

36. Amnesia The partial or complete loss of memory for important personal information. Psychogenic Amnesia The causes of forgetting are psychological such as the need to escape feelings of embarrassment, guilt, shame, disappointment, emotional shock. Traumatic Amnesia The forgetting of specific traumatic events, sometimes for many years.

37. The Repression Controversy Repression In psychoanalytic theory, the selective involuntary pushing of threatening or upsetting information into the unconscious. Individuals are more likely to struggle with forgetting traumatic events. Hard to distinguish repression from other forms of forgetting.

38. When should we question recovered memories? If person says he or she has memories of first year or two of life. If over time the memories become more and more implausible. If therapist used suggestive techniques such as hypnosis, dream analysis, age regression, guided imagery and leading questions.

39. Childhood Amnesia The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first two or three years of life. Cognitive explanations Lack of sense of self. Impoverished encoding. A focus on the routine. Different ways of thinking about the world.