Cognitive Processes PSY 334

1. Cognitive ProcessesPSY 334 Chapter 6 – Human Memory: Encoding and Storage

2. Ebbinghaus • First rigorous investigation of human memory – 1885. • Taught himself nonsense syllables • DAX, BUP, LOC • Savings – the amount of time needed to relearn a list after it has already been learned and forgotten. • Forgetting function – most forgetting takes place right away.

3. Memory Models • Atkinson & Shiffrin – proposed a three-stage model including: • Sensory store – if attended goes to STM • Short-term memory (STM) – if rehearsed goes to LTM • Long-term memory (LTM) • No longer the current view of memory. • Still presented in some books.

4. Criticisms of STM • Rate of forgetting seemed to be quicker than Ebbinghaus’s data, but is not really. • Amount of rehearsal appeared to be related to transfer to long-term memory. • Later it was found that the kind of rehearsal matters, not the amount. • Passive rehearsal does little to achieve long-term memory. • Information may go directly to LTM.

5. Depth of Processing • Craik & Lockhart – proposed that it is not how long material is rehearsed but the depth of processing that matters. • Levels of processing demo.

6. Working Memory • Baddeley – in working memory speed of rehearsal determines memory span. Articulatory loop – stores whatever can be processed in a given amount of time. • Word length effect: 4.5 one-syllable words remembered compared to 2.6 long ones. • 1.5 to 2 seconds material can be kept. • Visuopatial sketchpad – rehearses images. • Central executive – controls other systems.

7. Delayed Matching Task • Delayed Matching to Sample – monkey must recall where food was placed. • Monkeys with lesion to frontal cortex cannot remember food location. • Human infants can’t do it until 1 year old. • Regions of frontal cortex fire only during the delay – keeping location in mind. • Different prefrontal regions are used to remember different kinds of information.