Remembering and Forgetting

1. Remembering and Forgetting

3. Problems encoding and/or storing in the media • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNX2YVIMRqs – 5 minutes • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvF113uty4 - Dory • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFWAE1CffbY&feature=related (bleep out 1:10-1:22) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnc5MWuFurU&feature=related – overboard • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f1eVRpXOJo&feature=related- Paycheck • http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/movies.htm

4. Terms • Explicit Memory • Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or of specific information • Recall and Recognition are part of this • Name the 7 Dwarves • Which of the following are the 7 Dwarves? • Implicit Memory • The unconscious retention of previous experiences that creep into our current thoughts/actions • Studied through priming • In between these two: • Ebbinghaus…. Re-learning method…recalling, but also using previous experience…from repeitition

5. Ebbinghaus Study • The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve: • Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to scientifically study forgetting. • Used self as subject • Tested his memory using lists of 3-letter nonsense syllables (like KAF, PEB) • Nonsense because he didn’t want his existing knowledge to be able to help out his memory • Tested his memory for periods of time ranging from 20 minutes to 31 days. • His results show a forgetting “curve” (time and forgetting) • Initially, information is often lost very quickly after it is learned. Factors such as how the information was learned and how frequently it was rehearsed play a role in how quickly these memories are lost. • The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting does not continue to decline until all of the information is lost. At a certain point, the amount of forgetting levels off. What exactly does this mean? It indicates that information stored in long-term memory is surprisingly stable. • Adapted from: http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/forgetting.htm

6. Models of Memory • Information Processor (sound familiar?) • Encode info to make it useful • Store it (here it is put in cognitive schemas for organization) • Retrieve it • Storage part involves 3 kinds of memory • 1. sensory • 2. short term (STM) • 3. long term (LTM)

7. Multi-store Model of Memory(Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968)

8. Sensory Memory • The “waiting room” of the memory • Momentarily preserves extremely accurate images of sensory info to be taken into STM • We can identify what we see based on stored LTMs • If info doesn’t go to STM lost forever

9. Short-term Memory (STM) • “Working Memory” “Scratch Pad” • Processes info that is coming in and new (learning) • Processes info that is retrieved from LTM to use in the current situation • “Leaky Bucket” analogy – George Miller – 5-7 objects at once • Chunking (go read page 323 of book) • http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/facemem.html - facial memory • www.luminosity.com • Psych Sim 5 – Short Term Memory • http://www.youramazingbrain.org/yourmemory/# • H.M. example – can do short term memory, but can not store to Long Tem memory (gives validity to the Multi-store model)

10. Long-term Memory (LTM) • The “final destination” • Helps us: learn, get around, form identity • Semantic categories activity • Types of Information in LTM: • Procedural: knowledge HOW TO do something • Declarative: Knowing something is TRUE • Semantic: facts, rules, concepts • Episodic: personally experienced events

11. Serial Position Effect • Why mostly first and last items of list remembered? • 1st – STM relatively empty when starting • Last – info still in STM and available for recall • Still somewhat of a mystery… • Seen in the Roediger and McDermott Study

12. How We Remember • Effective Encoding – • automatic (like your location in space and time… “Where did you eat breakfast this morning?”) • Effortful (remembering facts for tests) • Rehearsal • Repeating over and over to keep in STM before it goes to LTM • Most people use speech to encode and rehearse (saying things over and over to yourself) • Maintenance Rehearsal: rote repetition • Elaborative Rehearsal: associating new item with many already known facts • Deep Processing: processing the meaning rather than just the physical or sensory features • *Bloom’s Taxonomy

13. Mnemonics • Rhymes – “30 Days has September” • Parks and Rec clip • Any others? • Acronyms – HOMES • What can you think of? • Imagery Associations • Partner activity: With the mnemonic I give you, you and a partner come up with a way to remember all the territories of Canada

15. Why We Forget • To a certain degree, forgetfulness is a positive thing…keeps our mind sane and helps us survive…gets rid of the clutter • Marigold Linton..pg 334 • Psychologists have suggested that there are 5 mechanisms that account for forgetting…

16. Forgetting • Decay – memory traces fade with time if not accessed now and then….second language? • Replacement – misleading info can cause forgetting of original material • Interference – similar info in your mind gets confused with one another • Retroactive interference: new info interferes with old (Judy/Julie) • Proactive interference: old info distracting the new (French then Spanish)

17. Forgetting • Cue-dependent forgetting – inability to retrieve information stored because of insufficient cues for recall • Ex: knowing an actor’s first name might cue you to remember the last name too • Cues present when learning can help trigger those memories later…remembering in same physical environment as event is easier • De ja Vu – when cues overlap…makes us think we’ve been somewhere/seen something before when we haven’t

18. Cue-dependent forgetting (cont.) • State-dependent forgetting • The mental or physical state you were in when learning something, may be needed to be reproduced to remember it again • Emotional arousal, intoxication, mood • Language in Italy, happy memories when feeling happy • Mood-congruent memory effect can be vicious in the negative direction

19. Psychogenic Amnesia • Amnesia = inability to remember important personal information (usually traumatic or stressful) • Reading…pgs 338-344 • Take notes on “Seven Basic Sins”