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BHS 499-07 Memory and Amnesia

BHS 499-07 Memory and Amnesia. Methods and Principles. Experiments. Memory is studied two ways: Experimentally – most research Observationally – Neisser’s Challenger study. Two Kinds of Studies. Incidental vs. intentional Incidental The person is unaware that memory will be tested later

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BHS 499-07 Memory and Amnesia

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  1. BHS 499-07Memory and Amnesia Methods and Principles

  2. Experiments • Memory is studied two ways: • Experimentally – most research • Observationally – Neisser’s Challenger study

  3. Two Kinds of Studies • Incidental vs. intentional • Incidental • The person is unaware that memory will be tested later • An “orienting task” directs attention to stimuli. • Intentional • The person is aware of an upcoming memory test • May lead to more elaborate processing.

  4. Levels of Processing • Craik & Lockhart (1972 • The more deeply information is processed, the more likely it is to be remembered • Memory retrieval can be predicted based on the depth of processing • Rote rehearsal leads to shallow processing • Elaborative rehearsal leads to deep processing

  5. Ways of Assessing Memory • Recall • Free vs forced (number of items is specified) • Cued recall • Self-cueing is part of meta-memory • Recognition • Inference and reconstruction are important to recognition

  6. Common Learning Effects • Generation effect – material that is self-generated (created by the subject) tends to be better remembered. • “aha” effect – a self-generated explanation is better remembered • Enactment effect – performing a related action tends to enhance memory (as opposed to watching someone do it) • Automaticity of encoding – some learning is automatic, some takes effort.

  7. Stimulus Characteristics • Nominal stimulus (what is presented) vs functional stimulus (what is in person’s mind) • Picture superiority and concreteness effects – words associated with images are better remembered than abstracts. • Pollyanna principle – positive words more readily learned than negative ones.

  8. Frequency Effects • Frequency has a different impact on recall tasks than on recognition tasks. • For recall, an item that is more frequently encountered is better remembered because there are more associations. • For recongition, an item that is less frequently encountered is better remembered because it is novel. • Novelty means fewer competitor memory traces.

  9. Concerns with Recognition • Recognition is a matching process – the nominal stimulus is compared with the content of memory. • A “match” can be made based on familiarity. • Old/new recognition: • A familiar item is “old” • An unfamiliar item is “new” • Forced choice – an answer is required.

  10. Correction for Guessing • Discrimination – telling old items from new ones. • Hit – a correct judgment • Miss – calling an old item new • False Alarm – calling a new item old • Bias – willingness to guess old vs new. • Strictness (unwillingness) to guess old is a conservative bias. • Signal detection theory – a method for measuring and adjusting for a person’s guessing bias.

  11. Social Influences • Collaborative inhibition – people working in a group remember less on recall tasks than if they were working alone. • Social loafing? • Different ways of organizing info disrupt recall. • Fewer errors when people work in groups. • Collaborative facilitation – when the task is a recognition task, people do better in groups than working alone.

  12. Assessing Memory Structure • Memory structure is the way items are organized, connected (associated) in memory. • Response times are faster for associated items, so RT’s can reveal links in memory. • Priming – the name for the speeded response that occurs for items that are associated. • Cluster analysis – items that are linked are recalled together (inter-item delays).

  13. Metamemory Measures • Metamemory – awareness of one’s own memory processes. • Verbal reports drawing on introspection. • “Remember” vs “know” judgments. • You remember an item when you can recall when and where you first learned it. • Hindsight bias – a tendency to distort memory to conform to current knowledge

  14. Implicit Memory Measures • Implicit memory is not conscious, so tasks used do not mention memory. • Later people may be asked to remember without any reference to the previous task. • Implicit and explicit memory are difficult to dissociate because there are no true “process pure” tasks. • Inclusion condition – use words seen before • Exclusion condition – do not use words seen before

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