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Motivation and Memory Processes. By James W. Erikson Hanover College. Working Memory. Encoding-making meaning of information (Myers, 1998) Central Executive-establishes what goes where and how important it is (Baddeley, et al, 1986)
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Motivation and Memory Processes By James W. Erikson Hanover College
Working Memory • Encoding-making meaning of information (Myers, 1998) • Central Executive-establishes what goes where and how important it is (Baddeley, et al, 1986) • Hierarchical Arrangement-more important information is stored first (de Fockert, et al, 1987) • Limited storage • 30seconds (Peterson & Peterson, 1959) ,7 plus or minus 2 items (Hintzman, 1978)
Long Term Storage (Memory) • Storage-Associative Network model (Greenwald & Pratkanis, 1984; Kihlstrom & Cantor, 1984) • Information is stored in nodes • Each network is arranged semantically • Consolidation (Muller & Pilzecker, 1900) • This is the process of making memories relatively permanent • This process begins immediately after storage • Retrieval-Information recall • information is found within long term storage via recall cues • the more a connection is recalled, the stronger it becomes
Motivation • Motivation has been found to affect working memory (Heinrich, 1968) • When presented at encoding, motivation can affect memory • Motivation can only affect active processes of memory (de Fockert, et al, 2001)
Hypothesis • Motivation will only affect memory when it is presented at the time of encoding. • Motivation presented while consolidation is occurring will have no significant effect.
Method • Participants • 40 participants, 10 per condition • 24 females, 16 males • Materials • 50 words taken from neutral stimulus word lists Belleza, Greenwald, & Banaji (1986); Balota & Lorch (1986) • Filler tasks • Manipulation check & questionnaire
Method cont. • General Procedure (Control Condition) • Word list presentation • Filler task (30 min.) • Recall • Manipulation checks • Payment and/or Debriefing
Method cont. • Procedure • IV #1: when motivation is presented • Encoding • Consolidation (15 min. in) • Recall (30 min. in) • IV #2: Red or Black word (within Ss)
Results • Repeated measures ANOVA • More Black words remembered than red F=(1, 36) = 3.89, p<.06 • Qualified by interaction between color and condition F=(3, 36) =5.54, p < .01
Results • One-Way ANOVA proportions • Red/Total Correct F(3, 36) = 5.41, p < .01 • Encoding Condition
Discussion • Motivation has to be present at encoding to affect memory • Motivation has no effect when presented at the time of consolidation processes • Extraneous information is disregarded due to the efficiency of the brain • Limited storage and capacity • Color was not encoded (not deemed important by the central executive) and therefore was never stored into the long term
Discussion cont. • Future research • It would be interesting to find out whether motivation can affect information which has been previously stored. • For instance, if color had been encoded into the long term, then could motivation affect the amount of particularly colored words remembered?