Day 5: Thought, Memory and Recovered Memory

1. Day 5: Thought, Memory and Recovered Memory

2. Human Memory: Basic Questions • How does information get into memory? • How is information maintained in memory? • How is information pulledback out of memory?

3. The processes of memory • Encoding • Storage • Retrieval (remembering) • Forgetting

4. Storage • Three levels of storage • Level 1: Sensory memory • Level 2: Short term memory or working memory • Level 3: Long term memory

5. Figure 7.2 Three key processes in memory

6. Encoding: Getting Information Into Memory • The role of attention • Focusing awareness • Divided attention

7. Figure 7.3 Levels-of-processing theory

8. Enriching Encoding • Elaboration = linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding • Thinking of examples • Visual Imagery = creation of visual images to represent words to be remembered • Easier for concrete objects: Dual-coding theory

9. Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory • Analogy: information storage in computers ~ information storage in human memory • Information-processing theories • Subdivide memory into three different stores • Sensory, Short-term, Long-term

10. Figure 7.6 The Atkinson and Schiffrin model of memory storage

11. Sensory Memory • Brief preservation of information in original sensory form • Auditory/Visual – approximately ¼ second

12. Short Term Memory (STM) • Limited duration – about 20 seconds without rehearsal • Rehearsal – the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information • Limited capacity – magical number 7 plus or minus 2 • Chunking – grouping familiar stimuli for storage as a single unit • Chimp memory

13. Long-Term Memory • Unlimited Capacity and lengthy storage time • Permanent storage? • Flashbulb memories • How is knowledge represented and organized in memory? • Schemas and Scripts • Semantic Networks • Connectionist Networks and PDP Models

14. What is your long term memory? • It has unlimited capacity, and lengthy storage time • Information maybe stays there forever, it just can’t be retrieved OR it may decay • Things will sometimes get into our long term memory as a side effect of our thinking, not always from trying to memorize - remembering is a side effect of thinking

15. What is your long term memory? • We sort the stuff we remember, and remember what is important to us, or what is consistent with what we think should be there • There are cultural differences in what is considered important to remember, and how it is remembered

16. Retrieval: Getting InformationOut of Memory • The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon – a failure in retrieval • Retrieval cues • Reinstating the context • Context cues • Reconstructing memories • Misinformation effect • Source monitoring

17. Forgetting: When Memory Lapses • Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve • Retention – the proportion of material retained • Recall • Recognition • Relearning

18. Figure 7.10 Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve for nonsense syllables

19. Why We Forget • Ineffective Encoding • Decay • Interference • Proactive • Retroactive • Retrieval failure • Repression • Authenticity of repressed memories? • Memory illusions • Controversy

20. Retrieval Failure • Encoding Specificity • Transfer-Appropriate Processing • Repression • Authenticity of repressed memories? • Memory illusions • Controversy

21. TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY • We seem to have different kinds of memory • They come into the brain through different pathways • They are stored in different ways and in different places in the brain

22. Figure 7.17 Theories of independent memory systems

23. Types of long term memory Explicit Implicit I am not conscious that I remember this It shows up in my behaviour Classical conditioning leads to this kind of emotional memory • I am conscious that I remember this • Operant conditioning leads to this kind of memory

24. Types of explicit long term memory Declarative memory system (factual information) Non-declarative (procedural) memory system Actions, perceptual motor skills, conditioned reflexes, emotional memories • Semantic memory system remembers general knowledge – stored undated • Episodic or autobiographical memory system remembers dated recollections of personal experiences

25. The secret of a good memory is the secret of forming diverse and multiple associations with every fact we care to retain

26. Whereabouts in the brain are memories stored? • We seem to have different networks operating for different kinds of memory • Implicit memories come through the amygdala • Explicit memories come through the hippocampus • Once consolidated, they are stored in the original site eg. motor memory in the motor context, language memory in the language areas of the brain

27. Anatomy of Memory Bilateral damage to the hippocampus results in anterograde amnesia (Patient H.M.)

28. Anatomy of Memory Amygdala: emotional memory and memory consolidation Basal ganglia & cerebellum: memory for skills, habits and CC responses Hippocampus: memory recognition, spatial, episodic memory, laying down new declarative long-term memories Thalamus, formation of new memories and working memories Cortical Areas: encoding of factual memories, storage of episodic and semantic memories, skill learning, priming.

29. Remembering (retrieval) • Complex process • We use partial cues • Each time we remember, we reconstruct the memory • Tip of the tongue phenomenon is when the semantic memory is there, but not the information about the name

30. What helps us remember? • Context reconstruction • Having spaces between the learning sessions • Using lots of different ways to encode the information (a) Overlearning (b) Using visual imagery (method of loci) (c) Using mnemonic devices

31. Forgetting – why do we forget? • We never learned it properly in the first place because of lack of attention or lack of in depth processing • It decays (Short term memory especially) • Interference from other material you have learned • Retrieval failure: cue needs to match the encoded memory • Motivated forgetting: instructing ourselves to forget, repressed memory

32. Memories are imperfect reconstructions – subject to distortion • Hindsight distortion: memory recalled is influenced by present knowledge • Influence: we take on board what we are told, or see, or other’s opinions • Source monitoring errors: we make mistakes about where we learned the information • Stephen Wiltshire The Human Camera.mp4

33. The seven sins of memory • Transience (memories fade over time) • Absent-mindedness (attention is elsewhere) • Misattribution (mis-remembering the source of the information) • Suggestibility (thinking we remember an event someone else has told us) • Bias (telling the story the way we would rather remember it) • Persistence (memories we don’t want keep returning) • Forgetting (inability to retrieve the memory)

41. Thinking Past Now Future

42. Memory Decline in Normal Aging Definition: Memory refers to the storage, retention and recall of information including past experiences, knowledge and thoughts • Only some types of memory loss are associated with normal aging • Other types are typical of disease states

43. Types of Memory and Loss • Working (intermediate term) – loss occurs with normal aging • Episodic- especially impaired in normal aging e.g. ability to process recent information • Semantic (e.g. vocabulary) – Improves with age; lost in dementias • Procedural (long-term memory of skills) - shows No Decline with age; affected by diseases

44. Types of Memory and Loss • Very long-term memory (months to years)- increases up to age 50; maintained until well after 70 • Short-term memory- shows little decline; loss associated with diseases • Older adults tend to be worse at remembering the source of their information

45. Video/How Does Your Memory Work Pt.3.mp4 • Video/How Does Your Memory Work Pt.4.mp4