Retention and Retrieval of Memories

Retention and Retrieval of Memories Dr. Arra PSY 202

Retention of Memories Factors that affect retention of memories • Verbalization: talking or writing about an event • Co-constructed narratives: discussions that help participants make better sense of an event and therefore encode it more effectively • Enactment: performing physical actions related to the material to be learned

Retention of Memories • Connect new material with stored material • Internal Organization: putting words into categories, files • Increased practice results in increased retention

Retention of Memories 2 Mechanisms for forgetting: Decay and Interference • Decay Hypothesis: Memories weaken as a function of time and are therefore harder to retrieve Example of Decay: Retention Function (Ebbinghaus) - memories fade over time - demonstrates how memory performance deteriorates over time - rapid initial deterioration - continued ever-slowing deterioration

Retention of Memories Spacing Effects • Effects of intervals between study sessions • Research shows that to remember material for a long period of time study for a longer period with widely spaced intervals • However, to do well on a specific test, studying should occur just before the test • This research supports “cramming”

Retention of Memories Interference • Another hypothesis of forgetting; competition from other memories blocks retrieval of a target memory • Definition: Negative relationship between the learning of two sets of material • The amount and rate of forgetting can vary dramatically with what is learned before and after the critical material • Earlier learned material can interfere with retention of later material

Retention of Memories Interference Occurs in 3 ways: • The learning of the first material can impede the learning of the second material (negative transfer) • The learning of the first material can accelerate the forgetting of the second material (proactive interference) • The learning of the second material can accelerate the forgetting of the first material (retroactive interference) • Interference produces a great deal of forgetting; hypothesis that all forgetting might be a function of interference from prior or subsequent material

Retrieval of Memories • Retrieval depends to some extent on how well we stored it in the first place (organization, files, depth, elaborately) • Anxiety adversely effects retrieval Ex: looking for car keys when you’re late for a job interview - we tend not to search LTM in an organized, calm way • Activation of a memory record is increased with the number of retrieval cues

Retrieval of Memories RETRIEVAL CUES • Identity Cues - retrieval cue identical to information you were trying to retrieve - EX: multiple choice tests • Associate Cues -retrieval cue that directs you to relevant parts of your LTM - EX: tell me everything you know about classical conditioning

Retrieval of Memories RETRIEVAL CUES (CONT.’D) • Frame - provides you with an organized structure to guide you through LTM - EX: searching musical artists by type of music • Encoding Specificity - storing information in association with the environment in which we received it, thus being in the same environment later can serve as a retrieval cue - EX: studies show recall of words better in same environment

Retrieval of Memories Mnemonic Strategies for Recall • Anything that stands for something else • Acronyms, symbols • PEWSAGL, SLOBS,

Retrieval of Memories • context dependent memory – memories get associated with the context in which they are studied (similar to encoding specificity) • state dependent memory – better memory if mental state of individual is same at studying and test time (drunk, high) - however, depressant drugs tend to lower amount learned - state of individual effects memory

Retrieval of Memories • Mood congruence effects - people find it easier to remember happy memories when happy and sad memories when sad - not concerned with emotional state of individual when acquired like state dependent memory

Retention and Retrieval of Memories