memory

1. memory

2. A huge problem • Eye witness testimony • Witnesses are not always right, even if they are certain • Picking the wrong “rapist” • How could this happen?

3. Memory Overview • Receives information from senses • Puts that information into a usable form • Organizes it as it is stored away • Retrieves it when needed

4. Three Processes • Encoding – getting the info and then transforming it into a form that the brain can retain • Storage – holding the info • Retrieval – pulling it out

5. Three Models • Information-processing- way that information is handled • Levels of processing – how long and how intensely we work with a memory determines how well we retain and retrieve it • Parallel distributed processing – we remember things in many different forms all at once, in parallel

6. Information processing view • Encoding • Storage • Retrieval

7. Short-term memory • Temporary storage of information you have just experienced • Lasts for about 20-30 seconds, unless rehearsed • Holds 7 (plus or minus 2) items, like a crowded elevator holds passengers • Can be effectively extended by memorizing information in chunks – meaningful units • Maintenance rehearsal – repeating the same thing over and over

8. Long-term memory • Unlimited capacity • Lasts (usually) as long as you do • Weakened by interference • Also vulnerable to loss of retrieval cues • Usually located in the frontal lobes • Meaningful, distinctive material goes in quickly

9. Sensory memory • The first stage of memory • A very brief representation of all stimuli present to us • This is what we see briefly around us, we need to put into short or long term to retain it • Selective attention will transfer this information into short term memory

10. Echoic memory • Brief memory that someone said something • This helps us have meaningful conversations • Helps us remember what a person said to be able to continue the discussion

11. Retroactive interference • Retroactive interference – work with new material makes old material harder to remember • Final exams. Going back to an old phone, previous car…

12. The crucial focus • “How does this information apply to some experience in my own life?” • Make it your own and it will be yours forever. • Also known as elaborative rehearsal

13. Long-term memory storage • To improve our memory we must improve the way we store information • Just repeating things, over and over again, will not help us remember them • We must process (work with) them deeply, by focusing on meaning

14. Procedural memories • Memory of skills, procedures, habits, even conditioned responses • There are plenty of things that we can easily do, but have great difficulty describing • Very hard to “forget” • Riding a bike, typing, tying a tie, etc. • Tested patients with Alzheimer's showed no loss of memory of these skills

15. Declarative memory • General facts and personal information • Long term memory • Conscious and known

16. More memory types • Semantic – memory of general principles • Information learned through education • Episodic – memory of specific events • Specific to you, events of your day..

17. Encoding specificity • Associations formed while learning are the most effective retrieval cues • This classroom • This time of day • Same chair • Same people

18. Where were you? • President Kennedy’s assassination • The Challenger explosion • But research conducted in the wake 9/11, show that even these memories decay