Memory Constructing and Reconstructing Our Pasts

1. 7 Memory Constructing and Reconstructing Our Pasts Slides prepared by Matthew Isaak

2. Learning Objectives LO 7.1 Identify the ways that memories do and don't accurately reflect experiences. LO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. LO 7.3 Differentiate the subtypes of long-term memory. LO 7.4 Identify methods for connecting new information to existing knowledge. LO 7.5Identify the role that schemas play in the storage of memories.

3. Learning Objectives LO 7.6 Distinguish ways of measuring memory. LO 7.7 Describe how the relation between encoding and retrieval conditions influences remembering. LO 7.8Describe the role of long-term potentiation in memory. LO 7.9 Distinguish different types of amnesia and the relevance of amnesia to the brain's organization of memory. LO 7.10 Identify the key impairments of Alzheimer's disease.

4. Learning Objectives LO 7.11Identify how children's memory abilities change with age. LO 7.12 Identify factors that influence people's susceptibility to false memories and memory errors. LO 7.13 Describe some of the real-world implications of false memories and memory errors.

5. Lecture Preview • How memory operates • The three processes of memory • Biology of memory • Development of memory • False memories

6. MemoryLO 7.1 Identify the ways that memories do and don't accurately reflect experiences. • The retention of information over time • Our memories are surprisingly good in some situations, and surprisingly bad in others. • The paradox of memory

7. Paradox of MemoryLO 7.1 Identify the ways that memories do and don't accurately reflect experiences. • The same mechanisms that serve us well most of the time can sometimes cause us problems. • Amazing feats of memory • Kim Peek, the real "Rain Man" • Rajan and pi • But memory is also surprisingly malleable.

8. Put down your pen and read these lists:LO 7.1 Identify the ways that memories do and don't accurately reflect experiences. Sour Honey Bitter Heart Tooth Nice Sugar Chocolate Taste Tart Candy Soda Good Cake Pie

9. Write down all the words you can remember. LO 7.1 Identify the ways that memories do and don't accurately reflect experiences.

10. Paradox of MemoryLO 7.1 Identify the ways that memories do and don't accurately reflect experiences. • Did you include the word "sweet"? • If so, this is a memory illusion. • Our brains will often go beyond the available information to make sense of the world. • Generally adaptive, but makes us prone to errors

11. Reconstructive MemoryLO 7.1 Identify the ways that memories do and don't accurately reflect experiences. • When remembering, we actively reconstruct memories, not passively reproduce them. • When you remember yourself taking a walk, you see yourself as an observer would. • How can we explain this?

12. Three Systems of Memory LO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Sensory, short-term, and long-term memory • Differ in terms of span and duration • Information moves from sensory to STM to LTM, and then back to STM when it is retrieved.

13. Figure 7.2 The Three-Memory Model. This model subdivides memory into sensory, short-term, and long-term memory. Information flows from left to right, but also from right to left in the case of information retrieved from long-term memory and moved into short-term memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968).

14. Sensory MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Brief storage of perceptual information before it is passed to short-term memory • Each sense has its own form of sensory memory. • Iconic (visual) lasts only 1 second; echoic (auditory) can last 5-10 seconds.

15. Short-term MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Memory system that retains information for limited durations • Closely related to working memory • Brief in duration; 5-20 seconds

16. Short-term MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • We can lose information in our STM due to two different processes: • Decay – information fades over time • Interference – loss of information due to competition with new, incoming information

17. Types of InterferenceLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Retroactive interference happens when learning new information hampers memory for earlier learning. • Proactive interference happens when earlier learning gets in the way of new learning. • Both are more likely to occur when old and new stimuli are similar.

18. Short-term MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • The span of STM in adults is 7 + 2 pieces of information: the Magic Number 7. • Can extend our STM span by chunking – organizing information into meaningful groups

19. Short-term MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. K A C F J N A B I S B C F U I vs. C I A U S A F B I N B C J F K

20. Short-term MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Rehearsal, repeating information in STM, extends its duration. • Maintenance rehearsal is simply repeating STM information in its original form. • Elaborative rehearsal is forming meaningful links among STM material.

21. Short-term MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Elaborative rehearsal is usually more effective, consistent with levels-of-processing model. • Three levels: visual, phonological (sound-related), and semantic (meaning-related) • Visual is the most shallow; phonological somewhat less shallow; and semantic the deepest.

22. Long-term MemoryLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Relatively enduring store of information • Includes facts, experiences, and skills we've developed over a lifetime • Differs from STM in several ways

23. LO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems.

24. Figure 7.6 Long Term Memory Retention. The classic work of Harry Bahrick (1984) shows that retention of a foreign language remains remarkably constant for spans of almost 50 years after an initial drop. (Source: Adapted from Bahrick, 1984, Figure 3)

25. Primacy and Recency EffectsLO 7.2 Explain the function, span, and duration of each of the three memory systems. • Primacy effect – tendency to remember stimuli presented earliest (now in LTM) • Recency effect – tendency to remember stimuli that presented most recently (still in STM) • Also more likely to remember stimuli that are odd or distinctive

26. Figure 7.7 The Serial Position Curve. Most psychologists believe that the primacy and recency effects in this curve are the telltale signs of two different memory systems: long-term and short-term memory, respectively.

27. Types of LTMLO 7.3 Differentiate the subtypes of long-term memory. • Explicit memory is the process of recalling information intentionally. • Divided into: • Semantic memory (knowledge of facts) • Episodic memory (events in our lives)

28. LO 7.3 Differentiate the subtypes of long-term memory.Read this list of words to yourself: House Throw Sleep Queen Tires Guitar Swim

29. Types of Long-Term MemoryLO 7.3 Differentiate the subtypes of long-term memory. • Implicit memory is recalling information that we don't remember deliberately. • Unlocking our front door • Tying our shoelaces • Includes habituation, classical conditioning, and other forms of learning

30. Types of Implicit MemoryLO 7.3 Differentiate the subtypes of long-term memory. • Procedural memory refers to motor skills and habits. • Riding a bicycle, touch typing • Priming is our ability to identify a stimulus more easily or quickly after we've encountered similar stimuli.

31. LO 7.3 Differentiate the subtypes of long-term memory. Remember "Queen" from the word list? If you filled in "KING", you demonstrated a priming effect. Fill in the blanks: K _ _ _

32. Figure 7.8 The Many Subtypes of Memory. A summary of the subtypes of explicit and implicit memory.

33. Three Processes of MemoryLO 7.4 Identify methods for connecting new information to existing knowledge. • Encoding is getting information into memory. • Storage is keeping information in memory. • Retrieval is the reactivation or reconstruction of information from memory.

34. Figure 7.9 The Three Processes of Memory. The process of remembering is similar in some ways to the process of filing and fetching a library book.

35. EncodingLO 7.4 Identify methods for connecting new information to existing knowledge. • To encode material, we must first attend to it. • Most events we experience are never encoded in the first place. • The next-in-line effect and memory for common objects

36. Figure 7.10 Penny Array from Nickerson and Adams. Which of these pennies is the real one? Try to guess before pulling one out of your pocket. (Source: Based on Nickerson & Adams, 1979)

37. MnemonicsLO 7.4 Identify methods for connecting new information to existing knowledge. • Mnemonics are learning aids that enhance recall. • Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally • Every Good Boy Does Fine • While applicable to almost anything, they depend on existing knowledge store.

38. Types of MnemonicsLO 7.4 Identify methods for connecting new information to existing knowledge. • Pegword method (uses rhyming) • Method of loci (place imagery) • Keyword method (language learning, reminder words)

39. StorageLO 7.5 Identify the role that schemas play in the storage of memories. • How we store our experiences in memory depends on our interpretations and expectations of them. • Schemas are organized knowledge structures or mental models that we've stored in memory. • What happens when you go to a restaurant?

40. StorageLO 7.5 Identify the role that schemas play in the storage of memories. • Schemas give us frames of reference and allow us to interpret new situations. • Useful, but tend to oversimplify information • Strong example of why the paradox of memory exists

41. RetrievalLO 7.6 Distinguish ways of measuring memory. • Many types of forgetting are failures of retrieval. • Using retrieval cues can help to access information in long-term memory. • Measuring memory makes use of the "3 Rs."

42. Measuring MemoryLO 7.6 Distinguish ways of measuring memory. • Recall - generating previously remembered information • Recognition - selecting previously remembered information from an array of options • Relearning - "savings"; how much more quickly we reacquire something learned before

43. Tip-of-the-Tongue PhenomenonLO 7.6 Distinguish ways of measuring memory. • Retrieval failure where we are sure we know the answer, but can't come up with it • When people believe that something is on the tip of their tongue, they're frequently right.

44. Encoding SpecificityLO 7.7 Describe how the relation between encoding and retrieval conditions influences remembering. • We are more likely to remember something when the conditions present at the time we encoded it are also present at retrieval. • Two kinds: context-dependent learning and state-dependent learning

45. Context-Dependent LearningLO 7.7 Describe how the relation between encoding and retrieval conditions influences remembering. • Superior retrieval when the external context of the original memories matches the retrieval context

46. Figure 7.13 Research Shows that the Word Learning of Scuba Divers Depends on Context. If the divers learned words underwater, they recalled them best when underwater again (Godden & Baddely, 1975).

47. State-Dependent LearningLO 7.7 Describe how the relation between encoding and retrieval conditions influences remembering. • Superior retrieval of memories when the organism is in the same physiological or psychological state as it was during encoding • Can extend to mood-dependent learning and the retrospective bias

48. Biology of MemoryLO 7.8 Describe the role of long-term potentiation in memory. • Memories of different types of experiences are stored in different brain regions. • Long-term potentiation is the gradual strengthening of the connections among neurons from repetitive stimulation.

49. Biology of MemoryLO 7.8 Describe the role of long-term potentiation in memory. • LTP plays a key role in learning; hippocampus plays a key role in forming memories • There is, however, no engram. • Memories are diffusely stored. • "Neurons that fire together, wire together."

50. AmnesiaLO 7.9 Distinguish different types of amnesia and the relevance of amnesia to the brain's organization of memory. • Most common types are retrograde (loss of past memories) and anterograde (loss of ability to make new memories). • Myths abound, but generalized amnesia is very rare, as is sudden recovery of memory.