Memory: Processing and Retention

1. Memory Unit 6

2. What is memory? • The ability to remember the things that we have experienced, imagined, and learned • Explained using Information Processing Model • Sensory Register- entry points for raw information from the senses • Processes far more than we can “selectively attend” to • Short Term/Working Memory- “selective attention” • Long Term Memory- limitless memory bank

3. Sensory Registers • Iconic Memory • We hold images that we see very briefly in our sensory register • Stare forward then quickly close your eyes- image will remain in mind and then fades quickly • Sperling and the 12 letters • Wait one second before asking a subject to recall letters and they remember 1-2 rather than 3-4 • “Masking” happens when we get new sensory information

4. Sensory Registers • Echoic Memory • Auditory information echoes in our ears for a short period of time • For a few moments, we can recover what we just heard even if we didn’t consciously process it • Fades more slowly than iconic memory

5. Short-Term Memory • We can only “selectively attend” to a small amount of sensory information • The important information that we want to process then enters our Short Term, or Working Memory • Stores information briefly in order to “work on it” • We also retrieve information from long-term memory and process it in working memory

6. Short-Term Memory • Is very limited- When you focus, you need to shut other stimuli out so your STM doesn’t get “crowded” • Capacity: • As much information that can be repeated or rehearsed in 1.5 to 2 seconds • 7 bits of information plus or minus 2

7. Demonstration: STM • CXW • MNKTY • RPJHBZS • GBMPVQFJD • EGQWJPBRHKA

8. STM Capacity: 7 +/- 2 (5-9 bits) 6129643 9736129643

9. Demonstration: STM and Chunking TFIJFKBYMCAV

10. Demonstration: STM and Chunking TV FBI JFK YMCA

11. Demonstration: STM and Chunking Memorize these numbers: 1945181217762012 Did you chunk ‘em???? 1945 1812 1776 2012

12. ????? Demonstration: STM and Chunking • Swan, Goat, Cardboard, Boat, River, Bird, Music • The swan tugged the goat in a cardboard boat across the river while the bird sang sweet music from above.

13. Encoding • How can we make sure we are thoroughly processing information in short term memory? • For instance, if we need to memorize that the Enola Gay dropped the A-Bomb on Japan, what can we do to remember this? • Dual Encoding: Hear the words, then imagine a mental picture of what you are trying to learn. • Try this: John Quincy Adams enjoyed bathing nude in the Potamac. • Bottom line: APPLY AS MANY MEANINGS AS POSSIBLE TO INFORMATION YOU NEED TO ENCODE!

14. Encoding, then keeping it there!!!! • STM is fleeting • To hold information in STM, we can use rote rehearsal- repeating information over and over again • Even better than this is elaborate rehearsal- applying meaning, then rehearsing. • Rote rehearsal: • A, B, C, D, E, F, G…. A, B, C, D, E, F, G… • MVEMJSUNP • Elaborative rehearsal: • Apple, Banana, Carrot, Dog, Elephant, Frog, Goat • Apple, Banana, Carrot, Dog, Elephant, Frog, Goat • My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

15. Homework: Remember these words. • Ladybug, Orange, Sweater, Grass, Bicycle, Planet, Iguana, Lake, Pencil, Laughter