Learning Objectives: Memory

1. Learning Objectives: Memory • What is memory? Why is it so susceptible to errors? • What are source misattribution and flashbulb memories? • What are the 3 circumstances under which confabulation is likely to take place? • What can cause errors in eyewitness testimony? • What is the difference between recognition and recall? Implicit and explicit memory? • What is the Three-Box model of memory? • What are the 3 boxes in the “three-box model” of memory?

2. chapter 8 Memory • Memory is the capacity to retain and retrieve information. • Memory is not a library, recorder, or camera • It is selective and reconstructive • we don’t remember EVERYTHING • we remember new information in the context of information we already know

3. chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors Source misattribution Fading Flashbulb Confabulation Power of Suggestion

4. chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors Source misattribution The inability to distinguish what you originally experienced from what you heard or were told later about an event

5. Flashbulb Memories Flashbulb Memories • Some unusual, shocking, or tragic events hold a special place in memory. • typically hold an amazing amount of photographic detail 6 categories of information • Location • Ongoing Events • The informant • Emotional Effects in others • Emotional Effects in self • Aftermath/Consequentiality

6. chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors The Fading Flashbulb Even such vivid memories tend to fade over time and become mixed with a little fiction or affected by source misattribution Over time even flashbulb memories will contain just as many inconsistencies as everyday memories.

7. chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors • Confabulation • Confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you, or. . . • A belief that you remember something when it never actually happened • Conditions of Confabulation • Confabulation is most likely when: • You have thought or heard about the event many times. • The image of the event contains many details. • The event is easy to imagine

8. chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors • The Power of Suggestion: • Eyewitnesses are not always reliable • Factors influencing eyewitness accuracy: • Cross race identification • Question wording (e.g., “crashed” vs “hit”) • Misleading information

9. chapter 8 Children’s testimony Under what conditions are children more suggestible? • When they are very young • When interviewers’ expectations are clear • When other children’s memories for events are accessible

10. chapter 8 Explicit memory Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or item of information. How to measure explicit memory: Recall: The ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously learned material Recognition: The ability to identify previously encountered material

11. chapter 8 Implicit memory Unconscious retention in memory, as evidenced by the effect of a previous experience or previously encountered information on current thoughts or actions. How to measure: Relearning Compares the time required to relearn material with the time used in the initial learning of the material. Priming A person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects performance on another type of task - word-stem completion

12. Models of Memory • Information-Processing Models • Mind likened to a computer • Encode, storage, retrieval • Three-Box Model of Memory • Sensory Registry • Short-Term Memory • Long-Term Memory

13. chapter 8 Three-box model of memory

14. Last Class in Review • Memory • Retaining and retrieving information • Selective and reconstructive • Reconstructive = susceptible to errors • Source misattribution • Fading Flashbulb (flashbulb memories) • Confabulation • Power of Suggestion (eyewitness testimony) • Explicit Memory • Recall • Recognition • Implicit Memory • Priming • Relearning • Three-Box Model of Memory

15. Learning Objectives: Memory • What are the 3 boxes in the three-box model of memory? • What is the sensory register? • What are the capacity limits of short-term memory? What is chunking and how does it help overcome these capacity limits? • How is long-term memory organized? What are semantic categories? • What are the differences in procedural, declarative, semantic, and episodic memories? • What are the primacy and recency effects? • What are some effective strategies for encoding information in storage for long-term memory? • How do decay, replacement, and interference each contribute to forgetting? • What evidence is there both for and against the existence and accuracy of repressed memories? • What are 4 explanations of childhood amnesia? • What are some techniques that can help you better retain the information that your study?

16. chapter 8 Three-box model of memory

17. chapter 8 Sensory Registry • Fleeting, Brief, Holding Bin • Large Capacity • “Holding bin” for sensory information • Sensory subsystems • Extremely accurate and detailed images from senses • Brief retention of images • 0.5 seconds visual sensory images • 2 seconds auditory sensations • Prevents “double exposures” • If it does not go into STM, it is FORGOTTEN

18. chapter 8 Short-term memory (STM) • “Scratch Pad” for new memories OR “Working memory” on a computer • Temporary • 30 seconds to a few minutes • Information actively “in use” • Limited capacity • Encoded sensory image • Chunking – allows us to remember the beginning of a sentence or a long string of numbers • 7 + 2 • Remember H.M.?

19. chapter 8 The value of chunking X IBM CIA FBI CBS MTV See how much easier it was to remember 6 chunks of information vs. 16 individual letters Chunking – allows us to remember the beginning of a sentence or a long string of numbers, by grouping them together into meaningful units

20. chapter 8 Short-term memory(STM) Working memory A memory system which includes STM and mental processes that control retrieval of information from long-term memory (LTM) and interpret that information appropriately for a given task • Short-term Memory • Rehearsal and Retrieval of info from LTM • Interpretation of info from LTM for task at hand • Remember H.M.?

21. chapter 8 Long-term memory The memory system involved in the long-term storage of information • Helps us LEARN about ourselves and the environment • No real limits • How is information in LTM organized? • Semantic categories • Sound and form (tip-of-the-tongue) • Familiarity • Relevance • Association with other information

22. chapter 8 Slide Trays APA Store Party San Diego Long-term memory Shower Other types of conceptual maps:

23. chapter 8 Long-term memory The memory system involved in the long-term storage of information • Helps us LEARN about ourselves and the environment • No real limits • Semantic categories • Organizing words (or their concepts) into groups or clusters corresponding to semantics (meaning)

24. chapter 8 Conceptual grid

25. chapter 8 Slide Trays APA Store Party San Diego Long-term memory Shower Other types of conceptual maps:

26. chapter 8 Types of long-term memories

27. Types of Long-Term Memory • Procedural Memories– “knowing how” • Once learned they are implicit • Actions or skills • Declarative Memories – “knowing that” • Explicit • Facts, rules, concepts, events • Semantic Memories • Internal representations of the world • Rules, facts, concepts • Episodic Memories • Internal representations of experienced events • Your first date with your significant other • How your dog tore up the back door What is the definition of Classical Conditioning?

28. chapter 8 Your turn What kind of memory is your memory for the fact that the earth is round? 1. Procedural memory 2. Semantic memory 3. Episodic memory 4. Flashbulb memory

29. chapter 8 Serial-position effect The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list

30. chapter 8 STM empty = easier to transfer to LTM Still in STM at time of recall STM crowded making it difficult to make into LTM Serial-position effect The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list A G C T Y H 1 2 3 U V B M Q 4 5 P I A F D C 9 8 W R I L Primacy Effect Hardest to remember Recency Effect

31. chapter 8 Your turn You are asked to recall the following list of letters: Z, S, E, R, F, V, B, H, U, I, K, M, N, G, B, F, O Which letters are you most likely to remember in long-term memory? 1. Z, S, E, R 2. F, V, B, H 3. U, I, K, M 4. G, B, F, O

32. How do we remember?STM  LTM • Encoding helps us remember • extracting the main points and summarizing them • Effortful encoding • Select main points • Label concepts • Associate information with personal experience

33. How do we encode memories?STM  LTM • Rehearsal • Mnemonics

34. chapter 8 Rehearsal A technique for keeping information in STM and helping it move along to LTM Types of Rehearsal: • Maintenance rehearsal: rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory • Elaborative rehearsal: association of new information with already stored knowledge and analysis of the new information to make it memorable • the processing of meaning, rather than simply the physical or sensory features of a stimulus • Prolongs retention of information

35. chapter 8 Mnemonics (neh-MON-ics) Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such as use of a verse or a formula STM  LTM Helps retain and retrieve information But may not help you understand it • Acronyms • Rhymes and Catch Phrases • Method of Loci

36. chapter 8 Mnemonics - Examples • Acronyms • Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species • EveryGoodBoy DoesFine Notes on a treble clef • Rhymes and Catch Phrases • I before E, except after C • Thirty days hath November, April, June, and September. Of twenty-eight is but one And all the remnant thirty-one • A,B,C….next time won’t you sing with me • Method of Loci • Mentally positioning things to remember in a well-known room

37. chapter 8 Soda Balloons Cake Candles Chips Method of Loci Candles Cake Balloons Soda Chips

38. Why can’t I remember?!? • Decay • Information in memory eventually disappears if it is not accessed • Applies more to short-term than long-term memory • Replacement • New information replaces old information • Interference • Similar items interfere with one another. • Cue-Dependent Forgetting • Inability to retrieve information stored in memory due to insufficient recall cues • Amnesia • The loss of memory for important personal information • Brain injury, disease, psychological (psychogenic amnesia) • Repression: the involuntary pushing of a threatening or upsetting information into the unconscious

39. chapter 8 Retroactive interference Spanish French Learned first Learned second Proactive interference New Phone Number Old Phone Number Learned first Learned second Interference Retroactive interference: recently learned material interferes with previously stored information Proactive interference: previously stored material interferes with remembering recently learned material New  Old Old  New

40. chapter 8 When should we question recovered memories? • If a person claims memories of first year or two of life • If over time the memories become more and more implausible • If therapist used suggestive techniques such as hypnosis, dream analysis, age regression, guided imagery, or leading questions

41. chapter 8 What is your earliest memory? Write down one of the first/earliest events you can clearly remember in your life. Try to make sure that it isn’t subject to source misattribution or confabulation. How old were you? - for most it won’t be before your 3rd or 4th birthday Why don’t you remember something from earlier in life?

42. chapter 8 Childhood amnesia The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first two or three years of life Cognitive explanations: • Lack of sense of self • Impoverished encoding • A focus on the routine • Different ways of thinking about the world

43. What is happening in the brain? • Stem cells and Neurogenesis • Fred Gage, Salk Institute • Stem cells: unspecialized (immature) cells that retain the ability to divide and mature into specific cell types • Neurogenesis: The process by which new nerve cells are generated • In response to experience stem cells divide and mature • Environmental enrichment enhances neurogenesis • Exercise – “use it or lose it” • Long-term potentiation (LTP) • Physical change in the structure of the neuron • Proposed neural mechanism by which STM  LTM