Chapter 8:

1. Chapter 8: Memory

2. Upstate Memory • Memory - any indication that learning persists over time • Involves ability to store and retrieve information • Sensory memory - initial recording of information in the memory system • Sensory memory - very fleeting, fraction of a second • Known as sensory registers.

3. Upstate • Information checks in (registers) in the sensory system, but usually immediately checks out (within a fraction of a second) • Sperling - classic experiment • Sperling’s experiment - flashed letters on a screen for one-twentieth of a second • Subjects - write as many of the letters as they can recall

4. Upstate K Z R Q B T S G N

5. Upstate K Z R Q B T S G N

6. Upstate • How many could they recall? • About 50% • Sperling - about to conclude that only 50% of the letters registered in sensory memory • However, before doing so he did one other experiment.

7. Upstate • This time after flashing letters he indicated to subjects which row of letters to reproduce • He did this by sounding either a high, medium, or low tone immediately after flashing the letters High tone - top line, Medium tone - middle line, Low tone - bottom line

8. Upstate K Z R Q B T S G N

9. Upstate • Could subjects reproduce the row? • Remember, subjects were not told which row to remember until after they had seen the letters • Results - subjects could almost always reproduce the row which they were asked to reproduce • Now what does Sperling conclude? • All nine letters registered in sensory memory

10. Upstate • Sperling used the term iconic memory • A fleeting photographic memory • Goal is to take information from sensory memory and place it in longer term storage • Short-term memory - the second level of memory

11. Upstate Short-Term Memory • Capacity of STM: 7  2 (5 - 9) bits of information. Capacity still limited • For about 3 - 20 seconds (thus, short-term) • Number examples • Can we take information from short-term memory and place it in long-term memory?

12. Upstate Long-Term Memory • Relatively permanent • Unlimited storage • Task - to take information from STM and place it in LTM • In order to understand this process, let’s look at encoding.

13. Upstate • Encoding - the processing of information • Automatic encoding - encoding that occurs without effort. Example • Effortful processing - encoding which requires attention and conscious effort • Hermann Ebbinghaus - experiments with nonsense syllables such as JIH, BAZ, YOX, SUJ, LEQ • Ebbinghaus made long lists of these syllables, studied them for certain amounts of time, then checked recall.

14. Upstate • Ebbinghaus’s conclusion: The amount remembered depends on . . . • time spent learning • Also, spacing effect - distributing or spacing out study or practice time enhances memory • Serial position effect - our tendency to recall best the first and last items in a list • However, if we are asked to recall the list much later, recall is good for only first items.

15. Upstate Other Types of Encoding: 1) Visual encoding - the encoding of picture images 2) Acoustic encoding - the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words 3) Semantic encoding - the encoding of meaning • Two or more types are better than one • An experiment.

16. Upstate • What was the purpose of this experiment? • To demonstrate the difference between acoustic and visual encoding • Which type of encoding was best for retention purposes? • Visual encoding • However, semantic encoding, although, not a part of this experiment is usually superior.

17. Upstate Semantic Encoding • Processing information in a meaningful way • We do this in at least two ways: 1. Relate information to what we already know 2. Relate information to something about ourselves. This makes it meaningful • An experiment.

18. Upstate S A V A O R E E E G U R S Y A O O D N S F C N E R

19. Upstate • What was the purpose of this demonstration? • To show value of semantic encoding • Ebbinghaus estimated that compared with learning nonsense material, learning meaningful material only requires one-tenth the effort.

20. Upstate • Wayne Wickelgren (textbook, page 358) states “The time you spend thinking about material you are reading and relating it to previously stored material is about the most useful thing you can do in learning any new subject matter.” • Also, this experiment could be a demonstration for chunking • Organizing information into manageable units

21. Upstate • What you did - chunk this information into one unit and this unit was something you already knew • Example of both chunking and semantic encoding • Advertisers - telephone numbers • A seven digit number is hard to remember, so make it into a word … • 1 - 800 - HOLIDAY.

22. Upstate Mnemonic Devices • Memory aids, especially those that use visual imagery and organizational devices • Chunking is an example of a mnemonic • Another mnemonic: learning Great Lakes by learning a retrieval cue • HOMES H - Huron O - Ontario M - Michigan E - Erie S - Superior.

23. Upstate Storing Memories in the Brain • Where is memory? • In what form is it stored? • Lashley’s 1950 experiment with rats • Lashley’s conclusion: Memories do not reside in single specific spots • More recent research has focused on synaptic changes • Sea snail classically conditioned (with electric shock) to reflexively withdraw gills when squirted with water.

24. Upstate • Finding: the snail releases the neurotransmitter serotonin at certain synapses when learning occurs. (seen with powerful microscope) • First glimpse of what actually happens in NS when learning occurred • These synapses fire together more efficiently when learned response is repeated • Long-Term Potentiation - an increase in the firing potential associated with neurons involved in the learning.

25. Upstate Stress Hormones and Memory • Hormones produced when excited or stressed also increase learning and retention • Emotion triggered hormonal changes help explain why we long remember exciting or shocking events - a first kiss, an earthquake experience, etc. • Point to remember: strong emotional experiences make for strong reliable memories.

26. Upstate Implicit and Explicit Memories • Implicit memory - retention without conscious recollection • Explicit memory - memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare • Hippocampus - a limbic system structure that serves as a way station for passing explicit memories to long-term storage. • p. 342-343.

27. Upstate Retrieval: Getting Information Out • Retrieval cues - along with learning, store a cue. Example: HOMES • Context effects - putting yourself in the context (environment) in which you learned something may enhance recall • State dependent memory - things we learn in one emotional state are sometimes more easily recalled when we are again in the same state (state dependent memory). (p. 374)

28. Upstate • Mood congruent memory - tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood • Example: depressed person • Retrieval can be an encoding problem • Look at the following picture and questions.

29. Upstate

30. Upstate

31. Upstate • Failure to correctly answer may be due to encoding failure - you never processed the information • Failure to remember may be a failure in our ability to retrieve • Example: name of a person. You know it is there, you just can’t retrieve it • Perhaps, you need a retrieval cue.

32. Upstate REVIEW

33. Upstate Memory Construction • Can you reconstruct memory accurately? • Assume you witnessed a bank robbery • You would be interviewed about what you could recall • How accurate would your memory be? • Misinformation effect - incorporating misleading information into one’s memory • Example • Source amnesia - failure to remember correct source.

34. Upstate Improving Memory