Cognitive Psychology ~ Memory Starter Activity: How good is your memory?

1. Cognitive Psychology ~ MemoryStarter Activity:How good is your memory? • You are now going to take a memory test. • At the start of the test you will be shown pictures of a group of objects. • Try to memorize them. • You will have 20 seconds • When the objects disappear write down all the objects you can remember. • Who has the best memory?……….. In Psychology you will learn strategies to improve your memory

2. So what is Memory? • Memory is the process of storing and retrieving information about the past. • What would life be like without our memories?.... • How would we …… • Make a cup of tea? • Find our way home? • Know who are friends or enemies were? • Is there anything that we don’t need our memories for? Memory

3. Types of Memory * * * Procedural Memory (skills) * * * * Does not require conscious thought Requires conscious thought

4. Implicit and Explicit Memory • Implicit memory is memory for things not intentionally remembered (without conscious thought) e.g. If you remembered the bee in the last slide – did you intend to? • Explicit memory is when you intend to remember something (which requires conscious thought) e.g. you revise so that you can remember information in the exam. • We may remember through implicit memory far more than we are consciously aware.

5. Procedural (Skills) Memory • Procedural – skills; actions that do not require conscious thought (riding a bicycle?) you don’t have to think about how you pedal or balance. • Procedural memory is much more resistant to forgetting. • Procedural includes implicit memory (that means you may remember something without intentionally learning it or intentionally remembering it e.g. you don’t try to learn to text without looking at your fingers: you learn by practice.) Give some examples of skills that you may have learned via procedural memory……

6. Declarative Memory:- Semantic and Episodic Memory • Declarative things you can declare:– facts, faces, names, events (what did you have for breakfast this morning?) • There are two kinds of Declarative memory: • Episodic Memory= memories of personal experiences or events (e.g. Christmas, birthdays, what I had for breakfast) • Semantic Memory= learned memories; knowledge not linked to time or events (e.g. what is good for me to have at breakfast, capital city of France) • Give some of your own examples of Episodic and Semantic Memory…

7. The Three Processes of Memory (what has to happen in order for a memory to be formed and remembered) Copy processes and underlined part onto your handout. Encoding Retrieval Taking information / stimulus from environment and programming it into our brains. Stimulus is usually visual (iconic) , but it can be sound (acoustic) and smells etc. It can then be programmed or ‘encoded’ into our brains as iconic, acoustic or semantic encoding Recalling by using ‘cues’ to remember items you have stored. People may do this differently. Storage Storing information until it is required at a later time. The length of time the information is storedisthe store’s DURATION and how much information can be stored is its CAPACITY

8. My documents Psy 20 unit 2 Memory Gorilla Movie 2 Activity Who has the best attention? Watch the video clip carefully and count the number of times the white team catches the ball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

9. Multi-Store Memory Model By Atkinson & Shiffrin . Environment Rehearsal Long Term Memory Coding Coding Sensory Stimuli Sensory Memory Attention Short Term Memory Coding Retrieval Loss via displacement or decay if not rehearsed If not attended to information is lost

10. DETAIL: Sensory Memory Store: • Temporary storage of information stimulus taken in…. • Visual encoding (iconic) • Auditory encoding (acoustic) • Probably others as well (smell – chemical) • Capacity: Very large • Duration: Very short • about 250 ms. for iconic (visual) • 1-2 sec. for acoustic (sound)

11. Detail: Short Term Memory (STM) • Capacity: Small: 7 plus or minus 2 units or ‘chunks’ (Miller, 1956) Chunk: a meaningful unit Examples: • A group of letters (FBI) • A group of 7 numbers(8346179) are chunked into two groups for even easier recall 941-0657

12. Displacement in STM Bread Milk Bread Flour Milk Bread Apples Flour Milk Bread Syrup Apples Flour Milk Bread Peas Syrup Apples Flour Milk Bread Eggs Peas Syrup Apples Flour Milk Bread Cheese Eggs Peas Syrup Apples Flour Milk STM 7 slots ( For 7 units or ‘chunks of information) Lost from STM Bread

13. This experiment shows that the duration of the STM is around 18 seconds.

14. Primacy-Recency effect

15. Primacy Effect • First items in a list are remembered better than items in the middle

16. Recency Effect • The last items in a list are remembered better than items in the middle, if tested immediately

17. Evidence for the Primacy-Recency Effect TIME PEAK SLOW PENS LONG AGES THAN VAST HEAT RAIN MORE SOME TUNE RARE WITH BEAR THIS TIES HEAR LIFE Remember the following words:

18. TIME PEAK SLOW PENS LONG AGES THAN VAST HEAT RAIN MORE SOME TUNE RARE WITH BEAR THIS TIES HEAR LIFE 73 71 45 71 67 62 45 34 46 48 34 45 41 48 42 67 53 34 45 78 Count how many you recalled:

19. Detail:Long Term Memory (LTM) • Capacity: Potentially Infinite • Duration: A lifetime (decades) • Encoding: Organized by meaning (semantic) • Procedural Memory: habits and motor skills, conditioned or practiced • Declarative Memory: Memory for semantic knowledge (facts) and personal experiences (episodic)

20. Summary of Multi Store Memory Model Components

21. Forgetting: quick recap on what you know so far.... The multi store memory model suggests that forgetting happens because of: • Trace Decay:Memory fades with time if not used– temporary if not rehearsed – otherwise it becomes permanent Peterson and Peterson (1959) (STM & LTM)

22. Displacement: Information in STM is pushed out by newer information. 7+/- 2 ! (STM ONLY)

23. Interference:Memories are disrupted or obscured by other incoming information. Confusion or entanglement of similar memories (STM & LTM)

24. Retrieval Failure: Information/memories in LTM store cannot be accessed because suitable retrieval cues are not available. (LTM ONLY)

25. Diversion of attention:mainly in SM but also affects STM Watkins et al. (1973)

26. Memory in Everyday Life • In this section we will look at factors affecting memory recall (remembering and forgetting) in particular in connection with Eyewitness testimony and Memory improvement methods • When things are forgotten or not remembered it is because: • The memory Is not available (it has ceased to exist) • The memory Is just not accessible (though we might find it given time or the right cues) • Forgetting is fastest right after initial learning • But slower for more meaningful material

27. How cues can aid memory Cue dependent retrieval failure is when information may be available to recall but is temporarily inaccessible. Evidence – Tip of the tongue phenomenon (Brown & McNeill 1966) The feeling of being on the verge of recalling something, often you can say what letter it starts with, or how many syllables it has. This means that there are Cues that can aid retrieval e.g. • CATEGORY :- We remember things better when we sort information in to different categories (Tulving & Pearlson 1966) • CONTEXT :- (Godden & Baddeley 1975) found external environmental cues present at the time of learning affected our ability to recall information. • STATE :- Internal bodily cues that were experienced at the time of learning may affect our ability to recall information. (Goodwin 1969) Investigated the effects of alcohol. • Stress and Anxiety can also cause retrieval failure. (as stress is a bodily state!) KARMA SUTRA

28. Context dependent memory • Context becomes encoded along with the material being remembered. • Reinstating context often helps people remember.

29. Godden & Baddeley 1975

30. Stress and Memory Performance Low Moderate High Stress

31. ANXIETY…..THE EFFECT OF EMOTION ON MEMORY

32. Emotional states: Can emotion make us forget? (Repression) Freud said that we repress memories (our ego’s bury them in our unconscious mind), usually to avoid dealing with traumatic experiences; this is referred to as motivated forgetting. This is a protective ego defence mechanism. EVIDENCE • Levinger and Clarke found that emotionally charged words were remembered less well than emotionally negative words. (did we find this?) • Memories of Child Sex Abuse are occasionally only recovered by psychoanalysis or hypnotherapy. • Shell Shock – Soldiers loose their memories of war horrors. • Witnesses of violent crimes often remember less detail than would be expected. • Major disasters such as 9/11 are less well remembered by the people directly involved, but remembered well by others watching on TV or reading in the news. • Loftus & Burns showed participants two videos of a bank robbery – one video was extremely violent the other was not. Participants remembered much more from the non-violent video. (can you think of another reason for this?)

33. EVALUATION of REPRESSION (is this the whole story?) • Uncomfortable / horrific memories may just not be thought of so much – so are rehearsed less often than normal memories…. So a weaker engram is laid down, which makes the memory trace more likely to fade away. OR • It could be caused by high levels of stress! • Loftus later theorised that the violent video was less well remembered because the participants focused on the weapon used rather than the trivial details of the situation, and that this weapon focus (which diverts attention from other details) is why less was remembered in the violent video.

34. Flashbulb memories Can emotion help us remember better? • Brown & Kulik (1977) Coined the phrase Flashbulb memory. It is a type of Episodic Memory that is especially vivid or detailed and relates usually to some major public event (Twin Towers, Princess Diana’s Death).They theorised that an emotional event triggered a neural mechanism in the brain and that the scene was printed on the memory (a strong engram was laid down instantly). EVIDENCE • Brown & Kulik questioned participants about famous people’s assassinations – J. F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King. They found that certain things were almost universally remembered about them, these were:- • Where you were, What you were doing, Who gave you the news • What you felt, What others felt, What happened immediately afterwards. • Do you have similar memories of Twin Towers 9/11 • Further evidence showed that the more personally significant the event the more likely you were to develop a flashbulb memory for it. (75% of black people questioned had a flashbulb memory to Martin Luther King’s death whereas only 33% of white people did!) • Can you think of other reasons why things like these are remembered so vividly?

35. EVALUATION • It could be that the vivid memories are simply due to over rehearsal – frequent repetition of event on news / everyone talking about it etc. (so really strong engrams are laid down) • But other research supports Brown and Kulik . Christianson and Hubinette found that emotional involvement does increase the accuracy of memory. When interviewing 110 people who witnessed a bank robbery they found those who had been personally threatened had better memory of the event. This goes against Freud’s theory of repression.

36. Memory Recall The Time Factor • The longer we watch the more likely we are to remember details (more time for rehearsal and elaboration). • The longer the interval between an event and the recall the worse the recall. (Trace decay theory) If the memory is not revisited shortly after the event and often then the memory trace will fade away, however.....

37. Research shows that witnesses beliefs about their own testimony changes over time but their level of accuracy doesn’t! : Higher Lower Time Explain this using memory theories you have learned

38. Other factors influencing the accuracy of Eyewitness testimony: Research shows... • FACES:- Faces are recalled from top down – hair, forehead, are the first things we recall about someone. So people with heads covered or wearing glasses are less well remembered when those items are removed. • CLOTHING:- People tend to focus attention on clothing rather than height or other features • CONTEXT / STATE / FAMILIARITYSTEREOTYPES have an effect on what we expect, and therefore what we remember. • LEADING QUESTIONS:- (LOFTUS 1975) (MISSLED MEMORY) If people are asked questions that lead them in a certain direction they will usually go there. • RACE:- People remember their own race better. • WEAPON FOCUS:- (Loftus) People focus on the weapon / violence rather than the person who is perpetuating it. • SOCIAL INFLUENCE:- People can be influenced by what the other witnesses say. • STRESS/ High emotion:- • Repressed memories. Loftus:- People who saw the more violent video remembered less.

39. 10 Improving Memory Strategies for Improving memory Cues Mnemonics & mind maps

40. Use of Cues Cues act as a trigger to help recall memory. Evidence: Context – Information learned under certain circumstances is best retrieved under the same circumstances. Baker et al (2004) Chewing gum experiment = Students who learned whilst chewing gum remembered more if chewing gum!

41. Using cues To improve recall .. • Context and state cues need to be as similar as possible to the original learning situation. So to perform best in exams… 1.Context – revise with a favourite pen 2. State – stay calm whilst revising and during exam (easier said than done!!)

42. Use of Cues Elaboration – elaborative rehearsal is more effective than maintenance rehearsal as the info becomes meaningful and is encoded in a way that suits LTM e.g. Morris et al (81) – football fans have better recall of scores because they mean more to them Organization – using categories – Tulving and Pearlstone (66)Memory greatly enhanced by actively organizing material as it is learned

43. Cues: Organization Experiment • Pear • beagle, • Clarinet • Hail • Rain • Drinks • Rose • Squash • Hand • Boxer • Iron • Coke • Gold • Harp • Piano • Metal • Apple • Body • Fruit • Daffodil • Plum • Nose • Weather • Copper • Labrador • Water • Flowers • Brass • Foot • Tulips • Pansy • Dogs • Sleet • Milk • Orange • Toe • Snow • Flute • Dogs • Labrador • Beagle • Boxer • Spaniel • Fruit • Apple • Pear • Plum • Orange • Weather • Snow • Rain • Sleet • Hail • Flowers • Daffodil • Rose • Pansy • Instrument • Harp • Piano • Flute • Clarinet • Drinks • Water • Milk • Squash • Coke • Body • Nose • Foot • Toe • Hand • Metal • Brass • Gold • Copper

44. List the words you can recall in your booklet now

45. How did you do? • Pear • beagle, • Clarinet • Hail • Rain • Drinks • Rose • Squash • Hand • Boxer • Iron • Coke • Gold • Harp • Piano • Metal • Apple • Body • Fruit • Daffodil • Plum • Nose • Weather • Copper • Labrador • Water • Flowers • Brass • Foot • Tulips • Pansy • Dogs • Sleet • Milk • Orange • Toe • Snow • Flute • Dogs • Labrador • Beagle • Boxer • Spaniel • Fruit • Apple • Pear • Plum • Orange • Weather • Snow • Rain • Sleet • Hail • Flowers • Daffodil • Rose • Pansy • Instrument • Harp • Piano • Flute • Clarinet • Drinks • Water • Milk • Squash • Coke • Body • Nose • Foot • Toe • Hand • Metal • Brass • Gold • Copper

46. Mnemonics Strategies that can increase memory, especially for material that is not easily organized; Mnemonics can be…. tricks, games, or rhymes that help you remember something. By this we can impose an artificial structure on items that would otherwise be hard to remember There are different types of Mnemonic techniques that may suit different materials or learning styles. E.g. visual or verbal

47. Verbal Mnemonics Acronyms: An acronym is a word formed by the first letter of other word. Choose a key word that will help you remember each step. Then, using the letter of each key word, create your acronym. Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain Good when remembering the order of something (like colours of the rainbow, what are they?)

48. Verbal Mnemonics RhymesE.g • i before e except after c • 30 days hath September …..In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…. Also good when remembering the order of something

49. Visual Imagery Mnemonics • Method of Loci –Involves pairing each thing to be remembered with one of an organized set of familiar locations • Good for visual learners!

50. Visual Imagery Mnemonics • Peg-word system - Connecting each thing to be remembered in an interactive image with each item on a standard list using visualization: e.g. • One-bun • Two-shoe • Three – tree …. • Good for shopping lists or lists of any sort....