Chapter 9- Memory

1. Chapter 9- Memory

2. Memory • Memory • persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information • Any indication learning has persisted over time • Flashbulb Memory • a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

3. Processes of Memory • Three Memory Processes: • Encoding • Storage • Retrieval

4. Memory • Encoding • the processing of information into the memory system (using your senses) • Storage • the retention of encoded information over time • Ranges from a few seconds to much longer • Retrieval • process of getting information out of memory • Ease of retrieval depends on how efficiently it was encoded and stored.

5. Three Box Model of Memory

6. 3 Stages of Memory

7. Sensory Memory • Split-second holding tank, holds info less than a second • Demonstrated by George Sperling • Flashed a grid of nine letters for 1/20th of a second, participants could recall either the top, middle, or bottom rows perfectly • Tone (high, medium, or low) used as a cue as to what row to remember • Entire grid is held in memory for a split second

8. Sensory Memory • Iconic- visual • Echoic-auditory (slightly longer- 3-4 seconds) • Most of the information is never encoded- selective attention • What we are attending to or what we consider to be important • Cocktail party phenomenon

9. Memory • Short Term Memory (STM) • activated memory that holds a few items briefly • Everything we are currently thinking about • Sometimes called working memory • look up a phone number, then quickly dial before the information is forgotten • Long Term Memory (LTM) • the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

10. Long-Term Memory • Permanent memory, unlimited capacity • Can decay or fade

11. Encoding • Automatic Processing • unconsciousencoding of incidental information • space • time • frequency • well-learned information • word meanings • we can learn automatic processing • reading backwards

12. Encoding • Effortful Processing • requires attention and conscious effort • Rehearsal • conscious repetition of information • to maintain it in consciousness • to encode it for storage

13. Levels of Processing • Alternate way to think about memory • Elaborately (Deeply) Processed- • will likely to be remembered later, more time spent studying • Maintenance (Shallowly) Processed- • will be forgotten quickly (cramming) • Explains why we remember stories better than simple repetition

14. Encoding • Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables • TUV ZOF GEK WAV • the more times practiced on Day 1, the fewer repetitions to relearn on Day 2 • Spacing Effect • distributed practice yields better long term retention than massed practice • Aka- cramming is not as effective!

15. The Serial Position Effect • Also called the primary-recency effect • We tend to remember the first and the last items on a list and forget those in the middle.

16. Encoding

17. Encoding • Imagery • mental pictures • a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding • Mnemonics • memory aids • especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devicesuse of acronyms • HOMES- Huron, Ontario, Michigan,Erie, Superior • PEMDAS- Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

19. Encoding • Chunking • organizing items into familiar, manageable units • like horizontal organization- 1776149218121941 • often occurs automatically • DOES NOT help with long term memory, instead increases the amount of information in STM- “increases the magic number 7”

20. Storage-Retaining Information • Sensory Memory • the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system • Iconic Memory • a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli • a photographic or picture image memory lasting no more that a few tenths of a second • Registration of exact representation of a scene • Echoic Memory • momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

21. Storage-Short Term Memory • Short Term Memory • limited in duration and capacity • “magical” number 7+/-2

22. Percentage who recalled consonants 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 Time in seconds between presentation of contestants and recall request (no rehearsal allowed) Storage-Short Term Memory

23. Storage- Long Term Memory • How does storage work? • Karl Lashley (1950) • rats learn maze • lesion cortex • test memory • Proved memories weren’t stored in specific places

24. Storage- Long Term Memory • Synaptic changes • Long-term Potentiation • increase in synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation • When learning occurs, more neurotransmitter is released into the synapse, neurons become more efficient • Alcohol can disrupt memory formation by disrupting this process • Strong emotions make for stronger memories • some stress hormones boost learning and retention

25. Storage- Long Term Memory • Amnesia- the loss of memory • Explicit Memory • memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare • Hippocampus- neural center in limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage • AKA declarative

26. Storage- Long Term Memory • Implicit Memory • retention without conscious recollection • Procedural memories • motor and cognitive skills • dispositions- conditioning

27. Types of long-term memories Explicit (declarative) With conscious recall Implicit (nondeclarative) Without conscious recall Personally experienced events (“episodic memory”) Dispositions- classical and operant conditioning effects Facts-general knowledge (“semantic memory”) Skills-motor and cognitive Storage- Long Term Memory Subsystems

28. Hippocampus Storage- Long Term Memory LT Stress- It can shrink! • MRI scan of hippocampus (in red)

29. Retrieval- Getting Information Out • Recall • the ability to retrieve info learned earlier and not in conscious awareness-like fill in the blank test • Recognition • the ability to identify previously learned items-like on a multiple choice test

30. Retrieval • Relearning • amount of time saved when relearning previously learned information • Priming • activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

31. Retrieval Cues • Reminders of information we could not otherwise recall • Guides to where to look for info • Context Effects • memory works better in the context of original learning • Hearing a song • Being in the same classroom

32. Retrieval Cues • Mood Congruent Memory • tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood • memory, emotions or moods serve as retrieval cues • State Dependent Memory • what is learned in one state (while one is high, drunk or depressed) can more easily be remembered when in same state

33. Forgetting • Forgetting as encoding failure • Information never enters the memory system • Attention is selective • we cannot attend to everything in our environment

34. Forgetting • Forgetting as encoding failure • Which penny is the real thing?

35. Percentage of list retained when relearning 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 10 15 20 25 30 Time in days since learning list Forgetting • Ebbinghaus- forgetting curve over 30 days • initially rapid, then levels off with time

36. 100% 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Percentage of original vocabulary retained Retention drops, then levels off 1 3 5 9½ 14½ 25 35½ 49½ Time in years after completion of Spanish course Forgetting • The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in school

37. Forgetting as Interference • Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other information • Proactive(forward acting) Interference • disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information • Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference • disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information

38. 90% 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Without interfering events, recall is better Percentage of syllables recalled After sleep After remaining awake 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hours elapsed after learning syllables Forgetting • Retroactive Interference

39. Sensory memory - the senses momentarily register amazing detail Short term memory - a few items are both noticed and encoded Long-term storage - Some items are altered or lost Retrieval from long-term memory - depending on interference, retrieval cues moods and motives, some things get retrieved, some don’t Information bits Forgetting • Forgetting can occur at any memory stage

40. Forgetting- Interference • Motivated Forgetting • people unknowingly revise history • Repression • defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories • Positive Transfer • sometimes old information facilitates our learning of new information • knowledge of Latin may help us to learn French

41. Memory Construction • We filter information and fill in missing pieces • Misinformation Effect • incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event • Source Amnesia • attributing to the wrong source an event that we experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (misattribution)

42. Depiction of actual accident Leading question: “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” Memory construction Memory Construction • Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when questioned

43. Memory Construction • People fill in memory gaps with plausible guesses and assumptions • Imagining events can create false memories