Chapter 7 - MemoryPsychologyMcGonigle- College Prep/ Honors

What is memory – anyway?

Memory – Process by which we recollect prior experiences and information and skills learned in the past

Name all 44 Presidents – fast !!!

3 Kinds of Memory

Episodic Memory

Semantic Memory

Implicit Memory

Episodic Memory

Memory of a specific event, event took place in the person’s presence, or the person experienced the event.

Flashbulb memory: Event that is so important it seems like we photograph it in every detail.

Semantic Memory

We remember general knowledge such as who is the first president of the United States. (George Washington)

Unlike flashbulb, we don’t remember when we first learned that Washington was the first President.

Episodic & Semantic are both known as Explicit memories. This means that are clearly stated & defined.

Implicit Memory

Opposite of Explicit memory

Implied or not clearly stated memories are implicit.

Swimming, skipping rope, riding a bike, playing an instrument, driving a car.

Encoding

Translation of information into a form in which it can be stored.

When one places information into their memory, they like computers, encode it.

Encoding- for the computer & the human brain, it is the first stage of processing information.

Visual Codes

Try to memorize a set of letters by seeing them in your mind as a picture.

Try to form a mental picture of OTTFFSSENT in your head to memorize the first ten numbers.

Semantic CodesMethod of Remembering

Semantic- Attempt to make sense of the letters- figure out what they might mean.

Semantic Codes: “ Mary’s violet eyes make John stay up nights.”

Remember : Roy G Biv , Musical scales “Every good boy deserve fudge”

Storage of memory

Storage – Maintenance of encoded information over a period of time.

Human storage – of information is not all that different from a computer’s storage of information.

To save information- one must use a variety of strategies.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeating information over and over again to keep from forgetting.

Actors + actresses: repeat their lines again.

MR: Does not make info meaningful, it is poor for permanent storage.

Elaborative Rehearsal

New and effective way to remember new information is to make it meaningful by relating it to info that you already know.

Language arts and foreign language- use new words in sentences instead of just repeating words by themselves.

Organizational Systems

As memory develops, it organizes info into files, and then files within files.

Memory organizes into certain groups or classes according to common features.

( Presidents – 20s, 30s, 40s)

Filing Errors for Memory

Ability to remember info is subject to error.

Memory errors occur, because we file information incorrectly.

Place piece of info in the wrong folder, like a science paper in a math folder.

Retrieval

Consists of locating stored information and returning it to conscious thought.

Retrieving information stored in our memory is like retrieving information stored in a computer.

For fun: How can you remember how to spell retrieval? Quick – name all 8 planets !!!!!

Context Dependent Memory

Have you ever visited your old house, school or baseball/softball diamond?

Memories that came back to you were CDMs, the situation in which the person first had this experience.

Students – perform better on a test when they study in the room where the test will be given. (scene of the crime memories)

State Dependent Memories

It is easier to retrieve memories when we are in the same emotional state we were in when first stored.

Feelings of happiness- tend to bring back memories of times when we were happy, vice versa with sad memories.

Tip of the Tongue Phenomena

You are sure you know something, you just can’t verbalize it.

“Feeling of Knowing” experience.

We use acoustic or semantic cues to help us remember. ( similar in sound or meaning)

Sensory Memory

1st stage of memory- immediate recording of info that enters through our senses/

Visual stimuli- decays within seconds.

Want to remember- do something with it (stimuli) quickly.

Iconic Memory

Icons- mental pictures we form of visual stimuli.

Icons- held in a sensory register called iconic memory.

Iconic memories- Are like snapshots, however they are extremely brief- just a fraction of a second. (subliminal)

Eidetic Memory

Ability to remember visual stimuli over a long period of time.

This is what is known as photographic memory.

5 % of children have photographic memory.

Echoic Memory

Echoes- mental traces of sounds.

Echoes- are held in a sensory register called echoic memory.

Acoustic codes are easier to remember than visual codes. (example)

Short Term Memory Also called- working Memory Meeting new people Math problems Due dates for HW + papers Remembering phone numbers

Info- fades rapidly. Need to take steps to prevent from fading. 7 digit phone #s.

Primacy Effect

Tendency to recall the initial items in a series of items.

We remember the 1st few items of a series better because of their placement earlier in the list.

Recency Effect

The tendency to recall the last items in a list = recency effect.

Last items- rehearsed and perceived most recently.

Are still fresh in your mind & rehearsed most recently.

Chunking

The organization of items into familiar or manageable units.

“Other Flowers Sent”, “Mary’s Violet Eyes”,

1-800 – Mattres ( leave the last S for saving)