MEMORYChapter 9

Gabby Hopeful

Doc Wheezy

Scaredy Sleepy

Happy Stubby

Puffy Pop

Dopey Bashful

Sniffy Lazy

Wishful Shorty

Sloppy Droopy

Teach Grumpy

Smiley Clumsy

Bob Cheerful

Jumpy Puffy

Sneezy Shy

Doc

Grumpy

Happy

Sleepy

Sneezy

Bashful

Dopey

two D’s, two S’s & three Emotions

Doc, Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Happy & Bashful

The Phenomenon of Memory

Memory is any indication that learning has persisted over time. It

is our ability to encode, store and retrieve information.

The Persistence of Memory – Salvador Dalí, 1931

Interesting Memory Phenomena

• Flashbulb (Episodic) Memory = clear, strong, persistent memory usually caused by a unique/highly emotional moment.– Not free from errors, however

Interesting Memory Phenomena

• Eidetic (Photographic) Memory – the research is mixed as to whether this is a real phenomenon or not

Kim Peek – the real “Rain Man”

Daniel Tammet (Brain Man) - Synesthesia

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/brain-man-explains-synaesthesia-10765484

Basic Tasks of Memory

Keyboard(Encoding)

Disk(Storage)

Monitor(Retrieval)

Information Processing

The Atkinson-Schiffrin three-stage model of memory includes a) sensory memory, b) short-

term memory, and c) long-term memory.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Three-Stage Processing Model

Sensory memory has 2 parts:– Iconic store = visual information– Echoic store = sound information

Since we cannot focus all the sensory information in the environment, we select information that is important to us (through selective attention).

Working Memory

Encoding: Getting Information In

How We Encode

1. Some information (route to your school) is automatically processed.

2. However, new or unusual information (friend’s new cell-phone number) requires attention and effort.

Automatic/Parallel Processing

We process an enormous amount of information effortlessly, such as the

following:

1. Space: While reading a textbook, you automatically encode the place of a picture on a page.

2. Time: We unintentionally note the events that take place in a day.

3. Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of things that happen to you.

Effortful/Serial Processing

Committing novel

information to memory requires

effort just like learning a

concept from a textbook. Such

processing leads to durable and

accessible memories.

Rehearsal

Effortful learning usually requires

rehearsal (conscious repetition).

Ebbinghaus studied rehearsal by using nonsense syllables:

TUV YOF GEK XOZHermann Ebbinghaus

(1850-1909)

Rehearsal

The more times the nonsense syllables were practiced on

Day 1,the fewer

repetitions were required to

remember them on Day 2.

Memory Effects

1. Next-in-line-Effect: When you are so anxious about being next that you cannot remember what the person just before you in line says, but you can recall what other people around you say.

2. Spacing Effect: We retain information better when we rehearse over time. This is why long-term studying is better than cramming!!!

3. Serial Position Effect: When your recall is better for first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items.

Spacing Effect

Distributing rehearsal (spacing effect) is better than practicing all at once. Robert Frost’s poem

could be memorized with fair ease if spread over time.

ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHTRobert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.I have walked out in rain — and back in

rain.I have outwalked the furthest city light.

Serial Position Effect

1. TUV2. ZOF3. GEK4. WAV5. XOZ6. TIK7. FUT8. WIB9. SAR10. POZ11. REY12. GIJ

Better recall

Better recall

Poor recall

Encoding Meaning

Q: Did the word begin with a capital letter?

StructuralEncoding

Q: Did the word rhyme with the word “weight”?

Q: Would the word fit in the sentence? He met a __________ in the street.

PhonemicEncoding

SemanticEncoding

“Whale”

Intermediate

Deep

Shallow

Results

We tend to remember things better and easier when we attach relevance and meaning of that information

to ourselves.

Visual EncodingMental pictures (imagery) are a powerful aid

to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding.

Showing adverse effects of tanning and smoking in a picture may be more powerful than simply talking about it.

Mnemonics

Imagery is at the heart of many memory aids. Mnemonic techniques use vivid imagery in

aiding memory.

Method of Loci = using visual place cues

(either real or imagined) to

help remember topics.

Break down complex information into broad concepts and further subdivide

them into categories and subcategories.

Organizing Information for Encoding

1. Chunking

2. Hierarchy

Chunking

Organizing items into a familiar, manageable unit. Try to remember the numbers below.

1-7-7-6-1-4-9-2-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1

If you are well versed with American history, chunk the numbers together

and see if you can recall them better. 1776 1492 1812 1941.

Chunking

Acronyms are another way of chunking information to

remember it.

HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior

PEMDAS = Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract

ROY G. BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

Hierarchy

Complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided

into categories and subcategories. (Which is why I took notes in outline form

when I was a student).

Storage: Retaining Information

Storage is at the heart of memory. Three stores of memory are shown

below:SensoryMemory

WorkingMemory

Long-termMemory

Encoding

RetrievalEncoding

Events

Retrieval

Sensory Memory

SensoryMemory

WorkingMemory

Long-termMemory

Encoding

RetrievalEncoding

Events

Retrieval

Sensory Memory

20

40

60

80

Perc

en

t R

ecog

niz

ed

0.15 0.30 0.50 1.00

Time (Seconds)The longer the delay, the greater the memory loss.

R G TF M QL Z S

The exposure time for the stimulus is so smallthat items cannot be rehearsed.

Sensory Memories

Iconic0.5 sec. long

Echoic3-4 sec. long

Hepatic< 1 sec. long

The duration of sensory memory varies for the different senses.

Working Memory

SensoryMemory

WorkingMemory

Long-termMemory

Encoding

RetrievalEncoding

Events

Retrieval

Working Capacity

You should be able to

recall 7±2 letters.

Working memory, the new name for short-term memory, has a limited capacity (7±2) and a short

duration (~20 seconds).

M U T G I K T L R S Y P

Ready?

Chunking

F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M

The capacity of the working memory may be increased by “chunking.”

FBI TWA CIA IBM

4 chunks

Long-Term Memory

SensoryMemory

WorkingMemory

Long-termMemory

Encoding

RetrievalEncoding

Events

Retrieval

Long-Term MemoryUnlimited capacity store. Estimates on

capacity range from 1000 billion to 1,000,000 billion bits of information

The Clark’s nutcracker can locate 6,000 caches of

buried pine seeds during winter and spring.

AP Psych Rocks!

WOW!

Memory Feats

Memory Stores

FeatureSensoryMemory

Working Memory

LTM

Encoding Echoic Chunking Semantic

Capacity ~15 items7±2

ChunksUnlimited

Duration 1/4 second 1 minute Years

Stress Hormones & Memory

Heightened emotions (stress-related or otherwise) make for stronger memories of specific events. However, continued stress may disrupt memory

(which is another reason why cramming the night before doesn’t really work).

Storing Implicit & Explicit Memories

Explicit Memory (declarative memory-conscious) refers to facts and experiences that one can consciously know and

declare. Implicit memory (procedural memory-unconscious) involves

learning an action while the individual does not know or declare what she knows.

Hippocampus

Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbicsystem is the site of temporary

processing of explicit memories.

No New Memories

Anterograde Amnesia

AnterogradeAmnesia

- old memory intact but loss of new

memories

Surgery

After losing his hippocampus in surgery, the patient remembered everything before the operation but cannot make new memories.

We call this anterograde amnesia.

Memory Intact

Retrograde Amnesia = can form new memories but loss of old memories occurs

Cerebellum

Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain that processes implicit memories.

Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Retrieval refers to getting information out of the memory store.

Measures of Memory

In recognition, the person must identify an item amongst other choices (a

multiple-choice test requires recognition).

1. Name the capital of France.

a. Brusselsb. Romec. Londond. Paris

Measures of Memory

In recall, the person must retrieve information using effort (a fill-in-the blank

test requires recall).

1. The capital of France is ______.

Measures of Memory

In relearning, the individual shows how much time (or effort) is saved when learning

material for the second time.

ListJetDaggerTreeKite…SilkFrogRing

It took 10 trialsto learn this list

ListJetDaggerTreeKite…SilkFrogRing

It took 5 trialsto learn the list

1 day laterSaving

OriginalTrials

RelearningTrials

RelearningTrials

10 510

50%

X 100

X 100

Retrieval Cues

Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations are like

anchors that help retrieve memory.

Fire Truck

truck

red

fire

heatsmoke

smellwater

hose

Priming

To retrieve a specific memory from the web of associations, you must first

activate one of the strands that leads to it. This process is called priming (which is

related to implicit memory).

1) __ h __ p __ __ __ k 3) __ o g __ y __ __ n

2) __ c __ __ __ us 4) __ l __ __ a t __

Context EffectsScuba divers recall more words underwater

if they learned the list underwater, while they recall more words on land if they

learned that list on land (this is why Walton always offers the SAT).

Context Effects

After learning to move a mobile by kicking, infants most strongly respond when

retested in the same context rather than in a different context.

Déja Vu

Déja Vu means “I've experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may

unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience.

State-Dependent MemoryThe idea of state-dependentmemory proposes that internalcues are also a factor inremembering (people

rememberbetter when their internal

statesmatches when theylearned/experienced theinformation).

1. Mood-congruence2. Situations/feelings3. Chemically altered states of

consciousness

Daniel Schacter’s “7 Sins of Memory Failure”

1. Absent-mindedness – encoding failure by lack of attention to detail

2. Transience – storage decay over time3. Blocking – cannot get to stored info4. Misattribution – confusing the source with

something/someone else5. Suggestibility – misinformation causes

misidenitification/false memories6. Bias – personal beliefs affect memories7. Persistence – haunted by unwanted memories

forg

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stor

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intr

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Encoding FailureWe cannot remember what we do not

encode.

Forgetting = an inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage,

or retrieval.

Which penny is real?

Storage Decay

Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay. Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting

curve.

Ebbinghaus Forgetting CurveSpanish

Retrieval Failure

Although the information is retained in the memory store, it cannot be accessed.

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon. Given a cue (What makes

blood cells red?) the subject says the word begins with an H (hemoglobin).

Proactive (forget new) and Retroactive ( forget new)

InterferenceLearning some new information may disrupt

retrieval of other information.

Retroactive Interference

Sleep prevents retroactive interference. Therefore, it leads to better recall.

Motivated Forgetting

Motivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories.

Repression: A Freudian/psychodynamic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

Sigmund Freud

Why do we forget?

Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. We

filter, alter, or lose much

information during these

stages.

Memory Construction

While tapping into our memories, we filter or fill in missing pieces of

information to make our recall more coherent.

Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.Imagination Effect: Repeated imaginations of things/events can create false memories

Loftus & Palmer: Memory

Hypothesis & Methodology

• Hypothesis: People will remember a car accident differently if given different language cues (words) about the accident

• Students watched a film of two cars colliding• Collision was moderate with no broken glass• Asked questions about speed

Loftus & Palmer: Results

• People reported the fastest speeds if the researchers had used the word “smashed” in the question

VERB MEAN ESTIMATE OF SPEED (MPH)

Smashed 40.8

Collided 39.3

Bumped 38.1

Hit 34.0

Contacted 31.8

Loftus & Palmer: Results & Implications

• One week later, subjects were asked if they had seen broken glass

• 32% of subjects asked the “smashed” question said yes; 14% of subjects asked the “hit” question said yes

• People remember things differently depending on the language used to describe an event (“smashed” versus “hit”)

• This demonstrates the Misinformation effect

Source Amnesia (a.k.a. source misattribution).: Attributing an event to the wrong source that we

experienced, heard, read, or imagined.

Repressed or Constructed?Some adults actually do forget childhood episodes of

abuse.

False Memory SyndromeA condition in which a person’s identity and relationships center around a false but strongly believed memory of a traumatic experience, which is sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39166049/ns/us_newsthe_new_york_times/?GT1=43001

False Memories

Are memories of abuse repressed or constructed?

Many psychotherapists believe that early childhood sexual abuse results in repressed

memories.

However, other psychologists question such beliefs and think that such memories may

sometimes be constructed (power of suggestion).

Memories of Abuse

Types of Neurobiological Disorders that can lead to

Memory Distortion

• Anterograde Amnesia = old information remembered but new memory formation not possible (lose new memory)

• Retrograde Amnesia = can form new memories but loss of old memories occurs (lose old memory)

• Infantile Amnesia = lack of many but not all memories before the age of 3 or 4 (and is completely normal)

• Alzheimer’s Disease

Improving Memory

1. Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall.2. Spend more time rehearsing or actively

thinking about the material.3. Make material personally meaningful.4. Use mnemonic devices5. Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate

the situation and mood.6. Recall events while they are fresh — before

you encounter misinformation.7. Minimize interference:

1. Test your own knowledge.2. Rehearse and then determine what you do not yet know.