Memory
If
technological advances
would allow it, would you
ever want to intentionally
get rid of memories of some
specific events?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Information Processing

Sensory Register
 Temporary
storage
 Unlimited capacity
 Iconic memory
 Echoic memory

Iconic memory
Information Processing
Information Processing

Short Term Memory (STM)
 Holds
information that we are thinking about
or are aware of (consciously)
 Has two primary tasks
Storing new information briefly
 Working on that information


Also known as working memory
Serial Position Effect
Short Term Memory Storage

Verbal information is stored phonologically
 By

its sound
Some information is stored visually
 Images
are often stored visually and verbally
Short Term Memory Capacity

Limited capacity
7
± 2 units
Short Term Memory

Chunking

Information lasts longer in STM than in the
sensory registers because we can
rehearse it.
 Rote

rehearsal
Retaining information in STM simply by repeating it
over and over
Information Processing
Long Term Memory (LTM)

Capacity
 Long-term
memory can store a vast amount
of information that can last for many years.

Encoding
 Most
of the information in LTM seems to be
encoded according to its meaning.
Semantic Network
Organization of LTM

Schemas
 Organized,
repeatedly exercised patterns of
thought or behavior
Which color is on top on a stoplight?
 How many rows of stars are on the U.S.
flag?
 Whose image is on a dime? Is he wearing
a tie?
 What five words besides In God We Trust
appear on most U.S. coins?
 When water goes down the drain, does it
swirl clockwise or counterclockwise?

Automatic Processing

Space

Time

Frequency
Encoding
Rote rehearsal
 Elaborative rehearsal

 Visual
imagery
 Mnemonics
Acronyms and acrostics
 Method of loci
 Pegword method

Retrieval

Organization
 encoding
Retrieval Cues
 Encoding Specificity Principle

 Environmental
context
 State dependent learning
Flashbulb Memories

memories centered on a specific,
important, or surprising event that are so
vivid it is as if they represented a snapshot
of the event

Vividness comes from importance of the event as well
as emotional content
Déjà vu
Decreases with age and increases with
education and income
 Is more common in persons who travel,
remember their dreams, and have liberal
political and religious beliefs
 Is most likely triggered by a general
physical context, although spoken words
alone sometimes produce the illusion

Is experienced mainly when people are
indoors, engaged in leisure activities or
relaxing, and in the company of friends
 Is relatively brief – 10 to 30 seconds – and
is more frequent in the evening than in the
morning, and on the weekend than on
weekdays
 Is responded to more positively than
negatively, with people typically indicating
they are surprised, curious, or confused

Forgetting
Decay theory
 Interference theory

 Retroactive
 Proactive
Forgetting

Motivated Forgetting
 Suppression
 Repression
Encoding failure
 Retrieval failure

 Tip-of-the-tongue
phenomenon
Reconstruction of Memories
As memories fade, fill in details
 May use schemas
 Hindsight bias

Children’s Eyewitness Memory
Children’s eyewitness recall can be
unreliable if leading questions are
posed. However, if cognitive
interviews are neutrally worded, the
accuracy of their recall increases. In
cases of sexual abuse, this usually
suggests a lower percentage of abuse.
The Biology of Memory

Amnesia
 Retrograde
 Anterograde
 Childhood
The Biology of Memory

Hippocampus 
explicit memory
The Biology of Memory

Cerebral cortex,
striatum, amygdala 
implicit memory
Hormones and Memory
Adrenaline
 Noradrenaline
 Cortisol


Korsakoff’s Syndrome
 Diencephalon

(thalamus/hypothalamus)
Alzheimer’s Disease
 Amyloid
beta protein
 Basal forebrain, hippocampus, cerebral cortex
 Acetylcholine