
Definition : Memory can be thought of as a store house of accumulated learning

Information processing approach:

Stages : input, central processing, output, working/short-term memory), long-term memory

Strategic effects

Functional effects

Three main memory processes:

Encoding (largely left hemisphere)

Storage

Retrieval (largely right hemisphere)

Memory failure can occur with any of these process but is most frequent during retrieval

Much of what we know about memory comes from:

Clinical human research (PET scans, studies with brain damaged patients)

Animal research
1

Sensory memory:

Representation : direct e.g., visual – icon; auditory - echoic representation

Organization : no particular organization – order sensed

Duration : visual lasts about 1 second, auditory about 10 seconds

Capacity : large

Retrieval : examination of information presented in its original form

Causes of forgetting : fading of memory traces
Working memory: attention, consciousness and short-term memory
Short-term memory:

Representation : acoustic and visual

Organization : no particular organization – if information attended to stored in order of occurrence

Duration : up to 20 seconds without rehearsal

Capacity : seven chunks, plus or minus 2 (Ebbinghaus 1885)

Retrieval : serial exhaustive search (Sternberg - 40 ms per item)

Causes of forgetting : decay, displacement, interference
2

Long-term memory:

Representation : semantically or through imagery (eidetic – photographic memory more common with children)

Organization : declarative or explicit and implicit or procedural

declarative: logical frameworks e.g., hierarchies and categories

Duration : possibly a lifetime

Capacity : large, possibly unlimited

Retrieval : organized search with retrieval cues

Causes of forgetting : interference, decay, retrieval failure
Serial position curve:

Immediate free recall

Immediate serial recall

Delayed recall
Consolidation:

ECT
Proactive and retroactive interference:
Environment/drug effects:
Mood and memory:
3

Memory strategies
Context:

Create visual scenes & associations

Relate material to information you know, also simple associations of lists with numbers (e.g., grocery list)
Mnemonics:

Greek for memory aid

Acronyms (HOMES)

Stories

Method of loci
Hierarchical organization:
General memory improvement:

Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall

Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material

Make the material personally meaningful

Use mnemonics for lists of unfamiliar items

Refresh your memory by activating retrieval cues (mentally recreate the situation in which the material was learned)

Recall information when it is fresh before there is the potential for interference from other material

Test your own knowledge both to rehearse it and to help determine what you do not yet know
4

5