Short & Long-term
Memory
Making Memory - Review
Three things have to happen:
1. Get information into our brain through
encoding.
2. Retain that information by the process of
storage.
3. Get the information back through
retrieval.
Making Memory - Review
The process that makes it happen:
Automatic Processing
Sensory
Memory
Maintenance
Rehearsal
External
Events
Sensory
Sensory
Input
Sensory
Memory
Encoding
Working
Short-term
Memory
Attention to
important or novel
information
Encoding
Retrieving
Long-term
Memory
Storage
Making Memory - Review
Sensory Memory
• The first stage of memory, the point at
which information enters the nervous
system through the sensory systems.
• Iconic memory - visual sensory
memory, lasting only a fraction of a
second.
• Capacity - everything that can be seen
at one time.
• Duration - information that has just
entered iconic memory will be pushed
out very quickly by new information
Making Memory - Review
Sensory Memory
• The first stage of memory, the point at
which information enters the nervous
system through the sensory systems.
• Echoic memory - the brief memory
of something a person has just
heard.
• Capacity - limited to what can be
heard at any one moment and is
smaller than the capacity of iconic
memory.
• Duration - lasts longer than iconic —
about 2 to 4 seconds.
Making Memory
The process that makes it happen:
Working
Short-term
Memory
Automatic Processing
Maintenance
Rehearsal
External
Events
Sensory
Sensory
Input
Sensory
Memory
Encoding
Working
Short-term
Memory
Attention to
important or novel
information
Encoding
Retrieving
Long-term
Memory
Storage
Short-Term Memory
• Short-term memory (STM) - the
memory system in which information
is held for brief periods of time while
being used.
• Working memory - an active system
that processes the information in
short-term memory.
• Capacity of STM is about seven items,
plus or minus two (5 to 9 bits of information)
Short-Term Memory
• Selective attention works in the
short-term memory.
• The ability to focus on only one stimulus
from among all sensory input.
• Sometimes called cocktail effect
Short-Term Memory
• Without rehearsal STM lasts about
12 – 30 seconds
• Maintenance Rehearsal
is the practice of saying
information to be
remembered over-andover again
Strengthen Long-term Memory
• Elaborative rehearsal:
A method of transferring
information from STM
into LTM by making that
information meaningful
in some way
Making Memory
The process that makes it happen:
Automatic Processing
Long-term
Memory
Maintenance
Rehearsal
External
Events
Sensory
Sensory
Input
Sensory
Memory
Encoding
Working
Short-term
Memory
Attention to
important or novel
information
Encoding
Retrieving
Long-term
Memory
Storage
Long-Term Memory
• There are two types of LTM:
• Procedural memory – stuff people
can do
• Ride a bike, tie shoes, habits & conditioned
reflexes
• Declarative memory – stuff people
can know
• Facts, knowledge, personal information
Long-Term Memory
There are two types of Declarative Memory
Long-term
Memory
Declarative
Memory
Things you know
Episodic Memory
Events experienced
by a person
Procedural
Memory
Things you do
Semantic Memory
Facts,
General knowledge
How good is your Semantic Memory?
• Get into groups of 4 – 5
• I will give you a category
• Each person must come up with an
example from the category.
• Keep going around the circle, eliminate
people who can’t come up with an
example or who repeat something already
said
• If someone stalls, use a 5 second
countdown
• If a vote is needed, thumbs up, thumbs
down. Majority rules.
• Brands of cereal
• Advertising slogans
• One word movie titles
• College Mascots
• Two word cities
• Fast food restaurants
• TV families
• Mathematical symbols
• Punctuation marks
• Rivers
• Female singers
• Sports balls
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Brands of chewing gum
Things found at a beach
Mexican food
Red things
Things you plug in
Birds
Flowers
Units of measurement
Famous dogs
Candy bars
Emotions
Athletic shoe companies