Memory
Memory Activities
Concentration
Tips to improve your memory
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Recreate the scene you saw…
Memory
The capacity to retain and retrieve
information as well as the structures
that account for this capacity.
Allows us to:
– Be competent
– Convey a personal identity
– Have a personal and cultural history
– Helps guide decision-making
Memory
Memory is selective
– Usually disjointed
Memory is reconstructive
– We reproduce some information
– But with complex information, we alter it in
ways to help us make sense of it
“Fading Flashbulb”
Some unusual events produce a strong
memory
– May seem frozen in time, with
photographic detail
– May not always be perfect
• Facts may be mixed in with other memories or
stories from others
Eyewitnesses
Watch the following video
Answer the questions that are on the
paper
Summarize the events of the accident
on the back of the paper
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The Eyewitness Conundrum
Eyewitness testimonies are not always
reliable
May have input from other sources
Subtle word changes may affect a
person’s perception
• Hit/crash & a/the
• Bugs Bunny experiment
Journal
Why might eyewitness accounts be so
unreliable?
Use what you have learned about
memory to explain your opinion.
Why Eyewitnesses Are Unreliable
Re-imagining the event
Corroboration with others
Leading questions and unconscious
influence from authorities
Disjointed memory
Conformity effect
Double Identification effect
Source Misattribution
The inability to distinguish an actual
memory of an event from information
you learned elsewhere.
Think of a very early memory
– Have you seen pictures or videos from that
day that may have influenced you?
Confabulation
Confusing an event that happened to
someone else with one that happened
to you.
– Thought, heard, or told others about the
event many times
– The event contains many details that make
it feel real
– The event is easy to imagine
Memory Abuse
Read article about how behavior affects
memory
Answer questions about the article
Explicit Memory
Conscious, intentional recollection of an
event or item of information
Recall - retrieve and reproduce
information
– fill-in-the-blank, memory games
Recognition - identify information
previously read, observed or heard
– true/false, multiple choice
Recall
Name the 7 dwarves
Recognition
Check off the names of the 7 Dwarves
Bashful
Weepy
Bumpy
Dopey
Happy
Wheezy
Mickey
Slumpy
Doc
Sneezy
Mac
Grumpy
Pappy
Sleepy
Mopey
Implicit Memory
Unconscious retention in memory, usually
based on previous experience
Relearning method - Learn a topic twice
– If you learn faster the second time, you are
clearly remembering from the first lesson
Priming - a person reads or listens to
information and is later tested to see if the
information affects later performance
cold
curtain
money
sun
candle
llama
chair
wing
ink
ox
tree
house
table
rabbit
green
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Using Implicit and Explicit Memory
How are the 2 types of memory useful
outside of the academic field?
Why would some companies take advantage
of a person’s implicit memory?
How is it possible to utilize a person’s implicit
memory to manipulate them?
Memory
The brain is most similar to a computer
– You retrieve info when you need to use it
– Organized into schemas (networks of topics)
Short Term Memory
Limited capacity
Brief period (30 seconds to few minutes)
Also holds information retrieved from longterm memory
Long-Term Memory
Lasts a few minutes to a decade
– May even be permanent
Unlimited capacity
Information is organized
Information passes between STM and LTM
Serial Positioning
When shown a list of items, you are
most likely to remember the items at the
beginning and end of the list.
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Book
Tie
Car
Grass
Chair
Phone
Leg
Cat
Answer
Purse
Bubble
Feather
Squid
Graph
Clone
Encoding
Usually occurs without us thinking about it
– Listening to others
– Where things are in your locker
Effortful Encoding (aka studying)
– Memorizing the plot of a story
– Learning specific facts
Rehearsal
Repeating information over and over in order
to remember it
– Flashcards
– Practicing a script
– Forgetting a number or directions
Elaborative rehearsal - associating new
information with old to make it more
memorable.
Mnemonics
Strategies and tricks to remember
information
– Even Godzilla Buys Dog Food
– 30 days hath September…
– ROYGBIV
– Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
– My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us
Noodles
Mnemonics
Acrostics/Phrases
Acronyms
Songs/rhymes
Location
Chunking
Practicing
Memory Experiment
Using the strategies discussed today, think of
a NEW way to study for an upcoming
test/quiz.
Write down your strategy, what you are
studying for, materials you will use, and how it
differs from your normal routine.
After the test/quiz: record how effective you
think the strategy was, and if you would be
willing to use the strategy for other exams.
– Use full sentences, explain your answers
Why We Forget
Decay
Replacement
Interference
Cue-Dependent Forgetting
Repression/Amnesia
– Childhood amnesia
Decay
Memory fades with time unless we
rehearse them
Some memories do remain because of
emotional significance
Some memories can also randomly
stick around
Replacement
New information drives out the old
Leading questions can change your
memory
Interference
Specific memories are confused with
similar ones
– Names
– addresses
Cue-Dependent Forgetting
You remember better if you can repeat the
environment that you learned in
– Same:
seat
time
noises
people around
temperature
physical state
** may explain déjà vu - similar scene from a
book, movie, dream etc.
Repression - Amnesia
Repression - involuntary pushing of
threatening info into the unconscious
Amnesia - partial or total loss of memory for
an important personal reason
– Psychogenic
• Lose entire memory for several weeks
• Occurs after shock, embarrassment, shame etc
– Traumatic
• Forget specific events for long parts of time
• Memory returns with high accuracy
Childhood Amnesia
Tendency to forget events that
happened in the first 4 years of life
There are fewer memories for ages 0-8
than any other stage in a person’s life
Possible Explanations:
– fewer connections between neurons
– Lower ability to understand the world
Study Guide
Eyewitness conundrum
Source Misattribution
Confabulation
Explicit (recall, recognition)
Implicit (re-learning, priming)
Short Term
Long Term (mnemonics, serial positioning, chunking)
State dependent memory
Forgetting
Amnesia
Repression