Memory (forgetting) Basic Memory Tasks Recognition identifying objects or events that have been encountered before Easiest of the ‘memory tasks’ Multiple choice questions on tests Basic Memory Tasks Relearning When you forget something you once knew, relearning it is much easier Think of when you come back after summer break – you may have forgotten math equations, but after a quick review, you have relearned them Basic Memory Tasks Recall To bring something back to mind that you have stored; one must “search” for it and possibly have to reconstruct it in their minds Short answer/fill in the blank (with no word bank) questions on tests Paired associates – using another word to cue the recall of the word you are looking for For example: If you are looking for the word for “hand” in Spanish, you might think of manually (doing something by hand), and that would remind you that mano means hand Forgetting Can happen at any stage of storage (sensory, short- term, or long-term) Sensory memory: decays almost immediately unless you pay attention to it and transfer it into short-term memory (visual – less than a second; echoic – no more than a few seconds) Short-term memory: lasts about 10-12 seconds unless you transfer it into your long-term memory (usually it is displaced by new information) Long-term memory: decay or interference of a memory Forgetting vs. Memory Loss Two reason we forgot: Decay: the fading away of a memory over time Interference: the displacement, disruption or distortion of a previously existing memory by a new memory Memory loss is more than ‘forgetting’ - memory loss is when something is stored and cannot be retrieved Repression Forgetting something on purpose without even knowing we have forgotten it Developed by Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalytic theory Freud says that memories that bring back strong feelings of anxiety, guilt, or shame, may be forgotten in order to protect oneself from such feelings The theory of repression is not accepted by all psychologists Amnesia Severe memory loss Usually caused by some sort of trauma to the brain – such as from a fall or a blow to the head, electric shock, brain surgery, stroke, illness, etc… Three types: retrograde, anterograde, and infantile Retrograde Amnesia To forget events leading up to the trauma Could be just a few minutes (a football player not remembering what happened before getting a blow to the head), or a span of years Ex: In the movie The Vow, Rachel McAdam’s character gets in a car accident and cannot remember the last few years of her life. She doesn’t who her husband is or why she is not in law school. Anterograde Amnesia This is memory loss in which the person cannot store any new memories (cannot transfer memories from their short-term to their long-term memory) Usually caused by some sort of damage to the hippocampus Ex: In the movie 50 First Dates Drew Barrymore’s character lives the same day over and over because she cannot store any more long-term memories Infantile Amnesia We all experience this type of amnesia This is forgetting episodic memories (events) that took place from ages 0-3 (or older). We still retain semantic and implicit memory (who our parents are, how to eat solid food, how to talk, etc.) Freud explained infantile amnesia using repression, but more than likely this type of amnesia is due to biological and cognitive factors. Biological: the hippocampus is not fully developed until the age of 2 Cognitive: infants do not make reliable use of language to symbolize or classify events, therefore their ability to encode sensory input is limited.