Memory
 Memory is the basis for knowing
your friends, your neighbors, the
English language, the national
anthem, and yourself.
 If memory was nonexistent,
everyone would be a stranger to
you; every language foreign; every
task new; and even you yourself
would be a stranger.
Phenomenon of Memory
Memory is defined as any indication that
learning has persisted over time.
– It is our ability to store and retrieve information.
In simplest terms, human memory takes
essentially meaningless sensory
information and changes it into meaningful
patterns that you can store and use later.
Flashbulb Memory
A unique and highly
emotional moment may
give rise to a clear,
strong, and persistent
memory called
flashbulb memory.
– However, this memory
is not free from errors.
3 Tasks of Memory
Information Processing Model
Keyboard
Disk
Monitor
(Encoding)
(Storage)
(Retrieval)
Sequential Process
3 Tasks of Memory: Encoding
 Encoding: The processing of
information into the memory
system.
 Putting the incoming information
into a useful format.
 Requires us to select an incoming
stimulus, identify its distinctive
features, and mentally tag or label
it to make it meaningful.
 Most of our everyday encoding is
automatic and rapid.
Encoding: Automatic Processing
Occurs with little or no
effort, we encode
incidental information,
such as time, frequency
and space.
– Does not interfere with
our thinking about other
things.
– It is very difficult to shut
off
Encoding: Effortful Processing
While some information is
encoded automatically, other
types are only remembered
with effort and attention.
Rehearsal helps; the
conscious repetition of
information to maintain it in
consciousness or encode it
for storage.
– The amount remembered
depends on the time spent
learning.
Rehearsal
Maintenance Rehearsal:
helps maintain information
temporarily in working
memory. Keeps it fresh
and from being crowded
out.
Elaborative rehearsal:
Used to get information
into long term memory.
– Actively connects it
knowledge already
stored.
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Studied rehearsal by using
nonsense syllables.
TUV YOF GEK XOZ
– The more times practiced on
day 1 the fewer repetitions it
took to relearn on day 2.
Spacing Effect: Distributed
study or practice will lead
to better long term
retention than cramming.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Types of Encoding
Visual: the encoding of
picture images.
Acoustic: the encoding of
sound, especially words.
Semantic: the encoding of
meaning, including the
meaning of words.
– The deepest form, allows
for better retention.
Mnemonic Device
System for remembering in which items are related
to easily recalled sets of symbols, such as acronyms,
phrases, or jingles. Type of retrieval cue.
EXAMPLES
“i” before “e” except after “c”
Roy G. Biv
“Every Good Boy Does Fine!”
“Like a Rock”
Chunking
In memory, a chunk
is any pattern or
meaningful unit of
information.
– Allows us to get
more material into
the seven slots of
working memory.
Three-Stage Processing Model
The Atkinson-Schiffrin (1968) three-stage model
of memory includes:
1) sensory memory
2) short-term memory
3) long-term memory
Each of the three stages encodes and stores
memories in a different way, but they work
together to transform sensory experience into a
lasting record that has a pattern of meaning.
3 Stages of Memory
Stage 1: Sensory Memory
The most fleeting. Typically
holds sights, sounds, smells,
textures and other sensory
impressions for only a fraction
of a second.
– Holds the incoming
information long enough to
be screened for possible
entry into working memory.
Do we need to pay attention
to it?
– About 1/4 of a second.
Capacity of Sensory Memory
George Sperling tried to find out how
much information our sensory memory
can hold.
– Found it holds far more information than
ever reaches consciousness.
Flashed letters on a screen and asked
subjects to remember them. Used a
tone to indicate which row they should
recall.
– Partial report. Most people achieved
almost perfect accuracy.
– Much better than when they tried to
recall the entire group of letters.
Sensory Registers
There is a separate sensory register for each
of our senses. All feed into working (shortterm) memory.
– Iconic memory: The register for vision. Holds
encoded light patterns.
– Echoic Memory: holds encoded auditory stimuli.
– Tactile sensory memory: touch.
– Olfactory sensory memory: Smell
– Gustatory sensory memory: Taste.
Stage 2: Short Term Memory
STM: Activated memory
that holds a few items
briefly before the
information is stored or
forgotten.
Working memory is a
similar concept that
focuses more on the
processing of briefly
stored information.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this pi cture.
Stage 2: Working Memory
Working memory preserves
recently perceived events or
experiences for less than a
minute without rehearsal.
– A useful buffer for temporarily
holding items such as a
phone number you have just
looked up.
Where we process conscious
experience.
– Provides a “mental work
space.”
Capacity of STM
The magic number 7.
– Working memory holds
about 7 items, give or take
two. (George Miller, 1956).
– Does vary person to person.
– Roughly the same for
numbers, letters, words,
shapes, sounds etc.
Much smaller capacity than
the other two stages.
Three Parts of Working Memory
Central Executive: Directs attention to material retrieved from
long-term memory or to important input from sensory memory.
Phonological loop: temporarily stores sounds - helping you to
remember the mental “echo” of a name or to follow a melody.
Sketchpad: used to store and manipulate visual images.
Stage 3: Long Term Memory
LTM receives information from working
memory and can store it for much longer
periods.
– Our capacity for storing long-term
memories is essentially limitless.
Words and concepts are encoded by their
meanings, which interconnects them with
other items that have similar meanings.
– Like a huge web of interconnected
associations.
– Good retrieval cues can help you
quickly locate the item you want amid
all the data stored there.
Levels of Processing Theory
The more connections you can
make with new information while it
is in working memory, the more
likely you are to remember it later.
– Deeper Processing:
establishing more connections
with long-term memories.
• Makes new information more
meaningful and memorable.
• Often tied to the level of
judgment you make about
information.
Level of Processing Example
GRAPE
1. Is the word in capital letters?
2. Does the word rhyme with tape?
3. Does the word represent a fruit?
Two Parts of LTM
Procedural Memory:
Mental directions for how
things are done.
– Used to remember the
“how to” skills.
Declarative Memory:
stores specific information,
such as facts and events.
– Requires more conscious
mental effort
Subdivisions of Declarative Memory
Episodic Memory: the
portion of declarative
memory that stores
personal experiences.
– Memories of events in your
life.
– Also stores temporal coding
that identify when the even
occurred and context coding
that indicates where it took
place.
Subdivisions of Declarative Memory
Semantic Memory:
stores the basic
meanings of words and
concepts.
– Usually does not contain
information about the time
and place the memory
contents were acquired.
– More like an encyclopedia
than an autobiography.
3 Types of Memory
E.S.P.
Which is involved?
1.First Kiss
10.Use a computer
2.Riding a bike
11.Spell C-A-T
3.Walking through a maze
12.Driving a car
4.List the 50 states
13.H20
5.Define Memory
14.Describe a fight to someone
6.Cut and Paste an art project
15.First day in high school
7.Writing notes off an overhead
8.Formula for classical conditioning
9.Witness a car accident
LTM and the Brain
Consolidation is the process by
which short-term memories are
changed to long-term memories over
a period of time.
– Most long-term memories make an
intermediate stop in the hippocampus
(in the Limbic System) on their way
to long term storage.
Different aspects of memory involve
different parts of the brain.
– Karl Lashley experiments; looking
for the engram or memory trace.
Long-Term Potentiation
Memories begin as neural
impulses.
Long-term potentiation
(LTP): An increase in a
synapse’s firing potential
after brief, rapid stimulation.
– Increases the sensitivity
and efficiency of synapse.
– Believed to be a neural
basis for learning and
memory.
Memories and Emotion
The amygdala strengthens
memories that have strong
emotional associations.
– Aids access and retrieval.
– Stronger emotional
experiences make for
stronger, more reliable
memories.
– Think flashbulb memories.
Moods and Memory
State-dependent memory: What we
learn in one state may be more
easily recalled when we enter that
state again.
Memories are somewhat moodcongruent. That is, we are more
likely to recall experiences that are
the same as the mood we are
currently in.
– For example, how you rate your
parents today may not be the same
as how you rate them in January.
Retrieval Cues
To get information off the
internet you need a way to
retrieve it.
– It is similar with our
memories.
Retrieval cues guide us to
where to look.
Priming: refers to the
activation, often
unconsciously, of particular
associations in memory.
Why We Forget
Encoding Failure: We failed
to encode the information in
the first place and it never
entered our long-term
memory.
– Quick, draw a nickel.
Storage Decay: Memory
seems to fade due to fading
of the memory trace.
Interference
Proactive Interference: Something
you learned earlier disrupts your
recall of something you
experienced later.
– You can’t remember your new
phone number because the old
one keeps getting in the way.
Retroactive Interference: New
information makes it harder to
recall something you learned
earlier.
– Learning Chinese makes it harder
to remember the Japanese you
already knew.
Repression
We unknowingly revise our
own histories, helps protect
and improve our self-image.
Repression: Freud’s idea
that our memories selfcensor painful information.
– Most psychologists believe
it rarely, if ever, occurs.
Forgetting
We do not store information as
exactly as a tape recorder or
video camera.
We tend to remember the “gist
of things” rather than a perfect
representation of what
happened.
– We fill in memory gaps with
plausible guesses and
assumptions.
Misinformation Effect
When we are exposed to subtle
misinformation, many people
misremember.
– Later we find it find it nearly
impossible to discriminate between
our memories of real and
suggested events.
– We imagine things into our
memories.
Source Amnesia: Attributing an
event we have experienced to the
wrong source.
Both are linked to false memories.
Improving Memory
Overlearn: Study things repeatedly
Spend time rehearsing: Speed reading doesn’t work!
Make the material personally meaningful: Semantic encoding.
Use Mnemonic devices: Use vivid imagery
Activate retrieval cues: Try to get back to the original mood or location.
Recall events while they are fresh, before your encounter
misinformation.
Minimize interference: study before sleeping, spread out the studying
of different topics.
Test your knowledge: especially your recall.
Get it right the first time.