You think it’s good? Well, you’re wrong.

ENCODING
 DEF: forming a memory code
 Requires attention : focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events
 Attention is selective; acts as a filter

LEVELS OF PROCESSING
 Craik and Lockhart (1972) propose incoming info can be processed at different levels
 3 levels for verbal info.:
 1: Structural encoding : shallow processing that emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus

LEVELS OF PROCESSING CONTINUED
 Phonemic encoding : emphasizes what a word sounds like
 Semantic encoding : emphasizes meaning of verbal input; thinking about the objects and actions the word represents
 Levels of Processing Theory : deeper levels of processing result in longer lasting memory codes

ENRICHING ENCODING
 Elaboration : linking a stimulus to other info at the time of encoding
 Helps enhance semantic encoding
 Involves thinking of examples to illustrate the idea

VISUAL IMAGERY
 Creating visual images to represent words to be remembered
 Allan Paivio: easier to form images for concrete words
 Dual-coding theory : holds that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall

SELF-REFERENT ENCODING
 DEF: deciding how or whether info is personally relevant
 It is easier to remember something if it is meaningful to you

Storage is maintaining info in memory over time

SENSORY MEMORY
 DEF: preserves info in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second
 Gives additional time to recognize stimulus
 Visual and auditory memory trace decays after ¼ of a second

SHORT-TERM MEMORY
 STM is a limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed info for up to 20 seconds
 Rehearsal : process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the info

DURABILITY OF STORAGE
 Ability to recall decays considerably after only 15 seconds
 This is due to time-related decay and interference from competing stimuli

CAPACITY OF STORAGE
 1956: George Miller publishes “Magical Number 7” paper
 Claims you can store 7 items (+ or – 2) in STM
 You can increase capacity by Chunking : grouping familiar stimuli and storing as a single unit

STM AS “WORKING MEMORY”
 Alan Baddeley: “Working memory” consists of 3 parts:
 1: Phonological rehearsal loop (ex: reciting a phone #)—only 2 seconds of info
 2: Visuospatial sketchpad : allows to temporarily hold and manipulate visual images
 3: Executive control system : handles info as you engage in reasoning and decision making

LONG-TERM MEMORY
 DEF: an unlimited (virtually) capacity store that can hold info over lengthy periods of time

LONG-TERM MEMORY PERMANENT?
 Flash-bulb memories : unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events
 Hypnosis induced memories
 ESB triggering long-lost memories

STM AND LTM SEPARATE
 Dominant thought today is that STM is a tiny and constantly changing portion of LTM

CLUSTERING AND CONCEPTUAL
HIERARCHIES
 Clustering : tendency to remember similar or related items in a group
 Conceptual hierarchy : multilevel classification system based on common properties among items

SCHEMAS
 Schema : an organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event

SCRIPTS
 Script : organizes what people know about common activities
 A kind of schema

SEMANTIC NETWORKS
 DEF: consists of nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts
 Spreading activation : naturally thinking of related words

CONNECTIONIST NETWORKS AND
PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING
(PDP)
 PDP models assume that cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly interconnected computational networks that resemble neural networks
 PDP models assert that specific memories correspond to particular patterns of activation in these networks

TIP-OF-THE-TONGUE PHENOMENON
 DEF: temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by the feeling that it’s just out of reach
 Similar memories are interfering

REINSTATING THE CONTEXT OF AN EVENT
 Context cues facilitate the retrieval of info.
 Remembering the origin of the thought

RECONSTRUCTING MEMORIES AND
MISINFORMATION EFFECT
 Distortions in recall occur b/c subjects reconstruct a story to fit w/ their established schemas
 Theories: overwriting, interference, and…

SOURCE-MONITORING
 Def: process of making attributions about the original memories
 Source-monitoring error : when a memory derived from a source is misattributed to another source
 Reality monitoring : process of deciding whether memories are based on external or internal sources