Memory
Chapter 9
Take out a piece of paper
Name the Seven Dwarves
Turn your paper over.
Now pick pick out the seven
dwarves.
Grouchy Gabby Fearful Sleepy
Smiley Jumpy Hopeful Shy
Droopy Dopey Sniffy Wishful
Puffy Dumpy Sneezy Pop
Grumpy Bashful Cheerful Teach
Snorty Nifty Happy Doc Wheezy
Stubby Poopy
Seven Dwarves
Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Doc and Bashful
Difficulty of Task
Was the exercise easy or difficult?
It depends on what factors?
Whether you like Disney movies
How long ago you watched the movie
How loud the people are around you
when you are trying to remember
As you might have guessed, the next topic we
are going to examine is…….
Memory
Memory
• When it comes to memory we will be focusing
on one central question.
– What causes us to remember what we
remember and to forget what we forget??
– Why do I remember my 13th birthday
party or the girl I had a crush on in fifth
grade, but I do not remember the name of
that one teacher down the hall?
Lets start with the definition
of memory
Memory


The ability of the brain to store,
retain, and then recall information
Learning that has persisted over
time
The Memory process
•Storage
•Retrieval/Recall
•Encoding
Storage
• The creation of a permanent record of the
encoded information
– storing or maintaining
– Saving your project on your computer
Pressing Ctrl S and
saving the info.
Trying to remember her
name when you leave the
party.
Retrieval
• The calling back of the stored information or
getting information out of memory so you can
use it
Finding your document
or project and opening
it up.
Seeing her the next day
and calling her the wrong
name (retrieval failure).
Encoding
• The process of getting information inside of your
head
– processing information into your memory system
– Think of encoding like typing a project on your
computer
Typing info into a computer
Getting a guys name at a
party
Encoding
The process in which you move the raw
material or stuff that you will
ultimately remember, into your memory
 Two Different Ways of encoding you
should know

#1 Automatic Processing

Unconscious Encoding of incidental
information

Not having to think or even try to put this
information into your head
You encode space (like things on a page)
 Time (sequence of days events)
 Well learned information (words in your native language)


Remembering you ate lunch yesterday even
though you didn’t try to remember this
information
#2 Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and
conscious effort


Working to remember what you wrote in
your notes
Through enough rehearsal, what was effortful
becomes automatic
Encoding
Automatic
Effortful
This unit’s
concepts
Where you
ate yesterday
How do we Encode Information?

Structural (Visual) Encoding


Encoding by forming a mental picture
Emphasizes the physical structure of the item


Phonemic (Acoustical) Encoding



Remembering what a word looks like – capitals or not
Encoding by sound
Remembering the sound of a word
-- rhyme or not
Semantic (Meaning) Encoding


Encoding by meaning
Remembering or focusing on the
meaning of words
Which type works best?
Shallow Processing
VS
Deep Processing
How can you become a
better Encoder??
• Tools to help you put stuff
into your head better so you
can remember it longer
• Some of you should really
pay attention here!!
 Rehearsing and Over learning
 “practice makes perfect”
 Serial Position Effect
 First and last items are easier encoded so
spend extra time with things in the middle
 Spacing Effect
 Spreading out encoding will allow you to
retain more than cramming information
 Distributed practice vs. massed practice
 Self-Reference

Provide meaning to what you want to encode by
making it relevant to your life and context you
are in
 Visual


Effect (Deep Processing)
Imagery
Link what you want to encode to a mental image,
story, or picture
Method of Loci (also called memory palace)
• People picture themselves walking through a familiar
place, noting items as they go
• Repeat walk to remember

Peg Word Method
• Remember a rhyme that associates numbers with
words
Remembering the Articles of Confederation….
 one
bun (Article I - Legislative)
 two shoe (Article II – Executive)
 three tree(Article III - Judicial)
 four door (Article IV – Relations Among
States)
 five bee hive (Article V – Amending the
Cons)
 six sticks (Article VI – Federalism)
 seven heaven (Article VII – Ratification)
Peg Word System
 Mnemonic





Devices
Use a memory trick
ROYGBIV
Tying a ribbon on your finger
“I before e, except after c”
Mnemonic Devices
 Chunking

Organizing information into meaningful groups vs.
random information
 Minimize

Interference
Go to sleep after learning something to prevent
learning newer material
Things to remember about Encoding
•
•
The next-In-Line effect:
• we seldom remember what the person
has just said or done if we are next.
Taped info played while asleep is
registered by ears, but we do not
remember it.
Storage
How we retain or keep the information
we have encode over time??
Three Box Model of Memory (or three stage model)
• Basically says memory storage is broken down into
three memory systems based on duration or length
of memory retention
#1 Sensory Memory
• Stores incoming sensory information (smells,
sights, noises, things we touch) in detail but only
for an instance
• Lasts Milliseconds to seconds
– Most of what we sense we forget almost immediately
– If it is not important we don’t encode and store it
• Iconic Memory
– Visual sensory memory
– (a split second perfect photograph of a scene)
• Echoic Memory
– Auditory sensory memory
– (a split second memory for sounds)
#2 Short-term Memory
• The conscious, activated memory that
contains information you are aware of at any
point in time
– Also can be called working memory
– Can last seconds to minutes
• There is a limited capacity and duration
– The average stm can only fit 7 units
– (that is why phone numbers are 7 digits long)
• Can be increased by chunking
Storage and Short-Term Memory
• Can store 7 (plus or
minus two) chunks of
information.
• George Miller
– “The Magic Number 7+2”
• Simon
– “We can only chunk
groups of three”
Breaking Through the Magic 7 Barrier
• Row 1: 6293
• Row 2: 73932
• Row 3: 835405
• Row 4: 3820961
• Row 5: 18294624
• Row 6: 9284619384
• Row 7: 1992199319941995
#3 Long-term Memory
• The relatively permanent storehouse of memories
• Can last days to years (sometimes a lifetime)
• Consolidation
– The process of converting stm into ltm
• Two Types
– Flashbulb memory
• A vivid clear memory of an emotionally significant
moment or event – 911
– Photographic memory
• It is just a really good memory
• VERY few people have this
• True photographic memory is someone who can see a list of 70
digits for less than a minute and recite them forward and
backwards and remember them up to 15 years later!!!!
Storage and Long-Term Memory
• We have yet to find the limit of
our long-term memory.
• For example, Rajan was able to
recite 31,811 digits of pi.
• At 5 years old, Rajan would
memorize the license plates of
all of his parents’ guests (about
75 cars in ten minutes). He
still remembers the plate
numbers to this day.
How does our brain store long-term
memories?
• Memories do NOT reside in single specific
spots of our brain.
•Seems the hippocampus is the essential part of the
brain for memories
•But visual memories may be stored in the visual
cortex
Retrieval
The getting of information and memories out
of our heads
How do we recall the information we
thought we remembered and stored?
Lets Jog Our Memory!!!!!!!
Recall versus Recognition
I probably cannot recall the Smurfs,
but can I recognize them?
Lazy Smurf or Lethargic Smurf
Papa Smurf or Daddy Smurf
Practical Smurf or Handy Smurf
Intellectual Smurf or Brainy Smurf
Clumsy Smurf or Inept Smurf
• Recall
– Remembering without any external cues
– The retrieving of information you learned
earlier
– What we usually think of as memory
– Fill in the blank tests, short answer, essay
• Recognition
– The process of identifying information using
external cues
– Multiple choice and matching test questions
Recall vs Recognition
• Celebrity Yearbook Photos
Memory is often triggered by…
Retrieval Cues Not Clues!!
• Things that help us remember.
– Pictures, smells, touches
– Smell is usually the strongest
•We often use a process called
priming
•the activation of associations in our
memory to help us retrieve
information.
•Recalling a particular word or memory
becomes easier if another related
word is recalled first
•Example – thinking of me may help you
remember a psychology concept or term
•How do our physical
condition and mood
affect our ability to
retrieve memories??
The Pollyanna Principle
Stress and Memory
• Stress can lead to
the release of
hormones that have
been shown to assist
in LTM.
– i.e. adrenaline
– Similar to the idea of
Flashbulb Memory.
State-dependent memory
• Retrieval is best when the
retrieval state is the same as
the encoding state
– If you are tired when encoding,
retrieval will be best when you are
also tired
– If you study on your favorite chair
at home, you will probably score
higher if you also took the test on
that chair.
Mood-Congruent Memory
• The tendency to recall experiences that
are consistent with one's current good
or bad mood.
• If you are depressed, you will more
likely recall sad memories from you
past.
Types of Long Term Memories
Declarative Memories
Vs.
Non-Declarative Memories
and
Prospective
Vs.
Retrospective Memory
Declarative Memories
• Also called explicit memories
– The memories that relate to facts and take
effort to recall
• Two types
– Semantic Memory
• Memory of facts and general information
• State capitals or rules of a game
– Episodic Memory
• Memories of specific events – personal memories
• Think of this like episodes of your life, like
remembering your 16th birthday
Non-declarative Memories
• Also called implicit memories
– Unintentional memories
• that we might not even realize we have and do not take
conscious thinking to recall
– Processed all over the brain
• 2 Types
– Procedural Memories
• Memories of skills and how to perform them
• Riding a bike or driving a car
– Classically condition Memories
• Jumping when you hear the toilet flush
Prospective vs. Retrospective
Memory
• Prospective Memory
– Remembering to perform actions in the future
– Remembering to take the trash out or walk the
dog, or to call someone
– Those who appear bad at prospective memory are
often characterized as “absent minded”
• Retrospective Memory
– Remembering events from the past or previously
learned information
– Trying to remember what was said in your last
class
PRIMING EFFECT
• Priming effect occurs when people respond
faster or better to an item if a similar item
preceded it.
– Example - - table - chair
•For the most part, the priming effect is
considered involuntary and is most
likely an unconscious phenomenon.
Priming
Constructing Fake Memories
and Forgetting Real Ones
Forgetting and Distortions of
Memory
• In the 80’s and 90’s “recovered
memories” were big headlines.
• Individuals of all ages were claiming to
suddenly remember events that had been
“repressed” and forgotten for years.
• Often these memories were of abuse.
• Sometimes these recovered memories
were corroborated with physical
evidence and justice was served.
• Other times they were discovered to be
fabricated or constructed memories
Constructed memory
• A memory or recollection of
an event that is false or
contains false details that
never actually occurred
– Theory that holds that
memory is not a replica of the
past but a representation, or
reconstruction, of the past
– Reconstruction can lead to
distorted memories of events
and experiences
Elizabeth Loftus
 Famous Memory researcher
 showed that leading questions can easily
influence us to recall false details
 questioners can create entirely new
memory by repeatedly asking leading
questions
 Especially true in children
Manufacturing Memories
Why Do We Forget??
It is inevitable we all will forget
things…but why and how much?
• Retention
– The proportion of learned information that is
retained or remembered
– The flip side of forgetting
Forgetting as an Encoding Failure
• Forgetting is often a problem with how
information was encoded
• You sometimes haven’t forgotten
information
– The information was actually never encoded
in your memory or not encoded at a deep
enough level
– It never has a chance to enter our LTM.
– Sometimes called pseudoforgetting
Encoding Failure
Forgetting as a Storage Failure
• Memories, even saved ones, can decay over
time
– Decay Theory
• Memories just go away over time
– Without rehearsal, we forget thing over time.
• Hermann Ebbinghaus and his
Forgetting Curve
– Said as time passes by information is forgotten
gradually
– Actually spent time plotting this on a graph
– Example – remembering new vocab. words and
forgetting more as time goes by
– Example – first day forget very few, but forgetting
speeds up over time
Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve
Forgetting as a Retrieval Failure
• It’s in there but you can not get it out
– Tip-of-the-tongue Phenomenon
• Forgotten information feels like it is just out of
reach
• Interference
– One memory gets in the way of another
• Two Kinds of Interference
– Proactive Interference
– Retroactive Interference
Proactive Interference
• Earlier memories
interfere with new ones
– Remembering earlier
addresses while having a
hard time remembering
your new one
If you call your new girlfriend your
old girlfriend’s name.
Retroactive Interference
• New memories reduce
ability to retrieve older
memories
• Remembering new sport
champs and forgetting
older ones – or forgetting
your old phone number
when you get a new one
When you finally remember this
years locker combination, you forget
last years.
Other Reasons We May Forget
• Motivated Forgetting
– Forgetting can sometimes provide a protection from
painful memories
– Repression
• Psychogenic Amnesia
• The process of moving anxiety producing
memories to the unconscious – Freud
• Physical Injury or Trauma
– Anterograde Amnesia
• The inability to remember events that occur
after an injury or traumatic event
– Retrograde Amnesia
• The inability to remember events that occurred
before an injury or traumatic event
Other Reasons We Forget
• Distortions of Memory
– We sometimes construct memories that did not
happen or distort the ones that we do have
– Misinformation Effect
• Incorporating misleading information of an event into
one’s memory
• Possible planted memories
• Example – sometimes used by lawyers – Law and Order
Clip
– Children’s Recall
• Very open to misinformation effect
• Often provide memories they think an adult expects
to hear or when asked very leading questions
• Can be a problem when testifying against an accused
or falsely accused person
Other Reasons We May Forget
• Source Amnesia
– Having to remember at the time of recall where
memories came from
– “did I read that in the Post or NY Times?”
– It is also common for people to mix up fictional
information from novels and movies with factual
information from news and personal experiences
• Cryptomnesia
– Inadvertent plagiarism that occurs when people come up
with an idea that they think is original when they were
actually exposed to it earlier
• Confabulation
– is the confusion of imagination with memory, and/or the
confusion of true memories with false memories
– Trying to fill in the blanks of something you are trying
to remember with false memories
Deja Vu
• Usually translated as already lived or already felt
• the experience of feeling sure that one has
witnessed or experienced a new situation previously
• Possible explanations
– An anomaly of memory
• an overlap between the short-term memory (events
which are perceived as being in the present) and the
long-term memory (events which are perceived as
being in the past)
– Neural misfiring
• Two neurons firing from different sources, thus
coming up with two sensations (of the same stimulus)
each seeming like a different event at a different
time
Don’t Always Trust Your Memory!!!
M emory
Accuracy
Was the
memory
encoded?
Has the
memory
decayed?
Is there
information
interfering
with the
memory?
Is there a
reason not to
remember?
Are there
falsely
constructed
memory
details?
• Manufactured Memories
• 1
• 2