Memory & Problem Solving
Chapter 10
Acquiring, Processing,
and Retaining Information
3 Steps
 Input:
Information people receive from
their senses.
 Central Processing: Storing (Memory)
and sorting (thought) the information.
 Output: Ideas and actions that result.
Taking Information In
2
processes (steps) help people narrow
sensory inputs to a manageable
number.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION

The ability to choose among the various
available inputs.
 “Cocktail-Party Phenomenon”

TOP-PRIORITY
 Hunger
 Strange
 Interest
FEATURE EXTRACTION

Locating the outstanding characteristics of
incoming information.
 Experience helps!
 The identification of anything.
 Aoccdrnig
to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtsy, it deosn’t mttaer
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
olny iprmaotnt tihng is taht the frist and
lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset
can be a total mses and you can sitll
raed it wouthit a porbelm.
STORING INFORMATION
 Memory
3
types
1. Sensory Storage
 Your
senses holds information for an
instant.
 Ex. Movie Frames
Experiment -
cover lens!
T
D
R
S
R
N
F
Z
K
2. SHORT–TERM MEMORY
 Keeps
information in mind about 20
seconds.
 Rehearsal:
Repeating information to self
(Ex. Paying close attention).
 Chunking:
Limited capacity of 7 bits of
information.
 Ex. 5556794 = 555-6794 or 555-67-94
3. LONG-TERM MEMORY
 Store
information for future use.
 Involves all sensory processes.
 Declarative
memory

Semantic: A network and associations of facts,
concepts and skills. Language, rules words and
meanings.

Episodic: Concrete information, personal
experiences. Memories of ones life.
 Procedural:
Concrete, executable
procedures stored in memory, Learned skills
RECOGNITION
 Human
memory is organized to make
recognition easy.
 Single item is under several headings.
Ex. WWSHS, Multiple choice test, Mug
shot or Line up.
RECALL
 The
active reconstruction of information.
 Knowledge, attitudes and expectations
 Essay test, Police sketch.
EIDETIC MEMORY
 Photographic
memory.
 Usually Children.
 How many white
stripes on the cats tail?
Proactive Interference
 An
early memory blocks out a more
recent memory.
 2013 v. 2014
Retroactive Memory
A
Recent memory blocks out an older
memory.
 Ex. New locker combo.
CONFABULATION
*Remembering information not stored in
memory.
*Categorical intrusion.
Bed, rest, tired, wake, night, dream, eat,
comfort, awake, sound, slumber, snore.
“Sleep” 50% to 75% will recall – but, not
on list.
THINKING
 Changing
and reorganizing information
stored in memory to create new
information.
 Different units of thought include
images, symbols, concepts,
prototypes, and rules.
DIRECTED THINKING
A
systematic and logical attempt to
reach a specific goal.
 Symbols, concepts and rules.
 Ex. Math, crosswords.
NONDIRECTED THINKING
 Free
flow of thoughts with no goal or
plan.
 “Creativity is the residue of time
wasted.”
 Images
 Ex. Daydreaming, Brainstorming.
PROBLEM SOLVING
 Strategies:
Specific methods for
approaching problems.
 Set: Useful strategies become
cemented into the problem solving
process.
 Rigidity:When a set interferes with
problem solving.
CREATIVITY
 The
ability to use information in such a
way that the result is somehow NEW,
ORIGINAL and MEANINGFUL.
Can you Solve this?
A
man in Wheaton,
IL has married 20
women. All of the
women are still alive,
and none of them is
divorced. The man
has broken no laws.
Who is the man?
Can you Solve this?
 People
were given a candle, matches
and a box of tacks and asked to attach
the candle to a corkboard wall so that
the candle would burn without dripping
wax on the floor.
3 components
 FLEXIBILITY:
The ability to overcome
rigidity.
 RECOMBINATION:
A new mental
rearrangement of the elements.
 INSIGHT:
“Aha experience” The sudden
emergence of a solution by the
recombination of the elements.