Making memories
Memory
• Memory is essential for learning
• Memory for our own lives deeply related to well-being
• Cultural differences in assumptions about how memory works
• Memory is (re)constructive based on some loosely accurate memory
for some gist information
• Note infelicitous use of “representation”
• “simulation” likely makes more sense
Discovering the role of the hippocampus
• Henry Molaison (H.M.)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrmU8P3kBvM
Encoding
• You “remember” that which you encode through your senses
• N.b. Collective memory, small children (know/remember), reconstruction,
confabulation
• Hippocampal system important in encoding
• And couples with the default mode network for retrieval
• Psychologists often claim that attention is important in encoding
• We’ll see some other variables in demos
• Unusual events more memorable than usual events
Consolidation
• You forget most of what you experience (even encode)
• Association critical
• Therefore easier to remember if you know something already in the domain
• Example: words in a language you don’t speak well vs. you do speak well
• Children and one-trial learning
• To keep information in short-term or working memory, rehearsal is
essential
• Auditory information
• Visual information
• Retrieval of longer term memory supports consolidation
Storage
• Poor choice of terms because “storage” sounds static and is more
likely to be dynamic and errorful!
• Likely supported by systems of neurons that become strongly
connected
• Therefore likely supported by a lot of the brain; hippocampus less important
Retrieval
• Again, a misnomer since you do not “retrieve” a fully formed precise,
completely accurate memory
• Remember the gist and then (re)construct
• For ABM, cultural life script events can act as landmarks
• We often retrieve memories for a purpose and that purpose can
distort
• Why might you tell the story of your life?
• Question: when you tell the story of your life, do you include only events you
can “remember”?
• Developmental changes over the lifespan
Source of memories
• Episodic memories = memories of an event that happened to you
• Your LTM/declarative knowledge includes a lot of information you did
not experience
• Residential schools
• History
• Science
• Your own life (e.g., birth stories)
• Trustworthiness of source
• Toddlers on up learn and remember information SELECTIVELY, from sources
that they trust
• Source (monitoring) errors occur, even among adults
Factors affecting encoding
• Class demo #1
• Class demo #2
• Question: what do we learn about encoding from these
demonstrations?