Do you have a good memory?
Process of memory
• Encoding – must be able to encode info
properly – otherwise – why bother?
• You must store it correctly – or – why
bother?
• You can develop better ways to retrieve
what is already there
Encoding
• Role of attention – obviously important if
we want to actively encode and store info
• Sometimes we don’t realize what we are
attending to, which is why we can’t recall it
(although, interestingly, it does tend to
show up in dreams)
Levels of Processing
• Shallow vs. Deep Processing
– Shallow – maintenance rehearsal
– Deep – elaborative rehearsal
Levels of processing
• structural encoding (emphasis on
something looks) is a shallow level
• phonemic encoding (emphasis on the
sounds of the words) is an intermediate
level
• semantic encoding (emphasis on the
meaning) is considered deep
processing
How to encode better….
• elaboration=associating with other
information
• visual imagery
• Mnemonic devices
• self-referent: make the material
personally relevant
• Method of Loci - pegword
Types of memory
• Sensory – lasts less than 1 second – you
take in so much stimuli that it is virtually
impossible to process it all
Sensory Memory
• Iconic vs. Echoic
– Iconic - holds image of what we see for less
than a second
– Echoic – holds image of what we hear for 3 to
4 seconds
Short-term memory
• The capacity of short-term memory
depends upon chunks of info – that is we
can hold 7 +2 chunks of info
• Information is held for about 20 seconds
• What is a chunk?
Short-term memory cont’d
• Serial position effect – the tendency to
remember the first and last part of list but
forget the middle part
– Primacy effect – tendency to recall only 1st
part of list
– Recency effect – tendency to recall only last
part of list
Working Memory
• Part of short-term memory
• Works to actively move information from
short-term to long-term memory
• Rehearsal loop, elaboration
Long-term memory
Permanent or not?
May be poor retrieval skills
Flashbulb memories – accurate or not?
Long-term memory
• Types of memories –
– Episodic – personal memories
– Semantic – facts/knowledge
– Procedural – how to do things
Long-term memory
• Explicit vs. Implicit
– Explicit – memory that we are consciously
aware of – can describe the memory
– Implicit – memory which not conscious and
have difficulty describing because we do it so
frequently
• Context-dependent vs. State Dependent
– Context-dependent – remembering best in
similar situations
– State-dependent – remember best in the
same mood as when you learned material
Ahhh – the repressed memory
• No one knows for sure how accurate they
are
• It appears that there are many things that
may be added in that may have actually
happened, but not at that time
• Questions about sexual abuse allegations
• Witnesses who truly believe that they are correct
may appear convincing, but they appear to be
as accurate as someone who is not sure of
themselves
• Juries like witnesses who appear to be sure of
themselves
• Often, the witness may have the general context
right, but the details are often wrong
Freud and forgetting
• Freud discussed the concept of motivated
forgetting
– that is, a person will forget what has
happened to them because they don’t want to
think about what has happened to them
Elizabeth Loftus and Memory
• Has demonstrated that eyewitness memory may
be more distorted than we would like to think
• Studies have revealed that subjects can be lead
to an answer
• Some say this new info may replace old info,
others say it simply interferes with recall of old
info – either way, there are certainly implications
for our judicial system
Types of questions – problems for
some
• 1st two questions – first recall, then
recognition
• Pros and cons to both
• How to answer your multiple-choice
questions – first recall, then recognition
So…Why do we forget?
• Ineffective encoding
• Decay
• Interference – 2 types
– Retroactive – can’t get the old because of the
new
– Proactive – can’t get new because of old info
• Amnesia – organic amnesia is when there
is actually a head injury – chap 14 will
discuss amnesia due to psychological
events
– Retrograde amnesia – can’t remember before
the injury
– Anterograde amnesia – can’t form new
memories – can’t process from short-term to
long-term