Important Assignment!!!!
Activity
Recall vs. Recognition
Module 12
Remembering & Forgetting
Recall vs. Recognition
• Recall
– Retrieving previously learned information
without the aid of or with very few external
cues
• Recognition
– Identifying previously learned information
with the help of more external cues
Organization of Memories
• Network Theory
– We store related ideas in separate categories,
called nodes
– As we make associations between
information, we create links among
thousands of nodes
– Nodes make up a huge interconnected
network of files
Network Hierarchy
• Nodes
– Memory files that contain related information
organized around a specific topic
• Network hierarchy
– Arrangement of nodes in a certain order
– At the bottom, are nodes with very concrete
information
– These nodes are linked to more specific information,
which is connected to more general information
Forgetting
• Refers to the inability to retrieve, recall,
or recognize information that was stored
or is still stored in long-term memory.
Forgetting Curve
• Measures the amount of previously learned information that
subjects can recall across time
• Ebbinghaus
– One of the 1st psychologists to study memory & forgetting
– He tested his own memory of nonsense syllables
4 Reasons for Forgetting
• Repression
– Mental process that automatically hides emotionally threatening or
anxiety-producing information in the unconscious
• Poor Retrieval Cues
– Retrieval cues are mental reminders that we create by forming vivid
mental images or creating associations between new information &
information we already know
• Amnesia
– Loss of memory due to a blow or damage to the brain, after drug use,
or after severe psychological stress
• Interference
– Recall of a memory is blocked by other related memories
Interference
• Theory that we may forget information
not because it is no longer in storage or
memory but rather because old or newer
related information produces confusion
and thus blocks retrieval from memory
2 Types of Interference
• Proactive
– Old information (learned earlier) blocks or disrupts the
remembering of new information (learned later)
• Retroactive
– New information (learned later) blocks or disrupts the
remembering of old information (learned earlier)
blocks or disrupts
the retrieval of related old info
learned EARLIER (psychology)
Retrieval Cues
• Mental reminders that you create by forming
vivid mental images of information or
associating new information with information
that you already know
• State Dependent Learning
– It is easier to recall information when you are in the
same physiological or emotional state or setting as
when you originally encoded the information
Forgetting- Cue Dependence
Theory
• Explains forgetting as due to the failure to have
or use adequate retrieval cues
– Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Refers to having a
strong feeling that a particular word can be recalled,
but despite making a great effort, we are
temporarily unable to recall this particular
information. Later, in a different situation, we may
recall the information.
– The inability to recall info that one knows has been
stored in long-term memory
– Universal, increases with age, and occurs about once
a week
Forgetting- Cue Dependence Theory
• Encoding Specificity: Recall will be best when cues that were
associated with the encoding of a memory are also present during
attempts at retrieving it
– Context Dependent Memory: Recall to be best when the environmental
context present during the encoding of a memory is also present during
attempts at retrieving it
– State Dependent Memory: Recall to be best when one’s emotional or
physiological state is the same during the recall during attempts at
retrieving it
– Mood Dependent Memory: Recall to be best when one’s mood is the same
during the recall of a memory as it was during the encoding of that
memory
– Mood Congruent Memory: Tendency to recall memories that are
consistent with one’s current mood
• Helps explain the self-perpetuating nature of depression
Where should you take your
psychology tests?
Discussion:
If you wanted to change your study
habits, how would you use information
about why we forget?
Biological Bases of Memory
• Cortex- short-term memories & long-term memories (stores)
– Thin layer of brain cells that cover the surface of the forebrain
• Amygdala- emotional memories (adds emotional associations)
– Almond-shaped structure lying below the surface of the cortex in the
tip of the temporal lobe
– Plays a critical role in adding a wide range of emotions to our
memories
• Hippocampus- transferring memories from STM to LTM (transfers)
– Curved, finger-like structure that lies beneath the cortex in the
temporal lobe
– Transfers declarative information (words, facts & events) from STM
into LTM
Location of Memories in the Brain
STM: Neural Assemblies
• Groups of interconnected neurons whose
activation allows information or stimuli
to be recognized and held briefly and
temporarily in short-term memory
• One mechanism for holding information
in short-term memory
LTM: Long-Term Potential (LTP)
• Researchers believe that learning changes the structure and
function of the neuron itself
• LTP refers to the increased sensitivity of a neuron to stimulation
after it has been repeatedly stimulated (by changing the neuron’s
structure)
Mnemonic Devices
• Ways to improve encoding and create better retrieval cues by
forming vivid associations or images
• Techniques for organizing information to be memorized to
make it easier to remember
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SQR4 Method
Elaborative Rehearsal (vs. maintenance rehearsal & rote memorization)
Overlearning
Distributed Practice (vs. Massed Practice)
Method of Loci
Acronyms
Pegword Method
Link Method
Narrative Method
SQR4 Method
• Student using the following processes to read and study:
– Surveys: Glance through the headings throughout a section to get
an idea about which you will be reading
– Questions: As you survey, develop questions that you should be
able to answer when finished
– Read: Carefully read the material
– Recite: Be sure you can answer all the questions and explain what
you have read
– Review: Quiz yourself on the section and reread the necessary
portions that you didn’t know well
– wRite: Write what you have learned in your own words.
Elaborative Rehearsal
• Processing information at a relatively deep
level
• Far superior to maintenance rehearsal &
rote memorization (process at a relatively
shallow level)
Overlearning
• Study material beyond the point of initial
mastery
• Helps performance partially due to
increased confidence
Distributed Practice
• Spreading out memorization of information
or learning over several sessions
• Far superior to massed practice (Cramming
the memorization of information or learning
into one session)
Method of Loci
• Create visual associations between already
memorized places & new items to be
memorized
• Mnemonic device that involves associating
the items you need to remember with the
landmarks of a familiar place
• You recall the items as you take a mental
walk through the familiar place
Acronym
• Forming a term from the first letters of a
series of words that need to be remembered
Pegword Method
• Create associations between number-word rhymes
and items to be memorized
• One is a bun; two is a shoe; three is a tree; four is
a door; five is a hive
• First, make-up a simple rhyme like 1= bun, 2= shoe, 3=
bee, etc.
• Associate the items you need to remember with the peg
words (like bun) in your rhyme
• The stranger the association, the easier it will be for you to
remember the item
Link Method
• Connect images of the items you need to
remember in sequence
Narrative Method
• Connect unrelated items that you must
remember together in a story
Discussion:
Can you describe a mnemonic method to
remember the four reasons for
forgetting?
Activities
Creating Memories 27 8
False Memories
Can False Memories Be Implanted?
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Researchers interviewed parents about events that occurred in their children’s
lives during the past 12 months
Each 3- to 6-year-old was read a list of these events including some fictitious
events
Children were asked to “think hard” & identify the events that actually
happened
Bar graph data from “Repeatedly Thinking About a Non-Event: Source Misattributions Among
Pre-Schoolers,” by S. J. Ceci, M. L. C. Huffman, E. Smith & E. Loftus, 1994, Consciousness and
Cognition, 3, 388-407.
How Accurate is an Eyewitness?
• Own-Race Bias
– Researchers found that an eyewitness of one
race is less accurate when identifying an
accused person of another race
• Confidence
– 6 reviews of studies concluded that there is a
weak relationship between correct
identification & level of witness confidence
Can Questions Change the Answers?
• Did the car pass the barn?
– After watching a film segment, subjects were asked, “How fast was
the red sports car going when it passed the barn?”
– Although there was no barn in the film, 17% of subjects reported
seeing a barn
• Was there a stop sign?
– Subjects were shown slides of a traffic accident involving a stop sign
& asked questions about what they saw
– Some subjects were asked misleading questions about a yield sign
instead of a stop sign
– Subjects who had been given misleading questions were more likely to
report seeing a yield sign than subjects who were not misled
Source Misattribution
• Memory error that results when a person has
difficulty deciding which of 2 sources a memory
came from
• Factors contributing to source misattribution
– false suggestions
– misleading questions
– misinformation
Cognitive Interview
• Used by investigators to interview
eyewitnesses
• Technique for questioning people by
having them imagine & reconstruct the
details of an event & report everything
they remember
Discussion:
If you were on a jury, what concerns
would you have when listening to
eyewitness testimony?
Activity
Earliest Memory
Discussion:
What are some possible explanations for why
adults don’t have memories for experiences
that occurred early in childhood?
Memory Activities
Exploratorium
The Mind
•#10 Life Without Memory:
The Case of Clive Wearing
•#11 Clive Wearing, Part 2:
Living Without Memory
•Discussion 23 3
Activity
Applying Study Skills
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Distribute rather than mass study time.
Study about 20-30 minutes at a time (about
one section of a module) rather than 3 hours
the night before an exam.
• Reinforce rather than punish “good”
student behavior.
Do something fun (watch TV, talk on the
phone, shoot hoops) AFTER you have done
your studying.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Create a study area.
Okay, so you can’t afford one room just for studying. Have a
STUDY LAMP that you bring to your kitchen or bedroom when
you study. When your lamp is on, you don’t eat, watch TV, talk
on the phone, etc. Try the library. Choose an area that is free of
distractions.
• Become active (reciting, walking, or taking notes)
rather than remaining passive while studying.
We all have had the experience of reading two pages mindlessly
and not remembering a thing we’ve read. Put your brain in gear.
Ask yourself questions about the material, ask questions during
class, make flashcards, arrange study groups.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Discover meaning rather than merely
memorizing.
– Can you do the concept reviews and summary tests
without looking at the answers?
– Do you understand what the material means well
enough to answer the study questions?
– Try to put the lecture or textual material into your
own words.
– Take time to integrate new material with concepts that
you already understand.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Use mnemonics (techniques to improve
recall).
– Employ acronyms (FOIL, ROY G BIV)
– Use peg words
– Utilize the method of loci
• Eliminate interference.
Study one subject at a time, space study
periods, study before or after sleeping.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Understand the concept rather than
recognizing having seen it.
The most common reason that students
FORGET is that they never LEARNED the
material in the first place- remember, what’s
on a penny?.
• SQ4R- Survey, Question, Read, Recite,
Review, and wRite.
Use this method…our text fits great with it.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Overlearn.
Studies show that the more one reviews material (even material
one has mastered), the better it is remembered and the easier it is
to retrieve. This is not to be confused with OVERSTUDYING
which is another word for cramming at the last minute.
• Encode in as many different ways as possible.
- Visual: highlight text, visually arrange notes, use imagery
- Auditory: tape record lecture or yourself going over important
concepts, teach someone else, use tutoring services
- Tactile: rewrite notes or combine lecture notes with textbook
information, use hands-on where possible (get a brain model)
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Take good notes.
– Rephrase what the teacher has said in your own
words (so that you understand it and can associate it
personally).
– Write more than what is put on the board or screen
(add examples and other students’ questions).
– Rewrite your notes after class.
– Compare your notes with other students (for missing
information or other way of understanding).
– Divide your note page vertically so that the left side
can be used later for important terms or added notes.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Strategic textbook reading
– Read before as well as after the lecture on the
material. The former helps you understand the
lecture better, the latter reinforces it.
– Write comments in the margins of the text.
– Look up difficult words (keep a dictionary handy).
– Remember that reading does not equal studying.
Reading textbooks are not like reading a novel. Being
familiar with the material does not mean you will
remember the specifics.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Managing Time
– Get a date book and with a syllabus in hand set up a
realistic study schedule.
– Divide up larger tasks (such as term papers) into
smaller sub-tasks.
– When registering for classes make sure that your
goals and times are manageable (balance family, job,
fun).
– Go to class and if you should miss get notes and
assignments from a good student.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Test Taking Skills
– Multiple-choice is choosing the BEST choice, so make
sure you read all answers.
– If part of a true-false is false then the entire question
is false.
– On essays, jot down a quick outline before you start
writing. Do the essays before the multiple choice.
– Skip questions you do not know and come back to
them (later questions may help you remember).
– Relax.
Applied Memory Study Skills
• Choose friends wisely.
– Choose friends that are interested in learning
and a career.
– Their motivation will help you get involved
and keep you on track (and vice-versa).
Movie: Overboard
• What is the cause of Goldie’s amnesia and what
are some other ways a person may develop
amnesia?
• What triggers Goldie to remember everything
about her life at once? What could possibly
explain the instantaneous recovery of her
memory?
• Do you believe someone’s personality could
change, like Goldie’s character, if during a
period of amnesia, you were made to believe
that your were someone you really weren’t?
Why or why not?
Movie: While You Were Sleeping
• How did Bullock’s character come to be
engaged to her first fiance’?
• How easily do you think people are
influenced to believe false memories?
Have you ever been influenced to have
false memories?
• How accurate is oral information? Cite
examples from movie for support.
The Brain
•#17 Learning as Synaptic
Change
•#18 Living With Amnesia:
The Hippocampus & Memory
•#20 A Super-Memorist
Advises on Study Strategies
PsychSim 4.0
Forgetting
PsychQuest
Can We Rely on Memory?