Chapter 9: Memory
(introduction)
Memory is the persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of
information. The term “Flashbulb memory” refers to a clear memory of an emotionally
significant moment or event for example, “911”, the tragedy that occurred in New York
and beyond on September 11th.
Humans store vast amounts of information in long-term memory, the relatively
permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Short-term memory is our
activated memory that holds a few items briefly such as the phone number that you just
looked up in the phone book and dialed.
The human memory is like a computer. There are three components:
1. Encoding: Getting information into our brain; the processing of information into our
memory system.
2. Storage: Retaining information; the retention of encoded information over time.
3. Retrieval: Getting the information back later; the process of getting information out of
our memory storage.
In this unit you will examine the above steps in more detail and look at the variety of
factors that affect memory development.
(lesson 1: Pages 269-280 in Myers 5th edition and module #23 & #24 pages 321-333 in
Myers modules)
Encoding: Getting Information In
Automatic processing is the unconscious encoding of incidental information. It occurs
with little or no effort, without our awareness, and without interfering with our thinking
of other things. An example would be….
Effortful processing is encoding that requires attention and conscious effort such as
memorizing these notes for the AP Psychology exam.
After practice, effort processing becomes more automatic. For example, learning how to
type, or learning a new language requires much effort at first but will eventually become
effortless.
The following are notes suggest why we remember certain things more than others:
-Next-in-line effect: when people go around circle saying names/words, poorest
memories are for name/word person before them said.
-Information received before sleep is hardly ever remembered as consciousness
fades before processing is able to take place.
-We retain information better when rehearsal is distributed over time, a
phenomenon called the spacing effect. Remember, spaced study beats
cramming!!!
-When given a list of items and ask to recall them, people often demonstrate the
serial position effect or the tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
Memory can be boosted through rehearsal, the conscious repetition of information,
either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage
Rehearsal will not encode all information equally well because we process information in
3 ways:
1. Semantic encoding: encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words.
2. Acoustic encoding: encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.
3. Visual encoding: encoding of picture images.
Fergus Craik and Endel Tulving flashed a word to people, asking question that required
processing either visually, acoustically, or semantically; semantic encoding was found to
yield much better memory.
Some aids that may help to improve memory:
1.
Imagery: otherwise known as mental pictures. These are a powerful aid
to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic
encoding. For example, we can easily picture where we were yesterday,
where we sat, and what we wore.
2.
Mnemonic devices: these are memory aids that use vivid imagery and
organizational devices. Examples include “method of loci” and the
“peg-word” system (see page 277 in the 5th or page 330 in modules).
3.
Chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often
occurs automatically. For example, we will “chunk” a telephone
number into groups of 3 and 4 numbers respectively; 834-1031 is easier
to remember than 8341031. Also, remembering the colors of the
rainbow is easier when you use the acronym “ROY G. BIV”.
Ultimately, we are able to remember information best when we organize it into personal
meaningful arrangements.
Forgetting as Encoding Failure
Our failure to encode information means that it never entered the memory system in the
first place. Much of what we sense, we never notice. For example, Raymond Nickerson
and Marilyn Adams discovered that most people couldn’t pick the real American penny
from different ones (See pg. 280 in the 5th edition or page 347 in Myers modules).
(lesson 2: Pages 280-288 in Myers 5th edition and module #25 pages 336-341 in Myers
modules)
Storage: Retaining Information
Sensory memory is the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in our
memory system.
We have short temporary photographic memory called iconic memory, the momentary
sensory memory of visual stimuli. It is a photographic/picture-image memory lasting no
more than a few tenths of a second.
We also have fleeting memory for auditory sensory images called echoic memory or the
momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and
words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.
Short-Term Memory
This is our activated memory that holds few items briefly such as the telephone number
that you just looked up in the directory and dialed.
Without active processing, short-term memories have a limited life.
Short-term memory is limited in capacity –approximately 7 chunks of information can be
retained at any given moment; we can consciously only process a very limited amount of
information.
Long-Term Memory
This is our relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.
The brain’s capacity for storing long-term memories is practically limitless
Forgetting occurs as new experiences interfere with retrieval of long-term memories and
as our physical memory trace gradually decays.
Karl Lashley removed pieces of rat’s cortex as it ran through maze and found that no
matter what part of the cortex was removed, partial memory of solving the maze stayed.
He concluded that memories do not reside in a single specific spot. Psychologists then
focused on the role of the neuron and come up with the following findings:
1. Long-term potential (LTP): The increase in a synapse’s firing potential after
brief, rapid stimulation; it is believed to be neural basis for learning and
memory. After long-term potential occurs, passing electric current through the
brain will not disrupt old memories, but it will wipe out recent experiences.
For instance, when a person with a blow to the head from a car accident
doesn’t remember what occurred in the seconds leading up to the accident.
2. Drugs that block the neurotransmitters will also disrupt information storage,
such as when people under the influence of alcohol do not remember the
events of the previous evening.
3. Stimulating hormones can affect memory, as there appears to be more glucose
available to fuel brain activity, indicating an important event. This appears to
etch events into the brain, events such as your first kiss, a tragic event, the
birth of a child, or failing you psychology test.
Amnesia refers to the loss of memory. It was found that people who don’t have
memories could still learn, indicating that two memory systems are operating in order.
1.
Implicit memory: the retention without conscious recollection (of skills
and dispositions), such as how to do something.
2.
Explicit memory: the memory of facts and experiences that one can
consciously know and “declare”, such as what happened in a specific
situation.
Research Notes:
-Through brain scans, it was found that the Hippocampus, the neural center located in
limbic system, helps process explicit memories for storage.
-Damage to left side of hippocampus produces difficulty in remembering verbal info,
but no trouble recalling visual designs and locations.
-Damage to right side of the hippocampus produces difficulty in remembering visual
designs and locations, but no trouble recalling verbal information.
-When the hippocampus was removed from monkeys, they lost recent memories, but old
memories remained intact, suggesting that the hippocampus was not an area of permanent
storage. It is known that long-term memories scattered across various parts of frontal and
temporal lobes.
(lesson 3: Pages 288-303 in Myers 5th edition and module #26 pages 342-360 Myers
modules)
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Some terms associated with retrieval are:
-Recall: this is the measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information
learned earlier as seen in a fill-in-the-blank test. Once learned and forgotten, relearning
something becomes quicker than when originally first learned.
-Recognition: the measure of memory in which the person need only identify items
previously learned as seen in a multiple-choice test.
-Relearning: a memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when relearning
previously learned information.
Through tests on recognition and relearning, it was found that one remembers more than
one can actually recall. To retrieve a specific memory, there is a need to identify one of
the strands that leads to it. This process is called priming, the activation, often
unconsciously, of particular associations in memory. Retrieval cues such as photographs,
often prime one’s memories for earlier experiences. Our best retrieval cues come from
associations formed at time when one encodes memory.
Finding yourself in similar surroundings (context), can cause a flood of retrieval cues and
memories and may trigger an experience called déjà vu, an eerie sense that “I’ve
experienced this before”. Cues from a current situation may subconsciously trigger
retrieval of an earlier experience.
We also know that things learned in one state (joyful, sad, drunk, sober, etc) are more
easily recalled when in “same state”. This phenomenon is called state-dependent
memory. Moods are also associated with memory as it is easy to recall a memory when
the mood of that incident is the same as present mood. Mood-congruent memory is the
tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good mood or bad
mood.
Forgetting as Retrieval Failure
Learning some items may interfere with retrieving others. Two types of interference are:
1.
Proactive interference (forward-acting): this is the disruption of prior
learning on the recall of new information. For instance, old combination
lock numbers may interfere with recalling of new numbers.
2.
Retroactive interference (backward-acting): This is the disruption of
new learning on the recall of old information. For example, teachers
who just learned students’ names from their present class have trouble
recalling previous class’ students’ names.
Sometimes however old information gives us an advantage to learning new information.
This is called positive transfer and an example of this would be when one’s
understanding of the French language facilitates the learning of Spanish.
Freud would suggest that memories are not forgotten but are repressed and that we do
this in an attempt to protect our self-concept and to reduce anxiety. Repression,
according to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, is the basic defense mechanism that banishes
anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. Although many
believe that we tend to push painful memories into unconsciousness, many memory
researchers feel that repression rarely occurs.
Memory Construction
Misinformation effect: the incorporation of misleading information into one’s memory
of an event. We will often unintentionally fill in the gaps of our knowledge with
misinformation in order to “complete” the memory. For instance, the stop sign that you
ran becomes a yield sign in your recollection of the event. As stated in the text, “the
mind’s search for a fact may create a fiction”.
Source amnesia: this is when we attribute an event that we experienced, heard about,
read about, or imagined to the wrong source. For example, we may see something in a
movie that we later describe as something we read in the newspaper or seen on the news.
Along with the misinformation effect, source amnesia is the basis for many of our false
memories.
Discerning whether or not a memory is based on fact or fiction is always a difficult task
especially for crime investigators. The text discusses the problems associated with
children’s eyewitness recall and the difficult task of helping to uncover the truth in cases
of the abused and victimized. Ensure that these discussions are covered in your readings
(see pages 297-301 in the 5th and pages 355-360 in the modules).