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Unit 7A:
Cognition: Memory
Unit Overview
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The Phenomenon of Memory
Information Processing
Forgetting
Memory Construction
Improving Memory
Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.
The Phenomenon of Memory
Introduction
• Memory
• Extremes of memory
Memory
The Phenomenon of Memory
Memory is the basis for knowing your friends,
your neighbors, the English language, the
national anthem, and yourself.
Memory is any indication that learning has
persisted over time. It is our ability to store and
retrieve information.
If memory was nonexistent, everyone would be
a stranger to you; every language foreign; every
task new; and even you yourself would be a
stranger.
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Studying Memory:
Information Processing Models
Information Processing
Keyboard
(Encoding)
Disk
(Storage)
Monitor
(Retrieval)
Sequential Process
Introduction
Information Processing
• Modified version of the three-stage
processing model of memory
–Information directly into long-term
memory
–Working memory
Frank Wartenberg/ Picture Press/
Corbis
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
The Atkinson-Schiffrin (1968) three-stage model
of memory includes a) sensory memory, b)
short-term memory, and c) long-term memory.
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
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Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Working Memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory
that involves conscious, active processing of
incoming auditory and visual-spatial
information, and of information retrieved from
long-term memory
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Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
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Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Encoding: Getting Information In
How We Encode
1. Some information (route to your school) is
automatically processed.
2. However, new or unusual information
(friend’s new cell-phone number) requires
attention and effort.
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Effortful Processing
Automatic Processing
We process an enormous amount of information
effortlessly, such as the following:
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Rehearsal
Rehearsal
Effortful learning
usually requires
rehearsal or conscious
repetition.
http://www.isbn3-540-21358-9.de
Ebbinghaus studied
rehearsal by using
nonsense syllables:
TUV YOF GEK XOZ
© Bananastock/ Alamy
Spencer Grant/ Photo Edit
1. Space: While reading a textbook, you
automatically encode the place of a picture
on a page.
2. Time: We unintentionally note the events
that take place in a day.
3. Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of
things that happen to you.
Committing novel
information to memory
requires effort just like
learning a concept from
a textbook. Such
processing leads to
durable and accessible
memories.
Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1850-1909)
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The more times the
nonsense syllables
were practiced on
Day 1,
the fewer
repetitions were
required to
remember them on
Day 2.
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Encoding: Getting Information In
Memory Effects
What We Encode
• Levels of Processing
1. Spacing Effect: We retain information
better when we rehearse over time.
–Visual encoding
–Acoustic encoding
–Semantic encoding
2. Serial Position Effect: When your
recall is better for first and last items
on a list, but poor for middle items.
• Self-reference effect
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Encoding: Getting Information In
Encoding: Getting Information In
What We Encode
What We Encode
Encoding: Getting Information In
Encoding: Getting Information In
What We Encode
What We Encode
Encoding: Getting Information In
Encoding: Getting Information In
What We Encode
What We Encode
• Visual Encoding
–Imagery
• Rosy retrospection
• Organizing Information for Encoding
–Chunking
• acronym
–Mnemonics
• Peg-word system
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Encoding: Getting Information In
Encoding: Getting Information In
What We Encode
What We Encode
• Organizing Information for Encoding
• Organizing Information for Encoding
–Chunking
–Chunking
• acronym
• acronym
Encoding: Getting Information In
Encoding: Getting Information In
What We Encode
What We Encode
• Organizing Information for Encoding
• Organizing Information for Encoding
–Chunking
–Chunking
• acronym
• acronym
Encoding: Getting Information In
Encoding: Getting Information In
What We Encode
What We Encode
• Organizing Information for Encoding
• Organizing Information for Encoding
–Chunking
–Chunking
• acronym
• acronym
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Encoding: Getting Information In
Hierarchy
What We Encode
• Organizing Information for Encoding
–Hierarchies
Complex information broken down into broad
concepts and further subdivided into categories
and subcategories.
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Storage: Retaining Information
Storage: Retaining Information
Sensory Memory
• Iconic memory
• Echoic memory
Storage is at the heart of memory. Three
stores of memory are shown below:
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Retrieval
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Sensory Memory
Sensory Memory
The longer the delay, the greater the memory loss.
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
Percent Recognized
Sensory
Memory
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Retrieval
80
60
40
20
0.15
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0.30
0.50
Time (Seconds)
1.00
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Sensory Memories
Working Memory
The duration of sensory memory varies for the
different senses.
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
Encoding
Iconic
0.5 sec. long
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Echoic
3-4 sec. long
Retrieval
Hepatic
< 1 sec. long
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Capacity
Working Memory
Working memory, the new name for short-term
memory, has a limited capacity (7±2) and a short
duration (20 seconds).
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or
Minus Two: Some Limits on Our
Capacity for Processing Information
(1956).
Ready?
MUTGIKTLRSYP
Sir George Hamilton observed that he could accurately remember up
to 7 beans thrown on the floor. If there were more beans, he guessed.
You should be able to
recall 7±2 letters.
George Miller
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Chunking
Duration
The capacity of the working memory may be
increased by “chunking.”
Peterson and Peterson (1959) measured the
duration of working memory by manipulating
rehearsal.
CHJ
MKT
HIJ
547
F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M
FBI
547
544
541
…
CH??
TWA CIA IBM
4 chunks
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The duration of the working memory is about
20 sec.
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Long-Term Memory
Working Memory Duration
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Retrieval
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Long-Term Memory
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Memory Feats
Essentially unlimited capacity store.
R.J. Erwin/ Photo Researchers
The Clark’s nutcracker can locate 6,000 caches of
buried pine seeds during winter and spring.
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Stress Hormones & Memory
Memory Stores
Working
Memory
LTM
Encoding
Copy
Phonemic
Semantic
Capacity
Unlimited
7±2 Chunks
Very Large
Duration
0.25 sec.
20 sec.
Years
Heightened emotions (stress-related or
otherwise) make for stronger memories.
Flashbulb memories are clear memories of
emotionally significant moments or events
Scott Barbour/ Getty Images
Feature
Sensory
Memory
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Storing Implicit & Explicit Memories
Hippocampus
Explicit Memory refers to facts and experiences that one
can consciously know and declare. Implicit memory
involves learning an action while the individual does not
know or declare what she knows.
Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbic
system that processes explicit memories.
Weidenfield & Nicolson archives
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Anterograde Amnesia
Implicit Memory
After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient
Henry M. (HM) remembered everything before the
operation but cannot make new memories. We call
this anterograde amnesia.
HM is unable to make new memories that are
declarative (explicit), but he can form new
memories that are procedural (implicit).
Anterograde
Amnesia
(HM)
Memory Intact
No New Memories
Surgery
A
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Cerebellum
B
C
HM learned the Tower of Hanoi (game) after his surgery. Each time
he plays it, he is unable to remember the fact that he has already
played the game.
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain
that processes implicit memories.
Retrieval refers to getting information out of
the memory store.
Spanky’s Yearbook Archive
Spanky’s Yearbook Archive
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Retrieval Cues
• Recall
• Recognition
• Relearning
• Retrieval
cues
• Mnemonic
devices
• Priming
Retrieval Cues
Priming
Memories are held in storage by a web of
associations. These associations are like anchors
that help retrieve memory.
To retrieve a specific memory from the web of
associations, you must first activate one of the
strands that leads to it. This process is called
priming.
water
smell
fire
smoke
Fire Truck
heat
hose
truck
red
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Context Effects
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Context Effects
• Context effects
• Déjà vu
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Context Effects
Context Effects
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Context Effects
Context Effects
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Context Effects
Context Effects
After learning to move a mobile by kicking,
infants most strongly respond when retested in
the same context rather than in a different
context (Rovee-Collier, 1993).
Courtesy of Carolyn Rovee-Collier,
Rutgers University
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Déjà Vu
Moods and Memories
Déjà Vu means “I've experienced this before.”
Cues from the current situation may
unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier
similar experience.
© The New Yorker Collection, 1990. Leo Cullum from
cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved
• State dependent memory
• Mood
congruent
memory
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Forgetting
Moods and Memories
We usually recall experiences that are consistent
with our current mood (state-dependent
memory). Emotions, or moods, serve as retrieval
cues. Our memories are mood-congruent.
An inability to
retrieve information
due to poor
encoding, storage, or
retrieval.
Jorgen Schytte/ Still Pictures
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Schacter’s sevens sins of memory failure
Misattribution
• It entails correct recollection of information with incorrect
recollection of the source of that information.
Transience
Suggestibility
• Transience refers to the general deterioration of a specific
memory over time. Transience is caused because of interference.
• Suggestibility is somewhat similar to misattribution, but with
overt suggestion. It is accepting false suggestion made by
others.
Absent-mindedness
• This form of memory breakdown involves problems at the point
where attention and memory interface. Common errors of this
type include misplacing keys, eyeglasses, or forgetting
appointments.
Bias
Blocking
Persistence
• Blocking is when the brain tries to retrieve or encode information,
but another memory interferes with it.
• This failure of the memory system involves the unwanted
recall of information that is disturbing.
• The sin of bias is similar to the sin of suggestibility in that
one's current feelings and worldview distort remembrance of
past events.
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Encoding Failure
Encoding Failure
• Encoding failure
• Encoding failure
Why do we forget?
Motivated Forgetting
Motivated Forgetting:
People unknowingly
revise their memories.
Forgetting can occur at
any memory stage. We
filter, alter, or lose
much information
during these stages.
Culver Pictures
Repression: A defense
mechanism that banishes
anxiety-arousing
thoughts, feelings, and
memories from
consciousness.
Sigmund Freud
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Memory Construction
While tapping our
memories, we filter or fill
in missing pieces of
information to make our
recall more coherent.
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Misinformation and Imagination
Effects
Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when
questioned about the event.
Misinformation Effect:
Incorporating misleading
information into one's
memory of an event.
Depiction of the actual accident.
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Misinformation
Memory Construction
Group A: How fast were the cars going
when they hit each other?
A week later they were asked: Was there any
broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported
more broken glass than Group A (hit).
Group B: How fast were the cars going
when they smashed into each
other?
Broken Glass? (%)
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40
32
30
20
14
10
0
Group A (hit)
Group B (Smashed into)
Verb
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Discerning True and False
Memories
Source Amnesia
• Memory studies
• Eye witness testimony
Source Amnesia: Attributing an event to the
wrong source that we experienced, heard, read,
or imagined (misattribution).
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Children’s Eyewitness Recall
• Children’s memories of abuse
–Suggestibility
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Children’s eyewitness recall can be unreliable if
leading questions are posed. However, if
cognitive interviews are neutrally worded, the
accuracy of their recall increases. In cases of
sexual abuse, this usually suggests a lower
percentage of abuse.
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Repressed or Constructed
Memories of Abuse?
Memories of Abuse
• Areas of agreement
Are memories of abuse repressed or
constructed?
– Sexual abuse happens
– Injustice happens
– Forgetting happens
– Recovered memories are incomplete
– Memories before 3 years are unreliable
– Hypnotic memories are unreliable
– Memories can be emotionally upsetting
Many psychotherapists believe that early
childhood sexual abuse results in repressed
memories.
However, other psychologists question such
beliefs and think that such memories may be
constructed.
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Improving Memory
Constructed Memories
Loftus’ research shows that if false memories
(lost at the mall or drowned in a lake) are
implanted in individuals, they construct
(fabricate) their memories.
Don Shrubshell
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Improving Memory
Improving Memory
1. Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall.
2. Spend more time rehearsing or actively
thinking about the material.
3. Make material personally meaningful.
4. Use mnemonic devices:

1. Test your own knowledge.
2. Rehearse and then determine what you do not
yet know.
associate with peg words — something already
stored
make up a story
chunk — acronyms
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© LWA-Dann Tardiff/ Corbis


5. Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate
the situation and mood.
6. Recall events while they are fresh — before
you encounter misinformation.
7. Minimize interference:
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The End
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