Memory
The Phenomenon of Memory
Studying Memory: Information Processing
Models
Memory
Encoding: Getting Information In
How We Encode
Chapter 8
What We Encode
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Memory
Storage: Retaining Information
Sensory Memory
Retrieval: Getting Information
Out
Working/Short-Term Memory
 Retrieval Cues
Long-Term Memory
Forgetting
Storing Memories in the Brain
Encoding Failure
Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
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Memory Construction
The three steps in memory information processing are:
Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Source Amnesia
Discerning True and False Memories
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse?
A.input, processing, output
B.input, storage, output
C.input, storage, retrieval
D.encoding, storage, retrieval
Improving Memory
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D
Which of the following is NOT a measure of retention?
• page 328
• Information must be
–encoded, or put into the appropriate form;
–stored, or retained over time;
–and retrieved, or located and gotten out when needed
A.recall
B.recognition
C.relearning
D.retrieval
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The spacing effect means that
D
A.distributed study yields better retention than cramming.
B.retention is improved when encoding and retrieval are
separated by no more than 1 hour.
C.learning causes a reduction in the size of the synaptic
gap between certain neurons.
D.delaying retrieval until memory has consolidated
improves recall.
• Retrieval refers to the process of remembering
• page 328
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The Phenomenon of Memory
A
• page 332
• massed practice can produce speedy short-term learning
and feelings of confidence BUT distributed study time
produces better long-term recall
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Memory is any indication that learning has persisted over
time. It is our ability to store and retrieve information.
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Autobiographical Memories
Self-Defining Memories
“The memories you have of your life experiences are what
truly make you unique.”
Jefferson Singer from Memories That Matter
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Endless Memory Super Autobiographical Memories
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Studying Memory:
Information Processing Models
Keyboard
(Encoding)
Disk
(Storage)
Sequential Process
Monitor
(Retrieval)
Encoding: Getting Information In
The Atkinson-Schiffrin (1968) three-stage model of memory
includes a) sensory memory, b) short-term memory, and c)
long-term memory.
How We Encode
1.Some information (route to your school) is automatically
processed.
2.However, new or unusual information (friend’s new cellphone number) requires attention and effort.
Frank Wartenberg/ Picture Press/
Corbis
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
Information Processing
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Effortful Processing
Automatic Processing
We process an enormous amount of information effortlessly,
such as the following:
1.Space: While reading a textbook, you automatically encode
the place of a picture on a page.
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© Bananastock/ Alamy
3.Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of things that
happen to you.
Spencer Grant/ Photo Edit
2.Time: We unintentionally note the events that take place in
a day.
Committing novel information
to memory requires effort just
like learning a concept from a
textbook. Such processing leads
to durable and accessible
memories.
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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
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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Memory Effects
What We Encode
1.Spacing Effect: We retain information better when
we rehearse over time.
1.Encoding by meaning
2.Encoding by images
2.Serial Position Effect: When your recall is better for
first and last items on a list, but poor for middle
items.
3.Encoding by organization
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Visual Encoding
Encoding Meaning
Processing the meaning of verbal information by
associating it with what we already know or imagine.
Mental pictures (imagery) are a powerful aid to effortful
processing, especially when combined with semantic
encoding.
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Mnemonics
Both photos: Ho/AP Photo
Encoding meaning (semantic encoding) results in
better recognition later than visual or acoustic
encoding.
Showing adverse effects of tanning and smoking
in a picture may be more powerful than simply talking about it.
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Organizing Information for Encoding
Imagery is at the heart of many memory aids. Mnemonic
techniques use vivid imagery and organizational devices in
aiding memory.
Break down complex information into broad concepts and
further subdivide them into categories and subcategories.
1.Chunking
2.Hierarchies
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Chunking
Chunking
Organizing items into a familiar, manageable unit. Try to
remember the numbers below.
Acronyms are another way of chunking information to
remember it.
1-7-7-6-1-4-9-2-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1
HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
If you are well versed with American history, chunk the
numbers together and see if you can recall them better.
1776 1492 1812 1941.
ROY G. BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
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Hierarchy
Storage: Retaining Information
Complex information broken down into broad concepts and
further subdivided into categories and subcategories.
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
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Whole Report
Sperling (1960)
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
R G T
F M Q
L Z S
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
“Recall”
RTMZ
(44% recall)
50 ms (1/20 second)
Retrieval
The exposure time for the stimulus is so small
that items cannot be rehearsed.
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Sensory Memories
The longer the delay, the greater the memory loss.
The duration of sensory memory varies for the different
senses.
Percent Recognized
Sensory Memory
80
Iconic
0.5 sec. long
60
40
Echoic
3-4 sec. long
20
0.15
0.30
0.50
Hepatic
< 1 sec. long
1.00
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Time (Seconds)
Working Memory
Working Memory
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
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Working memory, the new name for short-term memory, has a
limited capacity (7±2) and a short duration (20 seconds).
Long-term
Memory
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Retrieval
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Capacity
Chunking
The capacity of the working memory may be increased by
“chunking.”
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus
Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for
Processing Information (1956).
F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M
Ready?
MUTGIKTLRSYP
FBI TWA CIA IBM
4 chunks
You should be able to
recall 7±2 letters.
MUTGIKTLRSYP
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George Miller
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Long-Term Memory
Science in Motion
• Short Term Memory
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Retrieval
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Long-Term Memory
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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Sensory
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Synaptic Changes
Memory Stores
LTM
Encoding
Copy
Phonemic
Semantic
Capacity
Unlimited
7±2 Chunks
Very Large
Duration
0.25 sec.
20 sec.
Years
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In Aplysia, Kandel and Schwartz (1982) showed that
serotonin release from neurons increased after conditioning.
Photo: Scientific American
Memory
Working
Memory
Feature
page 339
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Stress Hormones & Memory
Synaptic Changes
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
Both Photos: From N. Toni et al., Nature, 402, Nov. 25 1999. Courtesy of Dominique Muller
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
refers to synaptic enhancement
after learning (Lynch, 2002). An
increase in neurotransmitter
release or receptors on the
receiving neuron indicates
strengthening of synapses.
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SAF 16: Remembering What Matters
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Storing Implicit & Explicit Memories
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.
• memory, emotion, motivated forgetting
• flight-or-fight response
• neural mechanism of agonists and atagonists
• PET scans
• limbic system
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Hippocampus
Anterograde Amnesia
Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbic
system that processes explicit memories.
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.
Weidenfield & Nicolson archives
Anterograde
Amnesia
(HM)
Memory Intact
No New Memories
Surgery
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Cerebellum
Implicit Memory
Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain
that processes implicit memories.
HM is unable to make new memories that are
declarative (explicit), but he can form new
memories that are procedural (implicit).
A
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
Measures of Memory
Retrieval refers to getting information out of the
memory store.
In recognition, the person must identify an item amongst
other choices. (A multiple-choice test requires recognition.)
1.Name the capital of France.
Spanky’s Yearbook Archive
Spanky’s Yearbook Archive
a.Brussels
b.Rome
c.London
d.Paris
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Measures of Memory
Measures of Memory
In recall, the person must retrieve information using effort.
(A fill-in-the blank test requires recall.)
In relearning, the individual shows how much time (or effort)
is saved when learning material for the second time.
List
1.The capital of France is ______.
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Jet
Dagger
Tree
Kite
…
Silk
Frog
Ring
It took 10 trials
to learn this list
List
1 day later
Jet
Dagger
Saving
Tree
Kite
…
Silk
Frog
Ring
It took 5 trials
to learn the list
Relearning
Trials
X 100
Relearning
Trials
Original
Trials
10
5
10
X 100
50%
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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 Truck
fire
smoke
heat
hose
truck
red
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Déjà Vu
Context Effects
Scuba divers recall more words underwater if they learned the
list underwater, while they recall more words on land if they
learned that list on land (Godden & Baddeley, 1975).
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
Fred McConnaughey/ Photo Researchers
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Context Effects
Moods and Memories
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).
We usually recall experiences that are consistent with our
current mood (state-dependent memory). Emotions, or
moods, serve as retrieval cues. Our memories are moodcongruent.
Jorgen Schytte/ Still Pictures
Courtesy of Carolyn Rovee-Collier,
Rutgers University
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Forgetting
Encoding Failure
An inability to retrieve information due to poor
encoding, storage, or retrieval.
We cannot remember what we do not encode.
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Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay.
Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting curve.
Although the information is retained in the memory store, it
cannot be accessed.
Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon. Given a cue
(What makes blood cells red?) the subject says the word begins with
an H (hemoglobin).
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Interference
Retroactive Interference
Learning some new information may disrupt
retrieval of other information.
Sleep prevents retroactive interference. Therefore, it
leads to better recall.
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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.
Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information
into one's memory of an event.
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Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Misinformation
Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when questioned
about the event.
Group A: How fast were the cars going when they
hit each other?
Group B: How fast were the cars going when they
smashed into each other?
Depiction of the actual accident.
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Memory Construction
SAF 17: True or False
A week later they were asked: Was there any broken glass?
Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than
Group A (hit).
• constructive memory
• brain areas involved in memory
• false memory
Broken Glass? (%)
50
38
32
25
14
13
0
Group A (hit)
Group B (Smashed into)
Verb
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Source Amnesia
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Source Amnesia: Attributing an event to the wrong source
that we experienced, heard, read, or imagined
(misattribution).
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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Memories of Abuse
Constructed Memories
Are memories of abuse repressed or constructed?
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.
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.
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:
5.Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate the situation and
mood.
6.Recall events while they are fresh — before you encounter
misinformation.
7.Minimize interference:
1. Test your own knowledge.
2. Rehearse and then determine what you do not yet know.
 associate with peg words — something already stored
 chunk — acronyms
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© LWA-Dann Tardiff/ Corbis
 make up a story
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