Memory
Dr. Urooj Sadiq
Memory: Key Terms
Memory: Active system that stores, organizes, alters, and
recovers (retrieves) information
Encoding: Converting information into a useable form
Storage: Holding this information in memory
Retrieval: Taking memories out of storage
Stages of Memory
1.
Sensory Memory
2.
Short-Term Memory
3.
Long-Term Memory
Sensory Memory
Sensory Memory/Sensory register: Storing an exact copy of
incoming information for less than a second; until it has been
processed the first stage of memory
Icon: A brief mental image or visual representation
Echo: After a sound is heard, a brief continuation of the sound
in the auditory system
Short-Term Memory (STM)
Short-Term Memory (STM): second stage of memory; stores
small amounts of information briefly; very sensitive to
interruption or interference
Phonetically: Storing information by sound;
Memory Span: STM is limited to holding seven (plus or minus
two) information bits at once
Chunk: Meaningful units of information in memory
Also called Working Memory
Whatever information is in conscious
awareness. Any information that we
are remembering or manipulating
occurs in STM.
A typical individual’s digit span
Storing Info in STM
Recoding: Reorganizing or modifying information in STM
Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating information silently to
prolong its presence in STM
Elaborative Rehearsal: Links new information with existing
memories and knowledge in LTM; Good way to transfer STM
information into LTM
Chunking: Try and remember the
following string of letters (in order):
XCI
AFB
IVC RDN AIB MQZ
Chunking: Try and remember the
following string of letters (in order):
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
• Storing information relatively permanently
• Stored on basis of meaning and importance
Types of Long-Term Memory
Explicit (declarative) memory (facts): factual knowledge &
personal experiences
• Semantic Memory: Impersonal facts and everyday
knowledge
• Episodic Memory: Personal experiences linked with
specific times and places
Implicit (procedural) Memory (skills): Long-term memories
of conditioned responses and learned skills, e.g., driving
Memory Organizational Chart
Loss of Memory
• Anterograde amnesia: the inability to form new explicit
long-term memories for events following brain trauma or
surgery. Explicit memories formed before are left intact.
Cause possibly is damage to hippocampus
• Retrograde amnesia: the disruption of memory for the
past, especially espisodic memory. After brain trauma or
surgery, there often is retrograde amnesia for events
occurring just before.
• Infantile/child amnesia: the inability as adults to
remember events that occurred in our lives before about 3
years of age. Due possibly to fact that hippocampus is not
fully developed.
Serial Position Effect
Recall: Direct retrieval of facts or information
Serial Position Effect:
• Hardest to recall items in the middle of a list
• Primacy effect: easier to remember items first in a list than
items in the middle, because first items are studied the most
• Recency effect: easier to remember items last in a list
than items in the middle, because the last items were last
studied
A Little Demonstration:
Serial Position Effect
See in class!
Graphic: Stages of Memory
Comparison of
Three Stages of Memory
Sensory
1. Large capacity
2. Contains sensory
information
3. Very brief retention
(1/2 sec for visual;
2 secs for auditory)
Short Term
1. Limited capacity
2. Acoustically
encoded
3. Brief storage (up
to 30 seconds w/o
rehearsal)
4. Conscious
processing of
information
Long Term
1.Unlimited
capacity
2.Semantically
encoded
3.Storage
presumed
permanent
4.Information highly
organized
Encoding Information into Memory
Types of Processing
• Automatic processing: memory processing that
occurs subconsciously and does not require
attention.
Example: How many of you can sing the theme song for
Drama humsafar ? How many learned it on purpose?
• Effortful processing: memory processing that
occurs consciously and requires attention
Example: How many of you can name all of the divisions
of the nervous system? How many learned it on
purpose?
Levels-of-Processing Theory
• Levels-of-processing theory: a theory of information
processing in memory that assumes that semantic
processing leads to better long-term memory
• Physical memory processing: encoding the word
“birthday” by the way it is spelt, b – i – r – t – h – d – a
–y
• Acoustic memory processing: encoding the word
“birthday” by the way it sounds
• Semantic memory processing: encoding the word
“birthday” by its meaning, “a day of joy and
celebration, to remember the anniversary of one’s
birth.”
Factors Affecting Encoding
• Encoding specificity principle: the principle that the
environmental cues present at the time information is
encoded into long-term memory serve as the best
retrieval cues for the information.
• State-dependent memory: long-term memory
retrieval is best when a person’s physiological state at
the time of encoding and retrieval is the same.
• Mood-dependent memory: long-term memory
retrieval is best when a person’s mood state at the
time of encoding and retrieval is the same.
• Mood-congruence effect: long-term memory retrieval
is best for experiences and information that are
congruent with a person’s current mood.
Retrieving Information from Memory
Measuring Retrieval
• Recall: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that
requires the reproduction of the information with essentially no
retrieval cues.
• Recognition: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that
only requires the identification of the information in the
presence of retrieval cues.
• Relearning: the savings method of measuring long-term
memory retrieval, in which the measure is the amount of time
saved when learning information for the second time.
Example:
Recall versus Recognition
Example of Recall:
The process of storing information in memory is called
______________.
Example of Recognition:
The process of storing information in memory is called:
a. rehearsal
b. deep processing
c. encoding
d. retrieval
Forgetting Due to
Encoding Failure?
Encoding failure theory: a theory that proposes that
forgetting is due to the failure to encode the information into
long-term memory
Forgetting Due to
Decay in Storage?
Storage decay theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting
is due to the decay of physical traces of the information in the
brain; periodically using the information helps to maintain it in
the brain
The “Use it or lose it” theory!
Forgetting Due to
Interference?
Interference theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is
due to other information in memory interfering
Proactive interference: old information interferes with the
retrieval of newly-stored information
Retroactive Interference: newly-stored information interferes
with the retrieval of previously-stored information
Retroactive vs. Proactive Interference
Forgetting Due to
Loss of Cues?
Cue-dependent theory: a theory that proposes that
forgetting is due to the unavailability of the retrieval cues
necessary to locate the information in long-term memory.
This is one explanation for why we do not seem to have
many memories from early childhood (ages 3 to 6 or so)
Improving Memory
Some Ways to Improve Memory
Knowledge of Results: Feedback allowing you to check your
progress
Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are learning
Rehearsal: Reviewing information mentally (silently)
Selection: Selecting most important concepts to memorize
Organization: Organizing difficult items into chunks; a type of
reordering
More Ways to Improve Memory
Whole Learning: Studying an entire package of
information at once, like a poem
Part Learning: Studying subparts of a larger body of
information (like text chapters)
Progressive Part Learning: Breaking learning task into a
series of short sections
Serial Position Effect: Making most errors while
remembering the middle of the list
Overlearning: Studying is continued beyond bare mastery
Yet More Ways to
Improve Memory
Spaced Practice: Alternating study sessions with brief rest
periods
Massed Practice: Studying for long periods without rest
periods
• Lack of sleep decreases retention; sleep aids consolidation
• Hunger decreases retention
A Last Method to Help Memory
Mnemonics: Memory “tricks”; any kind of memory system
or aid
- Using mental pictures
- Making things meaningful
- Making information familiar
- Forming bizarre, unusual or exaggerated mental
associations