Learning Goal One: Identify three
fundamental processes of memory.
Learning Goal Two: Explain how
memories are encoded.
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A.Memory is defined as the retention of
information or experience over time.
B. Memory occurs through three important
processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
1. Encoding occurs when we take in information
from the world around us.
2. Storage is when we do something with that
information in order to remember it at a later
stage.
3. Retrieval is when we recall the information we
stored.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bzZIxo
-ngk
Encoding is defined as the way in which
information is processed for storage in
memory.
Examples: Paying attention, processing deeply,
elaborating, and using mental imagery.
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In order to encode information we must first pay attention to it.
Selective attention occurs when we attend only to certain things in the environment.
We ignore other stimuli and only attend to a specific aspect of an experience.
Divided attention occurs when we have to pay attention to several different things at
the same time. People who give divided attention to a memory task are less
successful at encoding the information than are people who give full attention to
the task.
Sustained attention is the ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a
prolonged period of time. Studying your notes is a good example of this!
Divided attention can have negative effects on encoding. Multitasking, which
involves dividing attention between two or more tasks, compromises the way
information is getting into memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDlYSPVro0Q
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The shallow level occurs when we are paying
attention to the physical attributes of a stimulus.
The intermediate level occurs when we recognize the
stimulus and give it a name.
The deepest level occurs when we think of the
stimulus’ meaning and make associations. The
more associations we make, the deeper the
processing.
Studies have shown that a person’s memory
improves when processing at the deepest level.
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Elaboration is how extensive processing is at any level.
Elaboration takes place when a person not only remembers the
definition of a stimulus, but also adds meaning to it. Coming up
with an example of the stimulus is an example of elaboration.
By elaborating on a stimulus, we are making that stimulus
distinctive and unique.
The more unique the memory of the stimulus, the better we are
able to remember it.
As encoding becomes more elaborate and unique, there is more
information to be stored.
Relating materials to your own experience, self-referencing, is
another effective way to elaborate on information.
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elaboration can enhance memory
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number of mental connections
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vivid examples
self-referencing effect
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1. Alexander Luria (1968) studied S., a person
with an amazing memory who could
remember vast amounts of information in great
detail. For example, S. could not only
remember a list of seventy numbers but could
recall them in the same order in which they
appeared.
2. S.’s amazing memory is a case of what we
know as mnemonic ability, or skill in
remembering. Page 211
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memory wizards (See page 211, figure 7.4) Records
in memory
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dual-code hypothesis (Paivio)
1.
2.
verbal code – word or label
image code – detailed and distinctive
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image codes are stored as both
superior to verbal codes alone
A picture is worth a 1000 words!
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1. Akira Haraguchi demonstrated an amazing memory
ability when he recited all 80,000 digits of pi. What process
in the human memory system did he utilize?
A. encoding
B. storage
C. retrieval
D. recognizing
2. What key process is critical when moving new
information from sensory memory into short-term memory?
A. recall
B. retrieval
C. attention
D. analysis
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3. Your mom is always giving you grief about how you surf the
web and send text messages while you are studying. You explain
that multitasking does not affect your grades. Is your position
supported by the information presented in the textbook?
A. Yes; several studies have confirmed that young adults do well
on memory tests of information that was acquired while
performing other tasks.
B. Yes; several studies have found that multitasking actually
improves students’ grades.
C. No; studies have confirmed that the benefits associated with
multitasking only apply to tasks that include listening to music.
D. No; studies have confirmed that individuals do not do well on
memory tests of information that was acquired while performing
other tasks.
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4. Which of the following is NOT one of the three main
memory processes?
A. encoding
B. storage
C. retrieval
D. thinking
5. Which of the following is NOT included in the
encoding process?
A. paying attention
B. testing yourself
C. elaborating
D. using imagery
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1) C
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2) C
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3) D
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4) D
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5) B
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Read Chapter 7 section 3, (Memory Storage)
pages 212 to 223 and make detailed notes.
Complete worksheets 7.1 and 7.2
Please define the terms and create detailed
examples using imagery to make a lasting
memory of the assignment.
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Learning Goal Three: Discuss how memories
are stored.
Atkinson-Shiffrin Theory
Three systems are involved in memory:
sensory memory, short-term memory, and
long-term memory.
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Sensory memory holds information only
briefly before it is either lost or transferred to
short-term memory.
2. Echoic memory (From the word echo) is auditory
sensory memory.
3. Iconic memory (From the word Icon or image)is
visual sensory memory.
4. George Sperling conducted the first research
on sensory memory. (Memory is very short unless
coupled with another sense)
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George Sperling conducted the first type of
research on iconic memory. He found that
people could remember seeing as many as nine
letters he had flashed on a screen for about
1/20 of a second, but the iconic memory was
too brief for people to transfer all nine letters to
short-term memory where they could be
named, so they could only recall about half of
them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD7cC
UB-pks
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A split second holding
tank for ALL sensory
information.
George Sperling’s
(1960) research on
Iconic Memory – free
recall vs cued recall
(brief perfect image
then discarded)
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
21
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Some of the information to which a person
attends is transferred from sensory memory
into short-term memory.
Information is held in short-term memory for
about 30 seconds.
Most people can hold about 7 bits + or – 2 of
information in short-term memory. This is
known as memory span.
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The stuff we
encode from the
sensory goes to
STM.
Events are encoded
visually, acoustically
or semantically.
Working Memory
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Chunking and rehearsal are two ways to improve
short-term memory. Chunking involves grouping
amounts of information larger than the 7 bits + or –
2 memory span into higher-order, single units.
Rehearsal involves repeating information over and
over again as a way to remember it. The
information retained by rehearsal can be held
indefinitely unless there is some sort of
interruption. Rehearsal works best when a person
must only remember the information briefly and
not for long-term retention, mainly because
rehearsal does not involve deep processing.
Chunking:
Organizing items into familiar,
manageable units.
 Acronyms are examples of chunking
HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie,
Superior
ROY G. BIP = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Indigo, Purple
F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M
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1-4-9-2-1-7-7-6-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1
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Working memory, proposed by Alan Baddeley (2006,
2007) is a three-part system that temporarily holds
information while a person is working on a cognitive
task. Unlike long-term memory, working memory and
its components have limited capacity.
The first part is the phonological loop, which stores
speech-based information about the sounds of
language. It includes an acoustic code and rehearsal.
The second part is called visuospatial working memory,
which stores visual and spatial information, including
visual imagery. The phonological loop and visuospatial
working memory function independently and can be
used concurrently for separate tasks.
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The third part is called the central executive, which combines
information from the phonological loop and visuospatial
working memory. It also integrates information from longterm memory.
The concept of working memory can help us understand
how brain damage affects cognitive skills. Some people
have good working memory but poor long-term memory,
while others have good long-term memory but problems
with working memory. Deficits in working memory can be
found in patients with Alzheimer disease. Baddeley (2006,
2007) feels these can be traced to the central executive,
which coordinates different mental activities. This is a
function with which Alzheimer patients have great
difficulty.
Peterson and Peterson (1959) measured the
duration of working memory by manipulating
rehearsal.
CHJ
MKT
HIJ
547
547
544
541
…
Duration of working memory is
about 20 sec.
CH??
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30
Is Atkinson-Shiffrin’s theory too
simplistic?
Active Memory System
 phonological loop
 visuospatial working memory
 central executive
Long-term memory is a relatively permanent
memory storage base.
There is a virtually unlimited amount of space for
long-term memory storage.
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Unlimited
storehouse of
information.
Lasts for Years.
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Explicit memory is also known as declarative memory.
It is a type of memory for specific facts or events
and information that can be verbally
communicated.
A study conducted by Harry Bahrick found that
any forgotten information from explicit memory is
forgotten within the first three years after the
memory was stored; after that, the forgetting
leveled off.
Gradual learning is the key to permanent memory
storage. If the information is learned and stored
over time, there is a better chance that it will
remain in explicit memory indefinitely.
Long-Term Potentiation
 Synaptic Enhancement after
learning (synaptic plasticity)
 long-lasting enhancement
in signal transmission
between two neurons that
results from stimulating
them synchronously.
 In other words…they learn
to fire together and get
better at it…creating a
memory.
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Episodic memory is a type of explicit memory. It stores
information about where, what, and when information
is occurring. Episodic memory is autobiographical,
meaning that it pertains specifically to a person’s life.
Semantic memory is a second type of explicit memory.
This type of memory pertains to information about the
world. It includes general, everyday, and academic
knowledge but not the personal information of
episodic memory.
Many explicit or declarative memories are neither
purely episodic nor purely semantic. Tulving (1983,
2000) argues that episodic and semantic systems often
work together in forming new memories.
Explicit
Memory = Declarative memories -- facts
and experiences that you consciously know and
declare.
Implicit memory = Procedural memories &
Conditioned learning.
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Heightened
emotions (stress-related or
otherwise) make for stronger memories.
Flashbulb memories are clear memories of
emotionally significant moments or events
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Episodic Memories
-- Events
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Semantic Memories
– Facts & Meaning
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Hippocampus – a
neural center in the
limbic system that
processes explicit
memories
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Effortful learning usually requires
rehearsal or conscious repetition
Hermann Ebbinghaus studied
rehearsal by using nonsense
syllables: TUV YOF GEK XOZ
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We retain information better when
we rehearse over time (Spacing
Effect)
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DO NOT CRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve
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Forgetting Curve
42
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Implicit memory is also known as nondeclarative memory.
It is a type of memory in which behavior is affected by
prior experience without conscious memory of the
experience. For example, a person may know how to
type on a computer without consciously remembering
the past learning process.
One subsystem of implicit memory is known as
procedural memory. This type of memory is a memory
for skills. For example, when you first learned how to
drive a car, there were many steps involved and you
consciously followed each of those steps. However,
after you have been driving for awhile, you start the
car and drive without thinking through all the steps
involved.
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Procedural Memories
= Skills
Conditioned Memories
Cerebellum – a neural
center in the hindbrain
that processes implicit
memories
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Another subsystem of implicit memory is
called classical conditioning. This type of
memory involves the automatic association
between stimuli.
The third subsystem is priming. Priming
involves taking information that a person has
already learned out of storage in order to learn
new information. By using priming, the person
is able to learn this new information faster and
better.
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.
46
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We can remember information or facts better when we
organize them hierarchically. By this we mean that we store
the information from general to specific.
New information can be stored in semantic networks,
meaning that information is incorporated into the correct
region of memory. There are semantic networks for all sorts
of common information.
A schema is a preexisting mental concept which helps us
organize and interpret new information. Schemas help us to
reconstruct inexact long-term memories by filling in the
gaps between fragments. Schemas have scripts, which help
us figure out what is happening around us, and which help
to organize our storage of memories about events.
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Connectionism, or parallel-distributed processing
(PDP), is based on the theory that memories are
stored throughout the brain in connections
among neurons. Several of these neuronal
connections may work together to form one
memory.
Karl Lashley (1950) discovered that memories
are not stored in one specific area of the brain,
but throughout various parts of the brain.
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Researchers today believe that memories are
located in specific sets or circuits of neurons
(Ardiel & Rankin, 2010; Clark & Squire, 2010).
Larry Squire (1994, 2000, 2007) says that most
memories are probably clustered in groups of
about one thousand neurons.
Researchers have also discovered that when brain
chemicals such as neurotransmitters are released in
sea slugs, they trigger memories. Scientists
theorize that this process may occur the same way
in humans.
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The hippocampus, the temporal lobes in the cerebral
cortex, and other parts of the limbic system are all
involved in explicit memories.
The left frontal lobe is more active in encoding,
while the right frontal lobe is more active in
retrieval. Older adults begin to use the left frontal
lobe in retrieval as well, which may compensate
for memory problems.
The amygdala plays a role in emotional memories.
The cerebellum is involved in the implicit memories
required to perform various skills.
Case of Clive Wearing
Retrieval refers to getting information out of
the memory store.
52
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The serial position effect is the tendency to
remember information that falls at the beginning
and the end of a list more easily than the
information in the middle.
The primacy effect is better recall for information at
the beginning of a list.
The regency effect is better recall for information at
the end of a list.
Recall
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you must retrieve
the information from
your memory using
effort.
fill-in-the blank or
essay tests
The capital of
France is ______.
Recognition
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you must identify the
target from possible
targets
multiple-choice tests
In relearning, the individual shows how much
time (or effort) is saved when learning material
for the second time.
Relearning Effect
List
List
Jet
Dagger
Tree
Kite
…
Silk
Frog
Ring
Jet
Dagger
Tree
Kite
…
Silk
Frog
Ring
It took 10 trials
to learn this list
1 day later
Saving
It took 5 trials
to learn the list
Relearning
Trials
X 100
Original
Trials
Original
Trials
10
5
10
X 100
50%
55
Memories are held in storage by a web of
associations. These associations are like anchors
that help retrieve memory.
water
smell
fire
smoke
Fire Truck
heat
hose
truck
red
56
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Context Effect
Flashbulb
Memories
Mood Congruent
Memory
State Dependent
Memory
We usually recall experiences that are consistent with our
current mood.
Emotions, or moods, serve as retrieval cues.
Our memories are mood-congruent.
State-Dependent Memories?
58
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Déjà Vu means “I've experienced this before.”
Cues from the current situation may
unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier
similar experience.
59
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When people remember information better in
the same context in which they stored it, this is
called context-dependent memory.
Some memories have special significance
because of relevance to the self, because of their
emotional or traumatic character, or because
they have unusually high levels of apparent
accuracy.
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Autobiographical memories are a form of episodic
memory of a person’s life experiences.
On the most abstract level of autobiographical
memories are memories of lifetime periods.
The middle level consists of general events.
The most concrete level consists of event-specific
knowledge.
When people tell their life stories, all three levels
are usually present and intertwined.
Most autobiographical memories are comprised of
some truth and some myth.
•An inability to retrieve information due to
poor encoding, storage, or retrieval.
•Encoding Failure - cannot remember what we
do not encode
•Storage Decay - Poor durability of stored
memories leads to their decay - Ebbinghaus
Forgetting Curve
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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).
65
Getting a new bus
number and
forgetting old bus
number.
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Retroactive
Interference: new
information blocks
out old
information.
Proactive
Interference: old
information blocks
out new
information.
Calling your new girlfriend by old
girlfriend’s name.
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People
unknowingly
revise their memories.
Repression: A defense
mechanism that banishes
anxiety-arousing
thoughts, feelings, and
memories from
consciousness.
Sigmund Freud
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After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient
Henry Molaison (HM) remembered everything
before the operation but could not make new
memories. We call this anterograde amnesia.
Memory Intact
Anterograde
Amnesia
(HM)
No New Memories
Surgery
69
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Anterograde amnesia occurs when a person cannot
remember new information. This disorder occurs
forward from the time of the event causing the
amnesia.
Retrograde amnesia occurs when someone cannot
remember past information, but does not have a
problem forming or retrieving newer memories.
The memories lost are of things that occurred
previous to the event causing the amnesia.
In some cases, people can have both anterograde
and retrograde amnesia.
Rehearsal -- study repeatedly to boost longterm recall.
Spacing Effect -- spend more time
rehearsing or actively thinking about the
material.
Semantic Ecoding -- make material
personally meaningful.
Chunk material – Acronyms
Use mnemonic devices:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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peg words
make up a story
71
6. Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate the
situation and mood.
7. Recall events while they are fresh — before
you encounter misinformation.
8. Minimize interference:
1.
2.
Test your own knowledge.
Rehearse and then determine what you do not
yet know.
72
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1. The first step in studying accurately is to review your
notes and make sure the information is correct.
2. Secondly, you should organize the material so that it can
be easily stored in memory.
3. After the information is accurate and organized, the next
step is memorization, which requires effective processing so
that it can be encoded in long-term memory.
4. After class, the course material should be rehearsed so that
it can be stored permanently.
5. The final step is to test yourself to check that you can
retrieve the course material.
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1. Autobiographical memories allow us to learn
from our experiences because we store the
lessons we learned from life.
2. Autobiographical memories also allow us to
understand ourselves. They provide a person
with a sense of identity.
3. Autobiographical memories also play a role
in social bonding. They are a way for people to
share of themselves with others.
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When people lead lives that are active intellectually
and physically, they seem to be protected against the
mental decline typically associated with age.
A message from the research on memory: “Use it or
lose it!”
There are also many everyday occurrences that are
potentially remarkable and that we can remember,
provided we are actively engaged in them. The
processes of attention and encoding explored in this
chapter suggest that this active engagement, or
mindful living, is needed for experiencing—and
remembering—everyday life in all of its richness.