Chapter 6
Lecture Outline
The Acquisition of Memories
and
the Working-Memory System
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Chapter 6: Working Memory

Lecture Outline
 The
Modal Model
 Working Memory
 Entering Long-term Storage
 Elaborate Encoding
 Organizing and Memorizing
 Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and
Retrieval
 Implications for Successful Studying
©2016 W. W. Norton & Company
Chapter 6: Working Memory

One way to frame learning and memory
 Acquisition
 Storage
 Retrieval

Analogy to creating, storing, and opening
a computer file
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Chapter 6: Working Memory

This view is problematic for at least two
reasons.
 New
learning is grounded in previously
learned (stored) knowledge.
 Effective learning depends on how the
information will be later retrieved.
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The Modal Model

Information processing
Each of these systems is separate.
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The Modal Model

The modal model (Atkinson & Shiffrin,
1968; Waugh & Norman, 1965)
 Sensory
memory (iconic or echoic)
 Short-term memory (STM)
 Long-term memory (LTM)
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The Modal Model

Working memory (WM)—a dynamic form
of short-term memory
 Less
like a storage place and more like a
status
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The Modal Model
Working
Memory
Long-Term
Memory
Time
Temporary
Long-lasting
Capacity
Limited
Large
Access
Relatively
easy
Relatively
hard
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The Modal Model

Experiments supporting the modal model
 Presented
with a long series of words (e.g.,
30)
 Perform free-recall afterward
 Look at the position in the list (serial recall)
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The Modal Model

Primacy effect
Better memory for first
few items
 Long-term memory
 Memory rehearsal
allows transfer from
WM to LTM

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The Modal Model

Recency effect
Better memory for the
last few items
 Last few items are not
displaced by future
items
 Based on working
memory

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The Modal Model

Testing recency claims
Thirty seconds is not enough to wipe
out recency.
Another task is needed to do so.
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The Modal Model
Slow presentation aids pre-recency items.
Recency effect is the same.
Memory for the rest of the list is better.
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The Modal Model

Support for primacy claims
Primacy
associated with
hippocampus
Working memory
associated with
perirhinal cortex
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Working Memory

Virtually all mental activities require
working memory (WM).
 Reading
 Goal-driven
behavior
Some tasks demand more WM resources
than others.
 Individual differences in WM capacity
predict some cognitive abilities.

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Working Memory

Digit-span task
 The
participant is asked to remember digits.
 The
list is increased until memory fails.
 The maximum number is the digit span.
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Working Memory

Chunking
 The
ability to condense information
 Requires effort
 Reduces load
 Does not increase WM
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Working Memory

Operation span
 Another
measure of working memory
 Decide whether equation is true or false
 Then remember word
 Number of words remembered is the
operation span
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Working Memory

Reading span




Captures active nature of working memory
Participant reads sentences and remembers
the last word in each sentence
Number of sentences is increased to failure
Number of words remembered is the reading
span
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Working Memory

Reading span and operation span
correlate strongly with



Standardized test performance
Reasoning
Reading comprehension
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Working Memory

Working memory is often divided into three
components
 Central
executive
 Visuospatial buffer
 Articulatory rehearsal loop
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Working Memory

WM is an update to the modal model
A
dynamic form of STM
 But still fragile
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Entering Long-Term Storage

Two types of rehearsal
 Maintenance
rehearsal—reciting
 Relational or elaborative rehearsal—linking
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Entering Long-Term Storage
Relational, or elaborative, rehearsal is
superior.
 Repeated exposure does not guarantee
memory.

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Entering Long-Term Storage

The need for active encoding
Frontal areas
Hippocampus and adjacent areas
Remembered greater than forgotten
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Entering Long-Term Storage
Incidental learning—unintentional
 Intentional learning—intentional

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Entering Long-Term Storage
Shallow processing—superficial
 Deep processing—meaningful

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Entering Long-Term Storage
Deeper processing ensures better recall.
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Entering Long-Term Storage

Imagine an experiment in which you cross
depth of processing (three levels)
 Typeface
task (shallow)
 Phonological task (intermediate)
 Semantic task (deep)

And intention to learn (two levels)
 Incidental
learning
 Intentional learning
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Entering Long-Term Storage
Depth of processing is strong.
 Intention to learn has no effect.
 Intention to learn can lead you to choose a
deeper strategy.

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Elaborate Encoding

Very hard to find
info

Very easy to find
info
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Elaborate Encoding

Depth of processing promotes recall by
facilitating later retrieval.
 Consider
learning as a way to establish
indexing, a path to the information.
 Connections between items to be
remembered facilitates retrieval.
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Elaborate Encoding

Memory connections facilitate retrieval.
 We
can use this to help retrieval.
“What words are related in meaning to the word I’m
now considering?”
“What words have contrasting meaning?”
“What is the relationship between the start of this
story and the way the story turned out?”
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Elaborate Encoding

Craik and Tulving (1975)
Example
Result
Elaborate
“The great bird swooped
down and carried off the
struggling chicken.”
Better memory
Simple
“She cooked the
chicken.”
Worse memory
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Elaborate Encoding

Craik and Tulving (1975)
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Elaborate Encoding

Elaborate sentences result in richer
retrieval paths.
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Organizing and Memorizing
Katona (1940) argued that the key to
creating connections in the material to be
remembered is organization.
 We memorize well when we find order in
the material.

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Organizing and Memorizing

Mnemonics improve memory through
organization.
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Organizing and Memorizing

Peg-word systems: items are “hung” on a
system of already well known “pegs”
 “One

is a bun, two is a shoe . . .”
First-letter mnemonics
 Roy
G. Biv
 King Phillip Crossed the Ocean to Find Gold
and Silver
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Organizing and Memorizing
Mnemonics Help
©2016 W. W. Norton & Company
Organizing and Memorizing
The procedure is actually quite simple. First
you arrange items into different groups. Of
course one pile may be sufficient depending
on how much there is to do. If you have to
go somewhere else due to lack of facilities
that is the next step; otherwise you are
pretty well set. It is important not to overdo
things. That is, it is better to do too few
things at once than too many. In the short
run, this may not seem important but
complications can easily arise. A mistake
can be expensive as well. At first, the whole
procedure will seem complicated. Soon,
however, it will become just another facet of
life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the
necessity for this task in the immediate
future, but then, one never can tell. After the
procedure is completed one arranges the
materials into different groups again. Then
they can be put into their appropriate places.
Eventually they will be used once more and
the whole cycle will then have to be
repeated. However, that is part of life.
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Organizing and Memorizing

What is the pattern?
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Organizing and Memorizing

Ambiguous pictures are understood and
remembered better if they are identified
(Wiseman & Neisser, 1974)
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Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and Retrieval

Memory is facilitated by organizing and
understanding.
 What
the memorizer was doing at the time of
exposure matters.
 The background knowledge of the memorizer
matters.
©2016 W. W. Norton & Company
Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and Retrieval

Acquisition, storage, and retrieval are not
easily separable.
 New
learning is grounded in previously
learned (stored) knowledge.
 Effective learning depends on how the
information will later be retrieved.
©2016 W. W. Norton & Company
Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and Retrieval

Implications for studying
 Understand
through self-questioning
 Actively engage
 Form connections
 Spaced learning
©2016 W. W. Norton & Company
Chapter 6 Questions
©2016 W. W. Norton & Company
Which group would perform the WORST on a
memory test?
a) Participants engaged in shallow processing
without previous warning of a memory test.
b) Participants engaged in medium processing
with previous warning of a memory test.
c) Participants engaged in deep processing
without previous warning of a memory test.
d) Participants engaged in deep processing
with previous warning of a memory test.
Someone with a larger working-memory
capacity is likely to perform better than
someone with a smaller working-memory
capacity on which of the following tasks?
a) following directions
b) efficient reading
c) learning a computer language
d) all of the above
Which statement about working memory is
TRUE?
a) It has unlimited storage capacity.
b) It functions as a storage container.
c) Information in it is fragile and easily lost.
d) It refers mainly to the resources that are
retained over long intervals.
Which of the following would be the LEAST
help in improving recall of a difficult-tounderstand paragraph?
a) quizzing yourself in order to improve
comprehension of the paragraph
b) chunking the sentences in the paragraph
into smaller, meaningful groups
c) repeating the paragraph aloud many
times
d) giving the paragraph a meaningful title
Veronica wanted to go to the grocery store but was out of
paper for writing a shopping list. She came up with
several possible ways to remember what she needed to
buy (listed below). Which of her ideas is a simple
mnemonic strategy?
a) Using the peg-word system to associate different items
on the shopping list with words in an easy-to-remember
rhyme.
b) Imagining what she can cook with all of the items on
the list and imagining what all the food would taste like.
c) Composing a long story with all the items on her list.
d) Repeating all the items on her list multiple times.
What causes the recency effect?
a) The last words heard are still in working
memory at testing.
b) The first words heard are also the first
words to leave working memory.
c) Words that get more attention are better
encoded into long-term memory.
d) Experimenters tend to provide easier
words first as warm-up.