General Psychology 1
Memory – Modules 23-26
April 5-7, 2005
Class #19-20
Memory
Memory

To a psychologist, memory is any
indication that learning has persisted over
time
A pioneer of the
scientific study of
memory:
Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1850 – 1909)
Worked as philosopher at University in Berlin
Performed experiments on himself published in classic
volume entitled: ‘Über das Gedächtnis’ (1885)
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Serial Learning Experiments
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A list of items presented one at a time
Memorizing lists in sequence until they can be
recalled perfectly in order they were presented
Ran tests on himself for six years
Memorized thousands of lists of nonsense
syllables (ZAB, VUB, etc.)
Invented 2300 of these syllables, arranged them in
random lists and tested them after various delays
What problems do you see with this
methodology?
Ebbinghaus' Experiments
Serial Learning Experiments

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Learning to criterion
 Ebbinghaus would repeatedly attempt to learn
the material until he achieved a perfect
reproduction (every item memorized in the
order originally presented)
“Method of savings“
 Subtracting the number of repetitions required
to relearn material to a criterion from the
number originally required to learn the material
to the same criterion
Serial Position Effect (primacy/recency effect)
 Subjects are much more likely to remember
items at the beginning of a list (primacy effect)
and at the end of the list (recency effect)
Memory experiments of Ebbinghaus:
Focus on retention of newly learnt
material
Invented lists of 16
nonsense syllables to
minimize influence of
meaningful associations
and
learner’s history
goal: study memory in
‘pure’ form
Introduced criterion for
successful learning
(2 errorless recitations)
Introduced savings
method to measure
retention/forgetting of
lists
Memory experiments of
Ebbinghaus…
Other important findings
List-length effect
Ease of learning and amount of information not
related in linear one-to-one fashion
 Disproportionate increase in difficulty with more
than 7 syllables

Distributed practice

Beneficial effects of distributed practice for
repetitions
Memory Testing Research
Methods
Serial Learning Experiments

These were Ebbinghaus’ experiments
 A list of items presented one at a time
 Subjects are asked to recall them in
order
 Memorizing lists in sequence until they
can be recalled perfectly
Memory Testing Research Methods
Free Recall

In this experimental procedure the subjects are asked to
recall the items presented to them in any order they wish
 Probably this is the simplest way to test the effects of
subjects studying verbal material

Murdock (1962)

Used common unrelated English words and found the probability
of their recall depended on their position in the list

What effects do you think this researcher
found???
Memory Testing Research Methods
Free Recall (cont.)

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)
 Same type of experiment as Murdock
(1962) except put certain delays into
equation
 Like AM  PM
 What do you think happened here?
Memory Testing Research Methods
Paired-Associate Learning
This experiment requires subjects to learn a
set of stimulus-response pairings
 Often, subjects are exposed to the list with the
usage of a "flash-card" technique
 Each complete presentation of the list
constitutes a trial and items are presented in a
different order on each trial
 Most researchers consider this the most
challenging type of memory testing

Information Processing
Our memory system works much like that of
a computer:

Research suggests (Craik & Lockhart, 1972)
that the most important determinant of memory
is how extensively memory is encoded or
processed when it is first received
How extensively is the encoding
(acquisition of information processed) during
the initial formation of memory?
Encoding
Information in sensory stores and STM is
lost unless it is encoded, or processed into
long term memory…

Does encoding occur in a special short term
memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin Model) or in
rehearsal systems?
Information-processing approach to
memory:
Basic framework
3 stages of processing for manipulation of
mental representations:
Encoding (acquisition of info)
Storage (retention of info)
Retrieval (recovery of info)
Encoding
time
Retrieval
Information Processing:
Automatic Processing
Processing that doesn’t require person
to consciously attend to something
Information Processing:
Effortful Processing
How does storage of this information take place?

Imagery
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Chunking
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Mnemonic devices
Organizing information into meaningful units so that it can better
be remembered
Mental Rehearsal
 Maintenance Rehearsal
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Repeating things over and over
Spacing effect
Elaborate Rehearsal

Involves thinking about how new material relates to
information already stored in memory
Information Processing Model:
Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)
Most influential historically & most
comprehensive model…

In order for info to become firmly
embedded in memory, must pass through
3 stages of mental processing:
 Sensory Memory
 Short-Term Memory (working memory)
 Long-Term Memory
Sensory Memory
Major function is to hold info long
enough so that it can be processed
 Sight (usually less than a second)
 Sound (a little longer maybe up to 3
seconds)
Also referred to as “Transient
Memories”
Visual sensory memory

The iconic store
Auditory sensory memory

The echoic store
Auditory Sensory Memory
Several studies have shown analogous
results in auditory memory…
Echoic store studies often use dichotic listening
 Echoic memory disappears by 5 seconds

Information Processing Model:
Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)
Short-term memory
Researchers differ saying that without
maintenance rehearsal something stays in
STM for between 6-30 seconds.
 After this its either lost forever or somehow
makes its way into LTM

Long-term memory

Infinite
Testing STM
Immediate Memory Span
 The maximum # of items you can recall
perfectly after one presentation
 Miller (1956)
 7 +/- 2 meaningful groupings
Brown-Peterson Procedure
 A method for preventing rehearsal
 Counting backwards by 3’s
Crowder & Morton (1969):
The Suffix Effect
Their directions to participants:
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I am going to say some numbers
At some point, I will say the number zero
When you hear me say zero, ignore the zero and repeat
all the numbers that preceded it
Their directions to participants:
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I am going to say some numbers
When you hear the tone, ignore it and repeat all the
numbers that preceded it
STM
Baddeley (1986)

“Working memory” is the more contemporary term for
short-term memory, is conceptualized as an active
system for temporarily storing and manipulating
information needed in the execution of complex
cognitive tasks
Primacy and recency effects are seen in STM
Limits of working memory
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Phonological working memory
Visual working memory
STM vs. LTM
STM – here we can hold only a few items very briefly
LTM – relatively permanent and limitless
Main differences
 dependence on retrieval cues
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differences in capacity
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they help in LTM; no help in STM
LTM is immeasurable; STM is relatively small and easily
measured (Miller, 1956)
differences in duration (decay over time)

LTM are not affected by the passage of time much….STM can
disappear in a blink of the eye
LONG TERM MEMORY
Long term memory stores our
knowledge of the world

It enables us to recall events, solve
problems, comprehend, recognize
patterns, etc. (permastore)
Bahrick, Bahrick, and Witlinger (1975)
Memory for picture recognition and
matching of names with faces of yearbook
portraits was remains pretty accurate even
after decades…
1. Picture Recognition Test (shown a
year-book picture and asked to recall the
name of the person)
2. Multiple-Choice Name Matching Test
(match names with pictures)
Each picture had 4 names with it –
multiple choice test
Bahrick, Bahrick, and Witlinger (1975)
Findings
Picture Recognition Test

50% recall after 34 years
Name Matching Test
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75% recall at 34 years
60% recall after 47 years
The memory for faces of high school
classmates seems quite durable
Forgetting is rather gradual
LONG TERM MEMORY
Bahrick & Hall (1991)
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High school Spanish was tested 30 years later
Most subjects had no use of the language since
finishing the course
So this was recall without intervening practice
Retention seems to “level out” after very long
periods of time
But we don’t lose all of it – seems some memory is
retained in a “permastore”
 Unaffected by the passage of time
 Interestingly, who had gotten the highest
grades remembered the most 30 years later
Types of Interference
Proactive interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on
the recall of new information (old materials
increasing the forgetting of new materials)
Retroactive interference

The disruptive effect of new information on
the recall of previous information (new
materials increasing the forgetting of old
materials)
Types of Interference
Examples:
Time 1
Ch. 1
Ch. 1
Time 2
Ch. 2
Ch. 2
Study French
Study French
Study Sp.
Study Sp.
Test
Ch. 2
Ch. 1
Recall Sp.
Recall Fr.
Interference
Ch. 1 pro w/ch2
Ch. 2 ret w/ch1
Fr. pro. w/Sp
Sp. ret. w/Fr
Some Memory Distinctions
Procedural memory

A memory of how to do something
 Fix a tire, ride a bike, bake a cake, etc.
Declarative memory

The ability to state a fact
 Such as names or events, etc.
Types of Declarative Memory
Semantic Memory
Memory of general principles
 knowledge of concepts and meaning
 Knowledge of all the information needed to
use language, verbal information, visualspatial information, etc.
 Ex: rules of how to play chess
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Types of Declarative Memory
Episodic Memory
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Memory for specific events in one’s life
Autobiographical memory, time and place
dependent, it conveys the conditions of
occurrence
Knowledge about personally experienced events
 Ex: when and who you played chess with the
last time
 Flashbulb

Memories
These are extremely vivid episodic memories,
usually attached to a surprising, significant, or
vivid event
Memory and Retrieval Cues
How do we recall or retrieve information
that is not presently in conscious
awareness?

Retrieval cues
Stimuli that help us to get information stored in LTM
 Seems to help the best if it taps into information
that was encoded at the time of learning (encoding
specificity principle)

Retrieval Cues
Theories
Recognition cue
 Identifying items from choices
 Bahrick (1975)
 Relearning cue
 Material already learned is relearned
more quickly than new materials
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Memory and Retrieval Cues
Moods Cue

The things we learn in one emotional state are are best
remembered in the same state (this is referred to as
state-dependent memory)
 State
Dependent Memory – theory that
information learned in a particular state of mind
(e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily
recalled when in that same state of mind
 Seems to have added effectiveness with
recollections of everyday events (episodic
memory)
Memory and Retrieval Cues
Context Effects Cue

Putting yourself in the same context in which
you have experienced something can help with
retrieval
 See Gooden and Baddeley (1975) – next
slide
Memory and Retrieval Cues
Gooden and Baddeley (1975)
Group 1:
Group 2:
Group 3:
Group 4:
Listen/Recall
water/land
land/water
water/water
land/land
Memory and Retrieval Cues
Von Restorff Effect (1933) Cue

This is our tendency to remember unusual items
better than more common ones

Very tall or very short people; unusual names
Cued Recall

Method of receiving hints to help with memory
Example: initials in front of pictures
 Tulving and Pearlstone (1966)
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Category prompting led to better recall
Available vs. Accessible
Memories
Accessible Memories

These memories can be recalled or retrieved
Available Memories

Memories that contain learned information, but
may not be retrievable (at least not at the
present time)

Brown and McNeil (1966)
 Referred to available memories as "tip-of-thetongue“
Absent Mindedness
Absent mindedness means
preoccupied, forgetful, inattentive
Includes” “action slips”
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The performance of unintended actions
Implications: May cause accidents –
some that are fatal

Workplace deaths, car crashes, etc.
Absent Mindedness
Problems with Methodology
 Experimenters can’t seem to obtain these
in the laboratory settings
 So, instead they tell their participants to
keep diary records of any action slips that
they detect in their everyday lives…
 Do
you see a problem with this… 
Absent Mindedness: Reason
(1979)
35 volunteers asked to keep a diary of
their slips of action for two weeks
Some participants reported a total of 400
Reason (1979):
Five Categories of Action Slips
(1) Repetition errors (40%)
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Forgetting a action has been performed and repeating it
(2) Goal switches (20%)
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Forgetting a goal of a sequence of actions and switching
to a different goal
(3) Omissions and Reversals (18%)

Omitting or wrongly ordering the component actions of a
sequence
(4) Confusions or blends (16%)

Confusing objects involved in one action sequence with
those involved in another action sequence
(5) Unclassified (6%)
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These remaining slips did not fit neatly into the other
categories