Introduction to Memory
Modules 31 - 32
Opening Activity
• Get out a blank piece of paper
• Write down all the responses that come
to mind, in the order they come to mind
• Name the seven dwarfs.
What is Memory?
• To psychologists, memory is learning
that has persisted over time; it is
information that has been acquired,
stored, and can be retrieved.
• Research on the extremes helps us
understand more about memory
• Examples of extremes
• Clive Wearing – lost memory
• Joshua Foer – winner 2006 USA Memory
Olympics
Memory Models
• Information-processing models are
analogies that compare human memory
to a computer’s operations.
• Encoding describes getting information
into our brain.
• Storage describes how we retain
information.
• Retrieval describes how we later get the
information back out.
Memory Models
• Like all analogies, computer models have
their limitations.
• Computers process sequentially where
human dual-track minds process
simultaneously.
• Parallel Processing describes the
processing of many things
simultaneously.
• Enter the classroom; see the warm-up, hear
conversations, think about last class, etc.
Memory Models
• Connectionism model promotes the idea
that neural connections are changed or
strengthened when you learn something.
• Atkinson and Shiffrin propose a threestage model:
1. We first record information as a fleeting
sensory memory.
2. From there, we process information into
short - term memory, where we encode
it through rehearsal.
3. Finally, information moves into long term memory for later retrieval.
Memory Models
• Atkinson and Shiffrin three-stage model
External
Events
Sensory
Memory
Long-term
Memory
Memory Models
Others have modified the Atkinson and Shiffrin
model to include the idea of working memory.
• Working memory is a newer concept of shortterm memory that focuses on conscious, active
processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial
information and of information retrieved from
long-term memory.
Memory Models
Alan Baddeley’s working memory model
Memory Models
Modified three-stage model that includes the idea
of working memory.
Automatic Processing
Maintenance
Rehearsal
External
Events
Sensory
Sensory
Input
Sensory
Memory
Encoding
Working
Short-term
Memory
Attention to
important or novel
information
Encoding
Retrieving
Long-term
Memory
Storage
Building Memory: Encoding
Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing
• Atkinson & Shiffrin’s model focused on
explicit memories.
• memory of facts and experiences that one
can consciously know and “declare.”
(Also called declarative memory)
• We encode explicit memories through
conscious, effortful processing.
• encoding that requires attention and
conscious effort.
Building Memory: Encoding
Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing
• Example of effortful processing:
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• At first this requires effort, but with
practice it can become more automatic.
Building Memory: Encoding
Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing
• Automatic processing skips the conscious
track and happens without awareness.
• unconscious encoding of incidental
information such as space, time, frequency,
and of well-learned information such as word
meanings.
Building Memory: Encoding
Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing
• Examples of automatic processing:
• Space: you encode the place on a page
where certain information is located.
• Time: you unintentionally note the
sequence of events that happened in your
day.
• Frequency: you effortlessly keep track of
how many times things happen to you.
Homework
• Reproduce the modified three-stage
processing model of memory on the
bottom of page 319 in your textbook.
• Be prepared to recall information from
this model.