Persistence of learning over
time

With memory, mind like a computer

Requires three steps:
Putting information into memory system
3 types of codes:
1. Visual/structural codes:
Encode by how it looks
2. Acoustic codes:
Encode by how it sounds
3. Semantic codes:
Encode by meaning of information
Craik and Lockhart-memory is affected by how
deeply we process during encoding
Shallow processing: superficial (looks,sounds)
Deep (elaborative) processing: semantic
-create meaning, associations with existing
memories
Shallow processing
Structural
processing
Deeper processing
Acoustic
processing
Semantic
processing

http://
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Girl_e
ating_yogurt_parfait_-_Flickr_-_USDAgov.jpg
AUTOMATIC ENCODING:
remember without
conscious effort (time,
space)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File
:Studying.jpg
EFFORTFUL ENCODING:
encode purposefully with
conscious effort (names,
information)
Atkinson-Schiffrin Model:
 3 memory systems:
Sensory
Memory
Short-Term
Memory
Long-Term
Memory
Duration: Fraction of a second
Capacity: Holds ALL sensory information
Vast amount of information
Selective Attention: awareness/focus
Determines what will be encoded and moved into
Short-Term Memory
Sensory register for all senses:
-iconic memory: vision-tenths of a second
-eidetic imagery: photographic memory
-echoic memory: sounds-4 seconds
K
H
A
Q
Y
C
S
G
P
Research shows
that sensory
memory
holds all sensory
information


George Sperling flashed
a group of letters (see
left) for 1/20 of a
second. People could
recall only about half of
the letters
When he signaled to
recall a particular row
with a specific tone,
they could do so with
near-perfect
accuracy.
Duration: about 30 seconds
Capacity: average 7 pieces of information
(George Miller)
Working memory /short term memory
-where we sort and encode information
before transferring it to long-term memory,
or forgetting it.
-where we think, where we are conscious.
Grouping information into meaning units
-increases capacity of STM
Example: 5558675309 vs. 555-867-5309
Mnemonic devices: tricks to aid memory
Example: ROY G BIV for the color spectrum


Maintenance rehearsal: This is a process
where information is repeated to keep it
from fading while in working memory.
Elaborative rehearsal: (deep processing)
better for remembering. Giving meaning to
information, relating it to what you know.
◦ Rehearsal keeps info in STM and moves it
into LTM
Permanent memory
Duration: unlimited
Capacity: unlimited
Explicit
memory
Long-term
memory
Implicit
memory
Episodic
memory
Semantic
memory
Procedural
memory
Physical change in the brain during memory
storage
-happens in synapse, more efficient at
transmitting signals
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LTP_Stage.png
Conscious, intentional recollection of previous
experiences and information
2 types:
Semantic memory: facts and general
knowledge
Episodic memory: personal events of life
-Flashbulb memory: very detailed, emotional
memories
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Park_
Service_9-11_Statue_of_Liberty_and_WTC_fire.jpg
Memories not easily brought into conscious
awareness
Procedural memory: how to perform tasks
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Fellow_on_a_pushbike%2C_Route_45%2C_Swindon_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1716260.jpg
Semantic network model: information is stored
in a connected fashion
Parallel distributed processing model: memory
processes take place at the same time over a
large network of neural connections
-We are constantly encoding, storing, relating,
making meaning, retrieving at the same time
Hippocampus
information in
the working memory is
changed over to long term
memories.
hippocampus
Amygdala
memories that
have strong emotional
connections.
Cerebellum
memories
procedural
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hippocampus.png
Locating and recovering information from
memory
2 methods:
Recall: retrieval of previously learned info
-Essay test; police sketch of a suspect
Recognition: identification of previously
learned items
-Multiple choice test; police line-up
the sequence in which material is presented
affects memory
 Generally items in the middle are
remembered less.
Primacy: remember the first items
Recency: remember last items
Something that helps us to remember
Context-dependent memory: remember better
in same physical stetting where learned
State-dependent memory: remember better in
same physiological/psychological state
Mood-congruent memory: remember better in
same mood
Elizabeth Loftus
Memories are constructed
-not like movie in your head
-has holes and gaps
-they are altered,
revised to fit our schemas
-eyewitness testimony is
unreliable
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Elizabeth_LoftusTAM_9-July_2011.JPG
Herman Ebbinhaus
research on forgetting
Curve of forgetting:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Ebbinghaus_Forgetting_Curve.jpg
Forgetting is
greatest just after
learning-don’t use
then it decays
Distributed
practice: spacing
out study sessions
increases retrieval
Other information blocks retrieval
Proactive interference: old information blocks
the retrieval of new information
-can’t remember friend’s new phone number,
because you keep dialing the old one
Retroactive interference: new information
blocks the retrieval of old information
-can’t remember assignments from 1st period
because of all the class since then
Severe loss of memory
-Retrograde amnesia: memory loss of the past
-due to head trauma
-can’t remember before the accident
-Anterograde amnesia: inability to put new
information into memory
-due to damage to hippocampus
-H.M.-famous case study
-epileptic had hippocampus removed
-no new declarative memories, but could
procedural