Psychology of Memory
Yasser Abdel Razek
Professor of Psychiatry
Ain Shams university
Paris is
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A city in USA
The Capital of France
An oasis in Egypt
All of the above
None of the Above
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What is your origin?
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Cairo
Delta
Sues Canal and Sinai
Upper Egypt
Others
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WHAT IS MEMORY?
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The ability to store information
The ability to encode information
The ability to retrieve information
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Most common type of forgetfulness is due to
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Dementia
Use of drugs
Interference
Head injuries
Ageing
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Memory disturbances may include
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Decreased remembering
Increased remembering
Distorted remembering
Over-recognition and under-recognition
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The most important neurotransmitter for memory function is
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Acetyle choline
Dopamine
Nor adrenaline
Serotonin
Histamine
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An important cause of forgetfulness during
exam is
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Inattention during study
Mass practice of learning
Interference
Anxiety during exam
Different environment
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Definition
• It is the ability to
Encode,
Store ,
And retrieve information
Encoding
• It is the process by which information is converted into a
form (code) in which it can be placed into memory.
• 4 types of codes appear to represent information in
memory:
• 1-Acoustic encoding uses the sounds of words to encode
the material.
• 2-Visual encoding uses images, such as the visual image of
a word or picture.
• 3-Semantic encoding represents the information in
memory in terms of its general meaning.
• 4-Motor encoding involved in coding physical skills like
swimming, typing and driving also occur as a type of
encoding.
Storage
• It is the retention of memorized material over
a period of time .
• Of limited capacity
• Forgetting occurs due to decay with time or
Displacement by new information
Retrieval
• It is the process by which previously encoded
stored memories are located and brought
back for current use.
• Involves a search process (all items stored are
examined to get the information).
Retrieval
• Recall:
– Free recall: Like essay questions
– Cued recall: Give the subject a hint to trigger
memories; e.g. fill in spaces questions.
• Recognition:
– MCQ
Classification
• According to duration of retention
• According to modality of information input
• According to type of information
According to duration of retention
Immediate
sensory
Short term
Recent
Long term
Remote
Duration
Seconds
minutes
Years
Capacity
Limited
Limited
Unlimited
Encoding
No (iconic and
echoic)
Need attention
Depends on meaning
(semantic)
Storage
Electrical
Chemical
Structural
Retrieval
Aided by cues
Forgetting
---
Displacement
Decay
Interference
Repression
Improvement
Training
Attention
Rehearsal
Chunking
Association
Elaboration
Organization
Mnemonics
Assessment
Digit span
A story
Well known dates and
names
Information in STM either
• lost by time or interference
• maintained by rehearsal
• transferred to LTM
Rehearsal
• Rehearsal means repetitively practicing or thinking
about the information to be remembered. This can
keep it in memory for longer periods. There are 2 types
of rehearsal:
• Maintenance rehearsal is simple repetition which can
serve to keep information active in STM indefinitely.
• Elaborative rehearsal
• *The more we can relate the new items to already
present items the more meaningful we can make it
• *Making meaningful connections to facilitate retrieval.
• Eg. EGBDF can be stored as every good boy does fine
According to modality of sensory
information input
•
•
•
•
•
•
Auditory
Visual
Olfactory
Gustatory
Superficial and deep sensory
NB: The more the modalities used to encode the
more the consolidation: it is better to study
through hearing , seeing and writing the
information
According to type of information
Implicit
Motoric skills
Explicit
Episodic
Semantic
Events
Concepts
Where is the memory area?
•
•
•
•
Hippocampus
Mamillary bodies
Thalamus
Temporal cortex
Factors affecting retrieval
•
•
•
•
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•
Age
Drugs
Illnesses
Interference
Emotions
retrieval cues
effect of the context (mood and emotions)during
encoding (similarity during retrieval is better).
• Amount of encoding practice (over learning).
• Scheduling practice (distributed better than mass)
Retrieval
• Forgetting is usually due to loss of access to
the information not loss of the information
itself so
• Retrieval cues can help
• We do better on recognition tests( MCQ)
• Relearning takes less effort
• Constructive memory: We memorize only
broad lines then we construct a more
complete description of the events.
Two classes of theories are explaining
forgetting:
• Availability: Information are lost from LTM.
• Accessibility: Information are difficult to
retrieve from LTM.
Availability theories
• Trace decay theory: Memory traces decay, weaken and disappear
with simple passage of time. Failure of rehearsal allows it to
deteriorate.
• Disuse theory: Suggests that the repeated retrieval of similar new
information leads to loss of old memories; e.g. You forget your old
telephone number and remember the new one.
• Interference theory: Which suggests that some active process must
interfere with the learned material causing it to be unlearned. The
more similar the competing material the more likely it is that
forgetting will occur.
• Encoding failure theories: Suggesting that the original encoding of
the information was inadequate. This is called pseudo forgetting
because there never really was a memory, probably due to
inattention or inadequate encoding.
Interference
• Retroactive: learning of new information lead
to forgetting of the old one ( small hard desk)
• Proactive : learning of information number
one causes difficulty to learn another recent
information
Accessibility Theories:
• a- Retrieval failure theory: Suggests that
memories, though stored, cannot be recalled
because the appropriate retrieval distinctive
cues, words or images that are associated with
a memory and elicit it are not present.
• b- Motivational theory: When forgetting is
motivated by our needs and desires, we tend
to remember positive aspects of our
experience better than negative ones.
How to improve memory
• 1-use of large size chunks to enlarge capacity
of STM
• 2-Use of imagery and encoding in more than
one modality
• 3-Elaborative rehearsal
• 4-Hierarchical organization
• 5- chunking
Chunking
• Use of LTM to store new information in STM
• eg. Can you store these letters
SRUOYYLERECNIS? Yes become sincerely
yours.
Information are stored in LTM as the
following
• 1-Category clustering (animals, people,
vegetables)
• 2-Subjective organization (specific orders)
• 3-Hierarchial organization (animals as birds
and fish –fish as Shark and Salomon)
Emotions
• Events with Painful emotions repelled out and
lost( repression)
• Events with good emotions , encoded strongly
• Mild anxiety help retrieval because of better
attention while severe anxiety impede
retrieval.
Disorders of memory
• Disorders of recall
– Amnesia ( organic and psychological)
– Hypermnesia
– Paramnesia ( distorted memories)
• Retrospective falsification
• Confabulation
• Disorders of recognition
– De ja vu
– Jamais vu
WHAT IS MEMORY?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The ability to store information
The ability to encode information
The ability to retrieve information
All of the above
None of the above
10
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
5
4
3
2
1
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Most common type of forgetfulness is due to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Dementia
Use of drugs
Interference
Head injuries
Ageing
10
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
5
4
3
2
1
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Memory disturbances may include
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Decreased remembering
Increased remembering
Distorted remembering
Over-recognition and under-recognition
All of the above
10
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
5
4
3
2
1
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
The most important neurotransmitter for memory function is
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Acetyle choline
Dopamine
Nor adrenaline
Serotonin
Histamine
10
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
5
4
3
2
1
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
An important cause of forgetfulness during
exam is
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Inattention during study
Mass practice of learning
Interference
Anxiety during exam
Different environment
10
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Different
Anxiety
Interference Mass practice Inattention
environment during exam
of learning during study
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%