Memory
Lecture 9
Chapter 8
The Phenomenon of Memory
•learning has persisted over time
•our ability to store and retrieve information.
2
Studying Memory:
Information Processing Models
Keyboard
(Encoding)
Disk
(Storage)
Sequential Process
Monitor
(Retrieval)
3
Information Processing
4
Sensory Memory
• Snapshot
• Very detailed
• Lasts a second or less
Sensory memory
S X T
J R S
P K Y
Low Tone
Medium Tone
High Tone
“Recall”
JRS
(100% recall)
50 ms (1/20 second)
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Short term/Working memory
Ready?
MUTGIKTLRSYP
George Miller
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Working Memory Duration
8
Long-Term Memory
R.J. Erwin/ Photo Researchers
The Clark’s nutcracker can locate 6,000 caches of
buried pine seeds during winter and spring.
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Types of Long-term Memory
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How does the brain store
memories?
Synaptic Changes
Both Photos: From N. Toni et al., Nature, 402, Nov. 25 1999. Courtesy of Dominique Muller
Long-Term Potentiation
(LTP)
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Stress Hormones & Memory
Scott Barbour/ Getty Images
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H.M.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7584970
Hippocampus
processes explicit memories.
Weidenfield & Nicolson archives
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Anterograde Amnesia
Anterograde
Amnesia
(HM)
Memory Intact
No New Memories
Surgery
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Implicit Memory
HM can form new
memories that are procedural (implicit).
A
B
C
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Cerebellum
Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain
that processes implicit memories.
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Modifications to the Three-Stage
Model
1. Some information skips the first two stages
and enters long-term memory automatically.
2. We select information that is important to us
and actively process it into our working
memory.
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Encoding
© Bananastock/ Alamy
Spencer Grant/ Photo Edit
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Automatic Processing
1. Space
2. Time
3. Frequency
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Encoding
• Primacy and recency effects
Encoding strategies
– Encoding meaning
– Rehearsal
– Chunking
– Hierarchies
Rehearsal
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Chunking
Example:
PBSFOXCNNABCCBSMTVNBC
Chunking
• The prior example in chunks:
PBS FOX CNN ABC CBS MTV NBC
Hierarchy
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
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Recognition
1. Name the capital of France.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Brussels
Rome
London
Paris
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Recall
1. The capital of France is ______.
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Retrieval Cues
water
smell
fire
smoke
Fire Truck
heat
hose
truck
red
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Priming
32
Context Effects
Fred McConnaughey/ Photo Researchers
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Moods and Memories
mood-congruent
Jorgen Schytte/ Still Pictures
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Forgetting
• What makes us forget?
35
Encoding Failure
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Storage Decay
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Retrieval Failure
Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon.
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Interference
Learning some new information may disrupt
retrieval of other information.
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Retroactive Interference
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Memory Construction
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Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when
questioned about the event.
Depiction of the actual accident.
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Misinformation
Group A: How fast were the cars going
when they hit each other?
Group B: How fast were the cars going
when they smashed into each
other?
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Memory Construction
A week later they were asked: Was there any
broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported
more broken glass than Group A (hit).
Broken Glass? (%)
50
40
32
30
20
14
10
0
Group A (hit)
Group B (Smashed into)
Verb
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Source Amnesia
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Constructed Memories
Loftus’ research shows that if false memories
(lost at the mall or drowned in a lake) are
implanted in individuals, they construct
(fabricate) their memories.
Don Shrubshell
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Improving Memory
• How can you apply this knowledge?
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Supplements that claim to improve
Memory
• Bogus? Or not?
• Don’t have to go through the FDA’s rigorous
regulations if they are “natural”
• They haven’t been found to affect LTP
Supplements that claim to improve
Memory
• Gingko Biloba – dilates blood vessels, increasing
blood to the brain
– Helps some Alzheimer’s patients
• A lot of the other supplements increase blood flow
or increase metabolism
– Some evidence that they can help in animals and the
elderly
• No evidence that it helps young healthy people
– Guess you’ll just have to study hard
• Worth more research
What if they do make a smart drug that
really works?