Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(7th Ed)
Chapter 9
Memory
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers
1
Which is a penny
2
Memory: Persistence of learning over time using
3 pillars of memory:
1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval of info

Flashbulb Memory: Where were you when…?



a clear memory of an intense emotional moment or
event
Pictures, others’ retelling, etc., can affect so
“remember” things we didn’t really experience
Memory as Information Processing

How it is similar to a computer:
1. write to file (encoding)
2. save to disk (storage)
3. read from disk (retrieve)
3
1 way it is NOT similar:
We___ process…computers ___ process
Encoding: placing info into memory systems
 i.e., extracting meaning (comprehend it so can
process…)
EX: New word suddenly appears everywhere?
Storage
 retention of encoded info over time…
 putting it into neural networks…making
connections, etc.
Retrieval:

accessing the info:
process of getting info out of memory
4
Memory: 4 different types:
Sensory Memory
 immediate, 1st recording of sensory info in
memory systems
 In bits, quick…& most NOT stored
 EX: ppl walking down the hallway…do you see all
of them? Hear all? Or just “flashes”? What do
you keep (retain)?
Short-Term Memory (STM)
 activated memory that holds a few items briefly
 look up a phone #, then quickly dial b4 the info
is forgotten
5
Memory: 4 types continued…
 Working Memory
 Newer term…extension of STM
 processing of briefly stored info: What’s on your
“desktop” at a given moment to work w/
 What about working on a paper/essay?
 Longer time on “desk-top” : beginning to make
connections to enable storage
 Long-Term Memory (LTM)
 the relatively permanent & limitless storehouse of
the memory system
6
A Simplified Memory Model:
Where would working memory
fit in here?
Sensory input
Attention to important
or novel information
Encoding
External
events
Sensory
memory
Short-term
memory
Encoding
Long-term
memory
Retrieving
7
Encoding: Getting Info In:
1. Effortful: rehearsing to try to
2 ways
encode… EX’s?
2. Automatic: just sorta’
happens that we recall
EX’s?
EBBINGHAUS: study of memory
Encoding
Effortful
Automatic
8
Encoding
 Automatic Processing
 unconscious encoding of incidental info
 Space
 Time
 Frequency
 Daily events
 well-learned info: hard to shut off
 word meanings…someone calls you a name?
 Using effortful, we can change it into
automatic processing
 Ex: reading backwards: do it enough,
begins to be automatic; typing
9
 Effortful
(putting effort into it)
Processing
 requires attention & conscious effort…
…& often requires…
  Rehearsal
 conscious repetition of information
 to maintain it in consciousness
 to encode it for storage
Over-learning: Even after have learned
it, still practice & rehearse = v. good
retention …know it backwards & forwards…
10
Ebbinghaus (348): used nonsense syllables
 TUV ZOF GEK WAV
 more times practiced Day 1, the less repetitions to
relearn on Day 2…i.e., amt. remembered depends on
amt. of time spent learning
 Found nonsense syllables less effective in
remembering than meaningful info
WHY? connections in networks
 Created “forgetting curve” (retention curve)
 Spacing Effect: distributed practice gives
better long- term retention than massed
 i.e., shorter but more frequent sessions =
better learning than long, cramming sessions!
*This is a VERY important piece of info 4 U 11!!!!
Encoding: Ebbinghaus’s retention
curve
Time in
minutes
taken to
relearn
list on
day 2
20
15
10
5
0
8
16
24
32
42
53
Number of repetitions of list on day 1
64
12
Encoding: Serial Position Effect
(Place in a series…)
 How could you use this info?
Percent
age of
words
recalled
Tendency to
recall best the
last items &
the first items
in a list
90
80
70
60
50
Those in the
middle tend to
blend (or blur)
40
30
20
together…ALSO..
10
0
Serial Position
Effect:
1
2
3
4 5 6 7 8
Position of
word in list
9
10 11 12
*Availability
*Frequency13
What We Encode: 3 types:
1. Semantic Encoding
 encoding of meaning
 including meaning of words + how it relates
to other things
 Tends to create deeper levels of processing
2. Acoustic Encoding
 encoding of sound, especially sound of words
 EX: Rhymes easily remembered (“If the
glove don’t fit…!”)
3. Visual Encoding
 encoding of picture images
14
 Creates more shallow processing
Encoding: See p. 350: Sample ?’s:
Visual often = shallow processing
But semantic tends to be deeper processing
15
 Imagery: “A picture is worth…”
 Mental pictures: seeing w/ words
 Can be powerful aid to effortful
processing, especially when combined
with semantic encoding
 “wreck” vs. “crash”? Creating visual
images in your head, not w/ real pics
 Mnemonics: “stupid memory tricks…”
 Greek, Mnemos (goddess of memory)
 memory aids, espec. techniques using vivid
imagery & organizational devices
 Names of the Great Lakes? Planets?
In 10 seconds, memorize the #’s next SL
16
Take 10 seconds to memorize
this series of #’s
1812 1492 1941 1776
17
Method of Loci:
Chunking: a type of Mnemonic
 organizing items into familiar, manageable units
 Like horizontal organization
 We often do this automatically
 Phone #’s or SSN’s: Not 8645551212 but
864-555-12 12
 use of acronyms: word or sentences to
remember
EX: HOMES: Huron, Ontar., Michig., Erie,
Superi.
 Colors of the rainbow in order of
wavelengths? Planets?
Which is easier to remember?
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4 8 3 7 9 2 5 1 6 OR 483 792 516
Encoding: Chunking
 Organized info is more easily recalled
2 better than 1… 4 better than 3, etc.
19
Hierarchies: Categorizing related items
 Listed items remembered better in categories
-poorer recall if randomly
 Even if list is random, ppl still organize info into
some logical pattern
*Break complex info down into broad concepts &
subdivide more into categories & subcategories
Encoding
(automatic
or effortful)
Meaning
(semantic
Encoding)
Imagery
(visual
Encoding)
Chunks
Organization
20
Hierarchies
Storage: Retaining Info
 Iconic Memory
 momentary sensory memory of visual
stimuli…EX?
 photographic or pic. image memory lasting
few tenths of a second
 Echoic Memory
 momentary sensory memory of auditory
stimuli
21
Storage:
Short-Term Memory
Percentage
who recalled 90
consonants 80
 STM:
 limited in
duration &
capacity
 “Magical”
70
60
50
40
30
number:
20
10
0
3
6
9
12
15
18
Time in seconds between presentation
of contestants and recall request
(no rehearsal allowed)
7 (+/-) 2
(5 or 6 7 8 or 9)
22
Storage: Long-Term Memory
How storage works:

Karl Lashley (1950): cut out part of rats’ brains
1. rats learn maze
2. lesion in cortex
3. test memory
 **Synaptic changes
 Long-term Potentiation (remember action

potentials??)
 increase in synapse’s firing potential after
brief, rapid stimulation
 Strong emotions = stronger memories
 some stress hormones boost learning &
retention
23
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
 Amnesia--the loss of memory
 Explicit Memory (aka “declarative”)
 memory of facts & experiences we can consciously
know & declare
 hippocampus--neural center in limbic system that
helps process explicit memories for storage
 Implicit Memory (aka procedural):
 retention independent of conscious recollection
 EX: a skill…typing
24
LTM Subsystems
(B. p. 359):
(Chart = EX of what mnemonic??)
Types of
long-term
memories
Explicit
(declarative)
With conscious
recall
Facts-general
knowledge
(“semantic
memory”)
Personally
experienced
events
(“episodic
memory”)
Implicit
(nondeclarative
or procedural)
W/o conscious recall
Skills-motor
& cognitive
Dispositionsclassical &
operant
conditioning
25
effects
LTM Storage:
 MRI scan of hippocampus (in red)
 Hippocampus = brain area that converts info from
STM & WM into LTM…works in conjunction w/ areas
of frontal lobe
 Hippocampus, just like hemispheres, is lateralized
(left & right side w/ differ. functions for each)
Hippocampus
26
Various categories of memory
27
Another memory model including the
“Central Executive”
28
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
(Use EX’s for each!) (R = 3 R’s + a P!)
 Recall
 measure of memory in which the person
must retrieve info learned earlier
EX’s?
 Recognition
 Measure of memory in which the person has
only to ID items previously learned
EX’s?
 Relearning: Looking at how much time
saved when learning material 2nd time EX’s?
 Priming: using cues (or clues) to activate,
often unconsciously, particular associations in
memory…
i.e., connections to networks… EX’s?
29
Retrieval Cues (X)
Percentage of
words recalled
40
30
20
10
0
Water/
land
Land/
water
Different contexts for
hearing & recall
Water/
water
Land/
land
Same contexts for
30
hearing & recall
 Deja Vu (French: already seen)
 cues from current situation may subconsciously
trigger retrieval of earlier similar experience
 "I've experienced this before.“
 However, ppl resist believing this answer… b/c
= “it’s so real!”
 Mood-congruent Memory: We recall experiences
consistent w/ our current mood
 memory, emotion, & moods become retrieval
cues
-sad? remember things you felt when sad b4
-angry? recall memories when last angry
State-dependent Memory: What’s learned in one
state [condition] (like high, drunk, or depressed) is
remembered more easily later in same situation
EX: If practice on field rather than gym, will
remember new skill better --SAT at GHS? 31
State Dependent Learning:
 After learning to
move a mobile by
kicking, learning
reactivated most
strongly when
retested in the
same rather than
a different context
EX: If we move
kid to playpen,
less likely to show
this activity as
quickly.
32
State Dependent Learning…?
33
7 Sins of memory: Ways memory fails us (365-6):
a) 3 of forgetting:
1. Absent-mindedness: inattention
2. Transience: unused fades
3. Blocking: interference…tip-of-the-tongue
b) 3 of distortion: We mislead selves or others
mislead
1. Misattribution: confusing the source
2. Suggestibility: effects of mis-info (false mem.)
3. Bias: pre-conceived ideas control mem.
c) 1 of intrusion: Persistence: unwanted mem.’s
are just not “filed” (motivated forgetting)
34
Forgetting:
(365)
1. Encoding failure 2. Storage decay 3. Retrieval failure
1. Forgetting as encoding failure: Info doesn’t go
to LTM b/c of inattention…or bias…or misattribution,
etc.
EX: Which is the Penny?
2… Storage decay: Use it or loose it…
EX: foreign lang. use?
3… Retrieval failure (368) Can’t retrieve info from
LTM b/c of blocking, interference, etc.
 Motivated Forgetting (370)
 ppl unknowingly revise memories b/c it is what
you would rather believe (denial?)
 Repression: Freud’s term for “defense mechanism”
that removes from consciousness upsetting
thoughts, feelings, & memories
35
Attention
External
events
Sensory
memory
Encoding
Encoding
Short-term
& working
Memory
Long-term
Retrieval memory
Retrieval failure
leads to forgetting
Attention
External
events
Sensory
memory Encoding
Short- Encoding
term
memory
Longterm
memory
OR Encoding
failure leads
to forgetting 36
Forgetting
% of list
retained
when
relearning
 Ebbinghaus’
forgetting
curve over 30
days–
 Initially rapid,
then levels off
with time
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
12345
10
15
20
25
30
Time in days since learning list
37
Forgetting
 The forgetting curve for Spanish
learned in school
% of
original
Vocab.
retained
100%
90
80
70
Retention
drops,
60
then levels off
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 3 5
9½
14½
25
35½
49½
38
Time in yrs after completion of Spanish course
Forgetting as Interference (369)
 Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other info
Can go 1 of 2 ways…
1) Proactive (forward  acting) Interference
 disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of
new information…old interrupts ne
EX: Knew Judy…meet Julie…
…keep calling her Judy
2) Retroactive (backwards  acting)
Interference
 Learning new info interrupts recall of old
EX: Knew Judy…meet Julie…
but now if you see Judy, you call her Julie
39
Forgetting as Interference 2nd example:
Learn French…then Spanish
40
Forgetting:
Going for a walk or sleeping
can limit retro interference
-new info makes old info hard to retrieve
 Retroactive Interference
Percentage
of syllables
recalled
90%
Without interfering
events, recall is
better
80
After sleep
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
After remaining awake
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Hours elapsed after learning syllables
8
41
Positive transfer:
Opposite of interference …b/c old info
can often HELP (or facilitate)
remembering
EX: Latin helps us learn French…or
advanced English words
-----------------------------------------------------
Why might advertisers NOT want to
advertise during violent TV shows? (b-369)
42
Forgetting
 Forgetting can
occur at any
memory stage
 As we process info,
we filter, alter, or
lose much of it
 Meta-cognition:
what we know
about what we
know or can
remember…Most
ppl. over-estimate
ability in this!!
43
Memory Construction
 We filter info & fill in missing pieces
 Misinformation Effect: incorporating misleading
info into our memory of an event (wreck/crash?)
 Source Amnesia (misattribution): attributing to the
wrong source an event that we experienced, heard
about, read about, …or even imagined
Eyewitness testimony
 Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when
questioned …..?’s can affect mem.
 E-W memory CAN be unreliable
 Emotion can affect
EX: Priest & Gentleman Bank Robber? “Evil Salsa
man?”
44
Eyewitness testimony?
“…When they hit =14%”
“…When they smashed = __?_%”
Depiction of actual accident
Leading question:
“About how fast were the cars
going when they smashed into
each other?”
Memory
construction
45
2 Types of amnesia:
A) Retrograde: Forget your past:
Who am I?
Where am I from?
B) Anterograde: Forget the present …can’t
form new memories: No STM gets to LTM
Damage to what part of limbic system?
46
Memory Construction
 Memories of Abuse
 Repressed or Constructed?
 Child sexual abuse does occur
 Some adults do actually forget such episodes
 “repressed” = Freud’s term for it…aka “blocked”
 False Memory Syndrome
 Condition where a person’s identity & relationships
center around a false but strongly believed memory
of traumatic experience
 Sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists
 Guidelines are now set to try to stop or limit these
47
Memory Construction: Mem. of abuse:
RE: the ? of recovered (repressed) memories:
Injustice happens….
Incest happens
Forgetting happens
Recovered memories are commonplace
Unpleasant memories…false OR real…are
upsetting
But most ppl. (& psy.) do agree on the following:
 Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs
are especially unreliable …meaning they
must be looked at carefully
 Memories of things happening b4 age 3 are
48
unreliable





9 Ways to Improve Your Memory
1. Study repeatedly to boost recall
2. Make material personally meaningful (relate
to things you already know)
3. Activate retrieval cues--mentally recreate
situation & mood
4. Recall events while they are fresh-- before
you encounter misinformation
5. Minimize interference
6. Use mnemonic devices
a) associate w/ “peg” words—something you’ve
already stored
b) make up story about the info…or tell someone
about the info
c) Use chunking & acronyms
49
7. Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking
about the material…
8. Take a break!
9. Test your own knowledge
 rehearse
 determine what you do not yet know
And be sure to Use Elaboration: Ways…
-Actively question new information
-Think about its implications
-Relate information to things you already know
-Generate your own examples of concepts
-Don’t just highlight passage as you read
-Focus on the main or big ideas in the text
-Organize these ideas hierarchically
? Activity NEXT…. STOP!
50
Point 1: Thalamus:
Should describe the role of the thalamus in the process,
specifically that the neural message from the retina first
passes through the thalamus, and that the thalamus
routes the impulse elsewhere in the brain.
Point 2: Retina:
Should explain that the light that passes through the pupil,
eventually reflected on the pupil, activating neurons in
the retina.
May use the terms rods and/or cones to describe these neurons,
but they do not have to use these specific terms to earn this
point.
51
Point 3: Pupil:
Should describe how light reflects off the object, and some of
the light passes thru pupil into the eye.
Point 4: Transduction:
Should explain that light waves that were reflected off object are
changed into neural impulses (transduction) at the point
of the retina, where neurons fire in response to light waves.
Again, may use the terms rods and/or cones to describe these
neurons, but they do not have to use these specific terms to
earn this point.
Point 5: Action potential:
Should explain that action potentials are released when neurons
fire, sending an electrical charge thru the neuron.
Students can go on to explain this process in more detail
(describing the role of neural structures such as dendrites & the
axon) but they nt have to explain those details to earn the point.
52
Point 6: Feature detector:
Should discuss the role of feature detectors in their visual
perception.
Should mention it comes from the thalamus, which routed the
neural impulse to the feature detectors, and these groups
of neurons organize the neural firings into a conscious
visual perception of the object.
Students can identify the specific location of the feature
detectors (visual cortex in the occipital lobe), but they do
not have to provide this detail to earn the point.
53
CH 8/9 FRQ’s
Continuous:
(Define!) When someone gives one response, they get
something each time.
An example would be putting $1 into a drink machine and
getting a drink out (a reinforcer).
But if you give the required response and do not get the
reinforcer, then you quit immediately giving the response.
Fixed:
In this situation, you give a specific number of responses
will take you longer to consistently give desired response,
but if reinforcer does not come subject is more likely to
keep giving the response at least for awhile.
54
List 1: 12
Night
Bed
Sheets
Snooze
Alarm
Avocado x
Nap
Blanket
Light
Pillow
sleep
Pajamas
Mattress
55
List 2
creek
flow
delta
meander
flood
branchX
water
bridge
Rocks
branchX
fish
banks
River
stream
56
List 3:
Thread
Pin
Thimble
Sharp
Injectionx
Eye
Prick
Pain
Bleed needle
Sewing
Point
Knitting
57