PSY 2012 General Psychology
Chapter 7: Memory
Samuel R. Mathews, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
The Department of Psychology
The University of West Florida
714786194191
• Write as many numbers as you can
remember.
• What color was the list of numbers?
The Characteristics of Memory
• Interpretive: our memory for information is
frequently such that we relate new information
with old so we interpret new information in light
of what we already know
• Constructive: our memory fills in gaps in
incoming information based on existing
knowledge.
• Hence, our memory is not typically a
reproduction of objective reality
Memory
• Information flow in memory:
– Encoding: the process through which
information from the environment is
transferred to memory; strategies at encoding
impact retrieval
– Storage: the process of maintaining
information in memory
– Retrieval: the process of making information
stored in memory accessible for use
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
of Memory
Computer Metaphor
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M
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Input Devices
e.g. Keyboard
Sensory
Memory
•Short duration
•Large capacity
(Sperling’s work)
•Allows further
processing
Central Processing
Unit
Short Term or
Working Memory
•Limited Capacity (7+/-2
Chunks—Miller)
•Brief duration without
rehearsal
•Susceptible to interference
Hard Drive or
Storage Memory
Long Term
Memory
•Long Duration
•Large Capacity
•Forgetting and
retrieval are
problems
•Meaningful
representations
1776 1984 1941
• Write as many numbers as you can
remember.
• What color were the numbers?
• Next you will see a list of words. Identify
which words begin with a vowel.
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EAGLE
HONDA
DOG
PARROT
AUDI
LION
HAWK
OX
FORD
OWL
SHEEP
CHRYSLER
• Write as many words from the entire list as
you can remember.
• In the next list remember the words that
name vegetables.
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TUNA
CABBAGE
NEVADA
BROCCOLI
BASS
BEANS
OHIO
SNAPPER
FLORIDA
SHARK
WISCONSIN
CARROT
• Write the words you can remember from
the entire list.
Working Memory
(a.k.a. Short term memory)
• Strategies used in working memory
determine the likelihood of retrieval from
long term memory
• Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating
information verbatim
– Keeps information in short term or
working memory
– Tends to be in inaccessible in long term
memory over time
Working Memory
(a.k.a. Short term memory)
• Elaborative rehearsal: Expanding on or
creating relations among pieces of
information and existing knowledge
– Chunking information: breaking information into
meaningful units (years instead of numbers)
– Creating connections with information already known
(Pato—image of duck with pot on its head)
– Organizing into meaningful units under a
superordinate heading (much like the perceptual rule
of similarity—those items that tend to be from the
same category tend to be grouped in memory)
Levels of Processing (Craik & Lockhart,
1972)
• Levels range between shallow and deep
levels of processing (strategies in working
memory):
– Shallow: maintenance rehearsal (repetition) or
focusing on surface characteristics (does the
word begin with a vowel).
– Deep: elaborative rehearsal (looking for
meaning—does the word name a vegetable)
Levels of Processing (Craik & Lockhart,
1972)
• Shallow processing requires less effort but
results in lower levels of recall;
• Deep processing requires more effort but
results in increased recall due to:
– Increased connections between the to-beremembered information and existing
information in memory
– Chunking into meaningful units
– Increased processing in working memory
Implicit/Explicit Memory
• Implicit Memory: memories that were
acquired incidentally without conscious
learning (e.g. stereotypes, typical habits);
• Explicit Memory: memories that were
acquired through intentional efforts (e.g.
words to a song, main ideas of a chapter)
– Typically requires mental effort and control
Executive Control in Working Memory:
Monitoring and Control
• Meta-memory:
– Knowing what you know and what you do not
know
– Knowing the limits to your own memory
• Metacognition:
– Knowing how to study
– Knowing how to solve a problem
– Knowing strategies to use and using them
– Monitoring your mental processes
Long Term/Storage Memory
• Duration and capacity limits for information
are large but based on:
– Organization
– Rehearsal
– Frequency of access
Long Term/Storage Memory
• Organization
– Procedural memories:
• Memories for “how” to accomplish some task
(physical or mental)
– Declarative memories:
• Knowing “what”
– Episodic Memory: knowledge of personal experiences;
typically perceived to be a “personal narrative”
– Semantic Memory: knowledge of concepts and facts;
usually language-based
Long Term/Storage Memory
• Organization
– Schema Theory: memories are organized in
networks of related ideas.
• Relations among ideas or concepts based on
logical and emotional links (e.g. causal, temporal,
superordinate/subordinate; positive or negative
associations)
• The more relationships between any concept and
other concepts the more likely the concept can be
accessed.
Long Term/Storage Memory
• Think of the word farm and list four terms
that come to mind.
• Now, think about how those words are
related to the term “farm.”
• Schema theory suggests this is likely the
way semantic memories and very likely
others are organized
Theory of
Memory
Theory of
Type of
rehearsal
strategy
Atkinson
Shiffrin
Components of S/A
Memory Theory
Sensory
Working
Passes info to
Depth of
Processing
Increases
likelihood
of retrieval
from
Long
Term
Impacts storage
And retrieval in
Elaborative
Type of
rehearsal
strategy
Maintenance
Extends duration of
information in
Sample Concept Map
for partial Memory Schema
Long Term/Storage Memory
• Rehearsal and Retrieval from LTM
– Depth of processing is related to ease of
retrieval.
• What rehearsal strategy is most likely to lead to
easier retrieval?
• What sort of strategy could you use to increase
your memory for your lecture notes?
• How might you combine rehearsal and
organization to help remember something?
Long Term/Storage Memory
• Frequency of access
– Concepts more frequently accessed are more
easily remembered
– More frequent and varied access leads to
greater number of association with the
desired concept.
Long Term/Storage Memory
• Encoding Specificity:
– The manner in which we rehearse material is
related to the cues that will successfully help
retrieve the material
– The more ways we encode the information
the broader the set of cues we can use to
access the information.
Memory Failures
• Transience—forgetting declines rapidly
over time for meaningless material and
levels off at a low level
• Absentmindedness—loss of a retrieval cue
due to a shift in attention
Memory Failures
• Blocking—interference by similar stimuli
– Something you learned earlier impacts your
ability to remember something learned more
recently: Proactive interference
– Something you learned only recently impacts
something your learned in the more distant
past: Retroactive interference
• Elecia recently moved to a new apartment.
In her old apartment, the light switch was
on the left side of the front door. In her
new apartment it is on the right side. When
she entered her new apartment she
always reached to the left.
• Is this proactive or retroactive
interference?
• Why?
Memory Failures
• Serial Position Effect:
– Information from the beginning of a string of
information and from the end of the string is
remembered better than that in the middle
– Both proactive and retroactive interference
are operating.
Memory
• Human memory is interpretive and
constructive;
• Our memory does play tricks on us;
• The use of strategies that elaborate
information to be remembered is more
effective than strategies that simply repeat
the information.
• Even when we are sure of our memories,
they can be affected by other factors.
Information remembered best:
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Object of focused attention
Captures our interest
Emotionally salient
Linked with our existing knowledge or
experiences
• Rehearsed using elaborative strategies
• In your text, page 296 contains hints for
study habits based on memory research…