Download Chapter 7: Memory

Chapter 7: Memory
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
• The process by which we encode, store,
and retrieve information
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Memory
• Encoding
– Refers to the process by which information is
initially recorded in a form usable to memory
• Storage
– The maintenance of material saved in the memory
system
• Retrieval
– Material in memory storage is located, brought
into awareness, and used
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory
– The initial, momentary storage of
information, lasting only an instant
• Iconic memory
– Reflects information from our visual system
• Echoic memory
– Stores auditory information coming from
the ears
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Short-Term Memory
• Memory store in which information first has
meaning
• May hold 7 (plus or minus 2) chunks of
information
– A chunk is a meaningful grouping of stimuli that can
be stored as a unit in short term memory
• Holds information for approximately 15-20
seconds
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Short-Term Memory
• Chunking
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Short-Term Memory
• Rehearsal
– The repetition of information that has entered
short-term memory
• Elaborative rehearsal
– Occurs when information is considered and is
organized in some fashion resulting in greater
likelihood to be transferred into long-term
memory
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Short-Term Memory
• Mnemonics
– Formal techniques for organizing
information in a way that makes it more
likely to be remembered
• ROY G. BIV for the colors of the rainbow
– Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Short-Term Memory
• Working memory
– A set of temporary memory stores that
actively manipulate and rehearse information
– Stress can reduce the effectiveness of
working memory by reducing its capacity
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Short-Term Memory
• Working memory
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Long-Term Memory
• A storehouse of almost unlimited capacity
• Information in long-term memory is filed
and coded so that we can retrieve it when
we need it
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The Three Systems of Memory:
Long-Term Memory
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Modules of Long-Term Memory
• Declarative memory
– Factual information: names, faces, dates, etc.
• Procedural memory
– Skills and habits, such as riding a bike or
hitting a baseball
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Modules of Long-Term Memory
• Semantic memory
– General knowledge
and facts about the
world, as well as
memory for the rules
of logic that are used
to deduce other facts
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Modules of Long-Term Memory
• Episodic memory
– Memory for events that occur in a particular
time, place, or context
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Neuroscience Of Memory
• Hippocampus
– Part of limbic system
and plays a central
role in the
consolidation of
memories
• Amygdala
– Involved in memories
involving emotion
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Recalling Long-Term Memories
• Explicit Memory
– Intentional or conscious recollection of
information
• Implicit Memory
– Memories of which people are not consciously
aware, but which can affect subsequent
performance and behavior
– Priming
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Recalling Long-Term Memories
• Flashbulb Memories
– Memories centered on
a specific, important,
or surprising event that
are so vivid it is as if
they represented a
snapshot of the event
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Recalling Long-Term Memories
• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
– Inability to recall information that one realizes
one knows
• Retrieval cue
– Stimulus that allows us to recall more easily
information that is located in long-term
memory
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Recalling Long-Term Memories
• Levels of processing theory
– Emphasizes the degree to which new material
is mentally analyzed
– The amount of information remembered
hinges on how much attention was paid
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Constructive Processes in
Memory
• Constructive processes
– Processes in which memories are influenced
by the meaning we give to events
• Schemas
– Organized bodies of information stored in
memory that bias the way new information is
interpreted, stored, and recalled
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Repressed and False Memories
• Repressed memories
– Recollections of events that are initially so
shocking that the mind responds by pushing
them into the unconscious
• False Memories
– Develop when people are unable to recall the
source of a memory of a particular event
about which they have only vague
recollections
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Autobiographical Memory
• Our recollections of
circumstances and
episodes from our
own lives
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Forgetting:
When Memory Fails
• Herman Ebbinghaus
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Forgetting:
When Memory Fails
• Decay
– Loss of information in
memory through its
nonuse
• Interference
– Phenomenon by which
information in memory
disrupts the recall of
other information
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Forgetting:
When Memory Fails
• Amnesia
– Memory loss that occurs without other mental
difficulties
• Retrograde
– Memory is lost for occurrences prior to a certain event
• Anterograde
– Memory is lost for events that follow and injury
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Forgetting:
When Memory Fails
• Memory dysfunctions
– Alzheimer’s disease
• Characterized in part by severe memory problems
– Korsakoff’s syndrome
• Affects long-term alcoholics
• Includes hallucinations
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Improving Memory
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Keyword technique
Encoding specificity
Organization cues
Effective note taking
Practice and rehearse
Don’t believe claims about memory
improvement drugs...save your money!
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