Download Memory - Rincon History Department

Extra Credit Question
 11. Dr. VanBrun believes that individuals learn many





of their behaviors by observing others and through
conditioning. She also emphasizes that how people
think about the situations they are in affects their
behavior. Dr. VanBrun is most likely a
A) psychodynamic psychologist
B) humanist
C) trait theorist
D) behaviorist
E) social-cognitive theorist
Memory
CEREPAK 2016
ADAPTED FROM:
CHAPTER 7: COGNITION
STUDYNOTES.ORG
The Phenomenon of Memory
 Be Thankful for Memory
 It allows us to…
It allows us to…
Call our family, friends
neighbors and co-workers by name
Speak English
Drive to work every day
To study for AP
Psych Tests!
To type
To sing
Memory
 If you didn’t have it, your
life might be more like
Lucy's
Memory
 Any indication that
learning has persisted
over time
 Our ability to store and
retrieve information
We remember highly emotional
events extremely well…
 Flashbulb Memory:

A clear memory of an
emotionally significant
moment or event

As if our brains say,
“Capture this!”

Flashbulb memories can
fail as well.
Information Processing
 To remember information, we must encode, store and
retrieve it, like a computer.
1) Encoding: the processing of information into the
memory system
2) Storing: the retention of encoded information over
time
3) Retrieval: the process of getting information out of
memory storage.
Atkinson-Shiffrin’s 3-stage processing model
 1) Sensory Memory: the immediate, very brief
recordings of sensory information
 2) Short-term Memory: activated memory that holds
a few items momentarily

Ex: remembering the 7 digits of a phone number while dialing
before the information is stored or forgotten
 3) Long-term memory: the relatively permanent and
limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences
Information Processing Models
 Atkinson-Shriffrin Classic 3-stage processing model:
Contemporary Memory Model
 We are bombarded with
sensory information
nowadays; we cannot focus
on everything at once
 Therefore, we must focus
our attention on certain
incoming stimuli-usually
novel or important
 Then it is placed into the…
Working Memory
 Working Memory: a newer
understanding of shortterm memory that involves
conscious, active
processing of incoming
auditory and visual-spatial
information and of
information retrieved from
long-term memory
 We must rehearse and
practice this info in order
for it to move to long-term
memory
Encoding: Getting Information In
 Automatic processing: unconscious encoding of




incidental information
Space ex: encoding the place in the room where you
left your keys-visualize this area to remember their
location
Time- ex: sequence of events. “Why was I telling
that story again?” Well, first we talked about…
Frequency- ex: “This is the third time I ran into her!
Well-learned info- ex: the meaning of words,
reading
Imagine…
 If you had to learn to read this:
.citamotua emoceb nac gnissecorp luftroffE
 How
and What We Remember:
 Effortful processing- at first it requires effort, but it can
become effortless.
 Rehearsal- the conscious repetition of information (for
conscious retention or encoding)
 Spacing Effect- the tendency for distributed study time to
yield better long term retention than is achieved through
cramming.
 Serial Position Effect- our tendency to recall the last and
first items in a list best.
Next-in-line effect
 When people go around
in circles saying words or
their names and
attempting to remember
what was said by others
(first day of school in my
class!), their poorest
memories are of the
words said just before
them.
Eppinghaus: Applying science to studying memory
 He tried remembering nonsense words by reading
them aloud a set number of times
 JIH, BOZ, FUB, YOX, SUJ, XIR, DAX, LEQ, VUM,
etc
 Findings: The more he repeated the words on Day 1,
the less amount of time he spent relearning the
words on Day 2
Eppinghaus Retention Curve
Quick Review-In your notes
 Contrast Effortful Processing with Automatic
Processing
 Revisit these terms and relate them to a specific time
in your life



Next-in-line effect
Spacing Effect
Serial Position Effect
What We Encode
 We tend not to
remember things as they
were; instead we
remember what we
encoded.
 For example, while
taking a test, you may
remember your lecture
notes rather than the
lecture itself
Types of Encoding
 Visual Encoding: the encoding of picture images
 Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound,
especially the sound of words
 Semantic Encoding: the encoding of meaning,
including the meaning of words
Semantic Encoding
Context helps us figure out the meaning of the words and it
also helps us remember terms and vocabulary in general.
Imagine that you were asked to remember three words:
Dog
House
Banana
+Putting the meaning of the words together by picturing a
dog running around the house with a banana in his
mouth would probably help you remember the words
using semantic encoding
Encoding:
Visual often = shallow processing
But semantic tends to be23deeper processing
How this relates to us…
 Memory researcher, Wayne Wickelgren, stated that,


“The time you spend thinking about material you are
reading and relating it to previously stored material is about
the most useful thing you can do in learning any new subject
matter.”
How will you use this information?
Visual Encoding: How might imagery
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enhance effortful processing?
Mental pictures; seeing a picture when
reading the words
 Can be powerful aid to effortful processing,
especially when combined with semantic
encoding
 Which of these words would you most remember
later?
 Typewriter, void, rock, process, fire, inherent
 Imagery:

(probably the concrete nouns- because you are encoding them visually
and semantically)
Visual Encoding
 Mnemonics: “stupid
memory tricks…”

memory aids, especially
techniques using vivid
imagery &
organizational devices
Names of the Great Lakes?
Musical notes?
Can you guess what brain part this
Mnemonic is helping us with?
Hint: the fish with teeth is a piranha.
Organizing Information for Encoding
 Chunking: a type of
mnemonic- organizing
items into familiar,
manageable units, often
occurs automatically.
Which is easier to
remember?
4 8
OR
3 7 9 2 5 1 6
483 792 516
 Hierarchies:
processing information
by dividing it into logical
levels, beginning with the
most general and moving
to the most specific.

Ex: a chapter in a text
book may be arranged in a
hierarchy basic concepts
to more specific terms and
ideas as the chapter
continues.
Hierarchies (example of this portion of the
chapter)
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Encoding
(automatic
or effortful)
Meaning
(semantic
Encoding)
Imagery
(visual
Encoding)
Chunks
Organization
Hierarchies
Application
 Can you think of three ways to employ the principles
of this section to improve your own learning and
retention of important things?
 Watch Crash Course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSycdIx-C48
Bellwork: Ten interesting facts about Memory
 Watch the video and write down three facts that you
are able to to make another psych connection to.
 What was the most interesting fact? Why
Retaining Information
 At the heart of memory is storage. If you later recall
something you experienced, you must, somehow,
have stored and retrieved it.
 Before we ask ourselves, what is long-term memory
or what is our capacity for memory,

Let’s start with the first storage unit noted in the three-stage
processing model-our fleeting sensory memory.
Storage: Retaining Info
Sensory Memory
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 Iconic Memory
 momentary sensory memory of visual
stimuli
 Photographic image memory lasting few
tenths of a second
 Echoic Memory
 momentary sensory memory of auditory
stimuli- lingers 3-4 seconds
 Ex: “Are you listening to me? What did I say”
 Then you “playback” that sound and prove
them wrong!
Sensory Memory
Working/Short-term Memory
 We retrieve information
from long-term memory for
“on-screen” display. But
unless your working memory
meaningfully encodes or
rehearses that information, it
quickly disappears from our
short-term store.
 On the next slide, scientists
asked participants to recall
three nonsense consonants
at varying amounts of time
after being shown the letters.
Storage:
Short-Term Memory
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Percentage
who recalled 90
consonants 80
 Short Term
 Memory:
70

60
50
40
30
limited in
duration &
capacity
20
10
0
3
6
9
12
15
18
Time in seconds between presentation
of contestants and recall request
(no rehearsal allowed)
Add to your notes: What
conclusions can you
draw from this graph?
Long Term Memory
 Our capacity for storing information permanently in
long term memory is essentially limitless.
 Our long term memories do not fill up to a point of
remembering information only if other info is
forgotten.
Storage: Long-Term Memory
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How storage works:

Karl Lashley (1950): cut out part of rats’ brains
1. rats learn maze
2. lesion in cortex
3. test memory- rats could partially recall how to
solve the maze
**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



Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
 How does memory affect the communication between two
neurons?
 Watch!: Long Term Potentiation White Board Video

Experience strengthens the pathways between neurons and synapses
transmit signals more efficiently.

Neurotransmitters are released more quickly (needs less prompting
needed to release them)
Post-synaptic neuron may develop more receptor sites to receive
neurotransmitters more quickly as well


Identified drugs that can block and enhance LTP-making learning faster
or slower
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
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 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
LTM Subsystems
(Chart ex of what 40
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
effects
LTM Storage:
 MRI scan of hippocampus (in red)
 Hippocampus = brain area41that 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
Various categories of long-term memory
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Another memory model including the “Central Executive”
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Retrieval: Getting Information Out
(R = 3 R’s + a P!)
 Recall
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measure of memory in which the person must
retrieve info learned earlier. example?
 Recognition
 Measure of memory in which the person has only
to identify items previously learned. example?
 Relearning: Looking at how much time saved when
learning material 2nd time. example?
 Priming: using cues (or clues) to activate, often
unconsciously, particular associations in memory…
i.e., connections to networks… example?

Priming
 How do you pronounce the word spelled s-h-o-p?
Priming
 First
 Second
 Third
Retrieval Cues
 While encoding target
information into
memory, we also encode
other bits of information
(surroundings, mood,
seating positions etc).
 These bits of information
are like tags or
indentifying marks on
the target information.
 Target Information- ex?

Function of the Reticular
Formation
 Retrieval Cues- ex?

ReTICKLEr Formation

Being tickled and waking
up = Being Awake
CONTEXT EFFECTS
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 Where you are (context) can affect the retrieval of
information.
examples: *Being flooded with memories when you
are back in a previously familiar context
*Forgetting why you walked into a room because
the context clues are no longer there
 Deja Vu (French: already seen)


cues from current situation may subconsciously
trigger retrieval of earlier similar experience
"I've experienced this before.“
Moods and Memory
 Mood-congruent Memory: We recall
experiences consistent with our current mood
 memory, emotion, & moods become retrieval
cues
-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
State Dependent Learning:
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Crib and bumper #1
Crib and bumper #2
 After learning to
move a mobile by
kicking, learning
reactivated most
strongly when
retested in the
same context EX:
If we move kid to
playpen, less
likely to show this
activity as quickly.
State Dependent
Learning…?
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7 Sins of memory: Ways memory fails us
a) Forgetting: Retrieval Failure
1. Absent-mindedness: 52inattention
2. Transience: unused memories fades
3. Blocking: interference…tip-of-the-tongue
b) Distortion: We mislead ourselves or others
mislead us
1. Misattribution: confusing the source
2. Suggestibility: effects of mis-info (leading
question becomes false memory)
3. Bias: pre-conceived ideas control memories
c) Intrusion:
Persistence: unwanted memories are just not
“filed” (motivated forgetting)
Which is the real penny?
 Frequent exposure does not equal encoding
Forgetting:
1. Encoding failure 2. Storage decay 3. Retrieval failure
54 failure: Info does not go
1. Forgetting as encoding
to LTM due to inattention, storage decay etc
ex:Which is the Penny?
2… Storage decay: Use it or lose it…
EX: foreign lang. use?
3… Retrieval failure Can’t retrieve info from LTM
because of blocking, interference, etc.
 Motivated Forgetting


people unknowingly revise memories because it is what you
would rather believe
Repression: Freud’s term for “defense mechanism”
that removes from consciousness upsetting thoughts,
feelings, & memories
Attention
External
events
Sensory
memory
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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
Forgetting
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% of list
retained
when
relearning
 Ebbinghaus’
60
forgetting
curve over 30
days–
 Initially rapid,
then levels off
with time
50
40
30
20
10
0
12345
10
15
20
25
Time in days since learning list
30
Forgetting
 The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in
school
% of
original
Vocab.
retained
57
100%
90
80
70
Retention
drops,
60
then levels off
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 3 5
9½
14½
25
35½
49½
Time in yrs after completion of Spanish course
Forgetting as Interference
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 Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other
info
1) Proactive (forward  acting) Interference
 disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of
new information…old interrupts new
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
Forgetting as Interference:
Learn French…then Spanish
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Forgetting:
Going for a walk or sleeping can
limit retro interference
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 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
Positive Transfer- Old information
assisting the retention of new information
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(the opposite of interference)
Old info can often HELP (or facilitate)
remembering
EX: Latin helps us learn French…or advanced
English words
Forgetting
 Forgetting can
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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
people overestimate ability in
this!!
Memory Construction
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 We filter info & fill in missing pieces
 Misinformation Effect: incorporating misleading
info into our memory of an event (imagining actions
repeatedly can lead to false memories)
 Source Amnesia (misattribution): attributing to
the wrong source an event that we experienced,
heard about, read about, …or even imagined. Ex:
can’t remember if a dream was real or not; can’t
remember where we know someone from.
Eyewitness testimony?
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Depiction of actual accident
Leading question:
“About how fast were the cars
going when they smashed into
each other?”
Memory
construction
Eyewitness Testimony
 Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when
questioned …..questions can affect memory


Group A: How fast were the cars going when they “hit” each
other
Group B: How fast were the cars going when they “smashed”
each other?
-Weeks later, when asked if they recall seeing glass on the
ground, which group said that they did?
 Eyewitness memory CAN be unreliable
 Emotion can affect memory
Two Types of Amnesia
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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?
Memory Construction
67
 Memories of Abuse

Repressed or Constructed?


When child sexual abuse does occur, some adults
do actually forget such episodes
“repressed” or “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
Memory Construction: Memories of abuse:






Regarding Repressed Memories:
68
Injustice happens….
Incest happens
Forgetting happens
Recovered memories are commonplace
Unpleasant memories…false OR real…are upsetting
But most people (& psychologists) 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 before age 3 are unreliable
9 Ways to Improve Your Memory
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Study repeatedly to boost recall
69
Make material personally
meaningful (relate
to things you already know)
Activate retrieval cues--mentally recreate
situation & mood
Recall events while they are fresh-- before
you encounter misinformation
Minimize interference
Use mnemonic devices
a)
b)
c)
associate w/ “peg” words—something you’ve
already stored
make up story about the info…or tell someone
about the info
Use chunking & acronyms
7. Spend more time rehearsing or actively
thinking about the material…
8. Take a break!
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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