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Lists of Items
• Primacy Effect: the tendency to remember items
from the beginning of a list
• Recency Effect: the tendency to remember items
from the end of a list
• Serial Position Effect: the tendency to remember
items from the beginning and end of a list better
than items from the middle
• Semantic Distinctiveness (von Restorff Effect):
increased success with recall of an item because
of its uniqueness
• Chunking: linking of two or more items together to
aid recall
(1776149218121941)
• (Re)constructive Memory: the process of piecing
together memories
Memory
• Memory: cognitive systems for storing and
retrieving information.
• Encoding: the process through which
information is converted into a form that
can be entered into memory
• Storage: the process through which
information is retained in memory
• Retrieval: the process through which
information stored in memory is located
Atkinson & Shriffrin
Model of Memory
1. Sensory Memory: the initial,
temporary recording of sensory
information

- eye (iconic) lasts about .25 seconds
- ear (echoic) lasts about 3 seconds
> Sensory memory forms automatically,
without attention or interpretation
Attention is needed to transfer
information to working memory
2. Short-Term (Working) Memory:
brief storage of information
currently being used
- Capacity is 7+/- 2 items
- Duration is about 18 seconds
> Maintenance Rehearsal: mental
or verbal repetition of information
allows it to remain in S-T
indefinitely
Sensory
Input
Sensory
Memory
Attention
Working or
Short-term
Memory
• If information in S-T is encoded, then it
proceeds to . . .
3. Long-Term Memory: organizes and
stores information
- Capacity is infinite
- Duration is unlimited
Maintenance Rehearsal
Sensory
Input
Encoding
Sensory
Memory
Attention
Long-term
Working or
memory
Short-term
Memory Retrieval
Storage: Long-Term Memory
Subsystems
Types of
long-term
memories
Explicit
(declarative)
Can report
it verbally
Facts-general
knowledge
(“Semantic
memory”)
Personally
experienced
events
(“Episodic
memory”)
Implicit
(procedural)
Cannot readily
express verbally
Skills-motor
and cognitive
Dispositionsclassical and
operant
conditioning
effects
Levels of Processing
Theory
• Fergus Craik & Robert Lockhart proposed three
levels for encoding incoming information.
- Structural: information is stored based on what
it looks like
- Phonemic: information is stored based on what it
sounds like
- Semantic: information is stored based on what it
means
> Deeper levels of processing results in
longer-lasting memory codes.
(Semantic = deepest)
• Spaced Practice: short study
sessions spread out over an extended
period of time lead to better learning
than does massed practice (one long
learning or cramming session).
Retrieval
• Retrieval: bringing information from L-T to
S-T memory so that it can be used,
examined, or modified
• Retrieval cues: can be any stimulus or bit
of information that aids in retrieval
- Two basic methods of retrieval are:
> Recall: few or no cues (essay question)
> Recognition: many or strong cues
(Multiple-choice question)
Recall vs. Recognition (Seven Dwarves)
Grouchy
Gabby
Fearful
Sleepy
Jessie
Smiley
Jumpy
Hopeful
Shy
Awesome
Droopy
Dopey
Sniffy
Wishful
Puffy
Dumpy
Sneezy
Lazy
Pop
Grumpy
Bashful
Cheerful
Teach
Shorty
Nifty
Happy
Wheezy
Danny
Doc
Stubby
• Encoding Specificity Principle: retrieval cues are
more efficient when they are coded when the
information in learned.
- Retrieval success most likely if context at time
of retrieval approximates that of encoding
> State Dependent Memory: what is learned in
one psychological or physical state (happy,
hungry, etc.) can more easily be remembered
when in the same state.
> Locus Dependent Memory: what is learned in
one location can more easily be remembered
when in the same location.
(take make-up test in usual classroom)
[déjà vu - cues from the current situation may
subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier
similar experience]
Retrieval Cues
 After learning to
move a mobile by
kicking, infants had
their learning
reactivated most
strongly when
retested in the same
rather than a
different context
(Butler & RoveeCollier, 1989).
• Mnemonics: techniques for improving
memory that use organizational devices
1. Verbal (acronym): use the first letters
of the words to be remembered to
make a new word
HOMES
2. Visual (method of loci): link places within
the room to words to be remembered
Sensory, S-T, & L-T
3. Peg Word: memorize a jingle: “one is a
bun, two is a shoe…” and link these pegs
to words to be remembered
Forgetting
 Encoding Failure: information never
made it from S-T to L-T memory.
Attention
External
events
Sensory
memory
Short- Encoding
term
memory
Encoding
failure leads
to forgetting
Longterm
memory
 Retrieval Failure: not enough retrieval
cues are available to prompt remembering
Attention
External
events
Sensory
memory
Encoding
Short-term
Long-term
memory
Retrieval memory
Retrieval failure
leads to forgetting
• Interference Theory: learning some
items may get in the way of retrieval
of other information.
- Proactive Interference: old
information in L-T memory interferes
with remembering new info
- Retroactive Interference: new
memories in L-T memory interfere with
remembering old info
• Consolidation Failure: memories new to longterm memory take time to consolidate or to
be firmly implanted.
- Any disruption in the consolidation process
can prevent a permanent memory from
forming (seizures, concussion, & loss of
consciousness)
> Retrograde Amnesia: loss of memory for
events occurring prior to the brain injury
> Anterograde Amnesia: loss of memory
for events occurring after brain injury
(Clive Wearing)
• Motivated Forgetting: highly
disturbing, anxiety-producing memories
are no longer consciously available
• Decay Theory: if information in L-T
memory is not used, it gradually fades
over time until completely
lost
The Forgetting Curve
Hermann Ebbinghaus
first began to study
forgetting using
nonsense syllables
Nonsense syllables
are three letter
combinations that
look like words but
are meaningless
(ROH, KUF)
 The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in
school
Percentage of 100%
original
90
vocabulary
80
retained
Retention
drops,
70
then levels off
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 3 5
9½
14½
25
35½
49½
Time in years after completion of Spanish course
Which one is the real penny?
Memory Construction &
Distortion
• We fill in gaps in our recollections, because we
want to understand fully what happened.
• Eyewitness Testimony – Is it accurate?
- distracted
- surprised
- partial view
- scared
- confused
- schemas
- source monitoring (saw at scene or in mug shots)
- leading questions (“How tall was he?”)
- reality monitoring (actual event or our thoughts)
• Misinformation Effect (Elizabeth
Loftus): participants’ recall of an
event they witnessed is altered by
introducing misleading postevent
information.
Loftus Experiment
• Subjects shown video
of an accident
between two cars
• Some subjects asked:
How fast were the
cars going when they
smashed into each
other?
• Others asked: How
fast were the cars
going when they hit
each other?
Accident
Leading question:
“About how fast were the cars going
when they smashed into each other?”
Memory construction
Loftus’ Results
Word Used
in Question
smashed
collided
bumped
hit
contacted
Average
Speed Estimate
41 m.p.h.
39 m.p.h.
38 m.p.h.
34 m.p.h.
32 m.p.h.
• One week later subjects were asked
whether they remembered seeing any
broken glass in the accident (there
was none).
- “hit”
14% replied yes
- “smashed” 32% replied yes
• Imagination Inflation: asking people to
imagine experiencing a childhood event
(one that they had previously indicated
they had not experienced) can
significantly increase belief that they have
actually had a similar experience.
• Advertising Distortion: subjects were
exposed to a nostalgic ad for Disney
World featuring Bugs Bunny
- many remembered shaking hands with
him
How to Rob a Bank
Successfully 
• Humans are poor at face recognition
- most fail at identifying previously seen
head shots in a second stack of photos
M & F – change hairstyle = 25% decrease
Males – add a beard = 25% decrease
Males – beard + hairstyle = 52% decrease
Females – change hair color = 52% decrease
M & F – only seen in profile = 61% decrease
• Th era inhe lpsf arm
ersgr owcro ps.
• The rain helps
farmers grow crops.
Improve Your Memory
 Study repeatedly to boost recall
 Spend more time rehearsing or
actively thinking about the
material
 Make material personally
meaningful
 Use mnemonic devices
 associate with peg words--something
already stored
 Link to objects around you
 acronyms