Download Chapter 9 Notes: Memory

Chapter 9 Notes: Memory
Memory:
-active system that receives, stores, organizes, alters and recovers
Information
-incoming information is encoded (changed to a usable form)
-then stored (held in the system)
-later retrieved (taken out of storage)
Sensory Memory
-can hold exact copy of what was seen or heard for only a few seconds
-long enough to transfer it to STM
-icon: mental image
Short-Term Memory (STM)
-holds small amounts of information for brief periods
-selective attention: focus on selected portion of sensory input
-controls what gets into STM
-can be stored as images, but mostly phonetically (sounds)
-working memory: briefly holds information while other mental activities
take place
-sensitive to interference or interruption
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
-stores important or meaningful information
-limitless, permanent
-stored by meaning
STM capacity: 7 plus or minus 2
-information chunks: bits of information grouped into larger units
-recodes or reorganizes information into units already in LTM
-maintenance rehearsal (silently repeat) prolongs memory
-elaborative rehearsal: makes information more meaningful
LTM
-memories are affected by emotions, judgment
-information may be arranged by rules, images, categories, symbols,
Personal meaning
Hypnosis: increases false memories
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LTM
-procedural memory (skill memory)
-basic conditioned responses and learned actions
-cerebellum: more automated elements of learning
-declarative memory (fact memory)
-names, dates, faces, ideas
-semantic memory: personal knowledge about the world
-names of objects, days of the week
-episodic memory
-personal information liked with specific times and dates
-more easily forgotten than semantic memory
Whether or not you remember depends on how you’re tested
Recall: direct retrieval of information
-serial position effect: tendency to make more errors in remembering the
middle items in a series
Recognition memory
-correctly identify previously learned information
-very accurate for visual stimuli, pictures
-superior to recall
-distractors: false items included with items to be recognized
Relearning: most sensitive measure of memory
-savings score: amount of time saved when re-learning information
Explicit memories: past experiences consciously brought to mind
Implicit memories: lie outside of awareness (keyboard)
Internal images (mental pictures): # of doors in house
Eidectic imagery: retain projected mental image long enough to use as
information.
Mnemonic: system or aid to memorize information
Forgetting
-most forgetting occurs right after memorization
-semantic and implicit memories last longer
-encoding failure: memory was never formed
Decay: memory traces weaken over time
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Disuse leads to fading in LTM
Cue-dependent forgetting: appropriate cues enhance memories
State-dependent learning: same emotional or bodily state at time of learning
increases learning at time of retrieval
Interference: new learning impairs retrieval of old memories
Retroactive interference: tendency for new memories to interfere with
retrieval of old memories
Proactive interference: tendency for new memories to interfere with
retrieval of newer memories
-inhibits recall of later learning
Positive transfer: mastery of 1 task increases mastery of another task (e.g.,
musical instrument)
Negative transfer: mastery of 1 task conflicts with learning of another
People tend to remember happy events rather than sad ones
-repression: unconscious
-suppression: conscious, can remember
Consolidations: forming of an LTM
-recent memories most easily disrupted
-hippocampus
Memory Strategies
Knowledge of results: feedback to identify areas you need to practice
Recitation: summarizing aloud while you are learning
-read, stop and recall in your own words
Rehearsal: mentally review, related to what you already know
Selection: main idea of a paragraph
Organization: chunk
Whole vs. part learning: whole usually better for short speeches
Serial position: pay special attention to the middle
Cues: elaborate on information, form images
Overlearning: better
Spaced practice: superior to massed practice
Sleep
Hunger decreases recall
Extend length of time can remember; wait longer to quiz yourself
Review before exam
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Sins of Memory
Transcience: most useful memories given priority
-repeat to make memories permanent
Absent-Mindedness: poorly encoded memories
-increase your organization
Blocking: not being able to recall well-known word or name
-accept it; it happens to everyone
Misattribution: liking memory with wrong source, time or place
Suggestibility: suggestions implant information that leads to revision of
memories
Bias: memories distorted to match our beliefs or expectations
Persistence: traumatic experiences persist
-may require therapy