Download backwards, so the old is lost

AP Psychology—Class Chronology on Unit 7A: Memory
I.
1.
The Phenomenon of Memory
Definition—the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of
information
Resources and Questions
View Clive Wearing and Jill Price videos and discuss the two extreme cases. Clive Wearing no short term
memory; Jill Price remembers everything
Answer questions—without memory, how would you answer the question, “How are you today?” With
no memory, who would you be? With no memory, how is our identity affected?
II.
1.
Information Processing
Introduction—what is meant by “Information Processing” Relative to Memory? Why “models?”
a. Models help us think about how memories are formed
b. One type of model is a computer’s “information processing system”—get info into brain
by encoding; retain that information by storage; and later get it back out by retrieval
c. One type of modern, information processing system model is Connectionism—
memories are thought to emerge from interconnected neural networks. The idea is that
specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within these networks
d. One older type model, which is easier to imagine, is Richard Atkinson and Richard
Shiffrin’s proposal that we form memories in three stages
2. Encoding—Getting information IN
a. Our brain engages in automatic, parallel processing across several dimensions
b.
Effortful processing
[Items c-g highlight benefits of effortful processing]
i. Attention plus effort = durable and accessible memories
ii. German philosopher, Hermann Ebbinghaus, became frustrated with
philosophical speculations about memory and decided to scientifically study his
own learning and forgetting of novel verbal material
iii. Experimenting with nonsense syllables and first rehearsing the lists, Ebbinghaus
noticed that “the amount remembered depends on the time spent learning.”
iv. Even after we learn material, the additional rehearsal (overlearning) increases
retention
POINT: REHEARSAL IS GOOD
AP Psychology—Class Chronology on Unit 7A: Memory
c.
More effective ways to lay down memories include
i.
Distributed practice or spacing effect
ii. Testing effect
d.
Phenomenon that further illustrates the benefits of rehearsal
i.
Serial position effect (read carefully page 260)
1)
Primacy (primary or first)
2) Recency (latest or likely last on the list)
e. Effortful processing methods aid in memory (Craik and Tulving Levels of Processing
Theory)
i. Visual encoding
ii. Acoustic encoding
iii. Semantic encoding—most preferred method for remembering information
1) Self-reference effect—we have especially good recall for information
that we can relate to ourselves
f.
How information is organized assists with encoding
i. Chunking
ii. Hierarchies
(Letters, words, and phrases) we recall it more easily
3. Storage—Retaining information
a. Sensory
i. George Sperling’s experiment on our fleeting photographic memory called
“iconic” memory (page 266); participants had limited recall for a group of
letters, but did better when asked to recall a row
ii. We also have impeccable, though fleeting, memory for auditory stimuli called
“echoic” memory (lasts for 3-4 seconds)
b. Working Memory
c. Long Term Memory
AP Psychology—Class Chronology on Unit 7A: Memory
d. Storing Memories in the Brain
i. Synaptic changes
1) Long term potentiation (the physical basis for memory)
ii. Stress hormones and Memory
iii. Storing Implicit and Explicit Memories (See memory subsystems diagram 7A.14
page 272)
1) Implicit is “how” to do something (non-declarative) (Cerebellum)
2) Explicit is stating or declaring what you know (Hippocampus)
3) Hippocampus
Responsible for stored memories (see H.M. 10-minute video)
Responsible for moving short term memories into longer
storage
Processes explicit memories (declarative memories)
4) Cerebellum
Processes implicit (non-declarative memories)
Plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories
created by classical conditioning
If damaged, people cannot develop certain conditioned reflexes
such as associating a tone with an impending puff of air
You can have a damaged Hippocampus and still lay down
memories for skills and conditioned associations if the
cerebellum is un-damaged
The dual explicit-implicit memory system we have also explains
infantile amnesia.
5) We also split “memory” into many functions for processing, so the
concept of parallel processing means “memory,” “thinking” and
“vision.” For example, these may seem like singular abilities but
they exist as separate components for simultaneous processing.
AP Psychology—Class Chronology on Unit 7A: Memory
4.
Retrieval—Getting information out
(“Recall,” “Recognition,” and “Quickly Relearning” are accepted by Psychologists as evidence of
memory retrieval)
a.
Retrieval cues aid memory (cues such as mnemonics, or priming techniques—aka
“invisible memory without explicit remembering” –see Derren Brown applies
Psychology to Memory in Haiku
b. Context Effects aid memory retrieval—“déjà vu” or sense that we’ve been in a situation
before
c. Moods and Memories
i. Events in the past may have aroused a specific emotion that later primes us to
recall the associated event
ii. State dependent memory (AKA—going back to that emotional place, or going
back to that state of consciousness (like being sober or drunk) trigger recall
iii. Our memories, then, are thought to be Mood Congruent
Resources and Questions
A. Write down a list of items you need to remember for another class; your list should
have 10words on it. Take 5 minutes to memorize your list. Exchange with a partner and
take turns recalling your lists. Which occurred—Primacy? Recency? Von Restorff
(unique or strange in some way) effect?
B. Ebbinghaus Learning Curve—learn a dance step; practice, then try next day; record
times
C. View Priming video with Derren Brown and discuss
D. Do activity with teacher, parent or friend—Ask them if they recall any of the following
events and note how they respond:
The bombing of Pearl Harbor
Kennedy’s assassination
The bicentennial
Ronald Reagan’s attempted assassination
The Challenger Explosion
Princess Dianna’s death
September 11th
Michael Jackson’s death
President Obama’s election and/or inauguration
How vividly does each person remember their whereabouts?
What emotional reactions to the event did they express?
AP Psychology—Class Chronology on Unit 7A: Memory
E.
View video on H.M. (Henry Molaison, psychology’s most famous amnesiac). Lost
portion of brain that lays down new memories due to surgery for necessary removal.
See http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/hm_live.php
F. Read resource in Haiku—“Some Simple Forms of Learned Behavior”
III.
Forgetting
General Intro
1.
3 Sins of Forgetting
Absent mindedness, Transience (i.e., storage decay over time), and
Blocking
3 Sins of Distortion
Misattribution, Suggestibility, Bias
1 Sin of Intrusion
Persistence of unwanted memories (e.g., being haunted by an old
memory of some sort—attack, insult, etc.)
Encoding Failure
2. Storage Decay
a. Reference Ebbinghaus’ learning curve and his experiments relative to novel information
(page 281)
3. Retrieval Failure
a. Interference
i. Proactive Interference—old info gets in the way of recalling something you
experience later (forward, so the
new is lost)
ii. Retroactive interference—new information gets in the way of recalling
something you learned previously (
backwards, so the old is
lost)
b. Motivated Forgetting
i. Memories pushed down and out of our immediate awareness for whatever
reasons
ii. Also concept of “Repressing” painful memories
IV.
1.
Memory Construction
Misinformation and Imagination Effects
AP Psychology—Class Chronology on Unit 7A: Memory
a. Imagining
b. Imagination inflation
2. Source Amnesia (AKA source misattribution—we retain the memory of the event, but not of the
context in which it happened)
3. Discerning True and False Memories
a. Like perceptual illusions “feel” like real perceptions, unreal memories “feel” like real
memories
4. Children’s Eyewitness Recall
5. Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse
Activity
1. Point out main questions on misinformation that Elizabeth Loftus notes—she
has been heavily criticized for her work on advancing the understandings of
misinformation and false memories
a.
When are people most vulnerable to misinformation (after a time lapse and
original memory fades)
b. Who is susceptible to misinformation (Young children are particularly
susceptible)
c. What happens to the original memory (original memory “traces” are changed by
post-event info
d. Do believe genuinely believe the misinformation (Yes; it may seem like a lie, but
people believe they saw things that never happened); go back to change
blindness
2.
V.
Demo on recall –Topics and lists of words
Electronic Note Card Project—Due Monday, December 12th
(See note card guidelines in Haiku)
VI.
Unit Test 7A—December 15th