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Memory
C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 1 of 11
Section One:
Reconstructing the past
What’s ahead…

What’s wrong with thinking about memory like a movie camera?

What can go wrong with “flashbulb” memories?

If you have a strong emotional reaction to a remembered event, does that mean
your memory is accurate?
The Manufacture of Memory

Memory is the capacity to retain and retrieve information

Memory is a _______________ process

Recovering a memory is not playing a videotape

Source misattribution
o The inability to distinguish what you originally experienced from what you
heard or were told later about an event.
The Fading Flashbulb

Some unusual, shocking or tragic events hold a special place in memory
o Where were you on the morning of 9-11-01?

These memories were called _______________ memories of the surprise,
illumination & photographic detail that characterize them

Even flashbulb memories have errors
The Conditions of Confabulation

Confabulation
o Confusion of an event that happened to _________________ with one
that happened to you,
o or a belief that you remember something when it never actually happened

C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 2 of 11
Why would this happen?
o You have thought or heard about the imagined event many times
o The image of the event contains many ________________
o The event is easy to imagine
o You focus on ____________________ reactions to the event rather than
what actually happened
Section Two:
The Power of Suggestion
What’s ahead…

Can the question someone asks you about a past event affect what you
remember about it?

Can eyewitness testimony be trusted?

Do people remember better when hypnotized?
The Eyewitness on Trial

Eyewitnesses are not always reliable

Factors which influence accuracy
o Cross race identification
o Question wording

Crashed versus hit
o _________________ information
Children’s Testimony

Under what conditions are children more suggestible?
o Being very young
o When interviewers _________________ are clear
o When other children’s memories for events are accessible

If asked if a visitor committed acts that had not occurred, few 4-6 year olds said
yes
o 30% of 3-year olds said yes

C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 3 of 11
When investigators used techniques taken from real child-abuse investigations,
most children said yes
Memory under Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a procedure where a practitioner suggests changes in the sensations,
perceptions, thoughts, feelings, or behavior of the subject

Actually ______________ the accuracy of memory by increasing ____________
o Subjects often feel more willing to guess
o Heavily influenced by hypnotist’s questions and their own fantasies or
wishes
Section Three:
In Pursuit of Memory
What’s ahead…

Which is easier and why – a multiple choice item or a short-answer essay item?

Can you know something without knowing that you know it?

Why is the computer often used as a metaphor for the mind?
Explicit Memory

Conscious, ______________ recollection of an event or of an item of information

Assessed through
o Recall

The ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously
learned material
o Recognition

The ability to identify previously encountered material
Implicit Memory

__________________ retention in memory
C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 4 of 11
o Evidenced by the effect of a previous experience or previously
encountered information on current thoughts or actions

Can be seen in several ways
Quick Project!

Complete the following words:
o wor….
o com….
o aro….
o ner….
o res….
Priming

A person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the
information affects performance on another type of task

The way we see ourselves and the world around us is the result of complex
processes occurring within the nervous system.
Relearning

Compares the time required to relearn material with the time used in the initial
learning of the material
o Also called “savings method” because you should save time

Finals studying, anyone?
Models of Memory

Multiple models for how exactly memory works

Two examples
o PDP
o IPP
Parallel Distributed Processing

C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 5 of 11
Model of memory in which
o Knowledge is represented as __________________ among thousands of
interacting processing units
o Distributed in a vast network
o All operating in parallel
Information-Processing Perspective

Proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Says that humans operate much like computers to:
o _____________

Information converted and entered
o Storage

information kept in memory
o Retrieval


information located
IPP proposes three distinct types of memory

Sensory – retains representations of sensory input for brief periods of time

Short-term or working memory – holds small chunks of data for short times

Long-term – retains large amount of information over long periods of time
IPP / Three-Box Model of Memory
The Value of Chunking

C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 6 of 11
Rather than seeing each individual piece, we “chunk” information
o Don’t see each chess piece, but instead see configurations

Phone numbers are a great example of this
Contents of Long-Term Memory

Procedural memories
o Memories for ________________ of actions or skills
o “Knowing how”

Declarative memories
o Memories of facts, rules, concepts, and events; includes semantic and
episodic memory
o “Knowing that”

Semantic memories
o General knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, and propositions

Episodic memories
o Personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred
Types of Long-term Memories
C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 7 of 11
Serial-Position Effect

The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items
in the middle of the list
Section Five:
How We Remember
What’s ahead…

What’s wrong with trying to memorize what you are studying and what’s a better
way?

Are memory tricks always useful?
Effective Encoding

To remember information, you have to ______________ it effectively

Some things are automatic (where you sit in class), but other take effortful
encoding

How to do this?
Rehearsal

Maintenance Rehearsal
o _________________ repetition of material in order to maintain its
availability in memory

Elaborative Rehearsal
o Association of new information with ____________________________
and analysis of the new information to make it memorable
o Better for long-term storage!
Deep Processing

Occurs when you process the meaning rather than simply the physical or sensory
features of a stimulus

C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 8 of 11
For example:
o How to spell hypothalamus vs
o Hypothalamus is below the thalamus
Mnemonics

Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such as the use of a verse or a
formula.

Examples include:
o My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas
o ROYGBIV
o Thirty days hath September…

But remember, you don’t always need a mnemonic if you can do it an easier way
Section Six:
Why We Forget
What’s ahead…

How might new information “erase” old memories?

Why would you keep dialing someone’s old number after they change it?

Why are repressed and recovered memories viewed skeptically?
Forgetting Curve

Ebbinghaus tested his memory for nonsense syllables

Forgetting was rapid at first and then tapered off
Linton’s Forgetting Curve

C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 9 of 11
In contrast, Linton’s memory for personal events was retained over a period of
several years and then decreased rapidly
Decay Theory

Theory that says information in memory eventually disappears if it is not
accessed

Applies more to short-term than to long-term memory
Replacement

The theory that __________ information entering memory can wipe out old
information
Interference

Similar items interfere with one another

Retroactive Interference
o Forgetting that occurs when recently learned material interferes with the
ability to remember similar material stored previously.

Proactive Interference
o Forgetting that occurs when previously stored material interferes with the
ability to remember similar, more recently learned material.
C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 10 of 11
Cue-dependent Forgetting

The inability to retrieve information stored in memory because of insufficient
cues for _______________

State-Dependent Memory
o The tendency to remember something when the rememberer is in the
same physical or mental state as during the original learning or
experience.
Mood-congruent Memory

The tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with one’s current
mood and overlook or forget experiences that are not
Amnesia

The partial or complete loss of ____________ for important personal information

Psychogenic Amnesia
o The causes of forgetting are psychological such as the need to escape
feelings of embarrassment, guilt, shame, disappointment, emotional shock

Traumatic Amnesia
o The forgetting of specific traumatic events, sometimes for many years
C. Lack, Ph.D.
PSY 2003
Chapter 7 Outline
Page 11 of 11
The Repression Controversy

Repression
o In psychoanalytic theory, the selective involuntary pushing of threatening
or upsetting information into the unconscious

Individuals are more likely to struggle with forgetting traumatic events

Hard to distinguish repression from other forms of forgetting
When to question recovered memories?

If person says he or she has memories of first year or two of life

If over time the memories become more and more implausible

If therapist used suggestive techniques such as hypnosis, dream analysis, age
regression, guided imagery and leading questions.
Section Seven:
Autobiographical Memories
What’s ahead…

Why are the first few years of life a mental blank?
Childhood Amnesia

The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first
two or three years of life

Cognitive explanations
o Lack of sense of self
o Impoverished encoding
o A focus on the routine
o Different ways of thinking about the world