Download HOW WE ENCODE - arcadiapsych

Fact or Falsehood?

Memory storage is never automatic; it always takes effort.
– False

The day after you are introduced to a number of new students,
you will more easily recall the names of those you met first.
– True

Memory aids (e.g., those that use imagery and devices for
organization) are no more useful than simple rehearsal if
information.
– False

Only a few people have any type of photographic memory.
– False

Although our capacity for storing information is large, we are
still limited in the number of permanent memories we can form.
– False

We store information in memory as libraries store their
books, that is, in discrete, precise locations.
– False

When people learn something while intoxicated, they
recall it best when they are again intoxicated.
– True

The hour before sleep is a good time to commit
information to memory.
– True

Repeatedly imagining a nonexistent even can lead us to
believe it actually happened.
– True

Children typically will repress any memory of having
seen one of their parents being murdered.
– False
Name the 7 Dwarfs


Grouchy, Gabby, Fearful, Sleepy,
Smiley, Jumpy, Hopeful, Shy, Droopy,
Dopey, Sniffy, Wishful, Puffy, Dumpy,
Sneezy, Lazy, Pop, Grumpy, Bashful,
Cheerful, Teach, Shorty, Nifty, Happy,
Doc, Wheezy, Stubby
Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy,
Happy, Doc, Bashful
How many can you remember?
Make up a story. How many can
you remember this time?
 The
woman who could not
forget
 The
man who could not
remember
MEMORY
AND
THINKING
Chapter 7
MEMORY AND HOW IT WORKS
 Memory:
Learning that has
persisted over time
 To remember an event, we must
successfully
– Encode – get information into our
brain
– Storage – retain information
– Retrieval – getting information back
out
HOW WE ENCODE



Parallel processing – doing many things at
once
We automatically process information about
space, time, frequency and well-learned
information
Effortful processing – encoding that requires
attention and conscious effort
– Can be boosted through rehearsal –
conscious repetition
– Overlearning increases retention
HOW WE ENCODE -CONT
Spacing effect – we retain information
better when our rehearsal is distributed
over time
– Spaced study and self-assessment beat
cramming

Serial position effect – tendency to
recall best the last and first items in a
list
– Primacy effect – best recall for first items
– Recency effect – best recall for last items
PRESIDENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Washington 1912.
J. Adams 15 13.
Jefferson 13 14.
Madison 4
15.
Monroe 2
16.
J. Q. Adams 6 17.
Jackson 5
18.
Van Buren 1 19.
Harrison 3
20.
Tyler 2
21.
Polk 5
22.
Taylor 3
23.
Fillmore 1 24.
Pierce 0
25.
Buchanan 1 26.
Lincoln 19 27.
A. Johnson 328.
29.
Grant 2
30.
Hayes 1
31.
Garfield 2
32.
Arthur 0
Cleveland 3 33.
Harrison 0
Cleveland
McKinley 1
40.
Eisenhower 6
Kennedy 18
Johnson 3
Nixon 8
Ford 9
Carter 8
Reagan 9
41.
G. H.W. Bush 17
42.
Clinton 17
G.W. Bush 18
Obama 19
34.
35.
36.
T. Roosevelt 1137.
Taft 6
Wilson 4
Harding 1
Coolidge 1
Hoover 8
38.
39.
F.D. Roosevelt 13
43.
Truman 8
44.
SERIAL POSITION EFFECT
Percentage of
words recalled
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Position of word in list
9
10 11 12
WHAT WE ENCODE
Visual encoding – encoding of images
– Mnemonics – memory aids that use
vivid imagery and organizational
devices
 Acoustic encoding – encoding of
sounds
 Semantic encoding – encoding of
meaning, including meaning of words

 Fed
Ex Mnemonic
Commercial
EXAMPLE

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A
seashore is a better place than the street. At
first it is better to run than to walk. You may
have to try several times. It takes some skill
but is easy to learn. Even young children can
enjoy it. Once successful, complications are
minimal. Rain, however, soaks in very fast.
Too many people doing the same thing can
also cause problems. One needs lots of
room.
LEVELS OF PROCESSING
Memorize as many digits as you
can (in order)
2169646151997252
46801296160894
chunking - organizing items into
familiar, manageable units
 Memory
Olympics
SHORT TERM VS. LONG TERM
MEMORY

Short-Term Memory
– Limited, unless actively processed
– Capacity of 7 digits +/- 2
– Better for random numbers than
random letters
– Better for sound than sight

Long-Term Memory
– Limitless
STORING MEMORIES


Flashbulb memories – clear memory of an
emotionally significant moment or event
– Strong emotional experiences = strong,
reliable memories
Amnesia victims
– Have implicit memory – how to do
something
– But no explicit memory – memory of facts
and experiences that one can consciously
know and “declare”
SHORT-TERM MEMORY
DECAY
Percentage
who recalled
consonants
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
3
6
9
12
15
18
Time in seconds between presentation
of contestants and recall request
(no rehearsal allowed)
RETRIEVAL: GETTING
INFORMATION OUT

Priming - often unconscious activation of
particular associations in memory
– “memoryless memory”

Context effects
– Easier to remember things in the same context
you learned them
– Déjà vu - sense that “I’ve experienced this before”
– Mood congruent memory - tendency to recall
experiences that are consistent w/one’s current
good or bad mood
EFFECTS OF CONTEXT ON
MEMORY
Percentage of
words recalled
40
30
20
10
0 Water/
Land/
land
water
Different contexts for
hearing and recall
Water/
Land/
water
land
Same contexts for
hearing and recall
WHY WE FORGET



Three sins of forgetting
– Absent-mindedness - inattention to details
– Transience - storage decay over time
– Blocking - inaccessibility of stored info
Three sins of distortion
– Misattribution - confusing the source of the
information
– Suggestibility - lingering effects of misinformation
– Bias - belief-colored recollections
One sin of intrusion
– Persistence - unwanted memories
FORGETTING


Course of forgetting is initially rapid, but levels
off w/time
Interference
– Proactive interference - something you learned
earlier disrupts your recall of something you
experience later
– Retroactive interference - new information makes
it harder to recall something you learned earlier

Freud believed we repress - banish anxiety
arousing thoughts, feelings and memories
WHICH PENNY IS THE REAL THING?

Which penny is the real thing?
EBBINGHAUS’ FORGETTING CURVE
Percentage of
list retained
when
relearning
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
12345
10
15
20
Time in days since learning list
25
30
PROACTIVE AND RETROACTIVE
INTERFERENCE
FAULTY MEMORY
CONSTRUCTION




Misinformation effect - incorporating
misleading information into one’s memory of
an event
Source amnesia - attributing the wrong
source to an event we have experienced,
heard about, read about or imagined
False memories feel as real as true memories
Unreliable memories
– Things happening before age 3
– Memories “recovered” under hypnosis or drugs
MEMORY CONSTRUCTION
Depiction of actual accident
Memory Construction
Leading question:
“About how fast
were the cars
going when they
smashed into
each other?”
IMPROVING MEMORY
Study repeatedly
 Make the material meaningful
 Activate retrieval cues
 Use mnemonic devices
 Minimize interference
 Sleep more
 Test your own knowledge

EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/facult
y/gwells/theeyewitnesstest.html