Download Long Term Memory - Bristol Public Schools

MEMORY
o Do you think you have a good memory?
(remembering names, birthdays,
studying)
o When should we trust our memories and
when should be we cautious about doing
so? Can you think of a scenario?
Keep In Mind…
 Even those with “good memories” still tend to
forget a great deal (i.e. watch a show and week
later forget main characters name)
 Do we also “remember” things that never
happened? Or Confabulation-confusing an
event that happened to someone else)
 If memory is not always reliable…
 What does this mean for legal system (eye witness
accounts)?
 How can any of us hope to know the story of our
own lives?
Definition of Memory
Memory is the capacity to retain and
retrieve information.
Or in other words,
 Information that finds its way to the brain needs
to be registered, held onto or even “filed” for
future use.
 This type of storage is called Memory.
Why Is Memory So
Important?
 Humans are capable of astonishing acts of
memory (i.e. lyrics of songs, movie lines, etc.)
 Without it we would be helpless and unable to
carry out even the simplest of tasks
 Gives us sense of personal identify
 Cultures rely on remember history
“Memory gives us our past and guides our
future.”
Information Processing
 All cognitive and mental activities
 3 steps
 Input-info people receive
 Central Processing-storing (memory) and
sorting (by thought) info.
 Output-ideas and reactions that result from
processing
The Three-Box Model of
Memory
 Psychologists distinguish among three
separate memory systems…
 Sensory, Short-Term Memory and LongTerm Memory
Sensory Register
 All incoming sensory
info. must briefly stop
here – the entryway of
memory
 Information (input) held
momentarily by the
senses.
 Acts as a holding bin,
retaining info. until we
chose items we wish to
keep, which moves onto
short-term memory
 The senses of sight and
hearing seem to be able
to hold information for
less than a second
before the input is gone.
 Example: Memorizing
#’s and being asked to
recite them. You might
recall a few of the
numbers, but you will
forget the rest.
Short-Term Memory
 Retains info. only temporarily
 Info. is no longer just a sensory image
 This material either transfers into longterm memory, or is lost forever
 Brain injuries-cannot transfer to long-term
memory. Hold a normal conversation but
can only recall new events/facts for
longer than a few minutes
Limits of Short-Term
Memory
Application Activity
 This demonstration reveals the limited capacity
of short-term memory through the use of a
digit-span test.
 I will read a string of unrelated numbers and
your task is to memorize those digits in the
exact order presented.
 After I read the #’s, I will say “go”; record as
many numbers as you can
How did you do?
2,8,3,1
1,9,5,6,3,4,7,2
7,4,1,3,9
3,6,2,5,1,9,7,4,8
4,9,7,2,1,5
6,1,5,4,9,8,3,2,8,7
5,1,8,3,9,2,6
8,9,3,1,6,4,2,7,5,1,3
Chunking
 Temporary storage in short-term memory.
 Short-term memory can only hold about 7
unrelated items at once. (Example-a bunch of
different #’s/letters, you will only remember
about 7)
 Chunking, however can help you connect
certain items together so you can remember
more. (Example-Abbreviations like IRS are
chunked/connected so that counts as one item
instead of 3, Internal Revenue Service)
The Value of Chunking
Application Activity
 The purpose of this demonstration is to
illustrate how short-term memory
performance can be enhanced by the
use of “chunking” procedures; that is, by
grouping items into larger, meaningful
units.
Volunteer Demonstration
 In the following two-part demonstration, I will
need a volunteer.
 1. You will be presented with a set of items to
be memorized in exact order.
 XIBMCIAFBICBSMTV
 After a short delay, the student will recall as
many of the letters as possible.
nd
2
Part-Chunking
Demonstration
 You will improve your memory with a little
help I will read the letters in the following
“chunked format”:
 X IBM CIA FBI CBS MTV
 The student should have nearly perfect
recall. Grouping the letters reduced the
memory task from 16 items to 6 items.
Working Memory
 Besides retaining new
info. for brief periods
while we are learning it,
short-term memory holds
info. that has been
retrieved from long-term
for temporary use
 “Short-term plus the
mental processes that
control the rehearsal and
retrieval of information
from long-term memory
and interpret that
information, depending
on the task you are
doing.”
Long-Term Memory
 Where we store information for future use.
 Can recall a wide variety of information
accurately.
 Contains representations of countless facts,
experiences and sensations.
Example- can probably still visualize your
childhood home.
Can You Recall?
 Can you recall/visualize your childhood
home?
 Take a couple minutes and list some
words/phrases that remind you of where
you grew up. You may also use symbols
or illustrations to help you do this…
Long Term Memory Continued
 When you watch a play
you see/hear many
things.
 Some of the
sounds/phrases
accumulate in the shortterm memory.
 The parts that are very
meaningful to you will be
stored in your long term
memory.
 Next day, good details;
week later, least
important info. is
dropped; month later,
brief outline; as more
times goes on, may not
remember much at all. If
you see it again, recall
some lines, etc.
Elements of the play
were stored in long-term
memory.
Rehearsal
 Technique for keeping info. in short-term
memory and increasing chances of it staying in
long-term
 The review or practice of material while you are
learning it
(i.e. repeating phone number over and over
until you remember vs. storing it in speed dial
without rehearsal)
Deep Processing
 Another strategy for retaining info. in the LTM.
 If you find patterns and/or assign labels to info.
your processing will be deeper
i.e. hypothalamus – spelling and sound will
make remembering shallow; analyzing the
word (hypothalamus is below the thalamus)
your processing will be deeper
Retrieving Memory
 The brain stores
information and puts
it into some kind of
order.
 Organizing
information is the
easiest way to store
information.
 Retrieval is when you
call upon stored
information.
 So complex that
psychologist have
yet to determine how
it exactly happens.
Other memory & such
 Semantic-our
knowledge of
language, rules,
words and meaning
 Declarative (or
explicit)-involves
both semantic and
episodic, call upon it
when you need it
 Episodic-our own life
 Procedural-skills
Memory Organization &
Forgetting
 Relearning-going
back to something
you once learned
and learning it again.
Your brain has stored
the past info but you
can not fully recall it.
 Forgetting-happens
because of interference.
 Proactive-earlier
memory blocking a
memory
 Retroactive-a later
memory does the
blocking
 Remembering new
phone numbers
 Repression- subconsciously blocking a
memory of an embarrassing or
frightening experience.
Mnemonics
 Yet another technique to help remember
 Strategies and tricks for storing and
retaining info.
 Never Eat Sour Watermelon = North, East,
South, West
Can you think of any?
Selective Attention
 What you may do
at home, at
 Ability to choose
school, or if you
among the various
don’t want to do
available inputs.
something like
take out the
garbage.
Feature Extraction
 Deciding on which
aspects of the
selected thought you
will focus
 Look for the
important or
significant (cars,
reading
 Involves locating the
outstanding
characteristics of
incoming information.
The Secret Life of the Brain
(Memory and the Brain)
 “What happens in the brain when
something is stored in long-term
memory?”
 Question is highly controversial.
 Psychologists agree that some
physiological changes occur in the brain,
they are only beginning to identify how
and where memories are stored.
Memory and the Brain –
Cont.
 “What physiological changes occur when we
learn something; where does learning occur?”
 Psychologists have many different theories to
answer these questions
 Complicated scientific theories…that’s for
science class!