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Memory
The Memory Process
Three step process….
1. Encoding: The processing of
information into the memory
system.
2. Storage: The retention of
encoded material over time.
3. Retrieval: The process of
getting the information out of
memory storage.
Three Box Model of
Memory
Haptic memory –
tactile sensations
(1.3 secs)
Info-Processing
• Brain processes many things at
different levels at the same time
• Automatic (not conscious)
– Remembering space, time,
frequency, well-learned info
– i.e. driving slowly down a street
(automatic) while looking for an
address (conscious)
• Effortful (conscious)
– Rehearsal/repetition
– Must consciously attend to/
–
think about
Ebbinghaus
 Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables
 TUV ZOF GEK WAV
 the more times practiced on Day 1, the fewer
repetitions to relearn on Day 2 = RELEARNING
EFFECT
Spacing Effect
• DO NOT CRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Distributed practice is better than massed
practice for enhanced memory
• Overlearning = continuing to rehearse even
after learned does enhance later memory
Encoding Information
• Primacy Effect
– Items @ beginning of list
• Recency Effect
– Items @ end of list
= Serial Positioning Effect (more likely to
remember items at the beginning & end of list
(less likely to remember items in middle of list)
The ways we can encode…
• Visual Encoding: the
encoding of picture images.
• Acoustic Encoding: the
encoding of sound, especially
the sounds of words.
• Semantic Encoding: the
encoding of meaning (such as
the meaning of words).
Encoding – Techniques
for Memory
 Imagery (technique for visual encoding)
 mental pictures
 a powerful aid to effortful processing,
especially when combined with semantic
encoding
 Mnemonics
 memory aids
 especially those techniques that use vivid
imagery and organizational devices
Encoding
 Chunking
 organizing items into familiar, manageable units
 like horizontal organization--1776149218121941
 often occurs automatically
 use of acronyms
 HOMES--Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
 ARITHMETIC--A Rat In Tom’s House Might Eat
Tom’s Ice Cream
Encoding: Chunking
 Organized information is more easily
recalled in groups
Peg-Word System
•
•
•
•
•
One is a bun
Two is a shoe
Three is a tree
Four is a door
Five is a hive
•
•
•
•
•
Six is sticks
Seven is heaven
Eight is a gate
Nine is swine
Ten is a hen
Method of Loci – Uses
your cognitive map!!
Method of Loci – Uses
your cognitive map!!
•
•
•
•
•
Honey
Dog food
Sugar
Oranges
Ice cream
•
•
•
•
•
Peanut butter
Bread
Pork chops
Milk
Potato chips
Three Box Model of
Memory
Haptic memory –
tactile sensations
(1.3 secs)
Storage: Sensory Memory
• Iconic memory
– Brief sensory
memory of images
(tenths of a second)
• Echoic memory
– Brief sensory memory
of sounds (2-4 secs)
• Haptic memory
– Memory for touch/tactile sensations
Storage: Short-Term (STM)/
Working Memory
Percentage
90
who recalled
consonants 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
3
6
9
12
15
• Limited duration &
capacity
• Magical number (7+/2 items)
• Events are encoded
visually, acoustically
or semantically.
• We recall digits
better than letters.
18
Time in seconds between presentation
of contestants and recall request
(no rehearsal allowed)
Storage: Long-Term Memory (LTM)
 How does storage work?
 Engrams (physical traces of memory)
 Karl Lashley (1950)
 Memories must be stored throughout the
brain (no single place)
 Synaptic changes
 Long-term Potentiation
 Biological evidence of memory
 increase in synapse’s firing potential
after brief, rapid stimulation
Retrospective Memory
Prospective Memory
 Memory of the past
(i.e. remembering your first
day of school, remembering
the Homecoming dance, etc.)
 Memory for things that
will happen in the future
(i.e. I have a dentist appt.
tomorrow at 3, next week is
my sister’s birthday, etc.)
Storage: Long-Term
Memory Subsystems
Types of
long-term
memories
Explicit
(declarative)
With conscious
recall
Facts-general
knowledge
(“semantic
memory”)
Personally
experienced
events
(“episodic
memory”)
Implicit
(nondeclarative)
Without conscious
recall
Skills-motor
and cognitive
Dispositionsclassical and
operant
conditioning
effects
Storage: Long-Term Memory (LTM)
 Strong emotions make for stronger memories =
FLASHBULB MEMORIES
• Mood-dependent memory  we remember info in
same mood as when it was encoded/learned
• State-dependent memory  remember when in
same conscious state as learned/
rehearsed
Retrieval: Context Effects/ContextDependent Memory
• Godden and Baddeley (1975)
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
Retrieval
• Recall
v.
Recognition tasks
• Priming - activation of unconscious
associations in memory (déjà vu)
• Mood-dependent memory  we remember info
in same mood as when it was encoded/learned
• State-dependent memory  remember when in
same conscious state as learned/rehearsed
Retrieval: Context Effects
• Godden and Baddeley (1975)
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 Do We Forget?
• The White House is pictured on the back of a
$20 bill. What is the on the back of a $10
bill? $5 bill? $1 bill?
• Whose faces are on Mt. Rushmore?
• What letters accompany the number 4 on a
phone?
• What is the Statue of Liberty holding in her
left hand?
• How many sides are there on a #2 pencil?
Forgetting: Encoding Failure
Ebbinghaus
 Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables
 TUV ZOF GEK WAV
 the more times practiced on Day 1, the fewer
repetitions to relearn on Day 2
 If not rehearsed,
forgetting occurs
rapidly, but then
levels off
Forgetting: Encoding Failure
• Info never gets to LTM
Attention
External
events
Short- Encoding LongSensory
term
term
memory Encoding
memory
memory
Encoding
failure leads
to forgetting
Forgetting: Storage Decay
Percentage of
list retained
when
relearning
60
 Ebbinghaus
forgetting
curve over 30
days-initially rapid,
then levels
off with time
50
40
30
20
10
0
12345
10
15
20
25
Time in days since learning list
30
Forgetting: Storage Decay
 The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in school
Percentage of 100%
original
90
vocabulary
80
retained
Retention
drops,
70
then levels off
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 3 5
9½
14½
25
35½
49½
Time in years after completion of Spanish course
Forgetting: Retrieval Failure
 Forgetting can result from failure to
retrieve information from long-term memory
Attention
External
events
Sensory
memory
Encoding
Encoding
Short-term
Long-term
memory
Retrieval memory
Retrieval failure
leads to forgetting
Forgetting: Interference
• Proactive (forward-acting)
interference  old info
disrupts memory of new info
• Retroactive (backward-acting)
interference  new info
disrupts memory of old info
Forgetting- Interference
 Motivated Forgetting (retrieval failure)
 people unknowingly revise memories
 Repression
 defense mechanism that banishes from
consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts,
feelings, and memories
Amnesia:
Disruption of explicit memories
• Infantile amnesia:
difficult to remember
vivid memories from
before ages 2-3
• Dissociative amnesia:
inability to remember
info due to
psychological trauma
Memory Construction
 Elizabeth Loftus
 We filter information and fill in
missing pieces
 Misinformation Effect
 incorporating misleading
information into one's memory of
an event
Memory Construction
Depiction of actual accident
 Eyewitnesses
reconstruct
memories when
questioned
Leading question:
“About how fast were the cars
going when they smashed into
each other?”
Memory
construction
References
Kaplan, H. Memory (PPT file). Retrieved from
AP Psychology Commune Web Site:
http://www.appsychology.com
Myers, D.G. (2011). Myers’ psychology for AP.
Holland, MI: Worth Publishers.