Download The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

Memory
Memory
Memory is the basis for knowing your
friends, your neighbors, the English
language, the national anthem, and yourself.
If memory was nonexistent, everyone would
be a stranger to you; every language foreign;
every task new; and even you yourself
would be a stranger.
Memory
• List 3 of your best experiences
• Which is more important to you: your
experiences or your memories of them?
What is memory?
• “Any indication that learning has persisted
over time. It is our ability to store and
retrieve information”.
What does memory entail?
• Write down Santa’s reindeers on a sheet
of paper.
• What was involved in your memory of
Santa’s reindeers (from first exposure of
the information to your recollection of it)?
Memory
• Memory is like a computer:
– Get information – encoding
– Retain information - storage
– Get information back out – retrieval
Sensory
Information
Encoding
Storage
Retrieva
l
How do we encode?
• Automatic processing
– Space – place on a page
– Frequency – how many times something
happens
– Time – sequence of events
How do we encode?
• Effortful processing
– Requires effort
– Usually more durable and accessible
citamotua emoceb nac gnissecorp luftroffE
Rehearsal can help boost memory
Ebbinghaus - Rehearsal
• Rapidly read these syllables out loud 8
times
• JIH, BAZ, FUB, YOX, SUJ, XIR, DAX,
LEQ, VUM, PID, KEL, WAV, TUV, ZOF,
GEK, HIW
• The amount remembered depends on the
time spent learning.
What we encode
• Visual encoding (imagery)
• Acoustic encoding (sounds)
• Semantic encoding (meaning)
Two codes are better than one – encoding
semantically, acoustically, and visually
enhances memory
Semantic encoding
• The procedure is actually quite simple. First
you arrange things into different groups. Of
course, one pile may be sufficient depending
on how much there is to do…After the
procedure is completed one arranges the
materials into different groups again. Then
they can be put into their appropriate places.
Eventually they will be used once more and
the whole cycle will then have to be repeated.
However, that is part of life.
Visual Encoding
What we encode
• How do commercials take advantage of
this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIk7Q_DJIgQ
Mnemonics
• Greek for “memory”
• Developed by ancient Greek scholars and
orators to help remember lengthy
passages and speeches
• Use acoustic, spatial, and/or visual cues
Mnemonics: Peg Words
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
Amazing Mnemonics
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzghjYg6r0Q
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vsYCSmBcM0&play
next=1&list=PLE25C47112973D23B&feature=results_vi
deo
•
Method of Loci
• Greek orators imagined themselves moving
through a familiar series of locations,
associating each place with a visual
representation of the to-be-remembered topic
• When speaking, the orator would mentally
revisit each location and retrieve the
associated image
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8S8V9VE
FyI&feature=related
Organizing Information
• Mentally organize information during
encoding to enhance memory
1. Chunking
2. Hierarchies
Chunking
• Breaks down information
into easy to remember
groupings
• Phone numbers, social
security numbers
• Acronyms:
– ROY G BIV
– HOMES = Huron, Ontario,
Michigan, Eerie, Superior
Acronyms
CI AFB IKG BDN ABB CU KCN
NUS A
CIA FBI KGB DNA BBC UK
CNN USA
Making a story…
The CIA, FBI, and KGB are all
searching for a spy’s DNA. The
story is reported on the BBC in
the UK and CNN in the USA.
Hierarchies
• Broad concepts divided and subdivided
into narrower concepts
Hierarchies
Encoding
(Automatic or Effortful)
Meaning
Sound
Imagery
Chunks
Organization
Hierarchy
Encoding Technique Recap
• Rehearsal
• Mnemonics
– Peg words
– Method of loci
• Chunking
– acronyms
• Making a story
• Hierarchies
Storage
• Retained information
• Allows for the recollection of information at
a later time
Sensory
Information
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Working/Short-Term Memory
• Limited in duration and capacity
• Consciously process only a limited amount
of information
• Unless you work at it, it goes away
• The Magical Number Seven, plus or minus
two
Long-term Memory
• “The total memory capacity of computers
all over the world is far less than that of a
single brain.”
• Store information over long periods of time
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sWnkB
f5V7s
Stress Hormones
• “Stronger emotional experiences make for
stronger, more reliable memories”.
• Flashbulb memory – clear memory of an
emotionally significant moment or event
Stress hormones
Stress
Glucose
Fuels brain
activity
Important
event
Amygdala boosts
activity in memoryforming areas
Stress hormones
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GpFY
QKETNc&feature=relmfu
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLfZJhf
X6Go&feature=relmfu
Storing Memory
• Implicit (procedural) memory
– Retention independent of conscious
recollection
• Explicit (declarative) memory
– Memory of facts and experiences that one
can consciously know and “declare”
Retrieval
• Retrieving information from working or
long-term memory and returning it to
conscious thought
Sensory
Information
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Measuring Memory
• Recognition: identifying items previously
learned
• 1. What is the name of the psychologist who
first characterized classical conditioning?
a) John B. Watson
b) Albert Bandura
c) Sigmund Freud
d) Ivan Pavlov
Measuring Memory
• Recall: retrieving information learned
earlier
• 1. The name of the psychologist who first
characterized classical conditioning is
__________________________.
Measuring Memory
• Relearning: assesses the amount of time
saved when learning material for a second
time
• You learn things more quickly the second
time
Retrieval cues
• Anchor points you can use to access the
target information when you want to
retrieve it later
Context
• Putting yourself back in the context where
you experienced something
• Where is the best place for you to study
psychology?
Déjà vu
• Similar contexts may trigger an
experience of déjà vu
• Common when tired or stressed
Moods
• Events in the past may arouse an emotion
• “An emotion is like a library room into
which we place memory records. We best
retrieve those records by returning to that
emotional room”.
• Memories help sustain the current mood
Forgetting
• Inability to retrieve information due to a
failure to encode, store, or retrieve the
information
• Valuable to discard useless or out-of-date
information
Encoding Failure
• We cannot remember what we have not
encoded
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBPG_
OBgTWg
Storage Decay
• We encode, but later forget
Retrieval Failure
• Stored information cannot be accessed
• Forgetting is often not memories
discarded, but memories unretrieved
• Tip of the tongue phenomenon
Memory Construction
• We often construct our memories as we
encode them, and alter our memories as
we withdraw them from our memory bank
Misinformation
• Incorporating misleading information into
one’s memory of an event
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9Q
NEQLA
Constructed Memories
• Elizabeth Loftus et al 1996
• Implanted false memories in children
• Children constructed false memories and
believed they actually happened
How can you Improve your
memory?
1. Study repeatedly
2. Spend time actively thinking about the
material
3. Make the material personally meaningful
4. Use mnemonic devices
5. Activate retrieval cues
6. Recall events when they are fresh
7. Minimize interference
8. Test your knowledge
How we encode