Download Chapter 7

Memory
Recall of
Observations Test
[Memory is] a man's real possession...In
nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is
he poor.
(Alexander Smith, Scottish essayist & poet, 1830-1867)
Memory is what makes our
lives...Without it, we are nothing
(Luis Bunuel, filmmaker)
What is memory?
 the process by which we recollect prior
experiences and information and skills
learned in the past
There are three kinds of memory, three
processes of memory and three stages of
memory.
Create the following table in your
notes and think of at least 5 things
for each category…
experiences
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
general
knowledge
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
skills
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Chapter 7, Section 1
Episodic Memory
memory of a specific event; took place in your
presence or you experienced it
examples:
What did you have for dinner last night?
What was on last week’s quiz?
flashbulb memory: clear memory of an emotionally significant event; great
detail
Why?
 distinctness of memory
 connected to other events that are important to the time
Generic Memory
general knowledge that people remember
(you probably don’t know when you first learned it)
examples:
Washington was the first president
alphabet
Procedural Memory
consists of skills/ procedures you have learned
(usually stays with you for many years, even if not
used)
examples:
throwing a ball
riding a bike
typing
playing a musical instrument
driving a car
Chapter 7, Section 2
Answer the following questions in your
notes…
1. What letters do not appear on the
telephone keypad?
2. How many sides do most pencils have?
3. In what hand does the Statue of Liberty
carry the torch?
Encoding
 first stage of processing information; translation of
information into a form in which it can be stored
Types of Encoding:
1. visual codes—attempt to see info in your mind as a
picture
2. acoustic codes—record info in your memory as a
sequence of sounds
3. semantic codes—try to make sense of the info
a. patterns
b. phrases/cue words
c. discover meaning
Storage
 maintenance of encoded info over a period of time
Strategies:
1. maintenance rehearsal-repeating info over and over to
keep from forgetting it; the more time spent repeating,
the longer the info will be remembered; poor method
for permanent storage
2. elaborative rehearsal-make info meaningful by relating
it to info already well known; more effective than
maintenance rehearsal
3. organization systems-memories become organized and
arranged in your mind for future use like a filing system
that organizes info into classes and groups
filing errors—some memory errors are due to
incorrect “filing”
Memorize this alphabet…
=a
=d
=g
=b
=e
=h
=c
=f
=i
Decode this sentence…
.
What if you had used this to
memorize it???
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Retrieval
 consists of locating stored info and referring it to conscious
thought; method of retrieval used may have to do with the
way you encoded it
Methods of retrieval:
1. context-dependent memory-info that is more easily
retrieved in the context in which it was encoded and
stored
2. state-dependent memory-memories that are retrieved
because the mood in which they were originally encoded
is recreated
3. tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon—belief that a piece of info
is stored in our memory although we can’t retrieve it
easily
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
adhesive
sacrilegious
flask
catamaran
homonym
catastrophe
armistice
taxidermist
idolize
calligrapher
metropolis
insubordinate
unicorn
gerontology
blemish
Tip of the Tongue
Phenomenon
Chapter 7, Section 3
Sensory Memory
 first stage of memory; immediate, initial recording of
information
 memory trace- impression made by information on
our senses
iconic memory
type of sensory
register which holds
icons; “snapshot”; brief
eidetic imagery echoic memory
ability to remember
visual stimuli over
long periods;
“photographic
memory”
sensory register that
holds mental traces of
sounds (echoes);
easier to remember;
can last for several
seconds
Short-term Memory
 memory that holds information briefly before it is
stored or forgotten; AKA working memory

lasts 10-12 seconds
 used a lot (thinking about something, solving
problems, doing/remembering HW)
 information begins to fade rapidly after a few seconds
Some more short-term vocab…
 primacy effect- tendency to recall the initial items in a
series
 recency effect- tendency to recall the last items in a series
 chunking- organization of items into familiar or
manageable units
DEMO
 interference- occurs when new info appears in short-term
memory and takes the place of info already there
XTNTSROTBACEOOKFYI
Long-term Memory
 third (final) stage of memory
 capacity of memory:


no known limit to how much information
limited only by the amount of attention we pay to things
 memory as reconstructive:

memories are reconstructed from bits and pieces of our
experiences; shaped by our personal views of the world; like a
puzzle
 schemas:

mental representations we form of the world by organizing bits of
information into knowledge
Three “3’s” of Memory
Three Kinds of Memory
Episodic
Procedural
Generic
Three Processes of Memory
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Three Stages of Memory
Sensory
Shortterm
Longterm
Which one is the real thing?
Eyewitness Testimony and the
Misinformation Effect
“About how fast were the cars going
when they ____ each other?”
smashed
41 m.p.h.
collided
39 m.p.h.
bumped
38 m.p.h.
hit
34 m.p.h.
contacted
32 m.p.h.