Download 3.3 Memory AP Psychology

3.3 Memory
AP Psychology
Basic Definition of Memory
• Mental processes involved in acquiring, storing
and recovering knowledge
• creates an internal record of an experience
Biology and Memory
• Hippocampus!!!!
• Endocrine System (adrenal – arousal)
• Long Term Potentiation (LTP)
• Process by which long term memories are formed through strengthening of
connections of neurons
• When learning takes place, specific protein synthesis takes place in the
nervous system; long term memory depends on this synthesis
• Example…
• As you hit a baseball the repeated practice builds neural pathways that make
it easier to hit the ball solid
Basic Tasks of Memory
•Encoding - acquiring info
•Storage - retaining info over time
•Retrieval - recovering info from memory
storage
Stage 1 - Sensory Memory
• Function...
• Registering of new information
• everything that our senses hear, see, taste, touch
and smell enters
• give a sense of flow and continuity to experiences
that would otherwise seem to be a confusing
barrage of sounds, sights, tastes, textures and odors
Stage 1 - Sensory Memory cont.
-capacity is large but not unlimited
-holds visual images for up to one-half
second
-holds auditory messages for up to 2-4
seconds
Stage 1 - Sensory Memory cont.
•Types of Sensory Memory
•- there is a sensory register for each
sense
•- Iconic memory - visual info
•- Echoic memory - auditory info
Stage 2 - Short-Term Memory (STM)
•Function...
•temporary storage site where sensory
info is processed, evaluated, and
analyzed
•STM also accesses and retrieves info from
LTM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvF113
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STM
•Capacity and duration...
•STM has a limited capacity - research
indicates the working capacity is typically 7
pieces of info
•STM holds info for approximately 30
seconds
Extending capacity and duration of STM
chunks and chunking...
- a chunk is a single unit of info
- the capacity of STM can be extended by
grouping separate chunks of info in to a new
unit or chunk
-ie - the four digits 2-0-1-0 can be combined to
form the date 2010 and thus remembered as
one chunk of info
Extending capacity and duration of STM
•Maintenance rehearsal...
• process of repeating info to keep it in STM
• most students us as a way of "cramming" info
before a test
• will keep info fresh in STM, it is not an
efficient method of transferring info to LTM
Extending capacity and duration of STM
•Elaborative rehearsal...
•depth o processing determines how well info is
remembered
•process by which new info is actively review and
related to info already stored in LTM
Elaborative rehearsal cont.
• - ie - student trying to learn the SAT vocab word
vivacious might try repeating the definition "full of
life"
• a much more effective strategy would be to relate
the English "t\word vivacious to the Spanish word
vivar ("to live")
• this active process of elaborative rehearsal will
greatly facilitate transferring the meaning of
vivacious into LTM
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
• Function
• storehouse of information
• when properly organized and integrated, info is readily available for
retrieval
LTM
• Capacity and duration...
• capacity is unlimited
• duration of LTM can be permanent
LTM - Procedural Memory (Implicit)
• includes motor skills, habits and other memories of how things are
done (recalled without conscious effort)
• Examples - how to roller skate, ride a bicycle, tie a shoe
• also includes classically conditioned responses to conditioned stimuli
• ie - phobias and attitudes toward a variety of groups
LTM - Declarative Memory (Explicit)
• consists of facts and events that can be
consciously recalled or "declared“
• two divisions - episodic memory (events)and
semantic memory (facts)
LTM - Declarative Memory
Episodic Memory
Semantic Memory
• stores memories of personal • stores memories of facts and
experiences and events
general knowledge
• examples
• examples
• first romantic kiss
• Pythagorean theorem
• "sweet sixteen" birthday
• name of 3 branches of
gov't
• taking the ACT
• function of STM
Retrieval and LTM
• The Serial-Position Effect
• Primacy Effect
• info from the beginning of a list is remembered
better than material in the middle
• Recency Effect
• info from the end of a list is remembered better
than material in the middle
Serial-Position Effect cont.
• Examples...
• you remember the first and last people you meet at a
party better than those you meet in-between
• you remember America's first and last presidents
better than those who served in the late 1800s
Retrieval Cues
• Recall
• the use of a general cue to retrieve a memory
• example
• your AP Psych teacher asks you to write down everything
you remember about yesterdays lesson on LTM without
referring to your notes
• short-answer / extended-response test
Retrieval Cues cont.
• Recognition
• the use of a specific cue to retrieve a memory
• example
• your ELA teacher asks you to define the term allusion by
saying, "It's like in Taylor Swift's son 'Love Story' when she
says, 'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter.'"
• multiple choice test
Forgetting
• The Forgetting Curve - Herman Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
• invented three-letter nonsense syllables such as TIX and ZEL and then
tested recall of them after varying amounts of time
• shows two distinct patterns
• first - memories of relatively meaningless info are lost shortly after
they have been learned
• second - following this initial plunge, the rate of forgetting levels
off then slowly declines
Forgetting cont.
• Ebbinghaus forgetting curve cont.
• Example…
• can be applied to such common experiences as
learning names at a party or cramming facts before an
exam
• most of the names and facts are quickly forgotten
Forgetting…
• Decay Theory…
• ALL learning will decay if not used!
• Memories deteriorate as time passes
• Example…what you learn with decay during the summer
Forgetting cont...
• Interference Theory
• forgetting takes place when one memory must compete with
another similar memory
• the similarity between the two memories creates interference
and forgetting
• Two types
• Proactive and Retroactive Interference
Forgetting cont...
• Interference theory cont.
• Proactive Interference
• occurs when old information interferes with recalling new information
• an old memory is moving forward to interfere with a new memory
• Example
• you learn and perform a dance routine for your school play
• you then experience trouble remembering a new dance routine for the winter
play because of proactive interference from the prior fall routine
Forgetting cont...
• Interference theory cont.
• Retroactive Interference
• occurs when new information interferes with recalling old info
• new memory moves backward to interfere with an old memory
• Example
• You learn how to drive on a car with manual transmission ("stick
shift"). Your parents then buy you a new car with an automatic
transmission. On a family vacation, your parents rent a car with a
"stick shift". You have trouble driving the rental car because of
retroactive interference from driving your new automatic car
Forgetting...
• Encoding Failure
• occurs when poorly encoded info is passed from the STM to the
LTM
• paying attention is vital to retention
• divided attention is one of the most common causes of encoding
failure
• studies show that when we try to perform multiple tasks, the
info is not properly encoded into LTM
Forgetting...
• Encoding Failure cont...
• Example…
• text-messaging a friend while parking your car at the mall
• by dividing your attention between texting and parking, you
created an encoding failure that might come back to haunt
you a few hours later when you try to find your car
Forgetting...
• Retrieval Failure
• an encoding failure takes place when info is not properly stored
in LTM / In contrast, a retrieval failure takes place when info
stored in the LTM is available, but momentarily inaccessible
• interference, faulty cues, and emotional states such as test
anxiety, can all cause retrieval failure
Forgetting...
• Retrieval Failure cont…
• "Tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon
• a common example of retrieval failure
• describes the feeling that at any moment a name or
place you are trying to remember is just our of reach
but will soon pop out from the "tip of your tongue"
Amnesia
• severe memory loss
• two types…
• Retrograde and Anterograde Amnesia
Biology and Memory…
Amnesia
Retrograde
Anterograde
• unable to remember some or all
of their past
• automobile and motorcycle
accidents are leading cause
• Example
• someone is in an accident and
cannot recall particulars of the
accident
• unable to form new memories
• best know case - Henry Molaison
• HM suffered severe epileptic
seizures and had portions of his
temporal lobe (including
hippocampus) removed successful in controlling seizures,
BUT no new events to LTM
• lives in an eternal present!
Anterograde Amnesia example
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tib66tgbq6Y
Memory Distortion
• human memory is far from perfect
• important details can be changed, exaggerated and
deleted
• Elizabeth Loftus is an American psychologist who is a
renowned expert on memory distortion
The Misinformation Effect
• Phenomenon in which a persons existing memories can be altered if a
person is exposed to misleading information
• Loftus study...
• showed subjects film of an auto accident
• the subjects answered a series of questions including..."About how fast
were the cars going when they contacted each other?"
• Loftus then varied the question by substituting the verbs...hit, bumped,
collided, smashed for the word contacted
The Misinformation Effect cont.
• results...
• the word contacted elicited an average of 32 MPH /
smashed produced an average of 41 MPH, etc.
• this showed that suggestive questions provides
compelling evidence of how the information a person
received after an event can lead to memory distortion
State Dependent Memory
• You tend to recall info better if you are in the same internal state state
as when the info was encoded
• Example – if you drink coffee when you study for an exam, it may
improve your performance if you also drink coffee before you take the
exam
Strategies for Memory Improvement...
• Mnemonics
• The Method of Loci
• Acronyms
Mnemonics
• short phrase for improving memory
• The most effective mnemonic strategies make connections between
new material information already in LTM
• Foolish Moms Smoke POT
Acronyms
• creating a code word from the first letters of items you want to
remember
• HOMES
• Roy G. Biv
The Method of Loci (Latin for place/location)
• in this method, the speaker first memorizes the layout of a building,
street, garden, or any geographic entity
• the speaker then attaches key items to each place and retrieves the
information by "walking" through the loci and allowing each place to
cue the desired items
• examples...AP Psych
• you need to give an oral report on the types of LTM
• you attach procedural to the bicycle in your garage, episodic to the
pictures in the den, and semantic to the computer in your room