Download Chapter 8 - Memory - Diocese of Fall River

Chapter 7 Memory
Psychology
McGonigle- College Prep/
Honors
What is memory – anyway?
 Memory
– Process by which we recollect
prior experiences and information and
skills learned in the past
 Name
all 44 Presidents – fast !!!
3 Kinds of Memory
 Episodic
Memory
 Semantic
 Implicit
Memory
Memory
Episodic Memory
 Memory
of a specific event, event took
place in the person’s presence, or the
person experienced the event.
 Flashbulb
memory: Event that is so
important it seems like we photograph it in
every detail.
Semantic Memory

We remember general knowledge such as
who is the first president of the United States.
(George Washington)

Unlike flashbulb, we don’t remember when
we first learned that Washington was the first
President.

Episodic & Semantic are both known as
Explicit memories. This means that are clearly
stated & defined.
Implicit Memory
 Opposite
 Implied
implicit.
of Explicit memory
or not clearly stated memories are
 Swimming,
skipping rope, riding a bike,
playing an instrument, driving a car.
Encoding
 Translation
of information into a form in
which it can be stored.
 When
one places information into their
memory, they like computers, encode it.
 Encoding-
for the computer & the human
brain, it is the first stage of processing
information.
Visual Codes
 Try
to memorize a set of letters by seeing
them in your mind as a picture.
 Try
to form a mental picture of
OTTFFSSENT in your head to memorize the
first ten numbers.
Semantic Codes
Method of Remembering
 Semantic-
Attempt to make sense of the
letters- figure out what they might mean.
 Semantic
Codes: “ Mary’s violet eyes
make John stay up nights.”
 Remember
: Roy G Biv , Musical scales
“Every good boy deserve fudge”
Storage of memory
 Storage
– Maintenance of encoded
information over a period of time.
 Human
storage – of information is not
all that different from a computer’s
storage of information.
 To
save information- one must use a
variety of strategies.
Maintenance Rehearsal
 Repeating
information over and over
again to keep from forgetting.
 Actors
again.
 MR:
+ actresses: repeat their lines
Does not make info meaningful, it is
poor for permanent storage.
Elaborative Rehearsal
 New
and effective way to remember new
information is to make it meaningful by
relating it to info that you already know.
 Language
arts and foreign language- use
new words in sentences instead of just
repeating words by themselves.
Organizational Systems
 As
memory develops, it organizes info into
files, and then files within files.
 Memory
organizes into certain groups or
classes according to common features.
( Presidents – 20s, 30s, 40s)
Filing Errors for Memory
 Ability
to remember info is subject to error.
 Memory
errors occur, because we file
information incorrectly.
 Place
piece of info in the wrong folder,
like a science paper in a math folder.
Retrieval

Consists of locating stored information and
returning it to conscious thought.

Retrieving information stored in our memory is
like retrieving information stored in a
computer.

For fun: How can you remember how to spell
retrieval? Quick – name all 8 planets !!!!!
Context Dependent Memory
 Have
you ever visited your old house,
school or baseball/softball diamond?
 Memories
that came back to you
were CDMs, the situation in which the
person first had this experience.
 Students
– perform better on a test
when they study in the room where
the test will be given. (scene of the
crime memories)
State Dependent Memories
 It
is easier to retrieve memories when we
are in the same emotional state we were
in when first stored.
 Feelings
of happiness- tend to bring back
memories of times when we were happy,
vice versa with sad memories.
Tip of the Tongue Phenomena
 You
are sure you know something, you just
can’t verbalize it.
 “Feeling
 We
of Knowing” experience.
use acoustic or semantic cues to help
us remember. ( similar in sound or
meaning)
Sensory Memory
 1st
stage of memory- immediate recording
of info that enters through our senses/
 Visual
 Want
stimuli- decays within seconds.
to remember- do something with it
(stimuli) quickly.
Iconic Memory
 Icons-
mental pictures we form of visual
stimuli.
 Icons- held in a sensory register called
iconic memory.
 Iconic memories- Are like snapshots,
however they are extremely brief- just a
fraction of a second. (subliminal)
Eidetic Memory
 Ability
to remember visual stimuli over a
long period of time.
 This
is what is known as photographic
memory.
5
% of children have photographic
memory.
Echoic Memory
 Echoes-
mental traces of sounds.
 Echoes-
are held in a sensory register
called echoic memory.
 Acoustic
codes are easier to remember
than visual codes. (example)
Short Term Memory
 Also
called- working Memory
 Meeting new people
 Math problems
 Due dates for HW + papers
 Remembering phone numbers
 Info-
fades rapidly. Need to take steps to
prevent from fading. 7 digit phone #s.
Primacy Effect
 Tendency
to recall the initial items in a
series of items.
 We
remember the 1st few items of a series
better because of their placement earlier
in the list.
Recency Effect
 The
tendency to recall the last items in a
list = recency effect.
 Last
items- rehearsed and perceived most
recently.
 Are
still fresh in your mind & rehearsed
most recently.
Chunking
 The
organization of items into familiar or
manageable units.
 “Other
 1-800
Flowers Sent”, “Mary’s Violet Eyes”,
– Mattres ( leave the last S for
saving)