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General Psychology Chapter 8 – Memory (Part 2) Sarah Rach Storage Sensory Memory Working/Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Memory George Sperling – flashed these letters for 1/20th of a second People could recall only about ½ the letters If only one row – with near perfect accuracy Iconic Memory Fleeting photographic memory Few 10ths of a second Our eyes can register an exact representation & can recall amazing detail Longer delay (.5 second) less is recalled Our visual screen clears quickly So we can gather new images Echoic Memory Impeccable, though fleeting – memory of auditory stimuli Boyfriend/Girlfriend example Did you hear what I said??? We can recall echos that linger 3-4 seconds Short-Term memory Limited in duration & capacity 7 bits of information Without active processing, they won’t last At any given moment we can consciously process only a very limited amount of information **Activity Some think our brains are like… Computer Attic or Box Computers store info permanently (our brains may or may not do this) Our brains are slower than computers But…our brains can do more than one thing at a time Once filled we can only store more if we discard something else Horizon Limitless “Memory is not like a container that gradually fills up; it is more like a tree growing hooks onto which memories are hung” ~Peter Russell, The Brain Book, 1979 Stored Memories Researchers can not find an exact “place” where memories are stored Rat Experiments Physical basis of memory (memory trace) Aplysia – much studied California sea slug Of what importance is this?? Memory Trace Synapes Sites where nerve cells communicate with one another through their neurotransmitter messengers More serotonin When learning occurs At certain synapes Become more efficient LT Potentiation Prolonged strengthening of potential nerve firing LTP Drugs that block LTP interfere with learning Rats given a drug that enhances LTP Will learn a maze with ½ the usual # of mistakes After LTP- Pass a current through the brain Won’t disrupt old memories Will wipe out very recent memories Experiences of lab animals & depressed people Works like a blow to the head Think about this… “If technological advances would allow it, would you ever want to intentionally get rid of memories of some specific events?” Stress Hormones & Memory When excited or stressed: Emotion triggers stress hormones More glucose energy becomes available to fuel brain activity Signals the brain that something important has happened The amygdala (two emotion-processing clusters in the limbic system) boost activity in the brain’s memory forming area This arousal causes… Certain events are seared into the brain Memory is disrupted for neutral events that happen around the same time Memories may continue to intrude – again and again… Rape, fire, war Flashbulb memories Clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event Sometimes an error can occur More on memory Amnesia Even those that are not able to form new memories can learn unconsciously It seems that we have 2 memory systems operating at the same time Implicit (non declarative memory) Loss of memory Learn and recall how to do something without consciously recalling it Explicit (declarative memory) Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare” The Brain Hippocampus Cerebellum Hippocampus A neural center Located in the limbic system Two of them Where new explicit memories (names, images, events) are processed here for storage Above each ear and 1 ½ inches straight in If one is damaged Left – trouble remembering verbal info, can still recall visual designs & locations Right – vice versa Hippocampus Continued… Different functions for sub regions Associating names with faces Spatial mnemonics Rear spatial memory grows bigger the longer a cabbie navigates streets Active during slow-wave sleep Memories are processed & filed for later retrieval The greater the activity during this time after learning something – the better the next day memory is More on the hippocampus… Acts as a loading dock Registers & temporarily holds elements of a remembered episode Then memories migrate fro storage elsewhere Temporary processing site for explicit memories Could lose it and still be able to lay down memories for skills & conditioned associations Cerebellum Extends out from the rear of the brain stem Plays a key role in forming & storing implicit (non declarative) memories We have a dual memory system Helps explain infantile amnesia Infantile Amnesia We do not remember anything explicitly, but we do have implicit memories Don’t touch the stove, it’s hot Pull the dog’s tail, get a bite The reason….? Partly because children don’t know enough words to store the explicit memories (to describe them) & because our hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to mature Retrieval Memory is more than just encoding & storing It is also about recall! Ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness Memory – as defined by a psychologist Any sign that something learned has been retrieved Ability to recognize information Ability to relearn more quickly the 2nd time Retrieval Cues Tags, hints, identifying marks on the target information Anchor points you can use to access the target info when you want to retrieve it later Mood, surroundings, seating positions, etc. Priming – “wakening of associations” Context effects Deja vu Context Effects Get up & go into the other room to do something… and you can’t remember what it was…. Hmmmmmmmmm Go back into the other room…. And you remember…. WHY? Deja Vu French for “already seen” An eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before” Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience Happens most commonly to well-educated, imaginative, young adults, especially when tired or stressed Moods & Memories State-dependent memory What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state Depressed – disrupts encoding Drunk – alcohol disrupts storage But… they recall it slightly better again when… Mood-congruent memories Good mood = Good memories Why our moods persist – cycles… “If we remember everything we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing” What if we remembered everything? Where we parked the car yesterday Our old bosses address Our ex-boyfriends dog’s name What we ate at 9:30 last Thursday A good memory is helpful, but so is the ability to forget. Seven sins of Forgetting Three sins of forgetting Three sins of distortion One sin of Intrusion Three sins of forgetting 1. Absent – mindedness inattention to details lead to encoding failure our mind is elsewhere as we set our cell phone down 2. Transience Storage decay over time Math – use it or lose it 3. Blocking Inaccessibility of stored info We hear a song we love, we feel the name of the singer on the tip of our tongue, but we experience retrieval failure Three sins of distortion 1. Misattribution Confusing the source of info Putting words in someone else’s mouth Remembering a dream as actually happening 2. Suggestibility Lingering effects of misinformation A leading question – “Was the speeding driver looking at his cell phone before he hit your car?” Later becomes a false memory (& possible testimony) 3. Bias Belief colored recollections Current feelings toward a friend may color a recalled initial feeling Just fought with him - “I never liked him anyway” One sin of intrusion 1. Persistence Unwanted memories Sexual assault or other traumatic event Encoding Failure What we fail to encode we will never remember Young adults Older adults Brain areas jump into action when they encode new info Brain areas are less responsive Helps explain age-related memory decline Tend to recall less than younger adults… but they usually remember as well as them when given reminders or a recognition test Automatic encoding Things that not meaningful Encoding Failure Activity 1.What is the color of the top stripe of the American flag? The bottom stripe? How many red and how many white stripes does it have? 2. If you have a watch with mechanical hands, cover the face and try to recall what it looks like. How many numbers does it have? Are they Arabic or Roman numerals—or does it have any numbers at all? 3. Most wooden pencils are not round. How many sides do they typically have? 4. In what hand does the Statue of Liberty hold her torch? 5. The White House is pictured on the back of a $20 bill. What is on the back of a $10 bill? A $5 bill? A $1 bill? 6. What four words besides “In God We Trust” appear on most U.S. coins? Storage Decay Forgetting curve Can fade for other reasons Forgetting is often not memories discarded but memories un-retrieved. Initially rapid Levels off with time Spanish example Accumulated learning disrupts our retrieval Interference Learning some items may interfere with retrieving others, especially when they are similar Proactive Forward-acting interference Something you learned earlier disrupts your recall of something new Phone numbers Retroactive Backward-acting interference Occurs when new info makes it harder to recall something learned earlier passwords Proactive – Retroactive Interference Other notes about memory Hour before sleep Good time to commit info to memory Not seconds before Info presented during sleep Is registered by the ears Without rehearsal – most learning doesn’t occur Positive transfer Knowing something can help learn something new Latin French Motivated Forgetting People knowingly revise their own histories Repression? Freud thinks we self-censor To minimize anxiety and protect our self-concept Many believe this Researchers… rarely, if ever Traumatic experiences – trouble forgetting Memory Construction We construct our memories as we encode them Also alter our memories as we draw them out We filter info & fill in missing pieces Misinformation & Imagination Effects Misinformation Effect After subtle misinformation, many people misremember As memories fade with time, misinformation becomes easier to inject Creation of False memories Repeated imagining – create false memories Imagination Inflation Occurs partly because visualizing something & actually perceiving it – activate similar brain areas What is the leading word? Source Amnesia Also called Misattribution Attributing the wrong source of an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, imagined This & the misinformation effect – at the heart of many false memories Source Amnesia Authors & songwriters sometimes suffer source amnesia. They think an idea came from their own creative imagination, when in fact they are unintentionally plagiarizing something they earlier read or heard. **Are any of our ideas truly original?? What do you think?? Children’s Eyewitness Recall We can’t be sure how real a memory is by how real it feels Leading words & sentences… When questioned using neutral words that children can understand they can offer accurate info about what happened and who was involved Especially accurate when… Have not talked to an adult prior Their disclosure is made in a 1st interview by a neutral person who asks non-leading questions What those committed to protecting wrongly accused adults & those committed to protecting abused children agree on: Injustice happens Incest and other sexual abuse happen Forgetting happens Recovered memories are commonplace Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable Memories “recovered” under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable Memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting Improving Memory Study repeatedly Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material Make the material personally meaningful Use mnemonic devices Activate retrieval cues Minimize interference Test your knowledge