Download memory - Haiku

DAY 2
In a 9 year experiment, Harry Bahrick and
three of his family members practiced
foreign language word translations for a
given number of times, at intervals ranging
from 14 to 56 days. Their consistent
findings: the longer the space between
practice sessions, the better their retention
up to 5 years later.
Continuing with Effortful
Processing
Spacing Effect: we retain information better when our
rehearsal is distributed over time (as when learning
our classmates’ names.)
This essentially states that for true learning to occur,
cramming is NOT the way.
The Practical Implication?
Spreading out learning over –over a semester or a year,
rather than over a shorter term—should help you not
only on comprehensive final exams, but also in
retaining the information for a lifetime.
This is related to the Testing Effect. Testing is a
powerful means of improving learning, not just
assessing it.
Testing yourself is a part of effective studying.
Serial Position Effect
Our tendency to recall
best the last and first
items in a list.
Associated Words:
primacy and recency.
The von Restorff Effect
Another phenomenon related to the serial
position effect is the von Restorff Effect. The
von Restorff Effect occurs when information in
a list is unique or strange in some way.
Presidents who were assassinated tend to be
remembered in a list of U.S. Presidents
regardless of where they fall in the list. Their
unique status makes them easier to recall than
presidents whose terms were uneventful.
What We Encode
Processing through our sensory
output is like sorting through email. Some items we instantly
discard. Others we open, read, and
retain. We process information by
encoding its meaning, encoding its
image, or mentally organizing it.
Types of Encoding
 Visual Encoding: the process of encoding picture
images.
 Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially
the sound of words
 Semantic Encoding: the encoding of meaning,
including the meaning of words
Example of Acoustic Encoding
 Johnnie Cochran didn’t say “if it doesn’t fit, you must
find him not guilty.”
The rhyme is what caused it to be etched in people’s
minds.
Similarly you say “what sobriety conceals, alcohol
reveals” rather than “what sobriety conceals, alcohol
unmasks.”
How many F’s are in the following
sentence?
Finished files are the results
of years of scientific study
combined with the
experience of years.
EXPERIMENT
Which type of processing would best prepare you to
recognize a key word at a later time. 2 students were
asked to remember the following passage:
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.
Can you remember the quote from the previous slide?
Very few people could.
However, when told the paragraph described washing
clothes they remembered much more of it.
For all you thespians…
How do actors and
actresses remember
all of their lines?
It is easier to remember information
(such as lines in a play) by first coming
to the flow of meaning.
Ebbinghaus theorized that it was far
easier to learn meaningful information
than more trivial information.
Visual Encoding
Imagery: mental pictures, a powerful aid to effortful
processing, especially when combined with semantic
encoding.
Mnemonics: Memory aids, especially those techniques
that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
EX—peg-word system.
One is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree.
Chunking
When we organize
information into meaningful
units, such as letters, words,
and phrases, we recall them
much more easily.
SENSORY MEMORY
Iconic Memory: a momentary sensory memory of
visual stimuli; a photographic picture-image memory
lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Echoic Memory: a momentary sensory memory of
auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and
words can still be recalled within 3-4 seconds.
LONG-TERM MEMORY
“Our memories are flexible and
superimposable, a panoramic
blackboard with an endless
supply of chalk and erasers.”
--Elizabeth Loftus and
Katherine Ketcham
Quote from Myers
“I marveled at my aging mother-in-law, a retired
pianist and organist. At age 88 her blind eyes could no
longer read music. But let her sit at a keyboard and
she would flawlessly play any of hundreds of hymns,
including ones she had not thought of for 20 years.
Where did her brain store those thousands of
sequenced notes?”
Actually…
Memories do NOT store info in single, specific spots.
Despite the brains’ vast storage capacity, we do not
store information the way that libraries store their
books in discrete, precise locations.
Lab rats that had sections of their brains removed
continued to navigate their way around mazes.
FRQ
A good friend, unhappy over his low
grades in Japanese class, has asked you
for advice about how to improve his
memory. Explain about how to
improve his memory. Explain how
human memories are processed.
Include specific recommendations for
improving memory.
Rubric for Grading the FRQ
 Think of this as a 10 point question:
 1 point for a description of encoding as the stage where information gets into
the brain
 3 points for identifying the 3 stages of memory storage: sensory storage, shortterm/working memory, and long-term memory.
 1 point for discussing retrieval as the process of getting information back out of
memory.
 4 points for explanations of encoding strategies discussed in the text. These
would include effective use of rehearsal, chunking, the spacing effect, the serial
position effect, levels of encoding (visual, acoustic, semantic or mnemonics.)
 1 point for explanations of retrieval strategies discussed in the text such as
priming, retrieval cues, or mood congruence.