Download Storage and Retrieval

CHS AP Psychology
Unit 7 Part I : Memory
(Cognition)
Essential Task 7.2:
Outline principles that help improve memory functioning at each stage:
encoding - attention, chunking, serial positioning effect, deep versus shallow
processing, and rote rehearsal
storage - decay theory, elaborative rehearsal, spacing effect, method of loci, and link
method
retrieval - retroactive interference, proactive interference
Storage: Retaining Information
Storage is at the heart of memory. Three
stores of memory are shown below:
Sensory Memories
The shortest retention of all memory stores IF not
rehearsed.
The duration of sensory memory varies for the
different senses.
Iconic
0.5 sec. long
Echoic
3-4 sec. long
Hepatic
< 1 sec. long
Decay Theory
• The decay theory argues that the
passage of time causes forgetting.
• The longer information is not accessed,
increases the chances of forgetting it.
Working Memory
Working memory is the new name for
short-term memory
• has a limited capacity (7±2)
• short duration (20 seconds)
When working on its own without help from
the Long Term Memory (LTM)
Capacity
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some
Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information (1956).
MUTGIKTLRSYP
You should be able to
recall 7±2 letters.
George Miller
Duration
Peterson and Peterson (1959) measured the
duration of working memory by manipulating
rehearsal.
CHJ
MKT
HIJ
547
547
544
541
…
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The duration of the working memory is about
20 sec.
Working Memory Duration
Long-Term Memory
Essentially unlimited capacity store.
The Clark’s nutcracker can locate 6,000 caches of
buried pine seeds during winter and spring.
Synaptic Changes
Long-Term
Potentiation (LTP)
refers to synaptic
enhancement after
learning (Lynch, 2002).
An increase in
neurotransmitter
release or receptors on
the receiving neuron
indicates strengthening
of synapses.
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
• LTP is the physical basis for learning:
– Drugs that block LTP interfere with
learning
– Mice engineered to lack an enzyme
needed for LTP can’t learn their way out
of a maze
Stress Hormones & Memory
Heightened emotions (stress-related or
otherwise) make for stronger memories.
Flashbulb memories are clear memories of
emotionally significant moments or events
Types of Long Term Memory
• Explicit memory
– Memory for information we can readily express
and are aware of having
– This information can be intentionally recalled
– Episodic Memories - Memories for personal
events in a specific time and place
– Semantic Memories - Memory for general facts
and concepts not linked to a specific time
Types of Long Term Memory
• Implicit memory
– Memory for information that we cannot readily
express and may not be aware of having
– Cannot be intentionally retrieved
@#$!&
@#$!&
– Procedural memories: Motor skills and
habits
– Emotional memories: Learned emotional
responses to various stimuli
Hippocampus
Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbic
system that processes explicit memories.
Anterograde Amnesia
After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient Henry M.
(HM) remembered everything before the operation but
cannot make new memories. We call this anterograde
amnesia.
Anterograde
Amnesia
(HM)
Memory Intact
No New Memories
Surgery
Cerebellum
Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain
that processes implicit memories.
Maintaining Long-Term Memory
• Rote rehearsal
– Repetition can result in long-term
memory
– Only effective if there is intent to learn
material
– Example: What does a penny look like?
Maintaining Long-Term Memory
• Elaborative rehearsal
– Process of relating new information to
information already stored in memory
– Meaning is assigned to new information
and then linked to as much existing
knowledge as possible
Link Method
• First imagine a silly, memorable image that represents
the type of list you want to remember. Also include in this
image the first item on the list (see below for example).
This image is your header for the list.
• Think of another silly, memorable image that links the first
item on the list to the second item and so on.
Activity
• Close your eyes
• Count the number of windows you
have in your house
Method of Loci (Places)
• Most of you used the method of Loci to “walk
through” your house in your mind and count the
windows
Retrieval
Retrieval:
Getting Information Out
• Retrieval refers to getting
information out of the memory
store.
Measures of Memory
• Recognition: Identifying the item
among other choices
• Recall: retrieve information with effort
• Relearning: the individual shows how
much time (or effort) is saved when
learning material for the second time
Retrieval Cues
Memories are held in storage by a web of
associations. These associations are like anchors
that help retrieve memory.
water
smell
fire
smoke
Fire Truck
heat
truck
red
hose
Priming
To retrieve a specific memory from the web of
associations, you must first activate one of the
strands that leads to it. This process is called
priming.
Where and when matters:
Context Effects
• Situational factors
– Recall of information is better if environment is
the same as when information was learned
• State-dependent memory
– Recall of information is better if person is in the
same physiological state as when information
was learned
Déjà Vu
• Déjà Vu means “I've experienced this before.”
Cues from the current situation may
unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar
experience.
Parallel Processing
• Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon is when
you can almost recall something, but can’t
quite get it.
• If you leave it your brain will continue to
work on this problem eventually surfacing
with the answer.
• Thus you later yell out the name of the
actor and everyone looks at you like you are
odd.
Interference
• Retroactive interference
– Occurs when new information interferes
with information already in memory
– Retro means old
– In this term the old information is being
tested
– Thus the new information is doing the
interference.
Try remembering the following
number
• 8132163
• Ok that was easy because nothing
interfered with you.
Now let’s try some interference
• 4982631
• First, consistent with cognitive dissonance theories,
we are able to induce optimism or pessimism with the
initial (random) wage assignment. With respect to the
first-stage task, this implies that we can successfully
manipulate one’s ability-beliefs in the lab. Secondly,
subjects who received this low piece-rate in stage one
were willing to accept significantly lower offers in a
second-stage ultimatum game. This finding is striking,
demonstrating the presence of both belief
manipulation and spillovers of those beliefs into
behavioral outcomes in an unrelated and distinct
experimental environment.
Try remembering the following
number
• 5614982
• 92589386
Retroactive Interference
• The last two were examples of retroactive interference
• In each one, it was the OLD (retro)
information that was being tested.
• The last trial was the hardest because
it overloaded your modality.
• So, what type of music should you
listen to when you write an essay?
– Yep, music with NO LYRICS!
Retroactive Interference
Sleep helps prevent retroactive interference.
Therefore, it leads to better recall.
Interference
• Proactive interference
– This is when new information is being tested.
– The old information already in your LTM interferes.
– It is tough to teach an experienced show dog new
tricks.
– Psychologists have found that recall of later items can
be improved by making them distinctive from early
items.
• For example, people being fed groups of numbers to
remember did much better when they were
suddenly fed a group of words instead. This is called
release from proactive interference
I need a volunteer that knows
their colors.
• Don’t read the words, just say the
colors they’re printed in and as fast
as you can
• This is called the stroop effect
Red
Yellow
Green
Blue
Red
Blue
Yellow
Green
Blue
Red
Interference
• When you look at the words you see
both its color and meaning.
• When they are in conflict you must
make a choice
• Experience has taught you that word
meaning is more important than color
so you retrieve that information.
• You are not always in complete
control of what you pay attention to.
Schemata
• A schema is a set of beliefs or expectations about
something based on past experience
• Incoming information is fit with existing schemata
• Schemata can also influence the amount of
attention paid to a given event
• Reconstruction
– Memories can be altered with each retrieval
– We do this to keep the schemata of our self and our
environment