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Memory
 Memory: persistence
of learning over
time…via the storage
and retrieval of
information.
 Gives us our sense of
self and connects us to
past experiences.
What would it be like to live without memory?
 Clive Wearing
Three Stage Processing Model of Memory
 Stage One: The initial recording of sensory
information in the memory system is referred to as
sensory memory.
 Stage Two: sensory memories are processed into
short term memory which can only hold a minimal
amount of information.
 Stage Three: short term memories are encoded into
long-term memory, the relatively permanent and
limitless storehouse from which we retrieve.
Process of Encoding: 2 Types
Encoding
Effortful
Automatic
Types of Encoding
 Automatic Processing
 unconscious
encoding of incidental
information
space
time
frequency
 well-learned information
word meanings
 we can learn automatic processing
reading backwards
Automatic Processing: Reading Backwards
 Reading backwards requires effort at first
but after practice becomes automatic.
 .citamotua emoceb nac gnissecorp luftroffE
 Automatic processing allows us to do
multiple things at once and re-illustrates
the concept of parallel processing.
Effortful Processing
 Effortful Processing: type of encoding that
requires attention and conscious effort.
 Ex: Learning new vocabulary terms, memorizing
historical events/chronology, etc.
 Encoding can be helped by maintenance
rehearsal: simple rote repetition of information in
consciousness or even more successfully by
elaborate rehearsal: processing of information
for meaning which can more easily help produce long
term memories.
Hermann Ebbinghaus – Memory Experiments
 Wanted to research
capacity of verbal
memory.
 Looked to study to see
capacity of peoples’
memories to study
strings of non-sense
syllables.
 Ex: JIH, FUB, YOX, XIR,
Findings of Ebbinghaus
 1. Practice makes perfect. The more rehearsal he
did on day 1, the less rehearsal it took to learn the
syllables again on day 2. Over learning increased
retention.
 2. The Spacing Effect: the tendency for studying
over a long period of time produces better long term
retention than is achieved through massed study or
practice. SPACED STUDYING BEATS
CRAMMING!!!
Activity
If I asked you to list all the U.S. Presidents in order,
how would you do?
If I made a line graph that charted how many students
in the room knew each President, what would the
graph look like?
Findings of Ebbinghaus
 3. Serial Position Effect: our tendency to recall best
the last and first items in a list. Ex: Presidents
Explaining the Serial Position Effect
 Primacy Effect: we remember concepts
at the beginning of a list - these are often
the terms we have seen the most when
reviewing.
 Recency Effect: explains how we
remember concepts at the end of the list a
since these are the terms we have seen
most RECENTLY.
 MIDDLE IS FORGOTTEN MOST OFTEN.
Types of Encoding
 Semantic Encoding: encoding of
meaning, including the meaning of
words….yields best memory.
 Acoustic Encoding: the encoding
of sound, especially the sound of
words….usually the least effective.
 Visual Encoding: the encoding of
picture images.
“I studied for FOREVER
and I still failed!”
MNEMONICS
 ROY G BIV
 Every Good Boy Does Fine
 HOMES
 Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
REHEARSAL
practice saying and writing the words over
and over --but, of course, the most effective rehearsal is
distributed
SHORT-TERM Memory
Short-Term Memory Activity
SHORT-TERM Memory
The magic number is 7+or –2
In other words, the most we can hold in our short term stores is just 5-9 items!
But what if you have to remember
more than that?
Try to remember these numbers:
1271941200118
6117761492191
41963
How confident are you
that you correctly memorized
all 31 numbers?
Now, try to remember these numbers:
1492
1776
1861
1914
12-7-1941
1963
2001
Which was easier?
WHY?
CHUNKING
group like things together
How do you remember a phone #?
9528295379
You CHUNK it!
952- 829- 5379
make it
I want you to remember:
VISUAL
So when you see the word “humanism”
I tell you to think about:
HUMANISM
–a psychological
approach that
focuses on
free will
Free Willy!
METHOD OF LOCI
 Imagine the route from your room to the front
door of your house
 Place people / events along the way
George Washington is in my bedroom
John Adams is right outside my bedroom door
Thomas Jefferson is in the bathroom
James Madison is at the top of the stairs
make it MEANINGFUL
 Whose phone numbers do you remember?
Why?
 Make all kinds of material meaningful.
Experiment - making meaning
make it
RHYTHMIC
 “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”
 “The THALAMUS is a grand station, it sends
and receives information.”
REMEMBERING
 The Memoriad!
FALSE MEMORIES
 Are you a reliable eyewitness?
Types of Sensory Memory
Sensory Memory: refers to the initial recording of
sensory information in the memory system. All
information is held here briefly (1/2 to 4 seconds)
Sensory Memories include both:
1.Iconic Memory: a momentary sensory memory of a
visual stimuli. Memory only lasts for a few tenths of a
second.
2.Echoic Memory: a momentary sensory memory for
auditory stimuli. Sound memories can usually last up
to 3 or 4 seconds.
Sensory memory is very hard to measure since it
fades as we try to measure it.
George Sperling’s Experiment to Measure Iconic
Memory

Is Long Term Memory Like an Attic?
 Sherlock Holmes: “I consider that a man’s brain is like a
little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such
furniture as you choose…It is a mistake to think that that
little room has elastic walls and can distend to any
extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for
every addition of knowledge you forget something you
knew before.”
 Is this true?
Neural Basis and Emotional Impact For
Memory
 Long Term Potentiation (LTP): refers to the long-
lasting strengthening of the connection between 2
neurons. Is believed to be the neural basis for learning
and memory.
 Process occurs naturally when we learn through
association…after learning has occurred, neurons
involved in process become more efficient at transmitting
the signals.
 Drugs that block LTP affect learning drastically.
 Strong emotions make for stronger memories
 Stress
hormones boost impact on learning.
Storage Loss: Amnesia
 Amnesia refers to the
loss of memory.
 Amnesiac patients
typically have losses in
explicit memory.
 Explicit Memory
(declarative memory):
memory of facts and
experiences that one can
consciously know and
declare.
Types of Amnesia
 Anterograde Amnesia: type of memory loss where
patients are UNABLE TO FORM ANY NEW
MEMORIES. Can’t remember anything that has
occurred AFTER a traumatic head injury.
 Retrograde Amnesia: type of memory loss where
patients are UNABLE TO REMEMBER PAST EVENTS.
May forget everything that happened BEFORE a
traumatic head injury.
Hippocampus’s Role in Explicit Memory
 Hippocampus: neural
center located in limbic
system that helps process
explicit memories for
storage….left and right
hippocampus have
different functions.
Implicit Memory
 Other type of memory
storage is known as
Implicit Memory
(Procedural or Skill
Memory): retention of
things without conscious
recollection.
Cerebellum’s Role in Implicit Memory
 Cerebellum: helps facilitate
associate learning responses ie
classical conditioning.
 Cutting pathway to the
cerebellum makes rabbits
unable to learn conditioned
responses.
A Diagram For Your Viewing Pleasure
Types of
long-term
memories
Explicit
(declarative)
With conscious
recall
Facts-general
knowledge
(“semantic
memory”)
Personally
experienced
events
(“episodic
memory”)
Implicit
(nondeclarative)
Without conscious
recall
Skills-motor
and cognitive
Dispositionsclassical and
operant
conditioning
effects
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
 Recall: a measure of
memory in which the
person must retrieve
information learned earlier.
 Ex: Fill in the Blank.
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
 Recognition: a
measure of memory in
which the person need
only identify items
previously learned.
 Ex: Multiple Choice
Retrieval Cues
 Priming:
activation, often
unconsciously, of
particular
associations of
memory.
Retrieval Cues
 Context Affects Memory Retrieval: able to
retrieve information better when you are in the
same context you learned it in.
 Emotional/Mood Impact of Memory:

State-Dependent Memory: information is most
easily recalled when in same “state” of consciousness it
was learned in.

Mood Congruent Memory: tendency to recall
experiences that are consistent with one’s current
mood.