Download Unit 7a, Memory

Myers’ Psychology for AP*
Unit 7a
Memory
David G. Myers
Some PowerPoint Presentation Slides
by Kent Korek
Germantown High School
Worth Publishers, © 2010
*AP is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.
OBJECTIVES:
The student will know and
understand the Memory addresses how we remember
as well as how we can improve memory. After completing
their study of this chapter, students should be able to:
1) describe memory in terms of information processing
and distinguish among sensory memory, short-term
memory, and long-term memory
2) distinguish between automatic and effortful
processing, and discuss the importance of rehearsal
3) explain the importance of meaning, imagery, and
organization in the encoding process
4) describe the limited nature of sensory memory and
short-term memory
5) describe the capacity and duration of long-term memory,
and discuss the biological changes that may underlie
memory formation and storage
6) distinguish between implicit and explicit memory, and
identify the different brain structures associated with each
7) contrast recall, recognition, and relearning measures of
memory
8) describe the importance of retrieval cues and the impact
of environmental contexts and internal emotional state on
retrieval
9) explain why the capacity to forget can be beneficial, and
discuss the effects of interference and motivated forgetting
on retrieval
10) explain what is meant by retrieval failure, and discuss
the effects of interference and motivated forgetting on
retrieval
11) describe the evidence for the constructive nature of
memory and the impact of imagination and leading
questions on eyewitness recall
12) describe the difficulties in discerning true memories
from false ones and the reliability of children’s eyewitness
recall
13) discuss the controversy over reports of repressed
and recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse
14) explain how an understanding of memory can
contribute to effective study techniques.
The Phenomenon of Memory
Memory
Memory
*persistence of learning
over time via the
storage and retrieval of
information
Flashbulb Memory
*a clear memory of an
emotionally significant
moment or event
*where were you when Kennedy
died?
*where were you when 9-11
happened?
Memory
Memory as Information Processing
– similar to a computer
• write to file
• save to disk
• read from disk
Encoding
the processing of information into the memory
systems – for example, by extracting meaning
Storage
the retention of encoded information over time
Retrieval
process of getting information out of memory
Memory
TYPES OF MEMORY
Sensory Memory
– the immediate, initial recording of sensory information
in the memory system
Short Term Memory
– activated memory that holds a few items briefly
– look up a phone number, then quickly dial before the
information is forgotten
Long Term Memory
– the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of
the memory system
Working Memory
*focuses more on the processing of briefly stored information
*another term for Short Term Memory
Modified Three-stage Processing
Model of Memory
Look at the bottom of the screen and
write down what you see.
DJ BW
XHGH
CL YK
PRUDENT
Encoding
– the processing of information into the
memory system
Sensory input
Attention to important
or novel information
Encoding
External
events
Sensory
memory
Short-term
memory
Encoding
Long-term
memory
Retrieving
Encoding: Getting Information In
How We Encode
• Automatic Processing
–Parallel processing
–Automatic processing
• Space
• Time
• Frequency
• Well-learned information
Encoding
Automatic Processing
– unconscious encoding
of incidental
information
• space
• time
• frequency
– well-learned
information
• word meanings
– we can learn automatic
processing
• reading backwards
Parallel Processing
--the processing of many
aspects of a problem
simultaneously;
--the brain’s natural mode
of information processing
for many functions.
--Contrasts with the stepby-step (serial) processing
of most computers and of
conscious problem solving.
Encoding
Ebbinghaus used nonsense
syllables
– TUV ZOF GEK WAV
– the more times practiced on Day
1, the fewer repetitions to relearn
on Day 2
Spacing Effect
– distributed practice yields better
long term retention than massed
practice
Hermann
Ebbinghaus
(1850-1909)
*German
Philosopher
Encoding
Effortful Processing
– requires attention and
conscious effort
Rehearsal
– conscious repetition of
information
• to maintain it in
consciousness
• to encode it for storage
Ebbinghaus Curve
Percentage of 100%
list retained
90
after relearning
80
70
Retention
drops,
60
then levels off
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 3 5
9½
14½
25
35½
Time spent learning list
49½
Encoding
Time in
minutes
taken to
relearn
list on
day 2
**As rehearsal
increases,
relearning time
decreases.
20
15
10
5
0
8
16
24
32
42
53
Number of repetitions of list on day 1
64
Encoding: Getting Information In
How We Encode
• Overlearning
Those who learn
quickly also forget
quickly.
• Spacing effect
–Massed practice
–Distributed practice
• Testing effect
We retain information
better when rehearsal
is distributed over
time.
Testing is a powerful means
of improving learning, not
just assessing it.
Encoding-Serial Position Effect
Serial Position Effect--tendency to recall best the last
items in a list
Percentage
of
words
recalled
Immediate recall-last items best
90
80
70
60
50
40
Later recall--only
first items recalled
well
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Position of word in list
10
11 12
Encoding: Getting Information In
How We Encode
• Serial position effect
–Recency effect:
The last items are still in
working memory, people
recall them more quickly.
–Primacy effect:
After a delay, they shift
attention away from the last
items, their recall is best for
the first items.
What Do We Encode?
Semantic Encoding
– encoding of meaning
– including meaning of words
Acoustic Encoding
– encoding of sound
– especially sound of words
Visual Encoding
– encoding of picture images
Encoding
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
Encoding
Chunking
– organizing items into familiar, manageable
units
• like horizontal organization- 1776149218121941
– often occurs automatically
– use of acronyms
• HOMES- Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
• ARITHMETIC- A Rat In Tom’s House Might Eat
Tom’s Ice Cream
____ ____ ____ - ____ ____ - ____ ____ ____ ____
____ ____ ____ - ____ ____ ____ - ____ ____ ____ ____
Encoding- Chunking
Organized information is more easily recalled
Encoding
Hierarchies
complex information broken down into broad concepts and
further subdivided into categories and subcategories
Encoding
(automatic
or effortful)
Meaning
(semantic
Encoding)
Imagery
(visual
Encoding)
Chunks
Organization
Hierarchies
Try to remember this list (take a few seconds and then
look away):
* Jump
* Cut
* Run
* Fly
* Duck-billed platypus
* Read
* Build
* Lay
http://changingminds.org/explanations/memory/von_restorff.htm
The chance is that you will easily remember 'duck-billed
platypus', because it stands out by being a noun,
physically longer, italic and red.
This is an extreme example, but it does highlight the effect.
When the item in question stands out less, the likelihood of it
being remembered also decreases.
The VON RESTORFF effect was identified by Hedwig von
Restorff in 1933. She conducted a set of memory
experiments around isolated and distinctive items, concluding
that an isolated item, in a list of otherwise similar items, would
be better remembered than an item in the same relative
position in a list where all items were similar. Hedwig's work
relates to Gestalt, where she related it to the Figure and
Ground principles.
There can also be a reverse effect here. You remember the
unique item, but the attention that it grabs from you is
removed from other items -- thus you may in fact
remember less overall.
In the 'attention age', when the plethora of media around us
is constantly battling for a moment of our time, advertisers
make much use of this principle, each vying with the other
to stand out from the crowd and hence be remembered by
the target audience.
The Von Restorff effect is also called the Isolation Effect or the Distinctiveness
Principle (Nelson, 1979). The same principle has also been described as
prominence effects (Gardner, 1983) environmental salience effects (Taylor &
Fiske, 1978), and novel popout effect (Johnson, Hawley, Plewe, Elliott, & De Witt,
1990).
Storage- Retaining Information
Sensory Memory
– the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the
memory system
Iconic Memory
– a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli
– a photographic or picture image memory lasting no more than a
few tenths of a second
– Registration of exact representation of a scene
Echoic Memory
– momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli
Prospective Memory
the ability to remember to do something in the future (e.g.,
remembering to return someone's phone call, or the time and day of
your dentist appointment next week).
George Sperling’s memory experiment
*documented the existence of iconic memory (one of the
sensory memory subtypes).
*includes such concepts as change blindness
*human beings store a perfect image of the visual world for
a brief moment, before it is discarded from memory.
*forefront in wanting to help the deaf population in terms
of speech recognition. (He argued that the telephone was
created originally for the hearing impaired but it became
popularized by the hearing community.)
Storage-Short Term Memory
Short Term
Memory
Percentage
who recalled 90
consonants 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
– limited in
duration and
capacity
– “magical”
number 7+/-2
3
6
9
12
15
18
Time in seconds between presentation
of contestants and recall request
(no rehearsal allowed)
Storage: Retaining Information
Working/Short-Term Memory
• Magic number Seven
– Plus or minus 2
• The list of magic sevens
– Seven wonders of world
– Seven seas
– Seven deadly sins
– Seven primary colors
– Seven musical scale notes
– Seven days of the week
Storage: Retaining Information
Long-Term Memory
• Unlimited nature of long-term memory
Storage--Long Term Memory
How does storage work?
Karl Lashley (1950) began research on study
of intelligence and the role of the frontal
lobes.
Rats learn maze
Remove parts of brain
Retest rats to see if they remember the
maze.
1890-1958
Storage: Retaining Information
Storing Memories in the Brain
• Synaptic Changes
–Memory trace
–Memory boosting drugs
• CREB:
protein that can switch
genes on or off; reshapes
synapses and turns ST
memories into LT memories.
• Glutamate:
neurotransmitter that enhances
synaptic communication (LTP).
Storage--Long Term Memory
Synaptic changes
– Long-term Potentiation
• increase in synapse’s firing potential after brief,
rapid stimulation
Strong emotions make for stronger
memories
– some stress hormones boost learning and
retention
Storage: Retaining Information
Storing Memories in the Brain
Stress Hormones and Memory
–Emotions and memories
–Flashbulb memory: a clear
memory of an emotionally significant moment
or event.
Storage- Long Term Memory
Amnesia- the loss of memory
Explicit Memory
– memory of facts and experiences
that one can consciously know and
declare
– Also called declarative memory
– hippocampus- neural center in
limbic system that helps process
explicit memories for storage
Implicit Memory
– retention without conscious
recollection
– motor and cognitive skills
– dispositions- conditioning
Forgetting--Amnesia
Anterograde Amnesia
*inability to form memories for new
information because of brain trauma.
*new experiences slip away from a
person before they have a chance to
store them in long-term memory.
(Clive Wearing or H.M.)
*H.M. (Initials for man with brain operation
where hippocampus and amygdala
removed…..crucial to laying down new
episodic memories)
Henry Molaison (H.M.)
died in 2008 at age 82.
In 1953, surgical
removal of brain area
Retrograde Amnesia
responsible for laying
new memories. Older
*the failure to remember events that
memories intact, he was
occurred prior to physical trauma.
incapable of forming
*causes include: blow to head, electric shock to
new ones.
the brain
7aLife Without Memory Clive Wearing,
Part 1a.mp4
7aThe Case of Clive Wearing, Part 1b.mp4
7aClive Wearing, Part 2a.mp4
7aClive Wearing, Part 2c.mp4
Storage: Retaining Information
Storing Memories in the Brain
StorageLong Term Memory
MRI scan of hippocampus (in red)
Hippocampus
Retrieval Cues
Recall
*the ability to retrieve info learned
earlier and not in conscious
awareness-like fill in the blank
test
Recognition
*the ability to identify previously
learned items-like on a multiple
choice test
Relearning
*amount of time saved when
relearning previously learned
information
Priming
*activation, often unconsciously, of
particular associations in memory
Priming
Retrieval Cues
*Reminders of
information we could
not otherwise recall
*Guides to where to
look for info
– Context Effects
• memory works better
in the context of
original learning
Retrieval Cues
Mood Congruent Memory
– tendency to recall experiences
that are consistent with one’s
current mood
– memory, emotions or moods
serve as retrieval cues
– State Dependent Memory
• what is learned in one state
(while one is high, drunk or
depressed) can more easily be
remembered when in same state
Deja Vu- (French) already seen
cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval
of an earlier similar experience
"I've experienced this before"
Retrieval Cues
CONTEXT EFFECTS:
After learning to move
a mobile by kicking,
infants had their
learning reactivated
most strongly when
retested in the same
rather than a different
context (Butler &
Rovee-Collier, 1989).
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Context Effects
The Gift of Endless Memory
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gift-of-endless-memory/
Forgetting
Schacter’s SEVEN
SINS OF MEMORY
1974 BA, Univ North Carolina
1976 MA, Univ of Toronto
1978 Oxford University
1981 PhD, Univ of Toronto
Daniel Schacter, Professor
Harvard University
According to Daniel Schacter, most of our memory
problems arise from the SEVEN SINS of
MEMORY.
Three Sins of Forgetting
1) Transcience
2) Absent-mindedness
3) Blocking
Three Sins of Distortion
4) Misattribution
5) Suggestibility
6) Bias
One Sin of Intrusion
7) Persistence
Sin of forgetting
1) TRANSCIENCE
*Memories weaken with time
*Hermann Ebbinghaus (1908) learned
lists of nonsense syllables and tried to
recall them over time.
(1850-1909)
*Studied history and philology at the universities of
Bonn, Halle and Berlin
*University of Bonn, Ph.D. in philosophy (1873)
*Independent post-doctoral study in England, France
and Germany
Sin of forgetting
1) TRANSCIENCE
Percentage of
list retained
when
relearning
Ebbinghausforgetting
curve over 30
days --
60
50
40
initially rapid,
then levels
off with time
30
20
10
0
12345
10
15
20
25
Time in days since learning list
30
Sin of forgetting
1) TRANSCIENCE
The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in school
Percentage of 100%
original
90
vocabulary
80
retained
70
Retention
drops,
60
then levels off
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 3 5
9½
14½
25
35½
49½
Time in years after completion of Spanish course
Sin of forgetting
1) TRANSCIENCE
CONCLUSION:
For relatively meaningless material,
there is a rapid initial loss of memory,
followed by a declining rate of loss.
HOWEVER, some memories don’t follow the classic
forgetting curve.
“Just like riding a bicycle”, is a phase which indicates
that motor skill memories are often retained for many
years.
Sin of forgetting
2) ABSENT-MINDEDNESS: Lapses of Attention
Forgetting as encoding failure
*Information never enters the memory
system
*Attention is selective
– we cannot attend to
everything in our environment
*William James said that we would be
as bad off if we remembered
everything as we would be if we
remembered nothing
Retrieval failure
caused by shifting
your attention
elsewhere. (ie) not
paying attention
when you laid your
keys down
Sin of forgetting
2) ABSENT-MINDEDNESS: Lapses of Attention
Attention
External
events
Short- Encoding
Sensory
term
memory Encoding
memory
Encoding
failure leads
to forgetting
Longterm
memory
Sin of forgetting
3) BLOCKING: Interference Causes Forgetting
*Proactive Interference
*Retroactive Interference
*Serial Position Effect …first and last parts of a poem
are easier to remember or you are more likely to remember
the names of those people you meet first and last than those
in between.
Percentage
of
words
recalled
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Position of word in
list
9
10 11 12
Sin of forgetting
3) BLOCKING: Interference causes forgetting
Learning some items may disrupt
retrieval of other information
Proactive (forward acting) Interference
disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of
new information
Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference
disruptive effect of new learning on recall of
old information
Proactive (forward acting) Interference
…disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new
information
Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference
disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old
information
Retrieval Failure
Interference
Sin of forgetting
3) BLOCKING: Interference causes forgetting
Retroactive Interference
Percentage
of syllables
recalled
90%
Without interfering
events, recall is
better
80
After sleep
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
After remaining awake
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Hours elapsed after learning syllables
8
Forgetting--Interference
Motivated Forgetting
*people unknowingly revise history
Repression
*defense mechanism that banishes anxietyarousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
Positive Transfer
*sometimes old information facilitates our
learning of new information
*knowledge of Latin may help us to learn French
Sin of forgetting
3) BLOCKING: Interference causes forgetting
 Forgetting can
occur at any
memory stage
 As we process
information,
we filter, alter,
or lose much
of it
Sin of forgetting
3) BLOCKING: Interference causes forgetting
Sensory memory - the senses momentarily
register amazing detail
Short term memory - a few items are
both noticed and encoded
Long-term storage - Some items
are altered or lost
Retrieval from long-term memory depending on interference, retrieval cues
moods and motives, some things get
retrieved, some don’t.
Information bits
Sin of Distortion
4) MISATTRIBUTION: Memories in Wrong Context
*sometimes memories are retrievable but are associated
with the wrong time, place, or person.
CASE: Psychologist David Thompson was accused
of rape, based on victim’s detailed description of her
assailant. Fortunately, Thompson had an
indisputable alibi. At the time of the crime, he was
being interviewed live on television--about memory
distortions. The victim had been watching the
interview just before she was raped and had
misattributed the assault to Thompson.
Source Amnesia
• Source
amnesia
(source
misattribution)
attributing to the wrong
source an event we have
experienced, heard about,
read about, or imagined.
(Also called source
misattribution.) Source
amnesia, along with the
misinformation effect, is at
the heart of many false
Forgetting as encoding
failure
Which penny is the real
thing?
(a)
When retrieving the image of a
penny, we automatically fill in
the gaps and missing details-without realizing how much of
the memory we are actually
creating.
Sin of Distortion
5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create
Witnesses to crimes may be interviewed by police, who
might make suggestions about the facts of the case-deliberately or intentionally--which may impact the
testimony of the witness.
Loftus & Palmer (1974) set out
test their hypothesis that the
language used in eyewitness
testimony can alter memory. So
they aimed to show that leading
questions could distort accounts
of events, therefore making
them unreliable.
Elizabeth Loftus
Click on picture for interview
with Elizabeth Loftus
Sin of Distortion
5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create
Participants were shown slides
of a car accident involving a
Estimating the
number of cars and were then speed of a car is
asked to describe what had
generally something
happened as if they were
that people are poor
eyewitnesses.They were then at doing, suggesting
asked specific questions,
that they may have
including the question "About been MORE OPEN
how fast were the cars going TO SUGGESTION.
when they (hit/smashed/
collided/bumped/contacted the five conditions) each
other?"
This distortion of memory is known as the
MISINFORMATION EFFECT.
Sin of Distortion
5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create
Depiction of actual accident
Eyewitnesses
reconstruct
memories when
questioned
Leading question:
“About how fast were the cars
going when they smashed into
each other?”
Memory
construction
Sin of Distortion
5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create
Loftus then did research on FABRICATED
MEMORY. She contacted parents of college
students and gained TRUE information of
childhood events, which the students were
asked to recall. Loftus then added FALSE,
but plausible, events.
After many recall attempts
over a series of days,
many students claimed to
recall the contrived events.
This research would lead other researchers to discuss
the RECOVERED MEMORY CONTROVERY, wherein
some psychologists may use suggestion techniques to
create false recovered memories.
Discerning True and False
Memories
• Memory studies
• Eye witness testimony
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
• Children’s memories of abuse
–Suggestibility
Most experts agree on the following:
1) Sexual abuse of children does occur at a rate more prevalent
than suspected a generation ago. (McAnulty & Burnette, 2004)
2) Memories cued by suggestion are vulnerable to distortion and
fabrication. (Loftus, 2003)
3) Memories from infancy or early children are likely to be fastasies
or misattributions. (Schacter, 1996)
4) There is no infallible way to be sure about abusive memories
without supporting evidence. (Ceci & Bruck, 1993)
5) Although traumatic events can be forgotten, they are more likely
to form persistent, intrusive memories. Such events can
permanently alter the structure of the hippocampus. (Teicher,
2002)
6) There is no solid evidence for repression, in the Freudian sense
of an unconscious memory. (Schacter, 1996)
Sin of Distortion
5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create
People fill in memory gaps with plausible guesses and
assumptions
Imagining events can create false memories
Children's eyewitness recall
– Child sexual abuse does occur
– Some innocent people suffer false accusations
– Some guilty cast doubt on true testimony
Sin of Distortion
5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create
Memories of Abuse
– Repressed or Constructed?
• Child sexual abuse does occur
• Some adults do actually forget such episodes
False Memory Syndrome
– condition in which a person’s identity and
relationships center around a false but strongly
believed memory of traumatic experience
– sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists
Sin of Distortion
5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create
Most people can agree on the following:
– Injustice happens
– Incest happens
– Forgetting happens
– Recovered memories are commonplace
– Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs are unreliable
– Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable
– Memories, whether false or real, are upsetting
Sin of Distortion
6) BIAS: Beliefs, Attitudes, and Opinions Distort Memories
Influence of personal beliefs,
attitudes and experiences on
memory:
*Expectancy Bias -unconscious tendency to
remember events as being
congruent with our
expectations.
*Self-Consistency Bias -avoid inconsistency.
Emotions can distort our
memories.
Sin of Intrusion
7) PERSISTENCE: When We Can’t Forget
Sometimes memory works all
too well when
*intense negative emotions
are involved
*intrusive recollections of
unpleasant events lie at the
heart of several psychological
disorders.
Stress and Memory
TOT Phenomenon
(Tip of the Tongue)
Try to answer as many of the following questions as you
can:
1) What is the North American equivalent of the reindeer?
2) What do artists call the board on which they mix
paints?
3) What is the name for a tall, four-sided stone monument
with a point at the top of its shaft?
4) What instrument do navigators use to determine
latitude by sighting on the starts?
5) What is the name of the large metal urns used in
Russia to dispense tea?
6) What is the name of a small Chinese boat usually
propelled with a single oar or pole?
Your responses probably fall into one of 3
categories:
a) Recall of the correct word,
b) Don’t have a clue, or
c) Can’t retrieve the word but you have a strong
sense that it is somewhere in memory.
Item “C” is an example of the TOT phenomenon. (tip of
the tongue)
A likely explanation:
**interference--when memory blocks access or retrieval.
TOT occurs during a recall attempt, when there is a poor
match between retrieval cues and the encoding of the
word in long-term memory.
Memory Construction
We filter information and fill in missing pieces
Misinformation Effect
– incorporating misleading information into
one's memory of an event
Source Amnesia
– attributing to the wrong source an event that
we experienced, heard about, read about, or
imagined (misattribution)
Retrieval
Forgetting can result from failure to retrieve
information from long-term memory
Attention
External
events
Sensory
memory
Encoding
Encoding
Short-term
Long-term
memory
memory
Retrieval
Retrieval failure
leads to forgetting
The technical term for “photographic memory” is
EIDETIC IMAGERY.
Eidetic Imagery portrays the most interesting and
meaningful parts of the scene most accurately, as
compared with a photograph which renders everything in
complete detail.
*possessed by about 5% of children.
*very rare past adolescence.
To produce an eidetic image, a person must
*study a scene for some time
*actively concentrate on this scene
*images fade quickly when the attention is diverted to
something else.
IMPROVING
YOUR MEMORY
Improving Memory Techniques
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Study repeatedly
Make the material meaningful
Activate retrieval cues
Use mnemonic devices
Minimize interference
Sleep more
Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse
it and to help determine what you do not yet
know
Improve Your Memory
*Study repeatedly to boost recall
*Spend more time rehearsing or actively
thinking about the material (SQ3R)
(study, question, read, recite, review)
*Make material personally meaningful
*Use mnemonic devices
– associate with peg words- something already
stored
– make up story
– chunk-acronyms
Improve Your Memory
*Activate retrieval cues- mentally recreate situation
and mood
*Recall events while they are fresh- write down
before interference
*Minimize interference
*Test your own knowledge
– rehearse
– determine what you do not yet know
MNEMONICS:
*Method of Loci (low-sye): Imagine a familiar sequence of
places (bed, desk, chair)……to remember a grocery list,
imagine tuna on the bed, shampoo spilled on the desk, and
eggs open on the chair.
*Natural Language Mediators: make up a story using your
list….(i..e.) The cat discovers I’m out of tuna so she
interrupts me while I’m using shampoo and meows to egg
me on.” OR
The teacher who used rhymes to remember (“i before e
except after c”) (“thirty days hath September….)
*Remembering Names: You might visualize Bob’s face in
a big “O” or Ann, you might visualize “Queen Ann sitting
on a throne.”
QUESTIONS FOR
REVIEW
ANALYSIS
1) Which of the following is a major objection to the
“video recorder” theory of memory?
a) Like perception, memory is an interpretation
of experience.
b) Memories are never accurate
c) Unlike a video recorder, memory takes in and
stores an enormous quantity of information
from all the senses, not just vision
d) Unlike a tape-recorded video memory, human
memory cannot be edited and changed at a
later time
e) Memories do not degrade.
RECALL
2) Which of the following are the three essential
tasks of memory?
a) Eidetic imagery, short-term memory, and
recall.
b) Sensory, working, and long-term memory
c) Remembering, forgetting, and repressing
d) Recall, recognition, and relearning
e) Encoding, storage, and retrieval
ANALYSIS
3) When you get a new cat, you will note her unique
markings, so that you can remember what she looks
like in comparison with other cats in the neighborhood.
What would a cognitive psychologist call this process
of identifying the distinctive features of your cat?
a) eidetic imagery
b) encoding
c) recollection
d) retrieval
e) storage
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
4) Which one of the following memory systems
reconstructs material during retrieval?
a) Computer memory
b) Human memory
c) Video recorder memory
d) Information recorded in a book
e) Eidetic memory
RECALL
5) Which part of memory has the smallest capacity? (That
is, which part of memory is considered the
“bottleneck” in the memory system?
a) Sensory memory
b) Working memory
c) Long-term memory
d) Implicit memory
e) Explicit memory
RECALL
6) Which part of long-term memory stores
autobiographical information?
a) Semantic memory
b) Procedural memory
c) Recognition memory
d) Episodic memory
e) Eidetic memory
RECALL
7) In order to get material into permanent storage, it must
be made meaningful while it is in
a) sensory memory
b) working memory
c) long-term memory
d) recall memory
e) immediate memory
APPLICATION
8) As you study the vocabulary in this book, which method
would result in the deepest level of processing?
a) Learning the definition given in the marginal
glossary
b) Marking each term with a highlighter each time it
occurs in a sentence in the text
c) Thinking of an example of each term
d) Having a friend read a definition, with you having to
identify the term in question form, as on the TV
show Jeopardy.
e) Glossing over it, knowing you will see it later.
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
9) As the information in this book passes from one stage
of your memory to the next, the information becomes
more
a) important
b) meaningful
c) interesting
d) accurate.
e) astute
APPLICATION
10) Remembering names is usually harder than
remembering faces because names require ____,
while faces require_____.
a) Short-term memory/long-term memory
b) Declarative memory/procedural memory
c) Encoding/retrieval
d) Recall/recognition
e) Storage/recall
APPLICATION
11) At a high school class reunion you are likely to
experience a flood of memories that would be unlikely
to come to mind under other circumstances. What
memory process explains this?
a) Implicit memory
b) Anterograde amnesia
c) Encoding specificity
d) The TOT phenomenon
e) Retrograde amnesia
RECALL
12) A person experiencing the TOT phenomenon is unable
to ____a specific word.
a) recognize
b) recall
c) encode
d) learn
e) store
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
13) An implicit memory may be activated by priming, and
an explicit memory may be activated by a recognizable
stimulus. In either case, a psychologist would say that
these memories are being
a) cued
b) recalled
c) stored
d) chunked
e) learned
RECALL
14) Which one of the following statements best describes
forgetting, as characterized by Ebbinghaus’s
forgetting curve?
a) We forget at a constant rate.
b) We forget slowly at first and then more rapidly as
time goes on.
c) We forget rapidly at first and the more slowly as
time goes on.
d) Ebbinghaus’s method of relearning showed that
we never really forget.
e) We never forget.
APPLICATION
15) Which kind of forgetting is involved when the
sociology I studied yesterday makes it more difficult to
learn and remember the psychology I am studying
today?
a) Proactive interference
b) Retroactive interference.
c) Decay
d) Retrieval failure.
e) Heuristics
RECALL
16) What is the term for the controversial notion that
memories can be blocked off in the unconscious,
where they may cause physical and mental problems?
a) interference
b) repression
c) persistence
d) absent-mindedness
e) transcience
RECALL
17) Which one of the seven “sins” of memory is disputed
by those who believe that memories of childhood
abuse can, in many cases, be recovered during
adulthood?
a) transcience
b) persistence
c) absent-mindedness
d) suggestibility
e) decay
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
18) Which one of the “sins” of memory probably helps us
avoid dangerous situations we have encountered
before?
a) suggestibility
b) bias
c) persistence
d) misattribution
e) absent-mindedness
Show
DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY
#9 Remembering and Forgetting
And
THE MIND
#10 Life Without Memory (clive Wearing)
#11 Clive Wearing Part 2