Download PSYC 100 Chapter 8

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CHAPTER 8
Memory
CHAPTER 8 OVERVIEW
  The
 
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Encoding: Getting Information In
Storage: Retaining Information
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
  Forgetting
  Memory
Construction
  Improving Memory
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Phenomenon of Memory
  Studying Memory: Information Processing
Models
INTRODUCTION
How does our memory define us?
field of psychology defines memory as the
persistence of learning over time through the
storage and retrieval of information.
  We will describe memory with the informationprocessing model – perspective that compares
human cognition to the processing of a computer.
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  The
INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL
 
 
Storage: the retention of encoded information over time
Retrieval: the process of getting information out of
memory storage
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 
Encoding: the processing of information into the memory
system
INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL
THE PHENOMENON OF MEMORY
sensory memory: the immediate, very brief recording
of sensory information in the memory system
2. 
working memory: conscious, active processing of
incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and
of information retrieved from long-term memory.
3. 
long-term memory: the relatively permanent and
limitless storehouse of the memory system, including
knowledge, skills, and experiences.
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1. 
HOW DOES MEMORY WORK?
2. 
3. 
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
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1. 
ENCODING: GETTING INFORMATION IN
  Automatic
Processing:
unconscious encoding of
incidental information, such
as space, time, and frequency,
and of well-learned
information, such as word
meanings
  Effortful
Processing:
encoding that requires
attention and conscious effort
 
Rehearsal
EFFORTFUL PROCESSING CONTINUED
  Practice
 
For novel verbal information, practice – effortful
processing – does indeed make perfect.
The amount remembered depends on the time spent
learning.
  Spacing
effect: the tendency for distributed
study or practice to yield better long-term
retention than is achieved through massed study
(cramming) or practice
  Serial position effect: our tendency to recall
best the last and first items of a list
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 
effect:
WHAT WE ENCODE
  Levels
 
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Encoding its meaning
Encoding its image
Mentally organizing it
  Encoding
Meaning: the amount remembered
depends on both the time spent learning and on
making it meaningful.
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 
of Processing: We process information by
WHAT WE ENCODE CONTINUED
  Visual
encoding
Imagery: mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful
processing, especially when combined with encoding
 
Mnemonic devices: memory aids, especially those
techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational
devices
E.g. Please excuse my dear aunt sally
  E.g. Roy G. Biv
 
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 
ORGANIZING FOR ENCODING
 
 
Chunking: organizing items into
familiar, manageable units; often
occurs automatically.
Hierarchies: organizing information
into broad categories divided into
narrower concepts and facts
STORAGE: RETAINING INFORMATION
  Sensory
 
 
Iconic memory: fleeting photographic memory
Echoic memory: momentary sensory memory of
auditory stimuli
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Memory – the immediate, very brief
recording of sensory information in the memory
system.
STORAGE: RETAINING INFORMATION
  Working/Short-Term
 
Limited in duration and capacity: 7 ± 2 (Miller, 1956)
At any given moment, we can consciously process
only a very limited amount of information
  Long-Term
 
Memory
Essentially limitless
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 
Memory
STORING MEMORIES IN THE BRAIN
  Memories
 
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Learning = more efficient synapses
Long-term potentiation (LTP): an increase in a
synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid
stimulation.
Note the several lines of evidence that confirm LTP’s
role in memory (page 340-341)
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are not stored in discrete locations in
the brain, but are rather diffuse. Experience
modifies neural networks.
  Synaptic Changes
STRESS HORMONES AND MEMORY
  Arousal
  Strong,
emotionally laden experiences make for
more reliable memory (McGaugh, 1994, 2003).
  Flashbulb
memories: a clear memory of an
emotionally significant moment or event
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can sear certain events into the brain,
while disrupting memory for neutral events
around the same time (Birnbaum et al., 2004;
Brewin et al., 2007).
STORING IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT
MEMORIES
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STORING IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT MEMORIES
 
Amnesia: the loss of memory
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Implicit memory: nondeclarative memory
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Retention independent of conscious recollection
Explicit memory: declarative memory
 
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know
and “declare”
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 
The case of H.M.
Oliver Sacks and Jimmie
THE HIPPOCAMPUS
  The
hippocampus is a neural center that is located
in the limbic system, it helps process explicit
memories for storage
  Lateralized
  Right
hippocampus
damage: trouble
visual designs and
locations
  Left hippocampus
damage: trouble
with verbal
information
THE CEREBELLUM
  Forming
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and storing the implicit memories
created by classical conditioning
  Cerebellum damage: people cannot developed
conditioned reflexes
RETRIEVAL: GETTING INFORMATION OUT
  The
Three R’s of Retrieval:
measure of memory in which the person
must retrieve information learned earlier
 
E.g. fill-in-the-blank questions on a test.
  Recognition:
measure of memory in which a
person need only identify items previously
learned
 
E.g. multiple choice questions on a test.
  Relearning:
measure of memory that assesses
the amount of time saved when learning material
for a second time
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  Recall:
RETRIEVAL CLUES
 
Retrieval clues are anchor points you can use to
access the target information when you want to
retrieve it later
  Mneumonic devices
  Priming: the activation, often
unconsciously, of particular
associations in memory
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 
Memories are held in storage by a web of associations
FORGETTING
 
Seven sins of memory, Daniel Schacter (1999)
 
Encoding failure:
A
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 
B
Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
 
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Proactive interference versus Retroactive interference
Motivated Forgetting: repression
C
MEMORY CONSTRUCTION
  This
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section of the book, on pages 281 – 286 are
incredibly interesting, but I will not be testing
you on this information in the future.
  Please read the section “Repressed or
Constructed Memories of Abuse” - Note the work
of Elizabeth Loftus.
IMPROVING MEMORY
  The
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last section, Improving Memory, can be
helpful. Additionally, it provides a review of the
some of the chapter’s topics.
CHAPTER 8 REVIEW
 
Studying Memory:
 
 
Encoding
 
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 
Storage
 
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Distinguish implicit and explicit memory.
Describe long-term potentiation.
Retrieval
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Distinguish automatic and effortful processing.
What is the spacing effect? What is the serial position effect?
What do we encode? Encoding meaning, visual encoding,
organization for encoding.
What are the three types of memory retrieval?
What are cues for retrieval?
Why do we forget?
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 
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Describe the information processing model of memory.
Encoding, storage, retrieval
Sensory memory, Working memory, Long-term memory