Download Psych Chs. 10 and 11 Notes

Chapter 10 – Memory and Thought & Chapter 11 – Thinking and
Language
Dr. Zimbardo Video #9
Chapter 10
Section 1 – Taking In and Storing Information
A. The Process of Memory
a. Memory – the storage and retrieval of what has been learned or
experienced.
b. First Memory Process is Encoding – the transformation of information so
the nervous system can process it
i. Use your senses of hearing, sight, touch, taste, temperature etc to
encode and establish a memory
ii. Acoustic codes are when you attempt to memorize by saying
something out loud or to yourself repeatedly
iii. Visual codes are when you attempt to memorize by keeping mental
pictures of the object, etc.
iv. Semantic codes are when you attempt to memorize by making
sense of the object, etc.
c. Second Memory Process is Storage – the process by which information is
maintained over a period of time
i. How much is stored is dependent upon the effort in encoding the
material. (100 trillion bits or more)
ii. Information can be stored for seconds or forever
iii. Like a filing cabinet
d. Third Memory Process is Retrieval – the process of obtaining information
that has been stored in memory
i. How quickly and easily is dependent upon how efficiently it was
encoded and stored (as well as genetics etc.)
B. Three Stages of Memory(Figure 10.2)
a. Sensory Memory – very brief memory storage immediately following
initial stimulation of a receptor
i. Senses of sight and hearing hold information/input for a fraction of
a second before it disappears
1. Example of a movie or TV where one doesn’t see the blank
spaces or gaps between frames
ii. Visual Memory = Iconic Memory, duration 1 sec
iii. Auditory Memory = Echoic Memory, duration 1 to 2 sec
iv. Serves 3 functions
1. Keeps the person from being overwhelmed with
information
a. Billions of senses felt every day, many a one time
2. Gives a person decision time
a. Can decide whether or not to pay attention
3. Allows for continuity and stability
b. Short-Term Memory – memory that is limited in capacity to about 7
items and in duration by the subjects active rehearsal (20 secs without
rehearsal)
i. Maintenance Rehearsal – system for remembering that involves
repeating information to oneself without attempting to find
meaning in it
1. Helps keep information in short-term memory longer
ii. Chunking – grouping items to make them easier to remember
1. Seven items of any kind
2. Chunk items as fast as they come
iii. The Primary-Recency Effect – we are better able to recall
information presented at the beginning and end of a list
1. Forgetting things in the middle.
iv. Working Memory
1. Short term memory is also know as this
2. Serves as a system for processing and working with current
information
c. Long-Term Memory – Storage of information over an extended period of
time
i. Capacity is seemingly endless
ii. Contains representations of countless faces, experiences and
sensations
iii. In the process of long term memory, the least important
information is dropped and the most important is retained to longterm memory
iv. Types of Long-Term Memory
1. Semantic Memory – knowledge of language including its
rules, words and meanings.
2. Episodic Memory – memory of one’s life, including the
time of occurrence
3. Declarative Memory – memory of knowledge that can be
called forth consciously as needed
4. Procedural Memory – memory of learned skills that does
not require conscious recollection
d. Write Figure 10.2 (Page 275) on board
C. Memory and the Brain
a. What happens to the brain when something is stored in long-term
memory?
i. A change in neuronal structure of nerves
ii. Molecular or chemical changes in the brain
Video – PBS: The Mind and the Brain: Learning and Memory
Section 1 Review
Section 2 – Retrieving Information
- The problem of memory is to store many thousands of items in such a way
that you can find the one you need when you need it.
- The solution to retrieval is organization
A. Recognition – memory retrieval in which a person identifies an object, idea or
situation as one he or she has or has not experienced before
a. You may not be able to remember a particular person, but if their name is
said, you will recognize the name
b. We can recognize the sound of a particular instrument no matter what tune
is being played on it. We can also recognize a tune, no matter what
instrument it is being played on.
i. Shows that information may be indexed under several headings so
that it can be reached in a variety of ways
ii. The more categories the features are filed in, the more easily they
can be retrieved
B. Recall – memory retrieval in which a person reconstructs previously learned
material
a. Involves a person’s knowledge, attitudes and expectations
b. Reconstructive Process – the alteration of memories that may be
simplified, enriched or distorted depending on an individual’s experiences,
attitudes or inferences
i. Confabulation – the act of filling in memory gaps
1. Remembering information that was never there in the first
place
c. Schemas – conceptual frameworks a person uses to make sense of the
world
i. Sets of expectations about something that is based upon on past
experiences
d. Eidetic Memory – the ability to remember with great accuracy visual
information on the basis of short-term exposure
i. Photographic memory
ii. Extremely rare
e. State-Dependent Learning – occurs when you recall information easily
when you are in the same physiological or emotional state or setting as
you were when you originally encoded the information
C. Relearning
a. Measure of both declarative and procedural memory
b. You will relearn material you have “forgotten” with fewer repetitions than
someone learning the information the first time
D. Forgetting
a. May involve decay, interference or repression
b. Decay – fading away of memories over time
i. Items quickly decay in sensory storage and short-term memory
ii. Not certain if long-term memories ever decay
iii. Some “forgotten” memories can be recovered through meditation,
hypnosis or brain stimulation
c. Interference – blockage of a memory by previous or subsequent
memories
i. Proactive Interference – An earlier memory blocks you from
remembering related new information
1. Move into a new home and new phone number but your old
address or phone number gets in the way
ii. Retroactive Interference – A later memory or new information
blocks you from remembering information learned earlier
1. The new information is remembered but having trouble
remembering the old data
iii. 2 separate concepts, one doesn’t necessarily cause the other
iv. Repression - a person may subconsciously block memories of an
embarrassing or frightening experience
d. Amnesia – loss of memory caused by a blow to the head, the result of
brain damage, drug abuse or severe psychological stress
i. Infant amnesia – relative lack of early declarative memories
1. We don’t remember earlier than 2 or 3 years old
E. Improving Memory
a. Meaningfulness and Association
i. Elaborative Rehearsal – the linking of new information to
material that is already known.
1. remembering the letters DFIRNE by the word FRIEND
ii. You will remember more vividly information that you associate
with things already stored in memory or with a strong emotional
experience
iii. The more categories that information is indexed under, the more
accessible it is
iv. Overlearn information
v. Space out learning
vi. Study a little at a time
b. Mnemonic Devices – techniques for using associations to memorize and
retrieve information
i. Using rhymes or other verbal clues
1. Thirty days has September
2. My dear aunt Sally
3. Every good boy does fine
4. Roy G. Biv
ii. Forming Mental Picture
Section 2 Review
Chapter 10 Review – Recalling Facts and Critical Thinking
Chapter 11
Section 1 – Thinking and Problem Solving
Video - PBS: The Mind and the Brain: Thinking
A. Thinking – changing and reorganizing information stored in memory to create
new information
a. Units of Thought
i. Image – a visual, mental representation of an event or object
1. Only highlights of the original
2. An effect way of thinking about concepts
ii. Symbol – an abstract unit of thought that represents an object or
quality
1. A sound, object or design
2. Words, stand for something other than itself
3. Where an image represents a specific sight or sound, a
symbol may have numerous meanings
4. Numbers, letters, punctuation marks and icons
iii. Concept – a label for a class of objects or events that have a least
one attribute in common
1. Animals, music, liquid, beautiful people
2. Enables us to chunk large amounts of information
iv. Prototype – a representative example of a concept
1. Has most the characteristics of the particular concept
v. Rule – a statement of relation between concepts
1. Complex unit of thought
2. A person can’t be in 2 places at one time; mass remains
constant despite changes in appearance
b. Kinds of Thinking
i. Directed Thinking – a systematic and logic approach/attempt to
reach a specific goal or answer
1. The solution to a problem
2. Also know as convergent thinking
3. Depends on symbols, concepts and rules
4. Deliberate and purposeful
5. Solve problems, formulate and follow rules and set, work
toward and achieve goals
ii. Non-Directed Thinking – consists of a free flow of thoughts with
no particular plan and depends more on images
1. Rich in imagery and feelings such as daydreams, fantasies
and reveries
2. When relaxing or escaping from boredom or worry
3. Also known as divergent thinking
4. May provide unexpected insights into one’s goals and
beliefs
iii. Metacognition – the awareness of one’s own cognitive process
1. Thinking about thinking
2. Thinking about a strategy may cause one to change to
another strategy
B. Problem Solving
a. One of the main functions of directed thinking is to solve problems, bridge
the gap mentally between the present situation and a desired goal
b. Strategies – specific methods for approaching problems
i. Break down a complex problem into smaller, more easily solved,
subgoals
ii. Work backward from the goal you have set
iii. Use strategies you have used before
1. We tend to shy away from new situations that require new
strategies
2. The more unusual the problem, the more difficult it is to
devise a strategy for dealing with it
iv. Algorithm – a fixed set of procedures that will lead to a solution if
followed correctly
1. Mathematical and scientific formulas
2. Playing chess or checkers
v. Heuristics – experimental strategies, or rules of thumb
1. Basically shortcuts
2. Lead to quick decisions that can result in bad decisions
C. Obstacles to Problem Solving
a. Mental Set – when a particular strategy becomes a habit
i. Starting tic-tac-toe in the middle box, always attempt to control a
position of a chess board
ii. Rigidity – when a set interferes with problem solving
1. Reading “read” for “red”
2. Functional Fixedness – the inability to imagine new
functions for familiar objects
3. Making a wrong assumption about a problem
4. Many people look for direct methods to solve problems and
don’t see solutions that require several immediate steps
5. Can be overcome
Thinking and Problem Solving Pages (Activity)
D. Creativity – the ability to use information in such a way that the result is
somehow new, original and meaningful
a. Flexibility – the ability to overcome rigidity
i. Imagining many different uses for a single object
b. Recombination – rearranging the elements of a problem to arrive at an
original solution
i. Football and Basketball, there are no new moves, just a
recombination of old ones
ii. Using the discoveries and formulas of other to develop new
scientific and mathematical formulas and ideas
c. Insight – the apparent sudden realization of the solution to a problem
i. A continuation of a subconscious process
ii. The “aha” experience
Section 1 Review
Section 2 – Language
Dr. Zimbardo Video #6
A. The Structure of Language
a. Language – the expression of ideas through symbols and sounds that are
arranged according to rules
i. Allows us to communicate
ii. The study of meaning (semantics) is the most complex aspect of
language
b. Phonemes – an individual sound that is the basic structural element of
language
i. Represented by a letter or combination of letters
ii. We can produce about 100 different, recognizable sounds
iii. English uses 43, some 15 and others up to 85
c. Morphemes – the smallest unit of meaning in a given language
i. A words, letter, prefix or suffix
d. Syntax – language rules that govern how words can be combined to form
meaningful phrases and sentences
i. Ex. Placing adjectives in front of nouns
ii. Rules differ from language to language
e. Semantics – the study of the meaning in language
i. A word being both a noun and a verb
B. Language Development
a. BF Skinner – children learn language through operant conditioning
b. Other Psychologists – children learn language through observation,
exploration and imitation
c. Noam Chomsky – children inherit a mental program that enables them to
learn grammar
i. Reinforcement and imitation contribute to language development
as well
C. How Language Develops
a. Birth – crying and sounds indicating distress
b. 2 months – cooing, “ooooh” and “eeeeh”
c. 4 months – babbling, “dadada” and “bababa”
d. 9 months – learn to control vocal chords, make/change/repeat/imitate
sounds of parents
e. 12 months – uttering single words (objects/people), “dada” or “doggie”
i. Single words can describe longer thoughts
f. 24 months – 2 words together to express an idea, “milk gone”, “me play”
i. Learning rule of grammar, 50 - 100 words
g. 2-3 years – form sentences of several words
i. Telegraphic speech – leaving out article such as “the’, prepositions
such as “with” and parts of verbs
h. 5 years – language development is largely complete
i. Vocabulary and sentence complexity continue to develop
D. Do Animals Learn Language
a. In a word, no!
E. Gender and Cultural Differences
a. Language affects our basic perceptions of the physical world
b. Linguistic Relativity – idea of language influencing thoughts
i. Inuit have many words for snow, where we have but 1
c. Words also create gender stereotypes
Section 2 Review
Chapter 11 Review – Recalling Facts and Critical Thinking