Memory 2015-16 Objective I will be able to apply the concepts learned about MEMORY on all assignments.

Memory 2015-16 Objective

I will be able to apply the concepts learned about MEMORY on all assignments

What is Memory?

Or, how would you define memory?

Memory=any indication that learning has persisted over

time; info. that has been stored and can be retrieved

Memory-What are the Issues?

1. Encoding (getting info. in), Storing (keeping it in), Retrieval (getting info. out)

2. Sensory, Short Term and Long Term Memory

3. Why we forget

-encoding issue

-retrieval issue

-repressing painful memories

4. Physiology of memory (the brain)

Human Memory: Basic Questions

How do we:

Encode=getting info. in

Store=maintaining info.over time?

Retrieve-getting info. back out of memory stores?

Figure 7.2 Three key processes in memory

Encoding: Getting Information Into Memory

>The role of attention (the filter)

if we gave equal attention to everything and did not filter things out, life would be chaos!

Cocktail Party Effect=your ability to attend to only one voice . Your name will break that concentration

Ex: group work in a large class, your name called

Next in line effect= we forget what was said by the person that speaks just before our turn

• Selective attention = selection of input-can not focus on 2 conversations at once

Encoding-Levels of Processing:

• Incoming info. processed at dif. levels, resulting in dif. memory codes

• Level-of-processing theory or model-Deeper processing = longer lasting memory codes

3 levels of processing when dealing with information

• Encoding levels:– Structural = shallow(how word looks)– Phonetic = intermediate (how it sounds-involves

saying the word) – Semantic = deep (emphasis word’s meaning)

Figure 7.4 Levels-of-processing theory

Figure 7.5 Retention at three levels of processing

Two Categories of Encoding(Explain these categories by looking at

the pics)Automatic Encoding Effortful Encoding

Two Categories of Encoding

Automatic Encoding-info goes from STM to LTM without effort/awareness

• Personal events

• Interesting facts-sports info, favorite TV show facts

Effortful Encoding-info from STM to LTM

• Repeating info over and over

• Making associations with old info.

Things that Enrich Encoding and Improve- Memory

• Elaboration (using examples)= linking new info. to other info. at the time of encoding– Thinking of examples-an example of automatic encoding is

facts from my favorite TV show• Visual Imagery = creation of visual images to represent words

to be remembered– Easier for high imagery, concrete objects (clown) than low

imagery, abstract (truth): Dual-coding theory-memory is enhanced by using semantic (by meaning) & visual codes since either can lead to recall

– Give me an example of this using the word truth• Self-Referent Encoding

– Making info. personally meaningful-example: applying the eight psychological perspectives to you, personally

Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory

• Information-processing theories:

Three-box Model-a.k.a. Atkinson and Shiffrin Model– Subdivide memory into 3 different stores

• Sensory, Short-term, Long-term

Figure 7.7 The Atkinson and Schiffrin model of memory storage

Sensory Memory

• Auditory(hearing)/Visual –lasts approximately ¼ second-(like when you move a lighted sparkler)-brief so that people can analyze a large amount of sensory information

Sensory MemoryGeorge Sperling Study (1960s) •flashed a group of letters 1/20th of a second •people could only remember half

•When asked to recall particular row just after the letters disappeared, they could do so accurately: revealed we have a fleeting photographic memory called iconic memory

Figure 7.8 Sperling’s (1960) study of sensory memory

Sensory Memory

Acts as a brief accurate, holding bin, for visual (iconic memory) and auditory (echoic memory)sensory info. until we can select what needs our attention. If it does not quickly go into STM, it vanishes.

Memory Test With Numbers

You Have 10 seconds to memorize these numbers in order:

9-5-2-2-6-3-7-7-8-0

Let’s Try Again

866-542-5580

Short Term Memory (STM)-Also Called Working Memory

• Limited capacity – “magical number 7 plus or minus 2” of unfamiliar items (George Miller-Key Figure) We can increase this STM through:– Chunking – grouping familiar stimuli for

storage as a single unit

(9-5-4-6-8-0-5-2-1-1 vs.954-680-5211)

Shopping list-use 3 categories

Short Term Memory (STM)

• Limited duration – can store info. for about 20 seconds without rehearsal

• Rehearsal (or maintenance rehearsal)– the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the info.-can lead to longer short-term storage (ex-phone numbers)

Short Term Memory (STM)

• Mnemonic Devices (visual & verbal)-memory tricks that aid in encoding info. for easier recall

-acronyms (HOMES)

-method of loci = associate an item with the actual place it is found can help you remember a list (a freezer, the bathroom, the pantry)

Mnemonic Devices

Visual-to remember one’s name-curly hair Chloe

Verbal-for iconic and echoic memory

• Iconic starts with an I and I see with my eye

• I hear an echo when I say echoic

Your TurnThink of a Visual and Verbal

Mneumonic Strategy to remember the three key processes in memory:

EncodingStorageRetrieval

Long-Term Memory-Unlimited Capacity/Probably Permanent

Encoding in LTM-is according to its meaning, usually not verbatim: we remember main points told to us from a story or movie

Serial Position Effect-we remember items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end of a list or of an event (recency effect)-items in the middle are poorly remembered

Recency effect works because items are still in STM

Primacy effect -we have a chance to rehearse the first items, increasing likelihood of LTM transference

Maintaining/Organizing LTM

• Maintenance Rehearsal/repetition of info. over and over with the intent to learn is useful for holding info. in LTM

• Elaborative Rehearsal=relating new info. to something we already know “prior” and pair it-the more links I make, the more likely I am to remember the new info. later. Personalizing the info. helps to encode it (applying Classical Conditioning to your fear of lizards-further telling yourself that this fear is classic)

Maintaining/Organizing LTMWhat happens here? What is expected?

What don’t you do here?

How do You Know This?

Maintaining/Organizing LTM

• Schema-a mental representation of an event, object, situation, person, relationship, or process that is stored and leads you to expect your experience to be organized in a certain way-helps us to store/remember (have schema for fruit, males, females, teacher, student, jobs, etc…)

Maintaining/Organizing LTM

• Clustering=our memory is organized to remember similar and related items in groups or categories

Dog pear (dog, zebra, lion, bear)

Apple plumber (diver, baker, plumber)

Zebra plum ( apple, orange, pear)

Diver bear

Lion

Orange

Baker

Maintaining/Organizing LTM• Semantic Networks=our brain creates a web of

interconnected memories, each one tied to many other memories (ex: animal>bird>canary yellow>red

Maintaining/ Organizing LTMPriming=with the semantic network model, these associations can go on and on, resulting in several memories being retrieved through the recall of one memory.

Priming is activating and associating the strands.

Ex: You see a picture of your 3rd grade teacher, this triggers or primes memories you associate with 3th grade(where you sat, your friends, how you got to school, the old car, your parent driving, etc…

Types of Long Term Memories Explicit-are declarative (can put into words)Semantic Episodic

Memories of Memories

Facts and of personally

Concepts experienced

events

Example: Example:

Albany is in A trip to

NY Albany

Value

Of 2X7

Implicit-hard to express in words-do not require conscious thought to perform and retrieve

Procedural Emotional

Motor skills Learned

and habits emotional

reactions

Example: Example:

Ice skating feeling disgust

at sight of a rat

fears

Types of Long Term Memories• Episodic Memories=memories for any personal

events experienced in a specific time and place (think of it as our diary or daily journal)going to Empire State building

• Semantic Memories=meanings of facts and concepts not linked to a particular time (like a dictionary or encyclopedia-value of 2X7;who is George Washington; who invented the light bulb; where is the Empire State Building?)

• Procedural Memories=they are the skills and habits (how to swim, ride a bike, type a letter, make coffee, shower)

• Emotional Memories= our learned emotional responses (our loves and hates, our fears, our feelings-and how we respond as a result of these)

Figure 7.26 Theories of independent memory systems

Retrieval: Getting InformationOut of LTM

• Reconstructing memories-memories are sketchy reconstructions of the past-we reconstruct tales to fit in our existing schemas

-Misinformation effect-reconstructive distortions show up in eyewitness testimony (car accident example) Elizabeth Loftus

-Source amnesia (aka source misattribution) attributing an event to the wrong source-retain the memory but not the context in which it happened

-helps to create false memories (context may be a story, a dream, and not real life)

How might schemas lead to the misinformation effect? Let’s see…………………………>

Car Accident Schema-How Might Schemas lead to the misinformation effect?

Retrieval: Getting InformationOut of LTM

• State-Dependent Memory

• Mood-Congruent Memories

State Dependent Memory

recalling events while encoded in a specific state of consciousness (if one studies drowsy, high, drunk, take the test that way)

Mood Congruent Memories

Easier to recall events when our mood matches the mood we were in for the event

We tend to recall happy events when happy and sad events when sad

Forgetting: When Memory LapsesRetention – the proportion of material retained-3

methods for measuring retention in studies:– Recall –producing info. without cues (AP vocab.

words, essay tests)– Recognition –selecting previously learned info.

from presented options (ex. multiple choice test)– Relearning – memorize info. a second time to see

how much time is saved by previous learning-it is easier to maintain relearn old info.

Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve-1885, he memorized nonsense syllables. He was the subject of his study

He concluded most forgetting occurs rapidly after learning something, than levels off-his forgetting occurred in the first hour

Figure 7.22 The prevalence of false memories observed by Roediger and McDermott (1995)

Figure 7.17 Recognition versus recall in the measurement of retention

Figure 7.16 Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve for nonsense syllables

Long-Term Memory: Unlimited Capacity/and permanent

Then why don’t we remember-Theories:

1. Memories Decay (fade over time)• Permanent storage?

– Flashbulb memories-unusually vivid, detailed recall of momentous events-(where we were on 9/11) distortions of these memories do increase over time, although we do not realize our distortions

Retrieval: Getting InformationOut of LTM

2. Retrieval (getting info. out)Difficulties

a. The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon=it feels as though the info. is right there; may even be able to say the first letter of the word; it is a failure in retrieval (may confirm semantic network model)– Retrieval cues (using information to help get

the information out of storage) can help:

To recall an event (what you had for lunch 2 days ago) use:

Context cues/on AP exam it was context memory-put yourself back in the event, at the lunch table, with friends

Retrieval Cue Failure

• b. Retrieval Cue Failure/aka Encoding Specificity Principle-can’t retrieve

because the cue does not match LTM memory code-retrieval cue inconsistent with original encoding (ex: do not remember where I know you from because you are in a different setting-I met you in school, but I see you at Publix)

(friend trying to help you remember something from a month ago-she needs to adds more info-cues-that helps you recover memory)

3. Decay (deterioration in memory over time)-Unproven

Also happens in STM if rehearsal is not used.

Peterson and Peterson

(1959) demonstrated this (look for study in textbook-266).

Figure 7.9 Peterson and Peterson’s (1959) study of short-term memory

Why Do We Forget?4. Interference theory more likely-negative impact of

competing, usually similar, material/ information (ex. Competing concept of primacy effect v.recency effect)– Retroactive interference-new info. impairs

retention of previously learned, old info.– Proactive Interference-previously learned info.

(old) Interferes with retaining new info.

Give me an example for each and a mnemonic to help us differentiate!!!!!

5. Ineffective Encoding =we can’t recall what we never really learned (I am in class but not paying attention)

Figure 7.19 Retroactive and proactive interference

Why do we Forget? Retrieval Failure

6. Repression (read pp 290 to 293) Motivated forgetting=keeping distressing thoughts buried (I forget a dentist appt. or to go help a friend move-or worse, I forgot sexual abuse)

–Authenticity of repressed memories?

–Controversy

Tom Rutherford Case

Repressed Memories Case

• One of the most famous involved a Springfield, Mo., minister named Thomas Rutherford who lost his job and ended up working as a janitor after his daughter's therapist told church officials he had abused his child. (He was a minister)

• On the basis of recovered memories, the therapist told church officials Rutherford had twice impregnated his daughter and forced her to have crude abortions using wire coat hangers.

• On examination, she was never pregnant!

The Physiology of Memory

Biochemistry– Memory formation results in alteration in synaptic

transmissionAt the Neurological level researchers focus on a process called long term potentiation in regards to LTM–each

memory connects a group of neurons in the brain neurons strengthen connections between each other

through repeated firings making receiving neurons more sensitive to sent messages

Long Term Potentiation

The Physiology of Memory

Hippocampus Explicit memories (facts and episodes) processed here and fed to other brain regions for storage

Types of Amnesia: -Anterograde Amnesia-hippocampus damage

(loss of memories for events that occur after onset of amnesia-can not form new memories)

– Retrograde Amnesia(loss of memories for events that occurred prior to amnesia)-possibly stored in Cerebellum

– Source amnesia (aka source misattribution) attributing an event to the wrong source-retain the memory but not the context in which it happened

The Physiology of Memory

Brain Structure FunctionHippocampus Encodes new explicit (facts and events)

memories

Cerebellum Stores implicit memories for motor skills

(movement and coordination)

Amygdala Encodes emotional memory

Prefrontal Cortex Processes memories with a sequence of

events-the sequence part only

Figure 7.23 The anatomy of memory

Figure 7.25 Retrograde versus anterograde amnesia

Prospective Memory

remembering to perform an action in the future; 'Remembering to remember'

-is used a great deal in day to day live

Examples: remembering to set your alarm for an important meeting, or stopping to get milk after work because you noticed you were out that morning; when a pilot encounters an emergency situation and has to recall emergency procedures learned in training

Just Good to KnowMetamemory: knowledge about how your memory

works, the contents of it and how to regulate it

Parallel processing=part of automatic processing (effortless and unconscious) of info. (ex. Sequence of our day, meaning of words on trucks)

Serial Memory=memories that go in order

Eidetic memory=photographic memory that is very rare-(may be able to repeat a list of 70 letters, even up to 15 years later)

Spacing Effect: it is better to seperate your studying over time then to cram. Cramming leads to quicker forgetting. Spacing leads to more long term memory codes.

Improving Everyday Memory

• Engage in adequate rehearsal (elaborate)• Distribute practice (spacing effect)and

minimize interference• Emphasize deep processing (by meaning)• Organize information• Use verbal mnemonics• Use visual mnemonics