Memory Chapter 7

Name the Seven Dwarfs Take out a piece of paper

Difficulty of Task Was the exercise easy or difficult. It depends on what factors? Whether you like Disney movies how long ago you watched the movie how loud the people are around you when you are trying to remember

Memory The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information. As you might have guessed, the next topic we are going to examine is……. So what was the point of the seven dwarfs exercise?

Now pick pick out the seven dwarfs. Turn your paper over. Grouchy Gabby Fearful Sleepy Smiley Jumpy Hopeful Shy Droopy Dopey Sniffy Wishful Puffy Dumpy Sneezy Pop Grumpy Bashful Cheerful Teach Snorty Nifty Happy Doc Wheezy Stubby Poopy Shorty

Seven Dwarfs Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Doc and Bashful

The Manufacture of Memory Memory is the capacity to retain and retrieve information Memory is a reconstructive process. Recovering a memory is not playing a videotape. Source misattribution –The inability to distinguish what you originally experienced from what you heard or were told later about an event.

The Fading Flashbulb Some unusual, shocking or tragic events hold a special place in memory. These memories were called Flashbulb memories because the term captures the surprise, illumination & photographic detail that characterize them. Even flashbulb memories have errors.

The Conditions of Confabulation Confabulation –Confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you, –or a belief that you remember something when it never actually happened.

Confabulation is most likely when: You have thought or heard about the imagined event many times. The image of the event contains many details. The event is easy to imagine You focus on emotional reactions to the event rather than what actually happened.

The Eyewitness on Trial Eyewitnesses are not always reliable. Factors which influence accuracy –Cross race identification. –Question wording.Question wording Crashed versus hit. –Misleading information.

Children’s Testimony Under what conditions are children more suggestible? Being very young. When interviewers expectations are clear. When other children’s memories for events are accessible.

Children’s Testimony If asked if a visitor committed acts that had not occurred, few 4-6 year olds said yes. –30% of 3-year olds said yes When investigators used techniques taken from real child-abuse investigations, most children said yes. Social Pressure, False Allegations

Explicit Memory Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or of an item of information. Assessed through: –Recall The ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously learned material. –Recognition The ability to identify previously encountered material.

Three-Box Model of Memory

Sensory Memory A memory system that momentarily preserves extremely accurate images of sensory information. Information that is not quickly passed to short term memory is gone forever.

Short-term Memory A limited capacity memory system involved in the retention of information for brief periods; typically lasts up to about 30 seconds (some researchers say longer).

Short-term Memory Working memory –A memory system which includes STM and mental processes that control retrieval of information from LT memory and interpret that information appropriately for a given task. –Why is our memory a “leaky bucket”???

Chunking Short term memory can only hold 7 pieces of information at a time (+ or – 2) Chunking: Grouping small bits of information into larger units Chunking can enlarge our capacity in short term memory

Chunking Xibmciafbicbsmtv X IBM CIA FBI CBS MTV Wade/Tavris, (c) 2006, Prentice Hall

Chunking 1,3 and 5 make little sense to us. But when we chunk the characters differently (2,4,6) they become easy to remember.

Long-term Memory The memory system involved in the long term storage of information One way information is organized is in semantic categories (i.e., animals).

Conceptual Grid O_O

Contents of Long-Term Memory Procedural memories –Memories for performance of actions or skills. –“Knowing how.” Declarative memories –Memories of facts, rules, concepts, and events; includes semantic and episodic memory. –“Knowing that.” Examples include semantic and episodic memories.

Contents of Long-Term Memory Semantic memories –General knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, and propositions. Episodic memories –Personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred.

Types of Long-term Memories Wade/Tavris, (c) 2006, Prentice Hall

Serial-Position Effect The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list.

How do we remember anything??? Wade/Tavris, (c) 2006, Prentice Hall

Encoding Encoding is necessary for the retrieval of information Effortless encoding vs. effortful encoding Wade/Tavris, (c) 2006, Prentice Hall

Effortless Encoding Unconscious encoding of incidental information. You encode space, time, frequency and word meaning without effort. Things can become automatic with practice. For example, if I tell you that you are pretty or handsome, you will encode the meaning of what I am saying to you without any effort.

Effortful Encoding Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. Rehearsal is the most common effortful processing technique. Through enough rehearsal, what was effortful becomes automatic.

Rehearsal Maintenance Rehearsal –Rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory. Elaborative Rehearsal –Association of new information with already stored knowledge and analysis of the new information to make it memorable.

List the U.S. Presidents Take out a piece of paper and…. Hint: 44 so far

The Presidents WashingtonTaylorHarrisonEisenhower J.AdamsFillmoreClevelandKennedy JeffersonPierceMcKinleyL.Johnson MadisonBuchananT.RooseveltNixon MonroeLincolnTaftFord JQ AdamsA.JohnsonWilsonCarter JacksonGrantHardingReagan Van BurenHayesCoolidgeBush HarrisonGarfieldHooverClinton TylerArthurFD.RooseveltBush Jr. PolkClevelandTrumanObama

Now try this one: Identify the gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” l Partridge, 2 Turtle Doves, 3 French Hens, 4 Calling Birds, 5 Golden Rings, 6 Geese A-laying, 7 Swans A-swimming, 8 Maids A-milking, 9 Ladies Dancing, 10 Lords A-leaping, 11 Pipers Piping, and 12 Drummers Drumming.

Mnemonics Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such as the use of a verse or a formula. –Examples include: Thirty days hath September… GET-RICH Every Good Boy Does Fine

Wade/Tavris, (c) 2006, Prentice Hall

Decay Theory The theory that information in memory eventually disappears if it is not accessed; it applies more to short-term than to long-term memory.

Forgetting Curve (Where did it go?) Herman Ebbinghaus tested his own memory for nonsense syllables. Forgetting was rapid at first and then tapered off.

Linton’s Forgetting Curve In contrast to Ebbinghaus, Linton’s memory for personal events was retained over a period of several years and then decreased rapidly.

Replacement The theory that new information entering memory can wipe out old information.

In one study, researchers showed subjects slides of a traffic accident. –The experimental group was mislead into thinking there was a stop sign instead of a yield sign. –Even after being debriefed on the purpose of the study, subjects insisted that they really saw the stop sign (Loftus et al., 1978). –The new information which came from the researchers replaced what the subjects saw. Wade/Tavris, (c) 2006, Prentice Hall

Reliability of Reconstructed Memories Memories are not recorded like movies –Instead reconstructed from bits an pieces of our experiences Shaped by personal and individual views of the world –Two people experience same event will recall it differently Eyewitness accounts Claims of abuse Elizabeth Luftus & Eyewitness Testimony

Misinformation Effect Depiction of Accident

Misinformation Effect Leading Question: About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?

Interference : Similar items interfere with one another. »Retroactive Interference »Forgetting that occurs when recently learned material interferes with the ability to remember similar material stored previously.

Interference –Proactive Interference Forgetting that occurs when previously stored material interferes with the ability to remember similar, more recently learned material.

Test Your Memory Which is the real penny?

Cue-dependent Forgetting The inability to retrieve information stored in memory because of insufficient cues for recall. Physical state can be a memory cue. –State-Dependent Memory The tendency to remember something when the rememberer is in the same physical or mental state as during the original learning or experience.

Mood-congruent Memory The tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood and overlook or forget experiences that are not.

Childhood Amnesia The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first two or three years of life. Cognitive explanations –Lack of sense of self. (Children cannot understand who they are as individuals and therefore are not able to make solid memories) –Impoverished encoding (our brains are not fully developed yet and therefore we are not efficiently encoding memories). –A focus on the routine (lack of memorable experiences). –Different ways of thinking about the world (they do not register memories in the same way adults do). Wade/Tavris, (c) 2006, Prentice Hall

Amnesia The partial or complete loss of memory for important personal information. Psychogenic Amnesia –The causes of forgetting are psychological such as the need to escape feelings of embarrassment, guilt, shame, disappointment, emotional shock. Traumatic Amnesia –The forgetting of specific traumatic events, sometimes for many years.

The Repression Controversy Repression –In psychoanalytic theory, the selective involuntary pushing of threatening or upsetting information into the unconscious. Individuals are more likely to struggle with forgetting traumatic events. Hard to distinguish repression from other forms of forgetting.

When should we question recovered memories? If person says he or she has memories of first year or two of life. If over time the memories become more and more implausible. If therapist used suggestive techniques such as hypnosis, dream analysis, age regression, guided imagery and leading questions.