PSYCHOLOGY Unit 7 A Memory

 Memory  persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information

Memory Stages  Sensory Memory (Stage 1)  the immediate, initial recording of sensory information  Lasts.25 seconds  Short-Term Memory/Working Memory (Stage 2)  Current active memory that holds a few items for up to 20 seconds  Can hold 7 ± 2 items in your head  Long-Term Memory (Stage 3)  the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

A Simplified Memory Model External events Sensory memory Short-term memory Long-term memory Sensory input Attention to important or novel information Encoding Retrieving Rehearsal Storage

Memory Stages: Sensory Memory  Iconic Memory  a momentary memory of visual stimuli  a picture image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second  Echoic Memory  momentary memory of auditory stimuli

Storage: Short-Term Memory  Short-Term Memory  limited in duration and capacity  “magical” number 7+/ Time in seconds between presentation of contestants and recall request (no rehearsal allowed) Percentage who recalled consonants

Storing Implicit & Explicit Memories Explicit Memory refers to facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare. Implicit memory involves learning an action while the individual does not know or declare what she knows. 7

Storage: Long-Term Memory  Explicit Memory (Declarative)  memory of facts/experiences that one can consciously know and declare  hippocampus

Storage: Long-Term Memory  Implicit Memory  retention independent of conscious recollection  procedural memory  Automatically muscles remember actions  Located in the Cerebellum

Storage: Types of Long-Term Memory  Episodic Memory  Events that occurred during one’s life  Flashbulb  Emotionally significant events  Semantic  Understanding and meaning

Storage: Long-Term Memory Subsystems Types of long-term memories Explicit With conscious recall Implicit Without conscious recall Facts-general knowledge (“semantic memory”) Personally experienced events (“episodic memory”) Skills- motor and cognitive Dispositions- classical and operant conditioning effects

Memory Processes  Encoding  the processing of getting information into the memory system  Storage  the retention of encoded information over time  Retrieval  process of getting information out of memory

Encoding: Getting Information In Encoding EffortfulAutomatic

Two-Track Processing: Automatic vs. Effortful We automatically process vast amounts of everyday information We remember new and important information through effortful processing

Automatic Processing We automatically process information about – Space “The definition was at the top of the right page” – Time “I went to the store before lunch” – Frequency “This is the third time I’ve seen her today!”

Encoding  Automatic Processing  unconscious encoding of information  Space, time, frequency  well-learned information  word meanings  Automatic processing can be achieved over time

Effortful Processing Requires close attention and effort Memory can be improved through rehearsal, the conscious repetition of information Effortful processing can become automatic, such as learning a new phone number or reading backwards Rehearsal was the subject of one of many studies of memory by Hermann Ebbinghaus

Rehearsal 18 Effortful learning usually requires rehearsal or conscious repetition. Ebbinghaus studied rehearsal by using nonsense syllables: TUV YOF GEK XOZ Hermann Ebbinghaus ( )

What Do We Encode?  Visual Encoding  encoding of picture images  Acoustic Encoding  encoding of sound  especially sound of words  Semantic Encoding  encoding of meaning  including meaning of words

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than the street. At first it is better to run than to walk. It takes some skill but it is easy to learn. Once successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom interrupt, but rain soaks in very fast. Too many people doing the same thing can cause problems If there are no complications, it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, you will not get a second chance.

Encoding

 Spacing Effect  distributed practice yields better long-term retention than massed practice  Studying over a long period of time is better than cramming!!!

Encoding Time in minutes taken to relearn list on day 2 Number of repetitions of list on day 1

Encoding: Serial Position Effect 12 Percent age of words recalled Position of word in list Serial Position Effect-- tendency to recall best the first and last items in a list

Primacy-Recency effect Primacy Effect – Remembering the beginning of a list of items – More time to rehearse Recency Effect – Remembering the end of a list of items – Recent exposure

Types of Rehearsal  Imagery – A mental image of what has been seen previously – An iconic mental representation

Types of Rehearsal  Elaborative Rehearsal – thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered  Maintenance rehearsal  Repeating information over and over to keep it in working memory

Retrieval: Getting Information Out  Recall  measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier without a retrieval cue  as on a fill-in-the blank test  Recognition  Measure of memory in which the person has only to identify items previously learned  as on a multiple-choice test

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  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 Encoding (automatic or effortful) Imagery (visual Encoding) Meaning (semantic Encoding) Organization ChunksHierarchies

Retrieval Cues  Photographic Memory   Large amounts of controversy  For – more present in children, believed there is different wiring  Against – no proof, most people agree to being mneomonists

Retrieval Cues  State Dependent Memory  Tendency to recall when in the same state of mind or location that one was in during initial learning  Mood-congruent Memory  tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood  memory, emotions, or moods serve as retrieval cues

Retrieval  Relearning effect  memory measure of the amount of time saved when learning material a second time

Synaptic Changes Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) a long-lasting strengthening of synapses between nerve cells. Long-term memories are thought to be biologically based on LTP because humans cannot retain memories for the long term (the cells could not communicate with each other) unless connections between nerve cells are sufficiently strong for an extended period of time. 36

Retrieval Cues  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 Cues  Deja Vu (French)--already seen Deja Vu  cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience  "I've experienced this before.”

Déja Vu Déja Vu means “I've experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience. 39 © The New Yorker Collection, Leo Cullum from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved

Forgetting  Forgetting as encoding failure  Information never enters the long-term memory External events Sensory memory Short- term memory Long- term memory Attention Encoding failure leads to forgetting

Why do we forget? Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. We filter, alter, or lose much information during these stages. 41

Motivated Forgetting Motivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories. Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. 42 Sigmund Freud Culver Pictures

Retrieval  Forgetting can result from failure to retrieve information from long-term memory External events Attention Encoding Retrieval failure leads to forgetting Retrieval Sensory memory Short-term memory Long-term memory

Forgetting  Forgetting can occur at any memory stage  As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it

Forgetting over time  Transience  the general deterioration of a specific memory over time. Much more can be remembered of recent events than those further in one's past.  Blocking  Blocking is when the brain tries to retrieve or encode information, but another memory interferes with it. Blocking is a primary cause of Tip of the tongue phenomenon (a temporary inaccessibility of stored information). There are two types of blocking; proactive, and retroactive.

Forgetting as Interference  Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other information  Proactive (forward acting) Interference  Prior learning is disruptive on recall of new information  Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference  New learning is disruptive on recall of old information

Forgetting as Interference

Forgetting- Interference  Repression  defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

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)

Memory Construction  Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when questioned Depiction of actual accident Leading question: “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” Memory construction

Memory Construction  Most people can agree on the following:  Forgetting happens  Recovered memories are commonplace  Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs are especially unreliable  Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable  Memories, whether false or real, are upsetting

Improve Your Memory  Study repeatedly to boost recall  Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material  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-- before you encounter misinformation  Minimize interference  Test your own knowledge  rehearse  determine what you do not yet know

Storage: Long-Term Memory  Amnesia--the loss of memory  Can be before or after an incident

Types of amnesia Anterograde amnesia. The inability to remember new information. Recent experiences and short-term memory disappear, but victims can recall events prior to the trauma with clarity. Retrograde amnesia. Can recall events that occurred after a trauma, but cannot remember previously familiar information or the events before the trauma.

Anterograde Amnesia Anterograde Amnesia (HM) 56 No New Memories Surgery After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient Henry M. (HM) remembered everything before the operation but cannot make new memories. We call this anterograde amnesia. Memory Intact

Transient global amnesia. A temporary loss of all memory, but includes severe anterograde amnesia, with mild retrograde amnesia. Traumatic amnesia. Traumatic amnesia is caused by brain damage from a hard blow to the head, such as in a car accident. It is often transient. Duration and recovery are related to the degree of injury. Wernike-Korsakoff's Memory loss caused by extended alcohol abuse. Usually accompanied by neurological problems (uncoordinated movements & loss of sensation.) Hysterical (fugue) amnesia. Usually triggered by a traumatic event that the person's mind is unable to properly handle. Usually, the memory slowly or suddenly returns a few days later, although memory of the trauma itself may remain incomplete. Infantile amnesia. Inability to recall events from early childhood. Could be linked to language development or immaturity of the brain areas linked to memory. Posthypnotic amnesia is where events during hypnosis are forgotten, or where past memories are unable to be recalled. Other Types of Amnesia

Priming 58 To retrieve a specific memory from the web of associations, you must first activate one of the strands that leads to it. This process is called priming.

Clive Wearing’s Diary Entry

The Man with the 7 Second Memory Clive Wearing Video