Unit VII Memory

“The past is never dead…” -Faulkner What does memory do for us? Time, self, culture, emotion, learning, future. Memory: 1) Learning that has persisted over time 2) Information that has been stored and can be retrieved. Ralph Haber The angry rioter threw the rock at the window.

Information Processing Models Computer Analogy Encoding Storage Retrieval An classic model that envisions memories as symbolic bits of data. 3-Stage Model Sensory Short-Term Long-Term Not all memories follow this process STM is now working memory Connectionist Neural Networks Neurons and the strength of the connections between them. Sensory – Association – Motor

Encoding Automatic Processing The real-time, unconscious parallel processing of information Space, time, frequency, embedded info Development of automatic processing Example on next slide Effortful Processing The conscious, serial processing of information that allows for durable, accessible memories. Rehearsal Hermann Ebbinghaus How does this apply to selective attention?

Effortful Processing, cont’d Spacing Effect: Improved retention due to rehearsal being distributed over time “Distributed study time” vs. “massed practice” Examples – Bahrick; the Testing Effect Serial Position Effect: The order of rehearsal impacts our recall of information Primacy and Recency effects

Spacing Effect Experiments Psych Methods Case Study Survey Naturalistic Observation Participant Observation Experiments Descriptive vs. Correlative vs. Causative Nervous System CNS – Brain, Spinal Cord PNS – SNS and ANS SNS – functions ANS – SNS and PSNS Functions

Encoding Experiments factors.arc.nasa.gov/cognition/tutorials/ModelOf/m emory1.html

What We Encode Encoding uses several types of processing. VisualAcousticSemanticExamplesImplications Visual Encoding Imagery “Eidetic Imagery” Rosy Retrospection Combined Encoding Mnemonic devices More on this in a moment… Be? Choice one or two? Die or sleep, no – define sleep… I wish Die or sleep, rub – dreams shuffle

Organizing to Encode Encoded information is retrieved better when it is organized and meaningful. Chunking Mnemonics for this class? Hierarchies Buy My Red Pencil, Then Celebrate Brainstem, Medulla Oblongata, Reticular Formation, Pons, Thalamus, Cerebellum Limber Amy’s Hyped Hippo had Pity Limbic system: Amygdala, Hypothalamus, Hippocampus, Pituitary Gland

Stages of Storage Sensory Sperling’s Experiment Iconic and Echoic memory Capacity and duration Working / STM Capacity and duration Petersons’ study George Miller – 7 +/- 2 Long-Term Memory Capacity and duration Herculean feats of memory These represent the three parts of one of the information processing models. The other two models were the computer and the connectionist models. Can you recall what the stages for each of those models were?

How We Store Memories Loftus and Loftus and Lashley, oh my! The physical basis of memory Long-term potentiation Process and inhibition of LTP Drugs to help with LTP: CREBs and Glutamate Stress hormones and memory Flashbulb memories

Implicit and Explicit Memory Anterograde Amnesiacs Implicit aka PROCEDURAL memory PM is a much more common name for this. Explicit aka declarative memory

A Tale of Two Brain Structures Hippocampus - Explicit Taxi drivers Names, images, events, facts Damage to hippo Specialized functions Hippo and sleep Cerebellum - Implicit Associated with fluid motion and motor coordination Physical tasks and conditioned reflexes Disruption to cere Infantile amnesia

Retrieval The Three “R”s Recognition, recall and relearning Harry Bahrick study Retrieval Cues Associative learning dictates that surroundings, mood, physical posture, and visual and auditory stimuli may be fused into one chain of associations. Priming Context-dependent memories State-dependent (mood-congruent) memories

Forgetting Forgetting is a natural process – and is in some respects a welcome aspect of life. Those who “cannot forget” “cannot forget”“cannot forget” “Seven Sins” – the problems of forgetting Absent-mindedness, transience, blocking Misattribution, suggestibility, bias Persistence

Encoding and Storage Encoding Failure The failure to input information into our brain in a purposeful manner. Age can be a factor So can selective attention The penny example Storage Decay Ebbinghaus’ famous forgetting curve. What we encode doesn’t always persist in storage. This has explanations in the physical basis of LTP.

Retrieval Failure Retrieval cues Interference Proactive and retroactive Jenkins and Dalenbach Motivated Forgetting We often play in the sand of our own memories Freudian repression

Reconstruction of Memory Elizabeth Loftus experiments Misinformation effect Imagination inflation Richard Wiseman experiment Source amnesia (source misattribution)

Truth vs. Fiction “Perceptions of the past” Halberstadt and Niedenthal Persistence ≠ Reality Certainty ≠ Reality Implications for eye-witness testimony Children and memory Longitudinal studies

Improving Memory Study repeatedly Make studied material meaningful Combine encoding methods – use mnemonics Activate retrieval cues Minimize interference Sleep more Test your own knowledge