HUMAN MEMORY
not a rememberer of experience” “The computer is a retriever of information, not a rememberer of experience” Schacter
EBBINGHAUS -1880s Laboratory studies of verbal learning, memory, and forgetting
INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL OF MEMORY
SENSORY MEMORY SHORT-TERM MEMORY LONG-TERM MEMORY STM LTM
SENSORY MEMORY High capacity, rapid decay, less than 1 second for the icon, 2-3 seconds for the echo
SENSORY MEMORY All Incoming Information - Information Not Attended To FORGOTTEN
SENSORY MEMORY All Incoming Information - Information Not SHORT-TERM Attended To MEMORY FORGOTTEN ATTENTION
Attention is a control process Gateway to awareness
Attention Control process Gateway to awareness Example of inattentional blindness
Short-Term Memory STM Working memory Limited capacity, 7 + or - 2 Digit span test Chunking
STM Rapid decay, 10-30 sec for unrehearsed meaningless material
STM Not a passive storage depot Rather, an active mental workspace known as Working memory
Working Memory Visuospatial Scratchpad Central Executive Phonological Loop
Long-Term Memory LTM Vast capacity Long or permanent duration Rajan - pi - 30,000 digits
Classes of LTM 1. Declarative - Explicit a. Semantic - general knowledge of the world b. Episodic - knowledge of your own past experiences
Classes of LTM 2. Nondeclarative or Implicit - Procedural - learned skills or habitual responses, classical conditioning, priming
FORGETTING
Forgetting as a result of decay?
Simple passage of time after learning has minimal effect on retention
Forgetting as a result of interference
Retroactive Interference Current learning interferes with recall of previously learned material
Retroactive Interference Learn Learn Memory A B Loss for A Time
Proactive Interference Prior learning interferes with retention of new information
Proactive Interference Learn Learn Memory A B Loss for B Time
Retrograde and Anterograde Amnesia Time Retrograde Anterograde Head Trauma
Medial Temporal Lobe Amnesia Mr. H. M. - almost solely anterograde amnesia Hippocampal damage Separation of procedural and declarative memories
Bilateral medial temporal lobe damage induces declarative anterograde amnesia
Can these patients acquire a classically conditioned response? Delayed conditioning, CS and US overlap Yes Trace conditioning, CS and US do not overlap No
Delayed and trace classical conditioning are different kinds of learning involving different brain structures
Separation of episodic and semantic memories in unidentified patients Example: Richard Nixon’s father was a member of Hell’s Angels
Korsakoff’s Syndrome associated with alcoholism - vitamin B1 deficiency similar to diencephalic amnesia - mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus - Mr. N. A.
Sweet Memories Why do some events become vivid memories? Flashbulb Memories
Sweet Memories Post-trial administration of epinephrine improves memories Post-trial administration of glucose improves memories
Memories associated with arousal produce epinephrine release and glucose release Flashbulb Memories may be sweet memories
Repressed Memories Repression - major Freudian concept - unacceptable thoughts pushed into the unconscious Does incest/sexual abuse during childhood produce repression and behavioral dysfunction
YES! assert some therapists - repressed memories are associated with depression, eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, anxiety, etc Recovery of memories is therapeutic
George Franklin was accused of murdering a young girl, Susan Nason, more than two decades after the crime. His daughter Eileen, only 8 at the time of the murder, claimed to have witnessed it, repressed it, and then recovered the memory. He was convicted.
YES! assert some Self-help pop-psychology books The Courage to Heal by Bass and Davis
“If you think you were abused and your life shows the symptoms, then you were. If you don’t remember your abuse, you are not alone. Many women don’t have memories.....this doesn’t mean they weren’t abused.”
NO! assert most therapists, accused individuals, and cognitive psychologists False Memory Syndrome Foundation - 7,000 members, founded by Pamela Freyd, accused by her daughter
“Recovered-memory therapists have invented a mechanism that supposedly causes a child’s awareness of sexual assault to be driven entirely from consciousness. There is no limit to the number of traumatic events that can be repressed, and no limit to the length of time over which the series of events can occur.”
False Memory Test False memories can be implanted
Traumatic events generally NOT repressed - can’t be forgotten - post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans Traumatic memories are “sweet memories”