Varieties of Memory Thomas G. Bowers, Ph.D. Penn State Harrisburg 2000

What Types of Memories Are There? I. Working Memory –Appears to be convergent evidence about the nature of working memory –William James early work (1890/1950) Spoke of primary memory, inseparable from the stream of thought. Rich diversity of content Early identification of attention

What Types of Memories Are There? I. Working Memory –Auditory or Verbal Memory Speech-based store Some Qualities: –Digit Span - average is 7 (+/- 2) –Subvocalizing has been observed –Errors tend to be “sound alike” –Longer words or stimulus material is less likely to recall, because of difficulty in subvocalization –Phonological storage system –Other tasks as letter number sequencing –Tend to be left hemisphere tasks

What Types of Memories Are There? I. Working Memory –Visual Memory or Imagery Short term - Connect stars, blocks or other items Scanning appears to preserve distance if using a imagery strategy, judging by preserved relationships between distance and reaction times Mental rotation of block figures - Processing speed matches the degree of rotation required

What Types of Memories Are There?

Visual Memory Processing As the degree of rotation increases, the amount of time to process the change also increases There can be selective interference with imagery –There is a small but reliable reduction of accuracy under imagery conditions

Selective Interference Percentage of false alarms 7.8% 3.7% 3.6% 6.7% Visualizing Auditory Image Visual signal Auditory Signal

Imaginary Processing Kosslyn suggests imaginary may be processed differently than verbal or propositional information Some ambiguity in spatial imagery –Images are saturated with meaning –Some suggest we should be concerned with spatial imagery

Imaginary Processing Spatial imaginary –examples of Necker cube and Duck/Rabbit precept

Working Memory Working memory system –1. Executive functions –2. “Slave systems –Rehearsal loop –Visuospatial scratchpad Subvocalization thought to be importart

Long Term Memory Propositional Material Imaginary Material –Nonverbal material may be handled by applying a meaningful context –Imaginary mnemonics Image elements interacting with each other For a word pair learning task As a “cigar-smoking piano”

Dual Coding Theory of Memory Independent processing of verbal and nonverbal material Proposed by Paivio in 1970’s

Dual Coding Theory Sensory Analysis ImagenLogen Nonverbal Verbal

Dual Coding Theory Verbal and Nonverbal material should be processed more quickly in the appropriate modality

Dual Coding Theory AssociationSize

Secondary Memory Despite the evidence of different processing in terms of short term memory, evidence suggests secondary memory operates on a single process –Appears to be the same for verbal and visual material

Secondary Memory Memory for faces may operate independently of other systems We tend to demonstrate better recall for faces relative to abstract stimulus material This effect can be impaired by changes in orientation Prosopagnosia - impairment of facial recognition

Secondary Memory Example from Thompson (1980) Upside down face of Margaret Thatcher

Other Types of Memory Procedural Knowledge –Knowing how to do things, solve or approach particular problems Declarative Knowledge –Knowing about particular specific facts and elements of knowledge

Other Types of Memory Hemispherical specialization in knowledge and memory –There is extensive evidence of hemispherical specialization