COGNITION Memory

True of False? T/F A woman who could not remember who she was automatically dialed her mother’s number when the police gave her a telephone. T/F Learning must be meaningful if we are to remember it. T/F If you can see, you have a photographic memory. T/F All of our experiences are permanently imprinted on the brain, so the proper stimulus can cause us to remember them exactly. T/F You may always recall where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, T/F If you study with the stereo on, you would probably do better to take the test with the stereo on.

Memory  What is a memory? (podcast-the day my mothers head exploded)  What is its physical state?  How is it created?  What tells it to be formed?  Why do we create memories?  Where is the Engram?

Why is memory important? (very simple explanation) Avoidance Behavior:  If we do not learn from a stressful event then we will repeat the event.  We will never learn more efficient ways to avoid such situations.  If we try to hug an angry bear and happen to survive, we want to make sure that we never repeat such an act.  Bears are dangerous.  If I hug them tissue damage will probably ensue.  Don’t hug bears anymore.  Basically survival is quite dependent on learning.

Memory How does a physical event become a memory? Event Memory

Memory Elements involved in memory formation:  Main requirements- (same as with chemicals)  Speed of onset  Level of arousal  Message potency  Variability  Cognitive stress  Can facilitate or be a detriment  Priming  State of participant when event takes place  Chemicals and hormones in the body  Body temperature

Memory  There is no difference between factual, conceptual, procedural or metacognitive learning.  It is all governed by the same process.  Though some forms of learning may involve additional brain regions.

Memory Three main stages:  Encoding:  Processing transduced information.  Storage:  Creation of a permanent record.  Retrieval:  Calling back the stored information.

Memory EncodingStorage Retrieval (reconstruction) Storage (based on current state)

Memory  The same rules apply when remembering an event as when originally encoding the event.  Remember the elements involved in facilitation and degradation of sensory messages discussed in the physiology section.

The Three Stages of Memory Sensory Memory: (Sensory Register)  Preserves brief sensory impressions of stimuli.  Processed in different brain regions depending on what sense picks up the stimulus. Working Memory: (Short-term Memory)  Preserves recently perceived events or experiences for less than a minute without rehearsal. Long-term Memory:  Stores material organized according to meaning.

The Three Stages of Memory  Sensory  Working  Long-term

The First Stage: Sensory Memory D J B X H G C L Y

The First Stage: Sensory Memory  How many can you recall?  Capacity of sensory memory can be 12 or more items.  All but 3-4 items disappear before they can enter.  There is a separate sensory register for each sense.  Memory images take the form of nerve impulses. Transduction Sensation Nerve Impulse

Sensory Stroop interference effect - Stroop Interference Effect Filter Theory of Attention Cocktail Party Effect

2 Types of Sensory Registers  Iconic: Sensory memory of visual stimuli, lasting less than a second.  Echoic: Sensory memory of acoustical stimuli, lasting 3 to 4 seconds.

Sequence of Information Processing

The First Stage: Sensory Memory

The Second Stage: Working Memory  Preserves recently perceived events or experiences for less than a minute without rehearsal.  Short-term memory (STM).  Working memory consists of  A central executive Responsible for the selection, initiation and termination of processing routines.  A phonological loop (podcast-music) Deals with sound and phonological processing.  The visiospatial sketch pad Holds information about what we see. Aids in visual planning of future behavior. Contains separate visual, spacial and kinesthetic components. Right Hemisphere storage.

The Second Stage: Working Memory  Encoding and storage:  Capacity: 7 +/- 2 “Chunks” of information. (George A. Miller)  Chunk: Organizing pieces of information into a smaller number of meaningful units.  Maintenance rehearsal: Information is repeated keep it from fading while in working memory.  Elaborative rehearsal: Information is actively reviewed and related to information already in LTM.  Acoustic encoding: Conversion of information to sound patterns in working memory.

The Second Stage: Working Memory  Sneak Peak!  Disorders associated with working memory disruptions: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)  We will be covering this in the Psychological Disorders section of this course.

Forgetting in STM  Decay theory: A theory that argues that the passage of time causes forgetting.  Interference theory: A theory that argues interference from other information causes forgetting.

Sensory Decay George Miller’s Magic Number 7 +/- 2 VCRFBIUSACIA VCRFBIUSACIA VCR FBI USA CIA

2 Types of Rehearsal  Rote rehearsal: Retaining information in STM simply by repeating it over and over.  Elaborative rehearsal: The linking of new information in STM to familiar material stored in long-term memory.

The Third Stage: Long-Term Memory Long-Term Memory: Stores material organized according to meaning. (Schemas, Heuristics, Mental Set)  Declarative (explicit) Stores facts  Semantic  Semantic Memory of meanings (of words) and understandings.  Episodic  Episodic Memory of events, times, places, and emotions. Autobiographical Memory  Procedural (implicit)  Long-term memory of skills and procedures.  How to knowledge.

The Third Stage: Long-Term Memory  Semantic Memory  Language  Facts  General Knowledge  Episodic Memory  Events  Personal Experiences  Includes memory for:  Motor Skills  Operant Conditioning  Classical Conditioning Declarative MemoryProcedural Memory

Types of Long-Term Memory © Prentice Hall, 1999 Explicit (declarative) Implicit (nondeclarative) SemanticEpisodic tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon Flashbulb Memory Procedural Dispositions

Types of Memory Memory Sensory IconicEchoic Working (STM)EpisodicLong Term PerceptualDeclarative Autobiographical Semantic Procedural

Explicit Memory  Memory for information that was intentionally committed to memory or intentionally retrieved from memory.

Neural Basis of Learning Long-term Potentiation:  Biological process involving physical changes that strengthen the synapses in groups of nerve cells.  Weak synapse firing alongside a strong synapse causes the weak synapse to strengthen.  Critical element-  Calcium (Ca+) Mesolimbic Pathway: (Dopamine)  Substantia Nigra  Ventral Tegmental Area  Nucleus Accumbens  Amygdala and Hippocampus  Frontal Cortex

Neural Basis of Learning

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon (TOT)  The condition of being able to, but not quite, remember something.  TOT becomes more frequent in stressful situations and as we age.  Words similar to target word interfere with recall.  TOT occurs most often with low-usage words.

Implicit Memory  Memory for information that either was unintentionally committed to memory or was unintentionally retrieved from memory.

Flashbulb Memory  A vivid memory for a highly emotional situation; seems to require an element of surprise.

Types of LTM Interference  Retroactive: The process by which new information interferes with the retrieval of old information.  Proactive: The process by which old information interferes with the retrieval of new information.

Memory

Sneak Peak! Ormrod (2004):  People often remember things in physical situations according to schemas, rather than remembering the actual objects that existed Brewer & Treyens (1981):  30 students placed in office.  9 students remembered seeing books.  No students remembered the skull.  No students remembered the tennis racket.

Memory Models Multi-Store Model (Atkinson-Shiffrin Model, 1968)  Long-Term Memory  Episodic  Procedural  Mechanism-Rehearsal  Flashbulb Memory Working Memory (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974)  Short-Term Memory  Central executive  Phonological loop  Visuospatial sketchpad Levels of Processing Memory Model (Craik and Lockhart, 1972)  Depth of processing is paramount

Future Work  Serial Position Effect  Recall and Forgetting  Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve  Eyewitness Testamony  Mental Representations  Concepts  Prototypes  Heuristics (One size fits most!)  Small, Medium, Large  Subconscious/Nonconscious processing  Implicit learning  Mental set  Need for cognitive consistency  Bias