Chapter 6: Memory Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Memory The process by which we encode, store, and retrieve information

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Encoding Refers to the process by which information is initially recorded in a form usable to memory Storage The maintenance of material saved in the memory system Retrieval Material in memory storage is located, brought into awareness, and used

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. The Three Systems of Memory: Sensory Memory The initial, momentary storage of information, lasting only an instant Iconic memory –Reflects informatio n from our visual system Echoic memory –Stores auditory information coming from the ears

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. The Three Systems of Memory: Short-Term Memory Memory store in which information first has meaning May hold approximately 7 (plus or minus 2) chunks of information –A chunk is a meaningful grouping of stimuli that can be stored as a unit in short- term memory Holds information for approximately 15 to 20 seconds PBSFOXCNNABCCBSMTVNBC PBS FOX CNN ABC CBS MTV NBC

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. The Three Systems of Memory: Short-Term Memory Rehearsal –The repetition of information that has entered short-term memory Elaborative rehearsal –Occurs when information is considered and organized in some fashion resulting in a greater likelihood to be transferred into long-term memory Mnemonics –Formal techniques for organizing information in a way that makes it more likely to be remembered

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. The Three Systems of Memory: Long-Term Memory A storehouse of almost unlimited capacity Information in long-term memory is filed and coded so that we can retrieve it when we need it

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Contemporary Approaches To Memory Working memory –View of short-term memory as an active “workspace” in which information is retrieved and manipulated, and in which information is held through rehearsal

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Working Memory Central Executive Processor (reasoning and decision making) Visual store (visual & spatial information) Verbal store (speech, words, & numbers)

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Models of Memory Associative model –Memory consists of mental representations of clusters of interconnected information Priming –Phenomenon in which exposure to a word or concept later makes it easier to recall related information Spreading activation –Activating one memory triggers the activation of related memories

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Modules of Memory Explicit memory –Intentional or conscious recollection of information Implicit memory –Memories of which people are not consciously aware, but which can affect subsequent performance and behavior

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Recalling Long-Term Memories Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon –Inability to recall information that one realizes one knows Retrieval cue –Stimulus that allows us to recall more easily information that is located in long-term memory

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Recalling Long-Term Memories Levels-of-processing theory –Emphasizes the degree to which new material is mentally analyzed Flashbulb memories –Memories around a specific, important, or surprising event that are so vivid they represent a virtual snapshot of the event

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Constructive Process in Memory Constructive process –Processes in which memories are influenced by the meaning that we give to events Schemas –Organized bodies of information stored in memory that bias the way new information is interpreted, stored, and recalled

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Recalling Long-Term Memories Memory in the courtroom –Repressed memory –False memory Autobiographical memory –Recollections of circumstances and episodes from our own lives

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Forgetting: Herman Ebbinghaus

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Forgetting: When Memory Fails Decay –Loss of information through nonuse –Assumes that when new material is learned a memory trace appears (actual physical change in the brain Interference –Information in memory displaces or blocks out other information, preventing its recall

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Proactive Interference Information learned earlier interferes with recall of newer material

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Retroactive Interference Difficulty in recall of information because of later exposure to different material

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Biological Bases of Memory Long-term potentiation –Certain neural pathways become easily excited while a new response is being learned Consolidation –Changes in the number of synapses between neurons as the dendrites branch out to receive messages and memories become fixed and stable in long-term memory

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Memory Dysfunctions Alzheimer’s disease –An illness that includes among its symptoms severe memory problems Korsakoff’s syndrome –A disease afflicting long- term alcoholics

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Memory Dysfunctions Amnesia –Memory loss that occurs without other mental difficulties Retrograde amnesia –Memory is lost for occurrences prior to a certain event Anterograde amnesia –Loss of memory occurs for events following an injury