Memory

Information Processing Sensory Register  Temporary storage  Unlimited capacity  Iconic memory  Echoic memory

Iconic memory

Information Processing

Short Term Memory (STM)  Holds information that we are thinking about or are aware of (consciously)  Has two primary tasks Storing new information briefly Working on that information  Also known as working memory

Serial Position Effect

Short Term Memory Storage Verbal information is stored phonologically  By its sound Some information is stored visually  Images are often stored visually and verbally

Short Term Memory Capacity Limited capacity  7 ± 2 units

Short Term Memory Chunking Information lasts longer in STM than in the sensory registers because we can rehearse it.  Rote rehearsal Retaining information in STM simply by repeating it over and over

Information Processing

Long Term Memory (LTM) Capacity  Long-term memory can store a vast amount of information that can last for many years. Encoding  Most of the information in LTM seems to be encoded according to its meaning.

Types of LTM Declarative Memory  Episodic memory Personally experienced events  Semantic memory General facts and information Procedural Memory  Information relating to skills, habits, motor tasks

Organization of LTM Associative Models of Memory  Concepts  activates other concepts

Semantic Network

Organization of LTM Associative Models of Memory  Concepts  activates other concepts  Priming Exposure to word/concept  easier recall

Explicit vs. Implicit Memories Explicit memory  Memories we are aware of, including Episodic and semantic memories Implicit memory  Memories for information not intentionally committed Procedural & emotional memories

Organization of LTM Associative Models of Memory Schemas  Organized, repeatedly exercised patterns of thought or behavior

Encoding Rote rehearsal Elaborative rehearsal  Visual imagery  Mnemonics Acronyms and acrostics Method of loci Pegword method

Retrieval Organization  encoding Retrieval Cues Encoding Specificity Principle  Environmental context  State dependent learning

Flashbulb Memories memories centered on a specific, important, or surprising event that are so vivid it is as if they represented a snapshot of the event Vividness comes from importance of the event as well as emotional content

Reconstruction of Memories As memories fade, fill in details May use schemas Hindsight bias

Forgetting Decay theory Interference theory  Retroactive  Proactive

ListABC Group 1XXX Group 2XX Group 3XX Group 4X

Forgetting Motivated Forgetting  Suppression  Repression  Prospective forgetting Encoding failure Retrieval failure  Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

The Biology of Memory Amnesia  Retrograde  Anterograde  Childhood

The Biology of Memory Hippocampus  explicit memory

The Biology of Memory Cerebral cortex, striatum, amygdala  implicit memory

Hormones and Memory Adrenaline Noradrenaline Cortisol

Korsakoff’s Syndrome  Diencephalon (thalamus/hypothalamus) Alzheimer’s Disease  Amyloid beta protein  Basal forebrain, hippocampus, cerebral cortex  Acetylcholine