AP Psych Agenda

 Unit Objectives at bpi.edu. Complete #s 1 – 5 for homework tonight.  What is your first memory? Why do you think you remember it?  Snow White memory actvity.

Chapter 7: Human Memory

Human Memory: Basic Questions  How does information get into memory?  How is information maintained in memory?  How is information pulled back out of memory?

Figure 7.2 Three key processes in memory

Encoding: Getting Information Into Memory  The role of attention  Focusing awareness  Selective attention = selection of input  Filtering: early or late?

Figure 7.3 Models of selective attention

Levels of Processing: Craik and Lockhart (1972)  Incoming information processed at different levels  Deeper processing = longer lasting memory codes  Encoding levels:  Structural = shallow  Phonemic = intermediate  Semantic = deep

Figure 7.4 Levels-of-processing theory

Figure 7.5 Retention at three levels of processing

AP PSYCHOLOGY AGENDA

Quiz… 1. Define the concept of memory 1. Encoding 2. Storage 3. retrieval 2. Distinguish between iconic and echoic memory 3. Describe the concept of elaboration 4. How does visual Imagery help with memory 5. How does self-referent encoding help a person’s memory. 6. How does attention limit the capacity of short-term memory

Enriching Encoding: Improving Memory  Elaboration = linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding  Thinking of examples (relate info to your own life)  Visual Imagery = creation of visual images to represent words to be remembered  Easier for concrete objects: can picture a spider, cannot picture the word truth.  Self-Referent Encoding  Making information personally meaningful

Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory  Analogy: information storage in computers ~ information storage in human memory  Information-processing theories  Subdivide memory into 3 different stores Sensory, Short-term, Long-term

Figure 7.7 The Atkinson and Schiffrin model of memory storage

Sensory Memory  Brief preservation of information in original sensory form  Auditory/Visual – approximately ¼ second  George Sperling (1960) Classic experiment on visual sensory store

P Y F G V J S A D H B U P Y F G V J S A D H B U

Figure 7.8 Sperling’s (1960) study of sensory memory

AP PSYCHOLOGY

Quiz… 1. What are two specific functions of short-term memory? 2. Define long-term memory. 3. How is information transferred (encoded) into long-term memory? 4. What is the difference between semantic versus visual LTM. 5. What is the difference between procedural and declarative LTM

For tonight…  #s 9,10, 11 and 12 from the unit objectives sheet

Short Term Memory (STM)  Limited capacity – magical number 7 plus or minus 2  Chunking – grouping familiar stimuli for storage as a single unit  Limited duration – about 20 seconds without rehearsal  Rehearsal – the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information

……………… ……………… ……………… …. ……………… ……………… ………….. ……………… ……………… ………. ……………… ……………… ……

Figure 7.9 Peterson and Peterson’s (1959) study of short-term memory

Primacy and Recency  Horse  Dog  Ape  Chinchilla  Cat

 Boa constrictor  Gerbil  Raccoon  Fish  Ferret

 Donkey  Cow  Lemur  Gazelle  Lion

Short-Term Memory as “Working Memory”  STM not limited to phonemic encoding  Loss of information not only due to decay  Baddeley (1986) – 3 components of working memory  Phonological rehearsal loop  Visuospatial sketchpad  Executive control system

AP PSYCH AGENDA

Long-Term Memory: Unlimited Capacity  Permanent storage?  Flashbulb memories  Recall through hypnosis  Debate: are STM and LTM really different?  Phonemic vs. Semantic encoding  Decay vs. Interference based forgetting

How is Knowledge Represented and Organized in Memory?  Clustering - tendency to remember similar or related items  Conceptual Hierarchies - multilevel classification systems based on common properties among items.  Schemas and Scripts - organized clusters of knowledge about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience. Scripts are, type of schema, organizing what a person knows about common activities…for example going to a restaurant

 Semantic Networks -- nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts….explains why thinking of butter makes bread easier to remember.  Connectionist, or parallel distributed processing models, assume that cognitive processes depend on patterns

Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory  The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon – a failure in retrieval  Retrieval cues -- recall is often guided by partial information about a word…retrieval cues.  Recalling an event  Context cues -- easier to recall long-forgotten events if you return after a number of years to a place where you used to live.

 Reconstructing memories  Misinformation effect -- did I read that somewhere or think of it on my own?…cryptomnesia is inadvertent plagiarism that occurs when you think you came up with it but were really exposed to it earlier Source monitoring -- the process of making attributions about the origins of memories…people make decisions at the time of retrieval about where their memory is coming from Reality monitoring -- type of source monitoring involving determining whether memories are based in actual events (external sources) or your imagination (internal source)

Forgetting: When Memory Lapses  Retention – the proportion of material retained  Recall -- involves requiring subjects to reproduce information on their own without any cues  Recognition -- involves requiring subjects to select previously learned material from an array of options  Relearning -- requiring subjects to relearn previously learned information to see how much LESS time or effort it takes them  Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve

Figure 7.16 Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve for nonsense syllables

Figure 7.17 Recognition versus recall in the measurement of retention

Why Do We Forget?  Ineffective Encoding  forgetting…it may have never been inserted into memory in the first place  pseudoforgetting…usually due to lack of attention so that encoding does not occur  Ineffective encoding occurs when you encode on a more superficial level than you need to…for example, you are distracted when studying and encode what you are reading on a phonemic rather than a semantic level.

 Decay theory -- Decay theory proposes that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time.  Interference theory -- The negative impact of competing information on retention is called interference. Interference theory holds that people forget information because of competition from other material

 Proactive Interference --occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of new information  Retroactive Interference -- occurs when new information impairs the retention for previously learned information.

Figure 7.19 Retroactive and proactive interference

Figure 7.20 Estimates of the prevalence of childhood physical and sexual abuse

Retrieval Failure  Encoding Specificity -- the effectiveness of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code that represents the stored item…the closer a retrieval cue is to the way we encode the info, the better we are able to remember.  Transfer-Appropriate Processing -- holds that when the initial processing of information is similar to the type of processing required by the subsequent measure of retention, retrieval is easier.

 Repression -- motivated forgetting of painful or unpleasant memories. Recent years have seen a surge of reports of repressed memories of child sexual abuse. Authenticity challenged  Memory illusion – remember the list of sleep-related words?  Recovered Memories -- fallibility and malleability of human memory.

Figure 7.22 The prevalence of false memories observed by Roediger and McDermott (1995)

The Physiology of Memory  Biochemistry  Alteration in synaptic transmission Hormones modulating neurotransmitter systems Protein synthesis  Neural circuitry  Localized neural circuits Reusable pathways in the brain Long-term potentiation -- long-lasting increase in neural excitability at synapses along a specific neural pathway. This supports the idea that memory traces consist of specific neural circuits.

The Physiology of Memory  Anatomy  Anterograde Amnesia – damage precludes memory of subsequent events.  Retrograde Amnesia – damage precludes memory of prior events. Cerebral cortex, Prefrontal cortex, Hippocampus, Dentate gyrus, Amygdala, Cerebellum

Figure 7.23 The anatomy of memory

Figure 7.25 Retrograde versus anterograde amnesia

Are There Multiple Memory Systems?  Declarative (facts/events) vs. Procedural (how to do something)  Semantic (general facts) vs. Episodic (personal facts)  Prospective (remembering to do things in the future) vs. Retrospective (past events)

Figure 7.26 Theories of independent memory systems

Improving Everyday Memory  Engage in adequate rehearsal  Distribute practice and minimize interference  Emphasize deep processing and transfer- appropriate processing  Organize information  Use verbal mnemonics  Use visual mnemonics