Psychology of Memory Yasser Abdel Razek Professor of Psychiatry Ain Shams university

Paris is 1.A city in USA 2.The Capital of France 3.An oasis in Egypt 4.All of the above 5.None of the Above 10

What is your origin? 1.Cairo 2.Delta 3.Sues Canal and Sinai 4.Upper Egypt 5.Others 10

WHAT IS MEMORY? 1.The ability to store information 2.The ability to encode information 3.The ability to retrieve information 4.All of the above 5.None of the above 10

Most common type of forgetfulness is due to 1.Dementia 2.Use of drugs 3.Interference 4.Head injuries 5.Ageing 10

Memory disturbances may include 1.Decreased remembering 2.Increased remembering 3.Distorted remembering 4.Over-recognition and under-recognition 5.All of the above 10

The most important neurotransmitter for memory function is 1.Acetyle choline 2.Dopamine 3.Nor adrenaline 4.Serotonin 5.Histamine 10

An important cause of forgetfulness during exam is 1.Inattention during study 2.Mass practice of learning 3.Interference 4.Anxiety during exam 5.Different environment 10

Definition It is the ability to Encode, Store, And retrieve information

Encoding It is the process by which information is converted into a form (code) in which it can be placed into memory. 4 types of codes appear to represent information in memory: 1-Acoustic encoding uses the sounds of words to encode the material. 2-Visual encoding uses images, such as the visual image of a word or picture. 3-Semantic encoding represents the information in memory in terms of its general meaning. 4-Motor encoding involved in coding physical skills like swimming, typing and driving also occur as a type of encoding.

Storage It is the retention of memorized material over a period of time. Of limited capacity Forgetting occurs due to decay with time or Displacement by new information

Retrieval It is the process by which previously encoded stored memories are located and brought back for current use. Involves a search process (all items stored are examined to get the information).

Retrieval Recall: – Free recall: Like essay questions – Cued recall: Give the subject a hint to trigger memories; e.g. fill in spaces questions. Recognition: – MCQ

Classification According to duration of retention According to modality of information input According to type of information

According to duration of retention Long term Remote Short term Recent Immediate sensory YearsminutesSecondsDuration UnlimitedLimited Capacity Depends on meaning (semantic) Need attentionNo (iconic and echoic) Encoding StructuralChemicalElectricalStorage Aided by cuesRetrieval Interference Repression Displacement Decay ---Forgetting Association Elaboration Organization Mnemonics Attention Rehearsal Chunking TrainingImprovement Well known dates and names A storyDigit spanAssessment

Information in STM either lost by time or interference maintained by rehearsal transferred to LTM

Rehearsal Rehearsal means repetitively practicing or thinking about the information to be remembered. This can keep it in memory for longer periods. There are 2 types of rehearsal: Maintenance rehearsal is simple repetition which can serve to keep information active in STM indefinitely. Elaborative rehearsal *The more we can relate the new items to already present items the more meaningful we can make it *Making meaningful connections to facilitate retrieval. Eg. EGBDF can be stored as every good boy does fine

According to modality of sensory information input Auditory Visual Olfactory Gustatory Superficial and deep sensory NB: The more the modalities used to encode the more the consolidation: it is better to study through hearing, seeing and writing the information

According to type of information Explicit Implicit SemanticEpisodic ConceptsEventsMotoric skills

Where is the memory area? Hippocampus Mamillary bodies Thalamus Temporal cortex

Factors affecting retrieval Age Drugs Illnesses Interference Emotions retrieval cues effect of the context (mood and emotions)during encoding (similarity during retrieval is better). Amount of encoding practice (over learning). Scheduling practice (distributed better than mass)

Retrieval Forgetting is usually due to loss of access to the information not loss of the information itself so Retrieval cues can help We do better on recognition tests( MCQ) Relearning takes less effort

Constructive memory: We memorize only broad lines then we construct a more complete description of the events.

Two classes of theories are explaining forgetting: Availability: Information are lost from LTM. Accessibility: Information are difficult to retrieve from LTM.

Availability theories Trace decay theory: Memory traces decay, weaken and disappear with simple passage of time. Failure of rehearsal allows it to deteriorate. Disuse theory: Suggests that the repeated retrieval of similar new information leads to loss of old memories; e.g. You forget your old telephone number and remember the new one. Interference theory: Which suggests that some active process must interfere with the learned material causing it to be unlearned. The more similar the competing material the more likely it is that forgetting will occur. Encoding failure theories: Suggesting that the original encoding of the information was inadequate. This is called pseudo forgetting because there never really was a memory, probably due to inattention or inadequate encoding.

Interference Retroactive: learning of new information lead to forgetting of the old one ( small hard desk) Proactive : learning of information number one causes difficulty to learn another recent information

Accessibility Theories: a- Retrieval failure theory: Suggests that memories, though stored, cannot be recalled because the appropriate retrieval distinctive cues, words or images that are associated with a memory and elicit it are not present. b- Motivational theory: When forgetting is motivated by our needs and desires, we tend to remember positive aspects of our experience better than negative ones.

How to improve memory 1-use of large size chunks to enlarge capacity of STM 2-Use of imagery and encoding in more than one modality 3-Elaborative rehearsal 4-Hierarchical organization 5- chunking

Chunking Use of LTM to store new information in STM eg. Can you store these letters SRUOYYLERECNIS? Yes become sincerely yours.

Information are stored in LTM as the following 1-Category clustering (animals, people, vegetables) 2-Subjective organization (specific orders) 3-Hierarchial organization (animals as birds and fish –fish as Shark and Salomon)

Emotions Events with Painful emotions repelled out and lost( repression) Events with good emotions, encoded strongly Mild anxiety help retrieval because of better attention while severe anxiety impede retrieval.

Disorders of memory Disorders of recall – Amnesia ( organic and psychological) – Hypermnesia – Paramnesia ( distorted memories) Retrospective falsification Confabulation Disorders of recognition – De ja vu – Jamais vu

WHAT IS MEMORY? 1.The ability to store information 2.The ability to encode information 3.The ability to retrieve information 4.All of the above 5.None of the above 10

Most common type of forgetfulness is due to 1.Dementia 2.Use of drugs 3.Interference 4.Head injuries 5.Ageing 10

Memory disturbances may include 1.Decreased remembering 2.Increased remembering 3.Distorted remembering 4.Over-recognition and under-recognition 5.All of the above 10

The most important neurotransmitter for memory function is 1.Acetyle choline 2.Dopamine 3.Nor adrenaline 4.Serotonin 5.Histamine 10

An important cause of forgetfulness during exam is 1.Inattention during study 2.Mass practice of learning 3.Interference 4.Anxiety during exam 5.Different environment 10