Memory Information Processing

 Enables memory  3 basic steps 1. Encoding – getting info into the memory system 2. Storage – Retaining the info over time 3. Retrieval – getting info out of storage

Encoding  Process by which you move the stuff you are going to remember into your memory  Automatic Processing Unconscious process of capturing information Time and frequency as well as place  Effortful Processing What doesn’t happen naturally In order to master something, you need to work on it  Rehearsal

Encoding  Overlearning Practicing over and over even after you have committed something to memory Going over something even after you have learned it

Encoding  Serial Positioning Tendency to remember the first and last things you see in a list Primacy effect  Remembering things at the beginning of a list Recency effect  Remembering things at the end, most recent

Encoding  Spacing Distributed rehearsal– spread out over time  Works much better Massed rehearsal –  Cramming Even if you put in the same amount of hours studying, it is better to space it out over time

Encoding Meaning  Make the material meaningful Semantic Coding  Participants asked to remember words flashed on a screen Asked if the word rhymed with another (acoustic coding) Asked if the word fit into a sentence (semantic coding)  When the word is given meaning, it was much easier to recall

Encoding  Self reference effect Relate the material to your own life somehow To remember something better, connect it to your life somehow

Encoding images  Mental pictures tend to stick in your brain  Both positive and negative events can be stuck in our minds  Positive events are often more easy to recall Negative events tend to fade away

Mnemonic Devices  Memory tricks  Iroquois Nation MOSCO  Method of loci “In the first place” “Second place, lets shift our attention” You can use your imagination to remember things by associating them with places

Organizing Information  Chunking Organize into meaningful groups  Hierarchy Relationships between pieces of information Outlines in your notes Periodic table  Each row and column has meaning

Storage  Retention of memory  Three distinct systems  Sensory  Short term  Long term

Sensory  Storing information just long enough that we can determine what is important  Iconic memory Holding an image in our memory until another replaces it  Echoic memory Storing audio

Short Term  More permanent than sensory  Also called working memory  Most people can handle 5 – 9 pieces of information in working memory

Long Term Memory  No one knows how long for sure that you can hold something in long term memory No time limit?  Flashbulb memory Holding emotional memories very vividly in your brain 9/11 Stress levels  Medication can have impact on memory

Long term potentiation  When you learn something, neurons release chemicals (serotonin) making it easier to fire again in the future Memory trace Glutamate boosters  How would we differentiate?  Concussions, damage to the brain Long term memories ok, short term may be lost

Explicit vs Implicit memories  Explicit memory What we normally think of when we think of memory Recalling facts and events Hippocampus – Henry Molaison Declarative Memory  Implicit Memory No conscious effort Skills like walking, riding a bike, piano (procedural) Cerebellum – Infantile Amnesia Nondeclarative Memory

Retrieval  Recall Searching for information previously learned Fill in the blanks, short answer  Recognition Easier than recall Just identifying information Multiple Choice

Context  Context effect Enhanced ability to remember something when you are in the same environment  Same classroom, same seat, music on/off déjà vu  Creating a global match?  Neural hiccup? Delaying the signal of the two track mind  State Dependency Retrieval happens best when you are in the same state as encoding Influence of caffeine or alcohol Mood Congruent –  Emotions and encoding/retrieval

Forgetting  Daniel Schacter’s 7 ways memory fails us  3 Sins of Forgetting Absent Mindedness – inattention to detail  Encoding Failure Transience – storage decay over time  Unused information goes away Blocking – inaccessibility of stored information  Having something on the tip of your tongue and not being able to it out Without effort, memories never form

 3 Sins of Distortion Misattribution – confusing the source of info  Putting words in someone else’s mouth  Mistaking a dream for reality Suggestibility –  Misleading questions that can lead to false memories Bias – belief colored recollections  1 Sin of Intrusion Persistence – Unwanted memories

The Forgetting Curve  Ebbinghaus 1885 The course of forgetting is initially rapid, then it levels off  High school Spanish  Forget the most 3 years after HS  Then it levels off

Retrieval Failure  Not enough information stored to look up and retrieve the information  Given retrieval clues (starts with…) memory is much better  Common in adults  Not forgotten information, but unretrieved

Memory Interference  Proactive – Forward acting Something learned earlier disrupts something you learn later  Retroactive – backward acting Something new makes it harder to recall something old When is it better to study; when you wake up or before you go to sleep?

Motivated Forgetting  Repression of memories Freud We tend to repress painful memories  Protects our self concept and reduces anxiety  Memory will linger, may not be retrieved until therapy Big part of Freud’s research Many psychologists down play it today  Hard to do when it is very emotional subject

Memory Construction  Misinformation and Imagination Power of suggestion when asking questions  Car Accident video experiment  Misinformation effect Photoshopped memories  Hot air balloon ride  Imagining false events can lead to false memories as well Imagination Inflation – being more likely than others to misremember when told to imagine Visualization and Imagination occur in the same area of the brain The more we imagine, the more real the memories seem

Source Amnesia  Recognizing someone, but not knowing where from or why  Attributing the wrong source to a memory as well  Misattribution Retaining the memory, but not knowing where we acquired it

True and False Memories  We remember the gist of things better than we can remember all the details with imagined memories – but they can last We associate memories with where we are now versus how we may have felt at the time  Very suggestible  Relationships  Love at first sight vs not clicking Memory psychologist interrogated for rape

Children’s recall  A magicians rabbit has gotten loose in the school overheard by students 78% reported actually seeing the rabbit  Very important to use neutral words when asking children questions, because they will construct false memories and entire stories of events

Repressed Memories of Abuse  Innocents accused and disbelief when telling the truth  Many times, therapy can create these false memories and destroy lives and families

To protect children and the wrongly accused  Sexual abuse happens  Injustice happens  Forgetting happens  Recovered memories are common place  Memories before 3 yrs old are unreliable Infantile Amnesia  Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs are unreliable  Memories, real or false, can be emotionally upsetting

Improve your memory  Study repeatedly – Rehearsal  Make the Material meaningful  Activate rehearsal cues Recreate the situation  Use mnemonic devices  Minimize interference  Sleep more  Test yourself