Memory
Information processing 8Encoding - Getting information in 8Storage - Retaining information 8Retrieval - Getting information out
Automatic & Effortful processing
Encoding - Getting information in
Types on Encoding 8Visual - Images are more easily remembered than abstract concepts 8Acoustic - Sounds (hearing the word) 8Songs 8Semantic - Meaning - (for words) 8Self-reference effect 8You remember items that refer to yourself
Rehearsal (continuous repetition) 8Spacing Effect 8Ebbinghaus’s retention curve 8We retain information better when study time is spaced out 8Spaced study beats cramming - E.g minute segments beat one hour of study
Instant encoding & storage 8Flashbulb memories Titanic 8President Kennedy 8Space Shuttle Challenger
Serial Position Effect 8We remember the first and last items better than ones in the middle.
Mnemonics - Encoding Imagery 8Mnemonics (Greek for memory) 8Method of Loci 8Chunking 8License plate 8Phone # 8Words 8Association 8E.g. Grocery list
Mnemonics (cont.) 8“Peg word” system 8Numbers into pictures 81 = Bun 82 = Shoe 83 = Tree 84 = Door 85 = Hive 86 = Sticks 87 = Heaven 88 = Gate 89 = Swine 810 = Hen 8Attach items to be remembered to the pictures
Storage - Retaining information Iconic (sensory) memory - Movie frames Tenths of a second Short term memory - Phone # Few minutes Long term memory - Experiences Years
Long term memories Bike ridingTrip to EgyptTestSomething was fun
Memory decay
Brain (synaptic) changes 8Long-term potentiation (LTP) 8Stimulating neurons increased efficiency 8Sending neuron released its neurotransmitter more easily 8Receptor sights may increase. 8May explain why experience and repetition can increase memory.
Retrieval - (Remembering)
Retrieval cues 8Priming 8Memories are held by a web of associations - identify one strand and it leads to others 8Associations 8E.g. Wedding song 8Retrieval cues can be sights, sounds, smells and tastes
Forgetting
Encoding failure 8You did not learn it 8Names are forgotten because they were never encoded. 8Storage decay 8Penny example
Retrieval Failure 8You can not remember it 8Proactive (forward-acting) interference 8Earlier learning reduces later learning 8Retroactive (backward-acting) interference 8Later learning reduces earlier learning
Retrieval Failure (Cont.)
Memory Construction
Misinformation effect 8Given misinformation about an event someone experienced, they misremember the event.
Source amnesia (Source misattribution) 8You remember something as real, but forget the source of the memory (e.g. a movie). 8E.g. After repeatedly hearing false detailed accounts of an accident you were in, you begin to mistakenly “remember” that these events actually occurred. 8(You forgot that they were told to you)
Repressed or constructed memories 8Therapeutic techniques such as guided imagery can easily encourage construction of false memories. 8Memories “recovered” under hypnosis or drugs are particularly unreliable.