4. Memory
Studying Memory: Information Processing Models To remember any event, we must get information into our brain (encoding), retain that information (storage), and later get it back out (retrieval).

5. Studying Memory: Information Processing Models
Preview Question 1: How do psychologists describe the human memory system?
Keyboard
(Encoding)
Disk
(Storage)
Monitor
(Retrieval)
Sequential Process

6. Memory
Memory is the basis for knowing your friends, your neighbors, the English language, the national anthem, and yourself. If memory was nonexistent, everyone would be a stranger to you; every language foreign; every task new; and even you yourself would be a stranger.

7. The Seven Dwarfs Tip-of-the tongue phenomenon (TOT) Memory Pattern?
Recall vs. Recognition
Grouchy, Gabby, Fearful, Sleepy, Smiley, Jumpy, Hopeful, Shy, Droopy, Dopey, Sniffy, Wishful, Puffy, Dumpy, Sneezy, Lazy, Pop, Grumpy, Bashful, Cheerful, Shorty, Nifty, Happy, Doc, Wheezy and Stubby.
Clive Wearing:

8. Information Processing
The Atkinson-Schiffrin (1968) three-stage model of memory includes a) sensory memory, b) short-term memory, and c) long-term memory.
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
Frank Wartenberg/ Picture Press/
Corbis
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works

9. Modifications to the Three-Stage Model
Some information skips the first two stages and enters long-term memory automatically.
Since we cannot focus on all the sensory information received, we select information that is important to us and actively process it into our working memory.

10. Working Memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

11. Encoding: Getting Information In
How We Encode
Some information (route to school) is automatically processed.
However, new or unusual information (friend’s new cell-phone number) requires attention and effort.
Preview Question 2: What information do we encode automatically? What information do we encode effortfully, and how does the distribution of practice influence retention?

12. Automatic Processing
We process an enormous amount of information effortlessly, such as the following:
Space: While reading a textbook, you automatically encode the place of a picture on a page.
Time: We unintentionally note the events that take place in a day.
Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of things that happen to you.

13. Effortful Processing
Committing novel information to memory requires effort just like learning a concept from a textbook. Such processing leads to durable and accessible memories.
Spencer Grant/ Photo Edit
© Bananastock/ Alamy

14. Effortful learning usually requires rehearsal or conscious repetition.
Ebbinghaus studied rehearsal by using nonsense syllables: TUV YOF GEK XOZ
Hermann Ebbinghaus
( )

15. Rehearsal
The more times the nonsense syllables were practiced on Day 1,
the fewer repetitions were required to remember them on Day 2.

16. Rehersal Rote rehearsal Repetition can result in long-term memory
Only effective if there is intent to learn material
Example: What does a penny look like?
The accurate picture is the one third from the left. Most people will get this wrong because although they have seen a lot of pennies, they never pay attention so they never learn.

17. Memory Effects
Spacing Effect: We retain information better when we rehearse over time.
Serial Position Effect: When your recall is better for first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items.
Presidential Recall

18. Serial Position Effect
People tend to recall the first items (primacy effect) and last items (recency effect) in a list
Demonstrates how short- and long-term memory work together
Primacy effect reflects long-term memory
Recency effect reflects short-term memory

19. Encoding Meaning
Processing the meaning of verbal information by associating it with what we already know or imagine. Encoding meaning (semantic encoding) results in better recognition later than visual or acoustic encoding.

20. Visual Encoding
Mental pictures (imagery) are a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding.
Both photos: Ho/AP Photo
Showing adverse effects of tanning and smoking
in a picture may be more powerful than simply talking about it.

21. Mnemonics
Imagery is at the heart of many memory aids. Mnemonic techniques use vivid imagery and organizational devices in aiding memory.

22. Organizing Information for Encoding
Break down complex information into broad concepts and further subdivide them into categories and subcategories.
Chunking
Hierarchies

23. Chunking
Organizing items into a familiar, manageable unit. Try to remember the numbers below.

24. Acronyms are another way of chunking information to remember it.
HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
ROY G. BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

25. Hierarchy
Complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided into categories and subcategories.

26. Encoding Summarized in a Hierarchy

27. Storage: Retaining Information
Storage is at the heart of memory. Three stores of memory are shown below:
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Retrieval

28. The longer the delay, the greater the memory loss.
Sensory Memory
The longer the delay, the greater the memory loss. 20 40 60 80
Percent Recognized
0.15
0.30
0.50
1.00
Time (Seconds)

29. The duration of sensory memory varies for the different senses.
Sensory Memories
The duration of sensory memory varies for the different senses.
Iconic
0.5 sec. long
Echoic
3-4 sec. long

30. Working Memory Sensory Memory Working Memory Long-term Memory Events
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Preview Question 5: What are the duration and capacity of short-term and of long-term memory?
Retrieval

31. Working Memory
Working memory, the new name for short-term memory, has a limited capacity (7±2) and a short duration (20 seconds).

32. Capacity M U T G I K T L R S Y P
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information (1956).
Ready?
M U T G I K T L R S Y P
You should be able to
recall 7±2 letters.
George Miller

33. Chunking FBI TWA CIA IBM 4 chunks
The capacity of the working memory may be increased by “chunking.”
F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M
FBI TWA CIA IBM
4 chunks

34. Working Memory Duration
The duration of the working memory is about 20 sec.

35. Recall Quiet Dark Night Bed Quilt
Night Artichoke Silence Toss Turn Fatigue

36. Long-Term Memory Sensory Memory Working Memory Long-term Memory Events
Encoding
Events
Encoding
Retrieval
Retrieval

37. Long-Term Memory Essentially unlimited capacity store.
R.J. Erwin/ Photo Researchers
The Clark’s nutcracker can locate 6,000 caches of
buried pine seeds during winter and spring.

38. Memory Feats

39. Memory Stores Feature Sensory Memory Working Memory LTM Encoding Copy
Phonemic
Semantic
Capacity
Unlimited
7±2 Chunks
Very Large
Duration
0.25 sec.
20 sec.
Years

40. Storing Memories in the Brain
Loftus and Loftus (1980) reviewed previous research data showing, through brain stimulation, that memories were etched into the brain and found that only a handful of brain stimulated patients reported flashbacks.
Using rats, Lashley (1950) suggested that even after removing parts of the brain, the animals retain partial memory of the maze.
Preview Question 6: How does the brain store our memories?

41. Synaptic Changes
In Aplysia, Kandel and Schwartz (1982) showed that serotonin release from neurons increased after conditioning.
Photo: Scientific American

42. Synaptic Changes
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) refers to synaptic enhancement after learning (Lynch, 2002). An increase in neurotransmitter release or receptors on the receiving neuron indicates strengthening of synapses.
Both Photos: From N. Toni et al., Nature, 402, Nov Courtesy of Dominique Muller

43. Stress Hormones & Memory
Heightened emotions (stress-related or otherwise) make for stronger memories. Flashbulb memories are clear memories of emotionally significant moments or events
Scott Barbour/ Getty Images

44. Storing Implicit & Explicit Memories
Explicit Memory refers to facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare. Implicit memory involves learning an action while the individual does not know or declare what she knows.

45. A Case Study in Working Memory:
Implicit memory: memory in which previous experiences aid in the performance of a task without conscious awareness of these previous experiences.
We say these memories do NOT require executive control.
Example: procedural memory: brushing your teeth, eating dinner with a fork
Explicit memory is the conscious, intentional recollection of previous experiences and information.
We say these memories DO require executive control.
Example: recalling information for a test, recalling what time you have a destist appointment.

46. Exactly Where in the Brain is a Memory Located?
Karl Lashley (1950):
Trained rats to navigate maze
Then, Cut out pieces of their brain.
Then, Retested their ability to navigate maze.
Preview Question 6: How does the brain store our memories?
Findings: No matter what part of the brain was removed the rats retained some memory of what they had learned.
What it means: memories are not stored in discrete, precise locations.

47. Hippocampus Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbic
system that processes explicit memories.
Weidenfield & Nicolson archives

48. Anterograde Amnesia (HM)
After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient Henry M. (HM) remembered everything before the operation but cannot make new memories. We call this anterograde amnesia.
Anterograde Amnesia (HM)
Memory Intact
No New Memories
Surgery

49. Implicit Memory HM is unable to make new memories that are
declarative (explicit), but he can form new
memories that are procedural (implicit). C B A
HM learned the Tower of Hanoi (game) after his surgery. Each time he plays it, he is unable to remember the fact that he has already played the game.

50. Cerebellum Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain
that processes implicit memories.

51. Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Retrieval refers to getting information out of the memory store.
Preview Question7: How do we get information out of memory?
Spanky’s Yearbook Archive
Spanky’s Yearbook Archive

52. Measures of Memory
In recognition, the person must identify an item amongst other choices. (A multiple-choice test requires recognition.)
Name the capital of France.
Brussels
Rome
London
Paris

53. Measures of Memory
In recall, the person must retrieve information using effort. (A fill-in-the blank test requires recall.)
The capital of France is ______.

54. Measures of Memory
In relearning, the individual shows how much time (or effort) is saved when learning material for the second time.
List
Jet
Dagger
Tree
Kite …
Silk
Frog
Ring
List
Jet
Dagger
Tree
Kite …
Silk
Frog
Ring
1 day later
It took 10 trials
to learn this list
It took 5 trials
to learn the list

55. Retrieval Cues
Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations are like anchors that help retrieve memory.
water
smell
hose
Fire Truck
fire
smoke
truck
heat
red

56. Priming
To retrieve a specific memory from the web of associations, you must first activate one of the strands that leads to it. This process is called priming.

57. Context Effects
Scuba divers recall more words underwater if they learned the list underwater, while they recall more words on land if they learned that list on land (Godden & Baddeley, 1975).
Preview Question 8: How do external contexts and internal emotions influence memory retrieval?
Fred McConnaughey/ Photo Researchers

58. Déjà Vu
Déjà Vu means “I've experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience.
© The New Yorker Collection, Leo Cullum from
cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved

59. Context Effects
After learning to move a mobile by kicking, infants most strongly respond when retested in the same context rather than in a different context (Rovee-Collier, 1993).
Courtesy of Carolyn Rovee-Collier,
Rutgers University

60. Moods and Memories
We usually recall experiences that are consistent with our current mood (state-dependent memory). Emotions, or moods, serve as retrieval cues. Our memories are mood-congruent.
Jorgen Schytte/ Still Pictures

61. Forgetting
An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval.
The Case of A.J.
Preview Question 9: Why do we forget?

62. We cannot remember what we do not encode.
Encoding Failure
We cannot remember what we do not encode.

63. Storage Decay
Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay. Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting curve.

64. Retaining Spanish
Bahrick (1984) showed a similar pattern of forgetting and retaining over 50 years.
Andrew Holbrooke/ Corbis

65. Retrieval Failure
Although the information is retained in the memory store, it cannot be accessed.
Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon. Given a cue (What makes blood cells red?) the subject says the word begins with an H (hemoglobin).

66. Interference Learning some new information may disrupt
retrieval of other information.

67. I need a volunteer that knows their colors.
Don’t read the words, just say the colors they’re printed in and as fast as you can

68. Red Yellow Green Blue

69. Interference
When you look at the words you see both its color and meaning.
When they are in conflict you must make a choice
Experience has taught you that word meaning is more important than color so you retrieve that information.
You are not always in complete control of what you pay attention to.

70. Retroactive Interference
Sleep prevents retroactive interference. Therefore, it
leads to better recall.

71. Motivated Forgetting
Motivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories.
Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
Culver Pictures
Sigmund Freud

72. Why do we forget?
Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. We filter, alter, or lose much information during these stages.

73. Who is most susceptible to the misinformation effect?
Memory Construction
While tapping our memories, we filter or fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent.
Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
Who is most susceptible to the misinformation effect?
Preview Question 10: How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction? How real-seeming are false memories?

74. Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when questioned about the event.
Depiction of the actual accident.

75. Misinformation
Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other? Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?

76. Memory Construction
A week later they were asked: Was there any broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A (hit).

77. Source Amnesia
Source Amnesia: Attributing an event to the wrong source that we experienced, heard, read, or imagined (misattribution).

78. Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Children’s eyewitness recall can be unreliable if leading questions are posed. However, if cognitive interviews are neutrally worded, the accuracy of their recall increases. In cases of sexual abuse, this usually suggests a lower percentage of abuse.

79. Memories of Abuse
Are memories of abuse repressed or constructed? Many psychotherapists believe that early childhood sexual abuse results in repressed memories. However, other psychologists question such beliefs and think that such memories may be constructed.
Preview Question 11: What is the controversy related to claims of repressed and recovered memories?

80. Constructed Memories
Loftus’ research shows that if false memories (lost at the mall or drowned in a lake) are implanted in individuals, they construct (fabricate) their memories.
Don Shrubshell

81. Consensus on Childhood Abuse
Leading psychological associations of the world agree
on the following concerning childhood sexual abuse:
Injustice happens.
Incest and other sexual abuse happen.
People may forget.
Recovered memories are commonplace.
Recovered memories under hypnosis or drugs are unreliable.
Memories of things happening before 3 years of age are unreliable.
Memories, whether real or false, are emotionally upsetting.

82. Improving Memory Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall.
Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material.
Make material personally meaningful.
Use mnemonic devices:
associate with peg words — something already stored
make up a story
chunk — acronyms
Preview Question 12: How can an understanding of memory contribute to more effective study techniques?

83. Improving Memory
Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate the situation and mood.
Recall events while they are fresh — before you encounter misinformation.
Minimize interference:
Test your own knowledge.
Rehearse and then determine what you do not yet know.
© LWA-Dann Tardiff/ Corbis