1. Three-Step Memory Process
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
integrating information into the memory system
preserving encoded material in memory
accessing memory from storage
You say her name over and over in your head to memorize it.
You have to recall her name when you want to snapchat her.
You meet a hot lady and learn her name.

2. Computers Do This Same Process!
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
We are going to focus on this element of memory today.
You type into a computer.
You hit “save” to preserve your document.
You can “open” your file at a later date.

3. Story Time!
You go to your favorite restaurant tonight for dinner, Gerald’s Pizzaria. You are seated at a table with a white tablecloth. You study the menu. You tell the server you want a large pan style pizza with cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms. You also order a salad with blue cheese dressing and a cherry coke from the drink list. Twenty-five minutes later the server returns with meal. You enjoy it all, except the pizza is a little burnt.

4. Story Questions What kind of salad dressing did you order?
Was the tablecloth red checkered?
What did you order to drink?
What was the restaurant name?
Did the server give you a menu?
Was the server a man?
What toppings did you order on the pizza?
Did the meal take less than a half hour to arrive?
Did you tip the waiter?
When did you go to the restaurant?

5. Retrieval: accessing memory from storage
If I asked you if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, you would access your memory and tell me – this is the act of retrieval.

6. Memory Retrieval Priming: a stimulus evoking the recall of a memory
“When I hear ___________, I think of ___________.”
When I ask you about white people, what terms come to mind? What about hispanics? Or blacks? Or asians?
Mnemonic Devices are examples of priming (ROYGBIV)
What associations do the pictures below bring up in your mind?

7. Memory Retrieval
Context Effects: recall rate is improved if remembering is occurring in the same location as where the memory was formed
If you go to your old house, it may conjure up old memories.
Visit your middle school and you may suddenly remember you old locker combination.
If I have half of you take your next exam in a different room, you will likely score worse than if you took it in your normal Psych room.
Déjà vu is probably just cues from the current situation triggering retrieval of an earlier experience
Land/Water Experiment
Land/Water Experiment: People were categorized into two groups: a land group and a water group. Each group was taught a list of words they were supposed to memorize (either on land, or submerged under water). Later, participants in each group was tested on their recall of the words: the “land” group was further divided into a group that had their test on land (same context) and a group that was tested underwater (different context). Likewise, the “under water” group was tested, half on land (different context) and half under water (same context). Results showed that the groups who were taught the words and tested on the words in the same context performed better on the recall test than groups who were taught and tested in different contexts.

8. Memory Retrieval
Mood-Congruent Memory: memory recall tends to be consistent with the mood you are in
If you’re jubilant, you’ll think of other happy memories!
If you’re depressed, you’ll tend to think of other sad memories. This happens less often than the happy memories (when we’re sad we try to regulate our mood by not thinking about negative things)
This also includes state-dependent memory (while intoxicated, you’ll remember other intoxicated memories)

9. Memory Retrieval
FIRST… list as many of the states in the country as you can remember.
NOW… try again, using this image as a resource.
This is a recognition/recall exercise. Listing all the states without reference is recall. Listing them with a map to guide you is recognitino.

11. Memory Retrieval
Recall: memory retrieval conducted without any cues or references
When I first asked you to name all the states
Ex: essay, short answer, fill-in-the-blank question
______ was the twenty-sixth president of the United States.
Recognition: memory retrieval conducted by identifying learned items
When I gave you the pictures of the states as hints
Ex: multiple-choice question
Who was the twenty-sixth president of the United States? A: George Washington B: Teddy Roosevelt

12. Is this what a penny looks like?
Retrieval Failure
Failure to Encode: sometimes we fail to encode because there is just too much information and we don’t notice small details
If students have trouble answering the penny question, it’s not that they forgot what a penny looks like, but that they probably never fully encoded all of the details.
Is this what a penny looks like?
(consider the words, orientation of the picture, color, shape, etc.)

13. Key Point? Forgetting is rapid at first, then stabilizes over time
Retrieval Failure
Hermann Ebbinghaus Study / Curve of Forgetting: taught himself nonsense syllables (dak, bax, etc.) then measured how much he still remembered at later time intervals
Key Point? Forgetting is rapid at first, then stabilizes over time

14. Retrieval Failure Amnesia: memory loss
When people say they “forgot” something, their brain still has the information; they’re just having trouble accessing it
Literal memory loss can be caused by brain trauma, alcohol abuse, or electroconvulsive therapy
Old age can also cause memory loss as the brain begins to wither and decay; neural networks become destroyed and “routes” to information are lost

15. Retrieval Failure Proactive Interference: Retroactive Interference:
Old learning interfering with memory of new learning
PEDAL (Prior Disrupts Later)
Ex: you call your new girlfriend your old girlfriend’s name
Retroactive Interference:
New learning interfering with recall of old learning
Ex: you call your old girlfriend your new girlfriend’s name
Ex: miss test day, next day start new unit, following day go to take original test but keep thinking of new material

16. Retrieval Failure
Repression is a defense mechanism where your consciousness buries threatening memories
Our mind is protecting itself!
Often uncovered through hypnosis... but is it real?
Childhood sexual abuse hypnosis scandal of the 80s
Repressed memories “recovered” under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable

17. Memory Construction
Misinformation Effect: disingenuous information alters one’s memory of an event
Traffic accident video experiment
All saw same video, but then asked how fast the cars were going when they “___________ eachother” (different groups given different words such as contacted, hit, bumped, smashed, etc.) and the word affected the results
A week later, researchers asked viewers if they had seen broken glass, twice as likely to recall if asked “smashed”
The longer it’s been since the event happened, the more likely it is to inject misinformation

18. Memory Construction
Imagination Effect: actively imagining fake events can actually create false memories
Occurs partly because visualizing something and actually perceiving it activate similar brain areas
Pathological liars can beat polygraphs: machines commonly used in attempts to detect lies)

19. Memory Construction How do polygraphs work?
They measure your physiological responses such as breathing, cardiovascular activity, and perspiration
Begin by asking questions they know the truthful answers to already (your age, your name, etc.)—these are called “control questions”
Then ask the “relevant questions” – the ones they want to know if you’re lying or not
Then they compare your body responses between the two... if you are lying, your body should indicate so by acting “differently” than in the control questions

20. Memory Construction How effective are polygraphs?
Ineffective enough that they are no longer admissible in court
In one experiment, 100 people were given lie detectors to see how accurate the polygraphs were
50 were innocent of a crime
The polygraph declared 1/3 of these innocent people guilty
50 were guilty of the crime
The polygraph declared 1/4 of these guilty people innocent
Now that you know how polygraphs work... can you hypothesize how they can be beaten?

21. Memory Construction
Source Amnesia: mis-remembering the source of a memory
Avril Lavigne thinks she created the song “Girlfriend” but it sounds much like an older song... maybe she unintentionally plagiarized something she heard when she was younger.
“The Rubinoos” – I Want to be your Boyfriend (1979)

22. PowerPoint Notes
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