1. Memory – Forgetting and Improving

2. Outline on Forgetting Memories
Amnesia
Anterograde vs Retrograde
Infantile Amnesia
Source Amnesia
Decay Theory
Interference
Retroactive vs Proactive; Stroop Effect
Eyewitness Testimony – Reliable or not
Elizabeth Loftus
Misinformation Effect
Motivated Forgetting

3. Amnesia Video
Anterograde Amnesia – you can recall the past but cannot form new memories
Most common for a short period with concussions
Retrograde Amnesia is when you can’t recall past memories stored in LTM

4. Childhood / Infantile Amnesia
Generally poor memory for events prior to age 2-3
May occur because brain is not fully developed at birth
Hippocampus not fully formed until age 2
May be due to a lack of a clear sense-of-self in young children
May be the absence of language

5. Source Amnesia When we attribute a memory to the wrong source.
Thinking that something happened to you instead of reading it in a story.
Thinking that something you imagined really happened.

6. Forgetting
An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval.

7. Which penny is real?

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

9. Storage Decay
Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay. Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting curve.
Unfamiliar & Uninteresting = more forgetting
Forgot 80% after 1 week
OBJECTIVE 18| Explain why we should value our ability to forget, and distinguish three general ways our memory fails us. 9

10. Decay Theory
The decay theory argues that the passage of time causes forgetting.
The longer information is not accessed, increases the chances of forgetting it.

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

12. Interference Retroactive interference
Occurs when you are being tested on old information (hint retro means old) and new information interferes proper retrieval.
I know this seems reversed. To get this correct you must first ask yourself. . . “What is being tested?”
If the answer is old information the term you use is RETROactive Interference

13. Try remembering the following number
Ok that was easy because nothing interfered with you.

14. Now let’s try some interference

15. Now let’s try some interference
First, consistent with cognitive dissonance theories, we are able to induce optimism or pessimism with the initial (random) wage assignment. With respect to the first-stage task, this implies that we can successfully manipulate one’s ability-beliefs in the lab. Secondly, subjects who received this low piece-rate in stage one were willing to accept significantly lower offers in a second-stage ultimatum game. This finding is striking, demonstrating the presence of both belief manipulation and spillovers of those beliefs into behavioral outcomes in an unrelated and distinct experimental environment.

16. Try remembering the following number

17. Try remembering the following number

18. Retro-active Interference
The last two were examples of retro-active interference
In each one, it was the OLD (retro) information that was being tested.
The last trial was the hardest because it overloaded your modality.

19. Retroactive Interference
Sleep helps prevent retroactive interference. Therefore, it leads to better recall.

20. Proactive interference
Occurs when you are being tested on NEW information (Latin route for pro meaning in front of as in proceed ) and old information interferes proper retrieval.
I know this seems reversed. To get this correct you must first ask yourself. . . “What is being tested?”
If the answer is NEW information the term you use is PROactive Interference

21. Which is which?
You are trying to type in your new password, but instead you accidently type in the old password.
You are writing an essay about WWI on your final exam but all you can remember is information about WWII.

22. 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
This is called the stroop effect

23. Red Yellow Green Blue

24. 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.

25. Eyewitness Testimony – Reliable?
Video

26. Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer: Memory Experiment and Hypothesis
OBJECTIVE 15| Explain how retrieval cues help us access stored memories, and describe the process of priming.
Hypothesis: People will remember a car accident differently if given different language cues (words) about the accident 26

27. Loftus and Palmer: Methodology
Students watched a film of two cars colliding
Collision was moderate with no broken glass
5 Groups were asked different questions:
hit, smashed, collided, bumped, contacted

28. Loftus and Palmer: Results
VERB
MEAN ESTIMATE OF SPEED (MPH)
Smashed
40.8
Collided
39.3
Bumped
38.1
Hit
34.0
Contacted
31.8
People reported the fastest speeds if the researchers had used the word “smashed” in the question
From fastest to slowest reported speeds: smashed, collided, bumped, hit, and contacted groups

29. Loftus and Palmer: Results
One week later, subjects were asked if they had seen broken glass
32% of subjects asked the “smashed” question said yes; 14% of subjects asked the “hit” question said yes

30. Loftus and Palmer: Results and Implications
People remember things differently depending on the language used to describe an event (e.g., “smashed” versus “hit”)
Misinformation effect – memories can become skewed when presented with misinformation (Eye Witness Test) 60 Minutes- Eyewitness

31. Motivated Forgetting
Motivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories.
Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
OBJECTIVE 20| Discuss the concept of storage decay, and describe Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve.
Culver Pictures
Sigmund Freud 31

32. Outline on Improving Memories
Flashbulb Memories; Eidetic Memory; Deja-Vu
Improving Encoding
Chunking
Serial Position Effect (Primacy vs Recency)
Developing Schemata and Hierarchies
Deep vs. Shallow processing
Improving Storage
Spacing Effect
Rote vs Elaborative Rehearsal
Link Method, Loci Method
Improving Retrieval
Retrieval Cues
Priming
Situational and Context Dependent memories

33. Flashbulb Memories Flashbulb memories Vivid memories of dramatic event
May occur because of strong emotional content

34. Eidetic Memory Pop culture calls this a photographic memory
Usually due to well developed memory techniques
Video

35. Recovered memories
Involved the recall of long-forgotten dramatic event
May be the result of suggestion
Some evidence that memories can be repressed and recalled later

36. Improving Encoding Chunking
Serial Position Effect (Primacy vs Recency)
Developing Schemata and Hierarchies
Deep vs. Shallow processing

37. Schemata
A schema is a set of beliefs or expectations about something based on past experience
Incoming information is fit with existing schemata
(graphic organizers)
Schemata can also influence the amount of attention paid to a given event
Reconstruction
Memories can be altered with each retrieval
We do this to keep the schemata of our self and our environment

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

39. Deep Versus Shallow Processing
Deep Processing analyzes meaning
Shallow processing does not

40. Improving Storage Spacing Effect Rote vs Elaborative Rehearsal
Link Method, Loci Method

41. Maintaining Long-Term Memory
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.

42. Maintaining Long-Term Memory
Elaborative rehearsal
Process of relating new information to information already stored in memory
Meaning is assigned to new information and then linked to as much existing knowledge as possible

43. Link Method
First imagine a silly, memorable image that represents the type of list you want to remember. Also include in this image the first item on the list (see below for example). This image is your header for the list.
Think of another silly, memorable image that links the first item on the list to the second item and so on.

44. Method of Loci
In this technique the subject memorizes the layout of some building, or the arrangement of shops on a street, or any geographical entity which is composed of a number of discrete loci. When desiring to remember a set of items the subject literally 'walks' through these loci and commits an item to each one by forming an image between the item and any distinguishing feature of that locus.

45. Improving Retrieval Retrieval Cues Priming
Situational and Context Dependent memories

46. 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

47. 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.

48. Déja Vu
Déja 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

49. State-dependent memory
Where and when matters
Situational factors
Recall of information is better if environment is the same as when information was learned
Context dependent – recall is better when in the same context of which it was learned
State-dependent memory
Recall of information is better if person is in the same physiological state (mood) as when information was learned