1. Memory Chapter 7

2. Memory Studying Memory Building Memories
An Information-Processing Model
Two Memory Tracks
Building Memories
Encoding: Getting Information In
Storage: Retaining Information
Retrieval: Getting Information Out

3. Memory Forgetting Improving Memory Encoding Failure Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
Improving Memory

4. Memory is the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage and retrieval of information 7 Dwarfs

5. Building a Memory To remember any information or experience requires:
Encoding: getting information into our brain
Storage: retaining the encoded information
Retrieval: getting the information back out of memory storage

6. An Information-Processing Model
A model of memory based on a computer (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)
Experience is first recorded, for just a moment, as a sensory memory
Information is processed into short-term memory, encoded through rehearsal
Holds a few items briefly
Information moves to long-term memory for later retrieval

7. Updates to the I-P Model
Some memories are formed through unconscious processing, without our awareness
Working memory: a view of short-term memory that stresses conscious, active processes
Working memory is not just a storage shelf, but an active desktop for linking new and old information

8. An Information-Processing Model

9. Two-Track Processing: Automatic vs. Effortful
We automatically process vast amounts of everyday information
We remember new and important information through effortful processing

10. Automatic Processing We automatically process information about Space
“The definition was at the top of the right page”
Time
“I went to the store before lunch”
Frequency
“This is the third time I’ve seen her today!”

11. Effortful Processing Requires close attention and effort
Memory can be improved through rehearsal, the conscious repetition of information
Rehearsal was the subject of one of many studies of memory by Hermann Ebbinghaus

12. Effortful Processing
Spacing effect: we remember better if study or practice is spread over time
Cramming is less effective!
Testing effect: repeated quizzing of previously studied material also helps

13. Building Memories Encoding: Getting Information In
Storage: Retaining Information
Retrieval: Getting Information Out

14. Encoding Meaning We may encode meaning rather than raw information
When asked to recall text, we often report the meaning, or gist, rather than the raw text
It can be difficult to remember things without a meaningful context
You will more easily remember what you read and hear if you translate it into personally meaningful information
Encoding ex. 7a-4

15. Encoding Images
We can more easily remember things we can process visually as well as meaningfully
Memorable sentences often evoke powerful imagery, or mental pictures
High-imagery words are more easily remembered than low-imagery words
Visual vs auditory encoded exercise

16. Sensory Memory
Storage is extremely short, especially for visual sensory memory - sparklers
Study: Sperling (1960) flashed nine letters for 1/20th of a second.
Sensory memory made the letters momentarily available for encoding.
Exercise - capacity

17. Storage Capacities Short-term memory capacity is limited
The Magical Number Seven, plus or minus two (George Miller, 1956)
Exercise - capacity
Long-term memory seems to have no limit and can endure for a lifetime
Jill Price – the woman who never forgets

18. Serial Position
Serial position effect: We remember the first and last items in a list best
After a delay, we only remember the first items best
Exercise – capacity and position effect

19. How Does the Brain Store Memory?
Memory is not stored like books in a library, in neat, precise locations.
Rather, different aspects of a memory are assigned to various groups of neurons.
Thus, to understand how memory works, we must study the brain
Clive Wearing video

20. Flashbulb Memories
Emotion-triggered hormone changes help explain flashbulb memories, unusually clear memories of an emotionally significant moment or event
E.g., many people remember exactly where they were on September 11, 2001

21. Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Evidence that something has been remembered:
The item can be recalled, as on a fill-in-the-blank test
The item can be recognized, as on a multiple-choice test
Recognition memory is quick and vast
Relearning the item may be easier than it was the first time

22. Retrieval Cues
Memories are linked together in the brain, in a storage web of associations.
These associations can serve as retrieval cues, any stimuli (events, feelings, places, etc.) linked to a specific memory
The more retrieval cues you’ve encoded, the better chance of finding a path to retrieve the memory
Retrieval exercise

23. Context Effects
Returning to the context where you experienced something can prime your memory of it
Godden and Baddeley (1975) had scuba divers learn lists of words on land or underwater, and then attempt to recall them in the same or different context

24. Context Effects
Sometimes being in a similar context to one previously experienced can trigger the eerie feeling of déjà vu (I’ve seen this before)
This can happen when the current situation is loaded with retrieval cues that remind us of earlier, similar experiences
déjà vu exercise
Crash course video #13

25. Memory failure Forgetting Improving Memory Encoding Failure
Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
Improving Memory

26. Encoding Failure
We cannot remember what we have not encoded

27. Storage Decay Forgetting is initially rapid, and then levels off
People who had studied Spanish in high school but not after were tested on vocabulary recall
One explanation may be a gradual fading of the memory trace, the physical changes in the brain as a memory forms

28. Retrieval Failure
We can sometimes fail to retrieve a memory because we don’t have enough information to access the pathway to it

29. Forgetting
Forgetting, the loss of information in between sensation and retrieval, can occur at any stage Eye Witness Testimony video part 1 Part II

30. Tips for Improving Memory
Study repeatedly
Space study sessions apart
Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material
Make the material personally meaningful
Activate retrieval cues
Minimize interference
Sleep more
Test your knowledge, both to rehearse it and to find out what you don’t know