1. Lecture 13 Forgetting and the Brain

2. What is the best way to study for an exam? A.Distributed practice (studying over time) B.Massed practice (cramming in 1 or 2 days) C.All-nighters (cramming in 1 or 2 hours)

3. Remembering exactly where you were and what you were doing on 9/11/2001 is an example of: A.Intentional learning B.Elaborative encoding C.A flashbulb memory D.Depth processing

4. Summary – Differences between memory models Ways information gets stored –Rehearsal –Attention –Deep Processing –Strong Emotion

5. Objectives Consider how people study forgetting Consider major theories of forgetting When retrieval goes wrong Consider mnemonics to reduce forgetting Consider what happens in the brain during memory and forgetting

6. Retrieving information Recognition – matching stimuli to a stored representation (like multiple choice) Recall – the act of intentionally bringing stored representations to awareness (short answer) Which is easier?

7. Demonstration Recall and Recognition

8. What Causes Forgetting? Decay –Theory that memories fade over time because relevant connections between neurons are lost Interferences –Theory that the disruption of the ability to remember one piece of information is caused by the presence of other information –Retroactive: New information interferes with old –Proactive: Old information interferes with new

9. Other factors related to forgetting Encoding failures Intentional forgetting

10. Amnesia: Physiological causes of forgetting Retrograde amnesia disrupts previous memories –Infantile amnesia Anterograde amnesia leaves already consolidated memories intact but prevents the learning of new facts –Patient H.M. –Movie: Memento

11. Using Cues Cues – stimuli that help you remember –Tip of the tongue phenomenon (demo) –Encoding specificity –State dependent retrieval –Hypermnesia – improval of memory over time

12. Retrieval: More Than the Past False memories –In the Bugs Bunny study, Loftus talked with subjects about their childhoods and asked not only whether they saw someone dressed up as the character, but also whether they hugged his furry body and stroked his velvety ears. In subsequent interviews, 36 percent of the subjects recalled the cartoon rabbit.

13. Demonstration Productions of false memories

14. Loftus and colleagues (1978) False Memories Loftus and colleagues (1978) People watched a series of slides that showed a red Datsun stopping at a stop sign and then proceeding into an accident Participants were asked “Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped at the stop sign?” OR “Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped at the yield sign?”

15. The Repressed Memory Debate Are they real memories that are forced out of consciousness and then later emerge, as hypothesized by Freud, or are they false memories? Evidence is mixed

16. Improving Memory Depth and breadth of processing Transfer appropriate processing Distributed practice Mnemonic devices –Visualize interacting objects –Method of loci –Peg word system: 1 is a bun –Acronyms (NOW), Initialisms (VFW), Sentences: My very educated mother…

17. Biological Foundations The role of the hippocampus –Supporting evidence – HM (and others) –Stress and memories

18. Biological Foundations The role of the hippocampus –Supporting evidence – HM (and others) –Stress and memories The role of other sub-cortical structures –Imaging techniques Modality differences Implicit and explicit differences

19. The search for the engram The role of the cortex –Brain stimulation –Brain removal

20. Consolidation The process of forming a relatively permanent memory trace = Long-term potentiation (LTP) is the strengthening of the connections between the sending and receiving neurons that underlies memory storage

21. Biological Foundations of Memory Human genes clearly play a role in memory –The apolipoprotein E (apo E) gene is present in many people who develop Alzheimer’s disease

22. Video Clip – Implicit v Explicit Memory 18. Living With Amnesia: The Hippocampus and Memory 18. Living With Amnesia: The Hippocampus and Memory

23. Multiple choice exams are testing: A.Recall B.Recognition C.Storage D.Hypermnesia

24. If you decide to study while drinking, how should you take your test? A.While drinking B.Sober

25. Do you believe in false memories? A.Yes B.No

26. Jamie uses the acronym “HOMES” to remember the names of the Great Lakes. Jamie is using: A.a mnemonic B.chunking C.rehearsal D.method of loci

27. Can you diagnose this man? Ed is conked on the head with a baseball. While he is able to recall events BEFORE he was hit on the head he is unable to formulate new memories.

28. What is Ed suffering from? A.Anterograde amnesia B.Retrograde amnesia C.Retroactive interference D.Repressed memories