1. Chapter 7: Human Memory

2. Human Memory: Basic Questions
Encoding
How does information get into memory?
Storage
How is information maintained in memory?
Retrieval
How is information pulled back out of memory?

3. Figure 7.2 Three key processes in memory

4. Encoding: Getting Information Into Memory
The role of attention
Focusing awareness
Selective attention = selection of input
Filtering: early or late?

5. Figure 7.3 Models of selective attention

6. Levels of Processing: Craik and Lockhart (1972)
Incoming information processed at different levels
Deeper processing = longer lasting memory codes
Encoding levels:
Structural = shallow
Phonemic = intermediate
Semantic = deep

7. Figure 7.4 Levels-of-processing theory

8. Figure 7.5 Retention at three levels of processing

9. Enriching Encoding: Improving Memory
Elaboration = linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding
Thinking of examples
Visual Imagery = creation of visual images to represent words to be remembered
Easier for concrete objects: Dual-coding theory
Self-Referent Encoding
Making information personally meaningful

10. Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory
Analogy: information storage in computers ~ information storage in human memory
Information-processing theories
Subdivide memory into 3 different stores
Sensory, Short-term, Long-term

11. Figure 7.7 The Atkinson and Schiffrin model of memory storage

12. Sensory Memory
Brief preservation of information in original sensory form
Auditory/Visual – approximately ¼ second
George Sperling (1960)
Classic experiment on visual sensory store

13. Figure 7.8 Sperling’s (1960) study of sensory memory

14. Short Term Memory (STM)
Limited capacity – magical number 7 plus or minus 2
Chunking – grouping familiar stimuli for storage as a single unit
Limited duration – about 20 seconds without rehearsal
Rehearsal – the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information

15. Figure 7.9 Peterson and Peterson’s (1959) study of short-term memory

16. Short-Term Memory as “Working Memory”
STM not limited to phonemic encoding
Loss of information not only due to decay
Baddeley (1986) – 3 components of working memory
Phonological rehearsal loop
Visuospatial sketchpad
Executive control system

17. Long-Term Memory: Unlimited Capacity
Permanent storage?
Flashbulb memories
Recall through hypnosis
Debate: are STM and LTM really different?
Phonemic vs. Semantic encoding
Decay vs. Interference based forgetting

18. How is Knowledge Represented and Organized in Memory?
Clustering and Conceptual Hierarchies
Schemas and Scripts
Semantic Networks
Connectionist Networks and PDP Models

19. Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory
The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon – a failure in retrieval
Retrieval cues
Recalling an event
Context cues
Reconstructing memories
Misinformation effect
Source monitoring, reality monitoring

20. Forgetting: When Memory Lapses
Retention – the proportion of material retained
Recall
Recognition
Relearning
Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve

21. Figure 7.16 Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve for nonsense syllables

22. Figure 7.17 Recognition versus recall in the measurement of retention

23. Why Do We Forget? Ineffective Encoding Decay theory
Interference theory
Proactive
Retroactive

24. Figure 7.19 Retroactive and proactive interference

25. Figure 7.20 Estimates of the prevalence of childhood physical and sexual abuse

26. Retrieval Failure Encoding Specificity Transfer-Appropriate Processing
Repression
Authenticity of repressed memories?
Memory illusions
Controversy

27. Figure 7.22 The prevalence of false memories observed by Roediger and McDermott (1995)

28. The Physiology of Memory
Biochemistry
Alteration in synaptic transmission
Hormones modulating neurotransmitter systems
Protein synthesis
Neural circuitry
Localized neural circuits
Reusable pathways in the brain
Long-term potentiation

29. The Physiology of Memory
Anatomy
Anterograde and Retrograde Amnesia
Cerebral cortex, Prefrontal cortex, Hippocampus,
Dentate gyrus, Amygdala, Cerebellum

30. Figure 7.23 The anatomy of memory

31. Figure 7.25 Retrograde versus anterograde amnesia

32. Are There Multiple Memory Systems?
Declarative vs. Procedural
Semantic vs. Episodic
Prospective vs. Retrospective

33. Figure 7.26 Theories of independent memory systems

34. Improving Everyday Memory
Engage in adequate rehearsal
Distribute practice and minimize interference
Emphasize deep processing and transfer-appropriate processing
Organize information
Use verbal mnemonics
Use visual mnemonics