1. PSY 190: General Psychology Chapter 7: Memory

2.  Memory ◦ An indication that learning has persisted over time; information that has been stored and can be retrieved

3.  Explicit (declarative) Memory ◦ The conscious, intentional recollection of previous experiences and specific information ◦ The ability to state a fact ◦ Such as names or events, etc. ◦ Types:  Episodic Memory  Memories of past experiences  Semantic Memory  Memories of meanings, factual information and general knowledge

4.  Implicit (nondeclarative) memory ◦ The type of memory in which previous experiences aid in the performance of a task without conscious awareness of these previous experiences ◦ Types:  Procedural Memory  A memory of how to do something  Ride a bike, bake a cake, etc.

5.  Our memory system works much like that of a computer: ◦ Research suggests (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) that the most important determinant of memory is how extensively memory is encoded or processed when it is first received  How extensively is the encoding (acquisition of information processed) during the initial formation of memory?

6.  Information in sensory stores and STM is lost unless it is encoded, or processed into long term memory

7. Which is the real penny? 7

8.  3 stages of processing for manipulation of mental representations: Encoding (acquisition of info) Storage (retention of info) Retrieval (recovery of info) time Encoding/FailureRetrieval? (LTM) STM 

9.  How does storage of information take place? ◦ Maintenance Rehearsal  Repeating things over and over  Spacing effect ◦ Elaborate Rehearsal  Involves thinking about how new material relates to information already stored in memory

10.  Worked as philosopher at University in Berlin  Performed experiments on himself published in classic volume entitled: ‘Über das Gedächtnis’ (1885)

11.  Invented lists of 16 nonsense syllables to minimize influence of meaningful associations and learner’s history  His goal: study memory in ‘pure’ form  Introduced criterion for successful learning (2 errorless recitations) Nonsense syllables 

12.  Ebbinghaus founded the experimental study of memory  Serial Learning Experiments ◦ A list of items presented one at a time; you must recall them in order ◦ Memorizing lists in sequence until they can be recalled perfectly ◦ Ran tests on himself for six years ◦ Memorized thousands of lists of nonsense syllables (ZAB, VUB, DAL, etc.) ◦ Invented 2300 of these syllables, arranged them in random lists and tested them after various delays  What problems do you see with this methodology?

13.  Serial Learning Experiments ◦ Learning to criterion  Ebbinghaus would repeatedly attempt to learn the material until he achieved a perfect reproduction (every item memorized in the order originally presented) ◦ “Method of savings“  Subtracting the number of repetitions required to relearn material to a criterion from the number originally required to learn the material to the same criterion

14.  Serial Position (Primacy/Recency) Effect ◦ Subjects are much more likely to remember items at the beginning of a list (primacy effect) and at the end of the list (recency effect)  List-length effect ◦ Ease of learning and amount of information not related in linear one-to-one fashion ◦ Disproportionate increase in difficulty with more than 7 syllables  Distributed practice ◦ Beneficial effects of distributed practice for repetitions

15.  Forgetting Curve ◦ Recollection of words drops dramatically during the first hour of learning

16.  Most influential historically & most comprehensive model… ◦ In order for info to become firmly embedded in memory, must pass through 3 stages of mental processing:  Sensory Memory  Short-Term Memory (STM)  Also referred to as working memory  Long-Term Memory (LTM)

17.  Major function is to hold info long enough so that it can be processed  Iconic Memory ◦ Visual – usually less than a second  Echoic Memory ◦ Auditory – possibly a little longer (maybe up to 3 seconds)

18.  STM ◦ Researchers differ saying that without maintenance rehearsal something stays in STM for between 6-30 seconds. ◦ After this its either lost forever or somehow makes its way into LTM ◦ Miller (1956)  7 +/- 2 meaningful groupings ◦ Chunking  Can help with STM - organizing information into meaningful units so that it can better be remembered  Items can be arranged in a hierarchy – superordinate, subordinate  LTM ◦ Infinite (permastore)

19.  High school Spanish was tested 30 years later ◦ Participants had no use of the language since finishing the course ◦ Those who had received the highest grades remembered the most 30 years later

20.  Main differences ◦ Dependence on retrieval cues  They help in LTM; no help in STM ◦ Differences in capacity  LTM is immeasurable and probably limitless; STM is relatively small and easily measured ◦ Differences in duration  LTM are relatively permanent; not affected by the passage of time much; STM can hold only a few items very briefly

21.  Grouping items into meaningful sequences or clusters  Ericcson, Chase, & Faloon (1980) ◦ College student had an initial digit span of 7 ◦ After 230 one-hour training sessions for 2 years, he could remember up to 79 digits How did he do it? ◦ Combing the numbers with meaningful sets ◦ 3 4 9 2  3 hr 49 min 2 sec ◦ 8 1 1 0  almost emergency (9 1 1) ◦ 8 9 3  very old man, 89.3

22.  Baddeley & Hitch (1974) ◦ These researchers updated views related to STM ◦ Refers to the system for temporarily maintaining mental representations that are relevant to the performance of a cognitive task in an activated state

23. 1. Working memory consists of a number of parts 2. Working memory helps us manipulate information to carry out complex tasks, not just store information 23

24.  Emotion-triggered hormonal changes can explain why we can long remember exciting or shocking events  These are extremely vivid episodic memories (memory for specific events in one’s life) usually attached to a surprising, significant, or vivid event

25. +  A feeling that one knows a response yet is unable to produce it  Brown and McNeil (1966) ◦ Task:  Retrieve the word corresponding to its provided definition  e.g. “A musical instrument comprising a frame holding a series of tubes struck by hammers”  Participants were asked to indicate if they were in a TOT state  If so, guess the number of syllables and any other information about the word (e.g. first letter) ◦ Results:  Participants are better at remembering associated information than they were at producing the actual word (e.g. XYLOPHONE) 25

26.  Stimuli that help us to get information stored in LTM ◦ Seems to help the best if it taps into information that was encoded at the time of learning (encoding specificity principle)

27.  Identifying items from choices  Memory for picture recognition and matching of names with faces of yearbook portraits was remains pretty accurate even after decades  Bahrick, Bahrick, and Witlinger (1975) ◦ Picture Recognition Test ◦ Participants shown a year-book picture and asked to recall the name of the person  Multiple-Choice Name Matching Test ◦ Participants asked to match names with pictures ◦ Each picture had four names with it

28. Results  Picture Recognition Test ◦ 50% recall after 34 years  Name Matching Test ◦ 75% recall at 34 years ◦ 60% recall after 47 years  The memory for faces of high school classmates seems quite durable  Forgetting is rather gradual

29.  Context-Dependent Memory ◦ Déjà vu Effect ◦ Putting yourself in the same context in which you have experienced something can help with retrieval  Godden & Baddeley (1975)  Grant et. al (1998) See next two slides 

30. Godden & Baddeley (1975)

31. Grant et. al (1998)

32.  State Dependent Memory ◦ Information learned in a particular emotional state (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) may be more easily recalled when in that same state of mind

33.  Proactive Interference ◦ The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information (old materials increasing the forgetting of new materials)  Retroactive Interference ◦ The disruptive effect of new information on the recall of previous information (new materials increasing the forgetting of old materials) Time 1 Time 2 Test Interference Study French Study Spanish Recall Spanish Proactive Study French Study Spanish Recall French Retroactive

34.  This 45 year-old woman is able to recite every day of her life since she was 14  Much in great detail  This condition is referred to as hyperthymesia Click on picture for video  Jill Price

35.  These are recollections of events or details of an event that did not occur ◦ Wade, Garry, Read, & Lindsay (2002)  Hot air balloon study Click on picture for video 

36.  After exposure to subtle misinformation, many people tend to misremember  As memory fades with time, the injection of misinformation becomes easier

37. Experiment 1  Cars were driving on what appeared to be a one-lane highway  Subjects saw the same film of a car accident  Later, different subjects were asked: “How fast were the cars going when they…” ◦ smashed ◦ collided ◦ bumped ◦ contacted ◦ hit

38. Experiment 1  Subjects estimates of speed varied with the verb they got in the question ◦ Subjects who got the stronger verb (smashed) gave higher estimates of speed  Did the question about speed alter their memory of the accident? ◦ Would they remember a more severe accident than they had actually seen? Click on picture for video  See next slide  Elizabeth Loftus

39. Experiment 1  Results

40. Experiment 2  This time the accident took place at an intersection and cars were going considerably slower.  The key question: ◦ Group 1: "About how fast (MPH) were the cars going when they hit each other? ◦ Group 2: "About how fast (MPH) were the cars going when they smashed into each other? ◦ Group 3: Participants in this control group were not interrogated about vehicular speed  Results successfully replicated Experiment 1 as smashed group said cars were going faster than hit group  Smashed: 10.46 MPH  Hit: 8.00 MPH

41. Experiment 2  A week after seeing the film: ◦ “Did you see any broken glass?” ◦ Note: No glass was in the film  32% in the “smashed” group said YES ◦ Compared to 14% of the “hit” group  The likelihood of saying YES increased as the estimates of speed increased

42. The question about “smashed” was not just a leading question, it was a source of misleading information

43. How accurate is Eyewitness Testimony???  A lot is involved here ◦ Perception – can only remember what is perceived  This depends on one’s attention level at the time  Also, may depend on top-down processing  Schemas may be involved - The way we mentally represent the world ◦ Retroactive interference  Something new and this might cause something old to be forgotten ◦ Integration  Might involve an integration of old memories with new memories

44.  Unpublished study conducted by John Goodman at Eastern Washington University Click on picture for video 

45.  Some of the slides in this presentation prepared with the assistance of the following web sites: ◦ www.csupomona.edu/.../PSY335%20PPTs/Baddeley/BChap8.... www.csupomona.edu/.../PSY335%20PPTs/Baddeley/BChap8 ◦ www.csupomona.edu/.../PSY335%20PPTs/Baddeley/BChap9.... www.csupomona.edu/.../PSY335%20PPTs/Baddeley/BChap9