Myers EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY 4th Ed

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Myers EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (4th Ed)

• Chapter 7
• Memory
• James A. McCubbin, PhD
• Clemson University
• Worth Publishers

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Memory

• Memory
• persistence of learning over time via the storage
  and retrieval of information
• Flashbulb Memory
• a clear memory of an emotionally significant
  moment or event

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Memory

• Memory as Information Processing
• similar to a computer
• write to file
• save to disk
• read from disk
• Encoding
• the processing of information into the memory
  system

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Memory

• Storage
• the retention of encoded information over time
• Retrieval
• process of getting information out of memory

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Memory

• Short term memory
• activated memory that holds a few items briefly
• e.g., the seven digits of a phone number while
  dialing, before the information is stored or
  forgotten
• Long term memory
• the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse
  of the memory system

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Encoding
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Encoding

• Sensory Memory
• immediate, initial recording of sensory
  information in the memory system
• Automatic Processing
• unconscious encoding of incidental information,
  such as space, time, frequency and well-learned
  information, such as word meanings

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Encoding

• Effortful Processing
• encoding that requires attention and conscious
  effort
• Rehearsal
• conscious repetition of information
• to maintain it in consciousness
• to encode it for storage

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Encoding

• Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables
• TUV ZOF GEK WAV
• the more times practiced on Day 1, the fewer
  repetitions to relearn on Day 2
• Spacing Effect
• distributed practice yields better long term
  retention than massed practice

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Encoding
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Encoding

• Serial Position Effect
• tendency to recall best the last and first items
  in a list

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What do we Encode?

• Semantic Encoding
• encoding of meaning
• including meaning of words
• Acoustic Encoding
• encoding of sound
• especially sound of words
• Visual Encoding
• encoding of picture images

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Encoding

• Imagery
• mental pictures
• a powerful aid to effortful processing,
  especially when combined with semantic encoding
• Mnemonics
• memory aids
• especially those techniques that use vivid
  imagery and organizational devices

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Encoding

• Chunking
• organizing items into familiar, manageable units
• like horizontal organization- 1776149218121941
• often occurs automatically
• use of acronyms
• HOMES- Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
• ARITHMETIC- A Rat In Toms House Might Eat Toms
  Ice Cream

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Encoding- Chunking

• Organized information is more easily recalled

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Encoding

• Organization benefits memory

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Encoding

• Forgetting as encoding failure
• Information never enters the memory system
• Attention is selective
• we cannot attend to everything in our environment
• William James said that we would be as bad off if
  we remembered everything as we would be if we
  remembered nothing

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Encoding

• Forgetting as encoding failure

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Encoding

• Forgetting as encoding failure
• Which penny is the real thing?

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Storage-Retaining Information

• Sensory Memory
• the immediate, initial recording of sensory
  information in the memory system
• Iconic Memory
• a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli
• a photographic or picture image memory lasting no
  more that a few tenths of a second
• Registration of exact representation of a scene
• Echoic Memory
• momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

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Storage-Short Term Memory

• Short Term Memory
• limited in duration and capacity
• magical number 7/-2

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Storage-Long Term Memory

• Long Term Memory
• virtually limitless capacity
• we don't have to discard old items to remember
  new items
• Ebbinghaus- forgetting curve over 30 days
• initially rapid, then levels off with time

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Storage-Long Term Memory
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How Does Storage Work?

• Karl Lashley (1950)
• trained rats to solve maze, then cut out pieces
  of their cortex and retested their memory of maze
• partial memory retained
• Long-Term Potentiation
• increase in synapses firing potential after
  brief, rapid stimulation
• Strong emotions make for stronger memories
• some stress hormones boost learning and retention

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Storage-Long Term Memory

• Amnesia- the loss of memory
• Implicit Memory
• retention without conscious recollection
• skills and dispositions
• also called nondeclarative memory
• Explicit Memory
• memory of facts and experiences that one can
  consciously know and declare
• hippocampus- neural center in limbic system that
  helps process explicit memories for storage

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Storage-Long Term Memory

• MRI scan of hippocampus (in red)

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Storage- Long Term Memory Subsystems
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Retrieval

• Recall
• measure of memory in which the person must
  retrieve information learned earlier
• like fill-in-the-blank test
• Recognition
• a measure of memory in which the person need only
  to identify items previously learned
• like on a multiple choice test

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Retrieval

• Relearning
• a measure of memory that assesses the amount of
  time saved when relearning material for a second
  time
• Priming
• activation, often unconsciously, of particular
  associations in memory

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Retrieval Cues

• Reminders of information we could not otherwise
  recall
• Guides to where to look for info
• Context Effects
• memory works better in the context of original
  learning

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Retrieval Cues
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Retrieval Cues

• Deja Vu- (French) already seen
• eerie sense that "I've experienced this before"
• cues from the current situation may
  subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier
  similar experience
• Mood Congruent Memory
• tendency to recall experiences that are
  consistent with ones current mood
• memory, emotions or moods serve as retrieval cues
• State Dependent Memory
• what is learned in one state can more easily be
  remembered when in same state

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Retrieval

• Forgetting can result from failure to retrieve
  information from long-term memory

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Forgetting- Interference

• Learning some items may interfere with retrieving
  others
• Proactive (forward acting) Interference
• disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of
  new information
• Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference
• disruptive effect of new learning on recall of
  old information

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Forgetting- Interference

• Motivated Forgetting
• people unknowingly revise history
• Repression
• defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing
  thoughts, feelings, and memories from
  consciousness
• Positive Transfer
• sometimes old information facilitates our
  learning of new information

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Forgetting

• Forgetting can occur at any memory stage
• As we process information, we filter, alter, or
  lose much of it

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Memory Construction

• We filter information and fill in missing pieces
• Misinformation Effect
• incorporating misleading information into one's
  memory of an event
• Source Amnesia
• attributing to the wrong source an event that we
  experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined
  (misattribution)

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Memory Construction

• People fill in memory gaps with plausible guesses
  and assumptions
• Imagining events can create false memories
• Children's eyewitness recall
• Child sexual abuse does occur
• Some innocent people suffer false accusations
• Some guilty cast doubt on true testimony

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Memory Construction

• Memories of Abuse
• Repressed or Constructed?
• Child sexual abuse does occur
• Some adults do actually forget such episodes
• False Memory Syndrome
• condition in which a persons identity and
  relationships center around a false but strongly
  believed memory of traumatic experience
• sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists

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Memory Construction

• Most people can agree on the following
• Incest happens
• Forgetting happens
• Recovered memories are commonplace
• Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs are
  especially unreliable
• Memories of things happening before age 3 are
  unreliable
• Memories, whether false or real, are upsetting

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Improve Your Memory

• Study repeatedly to boost recall
• Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking
  about the material
• Make material personally meaningful
• Use mnemonic devices
• associate with peg words- something already
  stored
• make up story
• chunk-acronyms

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Improve Your Memory

• Activate retrieval cues- mentally recreate
  situation and mood
• Minimize interference
• Test your own knowledge
• to rehearse it
• to determine what you do not yet know