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Topic 8: MEMORY: How the MIND works

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Title: Topic 8: MEMORY: How the MIND works


1
Topic 8MEMORY How the MIND works
2
  • Have you ever wondered
  • how you manage to remember information for a
    test?
  • How you are able to create new memories, store
    them for periods of time, and recall them when
    they are needed.
  • This is due to our MEMORY.
  • But what exactly is memory? And How are memories
    formed?

3
Our Mind is like the Computer
Retrieve
Input
Store the information Save it
4
We are
walking
computers
5
What is memory?
  • Memory refers to the processes that are used to
    acquire, store, retain and later retrieve
    information.
  • There are three major processes involved in
    memory
  • encoding,
  • storage and
  • retrieval.

6
What is memory?
  • Encoding or registration (receiving, processing
    and combining of received information)
  • Storage (creation of a permanent record of the
    encoded information)
  • Retrieval, recall or recollection (calling back
    the stored information in response to some cue
    for use in a process or activity)
  • In order to form new memories, information must
    be changed into a usable form, which occurs
    through the process known as encoding.
  • Once information has been successfully encoded,
    it must be stored in memory for later use.
  • Most of the stored memory lies outside of our
    awareness most of the time, except when we
    actually need to use it.
  • The retrieval process allows us to bring stored
    memories into conscious awareness.

7
What is Memory?
  • Memory is the core to most of our
    cognitive process. Because.
  • Memory is the storing of learned information,
    and the ability to recall that which has been
    stored.
  • The mental faculty of retaining and recalling
    past experience.
  • Research indicates that the ability to retain
    information is fairly uniform among normal
    individuals? what differs is the degree to which
    persons learn or take account of something to
    begin with and the kind and amount of detail that
    is retained.

8
How does Memory relate to learning?
  • Memory and learning are the basis of
    all our knowledge and abilities.
  • Learning is the process of acquiring new
    knowledge, while.
  • Memory helps retain the learned
    knowledge.
  • Thus, memory is the brains ability to
    acquire, store, retain and retrieve
    information.

9
Types of memory
  • Memory can be classified into 2 primary
    types
  • Explicit memory - Declarative memory (conscious
    memory)
  • Implicit memory procedural memory (automatic
    unconscious)

10
Explicit Memory Implicit Memory
  • Explicit Memory
    (can be divided into STM
    LTM)
  • It allows a person to recall consciously
    describe verbally information, e.g. facts, people
    etc
  • Types of memory that contains info re specific
    events that happen at a specific time place.
  • Forming storing memory are associated with
    past experience/knowledge.
  • Implicit Memory
    (repetition priming,
    conditioning motor skills)
  • Previous experience assist a person to perform
    task without any conscious awareness of the past
    experience.
  • Through repetition priming skill learning a
    person would become better on task performance

11
How our MIND works
Short Term Memory
Long Term Memory
SENSORY MEMORY
fleeting less than one second
working memory less than 20 seconds
unlimited stable
12
Information Processing Model The Stage Theory
(Atkinson Shiffrin, 1968)
13
Types of Memory
  • Sensory register
  • Part of memory that receives all the
    information a person senses from the environment
    and stores it fleetingly.
  • Short term memory
  • A part where new information is stored
    temporarily, until it is either lost or placed
    into long term memory
  • Also known as working memory, where a decision
    must be made to discard information or to
    transfer it to permanent storage, in long-term
    memory.
  • Long Term memory
  • Part of memory which has unlimited capacity
    can hold information indefinitely.
  • the encyclopedic mental processing unit in which
    information may be stored permanently and from
    which it may be later retrieved.

14
  • Short term memory
  • A temporary storage area that is used for
    unprocessed visual or auditory information that
    last up to 30 sec.
  • STM -limited capacity - up to 7 pieces of
    independent information.
  • Memory loss is due to decaying of information.
  • 3 basic operations in STM
  • Iconic memory ability to hold visual image
  • Acoustic memory the ability to hold sounds
  • Working memory process that temporarily store
    manipulate information for immediate use

15
  • Long Term memory
  • Part of memory which has unlimited capacity
    can hold information indefinitely.
  • LTM can be divide into
  • Episodic memory memory of specific events or
    episodes that an individual experienced
  • Semantic memory memory that includes
    knowledge of words meaning and is an essential
    element of language.

16
So how do we retain information
in our Long-Term Memory ?
1. Organise the information properly
2. Rehearsal (i.e repetition)
3. Elaboration
17
How Is Information Organized In Memory?
  • The ability to access and retrieve information
    from long-term memory allows us to actually use
    these memories to
  • make decisions,
  • interact with others,
  • solve problems, etc
  • Exactly how are information organized in memory
    is unclear, but researchers do know that these
    memories are arranged in groups.

18
  • Desk, apple, bookshelf, red, plum, table, green,
    pineapple, purple, chair, peach, yellow

19
How Is Information Organized In Memory?
  • Clustering is used to organize related
    information into groups.
  • Information that is categorized becomes easier to
    remember and recall.
  • For example, consider the following group of
    words Desk, apple, bookshelf, red, plum, table,
    green, pineapple, purple, chair, peach, yellow
  • Spend a few seconds reading them, then look away
    and try to recall and list these words.
  • How did you group the words when you listed them?
  • Most people will list using three different
    categories color, furniture and fruit.

20
How Is Information Organized In Memory?
  • One way of thinking about memory organization is
    known as the semantic network model.
  • This model suggests that certain triggers
    activate associated memories ? i.e. a memory of a
    specific place might activate memories about
    related things that have occurred in that place.
  • For example, thinking about a certain campus
    building might trigger memories of attending
    classes, studying and socializing with peers.

21
Memory Retrieval
  • Memory retrieval is important for our daily life,
    e.g. from remembering where you parked your car
    to learning new skills.
  • Once information has been encoded and stored in
    memory, it must be retrieved in order to be used.
  • There are many factors that can influence how
    memories are retrieved from long-term memory.
  • In order to fully understand this process, it is
    important to understand exactly what retrieval is
    and what are the factors that can impact how
    memories are retrieved.
  • Memory Retrieval is a process of accessing stored
    memories.
  • Retrieval cues can be use ? can have an impact
    on how information is retrieved.
  • A retrieval cue - a clue/prompt used to trigger
    the retrieval of longterm memory.

22
What Is Memory Retrieval?
  • Four basic ways in which information can be
    pulled from long-term memory.
  • Recall Type of memory retrieval involves being
    able to access the information without being
    cued. For example, answering a question on a
    fill-in-the-blank test is a good example of
    recall.
  • Recollection Type of memory retrieval involves
    reconstructing memory, often utilizing logical
    structures, partial memories, narratives or
    clues. For example, writing an answer on an essay
    exam often involves remembering bits on
    information, and then restructuring the remaining
    information based on these partial memories.
  • Recognition This type of memory retrieval
    involves identifying information after
    experiencing it again. For example, taking a
    multiple choice quiz requires that you recognize
    the correct answer out of a group of available
    answers.
  • Relearning This type of memory retrieval
    involves relearning information that has been
    previously learned. This often makes it easier to
    remember and retrieve information in the future
    and can improve the strength of memories.

23
Problems with Retrieval
  • Not every retrieval process works perfectly.
  • Have you ever felt like you knew the answer to a
    question, but couldn't quite remember the
    information?
  • This phenomenon is known as a 'tip of the
    tongue' experience. You might feel certain that
    this information is stored somewhere in your
    memory, but you are unable to access and retrieve
    it.
  • Schacter (2001) said that these experiences are
    extremely common, typically occurring at least
    once each week for most younger individuals and
    two to four times per week for elderly adults.

24
Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips
  • 1. Focus your attention on the materials you are
    studying.
  • 2. Avoid cramming by establishing regular study
    sessions.
  • 3. Structure and organize the information you are
    studying.
  • 4. Utilize mnemonic devices to remember
    information.
  • 5. Elaborate and rehearse the information you are
    studying.
  • 6. Relate new information to things you already
    know.
  • 7. Visualize concepts to improve memory and
    recall.
  • 8. Teach new concepts to another person.
  • 9. Pay extra attention to difficult information.
  • 10. Vary your study routine.

25
Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips
  • Focus your attention on the materials you are
    studying.
  • Attention is a major components of memory.
    For information to move from short-term memory
    into long-term memory ?need to actively attend to
    this information. Try to study in a place free of
    distractions such as television, music and other
    diversions.
  • 2. Avoid cramming by establishing regular study
    sessions.
  • According to Bjork (2001), studying materials
    over a number of session's gives you the time you
    need to adequately process the information. Those
    who study regularly remember the material far
    better than those who did all of their studying
    in one marathon session.
  • 3. Structure and organize the information you are
    studying.
  • Researchers have found that information is
    organized in memory in related clusters. S0,
    structure organize the materials you are
    studying. Try grouping similar concepts and terms
    together, or make an outline of your
    notes/textbook readings to help group related
    concepts.

26
Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips
  • 4. Utilize mnemonic devices to remember
    information.
  • A mnemonic is simply a way to remember informatio
    ? a technique used to aid in recall. For example,
    you might associate a term you need to remember
    with a common item that you are very familiar
    with (rhyme). Use a rhyme, song/joke to help
    remember.
  • 5. Elaborate rehearse the information you are
    studying.
  • In order to recall information, you need to
    encode what you are studying into long-term
    memory ? use elaborative rehearsal. An example of
    this technique would be to read the definition of
    a key term, study the definition of that term and
    then read a more detailed description of what
    that term means. After repeating this process a
    few times, your recall of the information will be
    far better.

27
Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips
  • 6. Relate new information to things you already
    know.
  • Establishing relationships between new ideas and
    previously existing memories, When you are
    studying unfamiliar material, take the time to
    think about how this information relates to
    things that you already know.
  • 7. Visualize concepts to improve memory and
    recall.
  • Many benefit from visualizing the information
    they study ? focus on the photos, charts,
    graphics etc. If you do not have visual cues to
    help, try creating your own. Draw charts or
    figures in the margins of your notes/use
    highlighter/pens in different colours to group
    related ideas in your notes.
  • 8. Teach new concepts to another person.
  • Research suggests that reading out loud can
    improves memory of the material or teaching new
    concepts to others enhances understanding and
    recall. You can use this approach in your own
    studies by teaching new concepts and information
    to a friend or study partner

28
Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips
  • 9. Pay extra attention to difficult information.
  • Have you ever noticed how it's sometimes easier
    to remember information at the beginning or end
    of a chapter? Researchers have found that the
    position of information can play a role in
    recall, which is known as the serial position
    effect. While recalling middle information can be
    difficult, you can overcome this problem by
    spending extra time rehearsing this information.
    Another strategy is to try restructuring the
    information so it will be easier to remember.
    When you come across an especially difficult
    concept, devote some extra time to memorizing the
    information.
  • 10. Vary your study routine.
  • Another great way to increase your recall is to
    occasionally change your study routine. If you
    are accustomed to studying in one specific
    location, try moving to a different spot to
    study. If you study in the evening, try spending
    a few minutes each morning reviewing the
    information you studied the previous night. By
    adding an element of novelty to your study
    sessions, you can increase the effectiveness of
    your efforts and significantly improve your
    long-term recall.

29
FORGETTING
30
Why do we sometimes forget what we have learnt ?
1. Not properly stored / studied
2. Fading (lack of rehearsal)
3. Too much cramming
31
Limits Failure of memory
  • Important for us to understand how our
    memory succeeds and fails because it helps us to
    uncover the limits of memory in our everyday
    life.
  • Types of memory
  • Good memory
  • Autobiographical Memory
  • Prospective Memory
  • Memory across lifespan
  • Eyewitness memory
  • False Memories
  • Memory damage

32
Limits Failure of memory
  • Types of memory -
  • Good memory we can recognize easily using
    visual stimuli, but poor recall for pictures and
    faces.
  • Autobiographical Memory recall personal events
    especially those that are emotionally based.
  • Prospective Memory remembering to do things
    or failure to do so rather than remembering
    past events or facts.
  • Memory across lifespan our memory improves as
    we get older, but slower around 65 years old.

33
Limits Failure of memory
  • Types of memory -
  • Eyewitness memory memory details of events we
    just saw is often difficult
  • False Memories the questions is whether a
    memory is genuine or distorted due to
    misleading questions or information.
  • Memory damage loss of memory due to brain
    damage through infection, stroke or head injury

34
What is Forgetting?
  • When Memory Fails?
  • Forgetting typically involves a failure in memory
    retrieval. While the information is somewhere in
    your long-term memory, you are not able to
    actually retrieve and remember it.
  • Forgetting (retention loss) refers to
  • apparent loss of information already encoded and
    stored in an individual's long term memory.
  • a spontaneous or gradual process in which old
    memories are unable to be recalled from memory
    storage.
  • It is subject to delicately balanced optimization
    that ensures that relevant memories are recalled.
  • Forgetting can be reduced by repetition and/or
    more elaborate cognitive processing of
    information.

35
The Ebbinghaus Forgetting CurveWhat is
Forgetting?
  • Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (Father of
    Memory) Research was one of the first to
    scientifically study forgetting ? used himself as
    the subject.
  • Pioneered experimental study of memory, and
    discovered the forgetting curve and the spacing
    effect.
  • In order to test for new information, Ebbinghaus
    tested his memory for periods of time ranging
    from 20 minutes to 31 days. He then published his
    findings in 1885 in Memory A Contribution to
    Experimental Psychology.

36
  • EFC revealed a relationship between forgetting
    and time.
  • How quickly these memories are lost depend on
  • how the information was learned
  • how frequently it was rehearsed
  • The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting
    does not continue to decline until all of the
    information is lost.
  • At a certain point, the amount of forgetting
    levels off. What exactly does this mean? It
    indicates that information stored in long-term
    memory is surprisingly stable.

37
The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve
38
Why Forgot?
  • Elizabeth Loftus, has identified four major
    reasons why people forget
  • retrieval failure
  • Interference
  • failure to store
  • motivated forgetting

39
Why Forgot?
  • 1. Retrieval Failure
  • Decay theory - explain why some retrieval fails
    ? i.e. a memory trace is created every time a new
    theory is formed.
  • Decay theory suggests that over time, these
    memory traces begin to fade and disappear.
  • Forgetting is simply an inability to retrieve a
    memory. If information is not retrieved and
    rehearsed, it will eventually be lost.
  • decay theory
  • passage of time ? forgetting
  • does not explain all instances of forgetting

40
2. Interference
  • Interference theory suggests that some memories
    compete interfere with other memories. When
    information is very similar to other information
    that was previously stored in memory,
    interference is more likely to occur.
  • 2 basic types of interference
  • Proactive interference
  • is when an old memory makes it more difficult or
    impossible to remember a new memory.
  • Retroactive interference
  • occurs when new information interferes with your
    ability to remember previously learned
    information.

41
  • 3. Failure to Store
  • We also forget information because it never
    actually made it into long-term memory.
  • Encoding failures sometimes prevent information
    from entering long-term memory.
  • E.g Details on your 20 cents 50 cent coin
  • Only details necessary for distinguishing the
    value other coins were encoded into your
    long-term memory.
  • 4. Motivated Forgetting
  • Sometimes, we actively work to forget memories,
    esp those of traumatic or disturbing events or
    experiences.
  • The two basic forms of motivated forgetting are
  • suppression, a conscious form of forgetting
  • repression, an unconscious form of forgetting.

42
Motivated forgetting
  • Motivated forgetting referring to a psychological
    defence mechanism in which people forget unwanted
    memories, either consciously or unconsciously.
  • There are times when memories are reminders of
    unpleasant experiences that make people angry,
    sad, anxious, ashamed or afraid.
  • Motivated forgetting is a method in which people
    protect themselves by blocking the recall of
    these anxiety-arousing memories.
  • E.g if something reminds a person of an
    unpleasant event, his or her mind may steer
    towards unrelated topics. This could induce
    forgetting without being generated by an
    intention to forget, making it a motivated
    action.

43
TASK
  • Read the following Discuss the answers

44
  • Neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot was the first to
    do research into hysteria as a psychological
    disorder in the late 19th century. Sigmund Freud,
    Joseph Breuer, and Pierre Janet continued with
    the research that Charcot began on hysteria.
    These three psychologists determined that
    hysteria was an intense emotional reaction to
    some form of severe psychological disturbance,
    and they proposed that incest and other sexual
    traumas were the most likely cause of hysteria.
    The treatment that Freud, Breuer, and Pierre
    agreed upon was named the talking cure and
    was a method of encouraging patients to recover
    and discuss their painful memories. During this
    time, Janet created the term disaociation which
    is referred to as a lack of integration amongst
    various memories. He used dissociation to
    describe the way in which traumatizing memories
    are stored separately from other memories. The
    publication of Freuds famous paper, the
    Aetiology of Hysteria, in 1896 led to much
    controversy regarding the topic of these
    traumatic memories. Freud stated that neurosis
    were caused by repressed sexual memories, which
    suggested that incest and sexual abuse must be
    common throughout upper and middle class Europe.
    The psychological community did not accept
    Freuds ideas, and years passed without further
    research on the topic.It was during World War 1
    and Worls War II that interest in memory
    disturbances was piqued again. During this time,
    many cases of memory loss appeared among war
    veterans, especially those who had experienced
    shell shock. Hypnosis and drugs became popular
    for the treatment of hysteria during the war. The
    term post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was
    introduced upon the appearance of similar cases
    of memory disturbances from veterans of the
    Korean War. Forgetting, or the inability to
    recall a portion of a traumatic event, was
    considered a key factor for the diagnosis of
    PTSD.
  • Ann Burgess and Lynda Holmstrom looked into
    trauma related memory loss in rape victims during
    the 1970s. This began a large outpouring of
    stories related to childhood sexual abuse. It
    took until 1980 to determine that memory loss due
    to all severe traumas was the same set of
    processes. The idea of motivated forgetting began
    with the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in 1894.
    Nietzshe and Sigmund Freud had similar views on
    the idea of repression of memories as a form of
    self-preservation. Nietzsche wrote that man must
    forget in able to move forward. He stated that
    this process is active, in that we forget
    specific events as a defense mechanism.

45
The hippocampus is located in the medial temporal
lobe of the brain. In this lateral view of the
human brain, the frontal lobe is at left, the
occipital lobe at right, and the temporal and
parietal lobes have largely been removed to
reveal the hippocampus underneath.
  • Occipital lobe
  • Frontal Lobe
  • Critical thinking problem solving
  • Frontal cortex ? area of the cortex that controls
    personality and the ability to carry out plans

46
MOTIVATED FORGETTING
  • MF occurs as a result of activity that occurs
    within the prefrontal cortex (i.e. the anterior
    cingulate cortex (ACC), intraparietal sulcus
    (IS) , dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DPC) and
    ventrolateral prefrontal cortex VPC)).
  • also associated with stopping unwanted actions,
    which confirms the hypothesis that the
    suppression of unwanted memories and actions
    follow a similar inhibitory process. These
    regions are also known to have executive
    functions within the brain. E.g
  • AAC ? has functions linked to motivation and
    emotion.
  • IS ? functions that include coordination between
    perception and motor activities, visual
    attention, symbolic numerical processing.
  • DPC ?plans complex cog activities processes
    decision making.

47
MOTIVATED FORGETTING
  • Another key brain structure involved in motivated
    forgetting is the hippocampus ? responsible for
    the formation and recollection of memories.
  • When the process of motivated forgetting happens
    ? meaning that we actively attempt to suppress
    our unwanted memories, the prefrontal cortex
    exhibits higher activity than baseline, while
    suppressing hippocampal activity at the same
    time.
  • The executive areas which control motivation and
    decision-making lessen the functioning of the
    hippocampus in order to stop the recollection of
    the selected memories that the subject has been
    motivated to forget.

48
SCL
  • Discuss the following
  • What are the differences between explicit
    memory implicit memory? Examples
  • What are the differences between Episodic
    memory Semantic memory? Examples
  • Why do we fail to remember?
  • What are the differences between Ebbinghaus
    theory, Decay theory Interference theory .
  • Find out tip on How Not to Forget Things!
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