Human Memory

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Human Memory
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Three Memory Processes

• Memory the storage and retrieval of what one
  has either learned or experienced
• Encoding
• Storage
• Retrieval

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Encoding

• Transformation of information so the nervous
  system can process it
• Types of codes
• Acoustic
• Visual
• Semantic

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Storage

• The process by which we remember material
  acquired over a period of time

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Retrieval

• The process of obtaining information from storage
• Memory championships- A Russian known only by his
  first initialsS.S.could repeat 70 randomly
  selected numbers in the precise order in which he
  had just heard them

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What is Memory Retrieval?

• The process of accessing stored information and
  making it available to our consciousness
• Some memories are retrieved easily
• Context-dependent memory effect Police
  detectives often take victims back to the scene
  of a crime to help jog their memories

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Memory Stages

• Sensory memory
• Short-term memory
• Long-term memory

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Sensory Memory
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Sensory Memory (cont.)

• The storage system that holds memory of sensory
  impressions is short-lived
• Sensory register
• Iconic memory, eidetic imagery, echoic memory

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Short-Term Memory (STM)

• Allows for the brief retention of newly acquired
  information, usually for a maximum of 30 seconds

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George Millers Study

• Magic 7
• Examples of magic 7
• Shakespeares seven ages of man (from As You Like
  It), the seven wonders of the world, the seven
  deadly sins, and even Snow Whites pals the seven
  dwarfs

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Chunking

• The process of breaking down a large amount of
  information into smaller chunks
• Chunking makes recall easier

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A Simple Test

• Row 1 2937
• Row 2 78541
• Row 3 821374
• Row 4 3820961
• Row 5 18294624
• Row 6 9284619384
• Row 7 1992199319941995

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Maintenance Rehearsal

• A system for remembering which involves repeating
  information to oneself without looking for any
  underlying meaning

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The Primacy-Recency Effect

• Cheese
• Milk
• Eggs
• Shampoo
• Bread
• Catsup
• Jam
• Flour

• We can best remember or recall information at the
  beginning and the end of a list

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Long-Term Memory

• The storage of information over an extended time
• Information in long-term memory is organized by
  categories or features

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Types of Long-Term Memory

• Semantic memory
• Episodic memory
• Declarative memory
• Procedural memory

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Semantic Memory

• Knowledge of language, including its rules,
  words, and meanings
• Retaining facts
• Semantic memory is not imprinted on our brains

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Episodic Memory

• Memories of ones own life (also includes the
  time experiences occurred)
• Like a personal diary

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Declarative Memory

• Holds knowledge that can be called forth
  consciously as needed
• What and that
• For example,we remember what street we live on,
  and we know that two plus two equals four.

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Procedural Memory

• Memory of learned skills that do not require
  conscious recollection
• We gradually lose the ability to describe what we
  are doing when we perform these skills

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Retrospective vs. Prospective Memory

• Retrospective memory past experience or events
  and previously acquired information
• Prospective memory things you need to do in the
  future

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Muscle Memory

• Relying on muscles to perform complex motor
  skills such as riding a bike, dancing, typing,
  hitting a baseball

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Flashbulb Memories

• What were you doing when?
• Usually involves stressful or emotionally
  arousing personal or historical events
• the 9/11 attack

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Flashbulb Memories (cont.)

• Anderson Conway (1997) coined the term
  flashbulb memory
• Permanently seared into the brain

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Eyewitness Testimony

• Memory does not always work like a camera that
  records and retrieves snapshots of events
• Eyewitness testimony can be flawed
• Misinformation effect

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Schemas

• Conceptual frameworks that a person uses to make
  sense of the world
• Sets of expectations
• A portrait of Frank J. Huttle, a WWII Air Corps
  pilot. His bravery and sacrifice represent
  elements of popular schemas many of us have about
  pilots

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Schema Violation
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Memory and the Brain

• How and where are memories stored in the brain?
• The striatum (deep in the frontal cortex)
• The hippocampus and the amygdala

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The Biological Basis for Memory

• The human brain has billions of neurons and
  trillions of synapses
• How to track down specific networks of cells
  where memories are stored
• Aplysia- large sea snail that possesses only
  20,000 neurons

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Erik Kandel

• A molecular biologist/Nobel Prize winner
• Experiments with sea snails
• Neurotransmitter released into synapse
• Kandel observed that the amount of
  neurotransmitters released into the synapses
  between the nerve cells that controlled the
  withdrawal reflex increased as the snails learned
  the conditioned response. He thus proved that
  memory formation involves biochemical changes
  that occur at the synaptic level

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Retrieval and Recognition Exercise

• Look at the picture and name this dwarf from
  Walt Disneys Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Write down or make a list of as many of the seven
  dwarfs that you can remember

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Seven Dwarfs

• The following list includes the names of all
  seven dwarfs. Which ones are correct?
• Tubby, Grouchy, Gabby, Fearful, Sleepy, Smiley,
  Jumpy, Hopeful, Shy, Droopy, Dopey, Sniffy,
  Wishful, Puffy, Dumpy, Sneezy, Lazy, Pop, Grumpy,
  Bashful, Cheerful, Shorty, Nifty, Happy, Doc,
  Wheezy

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Forgetting

• Decay
• Memory loss
• Interference

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Amnesia

• Often caused by a traumatic injury to the brain,
  such as a concussion
• Retrograde amnesia
• Anterograde amnesia

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Retrograde Amnesia
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Childhood Amnesia

• A normal phase of development that accounts for
  the lack of memory before the ages of 3 or 4
• Dissociative amnesia- often results from stress.