Neural Networks
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Neural Networks
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Module 7.2 • Long Term Memory
Memory Improvement
• To improve memory, one must improve the strategies used to originally store the material.
Meaningful Storage and Levels of Processing • The levels-of-processing principle
– The levels-of-processing principle states that the ease with which we can retrieve a memory depends on the number and types of
associations that we form with that memory • The more ways in which you think about the material, the deeper your processing will be and the more easily you will
Meaningful Storage and Levels of Processing • The levels-of-processing principle
– Ways to think about the material would include asking questions such as:
• Can I think of similar concepts in another subject area?
• How do these apply to me?
• What experiences do I have that are related to this information?
Meaningful Storage and Levels of Processing • The levels-of-processing principle
– To improve your level-of-processing:
• Think about each individual item in a set that you are trying to learn.
• See if you can determine whether or not relationships exist among the items.
Meaningful Storage and Levels of Processing • The levels-of-processing principle
– The levels of processing are:
• Superficial processing – simply repeating the material that you are trying to memorize.
• Deeper processing – think about each item or parts of the material individually.
• Still deeper processing – note the
associations between the items or parts of the material.
Concept Check
Who do you think tends to get better grades in a course, students who read the book quickly or those who read the book slowly?
Concept Check
How would level-of-processing be useful to aspiring actors?
It would help them memorize their lines more effectively.
Timing of Study Sessions
• Because of these effects, the best strategy for anyone who needs to learn a lot of material is to space out the study sessions
– Study the material – Wait for awhile
Use of Special Coding Strategies • Retrieval Cues
– Retrieval cues are bits of associated
information that help you to regain complex memories for later use. Many factors
associated with learning can act as retrieval cues.
Use of Special Coding Strategies • Retrieval Cues
• The encoding specificity principle states that the associations formed at the time of learning are typically the most effective
retrieval cues.
• State-dependent memory is our tendency to remember something better if your
physical condition is the same at the time of recall as it was at the time of learning.
Timing of Study Sessions • The SPAR method
– If you want to remember something for the long-term, study and review it under varying conditions with substantial intervals between sessions
– One systematic way to accomplish this is to use the SPAR method.
The Influence of Emotional Arousal • It is well understood that the greater the
emotional arousal associated with an event, the greater the likelihood that the event will be
remembered.
– Although the event itself may be remembered, the emotion associated with the event does
not guarantee the formation of an accurate memory for the details of the event.
The Influence of Emotional Arousal • During stressful or emotional events, the
sympathetic nervous system works to boost production of the hormones cortisol and
adrenaline.
• This is usually accompanied by increased stimulation of the amygdala.
• The net effect of these processes is to enhance memory storage of information associated with emotional or stressful events.
Concept Check
A Vietnam War veteran who was involved in
several very intense and violent campaigns has been medically monitored for years. He has lower than normal levels of cortisol. How would this
affect his memory?
Concept Check
In order to ace your comprehensive Introductory Psychology final exam, should you immediately review this chapter, or should you schedule some review of the first two or three chapters?
Figure 7.11
Figure 7.11 According to the principle of encoding specificity, how you code a word during original learning determines which cues will remind you of that word later. When you hear the word queen, you may think of that word in any of several ways. If you think of queen bee, then the cue playing card will not remind you of it later. If you think of the queen of England, then chess piece will not be a good reminder.
Use of Special Coding Strategies • Mnemonic devices
– A mnemonic device is any memory aid that is based on encoding each item in a special
way. An example:
• The method of loci uses vivid images of
places, associating each of these locations with something you want to remember.
Figure 7.12
Figure 7.12 A simple mnemonic device is to think of a short story or image that will remind you of what you need to remember. Here you might think of images to help remember functions of different brain areas.
Figure 7.14
Figure 7.14 The method of loci is one of the oldest mnemonic devices. First, learn a list of places, such as my desk, the door of my room, the corridor, . . .” Then link each of these places to an item on a list of words or names, such as a list of the names of Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Improving Our Memory
• We refer to our memories as “stored” and “retrieved” as if they were items on a shelf in a warehouse. But this analogy is only partially useful.
• The more you know about a topic, the more interested you are in it, and the easier it is to establish and retain new information related to the topic.
Module 7.3