ECC PSY 100 Chapter 6 Memory Emmett McGinley.pptx

Memory

What is Memory?

•

_{What is memory?}

•

_{Memory – Mental processes that enable us to}

acquire

,

retain

, and

retrieve

information.

– _{Not a single thing.} – _{Actually 3 processes:}

What is Memory?

•

_{Encoding – Transforming information into a}

form that can be entered and retained by the

“memory system”.

– _{i.e. memorizing words on the screen, you are}

What is Memory?

•

_{Storage – The process of retaining information}

in memory to be used later.

– _{i.e. Learning a phone number for use at a later}

time.

• _{Instead of just being able to remember it for long}

What is Memory?

•

_{Retrieval – Recovering the stored information}

so that we are consciously aware of it.

– _{This is generally what people consider to be}

Stage Model of Memory

•

_{Memory consists of three stages:}

Sensory Memory

•

_{Registers information from the environment}

and holds it for a very brief period of time.

– _{Generally ¼ to three seconds.}

– _{Has a large capacity for information.} – _{Relies on the utility of our senses.}

•

_{Sensory memory accounts for those moments}

where you aren’t paying attention but can

Sensory Memory

• _{Discovered by George Sperling}

– Created the Sperling test

• Flash rows of letters on a screen for 1/20th _{of a second.}

• People could recall 4-5 when asked but reported they had seen all of the letters.

– Movement from Sensory Memory to Short-Term Memory requires attention. The participants can only pay attention to 4-5 of the letters well enough to remember them, even though they are actually seeing all of the letters.

• _{Types of Sensory Memory}

– Visual (iconic)

– _{Auditory (echoic)}

• _{Also, Sensory Memory plays an important role in storing sensory}

impressions so they overlap slightly with one another – creating a continuous world around us.

– _{i.e. Even though our eyes move in a saccade, we see things as a continuous}

Short-Term/Working Memory

•

_{The “}

_{Workshop” of consciousness.}

– _{This is where information is transferred from}

sensory memory and information retrieved from long-term memory become conscious.

– _{When you remember a past memory/event, that}

information is pulled from long-term memory and

Short-Term/Working Memory

•

_{Provides temporary storage for information}

that is currently being used in some conscious

cognitive activity.

– _{i.e. holds the first words of a sentence in your}

Duration of Short-Term Memory

•

_{Information in short-term memory generally}

last about 20 seconds before it is forgotten.

– _{Information can be retained longer if it is} rehearsed (repeated over and over).

Capacity of Short-Term Memory

Capacity of Short-Term Memory

•

_{The number of items or pieces of information}

that a person can hold in short-term memory

is generally considered to be 7±2.

– _{Meaning we the average number of items people}

Capacity of Short-Term Memory

Capacity of Short-Term Memory

•

_{Chunking – Grouping related items into a}

single unit.

– _{i.e. the letters I read were:}

• _DVDFBIUSACIA

– These could be easily “chunked” into 4 abbreviations:

» DVD, FBI, USA, CIA.

•

_{Using chunking, people are able to increase}

Working Memory

• _{Short-Term and Working memory are often used}

interchangeably.

• _{However; Working Memory is actually the conscious}

manipulation of information that is stored in Short-Term Memory.

• _{You can put information into short-term memory}

without using working memory and vice-versa.

• _{Working Memory is only used when you manipulate}

Long-Term Memory

• _{The storage of information over extended periods of time.}

– _{Usually any information stored longer than the limitations of}

Short-Term Memory.

– _{Information in LTM is considered to last a lifetime.}

• _{Info gets “into” LTM through encoding.} • _{Elaborative Rehearsal}

– _{Focuses on the meaning of information to help encode and}

transfer it to LTM.

– _{In Elaborative Rehearsal you relate the information to other}

Stage Sensory Working Long-Term

Type of Info Sense Data Info from Sensory or Long-Term Memory

Encoded Info from Working Memory Function Register Immediate Sensations Process Input from Sensory Memory & Retrieve Long-Term Memories Store Lasting Memories

Elaborative Rehearsal

•

_{For example, if you were presented with a list}

of digits for later recall (4968214), grouping

the digits together to form a phone number

transforms the stimuli from a meaningless

string of digits to something that has meaning.

•

_{Relating information to things or activities that}

Elaborative v. Maintenance Rehearsal

• _{Elaborative rehearsal involves meaning-based analysis - thinking}

about the meaning of an item, and thus making a connection between the item and previously learned knowledge.

• _{Maintenance rehearsal does not involve semantics - it is the}

simple repetition of an item without taking into account its meaning or relation to other items.

• _{Some mechanisms of encoding are more effective than others in}

transferring information into long term memory.

– _{Maintenance rehearsal helps maintain information in short term}

memory but is not an effective way of transferring information into long term memory.

Types of Info in LTM

•

_{Three major categories of info stored in LTM:}

Procedural Memory

•

_{Long-term memory of how to perform}

different

skills

,

operations

, and

actions.

•

_{For example: Riding a bike, cooking eggs,}

shooting a basketball, surgery, etc… all require

procedural memory.

– _{Remember, procedural memory is memory of a}

Episodic Memory

•

_{Long-term memory of}

_{specific events}

_or

episodes

, including the time and place they

occurred.

– _{For example: remembering a friend’s wedding or}

their birthday party from the past.

– _{Remembering events related to our own lives is}

Semantic Memory

• _{Long-term memory of general knowledge.}

– For example: Facts, names, definitions, concepts, ideas, etc…

• _{Our own personal encyclopedia of data and trivia}

stored in LTM.

• _{Generally, semantic memories are stored in LTM}

without remembering where or when that info came from.

– _{This accounts for when we remember facts, but not the}

Two Dimensions of Long-Term Memory

•

_{Studies of people with amnesia indicate that}

LTM is not a unitary system.

•

_{Instead, LTM consists of two separate, but}

interacting, dimensions:

Explicit Memory

•

_{Explicit Memory – Memory}

_with

_awareness.

• _{For example, remembering what you did last New}

Year’s Eve or the topics discussed in the last class we had.

– _{Also called Declarative Memories because if asked,}

Implicit Memory

•

_{Implicit Memory – Memory}

_without

_awareness.

but still affect our behavior, knowledge, or performance of a task.

– _{For example: Typing the phrase “most zebras cannot}

be extravagant” with my eyes closed vs. recalling from left to right, the letters on the bottom row of a

keyboard without looking.

• _{I can do the first, but not the latter.}

– _{This indicates that I do know the location of the letters but my}

Retrieval

•

_{The process of accessing stored information.}

– _{That information is not always able to be accessed.} – _{As a result, we need Retrieval Cues}

• _{A clue or prompt that can help trigger recall of a stored}

memory.

– _{When we are unable to recall memories because}

of inadequate or missing cues it is called Retrieval Cue Failure.

Different “Types” of Retrieval

•

_{Recall (free recall) – Producing information}

without any retrieval cues.

– _{Providing an answer to an essay question.}

•

_{Cued Recall – Remembering information in}

response to a retrieval cue.

– _{Fill in the blank answers.}

•

_{Recognition – Identifying correct information}

from possible choices.

Serial Position Effect

•

_{The tendency to retrieve info more easily from}

the beginning and end of a list.

– _{We are least likely to remember info in the middle.}

•

_{Two parts to Serial Position Effect:}

– _{Primacy Effect – Tendency to recall the first items.}

• _{They are first so they are easily placed into STM or LTM}

since we don’t have much information to handle yet.

– _{Recency Effect – Tendency to recall the end items.}

• _{We have heard them most recently so they are easy to}

Question

Two political candidates are having their final

televised speeches, one after the other. After the

speeches, the voters will immediately leave and

head to the polls to cast their votes.

After a coin flip, a candidate has the option to

Encoding Specificity

• _{Encoding Specificity Principle – When the conditions in}

which you are trying to retrieve information are similar to those in which you encoded it, you are more likely to be able to retrieve that piece of info.

– _{Basically it’s easier to remember things in environments}

similar to the one in which we learned that information.

– _{The environment provides retrieval cues you may not be aware}

of.

– _{“Conditions” can include the outside environment, but also}

internal conditions too (such as intoxication).

Encoding Specificity

•

_{One type of Encoding Specificity is the Context}

Effect.

– _{Tendency to remember info more easily when}

retrieval occurs in the same setting that you originally learned the info.

Forgetting

•

_{Inability to remember information that was}

previously available.

– _{Doesn’t mean that we’ve “lost” the information}

(in LTM), it’s just not accessible at that time.

Why Do We Forget?

•

_{Maybe we never}

_encoded

_{it into LTM in the}

first place.

– _{This is called Encoding Failure.}

– _{Happens all the time, even though we don’t think}

so.

• _{Explains why we forget a person’s name 2 minutes after}

Why Do We Forget?

• _{Perhaps we forget memories because we don’t use them}

and they fade away over time.

– _{Called Decay Theory}

• _{New memories create a memory thread that creates a}

distinct structural and chemical change in the brain.

– _{If the memory is not used, the brain does not refresh these}

changes and leads the brain to revert back to its prior state.

• _{Not widely accepted as a primary contributor to forgetting:}

– _{If this was the only process involved in forgetting, we wouldn’t be}

Why Do We Forget?

•

_{Forgetting can be caused by one memory}

competing with

, or

replacing another

memory.

– _{This is called Interference Theory}

•

_{Two basic types:}

– _{Retroactive Interference – A new memory}

interferes with remembering an old memory. Works backwards.

– _{Proactive Interference – An old memory interferes}

Why Do We Forget?

•

_{Sometimes we might be motivated to forget}

something, usually because it is disturbing or

unpleasant.

•

_{Suppression – Deliberate and conscious effort}

to forget information.

•

_{Repression – Motivated forgetting that occurs}

Misinformation Effect

•

_{A person’s existing memories can be altered if}

the person is exposed to misleading

information.

– _{1. Exposed to an event.}

– _{2. After a delay, receive misinformation about the}

event.

– _{3. Try to remember the original event.}

•

_{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xPfJ8cP}

Source Confusion

•

_{Memory distortion that occurs when the true}

source of information is lost.

– _{Remember: Sources provide retrieval cues.}

– _{If either the source is forgotten, or replaced with a}

Schemas and Scripts

• _{Schema – An organized cluster of information about a}

particular topic.

– _{This means for almost every event or item, we know/have a}

“cluster” or group of information related to that event.

• Basically, schemas are the assumptions we make about the nature of events/items.

– _{We all have schemas of many things and they can change:}

• For example, describe what you use a phone for.

• _{Scripts – A schema for the typical sequence of an everyday}

event.

– _{When we are experiencing an event, we make assumptions}

Schemas and Scripts

•

_{Psychology Professor’s Office example:}

– _{Put students in a professor’s office.}

– _{Ask them to recall the items in the office after}

leaving.

– _{Participants remember items being there that}

actually were not:

• _{Books, a filing cabinet, telephone, coffee cup}

– _{They remembered these items being in the room}

because they fit into the student’s schema about

False Memories

•

_{Imagining the past as different from what it}

Imagination Inflation

• _{Remember Brian, he was fairly confident about}

being lost in the mall.

• _{Imagination Inflation – Unfounded confidence in a}

false or distorted memory cause by vividly imagining the event.

– _{We are WAY to confident about our ability to remember}

things.

• _{Related to False Familiarity}

– _{Increased feelings of familiarity due to repeatedly}

Long-Term Potentiation

• _{LEARNING/MEMORY OCCURS ON A CELLULAR LEVEL}

• _{When learning or conditioning occurs both the function and}

the structure of neurons change

• Function – Increased amounts of neurotransmitters released by the affected neurons.

• Structure – Number of branches connecting the neurons and the number of synapses increases.

– _{Allows the neurons involved in the particularly memory to}

communicate more easily.

• _{Collectively, these changes are called Long-Term Potentiation.}

Processing Memories in the Brain

• _{Much of what we learn about memories has been discovered}

from individuals with amnesia.

• _{Retrograde Amnesia (Backwards moving) – Unable to}

remember some or all of their past.

– _{For example, after years of boxing, some figthers suffer retrograde}

amnesia.

– _{Typically memories of events that immediately preceded a brain}

injury leading to RA are completely lost.

• _{Anterograde Amnesia (Forward moving) – Inability to form}

new memories.

– _{H.M. – Had hippocampus removed to decrease seizures.}

Memory Consolidation

•

_{Our memories are like a Jell-O mold – it needs}

time to “set” before it becomes solid.

– _{This “setting” is called Memory Consolidation.}

•

_{If memory consolidation is disrupted before}

the process is complete, the memory may be

lost.

Brain Structures Involved in Memory

• _{Prefrontal Cortex – Memories involving the}

sequence of events, but not the events themselves.

• _{Amygala – Encodes emotional aspects of memories.} • _{Medial Temporal Lobe and Hippocampus – Encodes}

new explicit (conscious) memories into long-term memories.

• _{Cerebellum – Memories involving movement.}

– _{Helps us keep balance, perform athletic abilities, drive,}