1 Cognition Memory, Thinking & Language Unit VII- Modules 31-36

1

CognitionMemory, Thinking &

Language

Unit VII- Modules 31-36

2

Memory

Memory is the basis for knowing your friends, your neighbors, the English language, the national anthem, and

yourself.

If memory was nonexistent, everyone would be a stranger to you; every

language foreign; every task new; and even you yourself would be a stranger.

3

Do You Know the 7 Dwarfs

• Grouchy Gabby Fearful• Sleepy Smiley Jumpy• Shy Droopy Sniffy• Bashful Cheerful Teach• Shorty Nifty Happy• Doc Wheezy Stubby• Hopeful Wishful Puffy• Dumpy Sneezy Pop• Lazy Dopey Grumpy

4

The Phenomenon of Memory

Memory is any indication that learning has persisted over time. It is our ability to

store and retrieve information.

5

Information Processing Model

Tasks of Memory

Keyboard(Encoding)

Disk(Storage)

Monitor(Retrieval)

Sequential Process

6

Memory’s Three Basic Tasks• 1) Encoding- requires that you select

some stimulus event (from the vast array of inputs assaulting your senses).– You identify the distinctive features of that

input ( sound-soft, loud, harsh)

– Then you mentally tag or label an experience.– Sometimes elaboration (assimilation)-you

connect a new concept with existing information in memory (link it with concrete examples)

• 2) Storage-involves the retention of encoded material over time.

• 3) Retrieval-accessing the information and bringing it to consciousness.

7

Photographic Memory• The technical term for

“photographic memory” is eidetic imagery.– Psychologists prefer this term because

eidetic images are different from images made by a camera ( it renders everything in a minute detail).

– An eidetic image portrays the most interesting and meaningful parts of the scene most accurately.

– Appears most commonly in children(5%), but only rarely in adults.

8

Memory Models: Working Memory

The Atkinson-Schiffrin (1968) three-stage model of memory includes a) sensory memory, b) short-term memory, and c) long-term memory.The stages work like an assembly line to convert a flow of incoming stimuli into meaningful patterns that can be stored and later remembered.

Bob

Dae

mm

rich

/ The

Im

age

Wor

ks

Bob

Dae

mm

rich

/ The

Im

age

Wor

ks

Fra

nk W

arte

nber

g/ P

ictu

re P

ress

/ C

orbi

s

9

Information Processing Model

• Sensory memory -the most fleeting of the three stages– Typically holds sights, sounds, smells,

textures, and other sensory impressions for only a fraction of a second.

• Short lived images are screened for possible entry into working memory.

• Working Memory-(short-term memory)-takes info from sensory register and connects it with items already in long-term storage– Built to hold info for only a few seconds

(temporarily holds items like a phone number)

– We actively associate new and old information & solve problems.

10

Information Processing Model

• Long-term memory -receives info from working (STM) and can store it for much longer periods of time.– Sometimes for the rest of a person’s life.– Info in our long-term memory constitutes

our knowledge about the world and holds material varied as an image of your mother’s face, the lyrics to a favorite song, and the year that Wilhem Wundt established the first psychology laboratory (that was in 18??)

11

Working MemoryAlan Baddeley (2002) proposes that working memory contains auditory and visual processing controlled by

the central executive through an episodic buffer.

Building Memories: Encoding

Dual-Track Memory: Effortful Versus Automatic Processing

• Explicit memory (declarative memory)

• Effortful processing

• Automatic processing

• Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)

13

Encoding: Getting Information In

How We Encode

1. Some information (route to your school) is automatically processed.

2. However, new or unusual information (friend’s new cell-phone number) requires attention and effort.

14

Encoding: Automatic Processing

We process an enormous amount of information effortlessly, such as the following:

1. Space: While reading a textbook, you automatically encode the place of a picture on a page (when struggling to recall the info you may visualize its location)

2. Time: We unintentionally note the events that take place in a day.

3. Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of things that happen to you.

Dual-Track Memory: Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories

• Processing that happens without awareness produces implicit memories.

• Implicit memories also called nondeclarative memories is retention independent of conscious recollection– Ex. Riding a bike, driving home.

15

16

Effortful Processing

Committing novel information to memory requires attention and conscious effort~ just like learning a concept from a textbook. Such

processing leads to durable and accessible

memories.

Spencer G

rant/ Photo E

dit

© B

ananastock/ Alam

y

Building Memories: EncodingDual-Track Memory: Effortful

Processing and Explicit Memories• Explicit memory- memories

of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”

• Also called declarative memory

• Iconic memory- a fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli (0.5 sec)

• Echoic memory- a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli (3-4 sec)

17

Total recall—briefly  When George Sperling flashed a group of letters similar to this for one-twentieth of a second, people could recall only about half the letters. But when signaled to recall a particular row immediately after the letters had disappeared, they could do so with near-perfect accuracy.

Building Memories: EncodingDual-Track Memory: Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories:

Capacity of Short-Term and Working Memory

• Magic number Seven–Plus or minus 2

19

Capacity

You should be able to

recall 7±2 letters.

The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for

Processing Information (1956).

George Miller

M U T G I K T L R S Y P

Ready?

Building Memories: EncodingDual-Track Memory: Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories:

Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking

21

Chunking

Organizing pieces of information into a smaller number of meaningful units or chunks. Try to

remember the numbers below.

1-7-7-6-1-4-9-2-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1

If you are well versed with American history, chunk the numbers together

and see if you can recall them better. 1776 1492 1812 1941.

22

Chunking

Acronyms are another way of chunking information to remember it.

HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior

PEMDAS = Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract

ROY G. BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

23

Chunking

F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M

The capacity of the working memory may be increased by “Chunking.”

FBI TWA CIA IBM4 chunks

24

Visual Encoding: Mnemonic devices

• Mnemonic –Greek word for memory.– Def. memory aids, especially those techniques

that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

• Can use acoustic and visual codes (acronyms-ROY G BIV; music-songs)

• Developed by ancient Greek scholars and orators as aids to remembering lengthy passages and speeches.

25

Hierarchy

Complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided

into categories and subcategories.

26

Types of Encoding

1) Visual-encoding its image2) Acoustic- encoding of sound,

especially the sound of wordsConversion of information (especially

semantic) to sound patterns in working memory

3) Semantic-encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words.

27

Visual Encoding

Mental pictures (imagery) are a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially

when combined with semantic encoding.

Showing adverse effects of tanning and smoking in a picture may be more powerful than simply talking about it.

Both photos: H

o/AP Photo

Building Memories: EncodingDual-Track Memory: Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories:

Distributed Practice• Overlearning• Spacing effect -distributed study or practice

yields better long term retention than massed practice.– Massed practice-cramming

• Testing effect- enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information• Repeated self testing

Building Memories: EncodingDual-Track Memory: Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories:

Levels of Processing• Shallow processing- encodes on a very basic level

such as a word’s letters or appearance of words

• Deep processing- encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

Building Memories: EncodingDual-Track Memory: Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories:

Making Material Personally Meaningful

• Making material meaningful-relate it to your own life

• Self-reference effect-

• Information deemed

“relevant to me” is processed

More deeply

Module 32:Memory Storage and Retrieval

Memory Storage

Retaining Information in the Brain

• Memories are NOT stored in one part of the brain.

Memory StorageRetaining Information in the Brain:

• Hippocampus-neural center in limbic systems helps to process explicit memories for storage– Amnesia– Damage to left hemisphere-have problems

remember verbal information– Damage to right hemisphere

• Problems with recalling visual designs & locations

– Consolidation during sleep-process

memories

Memory StorageRetaining Information in the Brain:

Implicit-Memory System: The Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia

• Cerebellum-forming & storing implicit memories created by classical conditioning

• Basal Ganglia-facilitates

formation of our procedural memory

like riding a bike, tying your shoe laces• Infantile amnesia-no recollection of our

first 3 years of life

Memory Storage

The Amygdala, Emotions, and Memory• Amygdala-stress hormones provoke the

amygdala to initiate a memory trace in frontal lobes & basal ganglia

• Flashbulb Memories-

a clear memory of an

emotionally significant

moment or event.

36

Flashbulb Memory

A unique and highly emotional moment may give rise to a clear, strong, and persistent

memory called flashbulb memory. However, this memory is not free from errors.

President Bush being told of 9/11 attack.R

uter

s/ C

orbi

s

37

Synaptic Changes

•In Aplysia (California sea snail), Kandel and Schwartz (1982) showed that serotonin release from neurons increased after conditioning (or learning).

Photo: S

cientific Am

erican

These synapses then became more efficient at transmitting signals.

38

Synaptic Changes

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) refers to synaptic enhancement after learning (Lynch, 2002). An increase in neurotransmitter release or receptors on the receiving neuron indicates strengthening of synapses.Drugs that block LTP interfere with learning.

Both P

hotos: From

N. T

oni et al., Nature, 402, N

ov. 25 1999. Courtesy of D

ominique M

uller

Memory Storage

Memory Storage

Memory Storage

Memory Storage

Memory Storage

Memory Storage

45

Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Retrieval refers to getting information out of the memory store.

Remembering things past  Even if Taylor Swift and Leonardo DiCaprio had not become famous, their high school classmates would

most likely still recognize their high school photos. 

46

Measuring RetentionHow is memory measured?

• In recognition, the person must identify an item amongst other choices. (A multiple-choice test requires recognition.)

1. Name the capital of France.

a. Brusselsb. Romec. Londond. Paris

47

Measuring RetentionHow is memory measured?

• In recall, the person must retrieve information using effort. (A fill-in-the blank test requires recall.)

1. The capital of France is ______.

Measuring RetentionHow is memory measured?

• Relearning-a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

48

49

Measures of Memory

In relearning, the individual shows how much time (or effort) is saved when

learning material for the second time.

ListJetDaggerTreeKite…SilkFrogRing

It took 10 trialsto learn this list

ListJetDaggerTreeKite…SilkFrogRing

It took 5 trialsto learn the list

1 day laterSaving

OriginalTrials

RelearningTrials

RelearningTrials

10 510

50%

X 100

X 100

50

Retrieval Cues

• Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations are like anchors that help retrieve memory.

Fire Truck

truck

red

fire

heatsmoke

smellwater

hose

51

Retrieval Cues: Priming•Priming is the implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus.

•an increased sensitivity to certain stimuli due to prior experience. Priming is believed to occur outside of conscious awareness

After seeing or hearing the word “rabbit”, we are later more likely to spell the spoken word as h-a-r-e.

52

Retrieval Cues: Priming

• Have you ever heard an old song you had long forgotten and suddenly become avalanched in old memories?  Maybe you played this record when you and your boyfriend/girlfriend were first dating, maybe the music brought to mind the house where you used to live.  This effect of bringing to mind memories through associations is called "priming" .

53

Context-Dependent Memory

• Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something can prime your memory retrieval.

• Read pg 336 last paragraph for example.

Fred McC

onnaughey/ Photo Researchers

54

Moods and Memories

We usually recall experiences that are consistent with our current mood.

Emotions, or moods, serve as retrieval cues.

Jorgen Schytte/ Still Pictures

Retrieval: Getting Information OutRetrieval Cues:

State-Dependent Memory• State dependent memory• Mood congruent memory- the tendency to recall

experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

56

Memory Effects1. Next-in-line-Effect: When you are so

anxious about being next that you cannot remember what the person just before you in line says, but you can recall what other people around you say.

2. Spacing Effect: We retain information better when we rehearse over time.

3. Serial Position Effect: Our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and the first items (primacy effect) in a list

Retrieval: Getting Information OutRetrieval Cues:

Serial Position Effect• Serial position effect

–Recency effect

–Primacy effect

Module 33:Forgetting, Memory

Construction, and Memory Improvement

59

Tip of the Tongue (TOT)

• TOT Phenomenon- the inability to recall a word, while knowing that it is in memory.– Most common TOT experiences center on

names of personal acquaintances, names of famous people, and familiar objects

– Survey says that most people have this experience about once a week.

60

ForgettingWhy do we forget?

An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or

retrieval.

Encoding Failure•We cannot remember what we do not encode.

Forgetting and the Two Track Mind

• Anterograde Amnesia- an inability to form new memories. You can recall the past.– 50 First Dates

• Retrograde amnesia-inability to retrieve memories from one’s past

61

Forgetting

Encoding Failure

Forgetting

Storage Decay• Storage decay-Poor durability of stored

memories leads to their decay. • Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting

curve.

– Ebbinghaus curve

Forgetting

Storage Decay

Forgetting

Retrieval Failure

66

ForgettingRetrieval Failure: Interference

• Proactive interference- the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.– Can’t remember your new locker combination

because of your old locker combination.• Retroactive interference- the disruptive effect of

new learning on the recall of old information.– Ex. If someone sings new lyrics to the tune of

an old song and now you can’t remember the original lyrics to the old song.

67

Motivated ForgettingMotivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories.

Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. But the repressed memory lingers, he believed, and can be retrieved by some later cue or during therapy.

Sigmund Freud

Culver Pictures

68

Why do we forget?

Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. We filter, alter, or lose

much information during these stages.

Memory Construction Errors

70

Memory Construction

• While tapping our memories, we filter or fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent.

• Misinformation Effect: Exposed to misleading information, we tend to misremember.

71

Source Amnesia

• Source Amnesia: attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. (Also called source misattribution.)

• Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.

Source Amnesia• Source amnesia also helps

explain déjà vu (French for “already seen”).

• The key to déjà vu seems to be familiarity with a stimulus without a clear idea of where we encountered it before (Cleary, 2008). Normally, we experience a feeling of familiarity (thanks to temporal lobe processing) before we consciously remember details (thanks to hippocampus and frontal lobe processing). When these functions (and brain regions) are out of sync, we may experience a feeling of familiarity without conscious recall 72

Discerning True & False Memories

• Just like true perception and illusion, real memories and memories that seem real are difficult to discern.

• False memories can be persistent.• Memory construction helps explain why

79% of 200 convicts exonerated by later DNA testing has been misjudged based on faulty eye witness identification (Garrett, 2008).

73

74

Repressed or Constructed?Some adults actually do forget childhood episodes of abuse.

False Memory SyndromeA condition in which a person’s identity and relationships center around a false but strongly believed memory of a traumatic experience, which is sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists.

False Memories

75

Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Eyewitnesses

• People’s recollections are less influenced by leading questions if they are forewarned that interrogations can create memory bias

• When the passage of time allows the original memory to fade, people are more likely to misremember information.

• Each time a memory is retrieved, it is reconstructed and then restored- increasing the chances of error.

• The age of the witness matters: Younger children and adults over 64 may be especially susceptible to influence by misinformation in their efforts to recall.

• Confidence in memory is NOT a sign of an accurate memory. In fact, misinformed people can actually come to believe the misinformation in which they feel confidence.

76

• Children’s eyewitness recall can be unreliable if leading questions are posed.

• However, if cognitive interviews are neutrally worded, the accuracy of their recall increases.

• In cases of sexual abuse, this usually suggests a lower percentage of abuse.

Children’s Eyewitness Recall

77

Are memories of abuse repressed or constructed?

Many psychotherapists believe that early childhood sexual abuse results in

repressed memories.

However, other psychologists question such beliefs and think that such memories may be constructed.

Memories of Abuse

Memory Construction ErrorsRepressed or Constructed Memories of

Abuse?

• Areas of agreement– Sexual abuse happens– Injustice happens– Forgetting happens– Recovered memories are incomplete– Memories before 3 years are unreliable– Hypnotic memories are unreliable– Memories can be emotionally upsetting

Improving Memory

• Rehearse repeatedly

• Make the material meaningful

• Activate retrieval cues

• Use mnemonic devices

• Minimize interference

• Sleep more

• Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse it and to help determine what you do not yet know