Chapter 9: Memory

Chapter 9: Memory

ROY G BIV Every Good Boy Does FineHOMESPlease Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

MNEMONICS

MemoryMemory:

persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information.

Gives us our sense of self and connects us to past experiences.

What are your three most vivid memories?

Vivid MemoriesFlashbulb Memories: clear memory of an emotionally significant event or moment.

Usually personally meaningful or historically significant.

Episodic Memory: refers to your specific memory of events that occur in your life.

Types of Memories

Types of MemoriesSemantic Memory: General knowledge – facts you learn at school.

Types of MemoriesImplicit Memory: The skills you have

learned

The Curious Case ofClive Wearing

Why does Clive have such severe memory loss?

What are some of his daily habits?

What did you notice that is interesting about his memoryloss? (hint…think his wife and his profession)

What is Clive’s reaction to his wife’s questions about hisjournal?

Which type of memory is MOST intact?

Memory as Information Processing

Memory is similar to a computer (write to file, save to disk, read from disk).

3 Basic Steps to Memory: 1. Encoding: getting information into

the memory system.2. Storage: the retention of the

encoded information over time.3. Retrieval: process of getting

information out of the memory system.

Three Stage Processing for Encoding

Stage One: The initial recording of sensory information in the memory system is referred to as sensory memory.

Stage Two: sensory memories are processed into short term memory your activated memory which can only hold a minimal amount of information.

Stage Three: short term memories are encoded into long-term memory, the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse from which we retrieve.

Concept of Short-Term Memory

Short-Term Memory is limited in capacity and duration.

You can only hold so much information in your working memory at one given time.

Magic Number tends to be 7 +/- 2.

Take 30 seconds to memorize this list of

letters:OTTFFSSENT

Types of EncodingSemantic Encoding: encoding

of meaning, including the meaning of words….yields best memory.

Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words….usually the least effective.

Visual Encoding: the encoding of picture images.

Encoding ImageryImagery: creating mental pictures,

helps effortful processing especially when combined with semantic encoding.

Recall of events is often colored by highest joys and lowest lows of events…usually remember events differently than you evaluated them at the time.

Mneumonics: memory aids, often use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

12 Days of ChristmasList as many of the gifts mentioned

in the song as you can.

What type of encoding is this?

12 Days of ChristmasAnswers:

1.Partridge2.Turtle Doves3.French Hens4.Calling Birds5.Golden Rings6.Geese A-laying

7. Swans A-swimming8. Maids A-milking9. Ladies Dancing10.Lords A-leaping11.Pipers Piping12.Drummers

Drumming

Types of RehearsalMaintenance rehearsal: simple rote

repetition of information in consciousness or;Short term memory

even more successfully by elaborate rehearsal: processing of information by relating it to something you already know well.Long term memory

The Presidents On a sheet of paper, list the Presidents

of the United States in order. Do your best.

Maintenance rehearsal vs. elaborate rehearsal

King of Memory Experiments is Hermann Ebbinghaus

Wanted to research capacity of verbal memory.

Looked to study to see capacity of peoples’ memories to study strings of non-sense syllables.

Ex: JIH, FUB, YOX, XIR,

Findings of Ebbinghaus1. Practice makes perfect. The

more rehearsal he did on day 1, the less rehearsal it took to learn the syllables again on day 2. Over learning increased retention.

2. The Spacing Effect: the tendency for studying over a long period of time produces better long term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice. SPACED STUDYING BEATS CRAMMING!!!

Findings of Ebbinghaus3. Serial Position Effect: our tendency

to recall best the last and first items in a list. Ex: Presidents

Explaining the Serial Position Effect

Primacy Effect: explains how we remember concepts at the beginning of a list since these are often the terms we have seen the most when reviewing.

Recency Effect: explains how we remember concepts at the end of the list a since these are the terms we have seen most RECENTLY.

MIDDLE IS FORGOTTEN MOST OFTEN.

Encoding Activity (Myers 9-3)

Follow the instructions on the handout as I read the 20 sentences. It is important that you do not talk or communicate with anyone else during this activity.

Some Examples of Mneumonics

1. Method of Loci: memory device used by linking items in a list with physical locations in a place you are familiar with. Ex: Link parts of brain with places in your house; Hypothalamus and refrigerator.

2. Peg Word System: works by prememorizing a list of words with numbers and associating new list with the scheme. Ex: 1 is a gun, 2 is a zoo, 3 is a tree, 4 is a door, 5 is a hive.

Try to remember these numbers:

14921776186119141271

94119632001

How confident are you that you correctly

memorized all 31 numbers?

1492177618611914

12-7-194119632001

Now, try to remember these numbers:

Which was easier?

WHY?

group like things togetherCHUNKING

How do you remember a phone #?9528295379

You CHUNK it!

952- 829- 5379

Organizing Information for Encoding

Chunkingorganizing items into familiar, manageable unitslike horizontal organization- 1776149218121941

often occurs automatically

Long Term Memory Schemas: mental representations that we

form of the world by organizing bits of information

Ex. Listen to the following story and than answer the questions that follow. (p. 382 of AP Book)

Ex. Car Crash Study by Elizabeth Loftus

HUMANISM – a psychological approach that focuses on

free will

I want you to remember: So when you see the word “humanism” I tell you to think about:

Free Willy!

make it VISUAL

Imagine the route from your room to the front door of your house

Place people / events along the way

George Washington is in my bedroomJohn Adams is right outside my bedroom door

Thomas Jefferson is in the bathroomJames Madison is at the top of the stairs

METHOD OF LOCI

Whose phone numbers do you remember? Why?

Make all kinds of material meaningful.

Experiment - making meaning

make it MEANINGFUL

“Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue in 1492”

The helping verbs“The THALAMUS is a grand station,

it sends and receives information.”

make it

RHYTHMIC

I am going to show you a list of words.

Your task is to memorize the list.

When I am finished I will ask you to recall the words by writing them down on a half sheet of paper.

Bed

Clock

Dream

Night

Turn

Doze

Mattress

Snooze

Nod

Tired

Night

Artichoke

Insomnia

Rest

Toss

Night

Yawn

Alarm

Nap

Snore

Pillow

Remember as many words as you can. Write them down on your half

sheet of paper.

Recall as many words as you can.

1. Bed2. Clock3. Dream4. Night5. Turn6. Doze7. Mattress

8. Snooze9. Nod10. Tired11. Night12. Artichoke13. Insomnia14. Rest

15. Toss16. Night17. Yawn18. Alarm19. Nap20. Snore21. Pillow

Primacy effectRecency effect

Repetition /Rehearsal

Von Restorff Effect

(Distinctiveness)Semantic Organization

Did you remember the word sleep?

FALSE MEMORY!!!!

Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Recall: a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.Ex: Fill in the Blank.

The hardest of the memory tasks

Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Recognition: a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned.Ex: Multiple Choice

The easiest of the three memory tasks

Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Relearning: learning something for the second (or third or fourth or …) time.

Relearning an idea or concept happens more quickly than learning something the first time.

FALSE MEMORIESAre you a reliable eyewitness?

FALSE MEMORIESAre you a reliable eyewitness?

Are You A Good Eyewitness? #2

Are you a Good Eyewitness? #1

Picking Cotton Activity

Picking Cotton on 60 Minutes

Storage Loss: AmnesiaAmnesia refers to the

loss of memory.Amnesiac patients

typically have losses in explicit memory.

Types of Amnesia Anterograde Amnesia: type of memory loss

where patients are UNABLE TO FORM ANY NEW MEMORIES. Can’t remember anything that has occurred AFTER a traumatic head injury.

Retrograde Amnesia: type of memory loss where patients are UNABLE TO REMEMBER PAST EVENTS. May forget everything that happened BEFORE a traumatic head injury.

Infantile Amnesia

Recall vs. Recognition Activity

7 Dwarfs

Motivated Forgetting As A Freudian Concept

Repression: idea put forth by psychoanalytic theorists like Freud which states anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories can be banished from consciousness.

Ex: child abuse, rape, incest may be repressed and not be able to be actively recalled.

Freud believed Repression was a Defense Mechanism

Freud argued individuals often “forgot” traumatic incidents to protect their self concepts and to minimize external anxiety.

Freud argued “Forgotten” incidents are banished the “unconscious.”

The incidents may cause you to have unexplained phobias or problems, that wont be helped until you uncover the incident.

Retrieval CuesPriming:

activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations of memory.

Retrieval Cues Context Effects Memory Retrieval: able

to retrieve information better when you are in the same context you learned it in. Ex. Studying for a test in the same room you are

going to take the test in.

Emotional/Mood Impact of Memory: State-Dependent Memory: information is

most easily recalled when in same “state” of consciousness or mood it was learned in.

Ex. Under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Feelings of happiness tend to bring back memories of

another happy time.

Retrieval Cues Schemas: mental representations that we

form of the world by organizing bits of information

Ex. Listen to the following story and than answer the questions that follow. (p. 382 of AP Book)

Ex. Car Crash Study by Elizabeth Loftus

SchemasLoftus had

individuals watch car accidents and then recorded results based on questioning procedures.

Depiction of actual accident

Memoryconstruction

Loftus’s ResearchSubjects were asked to reveal how fast

they thought the cars were going.Question consisted of “How fast were the

cars going when they _______________ each other.

Loftus filled in the blanks with different words including: bumped, collided, contacted, hit, or smash.

Speed was elevated to great degree when “smashed” was used as key verb and subjects were likely to remember broken glass when there was none.