Fact or Falsehood?

Fact or Falsehood? Memory storage is never automatic; it always takes effort.

– False The day after you are introduced to a number of new students,

you will more easily recall the names of those you met first.– True

Memory aids (e.g., those that use imagery and devices for organization) are no more useful than simple rehearsal if information.– False

Only a few people have any type of photographic memory.– False

Although our capacity for storing information is large, we are still limited in the number of permanent memories we can form.– False

We store information in memory as libraries store their books, that is, in discrete, precise locations.– False

When people learn something while intoxicated, they recall it best when they are again intoxicated.– True

The hour before sleep is a good time to commit information to memory.– True

Repeatedly imagining a nonexistent even can lead us to believe it actually happened.– True

Children typically will repress any memory of having seen one of their parents being murdered.– False

Name the 7 Dwarfs

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

Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Doc, Bashful

How many can you remember?

Make up a story. How many can you remember this time?

The woman who could not forget

The man who could not remember

MEMORY AND

THINKING

Chapter 7

MEMORY AND HOW IT WORKS

Memory: Learning that has persisted over time

To remember an event, we must successfully–Encode – get information into our

brain–Storage – retain information–Retrieval – getting information back

out

HOW WE ENCODE Parallel processing – doing many things at

once We automatically process information about

space, time, frequency and well-learned information

Effortful processing – encoding that requires attention and conscious effort– Can be boosted through rehearsal –

conscious repetition– Overlearning increases retention

HOW WE ENCODE -CONT-

Spacing effect – we retain information better when our rehearsal is distributed over time– Spaced study and self-assessment beat

cramming Serial position effect – tendency to

recall best the last and first items in a list– Primacy effect – best recall for first items– Recency effect – best recall for last items

PRESIDENTS

1. Washington 192. J. Adams 153. Jefferson 134. Madison 45. Monroe 26. J. Q. Adams 67. Jackson 58. Van Buren 19. Harrison 310. Tyler 211. Polk 5

12. Taylor 313. Fillmore 114. Pierce 015. Buchanan 116. Lincoln 1917. A. Johnson 318. Grant 219. Hayes 120. Garfield 221. Arthur 022. Cleveland 3

23. Harrison 024. Cleveland25. McKinley 126. T. Roosevelt 11

27. Taft 628. Wilson 429. Harding 130. Coolidge 131. Hoover 832. F.D. Roosevelt 13

33. Truman 8

34. Eisenhower 635. Kennedy 1836. Johnson 337. Nixon 838. Ford 939. Carter 840. Reagan 941. G. H.W. Bush 17

42. Clinton 1743. G.W. Bush 1844. Obama 19

SERIAL POSITION EFFECT

12

Percentage of words recalled

0

908070605040302010

Position of word in list1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

WHAT WE ENCODEVisual encoding – encoding of images

–Mnemonics – memory aids that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

Acoustic encoding – encoding of sounds

Semantic encoding – encoding of meaning, including meaning of words

Fed Ex Mnemonic Commercial

EXAMPLE

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than the street. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill but is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications are minimal. Rain, however, soaks in very fast. Too many people doing the same thing can also cause problems. One needs lots of room.

LEVELS OF PROCESSING

Memorize as many digits as you can (in order)

216964615199725246801296160894

chunking - organizing items into familiar, manageable units

Memory Olympics

SHORT TERM VS. LONG TERM MEMORY

Short-Term Memory– Limited, unless actively processed– Capacity of 7 digits +/- 2– Better for random numbers than

random letters– Better for sound than sight

Long-Term Memory– Limitless

STORING MEMORIES

Flashbulb memories – clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event– Strong emotional experiences = strong,

reliable memories Amnesia victims

– Have implicit memory – how to do something

– But no explicit memory – memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”

SHORT-TERM MEMORY DECAY

0102030405060708090

3 6 9 12 15 18

Time in seconds between presentationof contestants and recall request

(no rehearsal allowed)

Percentagewho recalledconsonants

RETRIEVAL: GETTING INFORMATION OUT

Priming - often unconscious activation of particular associations in memory– “memoryless memory”

Context effects– Easier to remember things in the same context

you learned them– Déjà vu - sense that “I’ve experienced this before”– Mood congruent memory - tendency to recall

experiences that are consistent w/one’s current good or bad mood

EFFECTS OF CONTEXT ON MEMORY

0

10

20

30

40

Water/land

Land/water

Water/water

Different contexts for hearing and recall

Same contexts for hearing and recall

Land/land

Percentage ofwords recalled

WHY WE FORGET Three sins of forgetting

– Absent-mindedness - inattention to details– Transience - storage decay over time– Blocking - inaccessibility of stored info

Three sins of distortion– Misattribution - confusing the source of the

information– Suggestibility - lingering effects of misinformation– Bias - belief-colored recollections

One sin of intrusion– Persistence - unwanted memories

FORGETTING

Course of forgetting is initially rapid, but levels off w/time

Interference– Proactive interference - something you learned

earlier disrupts your recall of something you experience later

– Retroactive interference - new information makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier

Freud believed we repress - banish anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings and memories

WHICH PENNY IS THE REAL THING?

Which penny is the real thing?

EBBINGHAUS’ FORGETTING CURVE

1 2 3 4 5 10 15 20 25 30

10

20

30

40

50

60

0

Time in days since learning list

Percentage oflist retainedwhen relearning

PROACTIVE AND RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE

FAULTY MEMORY CONSTRUCTION

Misinformation effect - incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event

Source amnesia - attributing the wrong source to an event we have experienced, heard about, read about or imagined

False memories feel as real as true memories Unreliable memories

– Things happening before age 3– Memories “recovered” under hypnosis or drugs

MEMORY CONSTRUCTIONDepiction of actual accident

Leading question:“About how fast were the carsgoing when they smashed intoeach other?”

Memory Construction

IMPROVING MEMORY

Study repeatedlyMake the material meaningfulActivate retrieval cuesUse mnemonic devicesMinimize interferenceSleep moreTest your own knowledge

EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/gwells/theeyewitnesstest.html