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Memory

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Human Memory

Memory encoding: taking in information Memory storage: retaining information in memory Memory retrieval: accessing stored information

Encoding specificity principle says that retrieval of specific memories will be more successful when cues that were present in encoding are present when retrieving Context-dependent memory – the tendency for information to be better recalled in the context in which it was first learnedState-dependent memory – Idea that people have an easier time recalling information when in the same physical and psychological state as when they learned it

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Atkinson-Shiffrin Theory Three-Stage Processing Model of Memory

External Events

Stage 1

Sensory Memory

3-4 SecondsIconic MemoryEchoic Memory

see

smellhear

feel

taste

Stage 2

Short-term/working Memory

30 seconds

Stage 3

Long Term Memory

Unlimited spaceConsolidation

Encoding

We pay attention to important or

interesting information

RehearsalPhonological Loop

Elaborate RehearsalMnemonic Devices - Acrostics- Acronyms- Visualspatial

Sketch- Chunking

EncodingRetrieving

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Long-Term Memory BreakdownDeclarative Memory

(Explicit) • Memory of facts and

experiences• Key phrase “knowing that”• Memory of facts =

Semantic Memory • Memory of experiences =

Episodic Memory• Deeply emotionally

charged memories = Flashbulb Memories• Where were you

when the Twin Towers fell, when JFK died, Michael Jackson died

Procedural Memory (Implicit)

• Memory of skills and procedures• Tasks that we perform

without thinking: how to tie our shoes, how to drive a car, how to ride a bike• Often learned through

shaping (step by step learning)

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• Hierarchies: systems in which concepts are arranged from general to more specific• Concepts: mental representations of

related things; could be physical objects, events, organisms, or abstract ideas• Prototypes: common examples of

the concept. For example, if the concept was “bird” a prototype could be “robin”

• Concepts broken into 3 levels• Superordinate (broadest

category) = Building• Basic (more specific level) =

Business• Subordinate (examples of basic)

= Dentist Office

How We Organize MemoriesHierarchies & Schemas

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• Semantic Networks: More irregular and less strict hierarchies; link multiple concepts together.• For example, in a semantic network, the

concept of “bird” can be linked to “fly, feathers, wings, animals, vertebrate, penguin, robin, sky” all of which could be connected to several concepts. • Schemas are preexisting frameworks that

exist that allow us to organize and interpret new information.

• Script: the specific things we associate with an event, person, or item

• For Example: A script for “elementary school” may include• Teachers• Young students• Principal• Classrooms with desks and chairs

How We Organize MemoriesHierarchies & Schemas

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Visual Difference of Hierarchies & Schemas

Hierarchies Schemas

Superordinate Concept

BasicConcept

Subordinate Concept

Automobile

Car

Ford Taurus

Car

Wheel

BreaksDome light

Drive Engine

Road

16 4-door

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• Interference Theory: Believes that memories held in STM or LTM may be pushed aside by other memories

• Proactive Interference: when something we learned earlier disrupts new information we are trying to learn• Trying to remember your grandparent’s new phone number, but you keep messing it up with their old one.

• Retroactive Interference: when something we have recently learned disrupts the recall of old information• Someone asks for your old address and it is blocked because our new address interferes with our recall of it.

Things That Can Cause Issues With MemoryProactive InterferenceRetroactive InterferenceMisinformation EffectDecay Theory

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• Misinformation Effect: when we incorporate misleading information into our memory of an event. •We forget what actually happened so we fill in the blanks with what we think did, leading to inaccuracies

• Decay Theory: The idea that over time our brains physically decay leading to memory loss

• Serial Position Effect: we are more likely to forget the middle items in a list than those at the beginning for the end• Primacy effect: the tendency to recall items learned first• Recency effect: the tendency to recall the last items learned

Things That Can Cause Issues With MemoryProactive InterferenceRetroactive InterferenceMisinformation EffectDecay TheoryInterference Theory

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Motivated Forgetting: Memories Hidden from Awareness Sigmund Freud Theorized

that the psychological defense mechanism of repression, or motivated forgetting, banished threatening material from the consciousness

Amnesia: Memories Lost or Never Gained Retrograde Amnesia – the

loss of memory of past events

Anterograde amnesia – the loss of the ability to form or store new memories

Possible Reasons for ForgettingRepressionRetrograde AmnesiaAnterograde Amnesia

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Ways to Improve Memory• Mnemonic Devices: memory

tricks used when encoding memory information that aid in retrieval of information• Acronyms: A word formed

from the first letters of each one of the words in a phrase or list of terms • “CART” could be used to

remember items to get at the store: Carrots, Apples, Radishes, and Turnips

• Acrostics: A sentence formed with the first letter of each word referencing the first letter of a list of terms• “My very educated mother

just sent us nine pizzas” referred to the order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

• Phonological Loop: the use of verbal repetition of information to deepen memory retention.

• Chunking: grouping items together to allow for more material to be learned

• Visualspatial Sketchpad: the creation of a visual image to improve memory• Mental map of your house is an

example

• Context-Dependent Memory: The idea that we retrieve information better when in the same location it was obtained

• State-Dependent Memory: The idea that things are more easily recalled when we are in the same physical and mental state when the information was encoded. • So if you were really tired when

you hid a gift, you would be more likely to recall where you put it if you were really tired.