Chapter 3

SHORT AND LONG TERM MEMORY

• Anything in your conscious mind at any one moment

• Does not necessarily involved paying close attention

• Repeating what someone said word for word

• Will not comprehend until you repeat it back

• Memory lasts as long as you hold it there

• Numerous strategies to improve short-term memory

SHORT TERM MEMORY

• Repetition of information

• Mentally or out loud

• Maintenance rehearsal

• Keeps info in short term

• Does not connect info to meaning

• Elaborative Rehearsal

• Transfer info to long term

• Think about meaning

• Connect to info already in storage

REHEARSAL

PRACTICING REHEARSAL

• 440-835-9471

• B H A N W O L K D

• Sheep, phone, book, shoe, card, chip, drum

• STM limited in duration and capacity

• Can hold 5-9 pieces of information

• Average is 7

• *Applies to unrelated items

• Chunking puts items into groups

• 1 group = 1 piece

• 7 pieces of grouped items = greater memory

• Phone numbers

• 4408675309 vs 440-867-5309

CHUNKING

CHUNKING PRACTICE

CHUNKING PRACTICE

MNEMONIC DEVICES

• Named after Greek goddess of memory Mnymosyne

• Unusual associations made to material in order to aid memory

• Not always logical

• Replace rote memorization

• If you can already make sense of the task at hand, don’t use a mnemonic device

• Must be used from the beginning when learning info

• King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk

• All Cows Eat Grass / FACE

• Roy G. Biv

• 30 Days Hath September, April, June, and November

MNEMONIC EXAMPLES

• In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue

• Never Eat Soggy Waffles

• Please Excused My Dear Aunt Sally

• Sensory storage filters out the unnecessary

• Short-term memory holds onto the knowledge needed right away

• Information stored for future use• Representations of countless

facts, experiences, and sensations

• Holds onto ideas and themes

LONG TERM MEMORY

Semantic Memory

• Ideas and concepts not drawn from personal experience

• Ex: Concept of a cat

Explicit Memory*

• Consciously recall and use as needed

• Ex: Knowledge

• Explicit memory used when taking a test

TYPES OF MEMORY

Implicit Memory*• No conscious recall • Ex: Skills• Lose ability to describe tasks

Episodic Memory• Memory of our own life• Ex: What you did this

morning• Time of occurrence is

important

• Form of implicit memory

• Information is learned

• Cues given later to aid in recall

• Ex: Fill in the blank question

• First letter of the answer included

PRIMING

• Long term memory organized into schemas

• Brain is a filing cabinet with many drawers and each drawer has many folders

• Way we mentally represent the world

SCHEMAS - REVISITED

• Little girl sees a horse

• Horse is tall, has four legs, and a tail

• Sees a cow for the first time and calls it a horse

• Cow is tall, has four legs, and tail

• Modify existing schema for a horse and add new one for a cow

• Same little girl sees a miniature horse and calls it a dog

• Dogs are small, have four legs, and a tail

• Parents explain that it is actually a very small horse

• Modifies existing schema for horses to remember that they can be tall or short

EXAMPLES OF SCHEMAS

• Existing schemas can inhibit learning

• Prevents people from seeing the world as it really is

• No new info taken in

• Interpret situations incorrectly

• Come up with alternate explanations of events that challenge pre-existing beliefs

PREJUDICE