HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 1 Chapter 7 MEMORY Section 1: Three Kinds of MemoryThree Kinds of Memory Section 2: Three

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON

PPSYCHOLOGYSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE

1

Chapter 7MEMORY

Section 1: Three Kinds of Memory

Section 2: Three Processes of Memory

Section 3: Three Stages of Memory

Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement



2

Chapter 7Chapter 7

What is Memory?

Memory is the process by which we recollect prior experiences and information and skills learned in the past.

One way to classify memory is according to the different kinds of information it contains: events, general knowledge, and skills.




3

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Question: What are the three kinds of memory?

THREE KINDS OF MEMORY Episodic memory – memory of a specific event that

took place in the person’s presence or through experience

Semantic memory – general knowledge that people remember

Implicit memory – a memory that consists of the skills and procedures one has learned




4

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Episodic Memory

Episodic Memory is memory of a specific event Flashbulb memories--Events so important that it seems as

if a flashbulb goes off and we photograph it in every detail.

There are several reasons why certain memories become etched in our minds when the “flashbulb” goes off.

Sometimes places or events make an impression on us because they are connected to other events that are important at the time, such as a major disaster or tragedy.




5

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Semantic Memory

Semantic memory – general knowledge that people remember

We usually do not remember when we acquired the information in our semantic memory.

Examples of semantic memory You remember the alphabet, but you do not remember

where, when or how you learned it. Most of what you have learned in your classes at school

has become part of your semantic memory. Episodic and semantic memories are both examples of

explicit memory.




6

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Implicit Memory

The opposite of explicit is implicit and another kind of memory is implicit memory

Implicit memory – a memory that consists of the skills and procedures one has learned

Things that are implicit are implied or not clearly stated

Memories consist of the skills or procedures you have learned—throwing a ball, jumping rope, typing, using a computer, playing a musical instrument.

Once skills have been learned, they tend to stay remembered for many years perhaps even a lifetime.




7

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Question: What are the three processes of memory?

THREE PROCESSES OF MEMORY Encoding – the translation of information into a form in

which it can be stored Storage – the second process of memory and is the

maintenance of encoded information over a period of time

Retrieval – third process of memory; consists of locating stored information and returning it to conscious thought




8

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Encoding

The first stage of processing information When we place information into our memory like

computers, we encode it. We convert the physical stimulation we have received

into psychological formats that can be mentally represented.

On a sheet of paper write this list of letters OTTFFSSENT

Look at the letters for 30 seconds and memorize as much of the list as possible.




9

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Visual codes Did you try to see them in your mind as a

picture? If so, you used visual code. You tried to form a mental picture of the

letters in your mind.




10

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Acoustic Codes— Did you read the list to yourself and repeat it

several times? You may have said the letters one after

another trying to remember the letters The acoustic code records the letter in your

memory as a sequence of sounds.




11

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Semantic codes A semantic code represents information in terms of its

meaning. You may have tried to find words that begin with each

letter in the list. What you may not have realized when you first examined

the list is that the letters OTTFFSSENT By using semantic codes, you can memorize lists of

letters and other items more easily and will probably remember them for a longer amount of time than you would otherwise.




12

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Storage

Once information is encoded it must be stored This is the second stage in the memory process. Human storage of information is not all that different

from a computer’s storage of information. With a computer, the user must instruct the machine

to save information in its memory. Otherwise it will lose the newly encoded information

when the user shuts off the computer. People who want to store new information in their

memory use a variety of strategies.




13

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Maintenance Rehearsal—repeating information over and over again to keep from forgetting.

The more time spent in rehearsing or repeating information the longer the information will be remembered.




14

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Chunking

Chunking—the organization of items into familiar or manageable units.

Most people can not remember more than 9 items at a time in their short-term memory.



15

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Interference

Only a limited amount of information can be retained in short-term memory.

Interference occurs when new information appears in short-term memory and takes the place of what is already there.

Short-term memory is very useful but it is only a temporary solution to the problem of remembering information.



16

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Capacity of Memory

Psychologists have yet to discover a limit to how much can be stored in a person’s long-term memory.

Even though there is no limit to how much we can remember, we do not store all of our experiences permanently.

We are more apt to remember things that capture our attention. If we get distracted or uninvolved with what is occurring around us, we are not going to remember as much as we will if we are interested or paying attention.



17

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Recognition

Recognition—is one of the three basic memory tasks. It involves identifying objects or events that have been

encountered before. It is the easiest of the learning tasks. For example—

Multiple Choice tests, you only have to recognize the correct answer.



18

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Recall

Recall something means to bring it back to mind.

You try to reconstruct it in your mind.



19

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Relearning

The third basic memory task is relearning. People who have been out of school for 25 years

might not remember the algebraic formulas they learned when they were in high school. However, they could probably relearn them very quickly if someone showed them how to use them again.

We can usually relearn fairly rapidly things we once knew but forgotten.



20

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Repression

We sometimes forget things on purpose without even knowing we are doing it.

We forget them by pushing them out of our consciousness.

Freud called this kind of forgetting repression.



21

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Amnesia

Amnesia is severe memory loss caused by brain injury, shock, fatigue, illness, or repression.



22

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Infantile Amnesia

Some people think that they can remember special events that took place in their infancy, but they cannot.

Freud found that they could not remember things that had happened to them before the age of three. This forgetting of early events is called infantile amnesia.

People in their 70s and 80s have many precise memories of their life between the ages of 6 and 10.

College freshmen have difficulty remembering events that occurred before the age of 6, even though these events occurred only 13 or 14 years earlier.



23

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Improving Memory

Repetition is one fairly effective way to transfer information from sensory memory to short-term memory and from short-term memory to long-term memory.

Documents

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 1 Chapter 7 MEMORY Section 1: Three Kinds of MemoryThree Kinds of Memory Section 2: Three