The Way The Mind Works

THE WAY THE MIND WORKS

ThinkingDirected:Logical and goal orientedGiven a problem with guidance to solveNon directed:Free flowing thoughtsDay dreaming, no guidance

Problem SolvingAssociative:Hit or miss. Behavior is learned from past attempts.Cognitive:Trial and error basis. Mental reorganization of problem until solution is drawn. Person learns through attempts of what works and what doesn’t.

Memory 3 typesSensory- comes from 5 senses. Iconic,(visual)lasts 0.03 seconds and Echoic, (auditory) lasts 2-3 secs.Short Term- Conscious process of info,(working memory) can hold more with Chunking.Long Term- once memory goes through sensory and short term, its now in long term. Episodic, (personal experience); Semantic, (general knowledge). Lasts years, or forever.

*Chunking is unit of info (ex; a phone #)*

3 R’s of Remembering: Retrieval: How you get information

stored in your brain, out. Requires complex organization

• Recognition: retrieval in which items are presented to a person who must determine if they were previously encountered (is it familiar?)

Recall: active reconstruction of information, reconstruct memory and use specific facts

Sensory Memory Echoic memory

Sensory memory for auditory input that lasts only 2 to 3 seconds

Why do we need sensory memory?

Short-term Memory Function

Conscious processing of informationAttention is the key

○ Limits what info comes under the spotlight of short-term memory at any given time

AKA working memory

Working orShort-term

Memory

Sensory

Input

Sensory Memory

Attention

Short-term Memory Limited capacity

Can hold 7 ± 2 items for about 20 secondsMaintenance rehearsal

○ The use of repetition to keep info in short-term memory

CHUNKMeaningful unit of informationWithout rehearsal, we remember 4 ± 2 chunksWith rehearsal, we remember 7 ± 2 chunksEricsson & Chase (1982)

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MemoryStages: Encoding: info received through 5 senses.Central Processing: info stored in brainRetrieval: ideas or actions resulting from memory.*Eventually things are forgotten when they are of no use.*

MemoryEncoding

Selective Attention: Focus on what is interesting

Feature Extract: Focus on most important info

Long-term Memory

Working orShort-term

Memory

Sensory

Input

Sensory Memory

AttentionLong-termmemory

Retrieval

Once information passes from sensory to short-term memory, it can be encoded into long-term memory

Encoding

Long-term memory - Encoding

Elaborative rehearsalA technique for transferring information into

long-term memory by thinking about it in a deeper way

Levels of processingSemantic is more effective than visual or

acoustic processingCraik & Tulving (1975)

Self-referent effectBy viewing new info as relevant to the self, we

consider that info more fully and are better able to recall it

3 R’s of RememberingRetrieval: how info gets stored in the brain

Recognition: brain process to see if it is familiar

Recall: active reconstruction of info

Long-term memory Procedural (Implicit)

Memories of behaviors, skills, etc.○ Demonstrated through behavior

Declarative (Explicit)Memories of facts

○ Episodic – personal experiences tied to places & time

○ Semantic – general knowledgeSemantic network

Retrieval Retrieval

Process that controls flow of information from long-term to working memory store

Explicit memoryThe types of memory elicited through

the conscious retrieval of recollections in response to direct questions

Implicit memoryA nonconscious recollection of a prior

experience that is revealed indirectly, by its effects on performance

Retrieval – Explicit Memory Context-Dependent Memory

We are more successful at retrieving memories if we are in the same environment in which we stored them

State-Dependent MemoryWe are more successful at retrieving

memories if we are in the same mood as when we stored them

Retrieval – Implicit Memory Showing knowledge of something

without recognizing that we know it Research with amnesics Déjà vu

The illusion that a new situation is familiar Eyewitness testimony

Eyewitness transference Unintentional plagiarism

Memory Loss DisordersAmnesia- loss of memory due to trauma or injury.

Alzheimer’s- brain deteriorates due to age and progression of disease.

QUESTION How Many of you feel these notes are

familiar? What is the definition of the retrieval

method of Recognition?

Memory failure Confabulation: filling in the gaps in memory,

sometimes remembering information that was never there

Relearning: having to rehearse already learned information, (implicit memory)

Amnesia: inability to recall information often from brain trama

Déjà vu: illusion that a new situation is familiar. In a way, déjà vu is the opposite of amnesia. Whereas amnesics have memories without awareness or familiarity, the person with déjà vu has a sense of familiarity but no real memory. Estimates vary, but between 30 and 96% of people report having had such an episode.

Interference theory

Forgetting is a result of some memories interfering with othersProactive interference

○ Old memories interfere with ability to remember new memories

Retroactive interference○ New memories interfere with ability to

remember old memoriesInterference is stronger when

material is similar

Memory Construction Schema theory

Preconceptions about persons, objects, or events that bias the way new information is interpreted and recalled

Misinformation effectThe tendency to incorporate false

postevent information into one’s memory of the event itself

Illusory memoriesPeople sometimes create memories that

are completely false

Improving Memory Practice time

Distribute your studying over time Depth of processing

Spend ‘quality’ time studying Verbal mnemonics

Use rhyming or acronyms to reduce the amount of info to be stored