Cognition7A – Memory

7B – Thinking, Problems Solving, Creativity, and Language

Memory

Memory –

•Example –

The Memory ProcessThree step process….

1.Encoding:

– Getting the info into the brain

1.Storage:

– Retaining the info

1.Retrieval:

– Getting the info back out

4 Memory Models

1. Atkinson-Shiffrin 3 stage model

2. Modified Atkinson-Shiffrin

3. Connectivism Model

Atkinson and Shiffrin’s 3 Step Model of Memory

Sensory memory – brief recording of sensory information •Example:

Short-term memory – memory that holds few items briefly before info is forgotten

•Example – Long –term memory – relatively permanent and limitless storage of memory.

•Examples:

Sensory Memory• Sensory Memory –

• Examples:.– Iconic Memory –

– Echoic Memory –

Short Term Memory• Short –term memory –

• Encoded visually, acoustically or semantically through rehearsal.

• Hold items for about 20 seconds.

Short Term Memory Activity

Long Term Memory

• Long-term memory –

• Examples:

Modified Atkinson – Shiffrin (3 Stage) Model

• 2 New concepts1. Working Memory –

that combines novel (?) or important info along with info retrieved from

– Instead of short-term memory being just a 20 sec. holding tank, this model includes the ability to briefly process info

• Some info skips the 1st two stages in Atkinson’s/Shiffrins and is processed into

• Example –

Modified Three-stage Model of Memory

Connectionism Model of Memory

• Connectionism –

– Many neurons may work together to process a single memory

• memory emerges from particular

• retrieval of the memory is a reconstruction based on each of the elements of the pattern

How We Encode

2 Types of Encoding1. Automatically Processing

– Automatic– Parallel

2. Effortful processing – Rehearsal

Encoding - Automatic Processing

Automatic Processing –

– Examples: • Time –

• space –

• Frequency –

• well learned info –

Automatic Processing

• Parallel Processing –

– -unconscious or effortful

– Example:

Automatic Processing

Spring is thethe most beautifultime of the year

Encoding – Effortful Processing

1. Effortful Processing –

– Example:

• Rehearsal –

– Example:

Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve

• Ebbinghaus Curve –

• Overlearning –

Effortful Processing• Spacing effect – distributed study is better for

long-term recall than massed study (cramming)– DO NOT CRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Testing effect – repeated quizzing or testing improves retention

Take out a piece of paper and name all the Presidents…

Encoding Information• Serial Positioning Effect –

– Primacy Effect –

– Recency Effect –

• Von Rostorff effect –

What We Encode…1. Visual Encoding: the encoding of

picture/visual images.Example –

2. Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words.Example:

3. Semantic Encoding: the encoding of meaning.Example:

Encoding Exercise

Visual Encoding– Imagery – visual images help us remember

concrete words (aided by semantic encoding)

Example:

– Rosy Retrospection – recalling high points, forgetting the worst• Example:

Encoding Exercise

Mneumonics– Mnemonic Devices – any memory aid that uses

visual images and organizational devices• EXAMPLES:

1. Peg word system –

» Example: One is a bun (chicken squashing bun), two is a shoe (corn filling up shoe)…

1. Method of Loci –

» Example: remembering items on a grocery list by associating them with a place in our house (chicken is pecking at front door, corn smashed in foyer etc)

Encoding Exercise

Mneumonics

3. Hierarchies –

4. Chunking –

» Example: PORN – Proactive Interference: Old info interferes with New Retroactive Interference: New interferes with Old

Encoding Exercise

Every Good Boy Does Fine1-800-IBM-HELP

Acoustic and Semantic Encoding

Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words.

•Example:

Semantic Encoding: the encoding of meaning.

•Examples:•Self Reference Effect –

StorageTypes of Memory1.Sensory Memory

– Iconic– Echoic

2.Working Memory/Short-term3.Long-Term Memory

– Implicit Memory/Procedural Memory• Conditioned Memories

– Explicit Memory• Episodic Memory• Semantic Memory• Flashbulb Memories

Sensory Memory

• Sperling’s memory experiment

• After flashing an image, participants had a momentary mental image of all 9 letters

• Iconic memory – – A momentary mental image that remains after the

image is gone

– Example: • A momentary mental image that remains after seeing

a phone number flashed on the TV

Sensory Memory• Echoic memory –

– A momentary auditory impression that remains after the sound is gone

– Example:

Working/Short-Term Memory• Duration – Brief (30 sec or less) without

active processing– Slightly longer for auditory info than visual info– Numbers better than letters

• Capacity - Limited– Magic number Seven

• Plus or minus 2

• The list of magic sevens

Long-Term Memory

• Duration – • Capacity -

Types of Long Term Memory

• Implicit Memory/Procedural Memory– Conditioned Memories

• Explicit Memory– Episodic Memory– Semantic Memory– Flashbulb Memories

Types of Long-Term Memory

Implicit Memories• Implicit/Procedural

Memories –

– Processed by and other brain areas

still intact with

• Examples:

– Conditioned Memories –

• Example:

Explicit Memories• Explicit Memories – memories of

facts and experiences, consciously recalled– Processed by

• information is stored in the

• are stored in

– Infantile amnesia –

• Hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to develop

– Example:

Explicit MemoriesEpisodic Memories -

Example:

Semantic Memories –

Example:

Explicit Memories

• Flashbulb

– Facilitated by – Prolonged stress however, can

inhibit memory formation by

Storing MemoriesMemory trace – memory is distributed

acoss groups of neurons

Long Term-Potentiation – physical basis for memory .

• Increases synaptic firing potential of a neuron by increasing the number of receptors on the receiving neuron.

• Neurons that fire together wire together…creating a memory.

• Memory boosting drugs– CREB – increases proteins that make a cell

more likely to keep a memory– Glutamate – enhances synaptic

communication (LTP)

Amnesia• Amnesia – loss of memory

– Retrograde Amnesia – inability to remember past events

• Example– Alzheimer’s Patient Ronald Reagan

– Anterograde Amnesia – inability to create new memories

• Loss of Explicit Memory but not Implicit memories

• Examples:– Clive wearing– 50 1st dates

Exceptionally clear memories of emotionally significant events are called

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1. Sensory Memories2. Flashbulb Memories3. State Dependent

Memories4. Mood Congruent

Memories5. Procedural

Memories1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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Remembering how to solve a jigsaw puzzle without any conscious recollection that one can

do so best illustrates ________ memory.

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1. Flashbulb2. Sensory3. Implicit4. Explicit5. Semantic

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The increase in synaptic firing potential that contributes to memory formation is

known as

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1. Explicit memory2. Implicit memory3. Long-term

potentiation4. Serial position effect5. Infantile amnesia

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Retrieval

Recall• you must retrieve the

information from your memory

• fill-in-the blank or essay tests

Recognition• you must identify the

target from possible targets

• multiple-choice tests

Recall

• Who is this handsome fellow?

Recognition

• A. Brad Pitt• B. Gordon Ramsay• C. Ryan Seacrest• D. Mike “The Situation” Sorentino

Recall

• Who is this sweet-looking girl?

Recognition

• A. Madonna• B. Katy Perry• C. Jenna Elfman• D. Jennifer Aniston

Recall

• Who is this?

Recognition

• A. Jennifer Lopez• B. Eva Longoria• C. Fergie• D. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi

Ways to help you retrieve info

• Relearning – learning material for the second time, saves time.– Example: Taking Psych in college should

save you time for going to football games

• Retrieval Cues – anchor points used to access target info for retrieval later – Example: Mnemonics, words, events

places , emotions that trigger memory

• Priming – unconscious activation of associations in memory– Example: See a rabbit and asked to

spell hair, you spell hare

The Context Matters!!!• Mood Congruent Memory – recalling

memories consistent with current mood– Example: When you break up with your girlfriend

you think about all the other times you’ve been dumped

• State Dependent Memory – learning that takes place in one physiological or situational "state" is generally better remembered later in a similar physiological state or situational state

– Example: info learned when person is drunk is better recalled when person is drunk

• Déjà vu – eerie sense that you’ve experienced something before

– Example: When I saw the play Billy Elliot I had déjà vu …I thought I had seen it before

Mood-congruent memory refers to the effect of emotional states on the process

of

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1. Repression2. Encoding3. Storage 4. Retrieval5. Relearning

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The eerie sense of having previously experienced a situation is known as

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1. Implicit memory2. Serial position effect3. Mood congruent

memory4. Source amnesia5. Déjà vu

Forgetting

• Encoding Failures

• Storage Decay

• Retrieval Failures

Forgetting• Schacter’s sevens sins of memory

– Sins of Forgetting• Absent-mindedness – encoding failure (inattention to

detail)• Transience – storage decay• Blocking – inaccessibility to stored info

– Sins of distortion• Misattribution – confusing the source• Suggestibility – linger effects of misiformation• Bias – belief colored recollections

– Sin of intrusion• Persistence – unwanted memories

Encoding Failure

Example – You can’t remember a person’s name that you were just introduced to because you weren’t paying attention

What should you do to prevent an encoding failure?

Storage DecayEbbinghaus Curve

Apply the Ebbinghaus curve to Psych Class

Retrieval Failure

Forgetting• Retroactive Interference: new

information blocks out old information.– Example: Getting a new bus

number and forgetting old bus number.

• Proactive Interference: old information blocks out new information.– Example: Calling your new

girlfriend by old girlfriends name.

• PORN

• Positive Transfer – old info helps you learn new info– Example: learning Spanish helps

you learn French

Motivated Forgetting• Motivated Forgetting –

revising past memories

• Repression – (Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory)

• A defense mechanism that banishes painful memories from consciousness to minimize anxiety– Example: Woman with

unexplained fear of running water had repressed a memory of almost drowning

Constructive Memory• Constructed memory - a

created memory, altered when encoded or retrieved.– Misinformation effect– Imagination effect– Source amnesia

Constructive Memory• Elizabeth Loftus• Misinformation Effect – incorporating

misleading info into a memoryExample: misrecalling a yield sign as a stop sign

• Imagination Effect/Inflation – imagining nonexistent actions and events can create false memories

Example: imagining that Solon beat Mentor, you may create a false memory (:

• Source Amnesia – retaining the memory of an event, but not the source

Example: Someone told you that Solon beat Mentor, but you think you read it in the newspaper

Discerning True and False Memories

• Memory studies – real vs. false

• Eye witness testimony

Children’s Eyewitness Recall

• Children’s memories of abuse–Suggestibility

Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse?

• Areas of agreement– Sexual abuse happens– Injustice happens– Forgetting happens– Recovered memories are incomplete– Memories before 3 years are unreliable– Hypnotic memories are unreliable– Memories can be emotionally upsetting

Improving Memory Techniques

• Study repeatedly• Make the material meaningful• Activate retrieval cues• Use mnemonic devices• Minimize interference• Sleep more• Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse it

and to help determine what you do not yet know

The misinformation effect best illustrates the dynamics of

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1. Automatic processing2. Memory construction3. Repression4. Proactive Interference5. Mood-congruent

memory

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As we retrieve memories from our memory bank, we often alter them based on past experiences and our

current expectations. This best illustrates

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1. Proactive interference

2. Infantile amnesia3. Transience4. Memory

construction5. Repression

Professor Maslova has so many memories of former students that she has difficulty remembering the

names of new students. The professor's difficulty best illustrates

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1. Retroactive interference

2. Mood congruent memory

3. Proactive interference

4. Spacing effect5. Source amnesia

As a child, Andre dreamed that he was chased and attacked by a ferocious dog. Many years later, he mistakenly recalled that this

had actually happened to him. Andre's false recollection best illustrates

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1. Self-reference effect2. Mood congruent

memory3. Infantile amnesia4. Repression5. Source amnesia

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An attorney uses misleading questions in an attempt to distort a court witness' recall of a

previously observed crime. This best illustrates

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1. State dependent memory

2. Mood congruent memory

3. Misinformation effect

4. Priming5. Infantile amnesia1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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