Cognition: Memory

MemoryDefinition: Learning that has persisted over timeHappens in three stages:1. Encoding – getting information in2. Storage – maintaining information over

time3. Retrieval – getting memory back out

Encoding: Getting Information In

Automatic processing – we unconsciously encode information about space, time and frequency and well-learned information

Effortful processing – encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Can be boosted through rehearsal – conscious repetitionspacing effect – retaining information better when rehearsal is spread out over time

serial position effect – tendency to better recall the last and first items in a list

What We EncodeLevels of processing:

Visual encoding – encoding of picture imagesAcoustic encoding – encoding of soundsSemantic encoding – encoding of meaning

Organizing information for encoding:Mnemonics – memory aids, especially those that use vivid imagery and organizational techniquesChunking – organizing items into familiar, manageable units

Often happens automatically

Storage: Retaining Information

Information processing model:1. Sensory memory – immediate

memory; information is kept here for a few seconds or lessIconic memory – fast-decaying store of visual informationEchoic memory – fast-decaying store of auditory information

2. Short-term memoryLimited in duration and capacityCapacity is generally 7 +/- 2 “bits” of informationSlightly better for random numbers than random lettersSlightly better for what we hear than what we see

3. Long-term memoryUnlimited

Storing Memories in the Brain

Memories are not stored in precise locations in the brainLong-term potentiation (LTP) – increase in a synapse’s firing potential after a brief, rapid stimulation

Thought to be a neural basis for learning and memory

Flashbulb memory – a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Stronger emotional experiences produces stronger, more reliable memoriesProlonged stress can corrode neural connections and shrink the hippocampus

Amnesia victimsHave implicit (or nondeclarative) memory – how to do something

The cerebellum helps form and store implicit memoriesOften don’t have explicit (or declarative) memory – memory of facts and experiences

The hippocampus helps process explicit memories for storage

Infantile amnesia – we have no accurate memories before age 3 because

Most explicit memories are indexed by words non-speaking children don’t haveHippocampus is one of the last brain regions to mature

Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Retrieval cuesTastes, smells and sights aid in recall of associated episodesPriming – activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Context effectsdéjà vu – sense that “I’ve experienced this before”

Cues from current situation might subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

State dependent memory – what we learn in one state can be more easily recalled when we are again in that state

Losing keys while intoxicated and remembering their location while again intoxicated

Mood-congruent memory – tendency to recall experiences that are consistent w/one’s current good or bad mood

When depressed, we recall sad events which perpetuates the depression

Why we forget

A.Three sins of forgetting1.Absent-mindedness -

inattention to details2.Transience - storage decay

over time3.Blocking - inaccessibility of

stored info

B.Three sins of distortion1. Misattribution - confusing the source

of the information2. Suggestibility - lingering effects of

misinformation3. Bias - belief-colored recollections

C.One sin of intrusion1. Persistence - unwanted memories

Retrieval failureProactive interference – disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new informationRetroactive interference – disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old informationRepression – in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories

Most memory researcher think repression rarely occurs

Memory ConstructionMisinformation effect – incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event

“How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other

Source amnesia – attributing to the wrong source of an event we have experienced, heard about, read about or imagined

Madonna vs. Lady Gaga

False memories may feel as real as true memories

The most confident and consistent eyewitnesses are the most persuasive but often not the most accurate

Children’s memories are especially unreliable and easily influenced

Improving MemoryStudy repeatedlyMake the material meaningfulActivate retrieval cuesUse mnemonic devicesMinimize interferenceSleep moreTest and retest

Cognition: Thinking, Problem Solving, Creativity

and Language

CognitionCognition – mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating

Concepts – mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas or peoplePrototypes – mental image or best example of a category

Solving ProblemsStrategies

Algorithms – step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solutionHeuristics – simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently

Faster, but more prone to errors than algorithms

Insight – sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

Creativity – the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

Five components of creativity identified by Robert Sternberg1. Expertise2. Imaginative thinking skills3. A venturesome personality4. Intrinsic motivation5. A creative environment

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Confirmation bias – tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidenceFixation – inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective

Mental set – tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the pastFunctional fixedness – tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

Using and Misusing Heuristics

Representativeness heuristic – judging the likelihood of things in terms of how they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

May lead us to ignore other relevant information

Availability heuristic – estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

If instances come readily to mind, we assume such events are common

Overconfidence – tendency to be more confident than correctBelief perseverance – clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discreditedIntuition – effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit conscious reasoning

See chart on p. 310 for its pros and cons

Framing – how an issue is posed can significantly affect decisions and judgments

LanguagePhoneme – smallest distinctive sound unit in languageMorpheme – smallest unit of language that carries meaning

Ex: “I”, “s” to indicate something is plural, “ed” or “pre”

GrammarSemantics – set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words and sentencessyntax – rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Language DevelopmentReceptive language – ability to comprehend speech

Develops by 4 months

Productive languageBabbling stage – spontaneously uttering a variety of sounds

Begins around 4 monthsBy 10 months language can be identified

One-word stage – child speaks mostly in single wordsUsually from age 1 to 2

Two-word stage – speaks mostly in two-word statements

Usually starts about age 2Telegraphic speech – early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs

Explaining Language Development

B.F. Skinner: Operant learningArgued babies learn to talk through association, imitation and reinforcement

Noam Chomsky: Inborn universal grammar

Believed that given adequate nurture, language will naturally occur

Statistical learning and critical periodsChildhood is a critical period for mastering certain aspects of language

Thinking and LanguageLanguage determinism – Benjamin Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

More likely words influence our thinking