Memory

Studying and Building Memories

Studying Memory

• Memorythe persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage and retrieval of information.

Components of MemoryEncoding the processing of info into the memory systems

Storageprocess of retaining encoded info over time.

Retrievalthe process of getting info out of memory storage

Parallel processingthe brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions at the same time

Working Memory• Atkinson and Shiffrin Theory

– Sensory memorythe immediate, very brief recording of sensory info

– Short-term memoryactivated memory that holds a few items briefly

– Long-term memoryrelatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

Memory Models

Working Memory

Building Memories:Effortful Versus Automatic Processing

• Explicit memory (declarative memory)facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare.”

• Effortful processingencoding that requires attention and conscious effort

• Automatic processingunconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time

• Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)retention independent of conscious recollection

Capacity of Short-Term and Working Memory

• Magic number Seven items (like a phone #)--Plus or minus 2

Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunkingorganizing items into familiar, manageable units

Effortful Processing Strategies

• Mnemonicsmemory aids that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

– Visual imagery– ROY G BIV– Acronym - HOMES

Effortful Processing Strategies

• Hierarchies

Distributed Practice--Study Strategies

• Spacing effecttendency for distributed study to yield better long-term retention than cramming

– Massed practice– Distributed practice

• Testing effectenhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information

Making Material Personally Meaningful--Study Strategies

• Making material meaningful

• Self-reference effect

Memory Storage and Retrieval

Retaining Information in the Brain:

• Hippocampusa neural center in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage

Emotions, and Memory

• Flashbulb Memories a clear memoryof an emotionally significant moment or event

Memory Storage

Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Retrieval Cues:

• Primingthe activation, oftenunconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Retrieval Cues: Context-Dependent Memory

Retrieval Cues: • State dependent memory• Mood congruent memory

recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood.

Retrieval Cues: Serial Position Effect

• Serial position effectour tendency to recall best certain items in a list

– Recency effectrecall best the last items in a list

– Primacy effect recall best the first items in a list

Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Memory

Improvement

Forgetting and the Two-Track Mind

• Anterograde amnesiainability to form new memories

• Retrograde amnesia inability to retrieve information from one’s past

Storage Decay

• Storage decay– Ebbinghaus curve

Retrieval Failure: Interference• Proactive interference (forward acting)

disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new info

• Retroactive interference (backward-acting)disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old info

Memory Construction Errors

Misinformation and Imagination Effects

Misinformation effectincorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event

Memory Construction Errors

• Source amnesia (source misattribution)attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

• Déjà vuthat eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

Improving Memory

Improving Memory

• Rehearse 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