Introduction to Memory

Unit 2; Bases for Learning and Teaching1 February 2011

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ALP HAB RAV OCH ARL IED ELT

AEC

NEL MEZ ZOD ELC AMM IND INO

STR

123 456 789 101 123 415 671

820

This is the “test” we started with; a sort of Kim’s game

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Sensory BufferSensory Buffer

Short-termMemory

Short-termMemory

Structureof Memory

Long-termMemory

Long-termMemory

(Atkinson-Shiffrin model 1971)

Divergent arrows represent loss

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Sensory BufferSensory Buffer

Sensory memory or buffer

There is a delay(and selection)in processingsensory input.

About 1/15 second

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Sensory Buffer

• Perceptually, filters and “understanding” operate (Gestalt—later)

• Why don’t flies watch TV?• How do you hear music?• How do you read?

It is important that the buffer

is “lossy” because it

enables us to direct attention

selectively

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Sensory Buffer

• Perceptually, filters and “understanding” operate (Gestalt—later)

• Why don’t flies or frogs watch TV?• How do you hear music?• How do you read?

Their perception is just too fast; they would see the travelling dot rather than the image it builds. The illusion of motion in films is only possible because of the buffer

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Sensory Buffer

• Perceptually, filters and “understanding” operate (Gestalt—later)

• Why don’t flies or frogs watch TV?• How do you hear music?• How do you read? Not note by note, for

sure, but phrase by phrase; it’s the buffer again.

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Sensory Buffer

• Perceptually, filters and “understanding” operate (Gestalt—later)

• Why don’t flies or frogs watch TV?• How do you hear music?• How do you read?

See nxet sdlie

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Icniadlently…

• I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

• Trhuogh the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be in the rghit pclae.

• The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Rawlinson, G. E. (1976) The significance of letter position in word recognition. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Psychology Department, University of Nottingham,

Nottingham UK. See blog for link to document

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STM

Short-term Memory

• 15-30 seconds

• About 7 items

• “Chunking”

• Primarily auditory

• Retention and

transfer to LTM

enhanced if links

made

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Short-term memory

• Gate-keeper to Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• “Lossy” process Assimilation and Accommodation issues

(Piaget—later)

• Brain damage and dementia.Again, information is lost in the transfer according to selective attention

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Short-term memory

• Gate-keeper to Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• “Lossy” process Assimilation and Accommodation issues

(Piaget—later)

• Brain damage and dementia.

Because it is the only way into creating new long-term memories, problems with STM are devastating.

• The capacity of short-term memory is greatly increased by interaction with Long Term Memory, which enables it to be refreshed.

• But this comes at a cost, where established memories may confuse the new ones

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Capacity

“Mr Osborne, may I be excused?

My brain is full.”

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Long-term Memory

• Durationpotentially forlife

• Capacity unlimited

• Suggested hasseveral forms

LTMProcedural

Semantic Episodic

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Semantic, Episodic, Procedural

• Semantic: Meaning; comprehension of language

• Episodic: Narrative; most affected by amnesia

• Procedural: How to do things; psycho-motor skills

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Interactions

• Between them these make up our

identity• Take any one away

and we are no longer who we are.

• Is that true?

Semantic

ProceduralEpisodic

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Memory and Identity

• Are you the same person if you: Can’t do things any more

Can’t understand things any more

Can’t remember your past any more?

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How is information stored?

• No-one knows for sure—lots of theories.• Generally accepted that the unit of memory is not

single items, instead:

• Schemata (or “schemas”): (Bartlet 1932) Organised packages of data around a theme Detail may be sacrificed to coherence, and

• Scripts: (Schank & Abelmann 1977) Routine sequences of behaviour Permit inferences of taken-for granted behaviour

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Mechanisms of“adaptation”

(Piaget)

Assimilation

Accommodation

Too complex to explain here; go to web page for more detail.

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Assimilation & Accommodation 2

• Assimilation is when we modify practice to suit theory

• Accommodation is when we modify theory to suit practice

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Forgetting

• Trace decay: lack of use—use it or lose it But procedural memories quickly re-activated.

• Interference: competing distractions and the point of memorising

• Contradiction with existing knowledge• Cue-dependence: can’t be accessed

without associated episodic memory