Remembering and Judging
● Memory: ability to store and retrieve information over time
● Cognition: acquiring and using knowledge
Your brain is not a computer.
Computer Brain
Access needs exact memory address Access via related concepts
Primarily serial Operates in parallel
Short-term (RAM) is a subset of long-term Short-term and long-term are distinct (ROM) Hardware ≠ Software Hardware and Software are the same
Computers are electronic Brain is electro-chemical
Memory and processing are distinct Memory is used to interpret information; Retrieving information changes memory Not self-organizing or self-repairing Self-organizing and self-repairing
Few connections Quadrillions of interactions
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gift-of-endless- memory/
Ways of Conceptualizing Memory
As types Explicit Memory
Implicit Memory
As stages Sensory Memory
Short-Term Memory
Long-term Memory
As processes Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Memory as Types
Explicit Memory
Knowledge or experiences that can be consciously remembered.
● Episodic memory – Firsthand experiences
● Semantic memory – Facts and concepts
Testing Explicit Memory
● Recall memory test
● Recognition memory test
● Relearning
Implicit Memory
The influence of experience on behavior, even if one is unaware of those influences.
● Procedural Memory – How to do things (walking, speaking)
● Classical Conditioning effects
● Priming – Changes in behavior resulting from frequent or recent experiences
Priming
_a_hi_n _t_p_er _lo_h_s _e_ci_
Priming
_a_hi_n _t_p_er _lo_h_s _e_ci_
The shirt and pants matched perfectly.
Priming Study
“Old Age” priming study failed replication in 2012. See: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0029081 See also: https://replicationindex.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/reconstruction-of-a-train-wre ck-how-priming-research-went-of-the-rails/
Stages of Memory
● Sensory
● Short-Term
● Long-Term
Sensory Memory
● Iconic (visual) – 250 milliseconds (¼ second)
● Echoic (auditory) – 4 seconds
Short-Term Memory
● Memory where small amounts of information can be kept for more than a few seconds but less than a minute
● Working Memory – the processes used to make sense of, modify, intrpret, and store information in STM.
STM Decay
Preventing STM Decay
● Maintenance Rehearsal – “The Magic Number 7 ± 2”
● Chunking
Chunking / Pattern Recognition
Long Term Memory
● Can last days, months, years
● Capacity is virtually unlimited
● People’s ability to retrieve from LTM is variable.
Memory Techniques
Use elaborative encoding Material is better remembered if processed more fully.
Use self-reference effect Material is better remembered if linked to thoughts about the self.
Be aware of the forgetting Information learned drops off rapidly with curve time.
Make use of the spacing Information is learned better when studied effect in shorter periods spaced over time.
Rely on overlearning We can continue to learn even after we think we know the information perfectly.
Use context-dependent We retrieve better when it occurs in the retrieval same situation where we learned the material. Use state-dependent Retrieval is better when in the same retrieval psychological state as when learned.
Encoding and Storage
● Encoding: process by which we place things that we experience into memory We don’t encode things that are irrelevant.
Elaborative Encoding
● Process information in a way that makes it more relevant
Forgetting Curve (Ebbinghaus)
Spacing Effect
Study →Wait as long as you can before forgetting →Study
Overlearning
● Keep reviewing even if you think you know all the material.