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Psychology in Your Life

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Sarah Grison • Todd Heatherton • Michael Gazzaniga Psychology in Your Life FIRST EDITION Chapter 7 Memory © 2014 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Section 7.1 How Do We Acquire Memories? 7.1 How Do We Acquire Memories? • Memory – The nervous system’s capacity to acquire and retain skills and knowledge for later retrieval We Acquire Memories by Processing Information • Encoding – The processing of information so that it can be stored • Storage – The retention of encoded representations over time • Retrieval – The act of recalling or remembering stored information when it is needed • See figure 7.2 next slide Attention Allows Us to Encode a Memory • Attention – Focusing mental resources on information; allows further processing for perception, memory, and response Attention Allows Us to Encode a Memory • Visual attention – We automatically pay attention to and recognize basic visual features in an environment, including color, shape, size, orientation, and movement • Auditory attention – Selective-listening studies examine what we do with auditory information that is not attended to • See figures 7.3, 7.4 next slide Selective Attention Allows Us to Filter Unwanted Information • Filter theory – Filter theory attempts to explain how we selectively attend to the most important information • Change blindness – An individual’s failure to notice large visual changes in the environment Section 7.2 How Do We Maintain Memories over Time? 7.2 How Do We Maintain Memories over Time? • Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin proposed that we have three different types of memory stores: sensory storage, short- term storage, and long-term storage • Each of these memory stores retains different encoded input, and each has the capacity to maintain information for a certain length of time • See figure 7.5 and table 7.1 next slide Sensory Storage Allows Us to Maintain Information Very Briefly • Five types of sensory stores – Sensory storage: A memory storage system that very briefly holds a vast amount of information from the five senses in close to their original sensory formats – One type of sensory storage very briefly maintains visual input. Four other types of sensory stores maintain all the other sensory input: auditory, smell, taste, and touch Sensory Storage Allows Us to Maintain Information Very Briefly • Duration and capacity of sensory storage – Sperling concluded that participants maintained many of the 12 items in sensory storage for about one-third of a second – By maintaining a large amount of information for a fraction of a second, sensory storage enables us to experience the world as a continuous stream of information rather than as discrete sensations • See figure 7.7 next slide Working Memory Allows Us to Actively Maintain Information in Short-Term Storage • Short-term storage – A memory storage system that briefly holds a limited amount of information in awareness • Working memory – An active processing system that allows manipulation of different types of information to keep it available for current use Working Memory Allows Us to Actively Maintain Information in Short-Term Storage • Duration of short-term storage – Short-term storage may be a “location” for maintaining memories. Working memory allows for manipulation of sounds, images, and ideas for longer maintenance in short- term storage Working Memory Allows Us to Actively Maintain Information in Short-Term Storage • Capacity of short-term storage – George Miller noted that the capacity limit of short-term storage is generally seven items (plus or minus two), which is referred to as the memory span – Chunking: Using working memory to organize information into meaningful units to make it easier to remember • See figure 7.8 next slide Long-Term Storage Allows Us to Maintain Memories Relatively Permanently • Long-term storage – A memory storage system that allows relatively permanent storage, of a probably unlimited amount of information Long-Term Storage Allows Us to Maintain Memories Relatively Permanently • Encoding for long-term storage – Maintenance rehearsal: Using working memory processes to repeat information based on how it sounds (auditory information); provides only shallow encoding of information Long-Term Storage Allows Us to Maintain Memories Relatively Permanently • Encoding for long-term storage – Elaborative rehearsal: Using working memory processes to think about how new information relates to ourselves or our prior knowledge (semantic information); provides deeper encoding of information for more successful long-term storage • See figure 7.9 next slide Long-Term Storage Allows Us to Maintain Memories Relatively Permanently • Long-term storage versus short-term storage – Long-term storage lasts longer, has a far greater capacity, and depends on deep encoding of information Long-Term Storage Allows Us to Maintain Memories Relatively Permanently • Long-term storage versus short-term storage – The primacy effect refers to the better memory people have for items presented at the beginning of the list – The recency effect refers to the better memory people have for the most recent items, the ones at the end of the list • See figure 7.10 next slide Our Long-Term Storage Is Organized Based on Meaning • Schemas – Decisions about how to chunk information depend on schemas, ways of structuring memories in long-term storage that help us perceive, organize, process, and use information Our Long-Term Storage Is Organized Based on Meaning • Association networks – Meaning of information is organized in long- term storage based on networks of associations – Spreading activation models of memory. According to these models, information that is heard or seen activates specific nodes for memories in long-term storage • See figure 7.11 next slide Section 7.3 What Are Our Different Long-Term Storage Systems? 7.3 What Are Our Different Long-Term Storage Systems? • Henry Molaison (H.M.) • Retrograde amnesia – A condition in which people lose the ability to access memories they had before a brain injury 7.3 What Are Our Different Long-Term Storage Systems? • Anterograde amnesia – A condition in which people lose the ability to form new memories after experiencing a brain injury • See figures, 7.12, 7.13, 7.14a and 7.14b next slide Our Explicit Memories Involve Conscious Effort • After the surgery, H.M. could not encode new memories in long-term storage Our Explicit Memories Involve Conscious Effort • Amnesia and explicit memory – Explicit memory: The system for long-term storage of conscious memories that can be verbally described Our Explicit Memories Involve Conscious Effort • Episodic and semantic memory – Episodic memory: A type of explicit memory that includes personal experiences – Semantic memory: A type of explicit memory that includes knowledge about the world Our Implicit Memories Function Without Conscious Effort • Implicit memory and amnesia – Implicit memory: The system for long-term storage of unconscious memories that cannot be verbally described Our Implicit Memories Function Without Conscious Effort • Classical conditioning and procedural memory – Classical conditioning employs implicit memory – Procedural memory: A type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits • See figure 7.17 next slide Prospective Memory Lets Us Remember to Do Something • Prospective memory – Remembering to do something at some future time – Remembering to do something takes up valuable cognitive resources • See figure 7.18 next slide Memory Is Processed by Several Regions of Our Brains • Memory’s physical location – Not all brain areas are equally involved in memory; a great deal of specialization occurs • Consolidation of memories – Consolidation: A process by which immediate memories become lasting through long-term storage • See figures 7.19, 7.20 next slide Memory Is Processed by Several Regions of Our Brains • Reconsolidation of memories – Once memories are activated, they need to be consolidated again for long-term storage; this process is known as reconsolidation – Retrieved memories can be affected by new circumstances, so reconsolidated memories may differ from their original versions Memory Is Processed by Several Regions of Our Brains • Reconsolidation of memories – Researchers have shown that using the classical conditioning technique of extinction during the period when memories are susceptible to reconsolidation can be an effective method for altering bad memories Section 7.4 How Do We Access Our Memories? 7.4 How Do We Access Our Memories? Retrieval Cues Help Us Access Our Memories • Retrieval cue – Anything that helps a person access information in long-term storage • Context and state aid retrieval – Context-dependent memory effect – State-dependent memory • See figure 7.22 next slide Retrieval Cues Help Us Access Our Memories • Mnemonics aid retrieval – Mnemonics are learning aids or strategies that use retrieval cues to improve access to memory – Method of loci We Forget Some of Our Memories • Forgetting – The inability to access a memory from long- term storage – Hermann Ebbinghaus examined how long it took him to relearn lists of unfamiliar nonsense syllables and used these data to develop the forgetting curve • See figure 7.23 next slide We Forget Some of Our Memories • Interference – Retroactive interference: When access to older memories is impaired by newer memories – Proactive interference: When access to newer memories is impaired by older memories • See figures 7.24a, 7.24b next slide We Forget Some of Our Memories • Blocking – Tip-of-the-tongue
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