MEMORY The persistence of learning over time through storage and retrieval of information 3 step process: . Encoding – processing info into memory system . Storage – retention of encoded info . Retrieval – process of getting info out of storage Memory is like a computer’s information processing system. Encoding Storage Retrieval MEMORY 3 basic stages of memories: . Sensory memory – immediate, brief recording of sensory info . Short term memory (STM)/ working memory – activated memory that holds a few items briefly before it is encoded and stored or discarded . Long term memory (LTM) - the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse MODIFIED 3 STAGE MODEL Atkinson-Shiffrin and Baddley Models combined Encoding STM or Sensory Attention Sensory Working LTM Memory Input Memory Encoding Retrieval Forgetting Forgetting Forgetting TEST YOURSELF Memory includes (in ABC order) long-term memory, sensory memory, and working/short-term memory. What’s the correct order of these three memory stages? 30 SEC TO REMEMBER THIS IN ORDER… O T T F F S S E N T ENCODING Automatic processing– effortless, unconscious encoding of info . Reading signs while driving Effortful processing – requires attention and conscious effort . Reading the psych text book for comprehension and understanding . Rehearsal – conscious repetition Spacing effect – memories are retained through distributed practice . Why cramming for tests is BAD Serial positioning effect – remembering the first and last items in a list Write the letters I asked you to memorize a few minutes ago. OTTFFSSENT ENCODING Visual encoding – encoding of picture images (ex: visualization of info on page) . Imagery – mental pictures . Mnemonic devices – memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices (ex: peg- method/memory palace) Acoustic encoding – encoding of sounds (ex: rhymes with, repetition of info out loud) Semantic encoding – encoding of meaning (ex: assigning/creating meaning) STOP & JOT How to improve your memory with memory palace technique? . Summarize the video in one sentence. What’s the biggest ah-ha moment? ORGANIZING INFO FOR PROCESSING Chunking – organizing items into familiar manageable units; often occurs automatically . 17761861191719412001 How can you chunk this? . How could you have chunked OTTFFSSENT? STORAGE Sensory Memory . Iconic memory – a momentary sensory memory of visual info (brief photographic memory) . You can briefly look a word’s spelling to copy the word, but cannot recall the spelling minutes later. Echoic memory – a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli, 3-4 seconds . Teacher asks you “what did I just say?” and you can recall the last few words STORAGE 8 volunteers - think of your favorite food. Now say your favorite food, plus everyone else’s favorite food before you. STM/Working memory . 7 +/- 2 . Importance of chunking STORAGE LTM – Unlimited . Implicit memory – procedures/skills (processed in part in the cerebellum) . Explicit memory – retention of facts and experiences that you can consciously declare (primarily processed/stored in hippocampus) . Semantic memory – general knowledge . Episodic memory – events . Prospective memory – remembering to do something in the future STORAGE Flashbulb memories – clear, vivid memory of an emotionally significant event . Episodic memory TEST YOURSELF Your friend tells you that her father experienced brain damage in an accident. She wonders if psychology can explain why he can still play checkers very well but has a hard time holding a sensible conversation. What can you tell her? LONG-TERM POTENTIATION Biological look at memory storage. Long-term potentiation (LTP) – an increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory . As experience strengthens the pathways between neurons, synapses transmit signals more efficiently RETRIEVAL Getting memories out of storage Recall – retrieving info not in conscious awareness . Short answer questions, fill-in-the-blank questions Recognition – identifying items previously learned . Multiple choice questions Relearning – learning information a second time, faster than the first time . Test corrections CONTEXT EFFECTS ON MEMORY Déjà vu – the eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” . Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience. Context-dependent memories – memories are more easily recalled in the same context as when they were encoded State-dependent memories - memories are more easily recalled in the same state as when they were encoded Crash Course – Making Memories MEMORY: FORGETTING AND IMPROVEMENT FORGETTING Just as important as remembering avoid clutter Amnesia – the loss of memory . Biological – head injuries THREE SINS OF FORGETTING Absent-mindedness . Inattention to details; we cannot remember something we have not encoded. A THREE SINS OF FORGETTING Transience – storage decay . Even if we encode, we can still forget it later . Often unused info or info that no longer holds meaning. THREE SINS OF FORGETTING Blocking – inaccessibility of stored info (“it’s on the tip of my tongue…”) . Proactive interference – the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new info. Retroactive interference – the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old info. Motivated forgetting . Repression – in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety- arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories. Most psychologists today would agree that repressed memories do not exist. THREE SINS OF DISTORTION Source amnesia – attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, hear about, read about, or imagined. Misinformation effect – incorporating misleading info into one’s memory of an event. Loftus’ study on recollections of car accidents using leading questions. Bias – belief-colored recollections . Memories are perceptions of the past and as such are subject to expectations and bias. EYE WITNESS RECALL Eye witness recall is subject to false memory reconstruction. Misinformation effect . Presupposing and leading questions Children are more suggestible than adults can be lead to produce false memories through suggestive questions. Young children can recall events as they occurred if… . neutral adult asks non-leading questions . uses words they understand. IMPROVING MEMORY Study repeatedly to boost long term recall. Make material personally meaningful. Use mnemonic devices. Minimize interference. Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse the info and determine what you do not know yet. MEMORY AS BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL (PG. 390) Biological Psychological Social-cultural •LTP •Rehearsal •Misinformation •Automatic •Context effects effect processing •Priming •Flashbulb •Electric •Mood memories for current or head •Stress important events injury •Encoding and •Level of implied •Storage decay organizing strategies importance •Retrieval interference •Source amnesia •Memory construction VIDEOS 60 Minutes – Endless Memory (Pt. 1) Zimbardo – Remembering and Forgetting Brain Games – Remember This! Crash Course – Remembering and Forgetting .