The Psychology USER'S GUIDE Learningof THE STUDY OF MEMORY FILMS FOR THE HUMANITIES & SCIENCES® Introduction This guide is designed to be read before viewing the video The Study of Memory. It gives a brief overview of the content and structure of the video to assist with study planning and lesson preparation. It also includes some of the charts and diagrams used in the video, and these (and anything in the booklet) can be photocopied for teaching purposes. Running time without breaks for activities: 74 minutes. Structure of the Video The video is designed to span several sessions—it contains too much information moving too quickly to be useful if watched from start to finish in one sitting. It could be divided into several separate parts: • Types and processes of memory; early theories (17 minutes) • Modern theories of memory (23 minutes) • The study of everyday memory (12 minutes) • Theories of forgetting (12 minutes) • Physiological bases of memory (3 minutes) • Improving memory (9 minute) Ideally, a suitable section will be watched in one session, making liberal use of the Pause or Stop button for discussion and/or note-taking. We have included many breaks for thought, discussion, or activities which are listed in this guide. The Stop the Video pauses are 7 to 10 seconds long to allow you to turn off and switch on again. Warning: There is a rather gory view of primitive brain surgery during the piece on theories of the ancient Greeks. Perhaps you should assure viewers that this is only a plastic brain and plenty of tomato sauce! We hope you find the video a useful teaching tool. However, it will not replace the need for reading and research or the need for discussion. Some ideas for further reading are included at the end of the guide. page 1 Timing and Content of the Video Introduction: Episodic, Semantic, and Procedural Memory Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval 01.00 Break. What would life be like with absolutely no memory? Find an example of a situation where you do not need memory. Notes: This early break is designed to provoke thought and discussion about the necessity of memory for survival. The questions are shown for 7-10 seconds so that you have time to switch off and on again to continue. 08.20 Past studies of Memory: Ancient Greeks, Ebbinghaus, Bartlett 14.30 Break. Read “War of the Ghosts.” Recall using Serial Reproduction. Compare your results with those of Bartlett. Notes: “War of the Ghosts” and some of Bartlett’s findings are found later in the guide. The exercise illustrates Bartlett’s theory and method, and a link could be made to the current return to the study of everyday memory. Modern Theories of Memory: Explanations and Evaluations 17.30 Two-Process 19.15 STM Exercise: Remembering number sequences. Notes: Writing materials are needed for this exercise, which does not require you to stop the video. Viewers are asked to remember an increasingly large number of numbers and write them down on the word GO. It demonstrates the limited nature of STM when there is no time for rehearsal and consolidation. The number sequences are listed later in the guide. 24.00 Primacy/Recency Exercise. Notes: Viewers are asked to watch a word list as it appears at two-second intervals on the screen. When the list is complete, they write down the words they remember in any order (list replicated later in guide). The video page 2 says “remember in order”; for the best effect it should be “remember in any order.” If a group is watching, they can tally the scores and plot themon a frequency graph. This demonstration can be used as a piece of coursework if carried out under controlled conditions. 25.00 Break. How does the Primacy /Recency Effect give evidence for the STM/LTM model? Notes: This discussion can be a useful starter for analysis and evaluation in a piece of coursework. 27.15 Levels of Processing 29.30 Parallel Distributed Processing 30.50 Break. Think about the processes you went through to try to find the name of this person. Notes: The viewer is given clues to identify a famous person. The answer is easy to come up with, but the way it is arrived at is a good demonstration of the parallel thinking explained in the PDP Model. Considering this question could also be seen as a good exercise is assessing metamemory, i.e., understanding how our own memory works. 34.40 Break. Write down your response to the word "dog." Notes: This exercise demonstrates how, according to PDP theory, the stimulus of one piece of information can activate many units related to this stimulus and allows spontaneous generalizations to be made about items. 37.45 The Working Memory Model 41.00 Break. What questions about memory do we still not have an answer for? Notes: Having looked at the four main modern cognitive theories of memory, the viewer is invited to look at where we have got to in terms of explaining memory problems. We would expect the answer to be “not very far” and to cover everything from simple “Why do I sometimes forget names?” to the more complex problems of diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This leads into the current move towards study of memory in everyday life, which may help with the former, and, later in the page 3 video, to the biochemical neurophysiological studies which will, hopefully, help with the latter. The Study of Everyday Memory 43.40 Discourse Analysis 45.50 Current research areas in everyday memory 48.20 Eye Witness Testimony Exercise. Seven questions related to a film clip shown earlier, listed later in the guide, are read and appear on the screen. Viewers should write down their answers. 49.30 Break. How accurately did you recall the details of the scene? Was your memory distorted by the way the questions were framed? Notes: This gives viewers time to check their answers and discuss where they went wrong, and more importantly, discuss why their memory for something seen recently may not be accurate. Discussion could include the implications of leading questions in real life, short term memory, and many of the theories of forgetting discussed later in the video, e.g., Trace Decay Theory, Interference Theory. The Study of Forgetting 52.30 Ebbinghaus: The Curve of Forgetting 53.30 Trace Decay Theory 55.00 Interference Theory 56.40 Amnesia 57.30 Repression 58.30 Context and State Dependency 60.00 Physiological and Biological Bases of Memory page 4 64.00 Summary of the Study of Memory 65.00 Improving Memory, including Use of Mnemonics, Imagery, Eidetic Memory, Acronyms, Rhymes, Method of Loci, Peg Words, Organization Aims of the Video • To explain, illustrate, and evaluate past theories of remembering and forgetting—in particular, to look at current research in memory relating to the laboratory-based versus ecological studies argument. • To apply the knowledge that psychologists have acquired to suggest ways of improving memory, particularly for students. page 5 The Rationale Behind the Breaks The breaks allow viewers to play an active part in the video. The screen bears a relevant message for 7-10 seconds to allow time to turn off and on again after completion of the task. What We Haven’t Included, and Why! • In this rapidly changing area of research, there are many issues such as emotions, the self, and collective memories which now appear in the journals. We couldn't cover all of these, and they may be inaccessible to students if the reports have not yet reached the textbooks. These issues are not essential to an understanding of cognitive issues in memory, but students (and teachers) should be aware of the lively debates currently going on. • We have outlined this radical change in thought from laboratory-based work to the study of memory in everyday life. • There are aspects of everyday memory currently being researched which have had to be omitted, such as Jim Reason’s work on absentmindedness and the expansion of Schema Theory. (See Cohen, Kiss, and Le Voi.) • Various features of forgetting could have been mentioned, such as Tip of the Tongue phenomenon, Korsakoff’s syndrome, and Psychogenic Amnesia, but we'll leave the teacher to discuss these! Non-Greek-speaking viewers may be interested in a translation! Afto toh tripanee thelee = This drill needs sharpening! Tora poo eeneh aftee ee mneemee = Now where's that memory! Aftee ee sos na eeneh = This may be it! page 6 Practical Work There are a wealth of possible practical demonstrations and experiments to carry out in this area. Many are well documented in publications on coursework such as the Primacy/Recency Effect, Nonsense Material versus Meaningful Material, and the effects of aging or time delay on memory. Most of these use word lists and, although they invariably “work,” they could be accused of being unimaginative for the marker of a class set! We have outlined here an imagery demonstration. Group 1 is asked to remember a group of word pairs, then must recall one of the words, having been given the other as a prompt. Group 2 is asked to remember the same group of word pairs, having been trained to use bizarre imagery to link the two words (e.g., SHOE-BOAT: imagine a floating shoe with oars). Word Pairs Prompt List It is usually found that those using Train Grass Grass imagery to link the words recall more. Monkey Sun Sun The results can be confounded, Ink Alligator Ink especially if testing psychology Ball Table Ball students who can produce demand Book Nail Nail Shirt Piano Shirt characteristics because they know Hammer Case Hammer about Paired Association studies; or Bag Snake Bag Group 1 may use imagery without Angel Tie Tie being told to, because they have Cloud Stamp Stamp trained themselves to do so.