Memory Encoding and Storage

• Memory stores and retrieves information over time, combining old and new knowledge
• Encoding transforms information into a lasting memory
• Storage maintains information in memory over time
• Retrieval brings previously encoded and stored information to mind
• Semantic memory relates new information to existing knowledge for easier recall

Brain Activity

• Semantic encoding activates the lower left lobe
• Visual imagery encoding activates the occipital lobe
• Organizational encoding activates the upper left lobe
• Visual imagery encoding stores new information as mental pictures
• Creating a mental picture connects new information to existing knowledge
• Organizational encoding groups related items together for easier recall
• Example: peach, apple, cherry
• Storage maintains information in memory over time
• Sensory memory holds sensory information briefly, for a few seconds or less
• A memory experiment has two possibilities: lack of encoding or forgetting during recall
• Iconic memory is a fleeting visual snapshot, fading within a second
• Echoic memory is a brief auditory echo, disappearing quickly

Three-Box Model of Memory

• Information is processed and stored through three stages: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory
• Sensory memory receives sensory input (sight, sound)
• Most of the information is quickly lost unless transferred to short-term memory
• Short-term memory holds information briefly
• Rehearsal, or repeating information, extends its duration
• Information not transferred to long-term memory is forgotten
• Long-term memory stores information permanently
• Information can be retrieved from long-term memory back to short-term memory
• Some memories can still be forgotten over time
• Short-term memory stores non-sensory information briefly
• Rehearsal maintains information in short-term memory through repetition
• Chunking groups small pieces of information into larger, meaningful units for easier storage
• Example: Remembering 5-2-3-4-9-8-7 as 523-4987.
• Working memory actively maintains information in short-term storage
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad handles visual and spatial information (map remembering)
• Phonological loop deals with verbal and auditory information (repeating a phone number)
• Episodic buffer integrates visual and verbal information, linking it to long-term memory
• Central executive manages and coordinates the components of working memory, prioritizing focus

Hippocampus and Consolidation

• The hippocampus is important for converting short-term memories into long-term memories
• HM had portions of his temporal lobes, including the hippocampus, removed to treat epilepsy
• Post-surgery, HM retained old memories and normal thinking but could not form new long-term memories
• Anterograde amnesia, the inability to store new memories, resulted from HM’s surgery
• The hippocampus is key for long-term memory storage
• Retrograde amnesia causes loss of old memories, while anterograde amnesia prevents forming new ones
• The hippocampus organizes and connects memories rather than storing them
• The hippocampus becomes less critical as memories strengthen
• Consolidation stabilizes memory in the brain
• Short-term consolidation occurs within minutes or hours
• A head injury may erase unstable, recent memories
• Long-term consolidation occurs over days, weeks or years
• It moves memories from the hippocampus to the cortex
• Retrograde amnesia explains why people can recall childhood but not recent events

Memory Consolidation

• Consolidation is aided by recalling, thinking, and discussing memories
• Sleep strengthens memories
• Reconsolidation makes a recalled memory unstable, requiring it to be stored again
• Recalled memories can be changed or disrupted
• Experiments on rats show memories can be erased if disrupted after recall
• memories become vulnerable when reactivated
• Reducing painful memories, such as those from trauma, is possible by modifying memories during reconsolidation
• Disrupting reconsolidation in the amygdala may help treat fear and trauma-related disorders

Neural Connections and Cues

• Memory storage happens through connections between neurons at synapses
• When neurons communicate, synaptic connections strengthen
• "Cells that fire together, wire together."
• More neurotransmitters are released during short-term changes
• New synaptic connections form during long-term changes
• Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) strengthens neural connections through repeated activity, improving communication
• LTP happens in the hippocampus
• Blocking LTP impairs learning and memory
• Retrieval cues are hints or triggers that help recall stored memories
• External context serves as a retrieval cue, aiding recall when the learning and retrieval environments match
• Divers remembered words better when tested in the same environment where they learned them
• Addiction recovery can be triggered by environments associated with past use
• Classroom setting can improve recall during tests if studying occurred there
• State-dependent retrieval is affected by your inner state
• mood, emotions, or physical condition - acting as a retrieval cue
• You might recall information better when you are in the same state as when you learned it
• The encoding specificity principle states that memories are easier to recall when the retrieval context matches the initial learning
• The encoding specificity principle means memories are easier to recall when the retrieval context matches the way the information was originally learned.
• When you study while happy, you might remember better when you're happy again.
• When "brain" is learned by thinking about its meaning, it is better recalled in a memory test
• When "brain" is learned by focusing on the rhyme it has with "train", it is better recalled when given a rhyme-based cue

Brain Activity During Retrieval

• Retrieval involves different brain areas
• The left frontal lobe activates when trying to remember
• The hippocampus activates during successful recall contributing past experiences
• Sound activates the auditory cortex, image activates the visual cortex
• Explicit Memory is conscious recall with Recalling last summer’s vacation

Implicit Memory

• Explicit memory involves consciously remembering
• Anytime you say "I remember..."
• Implicit memory is an unconscious influence
• Past experiences affect behavior without conscious effort
• Example- Riding a bike
• HM's case showed improvement on tasks without remembering doing them before
• Procedural Memory: "Knowing How": A special type of implicit memory that helps us learn skills through practice

Priming

• Priming is when earlier exposure makes recall easier without conscious awareness
• It is a form of implicit memory done without effort
• Semantic memory involves facts and general knowledge
• Knowing that July 4 is U.S. Independence Day is an example of semantic memory
• Semantic memory doesnt involve recalling personal experiences
• Episodic memory involves personal life events
• Remembering your most exciting Fourth of July
• Lets you mentally relive past experiences (mental time travel).
• People with amnesia remember old episodic memories but can't form new ones
• Greg can recall events from before 1969

Amnesia and New Facts

• Amnesic individuals can learn new facts
• Children with hippocampal damage struggle with episodic memory but can learn to read, write, and gain semantic knowledge
• The hippocampus is not required for learning new semantic information

Group Memory

• Collaborative Memory: How Group Recall Affects Remembering
• Social influences involved with sharing memories which help strengthen recall
• Can also lead to memory errors
• Groups remember more than an individual alone, recalling more items together
• Collaborative inhibition is where groups can recall less effectively
• Surprisingly, groups recall fewer combined answers, compared to ones recalled alone.
• Different retrieval strategies can disrupt recall causing conflict
• Long-Term Benefits involved with hearing others' memories, helps improve later recall
• Group discussions can also correct memory errors

7 Sins of Memory

• Memory has seven common failings.
• Transience is a gradual loss of memory over time that occurs between encoding and retrieval
• Hermann Ebbinghaus studied transience discovering the forgetting curve with a rapid decline in memory followed by slower rate of forgetting
• Language tends to disappear without practice
• It is more difficult to retain what is not being applied to daily life
• Interference means old and new information gets in the way
• Retroactive: New information affects remembering old information
• Proactive: Old information affects remembering new information
• Example: What parking spot did you use today?
• Childhood amnesia refers to not remembering memories between 3 and 4

Culture Influence

• Culture has an influence that is very prominent on what and when you remember
• Westerns have earlier memories than asians
• The division of attention causes for the encoding of information to have issues
• Not about losing the memory but not properly encoding it in the first place
• Dividing attention: People remembered fewer words from a list when their attention was divided by another task.
• The Left frontal lobe is important with paying attention
• Hippocampus is less involved with dividing attention
• Divided attention makes episodic memory weaker
• Prospective Memory is forgetting future tasks e.g appointments, errands, where keys are.

Memory Phenomenon

• Blocking happens when an even occurs where you are trying to identify
• The information is stored but cant be retrieved even though the cue is reliable
• The issue is the inability to be available
• Why is it harder to remember names? Names have weaker connections to related knowledge
• "Baker" as a last name = Harder to recall
• "Baker" as a job title = Easier to remember because it has meaning
• Trouble remembering arbitrary names vs not remembering descriptive names

Brain Regions and Age

• Blocking Increases with Age
• More common in people over 60
• Some stroke patients experience permanent blocking, remembering facts but not names.
• Brain Regions Involved:
• Left temporal lobe damage (often from a stroke) causes severe name blocking.
• Studies show strong activation in the temporal lobe when people recall names.

Memory Misattribution

• Memory misattribution happens when there is a memory assigned to the wrong source that can result in having false memory and recollections
• The source to memories is the ability to remember when , where and how did the information come from?
• People may remember a fact or face correctly but misplace its source (like Kessinger did).
• déjà vu—a sense of familiarity mistakenly linked to an exact past experience.
• The frontal lobe is more prone to damage and can increases misattribution errors
• Suggestibility is when misleading information from outside sources is incorporated into personal memories, leading to false recollections
• Problem: No such film existed—their memories were shaped by suggestive questioning.

Bias

• Bias happens when our current knowledge, beliefs, or feelings influence how we remember the past
• Can lead to lead to distorted or exaggerated memories.
• Consistency bias means We think we've always believed what we believe now
• 1973 people rate their opinions on social issues (e.g., women's rights, marijuana legalization).
• 1982 people re evaluated their opinion in 1973 and asked what their beliefs were
• Result: Their recollections of their past beliefs matched their current beliefs more than what they originally said in 1973
• Fake News: “We remember” false stories that align with our views
• People were shown real and fake news stories about both sides, the almost half were claiming to remember a fake news event.

Change

• People “remembered” fake stories that supported their side more often than those that opposed it.
• Change Bias (We exaggerate differences between past and present to look better)
• Remembering what what reported before.
• Reporting being nervous with donating blood etc, the feeling of being less capable and overwhelmed
• Persistence happens when the emotion and or traumatic side is always prevalent in memories
• These can be intrusive memories that can be hard to shake.

Flashbulb memories

• Flashbulb Memories: Emotionally Charged Memories
• Example with Remembering the 9/11
• Detailed recollections of shocking events
• Are not always accurate and often better than everyday occurrences
  • The amygdala plays a big role
  • This leads to stressful situations and hormones that enhance memory.
• The amygdala is more likely to cause emotional events than neutral ones.

Emotional Memory

• Remembering life-threatening events are useful with the downside is that it can be overpowering
• You sometimes fill in the blanks using what you already know about the world.
• Making sense can lead to mistakes, or things not happening exactly that way.