Psychology Chapter on Memory Processes

Memory and Forgetting

• Memory is the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information
• Three key processes in memory:
  • Encoding: forming a memory code, usually requiring attention
  • Storage: maintaining encoded information over time
  • Retrieval: recovering information from memory stores
• Parallel processing: Our brains process many things simultaneously with some processes occurring unconsciously
• Measuring retention:
  • Recall: retrieving information not in conscious awareness (e.g., fill-in-the-blank test)
  • Recognition: identifying previously learned items (e.g., multiple choice test)
  • Relearning: learning something more quickly when re-encountered later
• Ebbinghaus's research: More time spent practicing nonsense syllables correlates with less time needed to relearn them
• Memory-forming process:
  • Sensory memory: first stage of memory, receiving information from the environment
  • Short-term memory: temporarily holds information while it's being processed, limited in duration and capacity
  • Working memory: active scratchpad processing information and linking it with long-term memories
  • Long-term memory: relatively permanent storage of memory, unlimited capacity.
• Working Memory-Baddeley's Model: Involves auditory rehearsal, visual-spatial information processing, and a central executive responsible for focusing attention
• Prospective Memory: remembering things to do in the future
• Modified processing model of memory: External events enter sensory memory; attention to important information, rehearsal, and active maintenance leads to encoding into working/short-term memory; long-term memory from this stage
• Encoding memories: Encoding can be effortful (requires attention and conscious effort) or automatic (unconscious)
• Encoding memories:
  • Effortful: Encoding that needs attention/conscious effort
  • Automatic: Unconscious/effortless encoding, e.g., space, time, and frequency
• Sensory memory:
  • Iconic: Fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli, short duration
  • Echoic: Fleeting sensory memory of auditory stimuli, tends to linger longer (3-4 seconds)
• Short-term memory capacity: Miller proposed we can hold about 7 pieces of information
• Peterson's research Demonstrated short-term memory has limited duration without active processing (20 seconds)
• Effortful processing strategies:
  • Chunking: organizing information into meaningful units
  • Mnemonics: memory techniques to encode difficult material
  • Hierarchies: organizing information in categories and subcategories for better recall
• Testing effect: Repeated self-testing improves memory retention
• Distributed practice: Better long-term recall when encoded over time rather than massing
• Levels of processing:
  • Shallow: encoding on a basic appearance level
  • Deep: encoding based on meaning
• Long-term memories:
  • Explicit: facts, general knowledge, events
    • Semantic: facts and general knowledge
    • Episodic: personal experiences
  • Implicit: procedural, classical conditioning, emotional
• Memory Consolidation: memories move from the hippocampus to other parts of the brain
• Implicit Memory System:
  • Involves cerebellum and basal ganglia
  • Associated with forming and storing implicit memories (like classical conditioning)
  • Basal ganglia for motor skills
• Amygdala, Emotions, and Memory:
  • Emotions trigger stress hormones, activating the amygdala; crucial for encoding emotionally significant events.
  • Stronger emotional events lead to better memory
  • Flashbulb memories: detailed, vivid memories surrounding significant, emotionally charged events
• Amnesia: Memory loss
  • Anterograde: inability to create new memories
  • Retrograde: inability to recall past memories
• Constructive memory: memories are reconstructed rather than exact representations of experiences
  • Misinformation effect: leading questions/information can distort memories
• Memory retrieval:
  • Memories are interconnected through a web of associations
  • Retrieval cues (e.g., smells, tastes, sights) facilitate recall
  • Priming: activation of particular associations
  • Context-dependent memory: remembering better when in the same context
  • State-dependent memory: recalling better in the same state of mind
  • Serial position effect: tendency to recall first and last items (primacy/recency) better in a list
• Forgetting and other memory challenges:
  • Interference (proactive, retroactive): old memories hinder new recall, and vice versa
  • Encoding failure: information not adequately encoded
  • Retrieval problems like tip-of-the-tongue phenomena
• Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve: illustrates the rapid initial loss of memory, decreasing over time.