Chapter 8: Memory PDF

Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Chapter Eight: Memory Overview ▪ Studying and Encoding Memories ▪ Storing and Retrieving Memories ▪ Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Studying Memories ▪ Memory ▪ Persistence of learning...

Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Chapter Eight: Memory Overview ▪ Studying and Encoding Memories ▪ Storing and Retrieving Memories ▪ Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Studying Memories ▪ Memory ▪ Persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information ▪ Evidence of memory ▪ Recalling information ▪ Recognizing it ▪ Relearning it more easily on a later attempt Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images EBBINGHAUS’ RETENTION CURVE Ebbinghaus found that the more times he practiced a list of nonsense syllables on day 1, the less time he required to relearn it on day 2. Speed of relearning is one measure of memory retention (From Baddeley, 1982.) Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Studying Memories ▪ Psychologists use memory models to think and communicate about memory. ▪ Information-processing models ▪ Compares human memory to computer operations ▪ Involves three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval ▪ Connectionism information-processing model ▪ Focuses on multitrack, parallel processing ▪ Views memories as products of interconnected neural networks Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Memory Models ▪ Three processing stages in the Atkinson- Shiffrin model ▪ We first record to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory ▪ From there, we process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal ▪ Finally, information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Atkinson and Shiffrin’s classic three-step model helps us to think about how memories are processed, but today’s researchers recognize other ways longterm memories form. For example, some information slips into long-term memory via a “back door,” without our consciously attending to it (automatic processing). And so much active processing occurs in the short-term memory stage that many now prefer to call that stage working memory. A MODIFIED THREE-STAGE INFORMATION-PROCESSING MODEL OF MEMORY Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Memory Models ▪ Atkinson-Shiffrin model updated concepts ▪ Working memory, to stress the active processing occurring in the second memory stage ▪ Automatic processing, to address the processing of information outside of conscious awareness Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Memory Models Working memory • Involves newer understanding of short-term memory ▪ Focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory ▪ Is handled by a central executive (Baddeley, 2002) Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images WORKING MEMORY Alan Baddeley’s (2002) model of working memory, simplified here, includes visual and auditory rehearsal of new information. Part of the brain functions like a manager, a central executive focusing attention and pulling information from long-term memory to help make sense of new information. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Dual-Track Memory: Effortful Versus Automatic Processing ▪ Dual-track memory system ▪ Explicit memories (declarative memories) of conscious facts and experiences encoded through conscious, effortful processing ▪ Implicit memories (nondeclarative memories) that form through automatic processes and bypass conscious encoding track Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Encoding Memories ▪ Automatic processing and implicit memories ▪ Implicit memories include automatic skills and classically conditioned associations. ▪ Information is automatically processed about ▪ Space ▪ Time ▪ Frequency ▪ Effortful processing and explicit memories ▪ With experience and practice, explicit memories become automatic. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Sensory memory What is sensory memory? • First stage in forming explicit memories • Immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system • Iconic memory: Picture-image memory • Echoic memory: Sound memory TOTAL RECALL—BRIEFLY When George Sperling (1960) flashed a group of letters similar to this for one-twentieth of a second, people could recall only about half the letters. But when signaled to recall any one row immediately after the letters had disappeared, they could do so with near-perfect accuracy. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Capacity of Short-Term and Working Memory ▪ Short-term memory ▪ Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing) before the information is stored or forgotten ▪ Working memory ▪ Newer understanding of short-term memory that stresses conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Capacity of Short-Term and Working Memory ▪ Short-term memory ▪ George Miller (1956) ▪ Magical Number Seven: People can store about seven bits of information (give or take two) ▪ Baddeley and colleagues (1975) ▪ Without distraction, about seven digits or about six letters or five words ▪ Working memory ▪ Capacity varies by age and distractions at time of memory tasks Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Effortful Processing Strategies ▪ Chunking: Organization of items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically ▪ Mnemonics: Memory aids, especially techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices ▪ Peg-word system ▪ Hierarchies: Organization of items into a few broad categories that are divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Effortful Processing Strategies ▪ Spaced study and self-assessment ▪ Spacing effect: Encoding is more effective when it is spread over time. ▪ Distributed practice: Produces better long-term recall ▪ Massive practice: Produces speedy short-term learning and feelings of confidence ▪ Testing effect (retrieval practice effect or testenhanced effect): Encoding is very effective. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Levels of Processing ▪ Verbal information processed at different levels which affect long-term retention ▪ Shallow processing encodes on a very basic level (word’s letters) or a more intermediate level (word’s sound) ▪ Deep processing encodes semantically based on word meaning Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Explicit-Memory System: Hippocampus And Frontal Lobes ▪ Is dedicated to explicit memory formation ▪ Registers and temporarily holds elements of explicit memories before moving them to other brain regions for long-term storage. THE HIPPOCAMPUS ▪ Neural storage of long- term memories is called memory consolidation. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Memory Retrieval Cues ▪ Memory retrieval ▪ Memories held in storage by web of associations ▪ Retrieval cues serve as anchor points for pathways to memory suspended in this web. ▪ Best retrieval cues come from associations formed at the time a memory is encoded ▪ Priming ▪ Activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Forgetting and the Two-track Mind ▪ Humans have two distinct memory systems controlled by different parts of the brain. ▪ Forgetting has several causes ▪ Encoding failure ▪ Storage decay ▪ Retrieval failure ▪ Interference ▪ Motivated forgetting Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Forgetting: Encoding and Storage Decay ▪ Encoding failure ▪ Age: Encoding lag is linked to age-related memory decline ▪ Attention: Failure to notice or encode contributes to memory failure ▪ Storage decay ▪ Course of forgetting is initially rapid, and then levels off with time ▪ Physical changes in the brain occur as memory forms (memory trace). Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Reason for Failure • Events and memories are not available because these were never acquired. • Memories have been discarded due to stored memory decay. • Insufficient information to access memories make these out of reach. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Forgetting ▪ Interference ▪ Proactive: Occurs when older memory makes it more difficult to remember new information ▪ Retroactive: Occurs when new learning disrupts memory for older information ▪ Motivated forgetting ▪ Freud: Repressed memories protect self-concept and minimize anxiety. ▪ Today: Attempts to forget are more likely when information is neutral, not emotional. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images WHEN DO WE FORGET? • Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. • As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Improving Memory SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review) study technique used in this book incorporates several learning strategies. • • • • • • • Rehearse repeatedly Make the material meaningful Activate retrieval cues Use mnemonic devices Minimize interference Sleep more Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse it and to find out what you do not yet know