Chapter 8. Memory, sem 231_242c140e5fd1c6e3e011e92db693c37e.pptx

Chapter Overview  Studying and Encoding Memories  Storing and Retrieving Memories  Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Studying Memory (part 1)  Memory  Persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information  Measures of memory  R...

Chapter Overview  Studying and Encoding Memories  Storing and Retrieving Memories  Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Studying Memory (part 1)  Memory  Persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information  Measures of memory  Recall: Retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time  Recognition: Identifying items previously learned  Relearning: Learning something more quickly when you encounter it a second or later time Studying Memory (part 2)  Psychologists use memory models to think and communicate about memory.  Information-processing model  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 Memory Models (part 1)  Three processing stages in the Atkinson- Shiffrin model 1. We record to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory. 2. We process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal. 3. Information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval. A Modified Three-Stage InformationProcessing Model of Memory Memory Models (part 2)  Atkinson-Shiffrin model’s 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 Memory Models (part 3) 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) 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 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 the conscious encoding track Short-Term Memory Capacity  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  George Miller (1956)  Magical number seven: Most people can store seven bits of information (give or take two).  Baddeley and colleagues (1975)  Without distraction, most people can remember seven digits or six letters or five words.  Working memory  Capacity varies by age and and other factors. 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  Hierarchies: Organization of items into a few broad categories that are divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts Levels of Processing  Verbal information is processed at different levels that affect long-term retention.  Shallow processing encodes information on a very basic level (a word’s letters) or a more intermediate level (a word’s sound).  Deep processing encodes information semantically based on word meaning. Explicit-Memory System  Semantic memory: Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems  Episodic memory: Explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems  Memory consolidation: The neural storage of a long-term memory Our Two Memory Systems Memory Retrieval Cues (part 1)  Retrieval cues  Priming  Context-dependent memory  State-dependent memory  Serial position effect Memory Retrieval Cues (part 2)  Memory retrieval  Memories are held in storage by a web of associations.  Retrieval cues serve as anchor points for pathways to memories suspended in this web.  The best retrieval cues come from associations formed at the time a memory is encoded.  Priming  Activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory Priming: Awakening Associations  After seeing or hearing the word rabbit, we are more likely to spell the spoken word as h-a-r-e.  Associations unconsciously activate related associations—a called priming. (Adapted from Bower, 1986.) Memory Retrieval Cues (part 3)  Context-dependent memory  Recall of specific information is improved when the contexts present at encoding and at retrieval are the same.  Encoding specificity principle  Cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping recall. Memory Retrieval Cues (part 4)  State-dependent memory  The tendency to recall events consistent with current good or bad mood (mood-congruent memory)  Mood-congruent memory  The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood  Serial position effect  The tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list When Do We Forget?  Forgetting can occur at any memory stage.  When we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it. 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 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, but then levels off with time.  Physical changes in the brain occur as memories form (memory trace). Encoding Failure Retrieval Failure Forgetting (part 1)  Interference  Proactive: Older memories make it more difficult to remember new information.  Retroactive: New learning disrupts memory for older information. Forgetting (part 2)  Motivated forgetting  Freud: Repressed memories protect a person’s selfconcept and minimize anxiety.  Today: Attempts to forget are more likely when information is neutral, not emotional. Memory Construction Errors (part 1)  Misinformation and imagination effects  Misinformation effect: A memory is corrupted by misleading information.  Imagination effect: Repeatedly imagining fake actions and events can create false memories. Memory Construction Errors (part 2)  Source amnesia (source misattribution)  Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagine  Déjà vu  The sense that “I’ve experienced this before”  Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience. Improving Memory  The SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review) study technique 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.