Psychology Chapter 6: Remembering & Forgetting (GR 11, 2024-25)

SUBJECT: PSYCHOLOGY STD:11 CHAPTER 6: REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING 2024-2025 Chapter Outline (i) The memory system - how it works – different models. Sensory memory, short and long-term memory - encoding, storage, retr...

SUBJECT: PSYCHOLOGY STD:11 CHAPTER 6: REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING 2024-2025 Chapter Outline (i) The memory system - how it works – different models. Sensory memory, short and long-term memory - encoding, storage, retrieval. Terms like iconic image, free recall, serial position effects, recency effects, primacy effects, episodic memory, and working memory. Semantic and Procedural Memory. Processing memory - the Atkinson Shiffrin Model and Parallel Distributed Processing. (ii) Why and how forgetting occurs. Trace decay, retro and proactive interference, retrieval failure, amnesia - retrograde and anterograde; Alzheimer’s disease; Dementia (Symptoms) (iii) How memory can be improved. Attention, use of imagery, Mnemonic devices, application of principles of learning. 1 INTRODUCTION (Baron pg. 180) The first systematic exploration of memory is credited to Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist of the late nineteenth century (1885). He carried out many experiments on himself and found that we do not forget the learned material at an even pace or completely. Initially, the rate of forgetting is faster but eventually, it stabilizes. Another view on memory was suggested by Frederick Bartlett (1932) who contended that memory is not passive but an active process. With the help of meaningful verbal materials such as stories and texts, he demonstrated that memory is a constructive process. That is, what we memorize, and store undergoes many changes and modifications over time. So, there is a qualitative difference between what was initially memorized by us and what we retrieve or recall later. THE MEMORY SYSTEM - HOW IT WORKS – DIFFERENT MODELS. A. MEMORY a. DEFINITION: “Our cognitive system(s) for storing and retrieving information”. (Baron) Memory refers to retaining and recalling information over a period of time, depending upon the nature of the cognitive task you are required to perform. Memory is an active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage (adapted from Baddeley, 1996, 2003). b. STAGES OF MEMORY ((Morgan Pg. 185; Baron Pg. 181) Memory is conceptualized as a process/tasks consisting of three independent, though interrelated stages. These are encoding, storage, and retrieval. Any information received by us necessarily goes through these stages. i. Encoding: The process through which information is converted into a form that can be entered into memory. It is the first stage which refers to a process by which information is recorded and registered for the first time so that it becomes usable by our memory system. Whenever an external stimulus impinges on our sensory organs, it generates neural impulses. These are received in different areas of our brain for further processing. In encoding, incoming information is received and some meaning is derived. It is then represented in a way so that it can be processed further. ii. Storage: The process through which information is retained in memory. It is the second stage of memory. Information which was encoded must also be stored so that it can be put to use later. Storage, therefore, refers to the process through which information is retained and held over a period of time. iii. Retrieval: The process through which information stored in memory is located. It is the third stage of memory. Information can be used only when one is able to recover it from her/his memory. Retrieval refers to bringing the stored information to her/his awareness so that it can be used for performing various cognitive tasks such as problem solving or decision-making. It may be interesting to note that memory failure can occur at any of these stages. You may fail to recall information because you did not encode it properly, or the storage was weak so you could not access or retrieve it when required. 2  c. SYSTEMS OF STORING INFORMATION (Morgan Pg. 190-193; Mangal Pg. 261-262; Baron Pg. 181-182) i. The Sensory Memory: A memory system that retains representations of sensory input for brief periods of time. It is a temporary storage of information brought to us by our senses. Information can be held in the sensory memory for a brief period of time in the sensory channels. Most of the information held in the sensory register is lost or simply decays from the sensory register. However, if we pay attention to and recognize some of the information in the SR then the attended information is passed on the STM for further processing. The iconic or visual image is stored for less than a second; the auditory SR hold information up to 4-5 seconds and is stored as echoic memory. ii. Short Term Memory (STM): A memory system that retains a relatively small amount of information for brief periods of time. Short-term memory holds a relatively small amount of information for a brief period of time, usually thirty seconds or less. This is the memory system you use when you look up a phone number and dial it. Information in the sensory memory that is attended to and recognized moves/ is passed on to the STM, where it is held for about 20-30 seconds. Some of the information that reaches the STM is process through rehearsal i.e. by how much attention is focused on it. This is called as selective attention i.e. our ability to pay attention only to some aspects of the world around us and ignoring others. iii. Long Term Memory (LTM): A memory system for retention of large amounts of information over long periods of time. It allows us to retain vast amounts of information for a very long period of time. It is this memory system that permits you to remember events that happened a few hours ago, yesterday, last month- or many years in the past. It is long-term memory that allows you to remember factual information such as the capital of your state, the name of the president, and the information we get in the books. Information enters LTM through rehearsal either by: -maintenance rehearsal i.e. by being repeated over and over or -elaborative rehearsal i.e. being processed in some other way that will link it up with other information already stored in memory. Unlike STM, long-term memory storage has no limit. There is no true forgetting in the LTM, instead, information stored in the LTM is there for good and the capacity is unlimited. When we seem to forget it is because we are having trouble retrieving or gaining access to what has been stored. In other words, the information is still there but we cannot get to it because it has not been stored in an organized manner or because we are not searching in an organized way. B. IMPORTANT TERMS: (Morgan, Pg. 190-191, Baron, 184, Mangal Pg. 259, 264) a. Iconic Image: Information can be held for a very brief time in the sensory channels themselves. This storage function of the sensory channels is known as the sensory register. Some ingenious experiments have shown that the visual sensory register holds information for up to about 1 second, while the auditory (hearing) register holds information somewhat longer to about 4 or 5 seconds. Studies with the visual sensory register have also shown that it can hold at least 11 to 16 items of information during the second before it loses the information through decay. Furthermore, in vision at least, the sensory storage seems to be in the form of a faint image, called an iconic image (from the Greek word meaning “likeness”), which is a copy of the visual input. It is this iconic image that persists in the visual sensory register for a second before it gradually decays. 3  b. Free Recall Free recall refers to a memory retrieval process where individuals are asked to remember information without any specific cues or prompts. In this task, participants study a list of items on each trial, and then are prompted to recall the items in any order. Items are usually presented one at a time for a short duration and can be any of a number of nameable materials, although traditionally, words from a larger set are chosen. The recall period typically lasts a few minutes and can involve spoken or written recall. The standard test involves the recall period starting immediately after the final list item; this can be referred to as immediate free recall (IFR) to distinguish it from delayed free recall (DFR). In delayed free recall, there is a short distraction period between the final list item and the start of the recall period. Subjects in an experiment were shown lists of 15 nouns. Each noun was presented for 1 second, with a 2-second interval between the presentations. After all 15 nouns had been presented, subjects were asked to recall the nouns in any order that came to their mind. Hence the term free recall i.e. List of words appeared in the same order on each trial, and the participants were instructed to recall the list in any order, without repeating words. c. Serial Position Effects The role of serial position in free recall is generally called the serial position effect. The greater accuracy of recall of words or other information early and late in a list of information, than of words or information in the middle of the list. When we memorize a list of words (or other stimuli), the words at the beginning and the end of the list are remembered better than the words in the middle. d. Primacy and Recency effects The better recall at the beginning of the list which contributes to the serial position effect is known as the primacy effect; items encountered first are remembered relatively well. The better recall at the end of the list is known as the recency effect; items countered most recently are remembered well. The LTM consists of two different but related stores: (Morgan Pg. 196-197; Baron Pg. 188-191; Mangal Pg. 262-263) a. Episodic memory: A memory for factual information that we acquired at a specific time. Episodic memory holds the information we acquired at a specific time and place; it is a kind of memory that allows you to go back in time and to remember specific thoughts or experiences you had in the past. This is the kind of memory studied by psychologists in experiments in which participants are presented with lists of words, numbers, and so on, and later are tested for memory of this information. Episodic memory relates to episodes and events. It may consist of personal events or experiences associated with one’s life. What event has happened during one’s life is stored in the shape of episodic memory traces organized according to the time, space, and other characteristics of the events. E.g. if a person has been on an excursion and, on his return narrates all that he did or experienced he felt and enjoyed himself, he is able to do so by the exercise of his episodic memory. b. Semantic memory: A memory that stores general, abstract knowledge about the world- information we cannot remember acquiring at a specific time and place. It holds information of a more general nature- information we do not remember acquiring at a specific time or place. Such memory includes the meaning of words, the properties if objects, typical events in everyday life, and the countless facts we all learn during our school years (e.g., e=mc²; Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister of India; there are about 6 billion people in the world). In Semantic memory, information is organized through: i. Concepts- mental categories for objects or events that are similar to one another in certain ways. Concepts in semantic memory seem to exist in networks reflecting the relationships between them- 4  semantic networks. In the network model of semantic memory, the meaning of a concept reflects its links or associations with other, adjoining concepts. ii. Another view is that the meaning of concepts derives from prototypes- abstract, idealized representation that captures an average or typical notion of members of the category. For instance, the prototype of a professor in your semantic memory represents all the professors you have encountered and may suggest that professors are, on average, middle–aged, absent-minded, slightly rumpled-looking, and so on. iii. Still another view is that any given concept is represented in memory not in terms of an overall average (prototype), but in terms of an exemplar- an example of the category that the individual can readily bring to mind. So, for example, when you read the word fruit, what comes to mind is probably an apple, a pear, or an orange. These are exemplars of the concept fruits, and in deciding whether a new object you encounter is a fruit, you may bring one or more of these exemplars to mind and compare the new object to them. c. Procedural Memory (Morgan Pg. 185-190; Mangal Pg. 259-260; Baron Pg. 182) A memory system that retains information that we cannot readily express verbally- Procedural memory is also called implicit memory. This name suggests that the memory stores the information of doing or performing things without having any conscious awareness about particular experience or learning through which memory was built up. In case of any action whose blueprint is stored in the procedural memory, there is also no need for conscious control or attention to perform that action. For example, information necessary to perform skilled motor activities such as riding a bicycle. There are countless everyday experiences that often have information in our memories that we can’t readily put into words. Given information stored in procedural memory can’t be described verbally, one way is through the priming effect: the fact that having seen or heard a stimulus once may facilitate our recognizing it on a later occasion, even if we are unaware that this is happening. The priming effect refers to the difference between remembering and knowing. Remembering means being able to report an event and the circumstances under which it occurred; knowing is the familiarity we have with a stimulus even when we can’t remember it explicitly- a familiarity that may strongly influence our behavior. d. Working Memory (Baron Pg. 184-185) A memory system that holds information we are processing at the moment; formerly called short- term memory. In a sense, working memory is the workbench of consciousness- the “place” where the information we are using right now is held and processed. As a storage system, working memory can hold only about seven (plus or minus two) discrete items. Beyond that point the system becomes overloaded, and if new information enters, existing information 5  is lost. However, each of these “items” can contain several separate bits of information that are somehow related and can be grouped together into meaningful units. When this is the case, each piece of information is described as a chunk, and the total amount of information held in chunks can be quite large. E.g. consider the following list of letters: IBFIMBWBMATWIAC. After hearing or reading it once, one may remember no more than about seven. But if the letters are presented as follows: FBI, IBM, BMW, TWA, CIA, in all likelihood one could remember more, because now the letters are grouped in a meaningful chunk- the initials of famous organizations. Because of the process of Chunking, working memory can hold a large amount of information than one might guess, even though it can retain only seven to nine separate items at once. Processing in Working Memory According to Alan Baddeley’s (1992) theory, working memory consists of three major parts: i. A Phonological loop that processes information relating to the sounds of words; ii. A Visuospatial sketchpad that processes visual and spatial information (i.e. information about the visual appearance of objects, such as color and shape and where they are located in space); and iii. A Central executive that supervises and coordinates the other two components. The central executive would act as an interpreter for both the visual and auditory information in STM. For example, when a person is reading a book, the sketchpad will contain images of the people and events of the particular passage being read while the recorder “plays” the dialogue in the person’s head. The central executive helps in interpreting the information from both systems and pulls it all together. iv. The Episodic Buffer The original model was updated by Alan Baddeley (2000) after the model failed to explain the results of various experiments. An additional component was added called the episodic buffer. The episodic buffer acts as a 'backup' store which communicates with both long- term memory and the components of working memory. C. PROCESSING MEMORY (Models of Memory) a. Information Processing Approach: The Stage Model Proponents- Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968 The memory has 3 basic stages/tasks: Encoding: It is the process through which information is converted into a form that can be entered into memory. Storage: it is the process through which information is retained in memory. Retrieval: it is the process through which information stored in memory is located. Systems of Memory The Sensory Memory: A memory system that retains representations of sensory input for brief periods of time. Short Term Memory: A memory system that retains a relatively small amount of information for brief periods of time. Long Term Memory: A memory system for retention of large amounts of information over long periods of time. 6 An illustration of Atkinson and Shiffrin model Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed that moving of information from one system to another involves the operation of active control processes that act as filters, determining which information will be retained. Information in sensory memory enters short term memory when it becomes the focus of our attention, whereas sensory impressions that do not engage attention fade and quickly disappear. So where memory is concerned, selective attention- our ability to pay attention to only some aspects of the world around us while largely ignoring others- often plays a crucial role. In contrast, information in short- term memory enters long term storage through elaborative rehearsal- when we think about its meaning and relate it to other information already in long-term memory. Unless we engage in such cognitive effort, information in short- term memory, too quickly fades away and is lost. In contrast, merely repeating information silently to ourselves (maintenance rehearsal) does not necessarily move information from short-term to long term memory. In sum, the Atkinson and Shiffrin model linked the study of human memory firmly to the general Information Processing perspective that is an important aspect of all cognitive psychology today. Evaluation i. This model linked the study of human memory firmly to the general information- processing perspective, which is an important aspect of all cognitive psychology today. ii. Two of the basic ideas of this model have been supported by research findings and so remain influential: The suggestion that memory involves- encoding, storage and retrieval of information. The basic idea is that we possess several different kinds of memory. iii. A recent advancement in memory research combined with the improved understanding of how the human brain works suggests that the computer analogy can take us only so far and is useful only up to a point. b. PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING (PDP) MODEL (Baron Pg. 183) Parallel (more than one process occurring at a time) Distributed processing (Processing occurring in a number of different locations). Proponents: J.L. McClelland & Rumelhart. This model is generally referred to as the PDP model. The model consists of computational elements, also known as units, which are neurally inspired. It assumes that the information is placed in the brain using different activation patterns. These activations are propagated among different units in the simple process of thinking about something. When the connection is positive, it increases the amount of activation. 7 On the contrary, when the connection is negative, it reduces the amount of activation between various units. In systems like this, knowledge is present between the connections established between units, determining what pattern will emerge from the representation of input or data. The strength of such connections governs the act of recollection. The PDP model has 3 basic principles: 1. The representation of information is distributed (not local) 2. Memory and knowledge for specific things are not stored explicitly but stored in the connections between units. 3. Learning can occur with gradual changes in connection strength by experience. WHY AND HOW FORGETTING OCCURS. FORGETTING: (Morgan Pg. 203-205; Mangal Pg. 271-273; Baron Pg. 193-194) It is the apparent loss of information already encoded and stored in long-term memory. (Morgan) The earliest view of forgetting was that information entered into long-term memory fades or decays with the passage of time. While this seems to fit with our subjective experience, many studies indicate that the amount of forgetting is not simply a function of how much time has elapsed; rather, what happens during that period of time is crucial (e.g., Jenkins & Dallenbach, 1924). So, early on, psychologists rejected the notion that forgetting stems from passive decay of memories over time and turned, instead, to the views we’ll consider next. a. Trace Decay (STM) (Morgan Pg. 203-205; Mangal Pg. 273-274; Baron Pg. 193) This theory suggests STM can only hold information for between 0 and 18 seconds unless it is rehearsed. After this time the information decays (fades away). This explanation of forgetting in short- term memory assumes that memories leave a physical trace in the brain. A trace is some form of physical and/or chemical change in the nervous system. Trace decay theory states that forgetting occurs as a result of the automatic decay or fading of the memory trace. Trace decay theory focuses on time and the limited duration of STM. Support for the idea that forgetting from short-term memory might be the result of decay over time came from research carried out by Brown (1958) in the United Kingdom, and Peterson and Peterson (1959) in the United States. The technique they developed has become known as the Brown-Peterson task. b. Forgetting as a result of Interference (Morgan Pg. 205-206; Mangal Pg. 274; Baron Pg. 194-195) Interference is the negative inhibiting effect of one learning experience on another. This theory holds that we forget things because of such interference. The interfering effects of things previously learnt and retained in our memory with the things of more recent memory can work both backward and forward. i. Proactive interference: Occurs when past information interferes (in a forward-acting way) with learning new information. The old learning or experiences retained in memory works forward to disrupt what we acquire or learn afterwards. It refers to the interference due to events that came BEFORE to-be-remembered information. Example: You may find it difficult to learn a second language when vocabulary or grammar from the first interferes. Or you had to change email passwords, but you keep typing the old one and can’t seem 8  to memorize the new one. Or suppose you learned how to operate one DVD player; now you buy a new one that requires different steps for recording a television program. If you make mistakes by trying to operate the new DVD player in the same way as your old one. ii. Retroactive Interference: Occurs when new stimuli/learning interferes with the storage and retrieval of previously formed memories. The acquisition of new learning works backward to impair the retention of the previously learned material. Hence this refers to memory interference resulting from activities that came AFTER the event one is trying to remember. Example: A second list of words, formulae or equation may impair the retention of a first list. Or In one study, students who studied right before eight hours of sleep had better recall than those who studied before eight hours of daily activities. The daily activities retroactively interfered with the morning’s learning. Or if learning how to operate a new computer program causes you to forget how to operate one you learned previously. c. Retrieval Failure Theory Retrieval failure is where the information is in long-term memory, but cannot be accessed. Such information is said to be available (i.e. it is still stored) but not accessible (i.e. it cannot be retrieved). It cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are not present. When we store a new memory we also store information about the situation and these are known as retrieval cues. When we come into the same situation again, these retrieval cues can trigger the memory of the situation. Retrieval cues can be: External / Context – in the environment, e.g. smell, place etc. Internal / State – inside of us, e.g. physical, emotional, mood, drunk etc There is considerable evidence that information is more likely to be retrieved from long-term memory if appropriate retrieval cues are present. This evidence comes from both laboratory experiments and everyday experience. A retrieval cue is a hint or clue that can help retrieval. Tulving (1974) argued that information would be more readily retrieved if the cues present when the information was encoded were also present when its retrieval is required. For example, if you proposed to your partner when a certain song was playing on the radio, you will be more likely to remember the details of the proposal when you hear the same song again. The song is a retrieval cue – it was present when the information was encoded and retrieved. Tulving suggested that information about the physical surroundings (external context) and about the physical or psychological state of the learner ( internal context ) is stored at the same time as information is learned. Reinstating the state or context makes recall easier by providing relevant information, while retrieval failure occurs when appropriate cues are not present. For example, when we are in a different context (i.e. situation) or state. d. Amnesia - retrograde and anterograde; Alzheimer's disease; Dementia. (Baron Pg. 204-207) Amnesia refers to loss of memory stemming from illness, injury, drug abuse, or other causes. Amnesia is the general term for a condition in which memory (either stored memories or the process of committing something to memory) is disturbed or lost, to a greater extent than simple everyday forgetting or absent-mindedness. Causes of Amnesia Amnesia may result either from organic or neurological causes (damage to the brain through physical injury, neurological disease or the use of certain drugs), or from functional or psychogenic causes (psychological factors, such as mental disorder, post-traumatic stress or psychological defense mechanisms). 9  Types of amnesia There are many different types of amnesia. Below is a list of the most common ones: i. Anterograde amnesia - the patient cannot remember new information. Things that happened recently, information that should be stored into short-term memory disappear. This is usually caused by brain trauma (brain damage from a blow to the head, for example). However, a patient with anterograde amnesia can remember data and events which happened before the injury. Anterograde (where the ability to memorize new things is impaired or lost because data does not transfer successfully from the conscious short-term memory into permanent long-term memory). ii. Retrograde amnesia - often thought of as the opposite of anterograde amnesia. The patient cannot remember events that occurred before his/her trauma, but remembers things that happened after it normally. Retrograde amnesia (where a person's pre-existing memories are lost to conscious recollection, beyond an ordinary degree of forgetfulness, even though they may be able to memorize new things that occur after the onset of amnesia). Anterograde amnesia is the more common of the two. Sometimes both these types of amnesia may occur together, sometimes called total or global amnesia. Another type of amnesia is post-traumatic amnesia, a state of confusion and memory loss that occurs after a traumatic brain injury. Amnesia which occurs due to psychological factors is usually referred to as psychogenic amnesia. Many kinds of amnesia are associated with damage to the hippocampus and related areas of the brain which are used in the encoding, storage and retrieval of memories. If there is a blockage in the pathways along which information travels during the processes of memory encoding or retrieval, or if whole regions of the brain are missing or damaged, then the brain may not be able to form new memories or retrieve some old ones. e. Dementia (Morgan Pg. 208) It is a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury and marked by memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. Dementia is a general term for a large class of disorders characterized by the progressive deterioration of thinking ability and memory as the brain becomes damaged. Essentially, when memory loss is so severe that it interferes with normal daily functioning, it is called dementia. Less severe memory loss is usually referred to as mild cognitive impairment. Symptoms While SYMPTOMS of dementia can vary greatly, some common are Loss of Memory Communication and language problems Inability to focus and pay attention Reasoning and judgment is not correct Visual perception is hampered Types Of Dementia The best known and most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 50-75% of all dementias. The second most common type, accounting for up to 20% of dementia cases, is vascular dementia, which has symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s but usually results from damage done to the brain by a blood clot or a hemorrhage cutting off the brain's blood supply due to a stroke or succession of strokes. Other types of dementia include Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. 10  Some types of dementia are reversible (such as those caused by thyroid disease), while some (such as Alzheimer's disease) are irreversible. Causes of Dementia Dementia may be caused by specific events such as traumatic brain injury (also see post-traumatic amnesia) or stroke, or it may develop gradually as a result of neurodegenerative disease affecting the neurons of the brain (thereby causing gradual but irreversible damage. Research shows that several lifestyle factors and conditions associated with cardiovascular disease can increase the risk of dementia. Treatment: Medication- These may give temporary help with memory, motivation, concentration, and daily living. Counselling- Cognitive rehabilitation can enable an individual to retain skills and cope better. Cognitive stimulation therapy is a popular way to help keep someone’s mind active. f. ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (also known as just Alzheimer’s or AD) (Morgan Pg. 211-212) It is A progressive, degenerative and ultimately fatal brain disease, in which cell to cell connections in the brain are lost. It is the most common form of dementia and is generally (though not exclusively) diagnosed in patients over the age of about 65. The disease was first identified by Alois Alzheimer as early as 1906, although up until the 1960s it was usually referred to as “senile dementia" and considered a normal part of ageing. Scientific interest in Alzheimer's was only re-awakened in the 1960s and 1970s as the consequences of an aging society began to be examined, and it was during the 1980s that research first focused on the toxic proteins amyloid in plaques and tau in tangles. AD is a neurological disorder in which the death of brain cells causes memory loss and cognitive decline. A neurodegenerative type of dementia, the disease starts mild and gets progressively worse. The causes of late-onset Alzheimer’s, the most common form of the disease, probably include a combination of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Symptoms: Repeat statements and questions over and over, not realizing that they've asked the question before Forget conversations, appointments or events, and not remember them later Routinely misplace possessions, often putting them in illogical locations Get lost in familiar places Eventually forget the names of family members and everyday objects Have trouble finding the right words to identify objects, express thoughts or take part in conversations Difficulty concentrating and thinking, especially about abstract concepts like numbers. Causes: Scientists have found amyloid plaques (abnormal deposits of protein), and imbalances in a chemical called acetylcholine. Age is the single most significant factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease. The likelihood of developing the condition doubles every five years after you reach 65 years of age. Genetic causes also increase the chances of the disease. Gender: Women are nearly twice as likely as men to suffer from Alzheimer's (this is due to the increased life expectancy of women, not due to gender). Treatment: Medication 11  As with other types of dementia and neurodegenerative disease, a major part of therapy for patients with Alzheimer's comes from the support given by healthcare workers to provide quality-of-life care, which becomes more important as needs increase with declining independence. IMPROVING YOUR MEMORY: 1. Attention: Attention is the concentration of consciousness upon one subject rather than upon another. If one desires to be successful in the performance of a task, one has to begin with paying attention or concentrating his energies to the operation of that task. Giving close attention to the material to be learned improves memory for that material. Understanding leads to little forgetting, and more storage, more long-term memory. Unless you consciously notice information you want to remember, it stands little chance of really getting “in” to the long-term memory. So paying attention does involve a lot of work but helps in the long run. 2. Mnemonics: Mnemonics Comes from the Greek word for Memory. A mnemonic device, or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention in the human memory. Mnemonic devices are ways or tools that we can use to organize large amounts of information in the brain to improve recall. Most Mnemonic techniques rely on linking or association of to-be-remembered material with a systematic and organized set of images or words that are already firmly established in long term-memory and can therefore serve as reminder cues. E.g. VIBGYOR. An acronym is a word formed from the first letters or groups of letters in a name or phrase. An acronym is a single word in which the letters stand for something else. E.g. VIBGYOR- stands for the seven colours of the rainbow, and BDI stands for Beck’s Depression Inventory. i. The Acrostic Method is used to remember a word or procedure by creating a sentence from the first letter of each word/ item. E.g. in music: The notes of the treble staff are EGBDF. The common acronym used for this is Every Good Boy Does Fine or Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. The notes on the bass staff are ACEG, which commonly translates into the acrostic All Cows Eat Grass. ii. Chunking: Chunking is simply a way of breaking down larger pieces of information into smaller, organized “chunks” of more easily managed information. Chunking is a systematic way of encoding information. For remembering digit numbers, you can chunk them into groups of 5. 3. Imagery: It is to relate a particular image with a particular word. Visual imagery is a great way to help memorize items for some people. A picture is worth a thousand words. It is easier to remember information associated with vivid mental images. For instance, it’s often used to memorize pairs of words (green grass, yellow sun, blue water, etc). The Method of Loci: The word Loci means “places”. The memory pegs in this system are parts of your image of a scene. The scene can be a street, a building with rooms, the layout of a college campus, a kitchen, or just about anything that can be visualized clearly and contains several discrete items in a specific location to serve as memory pegs. E.g. For instance, suppose you want to remember the points in a speech you will soon make. You can imagine walking through some familiar place, say your home. Then form a series of images in which each item you wish to remember is placed in a specific location. Then, by taking an imagery walk through your house, you can “see” each of these images and so remember the points in your speech. Peg systems: The idea behind the peg systems have been traced to the mid-1600s, when it was developed by Henry Herdson, who linked a digit with any one of several objects that resembled the number (for example, "1 candle"). The system gets its name from the fact that the peg words act as mental "pegs" on which you can hang the information that you need to remember. A method in which an organized set of images to which the to-be-remembered items can be linked. E.g. one is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree, four is a door, and son. Now when you have a list to remember, you can associate the items on the list with your images of the numbers. 12 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING: 1. Readiness: Since learning is an active process, students must have adequate rest, health, and physical ability. basics of students must be satisfied before they are ready or capable of learning. Students who are exhausted or in ill health cannot learn much. If they are distracted by outside responsibilities, interests, or worries, have overcrowded schedules, or other unresolved issues, students may have little interest in learning. 2. Exercise: Every time practice occurs, learning continues. These include student recall, review and summary, and manual drill and physical applications. All of these serve to create learning habits. The instructor must repeat important items of subject matter at reasonable intervals, and provide opportunities for students to practice while making sure that this process is directed toward a goal. But in some or many cases, there is no need for regular practice if the skill is acquired once. For instance, if we have learned cycling once, we will not forget the knowledge or skill even if we aren't exercising it for a long time. 3. Effect: However, every learning experience should contain elements that leave the student with some good feelings. A student's chance of success is increased if the learning experience is a pleasant one. 4. Primacy: Primacy, the instructor must present subject matter in a logical order, step by step, making sure the students have already learned the preceding step. If the task is learned in isolation, if it is not initially applied to the overall performance, or if it must be relearned, the process can be confusing and time-consuming. Preparing and following a lesson plan facilitates the delivery of the subject matter correctly the very first time. 5. Recency: The principle of recency states that things most recently learned are best remembered. Conversely, the further a student is removed time-wise from a new fact or understanding, the more difficult it is to remember. 6. Intensity: The more intense the material taught, the more likely it will be retained. A sharp, clear, vivid, dramatic, or exciting learning experience teaches more than a routine or boring experience. The principle of intensity implies that a student will learn more from the real thing than from a substitute. Examples, analogies, and personal experiences also make learning come to life. Instructors should make full use of the senses (hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell, balance, rhythm, depth perception, and others). 7. Freedom: Since learning is an active process, students must have freedom: freedom of choice, freedom of action, freedom to bear the results of action—these are the three great freedoms that constitute personal responsibility. If no freedom is granted, students may have little interest in learning. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Morgan. C.T., R. A. King, J.R. Weisz, J. Schopler; Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Mc Graw Hill Education (India) Pvt. Ltd. (1993) 2. R.A. Baron, G. Misra, Psychology Indian Subcontinent, 5th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc. (2002) 3. http://www.human-memory.net/disorders_amnesia.html 4. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9673.php HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CHAPTER 1. You are required to refer to your three textbooks (Morgan and King, Baron and Mangal) while preparing for this chapter, to gain a deeper understanding and prepare for your examination. 2. These notes are guidelines and are by no means ‘ideal answers’. You must supplement your answers with relevant examples wherever required as per the marks allotted in the question paper. 13 QUESTIONS 1. Define Memory. 2. What are the stages of memory? 3. What are the systems of memory? 4. Briefly explain the terms Semantic Memory and Episodic Memory. 5. Describe the Atkinson and Shiffrin Model for processing memory. 6. Explain Neural network Models of memory. 7. Explain any five ways by which memory can be improved. 8. What are the different theories of Forgetting? 9. Write short notes on- ▪ Dementia ▪ Alzheimer's Disease ▪ Working Memory *************************************************************************************** 14