Memory - Psychology Notes PDF

Unit 6: MEMORY Memory: Our cognitive system for storing and retrieving information. If we did not possess memory, we would be unable to remember the past, retain new information, solve problems, or plan for the future. Memory has been the focus of some of the earliest research in psychology, inclu...

Unit 6: MEMORY Memory: Our cognitive system for storing and retrieving information. If we did not possess memory, we would be unable to remember the past, retain new information, solve problems, or plan for the future. Memory has been the focus of some of the earliest research in psychology, including studies conducted by Hermann Ebbinghaus in the late nineteenth century (1885). Using himself as a subject, Ebbinghaus memorized and recalled hundreds of nonsense syllables. Some of his findings about the nature of memory and forgetting have stood the test of time and remain valid even today. Key Processes of Memory: 1. Encoding: The process through which information is converted into a form that can be entered into memory. 2. Storage: The process through which information is maintained in memory. 3. Retrieval: The process through which information stored in memory is located and accessed. Sensory Memory: A memory system that retains a brief representation of sensory input for brief periods of time. If you've ever watched someone wave a flashlight in a dark room and perceived trails of light behind it, you are familiar with the phenomenon of sensory memory. A second type of memory is known as short-term memory. Short-term memory holds relatively small amounts of information for brief periods of time, usually thirty seconds or less. This is the memory system you use when you look up a phone number and dial it. For instance, iconic memory seems to last less than a second, and echoic memory typically fades within 2-3 seconds. Example: o 4 letters of 3 rows: ABCD EFGH MNOP Long-term Memory Long-term memory is a memory system for the retention of large amounts of information over long periods of time. Long-term memory allows us to retain vast amounts of information for very long periods 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. Serial Position Curve The serial position curve shows the greater accuracy of recall of words or other information early and late in a list compared to information in the middle of the list. Example: cat, bat, mat, pant, hat, dog. This phenomenon is supported by many studies and highlights the existence of two memory systems: 1. Short-term memory: Holds information for a few seconds. 2. Long-term memory: Stores information for longer periods. Words at the end of the list are remembered very well because they are still present in working memory when you are asked to recall them. This is called the recency effect. Words at the start of the list are remembered well because they have already been encoded into long-term memory (latency effect.) Priming Effect The priming effect occurs when an individual's exposure to a certain stimulus subconsciously influences their response to a subsequent stimulus. These stimuli are often related to words or images encountered in daily life. Example: The word "nurse" is recognized more quickly following the word "doctor" than following the word "bread." Iconic Memory Iconic memory involves the memory of visual stimuli. The image you see in your mind is your iconic memory, which is a part of the visual memory system. This system includes short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). Example Look at an object in the room you are in now and then close your eyes and visualize that object. Echoic Memory This memory deals with auditory information for 1-2 seconds. Example: Listening to the lecture, listening to the radio. Free Recall  Free recall is a classic paradigm in the psychological study of memory. In this, participants study a list of items on each trial and are then prompted to recall the items in any order. The recall period typically lasts a few minutes and can involve spoken or written recall. Example: What did you do today? Cued Recall Cued recall is the retrieval of memory with the help of cues that are systematic. In cued recall, a word is presented as related to the other information being remembered. Example: Set of fruits, set of vegetables, set of animals, set of people. Atkinson & Shiffrin Model Sensory Memory Temporary storage of sensory information. Capacity: High Duration: Less than 1 second (vision) or a few seconds (hearing). Attention Information that passes through an attentional gate is transferred to short-term memory. Short-term memory Brief storage of information currently being used. Capacity: Limited Duration: Less than twenty seconds. Elaborative rehearsal Information subjected to elaborative rehearsal or deep processing (e.g., consideration of its meaning) is transferred to long-term memory (LTM). Long-term memory Relatively permanent storage. Capacity: Unlimited Duration: Long or permanent. In sum, the Atkinson & 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. In turn, to the modern view of memory—one that pulls together advances in memory research and in our understanding of how consciousness (including memory) emerges from the functioning of the brain. Memory for different kinds/types of information (Under LTM) These store many kinds of information in memory: factual information about the world around us, information that permits us to perform many kinds of skilled actions. Memory for factual information: Memory for factual information that we acquired at a specific time. Memory for such information is sometimes termed explicit or declarative memory, because we can bring it into consciousness and report it verbally. It consists of two major types: episodic memory and semantic memory. Episodic memory: Episodic memory holds information we acquired at a specific time and place. It is the kind of memory that allows you to go back in time and resembles 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, etc., so on, or later were tested for memory for this information. Semantic memory: A memory system that stores general abstract knowledge about the world— information we cannot remember acquiring at a specific time or place. o 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 of 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. Memory of a general nature that we don’t remember acquiring at a specific time or in a specific place. Because each of us already possesses a very large amount of information in semantic memory, psychologists have focused primarily on how such information is organized, rather than on how it is retrieved or memory in the first place. For instance, the words bicycle, airplane, automobile, and elevator are included in the concept for vehicles or means of transportation. The words shoe, shirts, jeans & jackets are included in the concept clothing. Memory system that retains information we cannot readily express verbally: For example, information necessary to perform skilled motor activities such as riding a bicycle. Also called implicit memory. o We often know how to perform some action but can’t describe this knowledge to others (e.g., can Mark McGwire tell me how he hits so many home runs?) and what we can’t put into words is, in one sense, implicit.  Parallel distributed processing theory (PDP): A type of computing where multiple processors work together to complete a task. PDP systems are often used for tasks that can be divided into smaller parts, such as image processing or weather forecasting. The Decay Theory: The decay theory is a theory that proposes that memory fades due to the mere passage of time. Information is therefore less available for later retrieval as time passes, memory as well as memory strength, wears away. When an individual learns something new, a neurochemical "memory trace" is created. Forgetting: Typically when it fails—when we are unable to remember information that we need at a particular moment. Often, memory seems to let us down just when we need it most—for instance, during an exam! Why does this occur? o The earliest view of forgetting was the information entered into long-term memory fades or decays with the passage of time. While this seems to fit with our subjective experiences, 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! Forgetting as a result of interference: o Retroactive interference: Interference with retention of information already present in memory by new information being entered into memory. If learning how to operate a new computer program causes you to forget how to operate one you learned previously, an example of retroactive interference. o Proactive Interference: Interference with the learning or storage of current information by information previously entered into memory. E.g., suppose you learned how to operate one VCR, and you buy a new one, which requires different steps for recording a television program. If you now make mistakes by trying to operate the new VCR in the same way as you did the old one, this constitutes proactive interference. Reasons for Forgetting What is amnesia? Amnesia is when you have serious memory loss. It can be a symptom of other conditions or happen by itself. Amnesia comes from a Greek word meaning "forgetfulness." But it’s more than that. Forgetfulness is misplacing your keys or not remembering to do something while running errands. Amnesia involves being unable to remember significant events or details from your life. Anterograde Amnesia: A person cannot remember new information but can remember events from before the  onset of amnesia. E.g., Anterograde amnesia affects the ability to create new memories. Symptoms involve not being able to remember new information. For example, someone with anterograde amnesia may forget things like the last meal they had or a new piece of information they learnt. Retrograde Amnesia: A person can remember new information but cannot remember events from before the onset of amnesia. E.g., this would be a person forgetting the events or the days leading up to a serious accident, which caused memory loss. Dissociative Amnesia: A person may forget specific events or time periods. Dementia: Dementia is a term used to describe a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking, and social abilities. In people who have dementia, the symptoms interfere with their daily lives. Dementia isn't one specific disease. Several diseases can cause dementia. Dementia generally involves memory loss. It is often one of the early symptoms of the condition. But having memory loss alone doesn't mean you have dementia. Memory loss can have different causes. Korsakoff Syndrome: An illness caused by long-term abuse of alcohol. It often involves profound retrograde amnesia. Alzheimer's Disease: An illness primarily afflicting individuals over the age of sixty-five and involving severe mental deterioration, including severe amnesia. Amnesia as a result of Korsakoff Syndrome The many symptoms of Korsakoff Syndrome include sensory and motor problems as well as heart, liver, and gastrointestinal disorders. In addition, the syndrome is often accompanied by both anterograde amnesia and severe retrograde amnesia. Patients cannot remember events that took place many years before the onset of their illness. Careful medical examinations of persons' brains after their death indicate that they have experienced extensive damage to portions of the thalamus and hypothalamus. This suggests that these portions of the brain play a key role in long-term memory. The Amnesia of Alzheimer's Disease This illness occurs in 5 percent of all people over age sixty-five. It begins with mild problems, such as increased difficulty remembering names, phone numbers, or appointments. Gradually, though, patients’ condition worsens until they become totally confused and are unable to perform even simple tasks like dressing or grooming themselves and experience an almost total loss of memory. In the later stages, patients may fail to recognize their spouse or children. In short,  people suffering from Alzheimer's Disease suffer a wide range of memory impairments. E.g., Alzheimer's Disease is the most common cause of dementia in older adults, but there are other causes of dementia. When these memory traces are not used for a long time, they simply fade away and become unavailable. This theory has been proved inadequate on several grounds. Forgetting takes place because memory causes decay due to disuse, then people who go to sleep after memorizing should forget more compared to those who remain awake simply because there is no way in which memory traces can be put to use during sleep. Results, however, show just the opposite. Forgetting due to Retrieval Failure Forgetting can occur not only because the memory traces have decayed over time (as suggested by the disuse theory) but because independent sets of stored associations compete at the time of recall (as suggested by the inference theory). Forgetting also occurs because, at the time of recall, either the retrieval cues are absent or they were inappropriate. Retrieval cues are said to help us in retrieving information stored in memory. This view was advanced by Tulving and his associates, who carried out several experiments to show that contents of memory may become inaccessible either due to absence or inappropriateness of retrieval cues that are available/employed at the time of recall. Motivated Forgetting Sigmund Freud is hinting at the key concept of psychoanalysis – repression. Repression refers to the tendency of people to have difficulty retrieving anxiety- provoking or threatening information and what is associated with that information from long-term memory. Perhaps this helps to explain why people generally remember pleasant events more often than they do unpleasant ones; the unpleasant memories have been repressed. Many lapses of memory in daily life illustrate motivated forgetting. o For example, because I do not like liver, I may forget that my mother asked me to buy some for dinner. I may forget the names of people I do not like. How Memory Can Be Improved Mnemonics Using Image a) The Keyword Method  Suppose you want to learn words of any foreign language in the keyword method. An English word (the assumption here is that you know English) that sounds similar to the word of the foreign language is identified. This English word will function as the keyword. o For example, if you want to remember the Spanish word for duck, which is "Pato," you may choose "Pot" as the keyword and then evoke images of the keyword and the target word (the Spanish word you want to remember) and imagine them as interacting. b) The Method of Loci: In order to use the method of loci, items you want to remember are placed as objects arranged in a physical space in the form of visual images. This method is particularly helpful in remembering items in a serial order. It requires that you first visualize objects/places that you know well in a specific sequence. Imagine the objects you want to remember and associate them one by one to the physical locations. For example, suppose you want to remember bread, eggs, tomatoes, and soap on your way to the market. You may visualize a loaf of bread and eggs placed in your kitchen, tomatoes kept on the table, and soap in the bathroom. When you enter the market, all you need to do is to take a mental walk along the route from your kitchen to the bathroom, recalling all the items of your shopping list in sequence. Mnemonics Using Organisation a) Chunking: While describing the features of short-term memory, the note shows how chunking can increase the capacity of short-term memory. In chunking, several smaller units are combined to form larger chunks. Creating chunks is important to discover some organization principles, which can link smaller units. Therefore, apart from being a control mechanism to increase the capacity of short-term memory, chunking can also be used to improve memory as well. b) First Letter Technique: In order to employ the first letter technique, you need to pick up the first letter of each word you want to remember and arrange them to form another word or sentence. For example, colors of a rainbow were remembered in this way: VIBGYOR, which stands for Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red. c) Minimize Interference: Interference, as we have read, is a major cause of forgetting. Therefore, you should try to avoid it as much as possible. Maximum interference occurs when very similar materials are learned in sequence.