1. Chapter 7: Human Memory

2. Figure 7.2 Three key processes in memory

3. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Process of Remembering Encoding –Transforming information into a form that can be stored in memory Storage –The process of keeping or maintaining information in memory Retrieval –Bringing to mind information that has been stored in memory

4. Encoding: Getting Information Into Memory The role of attention Focusing awareness Divided attention

5. Encoding: Getting Information into Memory The role of attention Levels of processing –Incoming information processed at different levels –Deeper processing = longer lasting memory codes –Encoding levels: Structural = shallow Phonemic = intermediate Semantic = deep

6. Figure 7.3 Levels-of-processing theory

7. Enriching Encoding Elaboration = linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding –Thinking of examples Visual Imagery = creation of visual images to represent words to be remembered –Easier for concrete objects: Dual-coding theory

8. Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory Analogy: information storage in computers ~ information storage in human memory Information-processing theories –Subdivide memory into three different stores Sensory, Short-term, Long-term

9. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Three Memory Systems

10. Sensory Memory Brief preservation of information in original sensory form Auditory/Visual – approximately ¼ second

11. Sensory Memory LO 6.2 What are the characteristics of sensory memory? SENSORY MEMORY SENSORY MEMORY Temporary storage for sensory information Capacity: Large Duration: Visual: fraction of a second Auditory: 2 seconds

12. Short-term or Working Memory Working or Short-term Memory Sensory Input Sensory Memory Attention

13. Short-term Memory Function—conscious processing of information –where information is actively worked on Capacity—limited (holds 7 +/- 2 items) Duration—brief storage (about 30 seconds) Working or Short-term Memory Sensory Input Sensory Memory Attention

14. Short Term Memory (STM) Limited duration – about 20 seconds without rehearsal –Rehearsal – the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information Limited capacity – magical number 7 plus or minus 2 –Chunking – grouping familiar stimuli for storage as a single unit

15. Chunking Grouping small bits of information into larger units of information –expands working memory load Which is easier to remember? – 4 8 3 7 9 2 5 1 6

16. Long-term Memory Once information passes from sensory to working memory, it can be encoded into long-term memory Long-term Memory Working or Short-term Memory Sensory Input Sensory Memory Attention Encoding Retrieval Maintenance Rehearsal

17. Long-Term Memory Encoding—process that controls movement from working to long-term memory store Retrieval—process that controls flow of information from long-term to working memory store Long-term Memory Working or Short-term Memory Sensory Input Sensory Memory Attention Encoding Retrieval Maintenance Rehearsal

19. Types of Long-term Memory Explicit memory—memory with awareness; information can be consciously recollected; also called declarative memory Implicit memory—memory without awareness; memory that affects behavior but cannot consciously be recalled; also called nondeclarative memory

20. Figure 7.17 Theories of independent memory systems

21. Procedural Memory Memory that enables you to perform specific learned skills or habitual responses Examples: –Riding a bike –Using the stickshift while driving –Tying your shoe laces Q: Why are these procedural memories implicit? A: You don’t have to consciously remember the steps involved in these actions to perform them –Try to explain to someone how to tie a shoelace

22. Three Types of Memory Tasks Recall –Producing required information by searching memory –Retrieval cue Any stimulus or bit of information that aids in retrieval Recognition –Identifying material as familiar or as having been encountered before –Only requires that you recognize it, not recall all the information Relearning –Retention expressed as the percentage of time saved when material is relearned

23. Flashbulb Memory The recall of very specific images or details surrounding a vivid, rare, or significant personal event; details may or may not be accurate (e.g., 9/11, wedding day, high school graduation)

24. Encoding Specificity – When conditions of retrieval are similar to conditions of encoding, retrieval is more likely to be successful – You are more likely to remember things if the conditions under which you recall them are similar to the conditions under which you learned them

25. Serial Position Effect For information learned in a sequence, recall is better for the beginning and ending items than for the middle items in the sequence. Primacy effect –Tendency to recall the first items in a sequence more readily than the middle items Recency effect –Tendency to recall the last items in a sequence more readily than those in the middle Poorer recall of information in the middle of a series because it is no longer in short-term memory Serial position effect supports notion of separate systems for short- and long-term memory

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27. Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon – a failure in retrieval –Retrieval cues Reinstating the context –Context cues Reconstructing memories –Misinformation effect Source monitoring

28. Retrieval Failure Encoding Specificity Transfer-Appropriate Processing Repression –Authenticity of repressed memories? –Memory illusions –Controversy

29. Memory Construction and Distortion Memories are not passive, complete records like photographs or video recordings; they are constructed and reconstructed. Schemas, which represent our general knowledge and beliefs, can affect memory at both encoding and retrieval, assisting memory but sometimes distorting it.

30. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Reconstruction When people recall an event, such as a car accident, they are actually reconstructing it from memory by piecing together bits of information that may or may not be totally accurate.

31. The Forgetting Curve Hermann Ebbinghaus first began to study forgetting by using nonsense syllables Nonsense syllables are three-letter combinations that look like words but are meaningless (ROH, KUF)

32. Why We Forget Ineffective Encoding Decay Interference –Proactive –Retroactive Retrieval failure Repression –Authenticity of repressed memories? –Memory illusions –Controversy

33. Motivated Forgetting Undesired memory is held back from awareness Suppression—conscious forgetting Repression—unconscious forgetting (Freudian)

34. Figure 7.12 Retroactive and proactive interference

35. Figure 7.11 Effects of interference

36. The Physiology of Memory Anatomy –Anterograde and Retrograde Amnesia Hippocampus Medial temporal lobe memory system Neural circuitry –Localized neural circuits Biochemistry –Hormones modulating neurotransmitter systems –Protein synthesis

37. How does the brain store our memories? Experience modifies the brain’s neural network; increase activity in a particular neural pathway strengthens the interconnections. Long-term potentiation-prolonged strengthening of neural firing. Provides the neural basis for learning and memory.Long-term potentiation

38. Figure 6.11 Brain Structures Involved in Human Memory Shown here are some of the key brain structures involved in encoding and storing memories.

39. Creating New Synaptic Connections Forming new memories involves strengthening existing synaptic connections and creating new synaptic connections between neurons in the brain. Neuroscientist Michael Colicos and his colleagues at the University of California– San Diego (2001) photographed structural changes in a single hippocampus neuron that occurred in response to repeated electrical stimulation. The spidery blue lines in the photo are physical changesin the neuron’s structure that represent the first steps toward the formation of new synaptic connections with other neurons.

40. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved The posterior (rear) hippocampus of an experienced London taxi driver, shown in red in the MRI scan on the left, is significantly larger than the posterior hippocampus of a research participant who was not a taxi driver, shown in red in the scan on the right.

41. Gradually Losing the Ability to Remember Dementia: Progressive deterioration and impairment of memory, reasoning, and other cognitive functions occurring as the result of a disease or a condition Alzheimer’s disease (AD): A progressive disease that destroys the brain’s neurons, gradually impairing memory, thinking, language, and other cognitive functions, resulting in the complete inability to care for oneself; the most common form of dementia

42. Figure 7.18 Retrospective versus prospective memory

43. Strategies for Boosting Memory Focus attention Commit the time Space study sessions Organize the information Elaborate on the material Use visual imagery Use a mnemonic device Explain it to a friend Reduce interference within a topic Counteract the serial position effect Use contextual clues Sleep on it Forget the ginkgo biloba

44. Improve Your Memory Study repeatedly to boost recall Spend more time rehearsing or actively pondering material Make material personally meaningful Use mnemonic devices –associate with peg words- something already stored –make up story –chunk-acronyms

45. Improve Your Memory Activate retrieval cues- mentally recreate situation and mood Recall events while they are fresh- write down before interference Minimize interference Test your own knowledge –rehearse –determine what you do not yet know