1. Chapter 5: Memory: Models and Research Methods

2. Some Questions of Interest
What are some of the tasks used for studying memory?
What is the traditional model of memory? What are some of the alternative models?
What have psychologists learned by studying both exceptional memory and the physiology of the brain?

3. But first, a test!
Let’s generate some words…

4. Processes in Memory Encoding Storage Retrieval
Types of encoding is covered in detail in Ch 6

5. Which type of test would you rather have?
An essay or a multiple-choice exam?
Most students prefer a multiple-choice exam. Ask them why. Typically, they say it is easier to recognize the correct answer. You then can lead the discussion to the difference between recall and recognition tests.

6. Demonstration
The 7 Dwarfs

7. Methods Used to Study Memory
Recall
Serial recall
Free recall
Cued recall
Recognition
= these are explicit memory tasks

8. Implicit memory
Remember priming?
Procedural memory, too

9. Implicit Memory Tasks Participants are exposed to a word list Tiger
Lion
Zebra
Panda
Leopard
Elephant
After a delay…
Participants then complete word puzzles; they are not aware this is a type of memory test
Word fragment completion:
C_E_TA_
E_E_ _A_ N_
_ E _ R A
Word stem completion:
Mon _____
Pan_____
No connection is made to the previously studied list. Participants are simply asked to make a word out of the word fragment.
Some of the answers will be words the participant has seen before. Some of the fragments will be words they have not seen. Fragment completion rates of the previously seen words are then compared to completion rates of unseen words. The difference between the scores indicates memory.
Answers to word fragment completion: cheetah, elephant, zebra; word stem completion answers: monkey, panda.

10. Procedural Memory Knowing how to do something Ride a bike Skateboard
Ski

11. Methods to Assess Procedural Memory
Rotary-pursuit task
Keep stylus on a dot on a rotating disk
Mirror-tracing task
Watch mirror image to trace a figure

12. Models of Memory Represent ways that memory has been conceptualized
Atkinson & Shiffrin’s three-stage model
Craik & Lockhart’s level of processing model
Baddeley’s working memory model
Tulving’s multiple memory systems model
McClelland & Rumelhart’s connectionist model

13. Traditional Model of Memory
Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) three-stage model
Transfer from STM to LTM covered in detail in ch 6

14. Sperling Sensory Memory Demonstration: CogLab Partial Report
A matrix of 12 letters and numbers briefly flash on the next few slides
As soon as you see the information, write down everything you can remember in its proper location
The following demonstration was created by Thomas P. Pusateri (2004) for Thomson/Wadsworth.

15. Sperling’s Results

16. Averbach & Coriell (1961) Iconic Memory Research
N M L C W D P Q
A X I N Y K J U
- Showed matrix for 50 msec
- Placed a small mark above a letter at different delays
Found that as many as 12 letters could be stored in
sensory memory
Backward visual masking was also discovered with this technique
Demonstration and discussion of Averbach & Coriell (1961) study. Just click, and the demonstration will begin. See if students can correctly recall the letter F.
Click again to see the full matrix and discuss the experiment.

17. G E U L M F S X W P M B D H J Y Second Demonstration
- Showed matrix for 50 msec
- Placed a small mark above a letter at different delays
Found that as many as 12 letters could be stored in
sensory memory
Backward visual masking was also discovered with this technique
Demonstration and discussion of Averbach & Coriell (1961) study. Just click, and the demonstration will begin. See if students can correctly recall the letter F.
Click again to see the full matrix and discuss the experiment.

18. Sensory Stores Iconic store or visual sensory register
Holds visual information for 250 msec longer
Information held is pre-categorical
Capacity: up to 12 items
Information fades quickly
Econ or auditory sensory register
Holds auditory information for 2-3 seconds longer to enable processing

19. Short-Term Memory Attention Rehearsal Retrieval Rehearsal
Attend to information in the sensory store, it moves to STM
Rehearsal
Repeat the information to keep maintained in STM
Retrieval
Access memory in LTM and place in STM
Short-Term
Memory (STM)
Transfer from STM to LTM and mnemonic techniques covered in detail in ch 6
Attention
Storage & Retrieval

20. Demonstration: STM span
Use the “MSUM” demo; serial position curve in ch 6 and mnemonics there also

21. Research on Short-Term Memory
Miller (1956)
Examined memory capacity
7+/- 2 items or “chunks”
Chunking: organize input into larger units
Exceeds capacity
Reorganize by chunking
Student using a chunking strategy can use LTM of important dates to remember a longer string of numbers.
College graduation
Birth year
HS graduation

22. Long-Term Memory Capacity Duration Thus far limitless
Potentially permanent
Long-Term
Memory (LTM)
Retrieval from LTM covered in detail in ch 6; forgetting and decay in ch 6

23. Bahrick’s Research on Very Long-Term Memory
High school yearbooks containing student names and photos
392 high school graduates (17-74) took four different memory tests
For some of the participants, it was as long as 48 years since they graduated
Free recall of the names
Photo recognition test, where they were asked to identify former classmates
Name recognition test
Name and photo matching test
Bahrick, H. P., Bahrick, P.O., & Wittlinger, R. P. (1975). Fifty years of memory for names and faces: A cross-sectional approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 104(1),

24. Bahrick et al. (1975) Results
90% accuracy in face and name recognition after 34 years
80% accuracy for name recognition after 48 years
40% accuracy for face recognition after 48 years
60% accuracy for free recall after 15 years
30% accuracy for free recall after 30 years
Note how the recognition results differ from the free recall results.

25. Levels of Processing Model of Memory
Craik & Lockhart (1972)
Deep processing leads to better memory
Elaborating according to meaning leads to a strong memory
Shallow processing emphasizes the physical features of the stimulus
The memory trace is fragile and quickly decays
Distinguished between maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal
Craik, F.I.M., & Lockhart, R.S. (1972). Levels of processing. A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 11,

26. Support for Levels of Processing
Craik & Tulving (1975)
Participants studied a list in three different ways
Structural: Is the word in capital letters?
Phonemic: Does the word rhyme with dog?
Semantic: Does the word fit in this sentence? “The ______ is delicious.”
A recognition test was given to see which type of processing led to the best memory

27. Craik & Tulving (1975) Results

28. cogLab: levels of processing

29. Self-Reference Effect
Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker (1977)
Encoding with respect to oneself increases memory
Capital Rhymes Means the Describes
letters? with? same as? you?
I. Self-reference effect
Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker (1977)
Used a design like Craik and Tulving’s LOP experiment with adjectives and an additional question that asked participants “Does this word describe you?”
Self-reference questions produced the best recall, about twice as high as semantic processing (meaning of word)
Also didn’t matter whether people felt that the word did or did not describe them.
They explained the advantages of self-reference during encoding as a function of the more elaborative processes individuals used to relate target information to their own self, making self-referential information more salient in memory.

30. Baddeleys’ Working Memory Model
Baddeley’s model of working memory contains several elements: A central executive, auditory working memory, visuo-spatial working memory, and an episodic Buffer.
Material can also enter conscious workspace from long-term memory.

31. Working Memory Model Phonological Loop Visuo-spatial sketch pad
Used for acoustic rehearsal
Visuo-spatial sketch pad
Used for visuo-spatial information
Episodic buffer
Used for storage of a multimodal code, holding an integrated episode between systems using different codes
Central executive
Focuses attention
Plans sequence of tasks, switches attention between different parts

32. Working Memory Model Support
Baddeley (1986)
Participants studied two different list types
1 syllable: wit, sum, harm, bay, top
5 syllables: university, opportunity, aluminum, constitutional, auditorium
Reading rate seemed to determine recall performance
Supports conceptualization of an articulatory loop

33. Working Memory Model Support
Visuo-spatial sketch pad
Dual-task paradigm
Sketchpad can be disrupted by requiring participants to repeatedly tap a specified pattern of keys or locations while using imagery at the same time

34. Neuroscience and Working Memory

35. Tulving’s Multiple-Memory Systems Model
Semantic memory
General knowledge
Facts, definitions, historical dates
Episodic memory
Event memories (first kiss, 6th birthday)

36. Multiple-Memory Systems Model Support
Nyberg, Cabeza, & Tulving (1996)
Asked people to engage in semantic or episodic memory tasks while being monitored by PET  
Results 
Left (hemisphere) frontal lobe differentially active in encoding (both) and in semantic memory retrieval
Right (hemisphere) frontal lobe differentially active in retrieval of episodic memory
Nyberg, L., Cabeza, R., & Tulving, E. (1996). PET studies of encoding and retrieval: The HERA model. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3,

37. Connectionist Perspective
Parallel distributed processing model
Memory uses a network
Meaning comes from patterns of activation across the entire network
Spreading activation network model
Supported by priming effects

38. Exceptional Memory Case studies of mnemonists
Studies of skilled memory

39. Memory Movies
Take any character from a movie who has a memory deficit, and, using terms from the chapters, explain what the memory problem is and why it occurs
Johnny Mnemonic; 50 First Dates; Memento; Total Recall; Bourne Identity; Dark City; Manchurian Candidate; Overboard; The Changeling; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; The Majestic: Mulholland Drive; The Notebook; Paycheck; Sommersby; The Vow

40. Case Studies S. (Luria, 1968) Rajan Mahadevan Long strings of words
Remembered over years
Rajan Mahadevan
Can recite pi to 31,811 places
No forgetting on matrices up to 20 x 20 digits
The brain modules: mnemonist; clive wearing also
Extraordinary autobiographial memory case study is in chapter 6

41. Deficient Memory Amnesias Retrograde amnesia Infantile amnesia
Loss of memory for events that occurred before the trauma
Infantile amnesia
Inability to recall events of young childhood
Anterograde amnesia
No memory for events that occur after the trauma
Do clive wearing here; also H.M.

42. Amnesia Studies
Amnesiacs show normal priming (implicit), but poor recognition memory (explicit)
They did not remember having seen the word list, but completed the word fragments at the same rate as normals

43. Hippocampus and Memory
Critical for integration and consolidation
Essential for declarative memory
Without the hippocampus, only the learning of skills and habits, simple conditioning, and the phenomenon of priming can occur

44. Alzheimer’s Disease Symptoms (gradual, continuous, and irreversible)
Memory loss
Problems doing familiar tasks
Problems with language
Trouble knowing the time, date, or place
Poor or decreased judgment
Problems with abstract thinking
Misplacing things often, such as keys
Changes in mood, behavior, and personality
These symptoms could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s when it affects daily life

45. Alzheimer’s Disease and the Brain
Atrophy of the cortical tissue
Alzheimer’s brains shows abnormal fibers that appear to be tangles of brain tissue and senile plaques (patches of degenerative nerve endings)
The resulting damage of these conditions may lead to disruption of impulses in neurons