Memory and Forgetting *Memory: “The ability to recall information. It is very closely related to learning. The retention of acquired information. If no previous experience, nothing would be learned.

Classification of memory 1- Immediate memory (sensory memory): The ability to recall perceived objects within seconds after stimulus has been removed. - Example: recalling a telephone number you just looked up in the directory. Examined by telling someone names of three things and ask him to repeat them immediately.

Classification of memory… cont. 2- Short-Term Memory (STM): (recent memory) - storage mechanism involves remembering events experienced in the past few days. - Information in short-term memory must be limited. *Example: remember your breakfast or recalling the address of a friend he had visited yesterday.

Classification of memory… cont. 3- Long Term Memory (LTM):Remote memory - Recall the events in the distant past that has received repeated attention. - Stores information indefinitely, and its capacity is limitless. Example: LTM like my name, age, telephone number … etc.

Two – process theory (Atkinson & Shiffrin theory): STM and LTM interaction. STM rapidly decaying system and LTM has permanent store. *STM: Incoming information, if not attended to, begin to fade away.

- It is possible to maintain selected information in STM by rehearsal. If an item is not rehearsed frequently enough, it will fade away. -Information coming to STM begins to decay rapidly, unless the person regards it as particularly important, in this case, it is entered into the rehearsal buffer.

Information is temporarily stored in STM via rehearsal, it is coded and transferred to LTM, or, it decay in STM. *LTM, or Remote memory: virtually unlimited, so that any information transferred from STM to LTM will have a place for permanent storage.

Why forgetting may occur?   Immediate recall may fail because, subsequent inputs to STM have caused the information to decay. Long term recall may fail because the information was never transferred to LTM or not enough cues are available at the time of recalling information in LTM

** The student who understands the material very well but couldn’t recall it for the exam may: May started the textbook with his mind on other things and never rehearsed the material. Material may be stored in LTM, but the exam questions did not provide sufficient cues.

He may need additional cues e. g * He may need additional cues e.g. narrow the area of search and retrieve some words similar to the target word, this lead to the target word.

Physiological evidence for a two – process theory: - some neurological data from patients who have undergone surgery for the relief of epileptic seizures provides striking evidence for the theory. -If a lesion is made in hippocampus. The pt. appears to be unable to transfer new information from STM to LTM.

They have no trouble remembering past information learned prior to operation, but they have serious difficulty with new learning. *Ex: in one case, several months after the operation, the pts. family moved to a new house, a few blocks away in the same street. A year later, the pt. still could not remember his new address but he recalled the old one perfectly.

Some patients fail recognize names of people they have met following surgery. Some walk to the shop for a newspaper and keep repeating verbally where and why they are going. If they stop rehearsing they quickly forgets. Rehearsal doesn’t produce permanent learning (inability to transfer new information form STM to LTM).

Storage and retrieval circumstances that can affect memory: Over learning the material will increase the storage process. Retrieval can be helped if the material is so organized. (recall of one part will lead to the recall of other). providing retrieval cues at the time of study will facilitate memory.

Memory can be improved by: 1. Mental imagery relates the words to be learned with visual image. (verbally and visually, twice likely to remember it). 2. Organization of material when it is stored in long term memory. 3. Self- recitation during practice increase memory . 4. Mood congruent memory, (ex. Depressed mood remember sad events).

* The nature of forgetting: 1. Decay through disuse: Forgetting takes place simply through the passage of time. With the passage of time, the normal metabolic processes in the brain causes decay of the memory.

*Arguments against decay explanation : *Most motor skills like swimming and driving a car, are not easily forgotten for many years. *Some forgetting may occur through the organic changes (senility- Alzheimer’s)

2. Interference effects: -New learned material may interfere with material previously learned (retroactive inhibition 3. Motivated forgetting: -It gives attention to a person’s motives in remembering and forgetting.