© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Psychology in Action, Fifth Edition by Karen Huffman, Mark Vernoy, and Judith Vernoy PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation Chapter 6: Memory Paul J. Wellman Texas A&M University

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Lecture Overview Three-Stage Model of Memory Forgetting and Memory Biology of Memory Memory Improvement

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Memory Memory is the ability to code, store and retrieve information –Procedural: how to ride a bike –Factual: definition of “learning” Memory involves coding the input of the senses (visual, auditory) Memory is rarely perfect –Forgetting refers to memory failure

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Three Stage Memory Model Rehearsal

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Three Stages of Memory Sensory Memory is a brief representation of a stimulus while being processed in the sensory system Short-Term Memory (STM) is working memory –Limited capacity (7 items) –Duration is about 30 seconds Long-Term Memory (LTM) is large capacity and long duration

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e STM Forgetting Rate Without rehearsal to maintain memory, information is quickly lost from STM From Postman, L., & Phillips, L.W. / Short term temporal changes in free recall. / Experimental Psychology Society / 1965 Reprinted with permission of the Experimental Psychology Society

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Long-Term Memory Information transferred from STM to LTM is coded into categories and stored in terms of meaning –REM sleep may play a key role in categorizing new items in LTM –Memories retrieved from LTM are not an exact replica of the original event –Memories are reconstructed and can be altered during the retrieval process

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Varieties of LTM Psychologists distinguish two types of LTM –Semantic memory refers to factual information (What is the capital of Georgia?) –Episodic memory refers to autobiographical information as to where and when an event happened “I remember visiting the capital of of Georgia”

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Organization of LTM From Collins, A.M., & Quillian, M.R. / Retrieval time from semantic memory / Academic Press / 1969 / From A.M. Collins and M.R. Quillian, Retrieval time from semantic memory, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior Copyright © 1969 by Academic Press, reprinted by permission of Academic Press and the author.

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e LTM Organization Items in LTM are organized in categories that form a hierarchy with multiple paths (direct and indirect) to each item –Sometimes the cues required to recall an item are not sufficient Tip-of the tongue phenomenon: person can’t easily recall the item, but shows some recall for its characteristics (…it begins with the letter ….)

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Memory Measures  Recognition is when a specific cue (face or name) is matched against LTM  Recall is when a general cue is used to search memory –E.g. define the term “statistical significance”  Relearning refers to a situation in which a person learns material a second time. Memory is evident in savings of time to relearn the second time versus the first

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Flashbulb Memories Where were you when you first heard of the death of Princess Diana? Meadows/5929/index2a.html

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Forgetting Forgetting refers to the inability to recall previously learned information –Forgetting can be rapid as evident in Ebbinghaus’ experiment

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Serial Position Curve Recall immediately after learning Recall several hours after learning LTMSTM LTM From Murdoch, B.B., Jr. / The serial effect of free recall / American Psychological Association / 1962 / Murdoch, B.B., Jr. (1962) The serial effect of free recall, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(5), , figure 1, page 483.

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Study Strategies Distributed practice refers to spacing learning periods in contrast to massed practice in which learning is “crammed” into a single session Distributed practice leads to better retention From Peterson, L.R., & Peterson, M..J. / Short-term retention of of individual verbal items / American Psychological Association / 1959 / Peterson, L.R., & Peterson, M..J. (1959) Short-term retention of of individual verbal items, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 8(3), Copyright © 1959 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted/Adapted by permission of the author.

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Theories of Forgetting  Interference theory argues that information competes for retrieval –Proactive interference: old information interferes with recall of new information –Retroactive interference: new information interferes with recall of old information  Decay theory: memory fades with time  Motivated forgetting:loss of painful memories  Forgetting as retrieval failure

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Amnesia Amnesia is forgetting produced by brain injury or by trauma –Retrograde amnesia refers to problems with recall of information prior to a trauma –Anterograde amnesia refers to problems with recall of information after a trauma Point of Trauma Retrograde amnesia Anterograde amnesia

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Patient H.M. Patient H.M. suffered from chronic brain seizures –In the 1950’s, surgeons removed portions of his hippocampus in order to reduce the seizures –Patient H.M. shows chronic anterograde amnesia He has normal STM He has normal recall for material learned prior to the surgery Patient H.M. has learned very little since the surgery

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Memory Strategies Mnemonic devices are strategies to improve memory by organizing information –Method of Loci: ideas are associated with a place or part of a building –Peg-Word system: peg words are associated with ideas (e.g. “one is a bun”) –Word Associations: verbal associations are created for items to be learned

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Copyright Copyright 2000 by John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner.