As you might have guessed, the next topic we are going to examine is……. Memory The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information. So what was the point of the seven dwarves exercise?

Stages of Memory Sequential Process Keyboard Disk Monitor (Encoding) (Storage) Monitor (Retrieval) Sequential Process

Retrieval Cues Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations are like anchors that help retrieve memory. water smell hose Fire Truck fire OBJECTIVE 15| Explain how retrieval cues help us access stored memories, and describe the process of priming. smoke truck heat red

Priming (William James) To retrieve a specific memory from the web of associations, you must first activate one of the strands that leads to it. This process is called priming.

Context Effects Scuba divers recall more words underwater if they learned the list underwater, while they recall more words on land if they learned that list on land (Godden & Baddeley, 1975). Fred McConnaughey/ Photo Researchers

Context Effects After learning to move a mobile by kicking, infants most strongly respond when retested in the same context rather than in a different context (Butler & Rovee-Collier, 1989). OBJECTIVE 16| Cite some ways that context can affect retrieval.

Déja Vu Déja Vu means “I've experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience. © The New Yorker Collection, 1990. Leo Cullum from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved

Types of Memory Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Encoding Retrieval Long-Term Memory

Sensory Memory The immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system. Echoic – sensory memory for sound (last 1-2 s.) Iconic – sensory memory for vision (lasts a fraction of a second) Stored just for an instant, and most gets unprocessed.

Short-Term Memory Memory that holds a few items briefly. Seven digits (plus of minus two). The info will be stored into long-term or forgotten. How do you store things from short-term to long-term? You must repeat things over and over to put them into your long-term memory. Rehearsal

Long Term Memory Unlimited storehouse of information. Explicit (declarative) memories Implicit (non-declarative) memories

Explicit Memories (aka, declarative memories) Episodic Memories Semantic Memories Formed by the hippocampus; stored in the cerebral cortex.

Implicit Memories Procedural Memories Conditioned Memories Formed by the cerebellum; stored in the cerebral cortex.

To summarize….

Bloom, Nelson, and Lazerson, Brain, Mind, and Behavior Figure 10.06

Getting the information in our heads!!!! Encoding How do you encode the info you read in our text? Getting the information in our heads!!!!

Two ways to encode information Automatic Processing Effortful Processing

Automatic Processing Unconscious encoding of incidental information. Examples: what table you were seated at a restaurant; what you ate for breakfast, where on the page a word was, who you saw on the way to class today. Things can become automatic with practice (when you first learn a new word, every time you hear it, you consciously and effortfully pull up the definition from meaning; after hearing it 50 times, you can understand the word without effort – reading Shakespeare.)

Encoding Automatic Processing unconscious encoding of incidental information space time frequency well-learned information word meanings we can learn automatic processing reading backwards

Effortful Processing Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. Examples: vocabulary for school, dates, names Rehearsal (conscious repetition) is the most common effortful processing technique. It depends on the amount of time spent processing the information. Overlearning (reviewing things you already know) enhances retention. (This is why Dr. Humble will probably never allow senior exam exemptions.)

Effortful Processing Committing novel information to memory requires effort just like learning a concept from a textbook. Such processing leads to durable and accessible memories. OBJECTIVE 4| Contrast effortful processing with automatic processing, and discuss the next-in-line effect, the spacing effect and the serial position effect. Spencer Grant/ Photo Edit © Bananastock/ Alamy

Memory Effects Next-in-line-Effect: When you are so anxious about being next that you cannot remember what the person just before you in line says, but you can recall what other people around you say. Spacing Effect: We retain information better when we rehearse over time. Serial Position Effect: When your recall is better for first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items.

Spacing Effect We increase long-term retention when we study or practice over time. Cramming is an inefficient means of studying (ie, cramming = less time for guitar hero)

Serial Positioning Effect We tend to remember the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list best. Primacy effect is stronger than recency effect if there is a delay between the list and recall. Words remembered Order on list

Quiz Question Your consciously activated but limited-capacity memory is called ________ memory. short-term Implicit Echoic Explicit Semantic

Quiz Question Memory of facts is to ________ as memory of skills is to ________. brainstem; hippocampus Explicit memory; implicit memory Automatic processing; effortful processing Short-term memory; long-term memory Iconic; echoic

Quiz Question Darren was asked to memorize a list of letters that included v, q, y, and j. He later recalled these letters as e, u, i, and k, suggesting that the original letters had been encoded Automatically Visually Semantically Acoustically

Value of elaboration A = does the word contain an “e”? Yes or no. B = how many syllables does the word have? C = does the word evoke pleasant (P) or unpleasant (U) feelings for you? A words: fireplace, movie, shoe, puppy B words: tortilla, window, goldfish, basketball C words: Dickens, soda, popsicle, dream From which list did you remember the most? Why?

Which type works best?

Chunking Organizing items into familiar, manageable units. Often it will occur automatically. Take 10 seconds to try to remember this number list: 1-4-9-2-1-7-7-6-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1 Chunk- from Goonies Now, try again: 1492, 1776, 1812, 1941 What are some other examples of chunking?

Tricks to Encoding Mnemonic Devices = memory tricks Often use imagery (peg word, method of loci, “hippo on campus…”) May use chunking (King Philip Came Over for Great Spaghetti, SOHCOHTOA, My very earnest mother just served us nine [pizzas], ROY G. BIV) Give me some more examples…. Links to examples of mnemonic devices.

Storing Memories in the Brain Through electrical stimulation of the brain, Wilder Penfield (1967) concluded that old memories were etched into the brain. Loftus and Loftus (1980) reviewed Penfield's data and showed that only a handful of brain stimulated patients reported flashbacks. Using rats, Lashley (1950) suggested that even after removing parts of the brain, the animals retain partial memory of the maze.

Storage: Long-Term Memory How does storage work? Karl Lashley (1950) rats learn maze lesion cortex test memory Synaptic changes Long-term Potentiation increase in synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

Synaptic Changes Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) refers to synaptic enhancement after learning (Lynch, 2002). An increase in neurotransmitter release or receptors on the receiving neuron indicates strengthening of synapses. Both Photos: From N. Toni et al., Nature, 402, Nov. 25 1999. Courtesy of Dominique Muller

Self-Reference Effect The idea that we remember things when they relate to ourselves. What do we do in class to take advantage of this?

Forgetting An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval. OBJECTIVE 18| Explain why we should value our ability to forget, and distinguish three general ways our memory fails us.

We cannot remember what we do not encode. Encoding Failure We cannot remember what we do not encode. OBJECTIVE 19| Discuss the role of encoding failure in forgetting.

Which penny is real?

Storage Decay Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay. Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting curve. OBJECTIVE 20| Discuss the concept of storage decay, and describe Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve.

Forgetting Forgetting can occur at any memory stage As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it

Biological Basis of Memory Amnesia— severe memory loss Retrograde amnesia— inability to remember past episodic information; common after head injury; need for consolidation Anterograde amnesia— inability to form new memories; related to hippocampus damage

Memory Construction While tapping our memories, we filter or fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent. Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer: Memory Experiment and Hypothesis Researchers have also conducted experiments that reveal a great deal about memory. Psychologists have looked at things such as how people remember things, how memories change over time, and why different people often remember the same event differently. In a well-known 1974 experiment, Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer hypothesized that people would remember a car accident differently if they were given different language cues about the accident. Hypothesis: People will remember a car accident differently if given different language cues (words) about the accident

Loftus and Palmer: Methodology Loftus and Palmer recruited 45 American college students to participate in their study. These subjects watched a film of an accident in which two cars collided relatively gently. The film showed no broken glass. Subjects were then divided into groups and asked one of the following five questions: About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other? About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? About how fast were the cars going when they collided? About how fast were the cars going when they bumped into each other? About how fast were the cars going when they contacted each other? Students watched a film of two cars colliding Collision was moderate with no broken glass Different students asked different questions: hit, smashed, collided, bumped, contacted

Loftus and Palmer: Results VERB MEAN ESTIMATE OF SPEED (MPH) Smashed 40.8 Collided 39.3 Bumped 38.1 Hit 34.0 Contacted 31.8 Subjects who had been asked how fast the cars were going when they smashed into each other reported higher speeds than subjects who were asked the other questions. The subsequent order of reported speeds was given—from fastest to slowest—by people in the smashed, collided, bumped, hit, and contacted groups. People reported the fastest speeds if the researchers had used the word “smashed” in the question From fastest to slowest reported speeds: smashed, collided, bumped, hit, and contacted groups

Study pitfalls Visual encoding: thinking about the appearance of the word Acoustic encoding: thinking about the sound of the word (unless it is set to music—then it is great for rote memorization) The next-in-line effect: we seldom remember what the person has just said or done if we are next. Information minutes before sleep is seldom remembered; in the hour before sleep, well remembered. Taped info played while asleep is registered by ears, but we do not remember it.

Improving Memory Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall. Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material. Make material personally meaningful. Use mnemonic devices: associate with peg words — something already stored make up a story chunk — acronyms OBJECTIVE 28| Explain how an understanding of memory can contribute to effective study techniques.

Improving Memory Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate the situation and mood. Recall events while they are fresh — before you encounter misinformation. Minimize interference: 1. Test your own knowledge. 2. Rehearse and then determine what you do not yet know. © LWA-Dann Tardiff/ Corbis

Figure 9.28 Levels of analysis for the study of memory Myers: Psychology, Eighth Edition Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers

Quiz Question In order to remember to buy sugar, ham, oranges, and potatoes the next time he does to the grocery store, Nabil forms the word “SHOP” with the first letter of each item. He is using a memory aid known as Chunking The spacing effect The serial position effect The method of loci The next-in-line effect

Quiz Question When Carlos was promoted, he moved into a new office with a new phone extension. Every time he is asked for his phone number, Carlos first thinks of his old extension, illustrating the effects of proactive interference Retroactive interference Encoding failure Storage failure