1. AP Psychology Unit VII: Memory Modules 32 & 33: Storing memories, Retrieving memories, Why we forget, Memory construction, and memory improvement

2. Module 32-Memory Storage & Retrieval

3. Memory Storage Memories are NOT stored in one part of of the brain.
Brain networks encode, store, & retrieve our memories
Many parts of the brain are involved in these processes

4. Explicit-Memory System
Frontal Lobes
Working memory processing
Different memories processed in each lobe
Left lobe-words/numbers
Right lobe-visual memories

5. Explicit-Memory System
Hippocampus
helps process explicit memories for storage
Damage/injury can cause retrieval problems
Left hippocampus-seems to be responsible for recalling verbal information
Right hippocampus-seems to be responsible for recall ing visual information & locations
Consolidation
During sleep, the hippo campus processes memories for later retrieval

6. Implicit-Memory System
Cerebellum
formation & storage of implicit memories created by classical conditioning
Basal Ganglia
Typically involved with motor movement; help form memories for performing skills
Infantile amnesia
Reactions & skills learned in infancy stay with us as adults, even though our conscious memories of that time are blank

7. Emotions and Memory Emotions trigger release of stress hormones
(among other things) these hormones make more glucose available to the brain-signals that something important has happened
Provoke the amygdala
Initiates a memory in the frontal lobes & basal ganglia
Boosts activity in other memory-forming areas
Emotional arousal can mark certain events as important to remember, and disrupt memory formation for non-important events from the same time
Flashbulb Memories

8. Synaptic Changes
Research with sea slugs indicated that serotonin is released into synapses when learning occurred
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
Human experiments have shown that rapidly stimulating memory-circuit connections (both the sending & receiving neurons) increases the connections between neurons & made it easier for sending neurons to release NTs
Provides a neural basis for learning & remembering
Research (with rats/mice) confirms that LTP is a physical basis for memory

9. Memory Retrieval
Measuring Retention
Retrieval Cues

10. Measuring Retention 3 ways to measure retention:
Recall-retrieval of information learned earlier that isn’t currently in your conscious awareness
fill-in-the-blank test
Recognition-identify items previously learned
multiple-choice test
Relearning-learning something more quickly when learning it a second (or later) time
Reviewing for a final exam (AP Exam)

11. Retrieval Cues Priming Context-Dependent Memory State-Dependent Memory
Serial Position Effect

12. Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of associations in memory

13. Context/State-Dependent Memory
Context-dependent memory: it is easier to retrieve certain memories when circumstances around the memory are same for both the original encoding and retrieval
Returning to an old class room/home can trigger retrieval of memories
State-dependent memory: easier to retrieve certain memories when you are in the same state (emotional, mental, etc) as when the memory was originally encoded
Memories formed when depressed are more likely to be retrieved in a future state of depression
Mood-congruent theory

14. Serial Position Effect
Tendency to recall the last and first items in a list better than the other items on the same list
Recency effect-ability to recall the last items from a list, likely because the information is still in our working memory
Primacy effect-best recall for the first items on a list, likely because more time was spent rehearsing them

15. Exit Ticket
Explain how the roles of the hippocampus & frontal lobes differ from the roles of the cerebellum & basal ganglia in memory processing.
Identify & explain what LTP is.
Give one example of serial position effect.

16. Module 33-Why we forget, memory construction, and memory improvement

17. Why we forget The two-track mind Encoding failure Storage decay
Retrieval failure

18. The Two-Track Mind Effortful processing-explicit memories
Automatic processing-implicit memories
Anterograde amnesia: loss of the ability to form new (explicit) memories
Often the ability to form new (implicit) memories remains
Retrograde amnesia: inability to retrieve information from one’s past (stored in long-term memory)

19. Encoding Failure What we don’t notice, we don’t encode
What we fail to encode, we can never remember

20. Storage Decay
Even after successful encoding, we can later forget information
(Hermann) Ebbinghaus curve: forgetting is rapid at
first, then levels off over time
1 possible explanation is a gradual fading of the physical memory trace; unproven (for now) theory

21. Retrieval Failure
Sometimes, forgotten information is not faded memories, but unretrieved memories

22. Retrieval Failure, cont.
Can be caused/worsened by interference and/or motivated forgetting
Interference
Proactive interference-Prior learning disrupts your recall of new information
i.e.- password that you’ve used for year may prevent you from remembering your student account password at school
Retroactive interference-New learning disrupts recall of old information
i-e.- learning a new recipe may prevent you from being able to remember an older recipe
Motivated forgetting
The information is there, but we subconsciously choose not to retrieve it because it would be embarrassing or unpleasant to remember it.

23. Memory Construction Errors
Misinformation effect
Imagination effect
Source amnesia
Discerning true/false memories

24. Misinformation Effect
If exposed to misleading information/questions, we can incorporate that information into our memory retrieval, leading to construction of a false memory

25. Imagination Effect
Repeatedly imagined actions/events can lead to construction of false memories
Altered photos/videos can also result in this effect

26. Source Amnesia
When we attribute an event (that we’ve experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined) to the wrong source
Authors/songwriters
Vanilla Ice
Déjà vu
Cues from a current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience that we wrongly attribute as having “done this before”

27. Discerning True and False Memories
Nearly impossible to separate suggested ideas from real memories
Sometimes the “suggestions” are from outside sources
Sometimes the “suggestions” are our own doing-filling in “gaps” in a memory with guesses/assumptions
Young children’s recollections can be easily molded

28. Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse?
Research has shown that children are highly susceptible to suggestive questioning
Doesn’t mean children’s eyewitnesses testimony or memories are never accurate, but that care must be taken to question them with non-suggestive, neutral words
Areas of agreement
Sexual abuse happens
Injustice happens
Forgetting happens
Recovered memories are incomplete
Memories before 3 years are unreliable
Hypnotic memories are unreliable
Memories can be emotionally upsetting

29. Improving Memory
Research has demonstrated that the following techniques can improve your ability to remember/recall/retrieve information when you need it:
Rehearse repeatedly
Make the material meaningful
Activate retrieval cues
Use mnemonic devices
Minimize interference
Sleep more
Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse it and to help determine what you do not yet know

30. Exit Ticket Identify and BRIEFLY explain the 4 main reasons we forget
Identify and BRIEFLY explain the 4 main memory construction errors
What is important to remember if questioning a child and/or helping him/her to recover memories