1. Unit 4: Memory

2. Entry Task
Recall & write down the gifts in the song Twelve Days of Christmas

3. Part 2
Encoding

4. Encoding: Getting Information In
Some information (route to your school) is automatically processed.
However, new or unusual information (friend’s new cell- phone number) requires attention and effort.

5. Automatic Processing:
unconscious encoding of information 5

6. Automatic Processing
We process an enormous amount of info effortlessly, such as:
Space: While reading a textbook, you automatically encode the place of a picture on a page.
Time: We unintentionally note the events that take place in a day.
Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of things that happen to you. 6

7. Effortful Processing:
encoding that requires attention & conscious effort
Committing novel information to memory requires effort just like learning a concept from a textbook. Such processing leads to durable and accessible memories. 7

8. Rehearsal
Effortful learning usually requires rehearsal: conscious repetition, to maintain info in consciousness or to encode it for storage
Ebbinghaus studied rehearsal by using nonsense syllables: TUV YOF GEK XOZ
Ebbinghaus became impatient with philosophical speculations about memory & decided to study it scientifically. To do so, he chose to study his own learning and forgetting of novel verbal materials. Ebbinghaus needed to find verbal material that was not familiar. His solution was to form a list of all possible nonsense syllables created by sandwiching a vowel between two consonants. Then, for a particular experiment, he would randomly select a sample of the syllables.
Hermann Ebbinghaus
( )

9. Entry Task
Recall & write down the gifts in the song Twelve Days of Christmas
1 partridge
2 turtle doves
3 French hens
4 calling birds
5 golden rings
6 geese a-laying
7 swans a-swimming
8 maids a-milking
9 ladies dancing
10 lords a-leaping
11 pipers piping
12 drummers drumming
The first gift is repeated 12 times, the second gift 11 times, and so on. Recall will show a decline from first to last. EXCEPTION: 5 golden rings, b/c it’s sung more slowly.

10. Rehearsal The amount remembered depends on the time spent learning. 10
The more times the nonsense syllables were practiced on Day 1,
the fewer repetitions were required to remember them on Day 2. 10

11. 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. 11

12. Spacing Effect
Spacing Effect: We retain information better when we rehearse over time. 12

13. Serial Position Effect
When your recall is better for first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items.
TUV
ZOF
GEK
WAV
XOZ
TIK
FUT
WIB
SAR
POZ
REY
GIJ
Better recall
Poor recall
Write down the names of as many presidents as you can remember. 13

14. Encoding Remember the sentence from Tuesday?
The angry rioter threw the rock at the window.
We tend not to remember things exactly as they were, rather, we remember what we encoded.

15. Types of Encoding Visual encoding: encoding of picture images
Acoustic encoding: encoding of sound, especially the sound of words
Semantic encoding: encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
Q:Which one yields the best memory of verbal information?
A:They all have their own brain system and all can help

16. Encoding Meaning Structural Q: Did the word begin Encoding
with a capital letter?
Structural
Encoding
Shallow
Q: Did the word rhyme
with the word
“train”?
Phonemic
Encoding
Intermediate
Q: Would the word fit
in the sentence:
The girl put the _____ on the table.
Semantic
Encoding
Say: brain
Describe: gun
The deeper, semantic encoding yielded much better memory than the “shallow” processing elicited by question 2 & especially question 1
Deep

17. Unit 4: Memory

18. Entry Task Keep your handout face down until I tell you.
Turn it over & study the two figures.
Pass the handout back in please.
Handout 9-5
Say: Look at figure B. Figure B is an early bird who caught a very strong worm.

19. Visual Encoding
Imagery: mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding.
If I quizzed you on the following words, which ones are you more likely to remember: typewriter, void, cigarette, inherent, fire, process
Thanks to the durability of our most vivid images, we sometimes recall our experiences with mental snapshots of their best or worst moments. Thus, the best moment of a pleasure or joy, and the worst moment of a pain or frustrtation, often colors our memories. Recalling the high points while forgetting the mundane moments may explain a phenomenon called rosy retrospection. People tend to recall events such as a vacation more positively than they evaluated them at the time. They remember their visit to Disneyland less for the muggy heat and long lines than for the surroundings, food, rides. And it is the experience we remember, not the experience we had, that predicts our future choices.
Handout 9-3 19

20. Self-Reference Effect
Processing info in terms of self- reference, whether or not you feel that the words apply to you, produce the best recall.
More likely to remember the words that apply to you than those that don’t.
Washing clothes paragraph

21. Mnemonics
memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Examples
Method of loci (location)
The “peg-word” system
Method of loci: imagine yourself moving through a familiar series of locations, associating each place with a visual representation of the to-be-remembered topic. Then, when speaking, the orator would mentally revisit each location and retrieve the associated image.
Peg-word system: First, memorize a jingle: “One is a bun; two is a shoe; three is a tree; four is a door; five is a hive; six is sticks; seven is heaven; eight is a gate; nine is swine; ten is a hen.” Without much effort, you will soon be able to count by peg-words instead of numbers: bun, shoe, tree…and then to visually associate peg-words with to-be-remembered items. Now you are ready to challenge anyone to give you a grocery list to remember. Carrots? Imagine them stuck into a bun. Milk? Fill the shoe with it. Paper towels? Drape them over a tree branch. Think “bun, shoe, tree” and you remember their associated images: carrots, milk, paper towels. With few errors, you will be able to recall the items in any order an to name any given item. Such mnemonic systems are used by memory whizzes who repeat long lists of names & objects, and they can also help you.

22. Organizing Information for Encoding
Chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Try to remember the numbers below:
If you are well versed with American history, chunk the numbers together and see if you can recall them better:

23. Chunking 23

24. Chunking
Acronyms are another way of chunking information to remember it
HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
PEMDAS = Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract
ROY G. BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

25. Hierarchy
Complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided into categories and subcategories. 25

26. Encoding Summarized in a Hierarchy26

27. Entry Task Revisited
Please draw the two figures you saw at the beginning of class.
How do your two drawings compare?
Figure B is probably more accurate
Because it was encoded both visually and semantically