1. Psychology in Everyday Life
David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall
Psychology in Everyday Life
Third Edition
Chapter 7
Memory
Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

2. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s classic three-step model helps us to think about how memories are processed, but today’s researchers recognize other ways long-term memories form. For example, some information slips into long-term memory via a “back door,” without our consciously attending to it (automatic processing). And so much active processing occurs in the short-term memory stage that many now prefer to call that stage working memory.
Figure 7.1 A modified three-stage information-processing model of memory David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

3. Alan Baddeley’s (2002) model of working memory, simplified here, includes visual and auditory rehearsal of new information. Part of the brain functions like a manager, a central executive focusing attention and pulling information from long-term memory to help make sense of new information.
Figure 7.2 Working memory David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

4. When George Sperling (1960) flashed a group of letters similar to this for one-twentieth of a second, people could recall only about half the letters. But when signaled to recall any one row immediately after the letters had disappeared, they could do so with near-perfect accuracy.
Figure 7.3 Total recall—briefly David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

5. Unless rehearsed, verbal information may be quickly forgotten
Unless rehearsed, verbal information may be quickly forgotten. (From Peterson & Peterson, 1959; see also Brown, 1958.)
Figure 7.4 Short-term memory decay David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

6. Organizing information into meaningful units, such as letters, words, and phrases, helps us recall it more easily. (From Hintzman, 1978.)
Figure 7.5 Chunking effects David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

7. Roger Harris / Science Source
Explicit memories for facts and episodes are processed in the hippocampus (orange) and fed to other brain regions for storage.
Figure 7.6 The hippocampus David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

8. Frontal lobes and hippocampus: explicit memory formation
Cerebellum and basal ganglia: implicit memory formation
Amygdala: emotion-related memory formation
Figure 7.7 Review key memory structures in the brain David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

9. Figure 7. 8 Our two memory systems David G. Myers and C
Figure 7.8 Our two memory systems David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

10. The more times he practiced a list of nonsense syllables on day 1, the fewer practice sessions he needed to relearn it on day 2. Speed of relearning is one way to measure whether something was learned and retained. (From Baddeley, 1982.)
Figure 7.9 Ebbinghaus’ retention curve David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

11. After seeing or hearing rabbit, we are later more likely to spell the spoken word as h-a-r-e. Associations unconsciously activate related associations. This process is called priming. (Adapted from Bower, 1986.)
Figure Priming—awakening associations David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

12. Alexis Rosenfeld / Science Source
Words heard underwater were best recalled underwater; words heard on land were best recalled on land. (Adapted from Godden & Baddeley, 1975.)
Figure The effect of context on memory David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

13. Ian West - WPA Pool/ Getty Images
Immediately after the royal newlyweds, William and Kate, made their way through the receiving line of special guests, they would probably have recalled the names of the last few people best. But later they may have been able to recall the first few people best.
Figure The serial position effect David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

14. We cannot remember what we have not encoded.
Figure Forgetting as encoding failure David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

15. Bill Aron / Photo Edit
Compared with others just completing a Spanish language-learning course, people 3 years out of the course remember much less. Compared with the 3-year group, however, those who studied Spanish even longer ago did not forget much more. (Adapted from Bahrick, 1984.)
Figure The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in school David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

16. Sometimes even stored information cannot be accessed, which leads to forgetting.
Figure Retrieval failure David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

17. People forgot more when they stayed awake and experienced other new material. (From Jenkins & Dallenbach, 1924.)
Figure Retroactive interference David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

18. Forgetting can occur at any memory stage
Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it.
Figure When do we forget? David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

19. In this experiment, people viewed a film of a car accident (left)
In this experiment, people viewed a film of a car accident (left). Those who later were asked a leading question recalled a more serious accident than they had witnessed. (From Loftus, 1979.)
Figure Memory construction David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers