1. Memory

2. INDEX CARDS AND TEST DUE ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5

4. Definition and Functions of Memory
The process by which we acquire, store, and retrieve information; learning that persists over time
Functions:
Gives continuity to consciousness
Helps us adapt by using past skills/experiences
Enriches emotional life
Definition and Functions of Memory

5. Recall Recognition Relearning Measuring Retention
Recall—retrieving information learned earlier.
Recognition—Identifying previously learned items; items are presented to you in some way and you just have to choose the right one.
Seven deadly sins: Pride, Anger, Envy, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth
Relearning – we learn material faster when it has been previously learned.

6. Memory Models/ Stages (Atkinson & Shifrin)
INFORMATION PROCESSING
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Memory Models/ Stages (Atkinson & Shifrin)
Encoding—process by which information is entered into the memory system.
Storage—process by which we retain information for later use
Retrieval—the process by which we recover information & become consciously aware of it.

7. Encoding: The Two Track Mind
INFORMATION PROCESSING
Encoding: The Two Track Mind
Automatic
Produces implicit memories
Effortful
Produces explicit memories
Automatic – happens without our awareness (parallel processing)
Implicit Memory (nondeclarative memory) – learned skills or associations that have developed independent of conscious awareness.
Without conscious awareness, we process info about space (where in the slide was that information), time (order of events), and frequency (I saw that word FIVE times in my notes).
Effortful – requires attention and conscious effort
Explicit (declarative) – Memories that you consciously describe

8. Levels of Processing during Encoding
Shallow
Intermediate
Deep
Levels of Processing during Encoding
Deeper levels of processing results in longer-lasting memory. Divided attention results in memory deficits.
Shallow: Structural encoding (word in all caps)
Phonemic: Emphasizes what words sounds like.
Semantic: Emphasizes the meaning of the word.
Encourage deeper processing with visual imagery, elaboration (link stimulus to other information), and have a motivation to remember.

9. Types of Memory (Atkinson and Shriffrin)
Long-term memory—storage that holds info long-term; no known capacity limits
Short-term memory—limited capacity storage that holds non-sensory info for seconds
contains Working Memory
Rehearsal needed
Sensory memory—holds sensory information for a maximum of a few seconds

10. Memory stages differ in…
Amount of information that is storable in a stage
Capacity
Length of time that information is stored in a stage
Duration
What is done with the information at that stage
Function
Memory stages differ in…

12. Sensory memory Stores sensory events in their original form briefly
Large capacity, no more than 2 seconds duration
Iconic memory—visual: less than 1 second
Echoic memory—auditory 2 seconds
Sensory memory
This type of memory fades very rapidly. If we want to remember it, we must first ATTEND to it. “Memory problems” are often “attention failures.” Attention is often very selective. We can’t attend to all 11 million bits of information that we see every second. We only encode about 50. Encoding can be either automatic or controlled.

13. Short-term memory
Activated memory that holds a few items before storage or forgetting.
To into storage, working memory is used.
Working memory is ability to hold and manipulative information in conscious attention.
Working memory: very limited capacity memory storage that lasts only 30 seconds or so; refers to “active maintenance of information in short-term storage”; often used as a synonym for STM
George Miller’s magical “7 plus or minus 2,” but new research puts the average at 4 pieces of information.
Some studies suggest that we can train working memory to be better, but more research is needed to determine if improved working memory generalizes to improvements in cognitive performance.
Without rehearsal, info in short-term memory is lost in seconds. Rehearsal is processing or repeatedly saying or thinking about information.
Maintenance rehearsal – just repeating items
Elaborative rehearsal – making associations

14. Getting Info Into LTM Mnemonics Songs Visual images Acronyms
Mnemonics: memory aids, especially those that use visual imagery or organizational devices
Jargons
BTW - By the way
FAQ - Frequently asked questions
LOL - Laugh out loud
BFF - Best friends forever
TTYL - Talk to you later
Create a visual image of things like grocery lists (imagine where the items are in the store).
Acronyms: ROY G BIV (colors of the rainbow); HOMES (Great Lakes)

15. Hierarchies: dividing broad concepts into narrower concepts
Getting Info Into LTM
Chunking: Organization information into manageable units.
Hierarchies: dividing broad concepts into narrower concepts
Grubbaoro butubba brungbah rubattaboo untobornob

16. Ebbinghaus’s research
More than 60% is lost after 9 hours
Huge drop in retention in first few hours
Memorized nonsense syllables

17. Speedy short-term learning Quick forgetting **Distributed Practice:
Getting Info Into LTM
Massed Practice:
Cramming
Speedy short-term learning
Quick forgetting
**Distributed Practice:
Spacing effect – study over time
Testing effect – self testing makes a difference VS

19. Very large capacity; some say limitless; no known boundaries
Can store things permanently (more or less)
Rehearsal gets things from STM into LTM
Information moves back into STM from LTM when we need to work with it.
Long-term memory

20. Types of Long-term memory
Non-
declarative-
Priming
Classically conditioned memories
Procedural memories
Declarative
Semantic memory—knowledge of facts
Episodic memory—personal experiences
Types of Long-term memory
Nondeclarative or implicit memory is difficult or impossible to state consciously

21. Semantic network Associated items are stored together—make up network
A hypothetical organized network of related facts and knowledge in memory
Associated items are stored together—make up network
It’s believed we also have “episodic networks” for memories of our own lives.
Semantic network
Memories are not stored at one “spot” in the brain; instead, brain networks store memory.

22. Spreading activation
The process by which recalling one bit of information along the semantic network triggers memory of another idea.

23. The Hippocampus: Source of Memory Consolidation
Responsible for forming new memories.
Different areas serve different functions.
Processes semantic and episodic memories (explicit).
The Hippocampus: Source of Memory Consolidation
Part the limbic system.
Memory consolidation is the neural storage of a long-term memory.
Different areas of hippocampus related to verbal memories, visual memories, social memories, etc.
The greater the hippocampus activity during sleep after a training experience, the better the next day’s memory.

24. Infantile Amnesia Autobiographical memory--Memory of our own lives
Infantile amnesia—can’t remember events before age 2-3
Could be because hippocampus doesn’t develop until later
May not have enough language skills before age 2-3
Do not have a well-developed sense of self
Autobiographical memory can be both semantic and episodic.

25. Implicit Memory Formation
Cerebellum for Classical Conditioning.
Basal Ganglia for procedural memory.
Knowledge of language not necessary for these memories.

26. Where are Memories Stored?
Not in the hippocampus; it acts more as a loading dock for new memories before they’re shipped to the cortex.
Parts of the frontal and temporal lobes are involved
No one specific “memory storage” location
Some in left hemisphere (verbal); some in right (visual).
Where are Memories Stored?

27. Role of Emotion in Memory
Stress hormones cue brain to remember.
Amygdala boosts activity in hippocampus.
Stronger emotional events  flashbulb memories
Flashbulb memory is a memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. Tend to be recalled with perfect clarity. Why? Rehearsal.

28. Long-Term Potentiation
Focuses on neurotransmitters at synaptic level; neural basis for learning.
Increase in cell’s firing potential after stimulation.
Learning increases the number of synapses.
Glutamate enhances memory.

29. Moods & Emotions in Retrieval
State-dependent memory—improved recall when in the same physical or emotional state as you were in when the info was stored
Mood-congruence effects—memory is better for information consistent with your mood
State-dependent theory: Example- take the test in the same room as you learned the material.
Mood-congruence effects: When you’re sad, you tend to recall sad things (makes it hard to break out of depression). When happy, you recall happy things.
Encoding Specificity Principle:
State and mood specific to memory formation will aid in recall.

30. Serial Position Effect
Primacy effect—you remember items at the beginning of the list better
Recency effect—remember things at the end of the list
Primacy effect: “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…” What’s the rest?
Recency effect: probably reflects STM storage. It disappears more quickly than the primacy effect. It only lasts about 30 seconds.

31. Von Restorff Effect
You tend to remember things that stick out from the rest…you focus on the one that’s different from the rest.

32. Types of Amnesia Anterograde—inability to form new memories
Retrograde—inability to retrieve memories form the past
Source-forgetting how, when, and where memory was learned.
Types of Amnesia
Source amnesia explains déjà vu (familiarity with a stimulus without being able to identify the source).

33. Retrieval Failure (Cue-Dependent Theory)
Why do we forget?
Encoding Failure
Storage Decay
Repression
Retrieval Failure (Cue-Dependent Theory)
Encoding failure theory: code things ineffectively
Storage decay theory: memories physically decay over time (curve is pretty steep, then levels off).
Cue-dependent theory: can’t find retrieval cues (tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon)

34. Proactive vs. retroactive interference
Proactive—something you learned previously interferes with something new
Retroactive—something you learned recently interferes with something old.
Proactive vs. retroactive interference
Proactive interference: Can’t remember your friend’s new (married) last name, only her maiden name; old information is replacing new
Retroactive interference: Can’t remember your friend’s maiden name (only her new married one) because new information is replacing old.

35. Eidetic memory Very high degree of recall
Like “photographic memory,” which doesn’t really exist
Common in childhood but not in adulthood. Falls off as language skills increase.
Common in autistic children.
Eidetic memory

37. In this country, it is estimated that 75% of wrongly convicted defendants, later cleared by DNA evidence, were convicted based largely on eyewitness testimony

39. According to Research…
The longer it takes an eyewitness to decide if the perpetrator is in a lineup, the less confident they actually are about their decision
True confidence results in decision in under 10 seconds
Most likely to make mistakes:
Other race bias
One picture larger than others
Facial features not identical
Told the perpetrator is definitely there

40. Loftus and Palmer

41. Misinformation Effect (Loftus)
Memory is distorted by subsequent exposure to misleading information. Form of RECONSOLIDATION
Very persistent
Can come from suggestive questions (LEADING), misinformation, exposure to conflicting details
Remember that reconsolidation is when memories are retrieved then potentially altered before being stored again.

42. Other Sources of False Memories
Imagination Inflation:
Vividly imaging an event increases the confidence in the memory.
Source Confusion
Incorrect memory of how, when, or where information was learned.
Déjà vu is explained by source amnesia. You have the memory but cannot remember the source.

43. Eyewitness Testimony Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-SBTRLoPuo