1. Chapter 6: Memory: Remembrance of Things Past – and Future

2. Learning Outcomes
Define memory and differentiate between types of memories.
Explain the processes of memory.
Explain the stages of memory.

3. Learning Outcomes Identify contributors to forgetting.
Describe the biological aspects of memory.

4. Kinds of Memory
LO1 Define memory and differentiate between types of memories.
Self Assessment: Five Challenges to Your Memory – See text for a series of memory challenges.

5. Explicit Versus Implicit Memories
Explicit memory – declarative memory
Memory for specific information; that can be stated or declared
Information can be autobiographical or general
Implicit memory – nondeclarative memory
Memory of how to perform a procedure or skill
Skill memories
explicit memory – memory that clearly and distinctly expresses (explicates) specific information
implicit memory – memory that is suggested (implied) but not plainly expressed, as illustrated in the things that people do but do not state clearly

6. Explicit Memory Episodic memory – autobiographical memory
Memories of things that happen to us or take place in our presence
Autobiographical memories
Semantic memory
General knowledge
episodic memory – memories of events that happen to a person or that take place in the person’s presence
semantic memory – general knowledge, as opposed to episodic memory

7. Implicit Memory Procedural memory – Skill memory
Things people do, not things stated clearly
Things done repeatedly – habits
Memory of things that reflect repetition that makes associations automatic
priming – the activation of specific associations in memory, often as a result of repetition and without making a conscious effort to access the memory

8. Truth or Fiction?
A woman who could not remember who she was automatically dialed her mother’s number when the police gave her a telephone.
Truth or Fiction? A woman who could not remember who she was automatically dialed her mother’s number when the police gave her a telephone. TRUE It is true that a woman who could not remember who she was automatically dialer her mother’s number when the police gave her a telephone.

9. Truth or Fiction?
A woman who could not remember who she was automatically dialed her mother’s number when the police gave her a telephone.
TRUE!
Truth or Fiction? A woman who could not remember who she was automatically dialed her mother’s number when the police gave her a telephone. TRUE It is true that a woman who could not remember who she was automatically dialed her mother’s number when the police gave her a telephone.

10. Retrospective Memory Versus Prospective Memory
Recalling information previously learned
Episodic, semantic and implicit memories
Prospective memory
Remembering to do things in the future
May fail due to preoccupation or distraction
retrospective memory – memory for past events, activities, and learning experiences, as shown by explicit (episodic and semantic) and implicit memories
prospective memory – memory to perform an act in the future, as at a certain time or when a certain event occurs

11. Prospective Memory Prospective memory tasks Habitual tasks
Easier to remember than occasional tasks
Event-based tasks
Triggered by events
Time-based tasks
Performed at a certain time or after a certain time has elapsed

12. Influences on Retrospective and Prospective Memory
Age related decline
More related to speed of cognitive processing than loss of information
Moods and attitudes and prospective memory
Depressed people less likely to push to remind themselves to do what they intend to do

13. Processes of Memory
LO2 Explain the processes of memory.

14. Encoding
Transforming information into psychological formats that can be represented mentally
Visual – represented as a picture
Acoustic – represented as sounds
Semantic – represented in terms of meanings
encoding – modifying information so that it can be placed in memory; the first stage of information processing

15. Storage Maintaining information over time
Methods of storing information
Maintenance rehearsal
Metamemory
Elaborative rehearsal
storage – the maintenance of information over time; the second stage of information processing
maintenance rehearsal – mental repetition of information to keep it in memory
metamemory – self-awareness of the ways in which memory functions, allowing the person to encode, store, and retrieve information effectively
elaborative rehearsal – the kind of coding in which new information is related to information that is already known

16. Truth or Fiction?
Learning must be meaningful if we are to remember it.
Truth or Fiction? Learning must be meaningful if we are to remember it. FICTION Learning need not always be meaningful if we are to remember it. Maintenance rehearsal often works as well.

17. Truth or Fiction?
Learning must be meaningful if we are to remember it.
FICTION!
Truth or Fiction? Learning must be meaningful if we are to remember it. FICTION Learning need not always be meaningful if we are to remember it. Maintenance rehearsal often works as well.

18. Retrieval Locating information and returning it to consciousness
Retrieval relies on cues
retrieval – the location of stored information and its return to consciousness; the third stage of information processing

19. Definition of Memory
Process by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved.
memory – the processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved

20. Stages of Memory
LO3 Explain the stages of memory.

21. Three Stages of Memory
Figure 6.1: Three Stages of Memory - The Atkinson-Shiffrin model proposes that there are three stages of memory: (a) sensory memory, (b) short-term memory, and (c) long-term memory. Part A shows that sensory information impacts on the registers of sensory memory. Memory traces are held briefly in sensory memory before decaying. If we attend to the information, much of it can be transferred to short-term memory (STM). Part B: Information may be maintained in STM through maintenance rehearsal or elaborative rehearsal. Otherwise, it may decay or be displaced. Part C: Once information is transferred to long-term memory (LTM), it may be filed away indefinitely. However, if the information in LTM is organized poorly, or if we cannot find cues to retrieve it, it can be lost.
Go to 4ltrpress.cengage.com/psych to access an interactive version of this figure.

22. Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory
Three stages of memory
Sensory memory
Short-term memory (STM)
Long-term memory (LTM)
Stages determine whether and how long information is stored

23. Sensory Memory First stage of memory encountered by a stimulus
Holds impressions briefly, but long enough so series of perceptions become psychologically continuous
Memory trace
Decays within a second
Visual sensory register
sensory memory – the type or stage of memory first encountered by a stimulus; sensory memory holds impressions briefly, but long enough so that series of perceptions are psychologically continuous
memory trace – an assumed change in the nervous system that reflects the impression made by a stimulus
Memory traces are said to be “held” in sensory registers.

24. Truth or Fiction? If you can see, you have a photographic memory.
Truth or Fiction? If you can see, you have a photographic memory. TRUE Tricky! It’s true that people who can see have a photographic memory, but what people usually think of as a photographic memory is technically termed eidetic.

25. Truth or Fiction? If you can see, you have a photographic memory.
TRUE!
Truth or Fiction? If you can see, you have a photographic memory. TRUE Tricky! It’s true that people who can see have a photographic memory, but what people usually think of as a photographic memory is technically termed eidetic.

26. Iconic Memory Icons Brief, but accurate, photographic memories
Mental representations of visual stimuli
Brief, but accurate, photographic memories
Eidetic imagery
retain exact mental representations of visual stimuli over long periods of time
Iconic memory is common, eidetic memory is not
icon – a mental representation of a visual stimulus that is held briefly in sensory memory
iconic memory – the sensory register that briefly holds mental representations of visual stimuli
eidetic imagery – the maintenance of detailed visual memories over several minutes

27. Echoic Memory Echoes Memory traces of echoes last longer than icons
Mental representations of sounds
Memory traces of echoes last longer than icons
echo – a mental representation of an auditory stimulus (sound) that is held briefly in sensory memory
echoic memory – the sensory register that briefly holds mental representations of auditory stimuli
Photo: These actors are memorizing a script by rehearsing echoic memories. As actors work on memorizing scripts, they first encode visual information (printed words) as echoes (their corresponding sound within the brain). Then they commit the echoes to memory by rehearsing (repeating) them, referring back to the visual information as necessary. Eventually, the lines of other actors become cues that trigger memory of an actor’s own lines.

28. Short-Term Memory
Focusing on a stimulus in the sensory register, retains it in short-term memory (STM) for a minute or so after the trace decays
Also called working memory
Rehearsal allows information to be retained indefinitely
short-term memory – the type or stage of memory that can hold information for up to a minute or so after the trace of the stimulus decays; also called working memory
working memory – another term for short-term memory

29. Serial Position Effect
Tendency to recall the first and last items in a series
May be more attention to first and last items
May rehearse first item more often and last most recently
serial position effect – the tendency to recall more accurately the first and last items in a series

30. Chunking
A grouping of stimuli that is perceived as a discrete piece of information
Number of items held in STM –
Seven (plus or minus two)
Chunking stimuli allows for semantic coding
chunk – a stimulus or group of stimuli that are perceived as a discrete piece of information

31. Interference in Short-Term Memory
Attention to distracting information interferes with STM
Appearance of new information in STM displaces old information
displace – in memory theory, to cause information to be lost from short-term memory by adding new information

32. The Effect of Interference on Short-Term Memory
Figure 6.3: The Effect of Interference on Short-Term Memory - In this experiment, college students were asked to remember a series of three letters while they counted backward by threes. After just 3 seconds, retention was cut in half. Ability to recall the words was almost completely lost by 15 seconds.

33. Long-Term Memory Vast storehouse of information
Permanent storage of all memories
Repression
Not supported by research
long-term memory – the type or stage of memory capable of relatively permanent storage
repression - in Freud’s psychodynamic theory, the ejection of anxiety-evoking ideas from conscious awareness

34. Truth or Fiction?
All of our experiences are permanently imprinted on the brain, so the proper stimulus can cause us to remember them exactly.
Truth or Fiction? All of our experiences are permanently imprinted on the brain, so the proper stimulus can cause us to remember them exactly. FICTION Not all experiences are permanently imprinted on the brain!

35. Truth or Fiction?
All of our experiences are permanently imprinted on the brain, so the proper stimulus can cause us to remember them exactly.
FICTION!
Truth or Fiction? All of our experiences are permanently imprinted on the brain, so the proper stimulus can cause us to remember them exactly. FICTION Not all experiences are permanently imprinted on the brain!

36. Long-Term Memory Long-term memories are distorted
Schemas bias our memories
No known limit known for amount of information stored in long-term memory (LTM)
Long-term memories may last a life-time
Not lost by displacement
schema – a way of mentally representing the world, such as a belief or an expectation, that can influence perception of person, objects, and situations

37. Memory as Reconstructive
Figure 6.4: Memory as Reconstructive - In their classic experiment, Carmichael, Hogan, and Walter (1932) showed people the figures in the left box and made remarks as suggested in the other boxes. For example, the experimenter might say, “This drawing looks like eyeglasses [or a dumbbell].” When people later reconstructed the drawings, they were influenced by the labels.

38. Levels of Processing Model of Memory
Memories endure when processed deeply
Attention, encoding, storing, retrieval all involved

39. Truth or Fiction?
It may be easier for you to recall the name of your first-grade teacher than the name of someone you just met at a party.
Truth or Fiction? It may be easier for you to recall the name of your first-grade teacher than the name of someone you just met at a party. TRUE It is true that it may be easier to recall the name of your first grade teacher than those of people you have just met. You learned their names more recently, but you had countless meaningful interactions with your first grade teacher.

40. Truth or Fiction?
It may be easier for you to recall the name of your first-grade teacher than the name of someone you just met at a party.
TRUE!
Truth or Fiction? It may be easier for you to recall the name of your first-grade teacher than the name of someone you just met at a party. TRUE It is true that it may be easier to recall the name of your first grade teacher than those of people you have just met. You learned their names more recently, but you had countless meaningful interactions with your first grade teacher.

41. Flashbulb Memories
Tend to remember events that are important and emotionally stirring
Memories are more distinctive
Increased networks of association
Elaborative rehearsal
Secretion of stress hormones

42. Truth or Fiction?
You may always recall where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001.
Truth or Fiction? You may always recall where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, TRUE It is true that the “flashbulb” in your memory probably went off on September 11, 2001, even though you were quite a bit younger than you are now and that event occurred more than 10 years ago. You may recall where you were and what you were doing at the time for decades to come.

43. Truth or Fiction?
You may always recall where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001.
TRUE!
Truth or Fiction? You may always recall where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, TRUE It is true that the “flashbulb” in your memory probably went off on September 11, 2001, even though you were quite a bit younger than you are now and that event occurred more than 10 years ago. You may recall where you were and what you were doing at the time for decades to come.

44. Organization in Long-Term Memory
Categorization of information
Hierarchical structure
Superordinate classes of information

45. Hierarchical Structure of Long-Term Memory
Figure 6.5: The Hierarchical Structure of Long-Term Memory - Where are whales filed in the hierarchical cabinets of your memory? Your classification of whales may influence your answers to these questions: Do whales breathe underwater? Are they warm-blooded? Do they nurse their young? A note to biological purists: this figure is not intended to represent phyla, classes, orders, and so on accurately. Rather, it shows how an individual’s classification scheme might be organized.

46. Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon
“Feeling of knowing”
Acoustic and semantic coding may help provide a useful retrieval cue
May reflect incomplete learning
tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon – the feeling that information is stored in memory although it cannot be readily retrieved; also called the feeling-of-knowing experience

47. Context and State Dependent Memory
Context dependent
Better retrieval in context in which information was originally acquired
State dependent
Better retrieval in biological or emotional state in which it was learned
context-dependent memory – information that is better retrieved in the context in which it was encoded and stored, or learned
state-dependent memory – information that is better retrieved in the physiological or emotional state in which it was encoded and stored, or learned

48. Truth or Fiction?
If you study with the stereo on, you would probably do better to take the test with the stereo on.
Truth or Fiction? If you study with the stereo on, you would probably do better to take the test with the stereo on. TRUE If you study with the stereo on, you might well do better taking the test with music on – as with earbuds. (Of course, your professor might object to your using an MP3 player during an exam.)

49. Truth or Fiction?
If you study with the stereo on, you would probably do better to take the test with the stereo on.
TRUE!
Truth or Fiction? If you study with the stereo on, you would probably do better to take the test with the stereo on. TRUE If you study with the stereo on, you might well do better taking the test with music on – as with earbuds. (Of course, your professor might object to your using an MP3 player during an exam.)

50. Forgetting
LO4 Identify contributors of forgetting.

51. How do We Measure Forgetting?
Nonsense syllables
Depend on acoustic coding and maintenance rehearsal
Three tasks for measurement
Recognition
Recall
Relearning
Method of Savings
nonsense syllables – meaningless sets of two consonants, with a vowel sandwiched in between, that are used to study memory
paired associates – nonsense syllables presented in pairs in experiments that measure recall
method of savings – a measure of retention in which the difference between the number of repetitions originally required to learn a list and the number of repetitions required to relearn the list after a certain amount of time has elapsed is calculated
savings – the difference between the number of repetitions originally required to learn a list and the number of repetitions required to relearn the list after a certain amount of time has elapsed
Recognition – Identification of objects or events encountered before
Recall – Retrieval or reconstruction of learned material
Relearning – Material is relearned more quickly than it is learned initially

52. Ebbinghaus’s Classic Curve of Forgetting
Figure 6.8: Ebbinghaus’s Classic Curve of Forgetting - Recollection of lists of words drops precipitously during the first hour after learning. Losses of learning then become more gradual. Retention drops by half within the first hour. It takes a month (31 days), however, for retention to be cut in half again.

53. Truth or Fiction?
Learning Spanish can make it harder to remember French – and vice versa.
Truth or Fiction? Learning Spanish can make it harder to remember French – and vice versa. TRUE It is true that learning one Romance language. such as Spanish or Italian, could interfere with your learning French later on, and vice versa.

54. Truth or Fiction?
Learning Spanish can make it harder to remember French – and vice versa.
TRUE!
Truth or Fiction? Learning Spanish can make it harder to remember French – and vice versa. TRUE It is true that learning one Romance language. such as Spanish or Italian, could interfere with your learning French later on, and vice versa.

55. Interference Theory Retroactive interference Proactive interference
New learning interferes with the retrieval of old learning
Proactive interference
Older learning interferes with the capacity to retrieve more recently learned material
interference theory – the view that we may forget stored material because other learning interferes with it
retroactive interference – the interference of new learning with the ability to retrieve material learned previously
proactive interference – the interference by old learning with the ability to retrieve material learned recently

56. Repression Freudian concept of motivated forgetting
Automatic ejection of painful memories from conscious awareness
Dissociative amnesia
repression – in Freud’s psychodynamic theory, the ejection of anxiety-evoking ideas from conscious awareness
dissociative amnesia – loss of memory of personal information that is thought to stem from psychological conflict or trauma

57. Recovered Memories
Recovery of repressed memories has little scientific support
Implanting false memories

58. Infantile Amnesia Freud – repression Immature hippocampus
Cognitive explanations
No interest in remembering the past
Specific episodes versus networks of memories
Unreliable use of symbolic language
infantile amnesia – inability to recall events that occur prior to the age of 3 or so; also termed childhood amnesia
hippocampus – a structure in the limbic system that plays an important role in the formation of new memories

59. Anterograde and Retrograde Amnesia
Anterograde Amnesia
Unable to remember events that occur after physical trauma
Retrograde Amnesia
Unable to remember events that occur prior to physical trauma
anterograde amnesia – failure to remember events that occurred after physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma
retrograde amnesia – failure to remember events that occurred prior to physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma

60. The Biology of Memory
LO5 Describe the biological aspects of memory.

61. Neural Activity and Memory
Experience increases dendrites and synapses in cerebral cortex
Long-term potentiation
Following brief, rapid stimulation an enhanced efficiency in synaptic transmission
Neurotransmitters and hormones
engram - an assumed electrical circuit in the brain that corresponds to a memory trace
long-term potentiation (LTP) – enhanced efficiency in synaptic transmission that follows brief, rapid stimulation
H.M. (Henry Gustav Molaison) died in December 2008 and his brain was sent to The Brain Observatory in San Diego. For full information on the H.M. Project, check out

62. One Avenue to Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
Figure 6.9: One Avenue to Long-Term Potentiation. LTP can occur via the action of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and glutamate at synapses. Structurally, LTP can also occur as shown in Parts A and B, when dendrites sprout new branches that connect with transmitting axons, increasing the amount of stimulation they receive.

63. Can We Trust Eyewitness Testimony?
Misinformation effect
Wording of question can bias testimony
Younger children are more susceptible
misinformation effect -

64. Can We Trust Eyewitness Testimony?
Problems with identification based on eyewitness
Less accurate identification of different racial/ethnic groups
Misleading suggestions can influence identification
More confidence regarding identification does not necessarily ensure accuracy
misinformation effect -

65. Brain Structures and Memory
Hippocampus
new memories; episodic memories
relays sensory information to cortex
Sensory cortex areas
Store sensory information
Integrated by limbic system

66. Brain Structures and Memory
Prefrontal cortex
Ability to represent and be aware of past, present and future events
Thalamus
Formation of verbal memories

67. The Relationships Among the Various Kinds of Memories
The Relationships Among the Various Kinds of Memories – Memories can address past events (retrospective memories) or future events (prospective memories). Memories of the past can be explicit (declarative) or implicit (nondeclarative). Explicit memories include memories of personal episodes (which are called episodic or autobiographical memories) or of general information (semantic memories).