1. Chapter 6 Lecture Outline
The Acquisition of Memories and
the Working-Memory System
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company

2. Chapter 6: Working Memory
Lecture Outline
The Modal Model
Working Memory
Entering Long-term Storage
Elaborate Encoding
Organizing and Memorizing
Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and Retrieval
Implications for Successful Studying

3. Chapter 6: Working Memory
One way to frame learning and memory
Acquisition
Storage
Retrieval
Analogy to creating, storing, and opening a computer file

4. Chapter 6: Working Memory
This view is problematic for at least two reasons.
New learning is grounded in previously learned (stored) knowledge.
Effective learning depends on how the information will be later retrieved.

5. Information processing
The Modal Model
Information processing
A perspective in cognitive psychology in which complex mental events involve a number of discrete components
These components receive input from, and send input to, one another.
Each of these systems is separate.

6. The modal model (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968; Waugh & Norman, 1965)
Sensory memory (iconic or echoic)
Short-term memory (STM)
Long-term memory (LTM)
Sensory memory—input held in raw sensory form
Short-term memory (STM)—holds the information currently in use
Long-term memory (LTM)—all of the information one can remember

7. Working memory (WM)—a dynamic form of short-term memory
The Modal Model
Working memory (WM)—a dynamic form of short-term memory
Less like a storage place and more like a status
The modal memory has been updated:
Sensory memory plays a smaller role in modern theories.
Working memory is a more recent term for short-term memory, emphasizing its function. It is dynamic because it is adaptive and does more than simply store information.

8. Working Memory Long-Term Memory Time Temporary Long-lasting Capacity
The Modal Model
Working Memory
Long-Term Memory
Time
Temporary
Long-lasting
Capacity
Limited
Large
Access
Relatively easy
Relatively hard
The modal model continues to explain basic contrasts between WM and LTM.
WM stores information currently being thought about; LTM stores all the information one knows.
WM is limited in capacity; LTM is great in capacity.
WM is easily loaded and accessed; LTM is less easily loaded and accessed.
WM is fragile and easily displaced; LTM is more enduring.

9. Experiments supporting the modal model
Presented with a long series of words (e.g., 30)
Perform free-recall afterward
Look at the position in the list (serial recall)
Participants hear a long series of words (e.g., 30).
The position of an item in the presentation list is its serial position.
The task is to repeat back as many words as they can in any order; this is a free-recall procedure.

10. Primacy effect The Modal Model Better memory for first few items
Long-term memory
Memory rehearsal allows transfer from WM to LTM
Primacy effect
With free recall, participants are likely to remember the first few items in the list.
The primacy effect is based in long-term memory.
During list presentation, the first few items receive the most memory rehearsal and are transferred from WM to LTM.

11. Recency effect The Modal Model Better memory for the last few items
Last few items are not displaced by future items
Based on working memory
With free recall, participants are likely to remember the last few items in the list.
The recency effect is based in working memory.
At the end of list presentation, the last few items are currently in working memory and are often the first items to be reported.

12. Testing recency claims
The Modal Model
Testing recency claims
Thirty seconds is not enough to wipe out recency.
Another task is needed to do so.
Thirty seconds of filled delay displaces the last few items from working memory.
This eliminates the recency effect.
Thirty seconds of unfilled delay does not change the recency effect.

13. The Modal Model Slow presentation aids pre-recency items.
Recency effect is the same.
Slowing down the presentation of the list allows for more rehearsal of all items.
This improves all parts of the curve that reflect LTM; that is, all items except for the last few.
Memory for the rest of the list is better.

14. Support for primacy claims
The Modal Model
Support for primacy claims
Memory for the items at the beginning of the list (but not the end) is associated with activity in the hippocampus.
Primacy associated with hippocampus
Working memory associated with perirhinal cortex

15. Virtually all mental activities require working memory (WM).
Reading
Goal-driven behavior
Some tasks demand more WM resources than others.
Individual differences in WM capacity predict some cognitive abilities.

16. Digit-span task The participant is asked to remember digits.
Working Memory
Digit-span task
The participant is asked to remember digits.
The list is increased until memory fails.
The maximum number is the digit span.
The digit-span test is used to determine an individual’s working-memory capacity.
The participant hears a series of digits and repeats them back.
The longest list length that can be reliably repeated back by the participant is his or her digit span.
Working memory capacity is typically 7 plus-or-minus 2 (Miller, 1956).

17. Chunking The ability to condense information Requires effort
Working Memory
Chunking
The ability to condense information
Requires effort
Reduces load
Does not increase WM
Chunking refers to a repackaging of the information held in working memory.
A series of letters HOPTRASLU can be chunked as the syllables HOP, TRA, SLU.
Working memory can hold 7 plus-or-minus 2 chunks of information.
Effort and attentional resources are required to repackage the input.
Does not increase the size of working memory itself.

18. Operation span Another measure of working memory
Decide whether equation is true or false
Then remember word
Number of words remembered is the operation span
Another measure that captures the active nature of working memory.
Participant determines whether an equation is true or false, and must remember a word paired with each equation.
The number of words that can be remembered determines the operation span.

19. Reading span Captures active nature of working memory
Participant reads sentences and remembers the last word in each sentence
Number of sentences is increased to failure
Number of words remembered is the reading span
Reading span is a measure that captures the active nature of working memory.
The participant reads a series of sentences and must remember the last word in each sentence.
The number of sentence-final words that can be remembered is the operation span.

20. Reading span and operation span correlate strongly with
Working Memory
Reading span and operation span correlate strongly with
Standardized test performance
Reasoning
Reading comprehension
This suggests that part of the “intelligence” we measure in the SAT College Admission Exam is working-memory capacity.

21. Working memory is often divided into three components
Central executive
Visuospatial buffer
Articulatory rehearsal loop
Central executive—makes decisions, plans responses, and coordinates helper components
Visuospatial buffer—helper component that deals with visual material and imagery
Articulatory rehearsal loop—helper component that deals with verbal material

22. WM is an update to the modal model
Working Memory
WM is an update to the modal model
A dynamic form of STM
But still fragile

23. Entering Long-Term Storage
Two types of rehearsal
Maintenance rehearsal—reciting
Relational or elaborative rehearsal—linking
Maintenance rehearsal—thinking about the material in a rote, mechanical way; repetition
Relational or elaborative rehearsal—thinking about the material in terms of meaning, relating the items to each other and to what one already knows

24. Entering Long-Term Storage
Relational, or elaborative, rehearsal is superior.
Repeated exposure does not guarantee memory.
Relational, or elaborative, rehearsal is superior to maintenance rehearsal for establishing information in LTM.
Even repeated exposure to information does not guarantee encoding in LTM.
For example, try to remember the design details of a penny. Most people’s answers to the question, “Which way is Lincoln facing?” are close to random.

25. Entering Long-Term Storage
The need for active encoding
Frontal areas
Hippocampus and adjacent areas
If we compare the brain activity for remembered and forgotten items at the time of encoding, activity in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex predicts later retention.
Remembered greater than forgotten

26. Entering Long-Term Storage
Incidental learning—unintentional
Intentional learning—intentional
Incidental learning—learning in the absence of any intention to learn
Intentional learning—learning with the intention to learn

27. Entering Long-Term Storage
Shallow processing—superficial
Deep processing—meaningful
Shallow processing – engaging the information in a relatively superficial way; for example, making a decision about a typeface
Deep processing—engaging the information in a more meaningful way; for example, thinking about meaning

28. Entering Long-Term Storage
Deeper processing ensures better recall.

29. Entering Long-Term Storage
Imagine an experiment in which you cross depth of processing (three levels)
Typeface task (shallow)
Phonological task (intermediate)
Semantic task (deep)
And intention to learn (two levels)
Incidental learning
Intentional learning

30. Entering Long-Term Storage
Depth of processing is strong.
Intention to learn has no effect.
Intention to learn can lead you to choose a deeper strategy.
Depth of processing has a strong effect.
Intention to learn does not have a measurable effect.
Any effects of intention to learn are indirect; it all depends on whether the participant chooses a deep-processing strategy.

31. Very hard to find info Very easy to find info Elaborate Encoding
Depth of processing promotes recall by facilitating later retrieval.
Cataloging a book does not ground it more firmly in the building but makes it easier to find later.

32. Depth of processing promotes recall by facilitating later retrieval.
Elaborate Encoding
Depth of processing promotes recall by facilitating later retrieval.
Consider learning as a way to establish indexing, a path to the information.
Connections between items to be remembered facilitates retrieval.

33. Memory connections facilitate retrieval.
Elaborate Encoding
Memory connections facilitate retrieval.
We can use this to help retrieval.
“What words are related in meaning to the word I’m now considering?”
“What words have contrasting meaning?”
“What is the relationship between the start of this story and the way the story turned out?”

34. Craik and Tulving (1975) Elaborate Encoding Example Result Elaborate
“The great bird swooped down and carried off the struggling chicken.”
Better memory
Simple
“She cooked the chicken.”
Worse memory
Craik and Tulving (1975) showed that words appearing in more elaborate sentences:
“The great bird swooped down and carried off the struggling chicken.”
Were better remembered than the same words in simple sentences:
“She cooked the chicken.”

35. Craik and Tulving (1975) Elaborate Encoding
Craik and Tulving (1975) showed that words appearing in more elaborate sentences:
“The great bird swooped down and carried off the struggling chicken.”
Were better remembered than the same words in simple sentences:
“She cooked the chicken.”

36. Elaborate sentences result in richer retrieval paths.
Elaborate Encoding
Elaborate sentences result in richer retrieval paths.
This benefit for words that were encoded in elaborate sentences may be the result of richer retrieval paths—paths that guide a person’s thoughts toward the content to be remembered.
More elaborative encoding creates more retrieval paths.

37. Organizing and Memorizing
Katona (1940) argued that the key to creating connections in the material to be remembered is organization.
We memorize well when we find order in the material.

38. Organizing and Memorizing
Mnemonics improve memory through organization.
Mnemonics are strategies used to improve memory by providing an organizational framework.
The downside is not finding a richer understanding of the material by relating it to things already known.

39. Organizing and Memorizing
Peg-word systems: items are “hung” on a system of already well known “pegs”
“One is a bun, two is a shoe . . .”
First-letter mnemonics
Roy G. Biv
King Phillip Crossed the Ocean to Find Gold and Silver
Full peg-word example:
One is a bun. Two is a shoe. Three is a tree. Four is a door. Five is a hive. Six are sticks. Seven is heaven. Eight is a gate. Nine is a line. Ten is a hen.

40. Organizing and Memorizing
Mnemonics Help

41. Organizing and Memorizing
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange items into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run, this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then, one never can tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life.
Ambiguous passages are understood and remembered better if they are given a clarifying title (Bransford & Johnson, 1972).
Answer: doing laundry

42. Organizing and Memorizing
What is the pattern?
Memory for digits is enhanced if patterns can be discovered. The problem has two answers: the square of digits 1 through 9, or add an increasing odd number to each one: = = = = = = = = 81

43. Organizing and Memorizing
Ambiguous pictures are understood and remembered better if they are identified (Wiseman & Neisser, 1974)

44. Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and Retrieval
Memory is facilitated by organizing and understanding.
What the memorizer was doing at the time of exposure matters.
The background knowledge of the memorizer matters.

45. Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and Retrieval
Acquisition, storage, and retrieval are not easily separable.
New learning is grounded in previously learned (stored) knowledge.
Effective learning depends on how the information will later be retrieved.

46. Links Among Acquisition, Storage, and Retrieval
Implications for studying
Understand through self-questioning
Actively engage
Form connections
Spaced learning
Explaining topics to friends is one way to actively engage.

47. Chapter 6 Questions

48. Which group would perform the WORST on a memory test
Which group would perform the WORST on a memory test? a) Participants engaged in shallow processing without previous warning of a memory test. b) Participants engaged in medium processing with previous warning of a memory test. c) Participants engaged in deep processing without previous warning of a memory test. d) Participants engaged in deep processing with previous warning of a memory test.
Correct answer: a
Feedback: Depth of processing is important for memory. Hence, a person engaged in shallow processing will not remember as well.

49. Someone with a larger working-memory capacity is likely to perform better than someone with a smaller working-memory capacity on which of the following tasks? a) following directions b) efficient reading c) learning a computer language d) all of the above
Correct answer: d
Feedback: All of these tasks involve working memory.

50. Which statement about working memory is TRUE
Which statement about working memory is TRUE? a) It has unlimited storage capacity. b) It functions as a storage container. c) Information in it is fragile and easily lost. d) It refers mainly to the resources that are retained over long intervals.
Correct answer: c
Feedback: Working memory is dynamic and hence information is quickly lost.

51. Which of the following would be the LEAST help in improving recall of a difficult-to-understand paragraph? a) quizzing yourself in order to improve comprehension of the paragraph b) chunking the sentences in the paragraph into smaller, meaningful groups c) repeating the paragraph aloud many times d) giving the paragraph a meaningful title
Correct answer: c
Feedback: This option is reliant on maintenance rehearsal, which is the least favorable way to learn material.

52. Composing a long story with all the items on her list.
Veronica wanted to go to the grocery store but was out of paper for writing a shopping list. She came up with several possible ways to remember what she needed to buy (listed below). Which of her ideas is a simple mnemonic strategy?
Using the peg-word system to associate different items on the shopping list with words in an easy-to-remember rhyme.
Imagining what she can cook with all of the items on the list and imagining what all the food would taste like.
Composing a long story with all the items on her list.
Repeating all the items on her list multiple times.
Correct answer: a
Feedback: The learning system is based on shallow associations based on an existing structure.

53. What causes the recency effect
What causes the recency effect? a) The last words heard are still in working memory at testing. b) The first words heard are also the first words to leave working memory. c) Words that get more attention are better encoded into long-term memory. d) Experimenters tend to provide easier words first as warm-up.
Correct answer: a
Feedback: The last words are still in working memory at the time of testing.