Transcript Memory - Welcome to AP Psychology

Instructions
• Number from 1 to 20 on a piece of paper
• For “A” words, note the number of
syllables.
• For “B” words:
– Put “P” if you find the word pleasant
– Put “U” if you find the word unpleasant
• Do not write the words on your paper!
B
APPLE
A
MOONLIGHT
B
NEWSPAPER
B
GIRAFFE
A
RIVER
A
BASEBALL
B
SUMMER
A
DOG
A
BIRTHDAY
B
AUTOMOBILE
A
VACATION
B
BICYCLE
B
FENCEPOST
A
LEMONADE
A
ATLAS
B
TABLE
B
OUTLINE
A
HAMBURGER
B
HARMONICA
A
AIRPLANE
More Instructions
• Turn over your piece of paper
• Answer the following questions:
–What is your zip code?
–What country is located north of the
United States?
–What is your favorite kind of pizza?
•Now, in any order, list
as many of the 20
words as you can
Memory
Memory
•The persistence of
learning over time
through the storage
and retrieval of
information
Information Processing Theory
• Encoding – the processing of
information into the memory
system
• Storage – the retention of
encoded information over time
• Retrieval – the process of getting
information out of memory
storage
ENCODING
• Encoding is the
processing of putting
information into the
memory system – the
first step of building a
memory is sensory input.
• When we begin encoding, we are
using Working Memory.
• We are taking in new information,
processing it, and matching it to
previous memories in order to make
sense of it all.
– The visual information that we are
working with temporarily is called Iconic
Memory.
– Temporary auditory information is
called Echoic Memory.
• Some information that we encode
is put there purposefully. We are
actively engaged and want to
remember it. These are Explicit
Memories.
• Some information that we encode
happens without much effort and
enters into storage almost
automatically. These are Implicit
Memories.
• At any given time, our Working
Memory can simultaneously
process 7 +/- 2 items.
CHJ
Mnemonics
Memory Shortcuts
How to Improve Your Memory
• Chunking – Organizing
items into smaller, more
familiar and manageable
units
• A phone number is chunked as 302-3764141 NOT 3023764141
• A social security number is chunked as
172-56-8976 NOT 172568976
• Grocery stores are arranged by like items,
ie. the cereal isle, frozen foods, the deli
• Your psychology textbook is divided into
fourteen units of like content
• You arrange a chest of drawers into a shirt
drawer, sock drawer, underwear…not all
mixed together into one drawer
What were those
three letters again?
• Rehearsal – the conscious
repetition of information
• Spacing Effect – rehearsal
of information with spaced
breaks between sessions
–Study, take a break, study, take a
break…spacing a cumulative
exam of 14 chapters over the
course of seven days NOT
cramming everything over one
night
•Serial Position Effect –
With rehearsal, be
aware of your
tendency to recall best
the last and first items
in a list
• Testing Effect – Practicing
retrieval multiple times while
encoding new material
–Quizzes during units as well as
a unit test, review questions at
the end of each chapter
reading, cumulative exams
throughout the year.
•Acronyms – Making a
word from the first
letters of the words
that we are to
remember
• Need to learn the names
of North America’s five
“Great Lakes”?
– Huron, Ontario, Michigan,
Erie, Superior - HOMES
• National Aeronautics and Space
Administration - NASA
• Self Contained Underwater
Breathing Apparatus – SCUBA
• Laugh Out Loud – LOL
Acoustic Mnemonics
• Acoustical encoding may also
enhance the processing of
other information by applying
rhyme schemes, stories,
songs, etc. to the information.
• Trying to remember the concept that
alcohol lowers inhibitions and
encourages socialization?…..”What
sobriety conceals, alcohol reveals”.
• “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must
acquit,” is easily remembered by
jurors when a lawyer is fighting for his
client’s innocence.
• Fifty Nifty States
• Thirty days has September; April, June,
and November; When short February is
done, All the rest have thirty-one.
• In fourteen hundred and ninety-two
Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.
• "i" before "e," except after "c," or in
sounding like "ay" as in "neighbor" or
"weigh."
Visual Mnemonic
• Visual encoding may also
enhance the processing of other
information. For example, if you
are trying to remember a list of
grocery items, you may mentally
picture a grocery store and place
the items in the store (Method of
Loci).
Memory
Storage: Retaining Information
The Biological Basis of Memory
• LTP – Long-Term Potentiation
–When a memory is encoded, the
neurons involved move closer
together, connect to more neurons,
need less stimulation to fire, and
increase their receptor sites for
receiving neurotransmitters
Where Are Long Term Memories Stored?
• Amygdala
– Emotional aspects of memory and specific life
events (Episodic Memory)
• Basal Ganglia
– Processes physical movements related to
procedural skills (Procedural Memory)
• Cerebellum
– Processes conditioned behaviors
• Hippocampus
– Processes mostly factual information (Semantic
Memory), names, images and spatial imagery, and
verbal information
Specific Type of Episodic Memory
• Flashbulb Memories – type
of episodic memory in which
you have an exact and clear
memory of an emotionally
significant moment or event
from your past
Superior Autobiographical
Memory Test
• http://cramtest.info/
Memory
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
• Retrieval is the process
of getting information out
of memory storage
• If the information to be retrieved is from
the past, it is called a retrospective
memory.
– IE. I remember the time I went to the zoo in
5th grade.
• If the information to be retrieved is to
remember to do something in the future, it
is called a prospective memory.
– IE. When I get home from work I need to
remember to call the doctor’s office.
• Recall – memory is the ability to
retrieve exact information learned at
an earlier time
– IE. Fill in the blank test.
– IE. Columbus sailed in the year
________. 6 x 6 = _____. Define
retrieval ______.
My Social Security
number is _______.
Recall Memory
• Recognition – a measure of memory
in which a person only needs to
identify items previously learned
– IE. A multiple-choice test.
– IE. Of the following choices, which is
the correct answer to 6 x 6 ____. You
can’t remember the names of all 400
kids you graduated high school with, but
if I show you pictures of them you can
remember who you went to school with
and who you didn’t.
How to Enhance Retrieval
• Relearning – the principle that if
you’ve learned something and forgot
it, you probably will learn the material
more easily the second time –
therefore, retrieval is easier and
quicker as well
– IE. Learned to play the guitar and
played for five years. Haven’t played in
10 years, but you pick up a guitar and
play a few tunes, and with a few lessons
you play as well as you did before.
• Primers – the activation of particular
associations in memory, by a keyword or
some other type of sensory input
– Can’t remember a word? Here’s the first
letter
– Can’t remember a song? Here’s the first few
notes
– Seeing the color red brings back memories
of…
– Smelling suntan lotion brings back memories
of….
• Context Effects – the tendency
to remember information better
and more accurately when you
are in a physical setting that is
similar to the one that you
learned the information in the
first place
• State-Dependent Theory –
what we learn in one
emotional or physical state is
sometimes more easily
recalled when we are again in
that same emotional state
Memory
What factors affect our ability to
retrieve information?
• Age and Decay Theory - The
older we get, the less responsive
the brain areas associated with
encoding and retaining memory
are.
• Absent-Mindedness – inattention
to detail leads to poor encoding,
trivial storage, and often failed
retrieval
–AbM Test
• Mood-Congruency – our current
moods may bias our past memories
– IE. When you are depressed, you more
easily recall past sad events and may
even add sadness to memories that
weren’t so bad. Conversely, when you
are happy you more easily recall past
happy moments and may even think
things were better then they really were.
• Transience–Ebbinghaus’ “Forgetting Curve”
states that much of what we learn
we forget rather quickly if it’s not
used – we forget about 35% of what
we learn within five (5) days, but
then we retain the rest for a rather
long period of time
• Pro-active Interference – occurs
when something you learned
earlier (an old memory) disrupts
your ability to create a new
memory
–IE. Every time you go to open your
locker this year you start entering
last year’s number. You just moved
and when asked for your phone
number you begin to recite the
home number of your old house.
• Retro-active Interference – occurs
when new information makes it
harder to recall something you
learned earlier
–IE. Your new phone number
interferes with remembering your
old phone number. Hearing a
remake of a song makes it harder
to remember the original version.
• Repression - a basic
defense mechanism that
banishes from
consciousness anxietyarousing thoughts, feelings,
and memories
• Source Amnesia – occurs when you
attribute memories to things that you
think you experienced, but in reality
you incorporated things from others
sources, like books or films
• Misinformation Effect – a person’s
existing memories can be altered if
the person is exposed to misleading
information or questions
– Eyewitness Testimony…How reliable is
it?
• Amnesia – severe memory loss
• Retrograde Amnesia – especially due to
injury, patients lose most of their memory
of past events, especially most recent
events
• Anterograde Amnesia – the inability to
form new memories
• Alzheimers – as plaques build in the brain
and interfere with neural transmissions,
memories cannot be formed or retrieved