Transcript Varieties of Memory

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Varieties of Memory
Thomas G. Bowers, Ph.D.
Penn State Harrisburg
2000
What Types of Memories
Are There?
• I. Working Memory
– Appears to be convergent evidence
about the nature of working memory
– William James early work (1890/1950)
• Spoke of primary memory, inseparable from
the stream of thought.
• Rich diversity of content
• Early identification of attention
What Types of Memories
Are There?
• I. Working Memory
– Auditory or Verbal Memory
• Speech-based store
• Some Qualities:
–
–
–
–
Digit Span - average is 7 (+/- 2)
Subvocalizing has been observed
Errors tend to be “sound alike”
Longer words or stimulus material is less likely
to recall, because of difficulty in subvocalization
– Phonological storage system
– Other tasks as letter number sequencing
– Tend to be left hemisphere tasks
What Types of Memories
Are There?
• I. Working Memory
– Visual Memory or Imagery
• Short term - Connect stars, blocks or other
items
• Scanning appears to preserve distance if
using a imagery strategy, judging by
preserved relationships between distance
and reaction times
• Mental rotation of block figures Processing speed matches the degree of
rotation required
What Types of Memories
Are There?
What Types of Memories
Are There?
Visual Memory
Processing
• As the degree of rotation increases,
the amount of time to process the
change also increases
• There can be selective interference
with imagery
– There is a small but reliable reduction
of accuracy under imagery conditions
Selective Interference
Percentage of false alarms
Visual signal
Auditory Signal
Visualizing
7.8%
Auditory
Image
3.6%
3.7%
6.7%
Imaginary Processing
• Kosslyn suggests imaginary may be
processed differently than verbal or
propositional information
• Some ambiguity in spatial imagery
– Images are saturated with meaning
– Some suggest we should be concerned
with spatial imagery
Imaginary Processing
• Spatial imaginary
– examples of Necker cube and
Duck/Rabbit precept
Working Memory
• Working memory system
– 1. Executive functions
– 2. “Slave systems
– Rehearsal loop
– Visuospatial scratchpad
• Subvocalization thought to be importart
Long Term Memory
• Propositional Material
• Imaginary Material
– Nonverbal material may be handled by
applying a meaningful context
– Imaginary mnemonics
• Image elements interacting with each other
• For a word pair learning task
• As a “cigar-smoking piano”
Dual Coding Theory of
Memory
• Independent processing of verbal
and nonverbal material
• Proposed by Paivio in 1970’s
Dual Coding Theory
Nonverbal
Verbal
Sensory Analysis
Imagen
Logen
Dual Coding Theory
• Verbal and Nonverbal material
should be processed more quickly in
the appropriate modality
Dual Coding Theory
Dual Coding Experiment
Pictures
Words
80
Resp
Time 60
40
20
0
Association
Size
Secondary Memory
• Despite the evidence of different
processing in terms of short term
memory, evidence suggests
secondary memory operates on a
single process
– Appears to be the same for verbal and
visual material
Secondary Memory
• Memory for faces may operate
independently of other systems
• We tend to demonstrate better
recall for faces relative to abstract
stimulus material
• This effect can be impaired by
changes in orientation
• Prosopagnosia - impairment of
facial recognition
Secondary Memory
• Example from Thompson (1980)
• Upside down face of Margaret
Thatcher
Other Types of Memory
• Procedural Knowledge
– Knowing how to do things, solve or
approach particular problems
• Declarative Knowledge
– Knowing about particular specific facts
and elements of knowledge
Other Types of Memory
• Hemispherical specialization in
knowledge and memory
– There is extensive evidence of
hemispherical specialization