Transcript Memory: Organization

MEMORY:
ORGANIZATION
AP Psych
Myers – Ch. 9
MEMORY
 The persistence of learning over time through
storage and retrieval of information
 Encoding – processing info into memory system
 Storage – retention of encoded info
 Retrieval – process of getting info out of storage
 Memory is like a computer’s information processing
system.
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
MEMORY STAGES
 Sensory memory – immediate, brief recording of
sensory info
 Short term memory (STM)/ working memory –
activated memory that holds a few items briefly
before it is encoded and stored or discarded
 Long term memory (LTM) - the relatively permanent and limitless
storehouse
MODIFIED 3 STAGE MODEL
 Atkinson-Shif frin and Baddley Models combined
Sensory
Input
Sensory
Memory
Forgetting
Attention
Encoding
STM or
Working
Memory
Forgetting
Encoding
LTM
Retrieval
Forgetting
15 SEC TO REMEMBER THIS IN ORDER…
OTTFFSSENT
ENCODING
 Automatic processing– ef fortless, unconscious encoding of
info
 Reading signs while driving
 Ef fortful processing – requires attention and conscious
ef fort
 Reading the psych text book for comprehension and understanding
 Rehearsal – conscious repetition
 Spacing ef fect – memories are retained through distributed
practice
 Serial positioning ef fect – remembering the first and last
items in a list
 Write the letters I asked you to memorize a few minutes ago.
ENCODING
Visual encoding – encoding of picture images
(ex: visualization of info on page)
 Imagery – mental pictures
 Mnemonic devices – memory aids, especially those techniques that
use vivid imagery and organizational devices (ex: pegmethod/memory palace)
Acoustic encoding – encoding of sounds (ex:
rhymes with, repetition of info out loud)
Semantic encoding – encoding of meaning
(ex: assigning/creating meaning)
ORGANIZING INFO FOR PROCESSING
 Chunking – organizing items into familiar
manageable units; often occurs automatically
 17761861191719412001  How can you chunk this?
 How could you have chunked OTTFFSSENT?
STORAGE
 Sensory Memory
 Iconic memory – a momentary sensory memory of visual info (brief
photographic memory)
 You can briefly look a word’s spelling to copy the
word, but cannot recall the spelling minutes later.
 Echoic memory – a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli,
3-4 seconds
 Teacher asks you “what did I just say?” and you can
recall the last few words
STORAGE
 8 volunteers - think of your favorite food.
 Now say your favorite food, plus everyone else’s
favorite food before you.
 STM/Working memory
 7 +/- 2
 Importance of chunking
STORAGE
 LTM – Unlimited
 Implicit memory – procedures/skills (processed in part in the
cerebellum)
 Explicit memory – retention of facts and experiences that you
can consciously declare (primarily processed/stored in
hippocampus)
 Semantic memory – general knowledge
 Episodic memory – events
 Prospective memory – remembering to do something in the future
STORAGE
 Flashbulb memories – clear, vivid memory of an
emotionally significant event
 Episodic memory
LONG-TERM POTENTIATION
Biological look at memory storage.
Long-term potentiation (LTP) – an increase in
a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid
stimulation; believed to be a neural basis for
learning and memory
 As experience strengthens the pathways between neurons, synapses
transmit signals more efficiently
RETRIEVAL
Getting memories out of storage
 Recall – retrieving info not in conscious
awareness
 Short answer questions, fill-in-the-blank questions
 Recognition – identifying items previously
learned
 Multiple choice questions
 Relearning – learning information a second time,
faster than the first time
 Test corrections
CONTEXT EFFECTS ON MEMORY
 Déjà vu – the eerie sense that “I’ve
experienced this before.” Cues from
the current situation may
subconsciously trigger retrieval of an
earlier experience.
 Context-dependent memories –
memories are more easily recalled in
the same context as when they were
encoded
 State-dependent memories - memories
are more easily recalled in the same
state as when they were encoded
MEMORY:
FORGETTING AND
IMPROVEMENT
AP Psych
Myers, Ch. 9
FORGETTING
 Just as important as remembering  avoid clutter
 Amnesia – the loss of memory
 Biological – head injuries
THREE SINS OF FORGETTING
 Absent-mindedness
 Inattention to details; we cannot remember something we have not
encoded.
A
THREE SINS OF FORGETTING
 Transience – storage decay
 Even if we encode, we can still forget it later
 Often unused info or info that no longer holds meaning.
THREE SINS OF FORGETTING
 Blocking – inaccessibility of stored info (“it’s on the
tip of my tongue…”)
 Proactive interference – the disruptive effect of prior learning
on the recall of new info.
 Retroactive interference – the disruptive effect of new learning
on the recall of old info.
 Motivated forgetting
 Repression – in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense
mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
 Most psychologists today would agree that repressed
memories do not exist.
THREE SINS OF DISTORTION
 Source amnesia – attributing to the wrong source an
event we have experienced, hear about, read about,
or imagined.
 Misinformation effect – incorporating misleading
info into one’s memory of an event.
 Loftus’ study on recollections of car accidents using leading
questions.
Bias – belief-colored recollections
 Memories are perceptions of the past and as such are subject to
expectations and bias.
EYE WITNESS RECALL
 Eye witness recall is subject to false memory
reconstruction.
 Misinformation effect
 Presupposing and leading questions
 Young child can recall events as they occurred if…
 neutral adult asks non-leading questions
 uses words they understand.
 Children are more suggestible than adults can be
lead to produce false memories through suggestive
questions.
IMPROVING MEMORY
 Study repeatedly to boost long term recall.
 Make material personally meaningful.
 Use mnemonic devices.
 Minimize interference.
 Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse the info
and determine what you do not know yet.
MEMORY AS BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL
(PG. 390)
Biological
•LTP
•Automatic
processing
•Electric
current or head
injury
•Storage decay
Psychological
•Rehearsal
•Context effects
•Priming
•Mood
•Stress
•Encoding and
organizing strategies
•Retrieval interference
•Memory construction
Social-cultural
•Misinformation
effect
•Flashbulb
memories for
important events
•Level of implied
importance
•Source amnesia
VIDEOS
 60 Minutes – Endless Memory (Pt. 1)
 Zimbardo – Remembering and Forgetting
 Brain Games – Remember This!