Transcript 17 Memory II

Memory
Storage: Retaining Information
Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory retention is
only fleeting and momentary
• Sensory memory retention
allows us to remember small,
quick bits of information for a
very short period of time
Sensory Memory
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Sensory Memory
• How many letters can you recall?
• Most people can recall four or five letters
in that short of a time span, but know that
there were more.
Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory retention is what is used
when you are reading a sentence in a
book….you only remember the last word
you read until you have read the next few
words on the line
• You’re flipping through the phone book
looking for a number, and though you
recognize that some numbers are not the
correct one, you don’t recall what they
actually were.
Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory retention is what
is used when you see a face in
the crowd for a split second….you
recognize features quickly,
determine she/he was cute, but
then you can’t remember any
details of their face
Sensory Memory
• Was he/she cute?
• What was he/she wearing? What color was
it?
• What color was his/her hair? How long
was it?
• What color was her lipstick?
• What was his/her facial expression?
• What color were his/her eyes?
Short-Term Memory or
Working Memory
• The ability to hold and manipulate
information over a brief period of
time. Forgetting can occur rapidly,
especially if distracted
Short-Term Memory or
Working Memory
• Short-term memory has two important
characteristics.
– First, short-term memory can contain at
any one time seven, plus or
minus two, "chunks" of information.
– Second, items remain in short-term
memory around twenty to thirty
seconds.
Short-Term Memory
• This type of
memory increases
as children get
older…
…but decreases in old age
Short-Term Memory
• Look at the pictures on
the next slide
• Write down all the objects you
can remember
• How many objects did you
remember?
Short-Term Memory
• We can only consciously process a
very limited amount of information in
our short-term memory.
• Overload your short-term memory?
You might forget what you read, ask
yourself where you put your
briefcase, and ask your phone
partner the same thing twice.
Long-Term Memory
• A system in the brain that can
store vast amounts of information
on a relatively enduring basis
• The information can be facts you
learned a few minutes ago,
personal memories that are
decades old, or skills learned with
practice.
Long-Term Memory
• The average adult has more
than a billion bits of information
in memory
• Storage capacity of long-term
memories has been estimated
at million times that
(1,000,000 X 1,000,000,000)
Storing Memories in the Brain
• Complex memories do not
reside in single specific spots
• Karl Lashley – trained rats to solve a
maze, then cut out pieces of the rat’s
cortexes and retested their memory of the
maze. No matter what small cortex
section he removed, the rats retained at
least a partial memory of how to solve the
maze
Storing Memories in the Brain
• Richard Thompson resumed Lashley’s search
• Tone, Puff, Blink –Classical Conditioning/reflex
• Activity was found localized in the Cerebellum
• The Verdict – Complex
memories are distributed while
many simple, reflex memories
are localized
Storing Memories in the Brain
• Are memories stored in the electrical currents of the
brain, in addition to (or instead of?) the physical
cortexes?
• Ralph Gerard – trained hamsters to turn
right or left to get food, and then lowered
their body temps until the brain’s
electrical activity ceased. He revived
them, re-tested them, and they
remembered which way to turn.
• Conclusion: Memories are electrical and
physical.
Important Brain Storage Areas
• The hippocampus
functions as a
memory "gateway"
through which new
memories must
pass before
entering
permanent storage
in the brain. It
holds your short
term memory.
Important Brain Storage Areas
• The amygdala
stores many
memories tied
to emotions.
• It is responsible
for emotional
content of your
memories
Explicit Memory
• the conscious,
intentional
recollection of
previous
experiences and
information.
• We use explicit memory throughout the day,
such as remembering the time of an
appointment or recollecting an event from
years ago.
Implicit Memory
• Implicit Memory is remembering
something without being aware that
you are remembering it.
• It is an automatic or an unconscious form
of memory. (Schacter, 1987)
• Implicit memory is special because most
amnesiacs still have implicit memory skills even
if they don't realize it.
• Motor or muscle memory
is implicit
Memory
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Retrieval
• Retrieval is the process of getting
information out of memory
storage
IE. The Declaration of
Independence was signed in
1776. The directions to Mom’s
house are to make a left on Main
Street, a right on Elk Street, etc.
IE. In a group of people you can’t
remember names, but you can
remember if you’ve met before.
Retrieval
• 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 _______.
Retrieval
• Recognition – a measure of memory
in which a person only needs to
identify items previously learned
– IE. A multiple-choice test.
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.
Retrieval
• Retrieval Cues – clues that provide
reminders of information that
otherwise would be more difficult
to remember;
• If you think of memories as a powder
keg, a retrieval clue is the initial
match that lights the trail of
gunpowder leading to the keg
Retrieval Cues
• Priming – the activation of particular
associations in memory; this may be
done consciously or unconsciously,
purposefully or incidentally
– IE. Mnemonic clues (Roy G Biv) are primers that allow
you to remember information many types of factual
information
– IE. A “Missing Child” poster makes you think about your
own abduction as a child
– IE. The color red prompts memories of days on your
grandfathers farm, with its big red barn
– IE. The first letter of each vocabulary word is provided
on your test.
Retrieval Cues
• 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
Retrieval Cues
• Mood-Congruent –our moods bias
our memories also – what we learned
in one mood, we remember better
when in the same mood
– IE. You go to a funeral and are sad, all
day long you keep remembering other
sad things that you hadn’t thought of in
a long time…
Retrieval Cues
• State-Dependent Theory – what we
learn in one physical state – such
as drunk or sober – is sometimes
more easily recalled when we are
again in that same state.
• i.e. – where did put those car keys
last night…?
Retrieval Cues
• déjà vu – “Already Seen”
(French)
– The eerie sense that “I’ve been
in this exact situation before”
– Memory Explanation – If a
situation is loaded with clues
that are similar to ones
already in memory, your brain
makes similar associations
between them
Memory
Forgetting, Memory Construction,
and Improving Memory
Forgetting
• Absent-Mindedness – inattention to
detail leads to poor encoding, trivial
storage, and often failed retrieval
Forgetting
• Decay Theory – forgetting is
due to normal metabolic
processes that occur in the
brain over time; also, if
memories are unused over a
long period of time, they begin
to naturally fade away
Forgetting
Hermann Ebbinghaus
• IE. Within 3 years of
graduation you will
probably forget more
that half of what you
learned. But, after
three years your
forgetfulness will
level off and you will
retain some of that
Spanish for 25 years
or more, without
having used it or
relearned it.
P.O.R.N.
Retrieval Failures
• Pro-active Interference – occurs
when something you learned
earlier (an old memory) disrupts
your ability to create a new
memory
–IE. You buy a new car and want to
switch on the headlights, but instead
you keep turning on the windshield
wipers.
Retrieval Failures
• Retro-active Interference –
occurs when New information
makers it harder to recall
something you learned earlier
–IE. Your new phone number
interferes with remembering
your old phone number.
P.O.R.N.
• P = Proactive
• O = Remember the old, forget the
new
• R = retroactive
• N = remember the new, can’t
remember the old
Retrieval Failures
• Repression - a basic defense
mechanism that banishes from
consciousness anxiety-arousing
thoughts, feelings, and memories
• People can knowingly, or
unknowingly, revise their own
histories
Retrieval
Failures
Tip-Of-TheTongue
Experience –
the inability to
get a bit of
information
that you’re
absolutely
certain is
stored in your
memory – the
information is
very close,
but just out of
reach
Medical Memory Loss
Amnesia – severe memory loss
– Retrograde – forget things from the
past
– Anterograde – inability to form new
memories but remember the past
Alzheimers – as plaques build in
the brain and interfere with neural
transmissions, memories cannot be
formed or retrieved
False Memories
• Source Confusion – arises when the true
source of a memory is forgotten, so you
create details to fill in the gaps
– You actually saw that on tv…
• Misinformation Effect – a
person’s existing memories can
be altered if the person is
exposed to misleading
information
– Eyewitness Testimony…How
reliable is it?
Elizabeth Loftus
How To Make Memories Last?
A Few Suggestions
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Focus your attention
Organize the information
Commit the necessary time
Elaborate on the material
Space your study sessions
How To Make Memories Last?
A Few Suggestions
• Use visual imagery and other
mnemonics
• Explain it to a friend
• Reduce Interferences
• Since we usually remember the early
part and the last part, spend extra time
on the middle (the serial position effect,
primacy and recency)
• Use contextual clues to jog memory