Transcript Memory: Living with Yesterday

Psych 101
Dr. Harvey
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Memory: Living with
Yesterday
This multimedia product and its contents are
protected under copyright law. The following are
prohibited by law:
• any public performance or display, including
transmission of any image over a network;
• preparation of any derivative work, including
extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;
• any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
“
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Fundamental Memory
Processes
 Encoding
Organizing and transforming incoming
information to be entered into memory
 Storage
Retaining information in memory
 Retrieval
Accessing information previously stored in memory
 Rehearsal
The continued activation of information to retain it in
short-term memory
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Different Memory Stores
 We have three different memory stores, or
sets of neurons that maintain information
 Each memory store has a different…
Duration: the length of time information is
maintained
Capacity: the amount of information that is
maintained
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Different Memory Stores
Fundamental distinctions among
memory stores
Sensory
Memory
Short-Term
Memory
Long-Term
Memory
Rehearsal
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Sensory Memory
 Very short memory store arising from the
temporary activation of perceptual areas of
the brain
 Characteristics
Duration: Very short, typically less than 1 second
Capacity: Large
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Sensory Memory
Sperling’s partial
Z RAT
BS LD
QEKR
report technique: a
tone indicated which
row to report after the
stimuli disappeared
High tone = Top
Medium tone =
Middle
Low tone= Bottom
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Sensory Memory
Sperling’s partial report technique
Conclusions
 Large-capacity memory store that fades very
quickly
 Information must be accessed before it fades or it
is lost
 Attention is necessary to move information from
SM to STM
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Short-Term Memory
 Short-term memory store is the only memory
store whose contents you are aware of
 Characteristics
Duration: Several seconds without rehearsal, typically
30 seconds with rehearsal
Capacity: Small, typically 5-9 items
 Processes in STM
Chunking
Rehearsal
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Working Memory (WM)
 WM was proposed to address the limitations
of the original STM model
 Three components of WM
Central executive
Articulatory loop
Visuospatial sketch pad (VSSP)
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Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory store containing the
accumulated knowledge base, gives
meaning
Characteristics
Duration: Hours to years
Capacity: Huge-possibly limitless
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Serial Position Effect
Recency
Effect
Percentage Recalled
Primacy
100 Effect
50
0
Early
Middle
Late
Serial Position
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Serial Position Effect
 Based on what you now know about the different
memory stores, how would you explain…
The primacy effect?
The recency effect?
The poor recall for words in the middle of the list?
 How would the results change if…
The words were presented at a very fast rate?
After hearing the list of words, you had to count
backward from 431 before writing down your
answers?
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Making Memories: Code
A code is a type of mental representation,
an internal “re-presentation” of a stimulus
or event
You can store information in a visual or
verbal code
vs.
“Coffee and a muffin”
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Making Memories: Code
 Information stored as one type of code does
not need to match the original input
Visual stimuli can be coded verbally
Verbal stimuli can be coded visually
 Information stored and accessed as visual
code will activate the visual processing areas
of the brain (occipital lobe)
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Consolidation
The process of forming a relatively
permanent memory trace in LTM may
take several years!
Patients who receive electroconvulsive
therapy experience disruption of memory
for recent events, even those that are no
longer in STM. Older memories are
unaffected.
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Reconsolidation
The simple act of recalling information
can change the information. These
changes are reconsolidated,
restabilized as a stored structure.
Different proteins undergo consolidation
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Depth of Processing
 The success of learning new information
depends upon the depth at which it is
processed
 Organization and integration is the key to
learning
Intentional learning
Incidental learning
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Flashbulb Memories
 Highly emotional and detailed
memories of personal
experiences
Where were you on September 11,
2001?
Who were you with?
What were you doing?
How did you feel when you heard
the news?
Sugar pill vs. Noradrenaline blocker
experiment
Von Restorf effect
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Types of LTM
Long-Term Memory
Explicit Memory
Implicit Memory
Semantic
Memory
Episodic
Memory
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Implicit vs. Explicit Memories
 Implicit memories
Cannot be voluntarily called to mind and verbalized
Include motor skills
 Explicit memories
Can be voluntarily called to mind and verbalized
Consist of both factual knowledge (semantic) and
memory for personal experiences (episodic)
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Implicit Memories: Skills
Skills are sets of behaviors that can be
applied to a variety of stimuli within a
domain, such as riding a bike
Initially, skills rely on controlled
processing and given enough practice
shift to rely on automatic processing
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Biological Foundations of
Memory
Long-term potentiation (LTP) is the
strengthening of the connections between
the sending and receiving neurons that
underlies memory storage
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Retrieval: More Than the Past
False memories
Loftus and colleagues (1978)
 People watched a series of slides that showed
a red Datsun stopping at a stop sign and then
proceeding into an accident
 Participants were asked
 “Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was
stopped at the stop sign?”
OR
 “Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was
stopped at the yield sign?”
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What Causes Forgetting?
 Decay
Theory that memories fade over time because
relevant connections between neurons are lost
 Interferences
Theory that the disruption of the ability to remember
one piece of information is caused by the presence of
other information
Retroactive: New information interferes with old
Proactive: Old information interferes with new
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Amnesia
Retrograde amnesia disrupts previous
memories
Infantile amnesia
Anterograde amnesia leaves already
consolidated memories intact but
prevents the learning of new facts
Patient H.M.
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The Repressed Memory
Debate
Are they real memories that are forced
out of consciousness and then later
emerge, as hypothesized by Freud, or
are they false memories?
Evidence is mixed
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007