Transcript Memory - AP Psychology

Memory
Storage: Retaining Information
Memory – Information Processing
• Atkinson and Shiffrin’s “ThreeStage Processing” Model
• Memories are stored in a
three-step process of sensory
memory, short-term
memory, and long-term
memory
Memory – Information Processing
• Sensory Memory – the immediate, initial
recording of sensory information; fleeting,
temporary information
• Short-Term Memory – activated memory that
holds a few items briefly, such as the sevendigits of a phone number while you are dialing,
and then the information is either stored, or
forgotten
• Long-term Memory – the relatively permanent
and limitless storehouse of memories
Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory retention is only
fleeting and momentary; it is less than
a second
• Sensory memory retention allows us
to remember small, quick bits of
information for a very short period of
time, though it is not generally
encoded
Sensory Memory
• Iconic Memory: Our
fleeting photographic
memory
• Echoic Memory: Our
fleeting memory for
auditory sensations
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 ten to thirty seconds.
• The ability to hold and manipulate
information over a brief period of time.
Forgetting can occur rapidly, especially if
distracted.
Short-Term Memory
• This type of memory
increases as children get
older, but decreases in old
age
Short Term Memory
Short-Term Memory
• Write down the words of all the pictures
you can remember.
• How many objects did you remember?
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.
There are three types of Long Term
Memories
• Episodic Memory – Memories of
specific events, stored in a
sequence
• Semantic Memory – General
knowledge of the world, stored as
facts, meanings, or in categories
• Procedural Memory – Memories
of skills and how to perform them
Long Term Memories can be….
• Explicit Memory – Conscious
memories of facts or events we
actively tried to remember
• Implicit Memories – Memories
that are unintentional and are
brought to consciousness
inadvertently
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
• The hippocampus is relevant to short-term
memory especially, like a holding cell until
memories can be transferred into longterm memory – especially explicit memory
• The cerebellum is primarily responsible for
implicit memory storage
• The amygdala stores many memories tied
to emotions
The Hippocampus and Memory
Memory
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Retrieval
• Retrieval is the process
of getting information out
of memory storage
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 _______.
Recall Memory
Retrieval
• 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.
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
• 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….
Retrieval
• 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
• State-Dependent Theory – what
we learn in one emotional or
physical state – happy or sad,
drunk or sober – is sometimes
more easily recalled when we are
again in that same emotional
state
Retrieval
• Mood-Congruent – our moods bias
our past memories
– IE. You had a fantastic wedding, happy
and jovial. Five years later, in the
middle of a bad divorce, all that you
remember is how hectic the day was,
how uncomfortable it was, how stressed
you were, how annoying your wife-to-be
was leading up to the day…….
Retrieval
• déjà vu – “Already Seen” (French)
– The eerie sense that “I’ve been in this
exact situation before”
– Paranormal Explanation – Precognition
or Reincarnation?
– 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
Life Without Memory
Life Without Memory II
Forgetting
• Age - The older we get, the lessresponsive
the brain areas associated with encoding
and retaining memory are. Therefore,
long-term memory is especially hindered.
• Absent-Mindedness – inattention to detail
leads to poor encoding, trivial storage, and
often failed retrieval
– AbM Test
Forgetting
• Transience–Ebbinghaus’ “Forgetting Curve”
states that much of what we learn
we indeed forget rather quickly –
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
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
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.
Retrieval Failures
• Repression - a basic
defense mechanism that
banishes from
consciousness anxietyarousing thoughts, feelings,
and memories
Retrieval Failures
• Tip-Of-The-Tongue 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
Memory Construction
• Source Confusion – arises when the
true source of a memory is forgotten,
so you create details to fill in the gaps
• 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?
The Suggestibility of Memory
Medical Memory Loss
The Hippocampus and Memory
• Amnesia – sever 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