Transcript Memory
Chapter Seven
MEMORY
Section One
THREE KINDS OF MEMORY
MEMORY
The process by which we recollect prior
experiences and information and skills learned
in the past
DIFFERENT TYPES
1.
Episodic: a memory of a specific event
o
Example: what you wore to school yesterday
o
When we can remember specific details, it is
called a flashbulb memory
2.
Semantic or Generic: the general knowledge
that we remember although we do not know
when we first learned the material
o
3.
Includes historical facts and the ABCs
Implicit or Procedural: includes the skills we
have learned
o
For example, riding a bike
Section Two
THREE PROCESSES OF MEMORY
Regardless of the process we use, most include
three basic steps: encoding, storing, and
retrieving the information.
ENCODING
How we put the information into a form it can
be stored in
Visual
Codes: remembering by creating a picture in
your mind
Acoustic Codes: remember by repeating the
information to yourself
Semantic Codes: remembering the information by
creating some type of order out of it; creating a
phrase out of the letters
STORAGE
How we maintain the information over time so
we don’t lose it
Maintenance
Rehearsal: repeating
information over and over again
Elaborative Rehearsal: make the information
meaningful by relating it to something we already
know
Organizational Systems: we organize
information just as though our memory
was a large file cabinet
Filing Errors: everyone has breakdowns in memory
at various times and for various reasons
RETRIEVAL
Returning stored information to conscious
thought
CONTEXT-DEPENDENT MEMORY
Memory retrieval depends on the situation in
which we first remembered the information
One study suggests if you study in the room
where you take a test, you do better than those
that studied elsewhere
STATE-DEPENDENT MEMORY
There is thought that our mood influences our
memory
We will remember information when we are in
the same mood that we first remembered it in
ON THE TIP OF THE TONGUE
There are instances in which we know the
information but cannot bring it out
Often we will say words that may be similar to
try to trigger our memory
When I cannot think of a person’s name, I go
through the alphabet…when I hit the letter of
the first name, I usually remember it!
Section Three
THREE STAGES OF MEMORY
SENSORY MEMORY
Stage One
What we sense—see, hear, taste, feel, or smell,
is only kept for a fraction of a second
The ability to have eidetic imagery (a
photographic memory) declines with age
SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Stage Two
Also called working memory
What we’re trying to actively remember is
stored in our short-term memory
We have to rehearse the information to keep it
in our short term memory
LONG-TERM MEMORY
The third and final stage
We have to take steps to put stuff in our longterm memory
Mechanical
repetition: maintenance rehearsal
Relating information to stuff we already know:
elaborative rehearsal
Psychologists are unaware of limits to our longterm memory
Section Four
FORGETTING AND MEMORY IMPROVEMENT
BASIC MEMORY TASKS
1.
2.
3.
Recognition: the easiest task, identifying that
we have remembered something in the past
Recall: not only recognizing that we have come
into contact with some information, but
actually being able to call the information back
into our mind
Relearning: we are often able to remember
something we thought we forgot after a brief
lesson (like speaking a foreign language)
TYPES OF FORGETTING
1.
2.
3.
4.
Interference: old memories are replaced by
new ones
Decay: when a memory fades away
Repression: pushing certain memories out of
our consciousness
Amnesia: severe memory loss caused by
injury, shock, fatigue, illness, or repression;
infantile amnesia refers to the fact that we
don’t remember things from when we were
infants
IMPROVING MEMORY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Drill and Practice: go over the information to
be remembered over and over again
Relate the information to something you
already know
Form Unusual Associations: sometimes a
strange association will trigger our memory
Construct links between what you are having
trouble remembering and something that is
more easily remembered
Use Mnemonic Devices