Transcript Chapter 9: Memory

Memory
Memory: persistence of learning over
time via the storage and retrieval of
information.
 Gives us our sense of self and connects us
to past experiences.

Vivid Memories
 Flashbulb Memories:
clear memory of an
emotionally significant
event or moment.
 Usually personally
meaningful or historically
significant.
 911
 OJ
Memory as Information
Processing


1.
2.
3.
Memory is similar to a computer (write to file,
save to disk, read from disk).
3 Basic Steps to Memory:
Encoding: getting information into the
memory system.
• File Cabinet
• Needs to be organized
Storage: the retention of the encoded
information over time.
Retrieval: process of getting information
out of the memory system.
Three Stage Processing Model of
Memory
Stage One: The initial recording of sensory
information in the memory system is referred
to as sensory memory.
 Stage Two: sensory memories are processed
into short term memory your activated
memory which can only hold a minimal amount
of information.
 Stage Three: short term memories are
encoded into long-term memory, the
relatively permanent and limitless storehouse
from which we retrieve.

Concept of Working Memory
 Working
Memory: similar to short-term
memory but focuses more on
manipulation of information.
 Working Memory and Short-Term Memory
are both quite limited in capacity and
duration.
 You can only hold so much information in
your working memory at one given time.
 Magic Number tends to be 7 +/- 2.
Process of Encoding: 2
Types
Encoding
Effortful
Automatic
Types of Encoding
 Automatic
Processing
 unconscious encoding of incidental
information
space
time
frequency
 well-learned information
word meanings
 we can learn automatic processing
reading backwards
Automatic Processing: Reading
Backwards
 Reading
backwards requires effort at first
but after practice becomes automatic.
 .citamotua
 Automatic
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processing allows us to do
multiple things at once and re-illustrates
the concept of parallel processing.
Effortful Processing
Effortful Processing: type of encoding that
requires attention and conscious effort.
 Ex: Learning new vocabulary terms,
memorizing historical events/chronology, etc.
 Encoding can be aided by maintenance
rehearsal: simple rote repetition of
information in consciousness or even more
successfully by elaborate rehearsal:
processing of information for meaning which
can more easily help produce long term
memories.

King of Memory Experiments is
Hermann Ebbinghaus
 Wanted
to research
capacity of verbal
memory.
 Looked to study to see
capacity of peoples’
memories to study
strings of non-sense
syllables.
 Ex: JIH, FUB, YOX, XIR,
General Findings
1. Next in Line
Effect- don’t
concentrate/remember
when you know you are
going to have to speak
next
 2. Info right before we
sleep is not remembered
 3. Taped info is not
remembered

 4.
Findings of Ebbinghaus
Practice makes perfect. The more
rehearsal he did on day 1, the less
rehearsal it took to learn the syllables
again on day 2. Over learning increased
retention.
 5. The Spacing Effect: the tendency
for studying over a long period of time
produces better long term retention than
is achieved through massed study or
practice. SPACED STUDYING BEATS
CRAMMING!!!
Findings of Ebbinghaus

6. Serial Position Effect: our tendency to
recall best the last and first items in a list. Ex:
Presidents
Types of Encoding
Semantic Encoding: encoding of meaning,
including the meaning of words…
yields best memory.
 Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound,
especially the sound of words….
 usually the least effective.
 “ if the glove doesn’t fit , you must acquit”
 Visual Encoding: the encoding of picture
images.
 Self Reference Effect- do better on things
we relate back to ourselves

Example
 1.
Is the word in capital letters?
Visual
 2.
Does the word rhyme with train?
Acoustic
 3. Would the word GUN fit in this
sentence. The girl put the ___ on the
table
Semantic
Types of Encoding
Encoding Imagery
 Imagery:
creating mental pictures,
helps effortful processing especially when
combined with semantic encoding.
 Recall of events is often colored by
highest joys and lowest lows of
events…usually remember events
differently than you evaluated them at
the time.
 Mneumonics: memory aids, often use
vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Organizing Information for
Encoding
Chunking
 organizing
items into familiar, manageable
units
like horizontal organization1776149218121941
1776 1492 1812 1941
Phone numbers
 often occurs automatically
 use of acronyms
 HOMES-
A
Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
way to get over the 7 +/- 2 rule
Process of Chunking: Organized
Information is More Easily
Remembered
Hierarchies

Organized info. is remembered better
 complex
information broken down into
broad concepts and further subdivided into
categories and subcategories
Encoding
(automatic
or effortful)
Meaning
(semantic
Encoding)
Imagery
(visual
Encoding)
Chunks
Organization
Hierarchies
Memory Demo 1
ZIN
LTD
VEX
KZF
ABC
QBJ
CUG
WCF
CXK
TAJ
PSK
THR
DAZ
PBS
BNK
BIP
Demo 2

Bed Quilt D ark Silence Fatigue
Clock Snoring Night Toss Tired
Night
Toss Tired Night artichoke
Turn Night Rest Dream