Transcript Unit 1: Intro to Memory

Unit 1:
Intro to
Memory
What’s the word I’m looking for?
• Definition: Favoritism
shown or patronage
granted by persons in
high office to relatives
or close friends
Memory
• Learning that has persisted over time
– Information that has been stored and can be
retrieved
Try this: Recite the second sentence of the Pledge of
Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America, and to the Republic for
which is stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, for liberty and justice for all.
Information Processing Models of Memory
3 Key Processes in Memory
• Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval
• CPU: keyboarding, drive/saving, opening a file
– What are the issues with the CPU analogy?
• Read the following sentence
• Spring is the
The most beautiful
Time of the year.
How good is your “computer”?
Information Processing Models cont’d
1. Connectionism –
2. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s 3 Stage Model
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•
•
Sensory memory - fleeting
Short-term memory – where we encode through
rehearsal
Long-term memory – where we retrieve info
later
Why is it too simple?
• We are automatic processors
• Working memory: focus on conscious/active
processing of incoming sensory information
WHILE ALSO considering overlapping long
term retrieval of information
• Varies person to person
• So we use the three stage model, but you
MUST consider the above information
• Example?
3. Selective Attention Model
• First think, “What does attention have to do
with memory?”
Are stimuli are screened out earlier or later in
our cognitive awareness?
•
Location of attention filter may not be fixed (like
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model)
• Attention = _________ filter
– Where is filter located?
• Early during sensory input or later during processing??
Late-selection
models place
the filter here
Early-selection
models place
the filter here
Stimulus
Sensory
Detection
Recognition of
meaning
Response
selection
Response
• Cocktail party effect:
• Does the filter happen earlier or later?
• Location of filter depends on “cognitive load”
• Multi-tasking
How we encode
1. Automatic Process
•
•
•
•
•
Parallel processing
A. Space
B. Time
C. Frequency
D. Well-learned
2. Effortful Process
• Requires rehearsal
(conscious repetition) to
create durable
memories
Is it only ever one or the other?
• NO!
– Effortful can become automatic through
____________
Example?
Principles of Remembering (encoding)
• The more repetition one day, the less required
to relearn the next.
– The amount of something remembered depends
on the amount of time spent learning
• Overlearning -
Ebbinghaus’ Retention Curve
How do we learn/encode best?
• Spacing effect
– Distributed study time
– Testing effect
– Massed practice 
• Serial position effect
– Recency effect
– Primacy effect

Those who learn quickly
forget quickly
What we encode
• What’s the difference among these three?
How do you tell the difference?
– Eye scream
– I scream
– Ice cream
• Levels of processing
– Context/experience/interpretation allow for
coding differences
Levels of Processing Theory
Levels of processing cont’d
• Visual Encoding
• Acoustic Encoding
• Semantic Encoding
Two codes are better than one!
• Self-reference effect
• Imagery
– Mental pictures
– Easier to recall items that have clear images
• Encoding activity
Visual Encoding - imagery
• Rosy retrospection
• Mnemonics – some rely on visual cues, others
on acoustic cues
• Purpose it organize
info for later
retrieval
– Peg words
– Method of loci
The best way to organize info for later
is through…
• Chunking
– Acronyms
• Hierarchies
• Principles of learning