Transcript Module 12 - Doral Academy Preparatory

Module 12
Remembering & Forgetting
INTRODUCTION
• recall
– retrieving previously learned information without the
aid of or with very few external cues
• recognition
– identifying previously learned information with the
help of more external cues
ORGANIZATION OF MEMORIES
• Network theory of memory organization
– theory says that we store related ideas in separate
categories, or files, called nodes
• Associations
– linking of nodes or categories of ideas together by
making associations or mental roads between new
information and old information that was previously
stored
• Network
– thousands of interconnected nodes, which form an
enormous cognitive network for arranging and storing
files
ORGANIZATION OF MEMORIES (CONT.)
ORGANIZATION OF MEMORIES (CONT.)
• Organization of network hierarchy
– nodes
• memory files that contain related information
organized around a specific topic or category
– refers to the arrangement of nodes or memory files in
a certain order or hierarchy
– bottom of the hierarchy are nodes with very concrete
information, which are connected to nodes with
somewhat more specific information, which in turn are
connected to nodes with general or abstract
information
FORGETTING CURVES
• Unfamiliar and uninteresting
– forgetting curve measures the amount of previously
learned information that subjects can recall or
recognize
• Familiar and interesting
– remembering is partly related to how familiar or
interesting the information is
REASONS FOR FORGETTING
• Overview: forgetting
– refers to the inability to retrieve, recall, or recognize
information that was stored or is still stored in longterm memory
• Repression
– according to Freud, repression is a mental process
that automatically hides emotionally threatening or
anxiety-producing information in the unconscious,
from which repressed memories cannot be recalled
voluntarily, but something may cause them to enter
consciousness at a later time
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
– Poor retrieval cues/poor encoding
– Retrieval cues
– mental reminders that we create by forming vivid
mental images or creating associations between new
information and information we already know
• Interference
– common reason for forgetting
– recall of some particular memory is blocked or
prevented by other related memories
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
– Amnesia
• may be temporary or permanent, is loss of memory
that may occur after a blow or damage to the brain
or after disease
– Distortion
• we misremember something due to memory
distortions caused by bias or suggestibility
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
– Interference
• may forget information not because it is no longer
in storage or memory but rather because old or
newer related information produces confusion and
thus blocks retrieval from memory
– Proactive interference
• occurs when old information (learned earlier)
blocks or disrupts the remembering of related new
information (learned later)
– Retroactive interference
• occurs when new information (learned later) blocks
or disrupts the retrieval of related old information
(learned earlier
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
• Retrieval cues
– mental reminders that you create by forming vivid
mental images of information, or associating new
information with information that you already know
• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
– refers to having a strong feeling that a particular word
can be recalled, but despite making a great effort, we
are temporarily unable to recall this particular
information
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
• State-dependent learning
– Easier to recall information when you are in the same
physiological or emotional state or setting as when
you originally encoded the information
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY
• Location of memories in the brain
– Cortex
• Short term memories
– ability to hold words, facts, and events in short-term
memory depends on activity in the cortex
• Long term memory
– ability to remember or recall songs, words, facts, and
events for days, months, or years depends on areas
widely spread throughout the cortex
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
• Location of memories in the brain
– Amygdala: emotional memories
• the amygdala, located in the tip of the temporal
lobe receives input from all the senses and is
associated with emotional memory
– Hippocampus: transferring memories
• transfers words, facts, and personal events from
short-term memory into permanent long-term
memory
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
• Making a short-term memory
– Neural assemblies
• groups of interconnected neurons whose activation
allows information or stimuli to be recognized and
held briefly and temporarily in short-term memory
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
• Making a long-term memory
– Long-term potentiation (LTP)
• refers to change in the structure and function of
neurons after they have been repeatedly
stimulated
• neuroscientists believe that the LTP process,
which changes the structure and function of
neurons, is the most likely basis for learning and
memory in animals and humans
MNEMONICS: MEMORIZATION METHODS
• Improving your memory
– Mnemonic methods
• ways to improve encoding and create better
retrieval cues by forming vivid associations or
images, which improve recall
– Method of loci
• encoding technique that creates visual
associations between already memorized places
and new items to be memorized
– Peg method
• encoding technique that creates associations
between number-word rhymes and items to be
memorized