Transcript Long Term Memory - Northern Highlands

Memory
Unit 6
What is memory?
• The ability to remember the things that we have
experienced, imagined, and learned
• Explained using Information Processing Model
• Sensory Register- entry points for raw information from
the senses
• Processes far more than we can “selectively attend” to
• Short Term/Working Memory- “selective attention”
• Long Term Memory- limitless memory bank
Sensory Registers
• Iconic Memory
• We hold images that we see very briefly in our sensory
register
• Stare forward then quickly close your eyes- image will
remain in mind and then fades quickly
• Sperling and the 12 letters
• Wait one second before asking a subject to recall letters and
they remember 1-2 rather than 3-4
• Asked subjects to remember one line- Were able to (shows
that we actually see all letters, but don’t have enough time to
repeat them all back)
• “Masking” happens when we get new sensory information
A
D
X
F
R
U
P
B
L
Q
C
V
Q
C
V
A
D
X
F
R
U
P
B
L
Sensory Registers
• Echoic Memory
• Auditory information echoes in our ears for a short
period of time
• For a few moments, we can recover what we just heard
even if we didn’t consciously process it
• Fades more slowly than iconic memory
Short-Term Memory
• We can only “selectively attend” to a small amount
of sensory information
• The important information that we want to process
then enters our Short Term, or Working Memory
• Stores information briefly in order to “work on it”
• We also retrieve information from long-term memory
and process it in working memory
Short-Term Memory
• Is very limited- When you focus, you need to shut
other stimuli out so your STM doesn’t get
“crowded”
• Capacity:
• As much information that can be repeated or rehearsed
in 1.5 to 2 seconds
• 7 bits of information plus or minus 2
Demonstration: STM
• CXW
• MNKTY
• RPJHBZS
• GBMPVQFJD
• EGQWJPBRHKA
STM Capacity: 7 +/- 2 (5-9
bits)
6129643
9736129643
Demonstration: STM and
Chunking
TFIJFKBYMCAV
Demonstration: STM and
Chunking
TV FBI JFK YMCA
Demonstration: STM and
Chunking
Memorize these numbers:
1945181217762012
Did you chunk ‘em????
1945 1812 1776 2012
?????
Demonstration: STM and
Chunking
• Swan, Goat, Cardboard, Boat, River, Bird, Music
• The swan tugged the goat in a cardboard boat across the
river while the bird sang sweet music from above.
• This is also considered “semantic encoding”.. Or “visual”
if you pictured it!!
Encoding
• Many memories are encoded as nonverbal
• i.e. shapes, sounds, tastes, smells, visual
• Some memories are verbal
• i.e. if you have memorized the National Anthem, “Pledge of
Allegiance”, words to a song, etc.
• Most are encoded according to meaning (Semantic)
• i.e. when you hear lectures, you would never be able to
remember it verbatim; instead, you remember the key
concepts of it
• “The angry rioter chucked a pebble at the window”
• “The fish sank its teeth into the scuba diver”
Encoding
• How can we make sure we are thoroughly processing
information in short term memory?
• Dual Encoding: Hear the words, then imagine a mental picture
of what you are trying to learn, and apply deeper meaning.
• Thomas Jefferson was the third President.
• On the table of elements, gold is represented as the symbol Au
• Bottom line: APPLY AS MANY MEANINGS AS
POSSIBLE TO INFORMATION YOU NEED TO
ENCODE!
Encoding, then keeping it
there!!!!
• To hold information in STM, we can use rote rehearsalrepeating information over and over again
• Rote rehearsal:
• A, B, C, D, E, F, G…. A, B, C, D, E, F, G…
• MVEMJSUNP
• Even better than this is elaborate rehearsal- applying
meaning, then rehearsing.
• Every Good Boy Deserves Fun
• Apple, Banana, Carrot, Dog, Elephant, Frog, Goat
• My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas
Homework: Remember these
words.
• Ladybug, Orange, Sweater,
Grass, Bicycle, Planet, Iguana,
Lake, Pencil, Laughter
Do Now
• Write down the words from
ANY list that we attempted to
learn yesterday!!!!!!!!
Refresher
Long Term Memory
• More or less permanent- If you remember
something past three years, most likely it will stick
• i.e. what you remember from high school after college
you’ll most likely remember forever
• Contains a seemingly limitless amount of
information that we’ve “learned”
Serial Position Effect
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Duck
Bat
Bicycle
Rock
Peacock
Juggler
Table
Notebook
•
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Glue
Mall
Car
Animal
Lamp
Tree
T-Shirt
Shoe
Serial Position Effect
• When we learn a list of words, we are most likely
to remember the first and last on the list. Why???
• First items are the list have been rehearsed and
are encoded into long-term memory
• Last items are still fresh in working memory
• This gives us evidence that our long-term and
short-term memories work closely together
Serial Position Effect
Maintaining Long-Term
Memory
• Rote rehearsal
• Practice makes perfect
• Alphabet, multiplication tables, phone numbers, social
security numbers, birthdates, names, etc.
• Mastering takes automaticity
• Repetition (or continuous exposure to a stimulus) does
not imply learning will occur
• What does the front of a penny look like?
Pick the right one!
Maintaining Long-Term
Memory
• Elaborative rehearsal
• Relate new information to things that we already know
• “Method of Loci”
• Picture the items you need to remember in familiar places
• “Peg Words”
• Connect words with pre-assigned words or numbers
• Other?
• Gary: This is my friend Burt
• Kurt: Oh Hi, Burt. (To himself: Burt rhymes with Kurt)
Schema and “Contextual
Cues”
• Where we are when we hear things affects how we
encode them
• If we overhear something in a classroom or meeting,
we are primed to remember it
• When we hear a conversation on the bus, we’d be less
likely to remember it because we aren’t “prepared” to
need to know it
• Contextual Cues (i.e. what we are perceiving around
us) can “trigger” memories
Types of LTM:
Declarative, Explicit
• Episodic Memories
• Memories for personally experienced events
• Personal memories, not historical facts
• What you ate for dinner on your birthday, your driver’s
test, a performance you gave last year, a big game that
you won (or lost)
• Like a daily journal that allows you to go back in time
Types of LTM:
Declarative, Explicit
• Semantic Memories
•
•
•
•
Facts and concepts
Like a dictionary or encyclopedia
What you learn in school
Inventor of the light bulb, first president, first element
of periodic table, 2+2=4
Types of LTM:
Implicit
• Procedural Memories
• Motor skills and habits
• They are NOT memories about these skills and habitsthey are the skills and habits themselves!!
• Knowing how to ride a bike, swim, play guitar, slam on
brakes of a car, putting accurate force into hitting a golf
ball
Types of LTM: Implicit
• Emotional Memories
• Learned emotional reactions to stimuli
• Our loves and hates, rational and irrational fears,
feelings of disgust, anxiety
Do Now:
• Yesterday I presented you with two sentences…
• Hint:
• Fish
• Rioter
• What were they?
Types of LTM: Explicit vs.
Implicit
• If a person has brain damage to the hippocampus,
they may not be able to form new memories
• However, your cerebellum controls procedural
memories and can still function!!!
• H.M. could not recall tracing a star, but got better at
doing it every day
• Emotional memories- Amygdala
• **Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
Types of LTM
Retrieval: Getting the
Memories Out
• Recall
• Being able to produce an answer without a “hint”
• i.e. fill in the blanks on tests
• “Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon”- best way to concur this is
to abandon it and it will most likely pop into your head later
• Recognition
• Being able to pick out the correct answer after being given
clues
• i.e. multiple choice
• This is much easier!
Forgetting
• Do we need to forget?
• A.J., aka Jill Price, remembers every day of her life
since age 14 with detail and clarity
• Why do we forget?
• Decay Theory- Argues that the passage of time causes
forgetting
• Applies to short term memory- memories “fade”
Other causes
• Hippocampus converts memories to long term
• Brain damage caused by accidents, surgery, poor diet,
disease is most likely cause of severe memory loss
• Deterioration can lead to disruption, especially in the
elderly
• Alzheimer's patients show diminished hippocampus
• Korsakoff’s Syndrome caused by alcoholism
Amnesia
• Retrograde Amnesia
• Often caused by head injuries
• Memory loss of events shortly prior to injury
• Perhaps memories aren't anchored yet, much like a
computer will lose data that wasn’t saved in the event of a
power outage
• Anterograde Amnesia
• Inability to create new memories
• Dory from “Finding Nemo”
• Memento
Role of Neurotransmitters
• Acetylcholine has role in memory
• Rats with damage to cells that produce this had
significant memory problems
• Alzheimer's patients also display low levels
Encoding Failure
• Perhaps forgetting isn’t just about “losing”
memories, but rather inadequately learning
memories in the first place
• “Selective attention” means there must be “selective
inattention”
• if we are not consciously aware of what we are doing,
it never becomes encoded
• i.e. if you miss place your phone when you’re looking
for something else, you won’t remember where it is
because you weren’t paying attention in the first place
Encoding Failure
• Inadequate rehearsal can also prevent memories,
even if we were trying to remember
• i.e. STUDYING improperly
• If you simply “memorize” information, it won’t
become meaningful enough to be encoded = F on test
• Trying to remember your locker combo “17-21-4” will
be easier if rather than repeating it you assign meaning
• “I’m 17 now, I’ll be 21 in 4 years”- Semantic (Elaborative)
vs. Rote
Interference
• Retroactive Interference
• When trying to recall older information, new material
that you’ve learned gets in the way
• i.e. when you try to remember your kindergarten
teacher’s last name, you have many new teachers’
names in the way
• Study tip: If you are studying for a test, do not present
any new material after your study time… Make sure
studying for the test is the last thing you do at night
after your other homework
Interference
• Proactive Interference
• When older information gets in the way of
remembering new information
• i.e. when you are trying to learn a new language and
your first language interferes… “casa blanca” vs.
“blanca casa”
• Similarity of competing items exaggerates interference
• Explains why it’s harder to change old habits than to
learn new habits
Factors that Matter
• Contextual Factors
• We use cues from the situations that we learn material
in to remember it
• Contextual cues such as background music, odors also
affect recall
• i.e. if you learn about a historical topic in the
classroom, it may be harder for you to recall if
someone asks you at practice or in the gym
• Crime scene investigators will often bring a victim back
to the scene of the crime to assist in their recall of
events.
Factors that Matter
• State-Dependent Memory
• We remember information best when we are in the
same state that we learned them in
• A person may forget a conversation they had while
intoxicated, but will remember it again next time they
are under the influence
• However, drugs do not enhance memory (as we already
know)… Sober-sober recall is obviously best
Factors that Matter
• Expectations
• We often rewrite our memories based on what we
expect
• If people hint that something has happened enough
times, we may start believing it
• Source confusion
• We may hear a story that someone else experienced
during childhood and will attribute that story to our
own lives
How to Reduce Forgetting
• Develop motivation
• Practice memory skills
• Be confident in your ability to remember
• Minimize distractions and stay focused
• Make connections (mnemonics)
• Use mental imagery
• Use retrieval cues
• Rely on more than memory (to-do lists)
Special Topics in Memory
• Childhood Amnesia
• Our earliest memories date back to between the ages of
3 and 4 years
• Hippocampus does not fully form until the age of two
• Children do not clearly possess a sense of self
• Language skills are not present to consolidate experiences
Extraordinary Memories
• Eidetic memory
• A highly developed photography memory entailing
sharp and detailed images of something they have seen
(picture, scene, words on a page)
• Steven Wiltshire – eidetic memory
• Mnemonists- people with highly developed memory
skills
• Russian Journalist “S”
• Had a limitless short term memory
• Used visual imagery to encode
Flashbulb Memories
• A vivid memory of a certain event and the incidents
surrounding it even after a long time has passed
• Often happens with events that are shocking or
highly significant
• Examples: Death of a family member, birth of a
child or sibling, wedding day, graduation.
Eyewitness Testimony