Transcript Encoding PPT

Memory
**You are what you remember**
Without memory there would be no guilt or
anger, each person would be a stranger, every
language foreign, every challenge novel
The Memory process
Encoding – getting info into our brains
•meeting a cute girl at a party
Storage – retaining the information
•trying to remember her name after the party
Retrieval – getting info back out
• seeing her the next day and call her the
wrong name (retrieval failure!)
 There
are 2 ways we ENCODE…
 Automatic Processing: unconscious encoding
of incidental information.

Space: visualizing where you saw something last
◦ word on a page, item on a shelf

Time: remembering where you were throughout your day
◦ retrace your steps when you lose your cell phone

Frequency: effortlessly keep track of how many times…
◦ you passed your crush in the hallway today

Word meanings: when you see a sign (in native language),
you can’t help but register the meaning
There are 2 ways we ENCODE…
Effortful Processing: requires attention & conscious
effort, produces durable & accessible memories
Rehearsal: conscious repetition; crucial for
learning new info
Deeply processed vs. shallow processed:
shallow = repeating a few times
◦ writing it down on your test as quickly as possible
deeply = using more cognitive time & energy to
process the material
Encoding Successfully
Retrieval depends on the amount of
spent
processing the information (Positive correlation)
Relearning: you learn faster, the
second time around
•Less time to study for finals if
learned chapter tests in the first
place
Encoding Successfully
the more time you
leave between studying, the better
your retention
Walking away for 3 hours then
retesting yourself is better than
walking away for 30 minutes.
Which is the real penny?
Answer
Even though you’ve seen thousands
of pennies, you’ve probably never
looked at one closely enough to
encode specific features
Encoding Failures
Encoding Failure
In order to encode information:
• We must pay attention to it
• It must be important to us
• It must be rehearsed (USE IT OR LOSE IT!)
Sound stimulates ears, but it’s not remembered
Sleep doesn’t allow for rehearsal therefore information
is lost!
Same reason you will never remember fainting!
so focused on what you are going to
say that you don’t remember what the person just
before you said
Effortful Processing

I will be reading a list of 15 words. Your
pencils are to be down while I’m reading.

When I’m done, you will have 30 seconds
to write down as many words as you
remember.
remember the first and
last items in a list better than those in the
middle
◦ Why the first? Had more time to rehearse the first,
most likely to be transferred into LTM
more likely to recall items at the
beginning of a list
This is why first impressions
carry so much weight
◦ Why the last? Still available in working memory
more likely to recall items at the end
of the list
Effortful Processing

How many of you remembered
?
: creating a memory
of something that never happened
◦ just as durable & feel like real memories

Lets try this again…
: something
unique that stands out is more likely to be
remembered
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange
things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be
sufficient depending on how much there is to do…After the
procedure is completed one arranges the materials into
different groups again. Then they can be put into their
appropriate places. Eventually they will be used one more
and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However,
that is part of life.
oHow much you remember depends on
1. the amount of time given to rehearse
2. what you do while learning
o
information relevant to
you is processed more deeply & remains more
accessible
o Connecting it to previous or personal
information helps remembering it better!
Remembering vs. Forgetting

Mood-congruent memory:
◦ Easier to recall happy memories when
you’re in a good mood
◦ It’s easy to recall all the mean things your
bf/gf has done when you’re fighting


State-dependent memory:
we can more easily recall information if
we are in the same state of mind as
when we learned it (sober, drunk,
depressed, joyful)

Rosy Retrospection: recalling the high
points while forgetting the mundane
moments

It’s the experience we remember not
the experience that we had that
predicts our future choices.