chapter 8 - memory

Forgetting curve

Forgetting curve

proposes that we forget most new information right away, remember a few things for a long time

• A famous graph created by Ebbinghaus showing that we forget a lot of novel/new information quickly, but retain some information for a long time.

• hermann ebbinghaus

Memory

set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time

Encoding

input information into the memory system

• The processing of information into the memory system. AKA: Making memories

Automatic processing

encoding of informational details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words

• Encoding of things that happen without meaning to, such as the events of the day, how a person we meet is dressed, or the meaning of a new word.

Effortful processing

encoding of information that takes effort and attention

• Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort, like studying definitions of psychology terms or memorizing a list.

Parallel processing

processing many aspects of a problem at the same time

Deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of words, tends to yield best retention

Shallow processing

encoding on a basic level on the structure or appearance of words

Semantic encoding

input of words and their meanings

Visual encoding

input of images

• iconic

• partial report

Partial report

George Sperling - Presented a 3x4 array of letters and participant is asked to list the letters. Showed the strengths and weakness of our iconic memory (aka sensory visual memory)

• showed strengths and weaknesses

Iconic visual coding / Iconic Memory

visual sensory memory (last 10ths/sec)

• Memories of things we see that last only a few seconds unless they are sent into short-term memory.

Acoustic encoding

input of sounds, words, and music

• Echoic

Echoic

auditory sensory memory (3-4 secs)

Dual encoding

coding that occurs when 2 different sensory traces are available to remember something

Fergus Craik & Endel Tulving

Words encoded semantically had better recall/recognition than visually/acoustically because it involves a deeper level of processing

• Self-reference effect

Self-reference effect

tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance

• (Ex: You can remember our own experiences of a family trip but you probably forgot about things that happened to your family members on the same trip.)

Storage

creation of permanent record of information

• The process of holding encoded information in memory over time.

Sensory memory

storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes

• Memories of sights, sounds, smells, etc. that last only a few seconds.

Short-term memory

holds about seven bits of information before it is forgotten or stored, as well as information that has been retrieved and is being used (lasts 15-30 secs)

• The things you remember for a few minutes or hours that are forgotten unless they are processed by the hippocampus into long-term memory.

Rehearsal

repetition of information to be remembered

• active/maintenance rehearsal

• elaborative rehearsal

Active/maintenance rehearsal

attending information to move it from STM to LTM

• Repeating something over and over to keep it in short-term memory.

• Ex: Saying a phone number you heard over and over so you can remember it long enough to dial it.

Elaborative rehearsal

linking new information to existing info

• Thinking about something in multiple ways so that you can move it from short-term to long-term memory.

Craik & Lockhart

proposed levels of processing hypothesis that states the deeper you think about something, the better you remember it

George Miller

person who found out that people can retain between 5-9 items, 7+ or -2

Long-term memory

The relatively permanent and unlimited storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

• continuous storage of information

• Spreading activation

Spreading activation

activating any part of a semantic network also activated the concepts linked to that part to a lesser degree

Explicit memory/declarative

Long-term memory of facts. \n \n (Ex: The first president, the primary colors, your phone number, etc.)

• memories we consciously try to remember and recall

• Episodic memory

• semantic memory

Episodic memory

memory contains information about events we have personally experienced AKA autobiographical memory

• A type of long-term memory. These are the events of your own life.

Semantic memory

about words, concepts, and language based knowledge and facts

• Memories of things that have meaning or definition. These are our explicit memories.

Implicit memory/automatic

The things we know without being aware that we know them, like how to ride the bus or learned attitudes and behaviors such as a fear of the dark.

• memories that are not part of our consciousness

• Procedural memory

• Priming

• Emotional conditioning

Procedural memory

A type of long-term memory. It is our memory of how to do things. \n \n (Ex: How to tie our shoes, open apps on our phone, get from home to school, etc.)

• type of LTM for making skilled actions

Priming

exposure to stimulus affects the response to a later stimulus

• the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Emotional conditioning

a type of implicit memory/automatic that involved in classically conditioned responses

Serial position effect

in a list of things we remember, the first and last is remembered, forget middle

• Our tendency to recall best the first. and last things on a list. \n \n (Tip: Remember a TV "series", or you can remember the first and last cereal boxes you saw when you walked down that aisle at the grocery store.)

• Primacy: first Recency: last

Pollyanna principle

remember things you like

• The tendency for people to remember happier or positive things. \n \n (Ex: You can probably remember your favorite teachers from elementary school but have forgotten the teachers you didn't like as much.)

Long-term potentiation

an increase in synapses firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation, believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

Retrieval

act of getting information out of a long-term memory storage and back into conscious awareness

• Remembering, or the process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored.

• Recall

• Recognition

• Relearning

Recall

accessing information without cues

• Remembering something without being given any options to choose from. \n \n (Ex: Fill-in-the-blank test)

Recognition

identifying previously learned information after encountering it again, usually in response to a cue

• Knowing the correct information by picking it out of a list. \n \n (Ex: A multiple choice test, or picking the person you remember out of a group of people.)

Relearning

learning information that was previously learned

Karl Lashley

created lesions in cerebral cortex, found that there were no evidence of engram and that rats were still able to find way through maze regardless of the size/location of lesion

• Engram

Engram

group of neuron that serve as physical trace of memory

Equipotentiality hypothesis

some parts of the brain can take over for damaged parts in forming and storing memory

Amygdala

• Storage is influenced by stress hormones

• Memory consolidation: process of transferring new learning into LTM

• Processes emotional information

Hippocampus

• New memories stored here

  • Left verbal Right visual

• Processing area for explicit memories

  • Normal recognition memory, spatial memory

• Projects info to cortical regions that give memories meaning

• Plays a part in memory consolidation, injury makes us unable to process new declarative memories

• H.M.: left and right temporal lobes removed to control seizures

  • Declarative memory affected, could not form semantic knowledge, lost ability to form new memories, could still remember info & events prior

Cerebellum

create implicit memories from classical conditioning

Prefrontal cortex

encoding left, retrieval right

Neurotransmitters

epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, acetylcholine

Arousal theory

strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories, weaker emotional experiences form weaker memories

Flashbulb memory

exceptionally clear recollection of an important event

Trace decay

theory that states that forgetting occurs as a result of the automatic decay or fading of memory trace

Decay

fading away of memory over time

Memory palace/memory of loci

move through familiar place, leave things to be remembered

Deja vu

feeling of having already experienced present situation

Anterograde amnesia

loss of memory for events that occur after the brain trauma

• Unable: episodic/semantic; able: procedural

• Hippocampus

• When you forget things that happened AFTER a traumatic event. \n \n (Ex: You fall and hit your head and can't remember going to the hospital even though you were awake and talking to people.) \n \n (Tip: A for After)

Retrograde amnesia

loss of memory for events that occurred prior to brain trauma

• Source amnesia: faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned/imagined

• When you forget things that happened BEFORE a traumatic event. \n \n (Ex: You can't remember anything that happened at school on the day you had a concussion at after-school volleyball practice.)

Construction

formulation of new memories

Reconstruction

process of bringing up old memories that might be distorted by new information

Suggestibility

effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of false memories

• Our memory is easily influenced by misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of false memories. \n \n (Ex: A police officer asking "How tall was the suspect?" causing you to think the person was tall.)

Misinformation effect paradigm

after exposure to additional and possibly inaccurate information, a person may misremember original event

• elizabeth loftus

False memory syndrome

recall of false autobiographical memories

• the creation of inaccurate or false memories through the suggestion of others, often while the person is under hypnosis

Forgetting

loss of information from LTM

7 Sins of Memory

Daniel Schacter forgetting distortion intrusion

1. Transience

2. Absentmindedness

3. Blocking

4. Misattribution

5. Suggestibility

6. Bias

7. Persistence

Transience

unused memories fade with the passage of time

• Hermann Ebbinghaus Forgetting curve: proposes that we forget most new information right away, remember a few things for a long time

• The slow fading of memories over time. This is most common with episodic memory as we forget things that happened long ago.

Absentmindedness

lapses in memory that are caused by breaks in attention or our focus being somewhere else

• A kind of encoding failure that happens when we are not paying attention to the thing we need to remember. \n \n (Ex: Using your phone in class so you don't remember the lesson.)

Blocking

cannot access stored information

Misattribution

confuse the source of your information

Suggestibility

false memories brought upon by someone else

Bias

how feelings and view of the world distort memory of past events

• Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another. In memory, it causes us to remember some things more than others, or in an incorrect way.

• Stereotypical bias: racism, gender biases

• Egocentric bias: enhancing our memories of the past

• Hindsight bias: when we think an outcome was inevitable after the fact

Persistence

failure of the memory system that involved the involuntary recall of unwanted memories, particularly unpleasant ones

• Repression: Freudian theory that defense mechanisms banish painful memories from consciousness

Stereotypical bias

racism, gender biases

Egocentric bias

enhancing our memories of the past

Hindsight bias

when we think an outcome was inevitable after the fact

Repression

Freudian theory that defense mechanisms banish painful memories from consciousness

Proactive interference

old information hinders the recall of newly learned information

• When past or old information that you've already learned disrupts the learning and recall of new information \n \n (ex: It's hard to remember your new phone number because you still have the old one stuck in your head, or calling your new girlfriend your old girlfriend's name!)

Retroactive interference

When new information makes it difficult to recall old information. \n

(ex: You forget your old address because you started to memorize your new one.)information learned more recently hinders recall of old information

Memory-Enhancing Strategies

technique to help make sure information goes from STM to LTM

Rehearsal

conscious repetition of information to be remembered

Chunking

organizing information into manageable bits or chunks

Elaborative rehearsal

thinking about new meaning of new information in relation to knowledge already stored in your memory

• Levels of processing

  • Fergus Craik & Robert Lockhart

  • visceral

  • behavioral

  • reflective

Levels of processing

information that’s thought of more deeply becomes more meaningful and thus better committed to memory

• Fergus Craik & Robert Lockhart

Visceral

one of the levels of processing that involves fast, rapid judgments

Behavioral

one of the levels of processing that involves actions that can be enhanced or inhibited by reflective, in turn enhance/inhibit visceral

Reflective

one of the levels of processing taht involves thought, watches over, reflects upon, bias the behavioral

Mnemonic device

memory aids to help organize information for encoding

expressive writing

• Masao Yoyo and Shuji Fuijihara

• enhances memory by writing

Saying words aloud

a technique that enhances memory by vocalizing them

Spacing effect

distributed study over time yield better LT retention > massed study

Testing effect / retrieval practice

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading info, taking lots of practice tests will help you

• Repeated quizzing of previously learned material helps long term retention. In other words, having something on a test can help us build memories.

The Information Processing Model

Model of memory that assumed that the processing of information for memory storage occurs in 3 stages: Encoding, Storage, Retrieval

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

A model for describing memory in which there are three kinds of memory (sensory, short term, long term). This is an older model that is less used than the Information Processing Model.

Acoustic Memory

Memories of sounds that last only a few seconds unless they are sent into short-term memory.

working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory. \n \n (Tip: Like all the papers out on your desk you're using to do your homework.)

Miller's Number

7 (plus or minus 2). It is the number of things the average person can hold in their working memory.

Flashbulb Memories

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Neurogenesis

Creation of new neurons in the adult brain. Forming new memories involves this.

Long-Term Potentiation

Making stronger connections between neurons by repetitive stimulation, usually because of thinking of something over and over.

Engram / Memory Trace / storage decay

The path through the brain between neurons in which new synapses have formed or strengthened that makes a memory accessible. Studied by Karl Lashley. \n \n (Tip: Imagine a "road" to a memory in the brain.)

• over time, if not used, connections in our brains can weaken or be lost causing a loss of memory. \n \n (Example: Forgetting a language you once knew if you never speak or hear it. Tip: Imagine a path in the forrest getting overgrown and lost if no one ever walks it.)

Equipotentiality Hypothesis

If part of one area of the brain involved in memory is damaged, another part of the same area can take over that memory function. \n \n (Tip: Imagine that the road to a memory is blocked, so your brain builds a new road to get that memory out.)