PSY1101 Chapter 8: Memory

1. Memory (sensory, short-term, long-term, retrieval), 2. Sins of Memory, 3. Forgetting

What is memory?

• Consists of 3 complex cognitive processes: Encoding, storage, retrieval

• Can be adaptive or maladaptive (For ex. reliving a trauma which is unhealthy and distressing)

What is encoding?

• Getting the information into our memory system

• It’s like typing something in word into the computer

What is storage?

• Retaining the information

• It’s like saving your document

What is retrieval?

• Getting the information out of storage

• It’s like reopening your file and retrieving the information

What is explicit memory?

• AKA Declarative memory

• Memory with consciousness and awareness

• For example, someone asks “what is the capital of France?” and you say “Paris.” We are aware and conscious that we are retrieving this information

What is implicit memory?

• AKA Procedural memory

• Memory without consciousness and awareness

• Memory of skills that have become automatic. For example, typing (it’s hard to remember the actual keys in order, but you still know how to type properly)

What is prospective memory?

• Remembering an event in the future

• For example, we know that we’ll have an exam next week

What is retrospective memory?

• Memory of past events

What is constructed memory?

• Human’s memories are constructive — it doesn’t work like a video camera that captures and maintains everything as is

• Memories are constantly being edited; certain things are added, removed, over/underexaggerated

• Happens unconsciously

What is the function of memory?

• Essential for survival

• Allows us to:

  • Learn from experience and use this knowledge to navigate the world around us

  • Reflect on the past and learn from it

  • Have a sense of who we are

  • Make future plans and make them happen

What is sensory memory?

• Our senses collect information from the environment and hold onto it for a brief amount of time

• All our senses have their own memory

• Believed to be limitless

What is haptic memory?

• Sensory memory for our sense of touch

• Lasts for a super brief amount of time—a split second to a few max

What is iconic memory?

• Sensory memory for our sense of vision

• Could last for a quarter to half a second

What is echoic memory?

• Sensory memory for our sense of hearing

• Could last up to 4 seconds

What is the function of sensory memory?

• Without it, the moments of our lives will be disconnected and disjointed

• Allows for continuity in our perception

What is short-term memory?

• AKA working or immediate memory

• Capacity is very limited—about 5-7 items at a time

• If we don’t rehearse this information, it lasts 12-30 seconds

• Then, information either goes to long-term storage or it will fade away

What types of information get encoded in short-term memory?

• Acoustic — verbal (most common)

• Visual — clear

• Semantic — meaning

What is the working memory model?

• Short-term memory is not just a storage space

• It is a working space where we take the information held in it, and manipulate, reflect, and play with it

What are the components of short-term memory?

• Phonological loop

• Visuospatial sketchpad

• Central executive

What is phonological loop (short-term memory)?

• Processes auditory information like sounds, language (written or spoken), and our inner speech

• AKA. The inner voice

What is visuospatial sketchpad (short-term memory)?

• Processes visual information, navigates space, knows what we’re looking at

• AKA. The inner eye

What is central executive (short-term memory)?

• The most complex component that manages the flow of information between the different components and long-term memory

• Regulates our attention and allowing us to shift it when needed

• Helps coordinate our behaviours so we can accomplish our goals

What is long-term memory?

• When we hold onto information in storage for a long time

• Could last from a few minutes to a lifetime

• Capacity is believed to be limitless

What are the types of long-term memory?

• Episodic

• Semantic

• Procedural

What is episodic (long-term memory)?

• Explicit memory

• AKA autobiographical

• Memory of personal events, experiences, etc.

What is semantic (long-term memory)?

• Explicit memory

• Memory of facts and knowledge

• Doesn’t have to be accurate (could also include conspiracy theories or lies we believe)

What is procedural (long-term memory)?

• Implicit memory

• Skills we’ve acquired that have become automatic

What are the 2 major ways that information is transferred to long-term memory?

• Automatic processing

  • As we go about our day, we acquire a lot of information without putting much conscious effort into it

  • For example, if you watch a movie, you’re not actively taking notes, but you can still recall what happened

• Effortful processing

  • We invest time and energy into doing it

What are some examples of effortful processing?

These things make it easier to remember:

• Rehearsal (repeating over and over again)

• Chunking (breaking down into smaller chunks, like a phone number)

• Mnemonic devices (any technique or strategy to boost memory)

• Spacing effect/distributed practice (start studying early over multiple sessions)

• Testing effect (test ourselves over and over)

• Self-reference effect (information we link to ourselves)

• Visual imagery (things that are concrete, able to visual, and linked to an image)

What is organizational processing?

• Putting things in visual hierarchies helps us remember better

• Putting things in categories also helps us remember better

What is adaptive memory?

• We are more likely to remember better information that is linked to survival

What are the levels of processing?

• Shallow level

  • Focus on superficial aspects of information (for ex. the colour of ink used to write a word)

  • Not as likely to remember

• Deep level

  • Semantic, focusing on the meaning

  • Not just memorizing the words, but understanding the words

What is retrieval?

• Taking information out of storage and consciously remembering it

• Sometimes we can remember information on our own without any help, but other times we might need the help of hints and cues

What are retrieval cues?

• Hints we’re given to help retrieve information

What is retrieval cues failing?

• When the cues/hints we’re given are not helpful

• For retrieval cues to be helpful, they have to be relevant to the information at hand

What is free recall?

• We are able to remember something without the help of retrieval cues

What is cued recall?

• We remember something with the help of retrieval cues

What is the encoding specificity principle?

• If the conditions we’re in during retrieval are similar to the conditions we were in during encoding, then retrieval is enhanced

• For example, it’s good to do the exam in the same room where the lectures are in

What is the memory transfer principle?

• If the process we’re using during retrieval is similar to the process we used during encoding, then retrieval is enhanced

• For example, if you know the exam is going to be MC questions, it’s good to practice by answering MC questions

Who is Daniel Schacter?

• Psychologist and memory researcher

• According to him, our memory is error prone (these errors are not random)

• We can categorize them into 7 sins of memory

What are the 2 main categories of sins of memory?

• Sins of omission (3): trouble remembering

• Sins of commission (4): distorted/innaccurate/unwanted memories

What is the sin of transience?

• Sin of omission

• If we do not use and revisit our memories, they could fade away over time

What is the sin of absent-mindedness?

• Sin of omission

• We fail to remember something because we were distracted during retrieval or encoding

What is the sin of blocking?

• Sin of omission

• We’re temporarily unable to access information in our memory

• Ex. “Tip of the tongue (TOT).” And if we try to fight it, it’s even harder to remember

What is the sin of misattribution error?

• Sin of commission

• You remember something, but don’t remember the source

• Ex. Deja vu

  • You see something new and have a strong feeling that you’ve seen it before. This is because it has characteristics to something you experienced before, but can’t consciously remember where (confusing the source)

What are flashbulb memories?

• Memories of events that are very significant, vivid, and we are confident in them

• But just because they’re vivid, doesn’t mean they’re accurate

What is the sin of suggestibility?

• Sin of commission

• Our memories get distorted because of inaccurate information we receive or our own imagination

  • Misinformation effect

  • Imagination effect

What is the sin of bias?

• Sin of commission

• Our memories are influenced and affected by our own past experience, beliefs, expectations, emotions

• Schemas: mental model (expectation) we have in our mind about something or somebody

  • We’re more likely to encode information that matches our schema, and more likely to disregard information that doesn’t

  • We may retrieve our memories in a way that fits our schema

• Positive bias: we tend to remember positive stuff about us more than the negative stuff

What is the sin of persistence?

• Sin of commission

• An unwanted memory that keeps repeating and repeating

What is forgetting?

• Natural and normal part of everyday life

• The brain actively gets rid of any unimportant or unused information

• A good thing: it’s the brain’s way of cleaning up mental clutter (too much clutter makes critical thinking difficult)

AJ (book)

What is alzheimer’s disease?

• Form of dementia

• Kills neurons linked to memory

What is amnesia and the 2 types?

• Abnormal loss of memory

1. Anterograde

2. Retrograde

• Hippocampus seems to play a role in this

What is anterograde amnesia?

• Remember the past, but difficulty forming new memories

• Explicit conscious new memories is affected

• But implicit unconscious new memories may still able to be formed

What is retrograde amnesia?

• Can’t remember information from the past

• The amount that can’t be remembered differs from person to person