Ch. 8 Memory

What is memory?

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

3 Basic functions of memory

Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Encoding

the input of information into the memory system

automatic processing

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

• usually done unconsciously

Effortful processing

encoding of details that takes time and effort

• learning new skills

Semantic encoding

encoding of words and their meanings

• attaching meaning to information makes it easier to recall later

Visual encoding

encoding of images

• words that create a mental image, such as car, dog and book

Acoustic encoding

encoding of sounds

Serial Position Effect

The order of information during encoding can play a role in how well you remember when retrieving it

• more likely to remember the first and last information on a list and forget the middle

Context-Dependent Learning

• Easier to recall memories that were created in similar contexts

  • external environment

  • location

State-Dependent Learning

Easier to retrieve memories that were created in similar states of consciousness

• State of consciousness

• Mood/emotion

Storage

Our brains take the encoded information and place it in storage

• Sensory memory

• Short-term memory

• Long-term memory

Atkinson-Shiffrin (AS) Model of Memory

• Information passes through three distinct stages in order for it to be stored in long-term memory

  • Sensory memory——Short-term/working memory——Long-term memory

Sensory Memory

• Storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes

  • stored for up to a couple of seconds

• If the information isn’t important, it is discarded

• if the information is valuable, then it moves into out short-term memory

Short-Term Memory (STM) vs Working Memory

• STM is a component of working memory

• Working memory is any information you are holding for a short period of time and actually working with or manipulating

Short-Term Memory

• A temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory

  • Lasts about 15-30 seconds

  • Memory consolidation: transfer of short-term memory to long-term memory

Rehearsal

the conscious repetition of information to be remembered

How much info can our STM handle?

research found that people can retain between 5 and 9 items

• magic number 7 ± 2

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• The continuous storage of information

  • No limit

Explicit Memory

memories of facts and events we can consciously remember and recall

Semantic Memory

Knowledge about words, concepts and language; facts

• Ex: who was the first Black President of the United States

Episodic Memory

information about events we have personally experienced

• the what, where, when of an event

  • Ex: your 5th birthday party

Implicit Memory

memories that are not part of out consciousness

• formed through behaviors, habits, skill practice

Procedural

• stores information about how to do things; skills and actions

  • how to ride a bike, tie your shoelaces

Priming

Stimulus affects response to another stimulus

Emotional Conditioning

Ex: fear of spiders, songs that evoke an emotional response

Retrieval

• The act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness

Recall

• being able to access information without cues

  • Used for an essay, short answer, fill-in-the-blank

Recognition

• being able to identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again

  • used for multiple-choice test

Relearning

• Learning information that you previously learning

  • relearning different languages

Amnesia

The loss long-term memory that occurs as the result of disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma

Retrograde Amnesia

loss of memory for events that occurred prior to the trauma

• Lose episodic memory; loss of autobiographical memory

Anterograde Amnesia

inability to remember new information after point of trauma

• Hippocampus is usually affected

• Causes inability to transfer information from STM to LTM

Construction

formulation of new memories

Reconstruction

process of bringing up old memories

• when we retrieve memories, we tend to unintentionally alter and modify them, resulting in inaccuracies and distortions

Suggestibility

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

• plays a role in eyewitness testimonies

Eyewitness Misidentification

Eyewitness testimonies can lead to inaccurate and wrongful convictions

Misinformation effect paradigm

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

Forgetting

The loss of information from long-term memory

Retroactive Interference

newer info impacts retrieval of older info

Proactive Interference

older info impacts retrieval of newer info

Amygdala

involved in emotion-based memories (fear)

• encoding is deeper when an event is emotionally arousing

Flashbulb memory

an exceptionally clear recollection of an important event

Hippocampus

• associated with explicit/declarative, recognition, and spatial memories

• involved in memory consolidation

Damage to the Hippocampus

Leads to an inability to process new declarative memories

Cerebellum

Plays a role in processing implicit/procedural memories (how to play the piano)

Damage to Cerebellum

Prevents classical conditioning such as eye-blink in response to puff of air

Prefrontal Cortex

• Involved in remembering semantic tasks

• encoding is associated with left frontal lobe activity

• retrieval is from the right frontal lobe

Chunking

grouping information into units

• phone numbers

Mnemonics

memory aids that help us organize information for encoding

• “PEMDAS”

• “ROYGBP" color of rainbow

Elaborative Rehearsal

transferring information from STM to LTM by making that information meaningful in some way

• ex: putting it in your own words, connecting it to your life somehow