Memory and Thought

Psych 2/5/26

How do we solve problems? Involves information processing

by brain- 3 steps:

1. Input- info received by senses

2. Central Processing- storing in brain of memories & sorting

of thoughts

3. Output- ideas & actions from processing

Selective attention

picking from various inputs- what you

want to pay attention to- music or studying- can’t do both.

Feature extraction

important features to help you identify-

for make of car, ignore color, go to shape, hood orn, etc.

Ways memory is stored

Sensory Storage, Short term memory,

Sensory Storage

information is held for a fraction of a

second by the senses

Short term memory

things you have in your conscious

mind at a given moment- 30 seconds, 3-7 different items

Rehersal

repeat and practice to get things to Long

term memory

Chunking

extending STM by grouping things together.

Ex: Phone #

Long Term Memory

where we store information for future

use- memories of your childhood, movie lines, things you

desired to learn for whatever reason.

Mneumonic devices

using associations to help you

remember information better- EGBDF

Recognition

Easiest, multiple choice test- picking from a

list of items

Recall

harder, active reconstruction of memory- fill in the blank test

Confabulation

when you “remember” something that

isn’t really in your memory- you make up your own story to fill in the gaps

Eidetic memory

photographic memory, usually found in children

Relearning

much easier than learning something the first

time. Review will help you bring back old memories- math

Forgetting

loss of memory from decay, interference, or

repression. Decay is natural loss of unnecessary information over time

Proactive interference

earlier memory blocks ability to

remember new information- call new boyfriend your

ex’s name

Retroactive interference

new memory blocks out

ability to remember old information- former addresses

and phone numbers

Repression

blocking out painful memories.

Flashbulb Memory

When you remember what you were

doing when something happened to someone else- usually traumatic

Encoding

getting sensory info to memory

Storage

STM, LTM

Retrieval

Getting information from your memory