memory

Memory Basics

-The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

Three types of memory retention measures:

-Recall: retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time; fill-in-the-blank/essay tests

-Recognition: identifying items previously learned; multiple choice tests

-Relearning: learning something more quickly when you learn it a second time; studying for cumulative/final exams.

Recall

-retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time; fill-in-the-blank/essay tests

Recognition

-identifying items previously learned; multiple choice tests

Relearning

-learning something more quickly when you learn it a second time; studying for cumulative/final exams.

True

T or F: In multiple instances, it will be easier for us to recognize something over recalling something.

memory

The speed we can recall, recognize, and relearn determines our _________ strength

To Create an Actual Memory:

-Encoding: process to get information into our brain

-Storage: process to retain that information

-Retrieval: process to later get that information= back out

Much of this happens through parallel processing

Encoding

-process to get information into our brain

Storage

-process to retain information that gets into our brain

Retrieval

-process to later get that information in our brain back out

-Much of this happens through parallel processing

Richard Atkinson (1929-present) & Richard Shiffrin (1942-present)

-In 1968, created the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory- a three stage modal-model.

Sensory Memory

-immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system; the information ready to encoded

Short-term memory

-activated memory that holds few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten; encoded through rehearsal

Long-term memory

-the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system, including knowledge, skills, and experiences; stored for later retrieval.

Alan Baddeley (1934-present)

-Added the element of working memory into the flow of memory

-Newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming sensations, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

-made short-term/working memory an active process rather than a pass-through

Implicit memory

-retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection (nondeclarative long-term memory)

-unconsciously remembering info (like a favorite song)

automatic processing

Encoding happens through...

-Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

types of implicit memory:

-Procedural Memory- Motor and cognitive skills that are automatic

-Associations- Classical conditioned behaviors and connections to stimuli

-Priming- Ability to identify objects and words

Procedural Memory

-Motor and cognitive skills that are automatic

Associations

-Classical conditioned behaviors and connections to stimuli

Priming

-Ability to identify objects and words

-the activation, often consciously of particular associations in memory; "memoryless memory"

-We are influenced by our previous experiences

-We meet someone who reminds us of a person we know, we can connect our emotions with the person we had known to the person we just met!

Explicit memory

-retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare" (declarative long-term memory)

-Info you consciously work to remember

-Encoded through effortful processing

-Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

-Though repetition and practice, effortful processing can become automatic - most people don't have to show effort when reading.

Types if Explicit Memory - Sensory Memory:

-Iconic Memory: a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

-Echoic Memory: a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimulus; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

Iconic Memory

-a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Echoic Memory

-a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimulus; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

Active processing

_______ _______ aids greatly in ensuring our working memory capacity remains strong!

Chunking

-processing strategy

-organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Mnemonics

-processing strategy

-memory aides, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

-Words, phrases, sentences, etc. form an image in our mind that we remember, which allows us to recall the verbal phrase

Hierarchies

-processing strategy

-few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts.

Distributed Practice

-processing strategy

-retention of information is best when distributed over time due to the SPACING EFFECT

-The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

True

T OR F: We process verbal information at different levels, and that depth of processing affects our long term retention

Shallow Processing

-encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.

Deep processing

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

semantic, episodic

We consider our explicit memories to be either ________ or _______

Semantic Memory

-explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems

Episodic Memory

-explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems

True

T OR F: Explicit memories take effortful processing!

hippocampus

-assists in the creation of new explicit memories

prefrontal cortex

-put to work when our working memory recalls semantic or episodic memory

-If damaged, we can have a difficult time remembering certain types of memories

ADDITIONAL INFO TO KNOW:

-The hippocampus is not the final storage area

-It simply prepares the information for memory consolidation

-The neural storage of long-term memory

-Memory consolidation isn't an instantaneous process and can be aided by deep sleep

-It is believed that during sleep, the brain replays the day's images from the hippocampus in order to store them in the cortex.

True

T OR F: If we lose functioning in our hippocampus and even our frontal lobe, we can still create memories of how to complete tasks or learn new skills.

cerebellum, basal ganglia

-If we lose functioning in our hippocampus and even our frontal lobe, we can still create memories of how to complete tasks or learn new skills.

-Our __________ and our ______ _______ are heavily involved in the creation and storage of memories for these skills - older brain structures that begin working very early in life

Infantile Amnesia

-our conscious memory from before 3-4 is relatively blank because we don't have the language skills or the brain development to commit things to our explicit memory- but have no problem with implicit memory tasks!

amygdala

-Stressful events are encoded via the _________ (our emotion center) in vivid and clear images

-This holds true for any strong memory

Flashbulb Memories

-a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Long-term potentiation

-an increase in a cells firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory

retrieval cues

-When we commit something to memory, we also take note of other information about our surroundings and the situation

-help us access the information later

Encoding Specificity Principle

-the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall

State-Dependent Memory

-When we learn in one state of mind a fact, or create a memory, it is easier for us to recall that fact or memory when we are in a similar state

Mood-Congruent Memory

-the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

Anterograde Amnesia

-an inability to form new memories

Retrograde Amnesia

-an inability to retrieve information from one's past

Encoding failure

-that which we experience is never encoded; we can't take in every detail of a scenario.

-Age becomes a factor - as we get older, the brain parts responsible for encoding become less efficient

-Encoding takes effort, regardless of age- no matter how many times we see something, can we truly identify it when asked about it later?

Storage decay

-over time, our forgetting of certain concepts or ideas will level off; this is believed to be because of a gradual fading of our physically memory

-Psychology is still trying to understand how exactly this decay occurs and if there really is a capacity on our storage of physical memories - or is it something else

Retrieval Failure

-not related to memories having faded or never encoded, but memories that aren't retrieved.

-"It's right there on the tip of my tongue."

Interference

-our brains might not get filled, but they can become cluttered and new and old information can collide.

Proactive interference

-the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information

-What we already know gets in the way of recalling what we just learned