Memory Types, Processes, and Strategies in Psychology

Memory

The faculty by which the mind stores and

remembers

information.

Hippocampus

Hippocampus

Responsible for Declarative Memory

Factual Information

Personal Facts & Experiences

Ex: Your Home Address

General Facts & Experiences

Ex: Knowing who the POTUS is

Amygdala + Cerebellum

Amygdala+Cerebellum

Responsible for Non-Declarative Memory

Amygdala assigns emotions with Memory

Actions and Skills

Automatic

Ex: Riding a Bike or Putting on your seatbelt.

Declarative Memory

Factual Information that is managed by the Hippocampus. Includes personal factual information, like your own phone #, as well as general information like knowing how many states are in the US.

NonDeclarative Memory

Memory that focuses on skills and actions rather than information. For example, riding a bike or putting on your seatbelt. These actions require very little awareness and are automatic.

Sensory Memory

Memory related to the five senses. This type of memory stores information for a brief moment (less then a second) from a stimulus that is presented to one of the senses.

For example: The smell of delicious wings

Procedural Memory

This type of memory is based in actions and skills, in this type of memory the more thought that is put into a task, the more difficult it gets to perform it. The task or action is therefore, automatic and requires little conscious awareness.

Ex: You put your windshield wipers up so they don't freeze

Semantic Memory

Factual knowledge, This type of memory records general information about the stimuli around and information gathered through average daily experiences.

For ex: Knowing that apples are red, knowing there are 50 states, etc...

Episodic memory

Also factual, but the focus is on storing personal facts and experiences. This type of memory is considered to be unique to humans since it allows humans to recall specific factual/emotional information gathered from their experiences

Ex: Your first superbowl, your first kiss, your wedding day, etc..

Process of memory

Encoding→ Storage→ Retrival

Encoding

The first step to processing memories, the brain receives a sensory input and then assigns it a "code." for example: When you meet someone new, you ask them their name.

Storage

The second stage of processing memories, In the encoding stage you gathered the information that you're going to remember (the person's name), the storage stage is then responsible for retaining that information.

For example: You repeat the person's name in your head to remember their name.

Retrieval

This is the finale stage of processing memories, after encoding the information and storing it, you can recall and retrieve the information for when you need it.

For example: You need to work on something with this person so you remember their name and call on them.

Long term memory

Long term Memory is crucial to the functions of the brain

Also known as "Flashbulb Memories" because they can be very

VIVID, emotional memories

These types of memories have the most detail and can last for a lifetime!

Contains both declarative and non-declarative memories

Once a memory enters the short term memory phase, the

hippocampus begins to retrieve memories from the short term and rewire the brain's neurons so that the memory stays permanently.

Maintenance rehearsal + Chunking

There are strategies to improve your Short Term Memory

Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating information over and over

Chunking: Sorting information into groups

Working Memory/Short term Memory

Short term memory

Short Term Memory:

About a minute long

A form of declarative memory

Very limited, can only remember a few things

Short term memory can be impaired by:

Substance use

Alcohol, certain drugs, or even too much caffeine can impair short-term memory temporarily.

Overloading your short-term memory

Short-term memory has a very limited capacity (5-9 items).

Poor attention

If you don't focus on the info in the first place, it may never reach short-term memory.

Multitasking

Trying to do too many things at once makes it harder for your brain to focus and hold info.

Lack of sleep

Sleep is essential for processing and maintaining short-term memory

Stress and anxiety

High stress floods the brain with cortisol, which can interfere with memory storage.

Chunking

Chunking: Sorting information into groups

Purpose is to make short-term memory more efficient because you can hold more info at once

Makes remembering pieces of info easier

EXAMPLES:

Remembering a phone #

Memorizing a list of items by categories, like fruits: apple, banana, orange instead of individual items.

Maintenance rehearsal

There are strategies to improve your Short Term Memory

Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating information over and over to keep it in short-term memory longer

Purpose is to prevent info from being forgotten before it is encoded into the long term memory

EXAMPLE:

You repeat a phone # in your head until you can dial it.

WORKING MEMORY/SHORT

TERM MEMORY:-Limited storage

Can only store a few things at a time

Can only hold info for about a minute

EX: Remembering a phone # just long enough to dial it

Decay Theory

Memory traces in the brain fade naturally over time when they are not accessed or rehearsed

This happens most with sensory and short-term memory

Maintenance rehearsal helps with decay

Pseudoforgetting

Info is not properly encoded so it is never stored

EXAMPLE:

Someone introduces themselves but you're distracted. Later you say:

"I forgot their name."

Really you never encoded it.

Tip

of-the-Tongue Phenomenon-Information is stored but you have difficulty with retrieval

EXAMPLE:

You say:

"I know the actor's name... it starts with J... I just can't say it!"Later it suddenly pops into your mind.

State Dependent Learning

You recall info better when your physical or mental state (i.e. mood, physical condition, environment, etc.) is the same at the time of encoding

Source Monitoring

Determining where a memory came from

The problem is that we sometimes remember the info but misidentify the source

EXAMPLE:

you think you read it in a book but you really saw it on Instagram

Proactive

Proactive

- old info interferes with learning new info

EX: You used to have the password "Psych123" but now it's "Psych456" and you keep typing "Psych123"

Retroactive

Retroactive-

new info interferes with remembering old info

EX: You get a new phone # and can't remember your old phone # anymore

Interference Theory

Information becomes harder to recall because other memories interfere. There are 2 main types:

Amnesia

Amnesia is severe memory loss usually caused by brain injury and/or disease. There are 2 main types

Retrograde Amnesia

unable to recall info prior to the brain damage

Anterograde Amnesia

unable to make new memories due to hippocampal damage

Patient HM

A case study of anterograde amnesia

HM's real name was Henry Molaison

Had severe epilepsy & had parts of his hippocampus removed

RESULT = his seizures improved but he could not form new declarative memories

Repression (Motivated Forgetting)

The unconscious blocking of unpleasant or traumatic memories

Theory proposed by Sigmund Freud

The idea is that the brain protects itself by pushing painful memories out of awareness

Controversial because it cannot be scientifically proven/verified

Cognitive psychology has not found reliable, empirical evidence for a mechanism that actively represses traumatic memories

Techniques to "recover" repressed memories are at risk of creating false, implanted memorie

Misinformation effect

When incorrect info alters a person's memory of an event

Elizabeth Loftus (1979) found memories are altered when misleading questions or statements are presented during the day.

She studied how memories can be distorted by misleading information

Can influence:

Eyewitness testimony

Police questioning

Court Cases

Cross

racial identification-Cross-racial identification bias refers to the tendency for individuals to have difficulty accurately recognizing and identifying members of a different racial group compared to those of their own race. This bias can lead to mistakes in eyewitness identification and contributes to wrongful convictions, particularly in legal contexts where accurate recognition is crucial.

Mnemonic device

A mnemonic device, memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember.

Consolidation

Memory consolidation refers to the process by which a temporary, labile memory is transformed into a more stable, long-lasting form.