Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information
Encoding
forming a memory code
Need to pay attention + actually get it into your memory
Levels of Processing
Structural
Phonemic
Semantic (deepest level + best)
Storage
maintaining encoded information over time
Information Processing Theory
Sensory → Short Term → Long Term
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage
Structural encoding
emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus
Ex: if words are flashed → focus on things as how the words are printed or length
Semantic encoding
emphasizes the meaning of verbal input; it involves thinking about the objects and actions the words represent
Information-processing model
Proposes that information passes through 3 stages before it is stored
Levels of processing theory
deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes
Sensory memory
The immediate, very brief (fraction of a second) recording of sensory information in the memory system
Iconic memory
Sensory memory of visual stimuli
Echoic memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli
Short-term memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (20 s), before information is stored or forgotten
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Ex: list of numbers → divide numbers into years
Phonemic coding
emphasizes what a word sounds like
involves naming or saying (perhaps silently) the words
Mnemonic devices
strategies for enhancing memory
Memory aids; especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Long-term memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences
Episodic memory
Memories of specific events, stores in a sequential series of events (personal facts and experiences)
Semantic memory
General knowledge of the world, stored as facts, meanings, or categories (not sequentially)
Explicit memory
Conscious memories of facts or events
Ex: remembering vocabulary for a psych quiz
Implicit memory
Unintentional memories that we might not even know we have
Recall measures of retention
requires participants to reproduce information on their own without any cues
If you were to take a recall test on a list of twenty-five words you had memorized, you would simply be told to write down on a blank sheet of paper as many of the words as you could remember
Fill-in the blank
Serial position effect
Our tendency to recall the first (primacy) and last (recency) items in a list best
TIp-of-the-tongue phenomenon
forgotten information feels like it’s just out of reach
Semantic network theory
Theory that states that our brain forms new memories by connecting their meaning and context with meaning already in memories
State-dependent memory
What we learn in one mental state, we may remember better in that same state
Constructed memory
Can report false details of a real event or might even be a recollection of an event that never occurred
Retroactive interference
When new learning gets in the way of old information
Proactive interference
When old learning gets in the way of new information
Anterograde amnesia
The inability to form new memories
Retrograde amnesia
The inability to retrieve information from one's past
Overlearning
studying material beyond a pre-determined level of mastery
Elizabeth Loftus
well known for her research on human memory + false memories
Misinformation effect
Misinformation effect
memories are altered when misleading questions or statements are presented during the day → The way people/police ask questions will change the quality of recall
Baddeley’s model of working memory
consists of four components
Phonological loop
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Central Executive
Episodic Buffer
accounts for evidence that short-term memory handles a greater variety of functions and depends on more complicated processes
Phonological loop
represented all of short-term memory in earlier models
Ex: when you use recitation to temporarily hold onto a phone number
help us learn language and expand our vocabular
serves to temporarily hold verbal information
Visuospatial Sketchpad
permits people to temporarily hold and manipulate visual images
At work when you try to mentally rearrange the furniture in your bedroom
Central Executive
controls the deployment of attention
switching the focus of attention and dividing attention, as needed.
Episodic Buffer
a temporary, limited capacity store
integrating info from several sources to create a unified memory
serves as an interface b/w working memory and long-term memory.
imagery
the creation of visual images to represent the words to be remembered
used to enrich encoding
concrete v. abstract words
Pseudoforgetting
info is not encoded
Ex: penny experiment
usually attributable to lack of attention.
Interference theory
people forget information because of competition from other material
environment interferes w/ brain trying to store + rmr memory
Maintenance Rehearsal
straight repeating of information to memorize it
repression
motivated forgetting
defense mechanism
psychoanalytic/Freudian
conscious can’t handle certain memories and push it down to the subconscious
Encoding Specificity Principle
match encoding contexts of info at recall assists with retrieval
Ex: going back to scene of the crime to trigger memories better
Declarative Memory
handles factual information
contains recollections of words, definitions, names, dates, faces, events, concepts, and ideas
handled by hippocampus & areas of the cortex
type of explicit memory
Non-declarative memory
actions and skills (muscle memory)
Memories of skills and how to perform them
Little conscious awareness
Ex: riding a bike
Performance decreases if you think too much
Doesn’t decline much
Cerebellum and amygdala
Source Monitoring
the process of making inferences about the origins of memories
Source Monitoring error
when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source
Ex: you might attribute something that your roommate said to your psychology professor
Forgetting Curve
Ebbinghaus plotted how quickly we forget
Hindsight Bias
e tendency to mold one’s interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out
Reality Monitoring
psychological processes by which people discriminate real from imagined events
Destination Memory
the process of remembering to whom one has told information
Prospective Memory
remembering to perform actions in the future
Ex: walk the dog
Method of Loci
Mnemonic device
taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations
Endel Tulving
subdivided declarative memory into semantic and episodic memory
Hermann Ebbinghaus
published a series of insightful memory studies
studied himself
forgetting curve
Elaboration
linking of a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding
Dual-coding theory
memory is enhanced by forming both semantic and visual codes since either can lead to recall
decay theory
forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time
Schema
organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event
Ex: diff places think of something diff when they think of high school
Flashbulb Memories
vivid & detailed recollections of momentous events in our life
Ex: rmr exactly the day when 9/11
recognition measure of retention
requires participants to select previously learned information from an array of options → have options + answers in front of them
Ex: multiple choice
Retention
proportion of material retained (remembered)
consolidation
a hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of new, unstable memories into stable, durable memory codes stored in long-term memory
Memories first consolidates in hippicampal region then stored + distributed to areas of cortex
Memory Trace
a hypothetical permanent change in the nervous system brought about by memorizing something
Self-referent encoding
deciding if info is personally relevant → better chance of encoding
Conceptual hierarchy
a multilevel classification system based on common properties among items
Transfer-appropriate processing
type of state-dependent memory
memory performance is better when the cognitive processes engaged during retrieval match the cognitive processes that were engaged when the material was encoded
Long term potentiation
synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation
Ex: if a mouse is placed in a pool of murky water, it will swim about until it finds a hidden platform to climb out on. With repetition, the mouse soon learns to locate the platform more quickly
Retrospective memory
remembering events from the past or previously learned information
Link method
forming a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together