PSY-201 Chapter 10

The Nature of Memory

  • Definition: Memory is the process by which we store information, images, events, and skills and recall them for later use.

  • Anything you can recall later

    • Ex. interesting facts, things learned in school, etc.

Three General Processes of Memory

  • Encoding: The process for getting memories into your brain.

  • Storage: A way to retain memories over time.

  • Retrieval: Recovering memories for use now.

Atkinson and Shiffrin's Multistore Model

  • The multistore model proposes three systems for memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968).

    • Memory flows through three stages/systems:

    • Sensory Memory (Milliseconds, but very large capacity)

    • Short Term/Working Memory (15-30 seconds; capacity is limited 7 +- 2 novel units)

    • Long Term Memory (unlimited capacity and retention)


    • Each stage differs in capacity and duration

Sensory Memory

Iconic Memory (Visual Sensory Memory)

  • Images taken with the eyes that fade quickly, lasting only a fraction of a second.

  • Lasts only a fraction of a second.

  • Eidetic memory: The ability to perfectly recall an image briefly viewed a single time.

    • Special, very rare.

    • ex. dude who drew New York after only a 45 minutes helicopter ride.

Echoic Memory (Auditory Sensory Memory)

  • Auditory Ideary information retained for several seconds.

  • Single sound enters memory, immediately replaced and updated, monitoring new information.

Working (Short-Term) Memory

  • A system that actively processes different types of information from multiple sources. Idea’s images, and sounds.

    • Central Executive System: Focuses attention, shifts between tasks, combines processes as needed.

    • Visuospatial Sketchpad: Mental snapshot of a scene.

    • Phonological Loop: Rehearsal by saying something aloud multiple times.

    • ex. you need to go grocery shopping, you didnt bring a list, you know you needed milk, cheese, chicken. You repeat milk cheese and chicken over and over to remember.

    • Episodic Buffer: Integrates auditory, spatial, visual information in chronological order. 

    • ex. grocery store, you see yogurt on the shelf, makes you think whether or not you have yogurt at home.

    • Mixed evidence for “brain training.”

Long-Term Memory

Explicit Long-Term Memory

  • Explicit Long-Term Memory: conscious, internal recollection of facts and events.

  • Semantic Memory: Concepts, facts, and information consciously remembered.

  • Episodic Memories: Personal experiences that serve as episodes in life (e.g., first kiss).

    • Flashbulb Memories: Strong, detailed recollections of emotional or meaningful events.

  • Accuracy of memory regarded as mediocre; inconsistent even when individuals believe they remember exactly.

Implicit Long-Term Memory

  • Implicit Memory: Recalled automatically; actions performed without conscious awareness; unconscious

  • Priming: the process by which exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, often without conscious guidance or intention.

    • Déjà Vu: Memory conflict induced by recognition of a similar past experience without identifying when and where it occurred; memory failure.

  • Procedural (Motor) Memory: Physical skills initially requiring thought; becomes automatic with practice.

  • False Fame Effect: Names recognized from prior encounters seem famous.

Making Memories: Encoding

Rehearsal

  • Definition: Practice/repetition aimed at creating a new memory.

  • Example: Research on memory encoding via nonsense syllables.

Types of Rehearsal

  • Maintenance Rehearsal: Memorization technique involving purposeful repetition for learning.

    • ex. memorizing books of the Bible and CLI

  • Elaborative Rehearsal: Involves generating meaning as information is repeated (utilizes levels of processing).

    • better of the two for retaining memory long-term.

Self-Reference Effect

  • Definition: Tendency to remember personally relevant information more easily; elaborates information within context.

Memory Span

  • The “Magic Number”: Typically, the number of pieces of information recalled from a list is 7 ± 2.

Chunking

  • Definition: Combining smaller information bits into larger pieces to enhance capacity.

  • Example: Acronyms (e.g., “HOMES” for U.S. Great Lakes).

Time and Effort: Learning

Superficial Processing

  • Avoid excessively fast learning; it can hinder encoding quality.

  • Example: Speed reading often leads to decreased accuracy and comprehension.

Spacing Effect

  • Definition: Learning distributed over several sessions improves long-term memory.

  • Example: Spacing study sessions instead of cramming enhances memory retention.

Overlearning

  • Definition: Continual studying or practicing to strengthen memory.

  • Example: Many professions require ongoing education to stabilize knowledge.

Mnemonics

  • Definition: Memory aids or techniques for remembering specific information, especially lists.

  • Examples:

    • Commercial Jingle: The alphabet song.

    • Acronyms: PEMDAS for order of operations.

    • Rhymes: Linking new ideas with familiar patterns to make them more memorable.

      • MRAVME

      • MARVEM

      • MRVAME

      • Mr. Acronym tells his kids Vivid Stories about the Method of Loci, but he only sings them to Music, using Rhyming to Elaborate the drama.

Keeping Memories: Storage


Memory Storage's Structure

  • Schemas: Collections of thoughts/knowledge aiding in understanding and make sense of new information.

    • ex. saying you heard ‘fruit’ after the Shakespeare type vid

  • Network of Associations: A framework of related concepts.

  • Node: Each concept within the network with varying connection levels.

    • some closer than others

  • Spreading Activation: Closer connections (e.g., 'fork' and 'spoon') are activated faster than more distant connections.

Consolidation

  • Definition: Process transforming temporary into permanent memories.

  • Engram: Physical location in the brain where a memory resides.

    • All memories are not all in the same place, connected by neural pathways

    • Remember, the

    • Hippocampus has to do with memories.

  • Memory storage involves the temporal lobes, with the concept of equipotentiality, indicating that memories reside across the brain.

    • Equipotentiality - memories are spread throughout the brain.

Retention Interval

  • Retention Interval: Period required to preserve information (e.g., importance determines how long).

    • Relearning: The process of reacquiring knowledge or skills that were previously learned but not retained, often requiring less time than initial learning.

Reconsolidation

  • Definition: Retrieving a memory that is stored leads to renewed storage; can strengthen memories but also implies alteration of the original.

  • Can be both positive (strengthen the memory) or negative (confuse, weaken the memory). 

  • “You are only remembering the last time you remembered this.”

  • This process highlights the malleability of our memories and underscores the importance of context and emotional state during recall, as these factors can significantly influence how a memory is reconstructed.

Importance of Breaks

  • Taking breaks during and immediately after long-term memory storage enhances processing and attention.

  • Breaks longer than 5-30 minutes may hinder memory consolidation.

    • 5-30 is the Sweet spot.

    • Be careful! Too long of a break can lead to

    • decreased recall and hinder the effectiveness of the encoding process, ultimately impacting learning outcomes

Using Memories: Retrieval

Two-Stage Theory

  • Memory retrieval initiated by a search for information followed by verification for correctness.

    • ex. taking a multiple-choice test is easier than a short-answer test.

Ecphory

  • Interaction between memory prompts and memory engrams.

Recognition vs. Recall

  • Recognition: Remembering information after it has been experienced.

  • Recall: Remembering information without it being present.

Memory Retrieval Cues

  • Definition: Stimuli that facilitate remembrance.

  • Encoding Specificity Principle: Retrieval is easier when contexts match.

    • The way and place we encode the memory, if we have the same (or similar) environment to the place the memory was made, the recall process is often more successful, as our brain uses these contextual clues to bring associated information to mind.

  • Context-Dependent Memory: Improved recall when encoding and retrieval contexts are congruent.

    • ex. chewing gum when studying, chewing gum while taking the test 

  • State-Dependent Memory: Retrieval improved when internal states match those during encoding.

Serial Position Curve

  • Memory tendency to be better for items at the beginning and end of a list.

    • ex. think listening to a homily

  • Primacy Effect: Better memory for the first items due to extended rehearsal time.

  • Recency Effect: Enhanced recollection for items at the end of lists as they are fresher.

  • Strategies to enhance middle recall through changing material order.

Forgetting

Everyday Forgetting

  • Encoding Failure: Example of Henry Molaison whose memory altered post-surgery; highlights issues of absentmindedness due to multitasking.

    • you think you know it, but it was never encoded properly.

    • common when multitasking, distracted.

Storage Failure: Decay and Interference

  • Decay Theory: Memories fade over time; memory traces decay unless reinforced.

    • the longer a memory is stored, the more the memory can decay or fade.

    • if you dont use them you’ll use them.

  • Interference: Previous information obstructs new memory formation.

    • Retroactive Interference: New learning disrupts recall of old information.

      • ex. you’re taking french, you go on vacation to a spanish speaking country, you only can remember french words instead of the Spanish you once knew.

    • Proactive Interference: Past information impedes new learning.

      • ex. you took spanish in highschool, you knew a decent amount. now you’re in college and decide to take french. when it’s test day, you remember the spanish terms and not the french.

Retrieval Failure

  • Blocking: Temporary inaccessibility of a memory due to interference from other information.

    • the memory you’re trying to recall is inaccessible because you have so much going on in your head.

  • Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon: Incomplete memory trace leads to inability to fully recall information.

Memory's Imperfections

Memory Bias: the idea that you change your memory based on bias.

  • Sharpening: Emphasizing some details at the expense of others.

    • the parts of a memory that stand out to you the most; snap-shot memory would be sharp

  • Leveling: Omitting unnecessary information.

    • leaving out what we deem unnecessary.

  • Assimilation: Altering facts to fit one's worldview.

  • Consistency Bias: Overestimating how much past attitudes align with present ones, affecting memory accuracy.

    • ex. we may over estimate how angry, happy, etc. we were in a specific moment, and we match it to how we feel right now.

  • Impact: Memory bias influences self-perception, relationships, and judgement of others.

  • Memory bias can:

    • make us think we were initially worse at something than we actually are

    • keep us in mediocre relationships

    • affect how we judge other people

False Memory

  • False Memories (Confabulations): Honest inaccuracies in memory or recollections of events that did not occur.

  • Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) Paradigm: Process illustrating production of false memories through free recall.

  • Mandela Effect: Societal misrecall of specific facts or ; vents.

    • ex. Jif vs Jiffy peanut butter

Misinformation Effect

  • Occurs when incorrect information alters an original memory.

  • Example: Elizabeth Loftus’s studies demonstrating impact of misinformation on video recollections.

Serious and Intentional Memory Loss

Amnesia

  • Definition: Inability to retrieve substantial memory due to trauma exposure; has both physical and mental trauma

  • Infantile Amnesia: Inability of adults to retrieve early childhood memories, especially below age 4, as a result of an underdeveloped brain.

  • Retrograde Amnesia: Memory loss for events before a trauma; physical

    • you can remember new memories, but you cant remember anything before

    • Anterograde Amnesia: Inability to retrieve new memories post-trauma, older ones preserved.

    • you can’t form new memories past a certain point

Dissociative (Psychogenic) Amnesia

  • Loss of personal/autobiographical memory often linked to psychological trauma.

  • Dissociative Fugue: Sudden departure leading to new identity establishment in a different place.

    • parts of memory tend to be tied to family, relationships, finances, and/or employment

    • may be caused by psychological/social traumas

    • loss of memory for personal or autobiographical information

Repression

  • Definition: Process of hiding traumatic memories unconsciously to prevent negative impacts.

  • Ethical Considerations: Questions regarding the healing effects of retrieved repressed memories and the potential for imparting false memories through bias.

Persistence: Unwanted Remembering

  • Persistence: Recurring thoughts about experiences one wishes to forget.

    • remembering things we don’t want to forget

  • Strong emotional components enhance memory persistence but can lead to negative outcomes, such as reduced positive recollections and depression.

  • Ironic Rebound Effect of Thought Suppression: Attempting to forget something can lead to its increased salience.

  • Techniques for managing intrusive memories:

    • reconsolidation    

    • pharmacological approaches (e.g., propranolol).

Conclusion

  • Memory is a complex process influenced by various factors, from encoding to potential biases and loss mechanisms. Understanding these dynamics is essential for effective learning and emotional health management.