PSYC 100: Remembering and Judging
Introduction
Memory: the ability to store and retrieve information over time
Cognition: the processes of acquiring and using knowledge
Memories are constructed, not recorded.
Thus, when we remember events we don’t reproduce exact replicas of those events.
Memories as Types and Stages
Psychologists conceptualize memory in terms of types, stages, and processes.
Types: explicit memory and implicit memory
Stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory
Processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval
Explicit memory: type of memory that requires conscious action
Semantic memory: facts and general knowledge about the world
Episodic memory: personally experiences events
Explicit memory is tested using measures in which the individual being tested must consciously attempt to remember the information.
Recall memory test: measure of explicit memory that involves bringing from memory information that has previously been remembered
Recognition memory test: measure of explicit memory that involves determining whether information has been seen or learned before
Relearning: assess how much more quickly information is processed or learned when it is studied again after it has already been learned but then forgotten.
Implicit memory: type of memory that does not require conscious awareness; influence of experience on behavior
Procedural memory: motor and cognitive skills
Priming effects: enhanced identification with objects or words
Classical conditioning effects: association of neutral stimuli with unconditioned stimuli
Procedural memory allows us to perform complex tasks even though we may not be able to explain to others how to do them.
Word fragment test: a measure of priming effects on implicit memory in which a person is asked to fill in missing letters to make words.
Stages of Memory: Sensory, Short-Term, and Long-Term
Sensory memory: the brief storage of sensory information
a memory buffer that lasts only very briefly and ends up forgotten is not attended to and passed on for more processing.
Visual sensory memory (iconic memory).
Eidetic imagery: phenomenon where people can report details of an image over long periods of time
also some evidence for eidetic memories in hearing
Auditory sensory memory (echoic memory).
Last longer than iconic memories (4 seconds)
Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory (STM): the place where small amounts of information can be temporarily kept for more than a few seconds but usually for less than one minute.
working memory: the processes that we use to make sense of, modify, interpret, and store information in STM.
Central executive: the part of working memory that directs attention and processing
will make use of whatever strategies seem to be best for the given task
Maintenance rehearsal: the process of repeating information mentally or out loud with the goal of keeping it in memory.
prevents decay of information from short term memory
The digit span of most adults is between five and nine digits to recall from short term memory.
Chunking: the process of organizing information into smaller groupings (chunks) to increase the number of items that can be held in STM.
Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory: memory storage that can hold information for days, months, and years.
ltm memory capacity is seemingly infinite.
Key Points
Memory refers to the ability to store and retrieve information over time.
For some things our memory is very good, but our active cognitive processing of information assures that memory is never an exact replica of what we have experienced.
Explicit memory refers to experiences that can be intentionally and consciously remembered, and it is measured using recall, recognition, and relearning.
Includes episodic and semantic memories.
Measures of relearning (aka savings) assess how much more quickly information is learned when it is studied again after it has already been learned but then forgotten.
Implicit memory refers to the influence of experience on behavior, even if the individual is not aware of those influences.
three types of implicit memory are procedural memory, classical conditioning effects, and priming effects.
Information processing begins in sensory memory, moves to short-term memory, and eventually moves to long-term memory.
Maintenance rehearsal and chunking are used to keep information in short-term memory.
The capacity of long-term memory is large, and there is no known limit to what we can remember.
How We Remember: Cues to Improving Memory
To be successful in remembering details, things must be encoded, stored, then retrieved.
Use elaborative encoding | Material is better remembered if it is processed more fully | Think, for instance, "Proactive interference is like retroactive interference but it occurs in a forward manner." |
Make use of the self-reference effect | Material is better remembered if it is linked to thoughts about the self. | Think, for instance, "I remember a time when I knew the answer to an exam question but couldn't quite get it to come to mind. This was an example of the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon." |
Be aware of the forgetting curve | Information that we have learned drops off rapidly with time. | Review the material that you have already studied right before the exam to increase the likelihood it will remain in memory. |
Make use of the spacing effect | Information is learned better when it is studied in shorter periods spaced over time. | Study a little bit every day; do not cram at the last minute. |
Rely on overlearning | We can continue to learn even after we think we know the information perfectly. | Keep studying, even if you think you already have it down. |
Use context-dependent retrieval | We have better retrieval when it occurs in the same situation as the one in which we learned the material. | If possible, study under conditions similar to the conditions in which you will take the exam. |
Use state-dependent retrieval | We have better retrieval when we are in the same psychological state as we were when we learned the material. | Many possibilities, but don't study under the influence of drugs or alcohol, unless you plan to use them on the day of the exam (which is not recommended). |
Encoding and Storage: How Our Perceptions Become Memories
Encoding: the process by which we place the things that we experience into memory
not everything we experience can or should be encoded
Elaborative encoding: we process new information in ways that make it more relevant or meaningful.
Spacing effect: refers to the fact that learning is better when the same amount of study is spread out over periods of time than it is when it occurs closer together or at the same time.
distributed practice (practice spread out over time) vs massed practice (practice that comes in one block)
Overlearning: continuing to practice and study even when we think that we have mastered the material
Retrieval: the process of reactivating information that has been stored in memory
Tip of the tongue phenomenon: in which we are certain that we know something that we are trying to recall but cannot quite come up with it.
We are more likely to be able to retrieve items from memory when conditions at retrieval are similar to the conditions under which we encoded them.
Context dependent learning: an increase in retrieval when the external situation in which information is learned matches the situation in which it is remembered.
State dependent learning: retrieval of memories when the individual is in the same physiological or psychological state as during encoding.
mood states can also fall under state dependent learning
Serial position curve: variations in ability to retrieve information
Primacy effect: a tendency to better remember stimuli that are presented early in a list
Recency effect: the tendency to better remember stimuli that are presented later in a list
Retroactive interference: when learning something new impairs our ability to retrieve information that was learned earlier.
Proactive interference: when earlier learning impairs our ability to encode information that we try to learn later.
The Structure of LTM: Categories, Prototypes, and Schemas
Categories: networks of associated memories that have features in common with each other
Spreading activation: occurs when activating one element of a category activates other associated elements
Defining features: a feature that must be true of all members of the category
Category prototype: the member of the category that is most average or typical of the category
Schemas: patterns of knowledge in LTM that helps us organize information.
group schemas are called stereotypes
schemas are important because they help us remember new information by providing an organizational structure for it
The Biology of Memory
The ability to maintain information in LTM involves a gradual strengthening of the connections among the neurons in the brain.
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP): the strengthening of the synaptic connections between neurons as result of frequent stimulation
occurs gradually, aka consolidation.
Memory occurs through interactions between the new and old brain structures.
hippocampus is an integral brain region for explicit memory
cerebellum and amygdala concentrate on implicit and emotional memories.
Amnesia: memory disorder that involves the inability to remember information
Retrograde amnesia: memory disorder that produces an inability to retrieve events that occurred before a given time.
Anterograde amnesia: the inability to transfer information from short-term into long-term memory, making it impossible to form new memories
Glutamate is an important neurotransmitter that helps people remember
Serotonin gets secreted when animals learn
Epinephrine increases memory during stressful events
Estrogen seems critical since women who have a reduction in estrogen report memory difficulties.
Studies on drug usage to help increase memory, but no evidence to support this yet.
Key Points
Information is better remembered when it is meaningfully elaborated.
Hermann Ebbinghaus made important contributions to the study of learning, including modeling the forgetting curve, and studying the spacing effect and the benefits of overlearning.
Context and state dependent learning, as well as primacy and recency effects, influence LTM.
Memories are stored in connected synapses through the process of long-term potentiation.
In addition to the cortex, other parts of the brain, including the hippocampus, cerebellum, and the amygdala, are also important in memory.
Damage to the brain may result in retrograde amnesia or anterograde amnesia.
Case studies of patients with amnesia can provide information about the brain structures involved in different types of memory.
Memory is influenced by chemicals including glutamate, serotonin, epinephrine, and estrogen.
Studies comparing memory enhancers with placebo drugs find very little evidence for their effectiveness.
Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Memory and Cognition
Though our cognition allows us to attend to, rehearse, and organize information, cognition may also lead to distortions and errors in our judgements and our behaviors.
Cognitive biases: errors in memory or judgement that are caused by the inappropriate use of cognitive processes.
Source monitoring | the ability to accurately identify the source of a memory | Uncertainty about the source of a memory may lead to mistaken judgments. |
Confirmation bias | the tendency to verify and confirm our existing memories rather than to challenge and disconfirm them | Once beliefs become established, they become self-perpetuating and difficult to change. |
Functional fixedness | when a schema prevents us from seeing and using information in new and nontraditional ways | Creativity may be impaired by the overuse of traditional, expectancy-based thinking. |
Misinformation effect | errors in memory that occur when new but incorrect information influences existing accurate memories | Eyewitnesses who are questioned by the police may change their memories of what they observed at the crime scene. |
Overconfidence | when we are more certain that our memories and judgments are accurate than we should be | Eyewitnesses may be very confident that they have accurately identified a suspect, even though their memories are incorrect. |
Salience | when some stimuli, (e.g., those that are colorful, moving, or unexpected) grab our attention and make them more likely to be remembered | We may base our judgments on a single salient event while we ignore hundreds of other equally informative events that we do not see. |
Representativeness heuristic | tendency to make judgments according to how well the event matches our expectations | After a coin has come up "heads" many times in a row, we may erroneously think that the next flip is more likely to be "tails" (the gambler's fallacy). |
Availability heuristic | idea that things that come to mind easily are seen as more common | We may overestimate the crime statistics in our own area, because these crimes are so easy to recall. |
Cognitive accessibility | idea that some memories are more highly activated than others | We may think that we contributed more to a project than we really did because it is so easy to remember our own contributions. |
Counterfactual thinking | when we "replay" events such that they turn out differently (especially when only minor changes in the events leading up to them make a difference) | We may feel particularly bad about events that might not have occurred if only a small change had occurred before them. |
Source Monitoring: Did it Really Happen?
Source monitoring: the ability to accurately identify the source of a memory
people who are fantasy-prone are more likely to experience source-monitoring errors
Sleeper effect: attitude change that occurs over time when we forget the source of information
Schematic Processing: Distortions Based on Expectations
Confirmation bias: the tendency to verify and confirm our existing memories rather than to challenge and disconfirm them.
leads us to remember information that fits out schemas better than we remember information that disconfirms them
Flashbulb memory: a vivid and emotional memory of an unusual event that people believe they remember very well
Key Points
Our memories fail in part due to inadequate encoding and storage, and in part due to the inability to accurately retrieve stored information.
The human brain is wired to develop and make use of social categories and schemas.
Schemas help us remember new information but may also lead us to falsely remember things that never happened to us and to distort or misremember things that did.
A variety of cognitive biases influence the accuracy of our judgements.