What is Memory?

6.1 Three Processes of Memory

• Memory: an active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, and organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage

• Encoding: the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems

• Storage: holding on to information for some period of time

• Retrieval: getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used

6.2

• Information-processing model: model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages

• Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Model: a model of memory in which memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections

• Levels-of-Processing Model: model of memory that assumes information that is more “deeply processed,” or processed according to its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words, will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time

The Information-Processing Model: Three Memory Systems

6.3 Sensory Memory: Why do People do Double Takes?

• Sensory Memory: the very first stage of memory, where raw information from the senses is held for a very brief period of time

• Iconic Memory: visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second

• Eidetic Imagery: the ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more

• Echoic Memory: auditory sensory memory, lasting only 2–4 seconds

6.4 Short-Term Memory

• Short-Term Memory (STM): the memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used

• Selective Attention: the ability to focus on only one stimulus from all sensory input

• Working Memory: an active system that processes the information in short-term memory

• Maintenance Rehearsal: practice of saying some information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in short-term memory

6.5 Long-Term Memory

• Long-term memory (LTM): the system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently

• Elaborative Rehearsal: a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way

• Nondeclarative (Implicit) Memory: type of long-term memory including memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses

  • These memories are not conscious but are implied to exist because they affect conscious behavior

• Anterograde Amnesia: loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories

• Declarative (explicit) Memory: type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known

• Semantic Memory: type of declarative memory containing general knowledge, such as knowledge of language and information learned in formal education

• Episodic Memory: type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events

• Semantic Network Model: model of memory organization that assumes information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are related stored physically closer to each other than concepts that aren't highly rated

Getting It Out: Retrieval of Long-Term Memories

6.6 Retrieval Cues

• Encoding Specificity: the tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surroundings or physiological state) that is available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved

6.7 Recall and Recognition

• Recall: type of memory retrieval in which the information to be retrieved must be “pulled” from memory with very few external cues. serial position effect primacy effect. recency effect

• Recognition: the ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact.

• Serial Position Effect: tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information

• Primary Effect: tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body of information better than the information that follows

• Recency Effect: tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better than the information that precedes it.

6.8 Automatic Encoding: Flashbulb Memories

• Automatic Encoding: tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding

• Flashbulb Memories:  type of automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it

6.9 The Reconstructive Nature of Long-Term Memory Retrieval: How Reliable are Memories

• Constructive Processing: referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information

• Hindsight Bias: the tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event

• Misinformation Effect: the tendency of misleading information presented after an event to alter the memories of the event itself

What Were We Talking About? Forgetting

6.10 Ebbinghaus and the Forgetting Curve

• Curve of Forgetting: a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast within the first hour after learning a list and then tapers off gradually

• Distributed Practice: spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods

6.11 Reasons We Forget

• Encoding Failure: failure to process information into memory

• Memory Trace: physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed

• Decay: loss of memory due to the passage of time, during which the memory trace is not used

• Disuse: another name for decay, assuming that memories that are not used will eventually decay and disappear

• Proactive Interference: memory problem that occurs when older information prevents or interferes with the learning or retrieval of newer information

• Retroactive Interference: memory problem that occurs when newer information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older information

Neuroscience of Memory

6.12 The Biological Bases of Memory

• Consolidation: the changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when a memory is formed

6.13 When Memories Fail: Organic Amnesia

• Retrograde Amnesia: loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backward, or loss of memory for the past

• Ante Retrograde Amnesia: a decreased ability to retain new information

• Infantile Amnesia: the inability to retrieve memories from much before age 3

• Autobiographical Memory: the memory for events and facts related to one’s personal life story