AP Psych: Encoding

Memory: The Basics

• Encoding (input) → Storage → Retrieval (output)

• Encoding (input)

  • Getting info into memory

• Storage

  • Retaining memory over time

• Retrieval

  • Recovering info from memory sources

Autonomic vs. Effortful

• Autonomic

  • Unconscious processing of information

  • Space, Time, Frequency

  • Space

    • Where info came from (location)

  • Time

    • unintentionally note when the events take place during the day

    • sequence of events (1st, 2nd, 3rd)

  • Frequency

    • Amount of times of occurrence

• Effortful

  • Conscious processing that requires attention and effort

Levels of Processing (Craik and Lockhart)

• Shallow: Visual/Structural Encoding

  • Encoding the image or structure of the terms

  • “Is the word written in all capital letters?”

  • “How many letters?”

• Deep: Semantic Encoding

  • Emphasizing the meaning of what is being encoded

Enriching Encoding (strategies) 

• Chunking

  • Organizing items into familiar and manageable units

• Hierarchy

  • Subdivision of terms → when grouped together retention is strengthened 

• Mnemonics

  • memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices 

• Method of loci

  • Matches items with an imagined location 

Encoding Effects/Barriers

• Spacing Effect

  • We retain information better when rehearsed over time 

• Serial Position Effect

  • Our tendency to recall best the first and last terms in a list 

• Next-In-Line Effect

  • Difficulty in recalling information concerning events immediately preceding their turn to perform 

• Reinforcement

  • increases likelihood of behavior occurring again

    • treat, praise, etc. 

• Punishment

  • consequence of event, decreases the likelihood of behavior occurring again 

    • correcting behavior, grounding