Learning and Memory: Cognitive and Neurological Models

Course Administration and Logistics

Volunteer Notetakers:
- Needed for most first-year courses, including lectures and labs.
- Opportunity for personal benefit and experience record.
- Check slides on YuJa for details.
Student Accessibility Services (SAS):
- Drop-in session for new students to SAS (not necessarily new university students) is today.
- Encouraged for students with past accommodations or those who think they might qualify.
- Common accommodations include extra time for tests and exams.
- Purpose of accommodations: to "level the playing field."
Syllabus Quiz:
- Found on the course homepage, typically in the right-hand column where assignments are due.
- Due in a little over a week (not before your lab).
- No time limit on the quiz, but it is limited to one attempt.
- Must have enough time to finish questions when opened (approximately 8-9 questions).
- Referencing the syllabus is allowed.

Essay 1 and Academic Readings

Lab Focus This Week: How to read academic sources, specifically the first required source for Essay 1.
Essay 1 Timeline:
- Due in 2 weeks.
- This is a "W course" requirement to fit two essays on separate topics.
- Initial 1,000-word draft due by October 2.
- Feedback will be provided, allowing 2 weeks to revise and expand to 1,500 words, which constitutes Essay 1.
- The course moves quickly to accommodate Essay 2 thereafter.
Missed Assignments/Quizzes:
- No assignments missed yet for students starting recently.
- Lab quizzes occur every Thursday.
- The lowest two quizzes can be dropped, including any missed ones.
Reading Notes for Lab:
- Required to bring reading notes to this week's lab for Source #1 of Essay 1.
- Should include at least 8 specific pieces of information useful for writing the essay.
- Emphasizes reading with intentionality for background research.
- Notes will be discussed in lab to help develop a thesis statement/argument.
- These reading notes can be used later for the M2 bibliography assignment.
- The work done this week supports essay writing, useful conversation, and thesis drafting.
Accessing Essay 1 Source #1:
- Not on YuJa or Learn directly.
- Go to the "Essay Topics and Resources" folder in the content section of Learn.
- The top item is "Essay One, Fall 2025, Retrieval Practice" (the essay topic).
- This document provides instructions, guidelines, expectations, and the three required sources at the bottom.
- For the 1,000-word draft, only Sources 1 and 2 are required.
- Source #1 is accessed via the UW Library's homepage (instructions provided in the document).
- It is a book chapter, requiring a few steps to download the PDF.
- Recommendation: Start early; do not leave it until the last minute.

Course Materials: Textbooks

Reading Skills Textbook (Lab):
- Required reading for this week: approximately 17 pages on reading skills.
- Provides an introduction to reading sources usefully for university courses.
- Online and free, found in the "Online Writing Textbook" folder on Learn.
Lecture Textbook:
- Purchased at the bookstore (7 for physical copy with holes for a 3-ring binder) or a digital version (10).
- Today's lecture covers Chapter 2.
- Reading chapters before class is highly encouraged for better comprehension, as lectures pull out and explore foundational concepts.

Lecture Structure and Weekly Lab Quizzes

Lecture Approach: Beginning this week, lectures will start with a question to help synthesize information.
- Example: Last week's quiz was on "learning to learn"; this week's will be on "processes and principles of human memory."
Lab Quiz Format:
- One short-answer question, requiring a paragraph response (approximately 125-200 words).
- Answers should use course materials (chapter and lecture information).
- Question directly links to the main lecture topic to encourage review.
- Recommendation: Review lecture notes before Thursday lab; this acts as retrieval practice.
Learning Philosophy (Steven Chew):
- Knowledge is not composed of isolated facts; it needs to be pulled together to learn well.
- The weekly question helps to integrate information and see how concepts fit together.

How Do We Actually Learn Stuff? Two Models of Memory

Introduction to the Models

Guiding Question: How do we actually learn stuff?
Two Specific Models:
1. Cognitive Psychology Model: Presented in the textbook (modern cognitive psychology).
2. Neurological Model: Added in lectures to provide more detail and concrete understanding.
Persuasiveness of Models: The neurological model is often perceived as more concrete due to its focus on neurons and brain activity.

Cognitive Psychology Model: The Three Stages of Memory

Psychology Defined: The study of human behavior by examining how the mind works and how that influences behavior (historical focus on the mind).
- Contrast with Sociology: Sociology emphasizes group interactions and societal influence on behavior, seeing individuals within larger contexts, while psychology focuses more on the individual mind.
- Psychology has evolved to be more science-connected but also has humanities roots (can be an Arts or Science degree).
Three Stages of Memory:
1. Encoding:
  - Definition: Translating a stimulus (external sensation like sound/sight, or an internal idea) into activity in the brain (neural activity/electrical signals).
  - Example: Sound waves hitting eardrums are translated into electrical signals in the brain.
2. Storage:
  - Information is stored in three modes:
    - Sensory Memory: Very brief duration (e.g., 1-2 seconds).
    - Short Term Memory: Longer duration than sensory.
    - Long Term Memory: Potentially indefinite duration.
3. Retrieval:
  - Definition: Recalling and using information that has been stored.
  - Historical Approach: Early psychology observed end results (retrieval) and worked backward to explain storage and encoding.
Cognition in Psychology: Refers to thinking; cognitive psychology is the branch focused on thinking.
**Integrated Model Flow (with additions):
- Sensory Stimulus / External Sensation: Transformed into electrical signals by perceptive organs.
- Sensory Memory:
  - Created immediately, very brief (e.g., 1-2 seconds).
  - Involves immediate comparison with existing knowledge (e.g., recognizing seats without conscious effort).
  - Quickly forgotten if deemed unimportant or not acted upon.
- Short-Term Memory / Working Memory:
  - Requires attention and intentionality to transfer from sensory memory.
  - Working memory: Actively processing and holding information (e.g., vivid commute memories like traffic, bus leaving, turn signals, accidents).
  - Can last much longer than 30 seconds if actively maintained through attention and engagement.
  - Emotional Component: Strong emotions make memories stand out and aid transfer to working/long-term memory.
- Long-Term Memory:
  - Requires active attention and intentional use of information to transfer from working memory.
  - Retrieval & Rewriting/Recoding:
    - Calling information from long-term memory into active thought.
    - Every act of retrieval rewrites the memory, potentially mixing it with current contexts or other memories (e.g., lecture and commute stories getting linked).
    - Can lead to faulty recollections (corruption) but also stronger, more robust connections if retrieved in varied contexts.
    - Intentional Recoding: Helps connect isolated facts, building a "constellation of knowledge" for richer understanding and easier recall (aligns with Steven Chew's idea that knowledge is not isolated facts).

Neurological Model of Memory

Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience: Neurologists often work with cognitive psychologists to study brain activity (e.g., via electrodes, MRI) to confirm or enrich understanding of memory processes.
Brain Regions and Connections (Franklin Lab Diagram):
- Working Memory:
  - The hippocampus is highly active and central during working memory; it mediates (connects) various cortical modules.
  - Cortical Modules: Different areas of the brain process different sensory information (visual, language, touch, smell, etc.). Any given memory involves multiple cortical modules.
  - Hippocampus pulls together inputs from all relevant cortical modules for initial memory formation.
- Long-Term Memory:
  - Over time, connections from the hippocampus to cortical modules for that specific memory fade (short-term element decays).
  - Instead, direct connections between cortical modules strengthen.
  - Activating one part of the memory network (e.g., a smell) can activate the entire network (sight, sound, touch, etc.).
  - This requires intentional effort (not automatic).
  - Retrieval Practice: Works by strengthening these neural pathways (connections between neurons).
    - Repeated use of a pathway secretes an enzyme, making electrical signals pass through more easily.
    - Creates a "robust network" or "constellation of information" (contrasting with isolated facts).
Prefrontal Cortex and Remote Memory:
- Early memory formation (recent memory) is less connected to the prefrontal cortex.
- For remote memories (older memories), the prefrontal cortex becomes more connected, playing a role in recall and activating the knowledge network.
Factors Impairing Memory and Prefrontal Cortex Functioning:
- Trauma: Can make memories inaccessible (brain blocks them).
- Stress: An unhealthy, excessive amount of stress hinders prefrontal cortex function, making recall difficult (a healthy amount of stress can focus the brain).
- Strong Emotions: Anger, sadness, etc., can impair recall.
- Intoxication/Altered States: State-dependent learning suggests recall is better in the state one learned in; general depressants can hinder memory formation/recall.
- Sleep Deprivation: Makes the prefrontal cortex less effective, impairing recall.
- Practical Implication: Avoid taking exams when intoxicated, overly stressed, or sleep-deprived.
Importance of Retrieval Practice:
- Early and consistent retrieval practice (spaced learning) builds strong neural pathways and reduces the need for cramming.
- Class time is valuable "free study time" for initial encounter and repeated exposure.
Forgetting:
- Not inherently bad; it is central to learning, preventing cognitive overwhelm.
- Role of Sleep: During sleep, the brain tends to replay and solidify memories that received more attention and intention during the day. Unattended information is more likely to be flushed out.
- Cramming vs. Sleep: Cramming attempts to create too many connections in a short time, overwhelming the brain's sleep consolidation process.
- Example: Dreaming about a new, intense job on the first night reflects the brain replaying and consolidating that day's focused learning.