Ap psych Memory unit (2.3-2.7)

Memory

• Learning that persists over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

• It’s information that has been acquired, stored, and can be retrieved. 

• Small strokes can cause people to have anterograde amnesia 

Three retention measures

1. Recalling is retrieving information that’s not currently in your conscious awareness, but that was learned at an earlier time

2. Recognition is identifying items previously learned (can be tested with multiple choice questions)

• Our recognition memory is impressively quick and vast, your mind forms answers to questions before your mouth can, the mind knows that it knows

• Recognition is easier because you have options and the answer in front of you, all you have to do is pick it or say yes or no

3. Relearning is learning something more quickly when you learn it a second or later time

• It’s easier to relearn material (that you’ve learned before), than it is to learn it initially 

Hermann Ebbinghaus 

• A pioneering memory researcher

• He randomly selected a sample of syllables, practiced them, and tested himself (by reading them aloud and then recalling them). The day after learning such a list, he could only recall a few of the syllables, but they weren’t completely forgotten from his memory. Figure 2.3-2 demonstrates that the more frequently he repeated the list on Day 1, the less time it required for him to relearn the list on Day 2

  • The figure showed that the time taken to relearn lists decreases as rehearsal increases 

    • Also that we remember more than we can recall

  • Additional rehearsal, overlearning, of verbal information increases retention when practice is distributed over time

    • So you should rehearse course material over time, even after you know it

Information Processing Model

• It helps us think about how our brain forms and retrieves memories

• To remember we must 

  • encode (get information into our brain)

  • Store (retain the information)

  • Retrieve (later get the information back out of the brain) 

• There’s another memory model known as connectionism that views memories as products of interconnected neural networks 

three-stage multi-store model

1. We record to-be-remembered info as a fleeting sensory memory

• Sensory memories are the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

2. From there, we process information into short-term memory, by encoding it through rehearsal (and relearning?) 

• short term memory is the briefly activated memory of a few items (like the numbers of a phone number while calling) that’s later stored or forgotten

3. Finally, information moves into long-term memory (the relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system; it includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

• Devised example of how this model functions

Central Executive 

• A memory component that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad 

Phonological loop

• A memory component that briefly holds auditory information in short-term memory (like repeating a phone number before you enter it in your contact list)

Visuospatial Sketchpad 

• A memory component that briefly holds information about an object’s information, appearance, and location and relation in space (like where you parked your car, or the route home from school)