Memory Distortion and Storage

Memory Distortion in Long-Term Storage

  • Ways That Memories Can Become Distorted:

    1. Memory Bias:

    • Definition: Changing memories over time to align with personal beliefs or attitudes.

    1. Flashbulb Memories:

    • Definition: Detailed and vivid memories about the circumstances in which surprising and emotionally arousing events occurred.

    1. Misattribution:

    • Definition: Misremembering the time, place, person, or circumstances associated with a memory.

    1. Suggestibility:

    • Definition: When given misleading information, it affects our memory.

    1. False Memories:

    • Definition: Memories created by incorporating semantic knowledge or related concepts, even when the events did not occur.

Forgetting in Long-Term Storage

  • Definition of Forgetting:

    • The inability to retrieve a memory.

  • Three Ways to Forget Memories:

    1. Interference:

    • Retroactive Interference: Older memories are harder to access due to interference from newer information.

    • Proactive Interference: Newer memories are hard to access due to interference from older information.

    1. Blocking:

    • Definition: "Tip of the tongue" phenomenon where one is temporarily unable to remember something.

    1. Absent-Mindedness:

    • Definition: Inattentive or shallow encoding of events due to failing to utilize selective attention.

Brain Processes and Memory Formation

  • Key Brain Regions Involved in Memory:

    • Prefrontal Cortex:

    • Role: Responsible for working memory and short-term memory, including current thoughts.

    • Hippocampus:

    • Role: Essential for consolidation of memories and spatial memory.

    • Cerebellum:

    • Role: Forms new memories; stores implicit memories (automatic skills) and procedural memory.

    • Amygdala:

    • Role: Involved in implicit memory and emotional memories.

    • Temporal Lobe:

    • Role: Stores explicit memories, which include facts, words, meanings, and vivid memories of events.

  • Memory Formation:

    • Involves communication between neurons at the synapse in a process known as Long-Term Potentiation (LTP).

    • Consolidation:

    • Definition: The process by which new memories become lasting memories; occurs when new neural connections are created, and prior connections become stronger.

    • Reconsolidation:

    • Definition: The process where, when recalling a memory, the brain allows the memory to change and then saves it again.

Retrieval Cues for Accessing Memories

  • Definition of Retrieval Cue:

    • Anything that helps a person access a memory in long-term storage, such as:

    • Context-Dependent Memory:

      • Definition: Memory retrieval leads to better recall when it occurs in the same context in which the memory was formed.

    • State-Dependent Memory:

      • Definition: Memory retrieval is more effective when the physiological or emotional state at the time of retrieval matches that of the encoding.

    • Mnemonics:

      • Definition: Memory aids that help in information retention and recall.

Types of Long-Term Memory Storage

  • Explicit Memory:

    • Definition: Requires conscious effort and can often be verbally described.

    • Types of Explicit Memory:

    • Episodic Memory:

      • Definition: Includes personally experienced events; for example, receiving a great present on a birthday.

    • Semantic Memory:

      • Definition: Pertains to facts and knowledge, e.g., knowing that a tomato is a fruit.

  • Implicit Memory:

    • Definition: Unconscious long-term storage that includes automatic skills and habits, which one may not actively remember even though they can perform the skills.

    • Types of Implicit Memory:

    • Procedural Memory:

      • Definition: Involves motor skills and habitual tasks, such as playing the piano without consciously thinking about each note.

    • Classical Conditioning:

      • Definition: Learning through association to elicit a response to stimuli.

Encoding Types

  • Types of Encoding:

    • Visual Encoding:

    • Definition: Encodes what the word looks like.

    • Acoustic Encoding:

    • Definition: Encodes how the word sounds.

    • Semantic Encoding:

    • Definition: Encodes what the word means; deeper processing leads to better memory retention.

  • Effects on Memory:

    • Primacy Effect:

    • Definition: Better memory for items presented at the beginning of a list, associated with long-term storage.

    • Recency Effect:

    • Definition: Better memory for the most recent items at the end of the list, associated with short-term storage.

Amnesia Types

  • Contrast Between Two Types of Amnesia:

    1. Retrograde Amnesia:

    • Condition where individuals lose the ability to access memories formed prior to brain injury.

    1. Anterograde Amnesia:

    • Condition where individuals lose the ability to form new memories following brain injury.

Differences Between Episodic Memory and Semantic Memory

  • Episodic Memory:

    • Definition: Type of explicit memory that includes a person’s personal experiences.

  • Semantic Memory:

    • Definition: Type of explicit memory that includes knowledge about the world that is independent of personal experiences.