College Physics: Attention and Memory

Attention

  • Attention is the cognitive process of selectively focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others.
  • It allows individuals to process information efficiently and respond appropriately.

Types of Attention

  1. Selective Attention:

    • Focusing on one stimulus while ignoring others.
    • Example: Listening to a lecture while ignoring background noise.

  2. Divided Attention:

    • Handling multiple tasks simultaneously.
    • Example: Driving while talking on the phone.

  3. Sustained Attention:

    • Maintaining focus on a task over a prolonged period.
    • Example: Reading a book for hours.

  4. Alternating Attention:

    • Shifting focus between different tasks.
    • Example: Switching between answering emails and attending a meeting.

Process of Attention

  1. Alerting: Being aware of stimuli and getting ready to process them.
  2. Orienting: Directing attention to specific stimuli.
  3. Selective Focus: Filtering important information from distractions.
  4. Sustaining Attention: Maintaining focus over time.
  5. Shifting Attention: Transitioning from one task to another when needed.

Maintaining Attention

  • Eliminate Distractions: Work in a quiet, clutter-free environment.
  • Use Mindfulness Techniques: Stay present and avoid mind-wandering.
  • Set Goals and Break Tasks: Divide tasks into smaller, manageable parts.
  • Practice Cognitive Training: Engage in activities that enhance focus (e.g., puzzles, meditation).
  • Healthy Lifestyle: Ensure proper sleep, nutrition, and exercise.

Identifying and Managing Distractors

  • Internal Distractors: Thoughts, emotions, fatigue.
    • Solution: Mindfulness, relaxation techniques, and breaks.
  • External Distractors: Noise, phone notifications, interruptions.
    • Solution: Use noise-canceling headphones, disable notifications, and set boundaries.
  • Task-Related Distractors: Boredom, complexity of the task.
    • Solution: Make tasks engaging and take short breaks.

How Memory Functions (Stages of Memory)

  • Memory is an information processing system like a computer.
  • It is a set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time.
  1. Encoding: Involves the input of information into the memory system.
  2. Storage: Is the retention of the encoded information.
  3. Retrieval: Is getting the information out of memory and back into awareness.

Encoding

  • When you first learn new skills such as driving a car, you have to put forth effort and attention to encode information about driving. Once you know how to drive, you can encode additional information about this skill automatically.
  • When the brain receives information from the environment it:
    • Labels/codes it.
    • Organizes it with other similar information.
    • Connects new concepts to existing concepts.
  • Encoding occurs through 2 types of processing:
    • Automatic processing – encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words.
      • Usually done without conscious awareness.
      • E.g. remembering WHEN you last studied.
    • Effortful processing – encoding of details that takes time and effort.
      • E.g. WHAT you last studied, learning new skills.

Storage: A-S Model

  • Storage is the creation of a permanent record of information.
  • Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory
    • Information passes through three distinct stages in order for it to be stored in long-term memory.
    • Based on the belief that memories are processed the same way that a computer processes information.

Retrieval

  • Retrieval – the act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness.

  • Retrieval is needed for everyday functioning (e.g. knowing how to drive to work, or how perform your job once you get there).

  • 3 ways to retrieve information:

    1. Recall – being able to access information without cues.

      • Used for an essay test.

    2. Recognition – being able to identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again.

      • Used for a multiple choice test.

    3. Relearning – Learning information that you previously learned.

      • After learning Spanish in high school, you might forget how to speak it if you do not use it. However, if you try to relearn it, you will learn it quicker than the first time.

Sensory Memory

  • Sensory memory – storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes.
    • Stored for up to a couple of seconds.
    • First step of processing stimuli from the environment.
    • If the information is not important, it is discarded.
    • If the information is valuable then it moves into our short-term memory.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

  • Short-term memory/working memory – a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory.
    • Lasts about 20 seconds.
    • Capacity is usually about 7 items \pm 2 (discovered by George Miller).
  • Short-term memories are either discarded or stored in long-term memory.
  • Memory consolidation – Transfer of STM to long-term memory.
  • One way memory consolidation can be achieved is through rehearsal.
  • Rehearsal – the conscious repetition of information to be remembered.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

  • LTM is the continuous storage of information.
  • It has no limit and is like the information you store on the hard drive of a computer.
  • There are two components of long-term memory: explicit and implicit.

LTM: Explicit Memory

  • Explicit (declarative) memory – memories of facts and events we can consciously remember and recall/declare.
  • Explicit memories include two types:
    • Semantic – knowledge about words, concepts and language.
      • Knowing who the President is.
      • Examples of Semantic Memory
        • While eating an apple, you recognize Apple as fruit and from your knowledge, can confer its importance.
        • When listening to the birds chirping near the window, you straight away point out the bird to be the sparrow.
        • The calculation of the month’s grocery budget through simple additional methods.
    • Episodic – information about events we have personally experienced.
      • Remembering your 5th birthday party.
      • The what, where, when of an event.
      • Also called autobiographical memory.
      • Examples of Episodic Memory
        • The memory you had with your squad over the Friend’s Wedding.
        • The memory of what you ate in breakfast this morning
        • It can be an unforgettable tragic memory which you had while an

LTM: Implicit Memories

  • Implicit memory - memories that are not part of our consciousness.
    • Formed through behaviors.
    • Procedural – stores information about how to do things.
      • Skills and actions.
      • E.g. how to ride a bike, tie your shoe laces, drive.
    • Implicit memory also includes behaviors learned through emotional conditioning.
      • You might have a fear of spiders but not consciously remember why or what occurred to condition that fear.

Amnesia

  • Amnesia – the loss of long-term memory that occurs as the result of disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma.
  • There are 2 common types:
    • Anterograde amnesia – inability to remember new information after point of trauma.
      • Commonly caused by brain trauma.
      • Hippocampus is usually affected – causes inability to transfer information from STM to LTM.
    • Retrograde amnesia – loss of memory (partial or complete) for events that occurred prior to the trauma.

Why Do We Forget?

  • Forgetting – loss of information from long-term memory.
  • Encoding Failure
    • Encoding failure occurs when the memory is never stored in our memory in the first place.
    • Successful encoding requires effort and attention.
    • Can you tell which coin is the accurate depiction of a US nickel? Most American’s cannot tell which one because we do not encode the specific details, we just know enough to differentiate it from other coins.

Interference Theory of Forgetting

  • The interference theory was the dominant theory of forgetting throughout the 20th century.
  • It asserts that the ability to remember can be disrupted both by our previous learning and by new information.
  • In essence, we forget because memories interfere with and disrupt one another.
  • For example, by the end of the week, we won’t remember what we ate for breakfast on Monday because we had many other similar meals since then.
  • The first study on interference was conducted by German psychologist John A. Bergstrom in 1892. He asked participants to sort two decks of word cards into two piles. When the location of one of the piles changed, the first set of sorting rules interfered with learning the new ones, and sorting became slower.
  • Proactive interference: takes place when old memories prevent making new ones.
    • This often occurs when memories are created in a similar context or include near-identical items.
    • Remembering a new code for the combination lock might be more difficult than we expect. Our memories of the old code interfere with the new details and make them harder to retain.
  • Retroactive interference: occur when old memories are altered by new ones.
    • Just like with proactive interference, they often happen with two similar sets of memories.
    • Let’s say you used to study Spanish and are now learning French. When you try to speak Spanish, the newly acquired French words may interfere with your previous knowledge.

Trace Decay Theory of Forgetting

  • The trace decay theory was formed by American psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1914, based on the early memory work by Hermann Ebbinghaus.
  • The theory states that if we don’t access memories, they will fade over time.
  • When we learn something new, the brain undergoes neurochemical changes called memory traces.
  • Memory retrieval requires us to revisit those traces that the brain formed when encoding the memory.
  • The trace decay theory implies that the length of time between the memory and recalling determines whether we will retain or forget a piece of information. The shorter the time interval, the more we will remember, and vice versa.

Memory Errors

  • Schacter’s 7 sins of memory

    • Forgetting type:

      1. Transience – Accessibility of memory decreases over time (storage decay).
      2. Absentmindedness – Forgetting caused by lapses in attention.
      3. Blocking – Accessibility of information is temporarily blocked (aka tip-of-the tongue phenomenon).

    • Distortion type:

      1. Misattribution – Source of memory is confused.
      2. Suggestibility – False memories.
      3. Bias – Memories distorted by current belief system.

    • Intrusion type:

      1. Persistence – Inability to forget undesirable memories.

Ways to Enhance Memory

  • Rehearsal – conscious repetition of information to be remembered.
  • Chunking – organizing information into manageable bits or chunks. E.g. Separating phone numbers into 3 chunks.
  • Elaborative rehearsal – technique in which you think about the meaning of the new information and its relation to knowledge already stored in your memory.
  • Mnemonic devices – memory aids that help us organize information for encoding. E.g. One way to remember the order of planets is the name MR. VEM J. SON.
  • Other techniques can include:
    • Expressive writing.
    • Saying words aloud.