Memory

• The process by which we recollect prior experiences, information, and skills learned in the past

• A system that retrieves sensory information, puts it into a usable form, organizes it, and restores it to be retrieved later

3 types of memory

Episodic memory= Episodes (snippets) of your life made from prior experiences

• Flashbulb memory - A clear memory of am emotionally significant event

• Type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events

• Memory for a specific event

Generic/semantic memory= General information that we learned in life and school

• Type of declarative memory containing general knowledge, such as knowledge of language and information learned in formal education.

• Information that can be easily recalled w/o help

Procedural memory= Skills that we learned in the past (writing, riding a bike, walking)

Prospective: Memory that enables a person to recall an intention to do something, more used for future orientation. 

3 processes of memory

Encoding= Translation of (sensory) information into a form that can be stored in memory/storage

• Holding on to information for a period of time

• Process of “making” the memory

  • Visual codes - imagining it (picture)

  • Acoustic codes - with rhythm/rhyme (sound)

  • Semantic codes - with letters/symbols (meaning)

Storage= Holding on to info for some period of time

• Organizational system - Memories become stored and arranged in your mind for future use

  • Maintenance rehearsal - Repeating

  • Elaborative rehearsal - Relating new information with old information

Retrieval= Process of recalling info from memory storage

• Getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used.

• Recall= Retrieve info w/o help

• Recognition= recognize from a list of alternative

  Context-dependent memory= Info more easily retrieved in the context in which it was encoded and stored (better performed in a place where you learned it).

• State-dependent memory= Memory easily retrieved when I’m in the same physiological/emotional state as when memory was originally learned

Information-processing model - The process of info for memory storage is similar to the way computers process data

Stages of Memory

1) Sensory memory= First initial stage of immediate recording of sensory info

• 0.5-2 secs

• Unlimited memory

Iconic memory - Visual memory, seen then disappears rapidly, no more than a tenth second.

Echoic memory - Auditory stimuli

2) Short-term memory (working memory)= Memory holds info

briefly bfr stored/forgotten (18 secs)

Herman Ebbinghaus found

• Primacy effect - Recall the first initial items in a series

• Recency effect - Recall the last items

3) Long-term memory= Memory of capable of large and relatively permanent storage

• No limit to how much it can store

Forgetting

Ebbinghaus curve of forgetting= Most forgetting take place during the first 9 hours after learning (esp after 1 hour)

• Method of savings - Difference between the number of repetitions needed to learn a list and the number to relearn

  • Ebbinghaus’s result - Memory (savings) lasts in LTM for a long time (decades)

Decay= Gradual erosion of a memory (most common curve of memory loss)

Interference= Interrupts memory through the presence of other info

• STM - New info displaces old info b/s of limited space

• LTM - The more memory stored, the more hard it Is to “find” a particular memory

  • Retroactive interference - When learning new info interferes w/ recalling old info (forgetting a previous dance routine after learning a new one

  • Proactive interference - When older info interferes w/ recall of new info (Having difficulty remembering a new phone number because of the old one)

Supression= Conscious attempt to forget info (won’t think now, think tmwr)

Repression= Unconscious attempt to forget info (past trauma abuse) (can’t remember even if they wanted to)

Four explanations for why we forget things?

• Failure to store memory

• Interference

• Motivated forgetting 

• Retrieval failure

Retrograde amnesia= Loss of memory of events before an injury

• Many regain memories back

• Unable to recall anything

Anterograde amnesia= Loss of memory of events occurring after the injury

• Cannot make new memories

• Damage to the hippocampus

• Prevents the transfer of new experiences from STM to LTM

Improving your memory

1) Mnemonics - Something that helps ppl remember smthn (e.g. PEMDAS)

• Method of loci - Associates well-known locations w/ info to be remembered

2) Effective studying

• Create an outline - Relate new info to current knowledge

• Distributed practice - Practice is broken into shorter sessions over a long period of time

3) Reading a textbook - Understand before you continue to read

• PQ4R - Preview, question, read, reflect, recite, and review

4) Lecture notes

• Create an outline

• Review notes ASAP after a lecture.

encoding failure: failure to process information into memory

They understand that recalling episodic memories is more important in certain parts of the hippocampus and that the parahippocampus is more involved in recalling (and maybe forming) semantic memories.

They’re involved in procedural memory as they help motor memories so that over time we can get better with practice, and that the cerebellum coordinates movements by gathering feedback from muscles, eyes, and joints so that they are continuously checking in with the parts of the brain that plan movement, adjusting to keep us on track.