9a: Memory Processes

MEMORY

Introduction to Memory

  • Memory Definition: Memory is essential for answering questions about previously presented content. Example questions include:

    • How many balloons have been presented?

    • Where was the blue balloon situated?

    • Was there a pink balloon present?

    • Which balloon was closer to the road, green or orange?

  • Focus:

    • Previous videos discussed visual and working memory; this video focuses on memory processes over longer time spans, emphasizing encoding, maintenance, and retrieval of information.

Overview of Memory

  • Functions of Memory:

    • Holds everything we know.

    • Provides information about our identity and experiences.

    • Supplies language elements (words and grammar) necessary for comprehension and communication.

    • Enables recognition of friends and familiar faces.

    • Supports everyday activities (e.g., making a cup of tea).

  • Nature of Memory:

    • Memory is not a simple process; it is influenced by contextual and individual factors, paralleling how perception and attention work.

Types of Memory

  • Main Categories:

  • retrospective memory: remembering things from the past

  • prospective memory: remembering to do things in the future


  • types of memory within retrospective memory

    • Declarative Memory (Explicit):

    • Semantic Memory: Knowledge of general facts (e.g., knowing the capital of Australia).

    • Episodic Memory: Memory for personal events (e.g., remembering your 10th birthday).


    • Non-Declarative Memory (Implicit):

    • Procedural Learning: Skills and tasks (e.g., riding a bike).

    • Associative Learning: Learning through association.

    • Habituation and Sensitization: Changes in response to a stimulus over time.

  • Notable Cases:

    • Clarification on HM's case regarding hippocampus removal and memory functions can be found in a linked video.

Semantic vs. Episodic Memory

  • Distinction Critique:

    • Labels are convenient but criticized due to potential overlap.

    • Semantic memory may originate from repeated episodic memories (Rolls and Kesner, 2006).

    • Example: Learning the capital of Australia can involve both semantic and episodic aspects.

Stages of Memory

  • Three Stages:

    • Encoding: Processing information so it can be stored.

    • Maintenance: Keeping the information in memory over time.

    • Retrieval: Getting the information back from memory.

  • Recall vs. Recognition: Two forms of retrieval, with recall being the active retrieval of information and recognition being the identification of previously learned information.

recall: actively remembering

recognition: reflex remembering/identifying

Factors That Affect Memory

Level of Processing (Craik & Tulving, 1975)

  • Experiment Set-Up: Participants presented with questions about words that involved different levels of processing depth.

  • Questions Examples:

    • Is the word in capital letters? (TABLE, table)

    • Does it rhyme with another word? (e.g., crate, market)

    • Is it a type of fish? (e.g., shark, heaven)

    • Does it fit in a sentence? (e.g., 'The man peeled the ____')

  • Processing Levels:

    • Graphemic Processing: Recognition of visual form (e.g., letters).

    • Phonetic Processing: Recognition based on sound.

    • Semantic Processing: Understanding meaning of the word.

    • Elaborative Semantic Processing: Deep understanding and connection with existing knowledge (Craik & Tulving, 1975).


examples respectively:

  • visual features of letters

  • sound of the word

  • meaning of the word (e.g. apple is a fruit)

  • linking meaning to other concepts or personal relevance (apple reminds me of the orchard I visited with my family)

Recognition Test Results

  • Findings: Levels of processing influence memory recognition accuracy.

    • Graphemic < Phonetic < Semantic < Elaborative Semantic (measured by proportion of correctly recognized words).

Deeper Processing Effects

  • Observation: Deep processing promotes better memory retention.

    • Making connections between new information and pre-existing knowledge enhances memory.

  • Self-Reference Effect (SRE): Individuals are more likely to recall information that personally relates to them (Symons & Johnson, 1997).

Comprehension at Encoding: comprehension improves retention

  • Effectiveness: Understanding concepts and ideas at the encoding stage significantly improves retention of the information (Bransford & Johnson, 1972).

    • Experiment Example: Participants performed better on recall when a topic had been presented before the material being learned versus after.

Generation Effect

  • Concept: Participants who generate responses to cues remember associations better than when responses are provided.

  • memory boost you get when you actively create info yourself, rather than passively reading or receiving it. 

    • Experiment: Paired associates either generated by participants or merely read. For instance:

    • Generate: rapid_f → (response may be 'rapidly')

    • Read: rapid_fast → (no active participation)

  • Findings: Higher accuracy demonstrated for generated responses.

Spacing Effect

  • Concept: Learning is more effective when practice is spaced out rather than massed (cramming).

  • learn across weeks/days, not hours (cramming)

    • Ebbinghaus's Research: Documented the spacing effect by studying nonsense syllables, demonstrating that distributed practice leads to better retention compared to massed practice.

Reasons for Spacing Effect

  • Increased Attention: Importance of full attention to information presentation reduces when trials are massed.

    • not gonna be able to fully attend to each presentation

  • Context Variation: Spaced trials provide varied processing contexts, resulting in enhanced memory representation and multiple retrieval processes.

Context Consistency in Memory

  • Study Context: The consistency between the environment in which learning occurs and where testing occurs influences memory performance.

    • consistency in context between study and test/prac

  • Evidence (Godden & Bradley, 1975): Memory recall varies between different learning contexts (e.g., learning underwater vs. out of water).

Chunking Information

  • Capacity: Humans can generally maintain about 7 units of information in short-term memory (Miller, 1965).

  • Chunking Example: Instead of remembering isolated digits:

    • Sequence: 1109200124022022 can be chunked as:

    • 11 09 2001 24 02 2022 (dates: 9/11, 24/2)

Serial Position Effect

  • Ebbinghaus's Findings (1913): The tendency to remember inputs differently based on their position in a sequence.

  • Primacy Effect: Higher recall for the first items presented.

    • at the beginning

  • Recency Effect: Better recall for the last items presented.

    • at the end

  • Results Visualization: Illustrated as the percentage of words recalled in relation to their position in sequence.

Context Effects in Memory

  • Demonstration via DRM Paradigm: Offers insights into how context (e.g., words presented along with target information) affects memory recall.

Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Paradigm

Overview

  • Task Definition: Involves presenting semantically related words to induce false memory.

    • Example words include: dream, bed, night, pyjamas.

  • False Memory: Participants often recognize related lures (sleep) that were not presented in the original list, indicating a high probability of false memory occurrence.

  • Significance: The DRM paradigm exemplifies how individuals can confidently recall memories that never occurred.

  • Future Discussions: Discussion on false memories will be expanded in the next video.


shown: semantically related words

ask: a semantically related word but not shown previously

false memory: ‘recognises’ the word previously even though it was never shown