Chapter 6: Memory

Memory: What is it???Memory: ability to store and retrieve information over time

3 Key functions of Memory:

Encoding: the process by which we transform what we perceive, think,or

feel into an enduring memory

Storage: the process of maintaining information in memory over time

Retrieval: the process of bringing to mind information that has been

previously encoded and stored

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into Memories

True/False?

Memories are recordings from a recording device (our brain) that makes exact copies of information that comes in our senses, and then stores those copies

for later use.

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into Memories

Memory: Combining information we already have in our brains with new information coming in through our senses.

Constructed, not recorded

Encoding: we transform what we perceive, think or feel into an enduring memory.

3 Types of Encoding Processes

Elaborative, Visual Imaging, and Organizational

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into Memories

Elaborative Encoding: the process of actively relating new information to knowledge that is already in memory

Long-term retention: Enhanced by elaborative encoding

Study: Participants required to have semantic judgement (meaning of words) of the article “hat” had better memory than participants who thought about how the word looked or sounded.

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into MemoriesElaborative Encoding: Where is it located?

Associated with increased activity in the lower left part of the frontal lobe and the inner part of the left temporal lobe

Amount of activity in each of the two regions during encoding is directly related to whether people later remember an item.

More activity = more likely to remember information

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into MemoriesVisual Imaging Encoding: the process of storing new information by converting into mental pictures

Ex: converting words into mental images (popcorn-- pillow stuffed with popcorn, ice cream-- landscape of deliciousness)

2 mental placeholders: visual and verbal

Activates visual processing regions in occipital lobe.

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into MemoriesOrganizational Encoding: process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items

Activity: Coke, Truck, Sneakers, Lego, Cars, Sprite, Barbie, High Heels, Dr. Pepper, Puzzles, flip-flops, and Motorcycles.

Activates surface of left frontal lobe!

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into MemoriesEncoding Survival-Related Information

Survival Encoding Condition: Stranded in grassland; no resources; what would they need? Randomly chosen words scaled from 1-5 on relevance in hypothetical situation.

Moving Encoding Condition: Moving to a foreign land; same randomly chosen words scaled from 1-5 on usefulness to hypothetical situation.

Pleasantness Encoding Condition: Same randomly chosen words scaled from 1-5 on pleasantness to hypothetical situation; related to deep elaborative encoding beneficial to later retention

Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into MemoriesFindings showed that participants recalled more words in Survival Encoding conditions than the other two.

Survival Encoding resulted in higher recall than any other non-survival encoding tasks (elaborative, imagery, and organizational).

Survival encoding draws on elaborative, imagery, and organizational encoding.

Hypothesis: Our brains may have evolved to allow us to remember information relevant to our survival.

Storage: Maintaining Memories Over Time

● Where are our memories when we are not using them?

● Storage is the process of maintaining information in memory over time

● There are 3 major kinds of memory storage-sensory, short-term, and long-term

Sensory Storage

● Sensory memory holds sensory information for a few seconds or less

● Iconic memory is a fast-decaying store of visual information

● Echoic memory is a fast-decaying store of auditory information

Short-term Storage and Working Memory

● Short-term memory holds non-sensory information for more than a few seconds but less than a minute

● Rehearsal is the process of keeping information in short-term memory by mentally repeating it

● Chunking involves combining small pieces of information into larger clusters or chunks

● Working memory refers to active maintenance of information in short-term storage

Long-Term Storage

● Long-term memory holds information for hours, days, weeks, or years○ Where is this stored?

● Anterograde amnesia is the inability to transfer new information from the short-term into the long-term store

● Retrograde amnesia the inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a particular date, usually of an injury or operation

Memories, Neurons, and Synapses

● Memories are in the spaces between neurons - Synapses

● Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a process whereby communication across the synapse between neuron strengthens the connection, making further communication easier

Retrieval: Bringing Memories to Mind

Retrieval Cues: Reinstating the Past- One of the best ways to retrieve information inside your head is to encounter things outside your head that reminds you of something. -This is called Retrieval Cue: external information that is associated with stored information and helps bring it to mind. -Things such as this suggest that information is sometimes available even when it is momentarily inaccessible, and retrieval cues help bring it to be an accessible memory.

Retrieval: Bringing Memories to Mind

The Encoding Specificity Principle: -The Encoding Specificity Principle: states a retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the specific way in which information was initially encoded.

State Dependent Retrieval- is the tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval.

Retrieval: Bringing Memories to Mind

The Principle of Transfer: -States that memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when the encoding context of the situation match.

Retrieval: Bringing Memories to Mind

Consequences of Retrieval: -the act of retrieval can strengthen a retrieved memory, making it easier to remember that information at a later time-Can strengthen memory more than studying information

Retrieval Can Impair Subsequent Memory:-Retrieval-induced forgetting= is a process by which retrieving an item from long-term memory impairs subsequent recall of related items. - “Survival of the Fittest”

Retrieval: Bringing Memories to Mind

Separating the Components of Retrieval -There is a reason to believe that trying to recall an incident and successfully recalling one are fundamentally different processes that occur in different parts of the brain-Left Frontal Lobe: show heightened activity when trying to retrieve information that was presented to them earlier-Hippocampal Region: showed heightened activity in successfully remembering a past experience

Multiple Forms of Memory● Explicit memory: when people consciously or intentionally retrieve past

experiences○ Semantic memory: network of associated facts and concepts that make

up our general knowledge of the world○ Episodic memory: the collection of past personal experiences that

occurred at a particular time and place

● Implicit memory: when past experiences influence later behavior and performance, even though people are not trying to collect them and are not aware that they are remembering them.○ Procedural memory: the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of

practice, or “knowing how” to do things○ Priming: the enhanced ability to think of a stimulus, such as a word or

object, as a result of a recent exposure to the stimulus

PsychologyDogDormitoryCafeteria

Activity

AppleMoviePajamasGarden

Try to fill in the blank...

A _ _ l e

P_ j _ _ as

D _ c t _ _ n a _ _

T_ l _e _ _ on_

The Seven Sins of Memory

Transience: forgetting what occurs with the passage of time.● Occurs during the storage phase of memory● Retroactive interference - occurs when later learning

impairs memory for information acquired earlier● Proactive interference - earlier learning impairs

memory for information acquired later

Absentmindedness

● the lapse in attention that results in memory failure

● a common cause is lack of attention● prospective memory - remembering to do

things in the future

Blocking

● failure to retrieve information that you already know

● it occurs because the cue to recall memory is not produced

● most common with stroke victims

Memory Misattribution

● recalling or giving idea to the wrong source● source memory - recall of when, where, and

how information was acquired● patients with damage to the frontal lobes

are more prone to this

False Recognition

● the feeling of familiarity about something that hasn’t been encountered before

● most likely involves disruption to parts of the temporal lobe that normally generates a subjective feeling of remembering

Suggestibility

● the idea that you incorporate information from external sources into personal recollection even though you have not experienced it

Bias

● distortion of memory● consistency bias - to reconstruct the past to

fit the present● change bias - the tendency to exaggerate

differences what we feel or believe now and what we felt or believed in the past

Persistence

● remembering things that we wish we could forget

● flashbulb memories - detailed recollection of when/where we heard about shocking events

● heavily influenced by amygdala