Module 23

Studying and Building

Memories

GP Mem(1) 1

Are Some things Easier (Harder)

to remember than others?

GP Mem(1) 2

What is easy for you?

What is difficult?

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Ebbinghaus (1885)

- nonsense syllable

method (e.g., DAX,

BUP, GEJ)

Tested his own

memory

Each list learned to

criterion of 2 errorless

tests.

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IV: Retention time (minutes, hours, days)

Dependant Measures

1) Number recalled

- fast loss at beginning, then levels out.

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2) Savings # of trials to relearn

Large Savings at short retention,

Rapid decreased with longer retention

Then leveled out.

E.g., After 6 days 30% savings.

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3) Overlearning

- learn to criterion then rehearsed thirty times more.

Greatly increased savings.

E.g., At 6 days 64% savings.

Appears Rehearsal leads to Memory.

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Memory Processes

-Encoding – getting information into memory

-Storage – keeping it in memory

-Retrieval – getting information from memory

Information Processing View

Divides memory into functional stages

keyboard

email

Printer

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Long-Term

Memory

S S

e t

n o

s r

o e

r

y

Retrieval

Short-Term

Memory

Stage Model of Memory

Rehearsal

Loss

Encoding

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Sensory Store

Sperling’s Experiment

Whole Report

Presented Array of letters for Brief Period

Subject report all letters they can recall.

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Results

- recalled 33% of letters (4/12)

Partial Report

Brief Presentation of Array.

Subjects cued to recall 1 row.

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Results

If cue is immediate subject recalls 100% (4/4)

If row cue delayed less letters recalled.

- by 1 sec delay letters could not be recalled.

To move to STM sensory information must be attended

to. If not, it is quickly lost.

Iconic (Visual) Memory

Echoic (Auditory) Memory

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Short-Term Memory

Limited Capacity: avg.. 7 to 9 Items

Maintenance Rehearsal: mentally repeating items.

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Serial position effects

Better Memory for

1) first few words (Primacy Effect)

2) last few words in the list (Recency Effect).

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Primacy - early rehearsed more -- moved to LTM.

Recency - last words still in STM -- recovered directly.

Evidence

1) Present words too quickly to allow rehearsed

- Primacy effect disappears.

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2) Peterson Study

Distracter task (e.g., count backwards)

- eliminates rehearsal

- items are lost from STM

- recency effect disappears

If not attended to at least every 30 secs items lost from

STM.

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Chunking – increases capacity of STM

BATCARBOYERA

- requires processing for meaning.

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Current View - Working Memory (Baddley)

Place where mental work is done.

Holds what you are currently aware of.

INPUTCentral Executive

From LTM

To LTM

Visuospatial

sketchpad

Phonological

Loop

GP Mem(1) 18

GP Mem(1) 19

Does Rehearsal transfer information to LTM?

Glenberg, Smith and Green Study.

- subjects presented 4 digit numbers

- each digit followed by word to repeat for 2, 6 or 18 secs.

Told to remember digits (word repetition just distracter)

Tested for the words.

Increased rehearsal did not lead to better recall from LTM.

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Levels of Processing (Craik and Lockhart)

Transfer to LTM requires processing for meaning.

LTM is like a library!

To encode information, there must be a place for it.

Added to similar information.

Elaborative Rehearsal - thinking about meaning.

- relate to other things you know.

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Semantic (meaning) Network Model

LTM organized by Meaning

Memory and Expertise

Hierarchies – Organizing

structures that allow us

link together information

into meaningful

connections.

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GP Mem(1) 23

GP Mem(1) 24

Is Elaborative Rehearsal Hard?

LTM Stores

Accessed to understand

Current events

New info

added to old

Modules 25 and 26

Retrieval, Forgetting,

Memory Construction and

Mnemonics

GP Mem(1) 25

GP Mem(1) 26

Schema and Scripts – Organized

Packets of information about People

Events, Topics etc.

Organized information allows use to

•go beyond our current experience to infer

other general information about the current

situation

•generate expectations about the Future.

All Memory depends on

Retrieval Cues

Elaborative Rehearsal – the more retrieval

cues you have, the better your chances of

finding a route to the desired memory.

Best retrieval cues come

from associations we make at the time we

encode the memory.

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Priming – “memoryless memory”

- Associations activated without

awareness.

- These associations can influence our

interpretations of current experiences.

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GP Mem(1) 29

Retrieval From LTM is based on Cues.

Recall and Recognition

Recall requires the correct association to found to a cue.

Write down the names of the seven dwarfs!

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GP Mem(1) 31

The Context Effect

Context at time of learning provides cues at recall

State-dependant retrieval

Mood Dependant Retrieval

What would it be like to never be able to

forget anything?

Solomon Shereshevskii (S)

Jill Price (A.J.)

Your Memory does not work like a video recording!

What if it did??Jill Price remembers all the sad and bad things in her life – the death

of loved ones, for instance, like it’s happening right now. Time heals

all wounds, but not for Jill Price.

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Forgetting

Our Memories are for preparing us for the

future more so than for retaining the past!

Much is forgotten. We remember the “gist of

events and often confuse parts of one event

with another similar event.

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Forgetting in a healthy Brain?Proactive and Retroactive Interference

Similar items learned earlier (proactive) or after

(retroactive) interfere.

Why? Similar cues lead to a variety of items in LTM.

Distinctive things are recalled better.

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GP Mem(1) 35

Decay Theory?

Is LTM Permanent?

We don’t know?

If you fail to remember something it could be

1) its lost from LTM.

2) its lost in LTM.

- with a proper cue, you could retrieve it.

LTM Capacity

As far as we know LTM is Unlimited!

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GP Mem(1) 37

Sensory Short-Term Long-Term

Duration Very Brief

< 2 secs

As long as rehearsed Perhaps Permanent

Capacity

Unlimited 7 to 9 items Unlimited

Type of Information

Sensory Sounds Meaning

Encoding

Automatic Attention Meaning

Forgetting due to

Fading Interference with

Maintanance Rehearsal

Interference

- retroactive

- proactive

Poor Cues

Amnesia

Encoding – Storage - Retrieval

• Retrograde amnesia (no retrieval)

• Anterograde amnesia (no encoding)

Implicit and Explicit Memory

Explicit – Knowing when and where you

learned the information.

Implicit – having knowledge without

awareness of where or why you know the

information.

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People with Anterograde Amnesia

demonstrate implicit learning – they aquire

knowledge but have no memory for having

learned the new material.

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GP Mem(1)41

Imperfect Memories

1) About how fast were the cars going when they

_________ with each other?

Speed estimates for the verbs used in Experiment 1

VerbMean speed estimate (mph)

Smashed 40.8

Collided 39.3

Bumped 38.1

Hit 34.0

Contacted 31.8

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Source Confusion

Schema Distortion

Imagination Inflation

– lost in a mall study.

- slime in the second grade.

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Getting Value Out of Your Study Time.

1) Distribute study sessions.

- cramming leads to poor learning.

- LTM is not limited, but your attention span is.

2) Don’t just read the material over and over.

Inefficient strategy.

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3) Monitor your progress

- focus in on what you need to learn.

4) Think about the meaning of the material.

5) What about meaningless stuff?

MAKE IT MEANINGFULL

Mnemonics (Memory Tricks)

Find structure to organize it.

Structure serves as a cue.

DON’T USE MNENOMICS FOR STUFF YOU

ALREADY KNOW -- It’s a waste of time!

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First letter cues (ROY G BIV)

Sentences (Every good boy deserves fudge).

Analogies - Compare it to something you know.

Charts - summarize and organize memory

- gives visual cues

Diagrams

- emphasize relationships between concepts.

- allow for visual encoding

- color code

Songs, Rhymes or Poems

Relate to Personal Examples

Stories

Be creative! - make it memorable!