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10

Memory

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10 Learning objectives

10.1 – Why memory does not work like a camera—

and how it does work

10.2 – Why errors can creep into our memories of

even surprising or shocking events

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10 Reconstructing the past

Memory

The capacity to retain and retrieve information, and also to the

structures that account for this capacity

The case study of H.M.

Could no longer remember new experiences after he had brain

surgery to treat his severe epilepsy.

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10 The manufacture of memory Memory is the capacity to retain and retrieve information. Memory is a reconstructive process. Source misattribution

The inability to distinguish what you originally experienced from what you heard or were told later about an event.

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10 Flashbulb memories

Some unusual, shocking, or tragic events hold a special place in memory.

Called flashbulb memories because of their surprise, illumination, and photographic detail

Even flashbulb memories have errors.

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10 Conditions of confabulation Confabulation

Confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you.

A belief that you remember something when it never actually happened.

Confabulation is most likely when. . .

you have thought or heard about the event many times.

the image of the event contains many details.

the event is easy to imagine.

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10 Which is correct?

The inability to distinguish what you originally

experienced from what you heard or were told later

about an event is the definition of:

A. Confabulation

B. Source misattribution

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10 Learning objectives

10.3 – How memories of an event can be affected

by the way someone is questioned about it

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10 The eyewitness on trial

Eyewitnesses are not always reliable.

Factors influencing accuracy

Cross race identification

Question wording (e.g., “crashed” vs “hit”)

Misleading information

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10 What do you know?

Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that participants

had a better recall of events when words like

“smashed” or “collided” were used to describe a

car accident.

A. True

B. False

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10 Children’s testimony

Under what conditions are children more suggestible?

When they are very young

When interviewers’ expectations are clear

When other children’s memories for events are accessible

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10 Children’s testimony When asked if a visitor committed acts that had not occurred, few 4 to 6- year-olds said yes.

100% of 3-year-olds said yes.

When investigators used techniques taken from real child-abuse investigations, most children said yes.

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10 Learning objectives

10.4 – Whether you can know something without

knowing that you know it

10.5 – Why the computer is often used as a

metaphor for the mind

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10 Explicit memory

Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or item of information

Recall: The ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously learned material

Recognition: The ability to identify previously encountered material

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10 What do you know?

When you take a multiple-choice exam, which type

of explicit memory do you use?

A. Recall

B. Recognition

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10 Implicit memory

Unconscious retention in memory, as evidenced

by the effect of a previous experience or

previously encountered information on current

thoughts or actions

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10 Priming

A person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects performance on another type of task.

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10 Relearning

Compares the time required to relearn material with the time used in the initial learning of the material

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10 Three-box model of memory

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10 Parallel distributed processing (PDP) Model of memory in which knowledge is represented as connections among thousands of interacting processing units, distributed in a vast network, and all operating in parallel

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10 What do you know?

The parallel distributed processing theory of

memory suggests that memory works like a

computer.

A. True

B. False

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10 Learning objectives

10.6 – How the three “boxes” in the three-box model of

memory operate

10.7 – Why short-term memory is like a leaky bucket

10.8 – Why a word can feel like it’s “on the tip of your

tongue” and what errors you are likely to make when

you finally recall it

10.9 – The difference between “knowing how” and

“knowing that”

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10 Sensory register

A memory system that momentarily preserves extremely accurate images of sensory information

Pattern recognition

The identification of a stimulus on the basis of information already contained in long-term memory

Information that is not quickly passed to short-term memory is gone forever.

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10 Short-term memory

A limited capacity memory system involved in the retention of information for brief periods

Also used to hold information retrieved from long-term memory for temporary use

Chunk Meaningful unit of information that may be composed of smaller units

Working memory A memory system that includes STM and mental processes that control retrieval of information from LT memory and interpret that information appropriately for a given task

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10 Long-term memory

The memory system involved in the long-term storage of information

One way information is organized is in semantic categories (e.g., animals).

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10 Conceptual grid

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10 Tip-of-the-tongue states

In addition to semantic categories, verbal

information in long-term memory is indexed by

sound and form, and it is retrievable on that basis.

Incorrect guesses often have the correct number

of syllables, the correct stress pattern, the correct

first letter, or the correct prefix or suffix.

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10 Types of long-term memories

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10 Your turn

What kind of memory is your memory for the fact that the earth is round?

1. Procedural memory

2. Semantic memory

3. Episodic memory

4. Flashbulb memory

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10 Your turn

What kind of memory is your memory for the fact that the earth is round?

1. Procedural memory

2. Semantic memory

3. Episodic memory

4. Flashbulb memory

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10 Contents of long-term memory Procedural memories Memories for performance of actions or skills

“Knowing how”

Declarative memories Memories of facts, rules, concepts, and events; includes semantic and episodic memory

“Knowing that”

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10 Contents of long-term memory Semantic memories

General knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, and propositions

Episodic memories

Personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred

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10 Serial-position effect

The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list

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10 Your turn

You are asked to recall the following list of letters:

Z, S, E, R, F, V, B, H, U, I, K, M, N, G, B, F, O

Which letters are you most likely to remember in long-term memory?

1. Z, S, E, R

2. F, V, B, H

3. U, I, K, M

4. G, B, F, O

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10 Your turn

You are asked to recall the following list of letters:

Z, S, E, R, F, V, B, H, U, I, K, M, N, G, B, F, O

Which letters are you most likely to remember in long-term memory?

1. Z, S, E, R

2. F, V, B, H

3. U, I, K, M

4. G, B, F, O

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10 Learning objectives

10.10 – Changes that occur in the brain when you

store a short-term versus a long-term memory

10.11 – Where in the brain memories for facts and

events are stored

10.12 – Which hormones can improve memory

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10 The biology of memory

Forming a memory involves chemical and structural changes at the level of neurons.

In short-term memory, changes within neurons temporarily alter the neurons’ ability to release neurotransmitters.

In long-term memory, long-term potentiation, a long-lasting increase in the strength of synaptic responsiveness, occurs.

Most researchers believe this is the process underlying learning and memory, yet exact biochemical changes still debated.

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10 Brain areas involved in memory

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10 Consolidation

The process by which a long-term memory becomes durable and stable

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10 Which is correct?

Which part of the brain is responsible for the

formation, consolidation, and retrieval of

emotional memories?

A. Amygdala

B. Frontal lobes

C. Hippocampus

D. Cerebral cortex

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10 Which is correct?

Which part of the brain is responsible for short-

term memory and working memory tasks?

A. Hippocampus

B. Cerebral cortex

C. Cerebellum

D. Frontal lobes

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10 Which is correct?

Which part of the brain is responsible for the

storage of long-term memories, possibly in areas

involved in the original perception of the

information?

A. Cerebellum

B. Hippocampus

C. Cerebral cortex

D. Prefrontal cortex

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10 Locating memories

New brain imaging and testing show that: During short-term memory tasks, areas of the frontal lobes show activity.

During long-term memory tasks, the hippocampus shows activity.

During encoding of pictures and words, the prefrontal cortex and areas adjacent to the hippocampus show activity.

Procedural memories involve specific changes to the cerebellum.

The formation of long-term memories involves the cerebral cortex.

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10 Hormones, emotion, and memory Hormones released by the adrenal glands during stress and emotional arousal enhance memory.

These include epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Memory formation may also be affected by the amount of glucose available in the brain.

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10 Learning objectives

10.13 – How memory can be improved, and why

rote methods are not the best strategy

10.14 – Why memory tricks, although fun, are not

always useful

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10 Effective encoding

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10 Rehearsal

Maintenance rehearsal

Rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory

Elaborative rehearsal

Association of new information with already stored knowledge and analysis of the new information to make it memorable

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10 Which is correct?

Andrea needs to learn the material for her next

Introductory Psychology test. As she reads the

concepts in the book, she associates them with

the knowledge she has accrued from listening to

her professor’s lectures. This describes:

A.Maintenance rehearsal

B.Elaborative rehearsal

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10 Deep processing

In the encoding of information, the processing of meaning rather than simply the physical or sensory features of a stimulus

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10 How to remember better

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10 Mnemonics

Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such

as use of a verse or a formula

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

ROYGBIV

Thirty days hath September. . .

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10 Learning objectives

10.15 – The problem with remembering everything

10.16 – The major reasons we forget even when

we’d rather not

10.17 – Why most researchers are skeptical about

claims of repressed and “recovered” memories

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10 Why we forget

Forgetting is adaptive.

We need to forget some things if we wish to

remember efficiently.

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10 Forgetting curves

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10 Decay theory

The theory that information in memory eventually

disappears if it is not accessed

Applies more to short-term than long-term memory

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10 Replacement

The theory that new information entering memory can wipe out old information

In one study, researchers showed subjects slides of a traffic accident.

The experimental group was misled into thinking there was a stop sign instead of a yield sign.

Even after being debriefed on the purpose of the study, subjects insisted that they really saw the stop sign.

The new information which came from the researchers replaced what the subjects saw.

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10 Interference

Similar items interfere with one another. Retroactive interference: forgetting that occurs when recently learned material interferes with the ability to remember similar material stored previously

Proactive interference: forgetting that occurs when previously stored material interferes with the ability to remember similar, more recently learned material

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10 Cue-dependent forgetting

The inability to retrieve information stored in memory because of insufficient cues for recall

Physical state can be a memory cue.

State-dependent memory

The tendency to remember something when the rememberer is in the same physical or mental state as during the original learning

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10 Mood-congruent memory

The tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood and overlook or forget experiences that are not

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10 Which is correct?

While Susan is studying for an exam, she drinks a

large cup of coffee. The next day, during the exam,

she makes sure she is drinking a similar amount of

coffee. This is an example of:

A. Mood-congruent memory

B. State-dependent memory

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10 Amnesia

The partial or complete loss of memory of important personal information

Psychogenic amnesia

The causes of forgetting are psychological, such as the need to escape feelings of embarrassment, guilt, shame, disappointment.

Traumatic amnesia

The forgetting of specific traumatic events, sometimes for many years

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10 What do you think?

There is no such thing as a repressed memory.

Recovered memories of traumatic events are the

result of therapeutic manipulation.

A. True

B. False

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10 The repression controversy Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, the selective, involuntary pushing or threatening of upsetting information into the unconscious

Individuals are more likely to struggle with forgetting traumatic events.

It is hard to distinguish repression from other forms of forgetting.

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10 When should we question recovered memories? If a person claims memories of first year or two of life

If over time the memories become more and more implausible

If therapist used suggestive techniques such as

hypnosis, dream analysis, age regression, guided

imagery, or leading questions

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10 Learning objectives

10.18 – Why the first few years of life are a mental

blank

10.19 – Why human beings have been called the

“storytelling animal”

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10 What do you think?

Jonathan tells you that he distinctly remembers

his parents reading to him when he was six

months old. Do you think this is an accurate

memory?

A. Yes

B. No

PSYCHOLOGY 10 E

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10 Childhood amnesia

The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first two or three years of life

Cognitive explanations:

Lack of sense of self

Impoverished encoding

A focus on the routine

Different ways of thinking about the world