Human Memory
Human Memory
Who Has the “Better”Memory?
Human Memory
Memory – allows storage of information from the senses for future use. Involves three processes:1. Encoding – associating information in a form that
the brain can process and store
2. Storage – holding the information
3. Retrieval – bringing information out of storage to a meaningful form – accessing the information
Human Memory
Ability to remember depends on 2 general types of performance:1. Recall – ability to reproduce previous information
2. Recognition – ability to identify previous information
Human Memory
Example1. Name each of the seven dwarfs!
2. Identify which of the following are names of the Seven Dwarfs:
Dopey Sneezy
Helpful Weepy
Dasher Grumpy
Silly Bashful
Happy Sleepy
Prancer Doc
Nifty Friendly
Stages of Memory
Sensory Memory– brief (seconds) – achieved through senses (0.5 second for visual, 2 seconds for auditory)
Short Term Memory– current awareness – 30 seconds– Stores an average of 7 chunks– When short term memory fills, old information is pushed out by new
– constant processing
Types of Memory
Long Term Memory– unlimited in capacity (?)
– permanent (?)
– contains organized and indexed information
– 2 general types (declarative and procedural)
The Memory Process
Types of Memory
Procedural Memory• Knowing how
• part of memory that stores skills acquired over time
• (brushing teeth, playing piano, driving a car,…)
Declarative Memory• knowing what• part of LTM that stores facts, figures, vocabulary,…• 2 types – semantic and episodic
– Semantic – word meanings, general knowledge– Episodic – life experiences
Why We Remember What We Remember
Short Term Memory ‐ six main reasons
1.Primacy Effect ‐ information that occurs first in a group is better remembered than information occurring later.• People tend to rehearse earlier information more
frequently 2.Recency Effect ‐ the last bit of information is better remembered because less time has passed.• Less time to forget
Why We Remember What We Remember
3. Distinctiveness ‐ something different from surrounding information is better remembered
• Item ‘stands out’
4. Frequency Effect – rehearsing something results in better memory
• Memorizing quadratic equation through repetition
Why We Remember What We Remember
5. Associations – information associated with other information is better remembered
• new information is attached to what is known
6. Reconstruction ‐ sometimes we fill in blanks in our memory
• to complete something we ‘make up’ missing parts
Why We Remember What We Remember
Long Term Memory – five main reasons
1 4 9 1 6 2 5 3 6 4 9 6 4 8 1 1 0 0 1 2 1
1.Chunking – grouping separate pieces of information together
2.Meaning – the more we process information, the more likely we are to remember it
Why We Remember What We Remember
3. Significance – if something is important to us, we are more likely to remember it
4. Repetition – the more frequently we rehearse something, the more likely we will remember it
5. Emotion – people tend to remember greater detail when emotion is involved– Flashbulb Memory – vivid recollection of an especially emotional event
Why We Remember What We Remember
Matt Wilson ‐ professor of neurobiology at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Q:Why do we remember unpleasant events better than ordinary ones?
A: The speculation is that we process memory in order to solve problems. And things we should learn from, things that are particularly important or that have strong emotions tied to them, may be things that are going to be important in the future.
From TIME January 23, 2008
Some Memory Tests
Try to remember as many images as you can. After 20 seconds, write down all the pictures you remember .
Some Memory Tests
You will be presented with a series of shapes, letters words and pictures. Each of these items will appear on your screen for 10 seconds. You will then be asked a question to test your memory on each item.
Some Memory Tests
Correct Answer: They are all wrong!
Some Memory Tests
Some Memory Tests
Correct Answer: A
Some Memory Tests
Some Memory Tests
Which of the following letters did not appear in the set?
A. X
B. G
C. A
D. E
Correct Answer: C
Sources
• http://www.internettime.com/wp‐content/uploads/2009/12/cartoon‐brain.gif
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJAH4ZJBiN8• http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XLCX0mGrcBA/TOYNfa8rwwI/AAAAAAAAAAM
/8O3d9h0ZgU8/s1600/7%2Bdwarfs.jpg• http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://aaboori.mshdiau.ac.ir/Favou
riteSubjects/boxes.gif&imgrefurl=http://aaboori.mshdiau.ac.ir/FavouriteSubjects/human_memory.htm&usg=__iRBSepjmH35nMnyHMDHfdOLP6oA=&h=191&w=483&sz=5&hl=en&start=5&zoom=1&tbnid=oibC5tQrX8TqLM:&tbnh=51&tbnw=129&ei=lxrTUOSsG4n1qwGtyIHADg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhuman%2Bmemory%2Bprocess%255C%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1
• http://www.intelligencetest.com/stmemory/games/picture/picture1.htm• http://www.intelligencetest.com/stmemory/games/picture/
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