Chapter 9 Memory

Lucy Bi, Helena Vuong, Neda Perwez, Estefany Perwez

Memory
• Memory: the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of
information
o it is like the mind’s storehouse- the reservoir of your accumulated learning
• our capacity to remember sights, sounds, smells, tastes, etc is staggering
o most apparent in flashbulb memory- which is a clear memory of an
emotionally significant moment/event
 ex: prom, first day of school, car accident
 9/11- we can probably all remember where we were, what we were
doing, and our thoughts at the time when we first heard about 9/11
• Amnesia: unable to form new memories
Information Processing
• In forming memories we must select, process, store, and retrieve information
o Similar to a computer: write a file, save a disk, read from disk
• To remember something we have to first get the information into our brain –
encoding. Afterwards we must retain information – storage, and later be able to get it
back out – retrieval
3 Stage Processing
• Memory model by Richard Atkinsen and Richard Shriffin which basically states that
memory grows through 3 stages
1. To-be-remembered information is recorded as a fleeting sensory memory, which
is the immediate initial recording of sensory information in the memory system
2. It is then processed into short term memory. It is activated memory that holds a
few items briefly, such as phone numbers wile dialing, before the information is
stored or forgotten. It is the incoming stimuli we choose to focus on.
3. It is finally encoded for long-term memory: the relatively permanent and limitless
storehouse of the memory system
• Working memory: clarifies the short term memory concept by focusing more on
how we process briefly stored information. We actively associate new and old
information and solve problems.
o Includes a verbal and a visual component which allow us to process images and
words simultaneously
 Why we can talk (verbal processing) while driving (visual processing) but
we can’t effectively have 2 conversations at once (since each subsystem
is limited)
Automatic Processing
• Is the unconscious encoding of incidental information (its automatic!), like space,
time, frequency
o Ex the way around your house, a word’s meaning
• Happens with little effort, without our awareness, and without interfering with our
thinking

Effortful Processing
• Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
o Ex studying for your ap psych exam!
• Some effortful processing becomes more automatic
o Ex reading right to left for students of Hebrew
 • Rehearsal: the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it for
consciousness or to encode it for storage
o Demonstrated by Hermann Ebbinghaus, the pioneering researcher of verbal
memory – who found that the more time we spend learning novel information,
the more we retain
 Ie practice makes perfect
• Next in line effect: when people go around a circle saying names, their memory is
worst for the person right before them. This is because they’re concentrating on their
own upcoming response
• Information processed seconds before sleep is seldom remembered
• Taped information played during sleep is registered by ears, but also not
remembered
• Spacing effect: the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long
term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
o basically, spaced study beats cramming
o makes adaptive sense, because events that are spaced out are more likely to
recur.
• Serial position effect: our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list
What We Encode
• Information processing happens in 3 ways: by encoding its meaning, visualizing it,
and finally mentally organizing it
• When processing verbal information, we usually encode its meaning
o ex whether we hear “ice cream” or “I scream” depends on the context
o We remember what we encoded- not what it exactly was
• Visual encoding: the encoding of picture images
• Acoustic encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words
• Semantic encoding: the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
o In Craik and Tulving’s experiment where words were flashed rapidly on a
screen, it was discovered that semantic encoding yielded better encoding than
the other two
o Putting a meaningful context to something helps us remember much more of
something
o So it is profitable to find personal meaning into something, and also relate
material to previous material, and rephrase things into meaningful terms
Encoding Imagery
• We struggle to remember formulas, definitions, and dates, but visual memories, like
where we were, who we with, what we wore, come naturally
• Imagery: mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when
combined with semantic encoding
• We remember picture words (fire, cigarette) better than nonpicture words (inherent,
void)
• Rosy retrospection: people recalling events more positively than they evaluated at
the time (like that trip you took to Disneyland which was actually pretty hot and
miserable, and not magical..)
• Mnemonic: memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and
organizational devices
o Ex: method of loci: moving through a series of locations, each with a visual
representation of the to be remembered topic
• Organizing information into meaningful units, such as letters, words, and phrases
makes us recall things better
 • Chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs
automatically
o Ex. acronyms like ROYGBIV, PEMDAS, etc. remembering digits of numbers by
groups of 4, 3, etc.
• Hierarchies: remembering information as groups- starting with broad principles and
moving down to more specific concepts. ex outlines or tables.
Storage: Retaining Information
• Sensory Memory
• Short-term Memory
• Long-term Memory
Sensory Memory
• Iconic memory
• Echoic memory
Short-term Memory
• Magical Number Seven, plus or minus two (George Miller)
• Recall is slightly better for random digits than for random letters
• Average person retains only about four chunks in short-term memory
• Basic principle: “At any given moment, we can consciously process only a very
limited amount of information” (Myers 355)
Long-term Memory
• Capacity for storing long-term memories is essentially limitless
• Average adult has about a billion bits of information in memory and a storage
capacity that is probably a thousand to a million times greater
• Types of Long-term memories:
• Explicit (declarative)
o Semantic memory
o Episodic memory
• Implicit (nondeclarative)
o Skills- motor and cognitive
o Classical and operant conditioning effects
Storing Memories
 Lashley’s Experiment
o Conclusion: Memories do not reside in a single, specific spot
 Memories are impulses in our brain through synaptic changes
 Long-term Potentiation (LTP)
 According to James McGaugh, stronger emotional experiences make for stronger,
more reliable memories
 Prolonged stress corrodes neural connections and shrinking the hippocampus
Retrieval: Getting Information Out

A. Remembering an event requires getting it (encoding) and retaining it (storage),

but also getting it out.

B. Recall: A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information

learned earlier.

1. More quickly relearning information is an indication of memory.

2. Ex. Fill-in-the-blank-test
 C. Recognition: Measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when
learning material for a second time.

1. Ex. Multiple choice tests and the ability to recognize 90% of classmates
known 25 years ago

D. Relearning: A memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when
learning material for a second time.

1. Reveal that we remember more than we recall

E. Retrieval Cues

1. Memory is a web of associations, “Memory is not like a container that

gradually fills up; it is more like a tree growing hooks onto which
memories are hung.”Psychologist Peter Russell, The Brain
Book, 1979.

2. Priming: called “wakening of associations”, the activation, often

unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

a) Mnemonics help prime our memories of earlier experiences

b) Tastes, smells, and sights often evoke our recall of associated

episodes

F. Context Effect

1. It is easier to remember events, words, and objects in the same/similar

environment where they were once learned.

2. Déjà vu: eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.”

a) Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of

earlier experience (familiar context activates memory)

G. Mood-Congruent Memory: Mood serves as a retrieval cue by activating other

memories associated with the same emotion helping the current mood last
longer.

1. Influences how we interpret other’s behaviors and how we view the

world

Forgetting

A. Forgetting can be due to errors in encoding, storage, or retrieval.

1. Daniel Schacter’s “Seven Sins of Memory”

a) Absent-mindedness- forgetting when not paying attention to details

 b) Transience- storage decay: Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve measured
how many nonsense syllables he could remember.

(1) Retention drops in the first five days and then levels off with
time

(2) EX. Everything that is to be forgotten from a Spanish course is

forgotten in 3yrs. and nothing else is forgotten after
that.

c) Blocking- inaccessibility of stored information

d) Misattribution- confusing the source of information

e) Suggestibility- lingering effect of misinformation

f) Bias- “belief colored recollections”

g) Persistence- unwanted memories

A. Encoding Failure: When information fails to enter into our long-term memory

1. Slower encoding= Age related memory decline

2. Irrespective of age, our selective attention prevents us from remembering

everything in complete detail.

C. Retrieval Failure:

1. Interfering: proactive and retroactive

a) Proactive: when old learning affects learning new information

b) Retroactive: when new learning affects recalling old information

2. Motivated Forgetting: The Freudian concept of repression proposes that

our memory self-censors painful information.

a) These memories can be retrieved later by some later cue or during

therapy

Memory Construction
Memory is
o partly retrieval and partly constructed
o affected by “source amnesia”
Misinformation and Imagination Effects:
o Misinformation effect: incorporating misleading information
 Leads to misremembering events
 Filling in memory gaps
 Imagining nonexistent actions/events
Source Amnesia:
 Misattribution
 Encoding memories
Discerning true and fake memories:
o Memory can’t be judged by its persistency
o “Hypnotically refreshed” memories
Children’s Eyewitness recall:
o Planting false memories
Repressed or Constructed memory of abuse:
o Injustice happens
o Incest happens
o Forgetting happens
o Recovered memories are commonplace
o Memories recovered under hypnosis
o Memories before age 3
o Emotionally upsetting memories
Improving Memory:
o Preview
o Read
o Think critically
o Review