INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 7

Memory

At the end of this Chapter you should be able to:

 Understand what memory is

 Learn about working memory

 Learn about three aspects of memory; acquisition, storage and retrieval

 Understand what happens when memory fails

Without memory....
No recollection of events
No knowledge
No reflection of past events; no giving advice to others
No basis for self-esteem and mood
No idea about past achivements

Acquisition, Storage, Retrieval

Any act of memory requires success at three aspects:

 Input, or the acquisition of knowledge - Acquisiton
 Creation of a memory trace, or the storage of knowledge - Storage
 Ability to use the knowledge - Retrieval

Acquisition

Includes any instance of new intentional (like memorizing) or incidental learning

 Incidental: What did you have for dinner yesterday? You didn’t memorize, but
you know

Attention and engagement with to-be-remembered material is crucial; acquisition is

not passive or “camera-like”

Raw input: translated first into a form that can be “acquired” by the brain
 This is a complex process itself!
The Stage Theory of Memory

 Different types of memory, each with different properties

 Working memory (Short-term)

 Instantly accessible information

 Long-term memory
 Less instantly accessible

Working Memory / Long Term Memory

When we are actively working, we want information to be immediately available to

us. In our brain, this happens in Working (short-term) Memory.

Long Term Memory is for extra information. It contains everything you know. It is
storage for information that is not used right now but may be needed later.

Storage Capacity of Working and Long-term memory

Long term capacity: huge

Working capacity: more modest

Memory span: way of measuring working memory capacity

 Random, unrelated information: we can store about 7, plus or minus 2,
items (5 – 9 items)’
 Referred to as “the magic number 7”
Working Memory

“Loading platform” analogy

Long term memory must be “loaded” or “pass through” WM

How does it move? How is it transformed into Long term memory?

 Rehearsed
 Chunked

 Athough people see 10 TL many many times, they seem to have little
recollection of it’s layout

Chunking

 Working memory can only handle a small number of items at one time.
However what these packages contain can be up to us.
149162536496481

Can you remember all of these digits?

If you look at these digits independently, you will fail to remember them!

What about if you organize them differently?

14 9 16 25 36 49 64 81

Now you only have to remember the relationship between these items. So working
memory’s capacity is dependent on these chunks, not independent items.

Active memory and organization:

A changed emphasis

“Architecture” of memory: Storage labels (long term, short term) and analogies of
loading docs

BUT: Learner’s activities must be considered when examining memory

 Maintenance rehearsal
 Processing and organizing information: the “Royal Road into Memory”

Depth of processing

Deep processing:
 Meaning-based attention
 Anything that connects new information to already-learned material
 Material that “makes sense” will be encoded more efficiently
 Results in superior recall
Memory connections:
 Links among ideas
 Abstract similarities

When the time comes to recall something, these connections, established during
initial learning or acquisition, can be used as retrieval paths.

Mnemonics
 “Method of loci”
 Based on rhythm/rhyme/melody/visualization

Research participants shown related elements, such as a doll sitting on a chair and
waving flag (A), are more likely to associate the words doll, flag and chair than
participants who are shown the three objects next to each other but not interacting
(B).

Storage

Once encoded, must be stored until needed

Record (stored memory): memory trace or the engram

Storage process difficult to research: long-term potentiation is no doubt involved

 But: a memory is NOT stored in a single location: different aspects of a
memory can be stored in different brain structures
Consolidation

Memory traces are not created instantly. A period of time is needed after the
experience to become established in memory. This makes memories permanent.
(You need to sleep in order for this to take place!!!!)

Evidence for consolidation?

Retrograde amnesia: a blow to the head can interrupt the process of

consolidation for events that happened 1-2 hours before the accident occurred

Memory for events during that time period is lost

Retrieval

Storage is not enough; we must be able to access the memory when needed

Inadequate coding  failure to retrieve

With an adequate retrieval cue, sometimes we realize that encoding wasn’t the
problem after all. Like, if you see the person’s face, you’ll remember their name. A
word or a smell may help you remember. These are all cues (hints).

Retrieval cues

Context reinstatement
 Re-creating or re-minding oneself of the context in which one originally
learned something increases likelihood of being able to retrieve it later

Examples: Studying for an exam in the same room you will take the test;
returning to your hometown and remembering things you had “forgotten”

So there is also a link between emotions and remembering!

When memory fails

“Drawing a blank”: no memory at all is recovered

Mistaken memory: we think we remember, but we make a mistake in what we

recall in subtle or significant ways

Retrograde amnesia: Forgetting the past, but being able to make new memories.
Soldiers are sometimes unable to remember their experiences in battle-even the
ones that occured a day before.

Memory failures

Inadequate encoding: Forgetting can often be traced to poor or missing

strategies for encoding

Forgetting: we knew it once, but no longer

 Passage of time
 Can be graphed with a “forgetting curve” – the opposite of a “learning curve”
 Ebbinghaus: Memory declines with time, more sharply at first, then more
gradually

Decay: a process that occurs on a cellular level by normal metabolic “wear and
tear” on cells involved with memory

Interference: New learning interferes – independent of the passage of time

 Passage of time not a powerful factor in explaining forgetting
 Number of intervening events a more useful variable to examine to explain
forgetting

Other retrieval errors

Retrieval failure:
One type: the “tip of the tongue” phenomena
What is that technique used to carve whalebone?
What is the name of that Russian sled drawn by three horses?

Intrusion: Misinformation
Provision of misinformation creates the “memory” for that information

More (!) retrieval errors…

Intrusions from general knowledge

Misplaced familiarity
 Difference between recollection memory and familiarity
Big problem for us: No reliable way to tell “good” memories (accurate) from “bad”
memories (those that are false or contain misinformation or inaccuracy)

Misinformation Effect

Imagine you eye witnessed a crime and see the thief flee in a blue car. The next
day, you read a newspaper account of the same crime and learn that another
witness reported that the thief fled in a green car.

How will this new information influence your memory?

The errors we make can be very large. People can be led to remember cars that
were not actually present in an event, and whole buildings that do not exist. They
can even recall events that never happened.

Misinformation can be used to insert new ideas into memory In these cases the
original memory may even be lost because the person who is given the
misinformation (new information about an event that happened) overwrites the
original memory with the fake one.

Techniques for improving memory

How to help us create better memories?

 Techniques for improving “eyewitness identifications” that are more reliable:
 Re-create mind-set
 Minimize distractions/distractors
 Unhelpful techniques:
 Hypnosis: may improve motivation, but also creates eagerness to “please”
the hypnotist

Amnesia

Different brain tissue supports implicit memories as compared to explicit memories

Evident when studying anterograde amnesia

 Lesions in hippocampus and temporal cortex: create anterograde amnesia
 Lesions from other types of brain injury: create retrograde amnesia
 Supports the theory that different brain structures/regions “handle” different
types of memory
Anterograde Amnesia

Anterograde means ‘in a forward direction’. May be caused by a stroke or a physical

trauma.

It is essentially an inability to learn anything new/make new memories. No short-

term memory.

Famous case; Patient H.M.

He could read and write. His long-term storage is completely closed to new
memories. His memories before the operation remain intact. He can function and
comment intellectually on events.

What is wrong with H.M.?

He had an uncle that he really loved. His uncle passes away and then he is told
about the death of his uncle. He was deeply distressed when told about this, but the
he forgot! Some time later he would ask where his uncle was, and was again told
about his death. His sadness and grief was just as intense as before each time he
hears this sad news. He said he is hearing it for the first time-with all the shcck and
grief.

It turns out these anterograde amnesia patients can acquire some new memories.
For example H.M. plays the piano and each time he plays a piece, he plays it more
skillfully.

Distinction between different types of knowledge: memory for skill, memory for
general knowledge, memory for episodes.

KNOWING HOW vs. KNOWING THAT

Emotional Remembering

Does memory for emotional events differ in any systematic way?

Emotional events: remembered…

 More vividly
 More completely
 More accurately
… than memories for emotion-neutral events
“Flashbulb memories”

Especially vivid memories

Focus: immediate and personal details

Special mechanism to produce this type of memory?

No evidence that these types of memories are in a special class with respect to
immunity from error or extreme longevity

They are likely to involve people we love and care about.

Some emotional memories are particularly long-lived, so that people claim to

remember events from years and years ago “as if it were yesterday”.

Flashbulb memories are highly special events, usually unexpected and emotionally
strong. Such as 9/11 terrorist attacks to the World Trade Center, or Princess Diana’s
death.

Where and who were you with when you first heard these events? Most people
remember all the details…