MEMORY INTRODUCTION TO

PSYCHOLOGY
WITHOUT MEMORY, THERE IS
NO PAST
WHAT IS MEMORY?
➢A system that encodes stores, and retrieves information
➢A human memory is an information processing system that works
constructively to encode, store and retrieve information
➢Memory enables learning
➢Human memory is an interpretative system that takes in information,
discards certain details and organizes the rest into meaningful
patterns
➢Hence, our memories represents our unique perceptions of events rather
than being accurate representations of the events themselves
➢We don’t technically retrieve memories – we reconstruct them!
INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL

It is the cognitive approach to memory

It emphasizes the systematic changes information undergoes on its way to

becoming a permanent memory

This model emphasizes that memory is functional

The most basic tasks – encoding, storage and retrieval of information

MEMORY’S THREE BASIC
TASKS
PROCESSES OF MEMORY
1. ENCODING
➢Modification of information to fit psychological formats (through visual, acoustic,
semantic codes) so that it can be placed in memory

Identify distinct Label or

Select stimulus features of mentally tag an
input experience

➢Encoding can be automatic or needs deliberate effort to establish a usable memory

➢Elaboration is an attempt to connect a new concept with existing information in memory
 AUTOMATIC PROCESSING EFFORTFUL PROCESSING

➢Usually done without any conscious

awareness
➢Requires a lot of work and attention in
order to encode the information
➢Encoding details like time, space,
frequency and meaning of words

➢Recalling the last time you took an

exam
TYPES OF ENCODING
1. Semantic encoding – encoding of words and their meanings.
- Most effective form of encoding.
- Attaching meaning to information makes it easier to recall later.-Involves a
deeper level of processing.
2. Visual encoding – encoding of images.
-Words that create a mental image, such as car, dog and book (concrete
words) are easier to recall than words such as level, truth and value (abstract
words).
3. Acoustic encoding – encoding of sounds

Self-reference effect – the tendency for an individual to have better memory for information
that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance.
2. STORAGE
➢Is the creation of a permanent record of information
➢Involves the retention or maintenance of encoded material over time

Maintenance How do we store Elaborative

rehearsal information in our rehearsal
memory?
BADDELEY & HITCH MODEL
Baddeley and Hitch proposed a model of storage where short-term memory has
different forms depending on the type of information received.
-Storing memories is like opening different files on a computer and adding
information.
3 short-term systems:
1.Visuospatial sketchpad
2.Episodic buffer
3.Phonological loop

According to the model, a central

executive supervises the flow of
information between the
systems.
THE ATKINSON- SHIFFRIN MODEL (A-S MODEL)
➢Proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin which assumes there are three
unitary (separate) memory stores, and that information is transferred between these
stores in a linear sequence.
SENSORY MEMORY
Sensory memory – storage of brief sensory events, such as sights,
sounds, and tastes.

Stored for up to a couple of seconds.

First step of processing stimuli from the environment.

If the information is not important, it is discarded.-If the

information is valuable then it moves into our short-term memory
 The Stroop effect was discovered while studying sensory memory and describes
why it is difficult for us to name a color when the word and the color of the
word are different.

THE STROOP
EFFECT
 SHORT TERM MEMORY
Short-term memory/working memory
– a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory.
- Lasts about 20 seconds.
- Capacity is usually about 7 items +/-2 (discovered by George Miller).

Short-term memories are either discarded or stored in

long-term memory.
Memory consolidation – Transfer of STM to
long-term memory.
One way memory consolidation can be achieved
is through rehearsal.
Rehearsal– the conscious repetition of information to
be remembered. Hi! I’m Dory. I have a short-term
memory loss. I’m Dory
 ➢LTM is the continuous
storage of information

➢It has no limit and is like

the information
you store on the hard
drive of a computer

➢There are two

components of long-term
memory: explicit and
LONG-TERM MEMORY (LTM) implicit.
 LTM: EXPLICIT MEMORY
Explicit (declarative) memory –memories of facts and events we can consciously
remember and recall/declare and personally experienced

Explicit memories include two types:

Semantic– knowledge about words, concepts and language.

• -Knowing who the President is.

Episodic– information about events we have personally experienced.

• -Remembering your 5th birthday party.
• -The what, where, when of an event.
• -Also called autobiographical memory.
• -A small number of people have a highly superior autobiographical memory known as
HYPERTHYMESIA
 LTM: IMPLICIT MEMORIES

Implicit memory - memories that are not part of our consciousness.

 -Formed through behaviors.

Procedural– stores information about how to do things.

 -Skills and actions.
 -E.g. how to ride a bike, tie your shoe lace, drive.

Implicit memory also includes behaviors learned through emotional conditioning.

 -You might have a fear of spiders but not consciously remember why or what
occurred to condition that fear.
 3. RETRIEVAL
Retrieval– the act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness.

Retrieval is needed for everyday functioning (e.g. knowing how to drive to work, or how perform your job once
you get there).

3 ways to retrieve information:

1.Recall– being able to access information without cues.

• Used for an essay test.

2.Recognition– being able to identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it
again.
• Used for a multiple choice test.

3.Relearning– Learning information that you previously learned.

• After learning Spanish in high school, you might forget how to speak it if you do not use it. However, if you try to relearn it, you will
learn it quicker than the first time.
PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY
➢Technically refers to Eidetic Imagery
➢A photographic image renders everything in minute detail while an eidetic
image portrays the most interesting and meaningful parts of the scene most
accurately and is subject to the same kind of distortions found in normal
memories

➢Eidetikers have memory images as vivid as the original experience

➢Eidetic images are visualized as being “outside the head”
➢Eidetic images can last for several minutes – even for days
➢The vivid imagery clutters the mind
 PARTS OF THE BRAIN INVOLVED
IN MEMORY
Are memories stored in just one Studied parts of the brain
part of the brain, or are they involved in memory by making
stored in many different parts lesions in the brains of animals
of the brain? such as rats and monkeys.

Karl Lashley was looking for Trained rats to learn their way
evidence of the engram – the around a maze and then made
group of neurons that serve as lesions to try to remove the
the “physical representation of memory.
memory”.

Lashley was unable to find

evidence of an engram. The
rats were still able to
remember their way around the
maze regardless of the size or
location of the lesion
➢Based on Lashley’s creation of lesions and the animal’s reactions, he formulated
the
EQUIPOTENTIALITY HYPOTHESIS - if part of one area of the brain
involved in memory is damaged, another part of the same area can take over that
memory function.

Eric Kandel
➢Studied the synapse and its role in controlling the flow of information through
neural circuits needed to store memories.
 PARTS OF THE BRAIN
INVOLVED IN MEMORY
Scientists have now
identified different parts of
the brain involved in
memory.
 -Involved in fear and -Processes emotional
fear memories (memory information important in
Amygdala storage is influenced by encoding memories at a
deeper level and
Hippocampus
stress hormones). memory consolidation.

-Associated with explicit -Projects information to

memory, recognition cortical regions that -Involved in memory -Damage leads to an
memory and spatial give memories meaning consolidation. inability to process new
memory. and connect them with declarative memories.
other memories.

-Had both temporal -Declarative memory -Could not form new

Patient H.M: lobes removed (including was significantly semantic knowledge or
hippocami) to help effected. episodic memories.
control his seizures.
 -Plays a role in -Damage prevents
processing procedural classical conditioning
Cerebellum memories, such as how such as an eye-blink in
to play the piano and response to a puff of
classical conditioning. air.

-PET scans show

-Appears to be involved activation in the left
Prefrontal cortex in remembering semantic inferior prefrontal
tasks. cortex when completing
semantic tasks.

-Encoding is associated -Retrieval of information

with left frontal activity. is associated with the
right frontal region.
 NEUROTRANSMITTERS
Communication among neurons via neurotransmitters is critical for developing new memories.

Repeated neuron activity increased neurotransmitters in the synapse stronger synaptic connections (This is how memory
consolidation occurs).
Neurotransmitters involved in memory:

-Epinephrine -Dopamine

-Serotonin -Glutamate

-Acetylcholine

Arousal Theory – strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories and weaker emotional experiences form
weaker memories.
-Strong emotional experiences can trigger the release of neurotransmitters which strengthen memory.

-Evidenced by flashbulb memories - an exceptionally clear recollection of an important emotional event.

FLASH BULB MEMORY
Flash bulb memory – a record of an
atypical and unusual event that has
very strong emotional associations.

-Most people can remember where they

were when they first heard about the
9/11 terrorist attacks.
PROBLEMS WITH MEMORY
AMNESIA – the loss of long-term memory that occurs as the result of disease,
physical trauma, or psychological trauma

2. Retrograde Amnesia
1. Anterograde Amnesia

• commonly caused by brain trauma - loss of memory for events that

• cannot remember new information occurred before the trauma
• can remember information and events that - cannot remember some or all of
happened prior to injury past events
• hippocampus usually affected
• inability to transfer information from STM to LTM - difficulty remembering episodic
• usually unable to form new episodic or semantic memories
memories
• unable to form new procedural memories
 Construction– formulation of new memories.
Reconstruction– process of bringing up old memories.
When we retrieve memories, we tend to unintentionally alter and
modify them, resulting in inaccuracies and distortions.

MEMORY Suggestibility

CONSTRUCTION & Suggestibility is the effects of misinformation from external sources

that leads to the creation of false memories.
RECONSTRUCTION -Can cause people to claim to remember something that was only a
suggestion someone made.
-Memories are fragile making them vulnerable to the power of
suggestion.
-An important area of study has been the role of suggestibility in
eyewitness testimonies.
 Eyewitness identification and
testimony is often used in the
prosecution of criminals. Research
suggests that suggestive police
identification procedures can
lead to alterations in an
eyewitnesses memory leading to
misidentification.

In studying cases where DNA evidence

has exonerated people from crimes, the
Innocence Project discovered that
eyewitness misidentification is the

EYEWITNESS MISIDENTIFICATION
leading cause of wrongful convictions
(Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law,
Yeshiva University, 2009).
 Misinformation effect
paradigm – after
Elizabeth Loftus -Studied false memories. exposure to incorrect Study (1974):
information, a person may
misremember the original
event.

-Participants were shown -Were asked, “About how -Participants that heard the
-Asked college students to films of car accidents and fast were the cars going word smashed estimated
estimate the speed of cars were asked to play the when they (smashed, that the cars were
using different forms of tole of eyewitness and collided, bumped, hit, travelling a lot faster than
questions. describe what happened. contacted) each other?” those that heard the word
contacted.

-If they heard the word -The implied meaning of

glass, they were more than the word used influenced
twice as likely to say they the participants memory of
remember seeing glass (a the accident.
false memory).

THE MISINFORMATION EFFECT

 When people are asked leading

LOFTUS STUDY questions about an event, their

memory of the event may be
altered.
REPRESSED & RECOVERED MEMORIES
A controversial topic within psychology is the idea that whole events can be
repressed or falsely recalled.
False memory syndrome – recall of false autobiographical memories.
Repressed memories:
Some psychologist believe it is possible to completely repress traumatic childhood
memories such as sexual abuse.
-Can lead to psychological distress in adulthood.
-Some believe that these can be recalled through hypnosis and guided imagery
techniques.
-Loftus challenges the idea of repressed memories and questions if recalled memories
are accurate or whether the processes of questioning and suggestibility leads to the
misinformation effect.
How can suggestibility be avoided when questioning eyewitnesses?
 THE FALSE MEMORY DEBATE
Belief in Recovered Memories Opponents of Recovered Memories

Premise: trauma in children causes repressed Premise: believes trauma occurs but
memories not repression
Treatment: trauma recalled through hypnosis and Treatment: believes questioning by
guided imagery others results in false memories of
abuse (Loftus)
Evidence: 59% of 450 men and women with a
history of child abuse did not recall experiences Evidence: 55% of 3-year-old
children falsely reported being
Outcome: The Recovered Memory Project was touched in the genital area during an
created so that victims of childhood sexual abuse exam
can recall these memories and allow healing process
to begin
WHY DO WE FORGET?
Forgetting– loss of information from long-
term memory.
Encoding Failure
Encoding failure occurs when the memory
is never stored in our memory in the first
place.
Successful encoding requires effort and
attention

Most Americans cannot tell which is the real

nickel when presented 15 versions of nickels
because we do not encode the specific Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve which illustrates
details, we just know enough to differentiate Ebbinghaus conclusion that most forgetting occurs soon
it from other coins. after we learn something
 MEMORY ERRORS
➢Psychologist Daniel Schacter, a well-known memory researcher, offers 7 ways our memories fail
us.
➢He calls them the 7 sins of memory and categorizes them into 3 groups: forgetting, distortion and
intrusions

SIN TYPE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

Transience Forgetting Accessibility of memory decreases over time Forget events that occurred
(storage decay). long ago

Absentmindedness Forgetting Forgetting caused by lapses in attention. Forget where your phone is

Blocking Forgetting Accessibility of information is temporarily tip-of-the-tongue

blocked phenomenon
 MEMORY ERRORS…
SIN TYPE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

Misattribution Distortion Source of memory is confused Recalling a dream memory as a

waking memory

Suggestibility Distortion False memories Results from leading questions

Bias Distortion Memories distorted by current belief system Align memories to current beliefs

Persistence Intrusion Inability to forget undesirable memories Traumatic events

TRANSIENCE/STORAGE DECAY
Overtime, unused information tends to fade away

Ebbinghaus (1885)Studied the process of memorization

The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve shows how quickly memory for new
information decays.-50% after 20 minutes.-70% after 24 hours.
LETHOLOGICA OR TIP OF THE TONGUE
PHENOMENON
➢A type of effortful retrieval that occurs when we are confident that we know
something but cannot quite pull it out of memory
➢The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is universal (around 90% of speakers of different
languages from all over the world report experiencing moments where memories seem momentarily
inaccessible)

➢These moments occur quite often and this frequency increases with age (Young people
typically have tip-of-the-tongue moments about once each week, while older adults find that they may
occur as often as once each day)
➢People often remember partial bits of information (For example, they may remember the letter the
word they are searching for begins with or the number of syllables the word contains)
 BIAS
According to Schacter, your feelings and view of the world can distort your memory of past
events

Stereotypical bias - involves racial and gender biases.

• -After presenting people with a list of names, they more frequently incorrectly remembered typical African American
names to be associated with the occupation basketball player, and typical white names to be associated with the
occupation politician

Egocentric bias – involves enhancing our memories of the past.

• -People remember events in a way that makes them look better

Hindsight bias – the tendency to think an outcome was inevitable after the fact.
• -Thinking you knew it all along.
PERSISTENCE
Many veterans of
military conflicts
involuntarily recall
unwanted, unpleasant
memories.
INTERFERENCE
Sometimes forgetting is caused by a failure to retrieve information. This can be due
to interference, either retroactive or proactive.

Memory of old locker

Learn combination to high PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE combination interferes with
school locker Old info hinders recall of new recall of new gym locker
information combination
17-02-34
??????

Knowledge of new email Learn sibling’s new college

address interferes with RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE
email address
recall of old email address New information hinders recall
of old information
[email protected]
nvayala@????
WAYS TO ENHANCE MEMORY
MEMORY-ENHANCING STRATEGIES
Rehearsal – conscious repetition of information to be remembered

Chunking– organizing information into manageable bits or chunks

- Separating phone numbers into 3 chunks

Elaborative rehearsal – technique in which you think about the meaning of the new information and its relation
to knowledge already stored in your memory.

Mnemonic devices – memory aids that help us organize information for encoding.
- Acronym, Acrostic, Jingle

Other techniques can include:

-Expressive writing.
-Saying words aloud.
HOW TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY
Memory techniques can be useful when studying for class:

1.Use elaborative rehearsal – link information to other information/memories to make

it more meaningful.

2.Apply the self-reference effect – make information personally meaningful to YOU.

3.Don’t forget the forgetting curve – keep studying to prevent storage decay.

4.Rehearse.
HOW TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY

Be 5. Be aware of interference – study without distractions.

6. Keep moving – aerobic exercise promotes neurogenesis (growth of new

Moving brain cells in the hippocampus).

Get 7. Get enough sleep – the brain consolidates memories while sleeping.

Make 8. Make use of mnemonic devices.