Memory

Module 24
Studying and Encoding Memory
Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C.N. (2015). Psychology In Modules 11th
ed. New York: Worth Publishers.
Researchers study memory from many
perspectives.
Module 24 introduces the measuring, modeling,
and encoding of memories.
Module 25 examines how memories are stored
and retrieved.
Module 26 explores what happens when our
memories fail us, and offers some tips for
improving memory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ifF96poks
https://youtu.be/wF-f3su4jhw
Studying Memory
What is memory, and how is it measured?
(24-1)
 Memory Models
How do psychologists describe the human
memory system? (24-2)
 Memory models
PROCESS
Encoding get information into our brain

Storage retain that information

Retrieval get the information back out

An information-processing model - likens human memory to computer operations

COMPUTER MODELS HUMAN MEMORIES
Have their limits Less literal and more fragile than a computer’s

Most computers process information sequentially, Our agile brain processes many things
even while alternating between tasks simultaneously (some of them unconsciously) by
means of parallel processing
 Connectionism
• One information-processing model in the multitrack processing,
• Memories as products of interconnected neural networks.
• Specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within these
networks
• Every time you learn something new, your brain’s neural connections change,
forming and strengthening pathways
• That processes allow you to interact with and learn from your constantly
changing environment
 Memory-forming process:
a three-stage model

Was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968):

1. We first record to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory.
2. From there, we process information into short-term memory, where we
encode it through rehearsal.
3. Finally, information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval.
 Working Memory
Atkinson and Shiffrin:
short-term memory is a small, brief storage space for recent thoughts and
experiences

It was extended by Alan Baddeley and others (Baddeley, 2001, 2002; Barrouillet et
al., 2011; Engle, 2002) > working memory:
• This stage is not just a temporary shelf for holding incoming information.
• It’s an active desktop where your brain processes information by making sense
of new input and linking it with long-term memories.
 Working Memory

eye-screem as “ice cream” or “I scream”

• Whether we hear eye-screem as “ice cream” or “I scream” will depend on how

the context and our experience guide our interpreting and encoding the
sounds.
• To focus on the active processing that takes place in this middle stage,
psychologists use the term working memory.
• Right now, you are using your working memory to link the information you’re
reading with your previously stored information (Cowan, 2010; Kail & Hall,
2001)
 A modified three-stage processing model of memory

For example, some information slips into long-term memory via:

(1) Automatic processing, a “back door,” without our consciously attending to
(2) Active processing, occurs in the shortterm memory stage that many now
prefer the term working memory.
Central executive (Alan Baddeley, 1998, 2002)

Example:

• For most of you, what you are

reading enters working memory
through vision.
• You might also repeat the
information using auditory
rehearsal
• As you integrate these memory
inputs with your existing long-
term memory, your attention is
focused.
• Baddeley (1998, 2002) suggested
a central executive handles this
focused processing
 Encoding Memory
How do explicit and implicit memories differ?
(24.3)
What information do we process automatically?
(24.4)
How does sensory memory work? (24.5)
 Encoding Memories

Explicit memories Implicit Memories

• The facts and experiences • Information skips the

that we can consciously conscious encoding track
know and declare • Automatic processing
• Conscious • Happens without our
• Efforfull Processing awareness
• Also called declarative • Also called non declarative
memories memories
 Automatic Processing and
Implicit Memories
• Procedural memory for automatic skills (or hobbies)
• Conditioned associations among stimuli
• Emotional Response
 Automatic Processing and
Implicit Memories

Space Time
01 Visualize the location 02 Sequence of events
Example : encode the place on page Example : Retrace our steps when we
lost our watch, or coat elsewhere

Frequency
03 How many things happen
Example : how many times you do
something
Two track of mind : one track automatically tucks away
many routine details, the other track is free to focus on
conscious, effortful processing.
TRY THIS EXPERIMENT

ICONIC
• Participants of the study were asked to look at the letters, for a brief period of time
• Then recall them immediately afterwards
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ECHOIC
• Do the conversation with others
• Attention to your smartphone
• What did I just say ? – your friend ask you
• You can recover the last few words from your mind’s echo
 Effortful Processing
and Explicit Memories

We develop many skills in this way. Requires effort at first, but after practices
we perform this task much more automatically.

Iconic Memory a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic

or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of
a second.

Echoic Memory a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention

is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or
4 seconds
Capacity of Short-Term and Working Memory

What is the capacity of our short-term and working

memory? (24-6)
Effortful Processing Strategies
What are some effortful processing strategies that
can help us remember new information? (24-7)
 Effortful Processing Strategies
What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us
remember new information?
(24-7)
 Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking
 Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking
 Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking
 Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking
 Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking
 Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking
 Effortful Processing Strategies

• Chunking
COLLEGE
101


MAGIC 7
(Rules of 7)

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpoint-tips/simple-rules-for-better-powerpoint-presentations/1/
COLLEGE 101
TIPS

Chunking
helps
encoding 

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpoint-tips/simple-rules-for-better-powerpoint-presentations/1/
CHUNKING!

https://
presentationpanda.com/
uncategorized/5-
embarrassing-presentation-
MERAH JINGGA KUNING HIJAU BIRU NILA UNGU

https://www.brainscape.com/blog/2016/01/mnemonics-for-memorization/
https://www.brainscape.com/blog/2016/01/mnemonics-for-memorization/
 M ERKURIUS M EMBELIKAN
V ENUS V ULPEN
B UMI B AGI
M ARS M ARIAM
Y UPITER Y ANG
S ATURNUS S EDANG
U RANUS U JIAN
N EPTUNUS N AN
P PLUTO P ENGHABISAN
https://online.seterra.com/en/p/mnemonics
 Encoding Summarized in a
Hierarchy

Source:
PowerPoint Slides Aneeq Ahmad, Henderson State University
 COLLEGE 101 

• Organizing information/
grouping
• Hierarchical diagrams
Levels of Processing
What are the levels of processing, and how do they
affect encoding? (24-8)
 The levels of processing

Shallow processing Deep processing

encoding on a basic level based on the encoding semantically, based on the meaning
structure or appearance of words, of the words; tends to yield the best
such as a word’s letters or, at a more retention
intermediate level, a word’s sound

• We process verbal information at different levels, and

• That depth of processing affects our long-term retention.
• The deeper (more meaningful) the processing, the better our retention
 Try this…

A classic experiment by Fergus Craik and Endel Tulving (1975)

Findings:
the deeper, semantic processing triggered by the third question yielded a much better memory
than did the shallower processing elicited by the second question or the very shallow processing
elicited by the first question (which was especially ineffective).
 Making Material Personally Meaningful
Ebbinghaus
compared with learning nonsense material, learning meaningful material required
one-tenth the effort.

Wayne Wickelgren (1977, p. 346):

“The time you spend thinking about material you are reading and relating it to
previously stored material, is about the most useful thing you can do in learning any
new subject matter”

Self-reference effect
• The tendency to remember the adjective words describe us, better than to
remember the adjective words describe someone else.
• It is especially strong in members of individualist Western cultures (Symons &
Johnson, 1997; Wagar & Cohen, 2003).
• Information deemed “relevant to me” is processed more deeply and remains more
accessible
 The point to remember
The amount remembered depends both:
• on the time spent learning and
• on your making it meaningful for deep processing
 Making things memorable

Testing effect

Enhanced memory after retrieving,

Rather than simply rereading, information.
Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval
practice effect or testenhanced learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rFIK5gutHKM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rFIK5gutHKM
References
• Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C.N. (2015). Psychology In Modules 11th ed. New York: Worth
Publishers.
• https://youtu.be/VWmvWsfRYQM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ifF96poks
• https://youtu.be/wF-f3su4jhw
• https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpoint-tips/simple-rules-for-better-powerpoint-prese
ntations/1/

• https://presentationpanda.com/uncategorized/5-embarrassing-presentation-design-mis
takes-to-avoid/

• https://www.brainscape.com/blog/2016/01/mnemonics-for-memorization/
• https://online.seterra.com/en/p/mnemonics
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkZNHe49GcA&t=73s