CHAPTER FOUR

MEMORY AND FORGETTING

 4.1 Memory
o Questions
 What is memory?
 Are there different kinds of memory?
 What are the biological bases of memory?
 4.1.1 Meaning and Processes of Memory

o Memory is the retention of information/what is learned earlier

over time.
o It is the way in which we record the past for later use in the
present.
o Memory is a blanket label for a large number of processes that
form the bridges between our past and our present.
• Intelligent life does not exist without memory.

• Memory provides the function that our life to

have continuity in place
time
and adapt to the new situations
by using previous skills and information,
enhances your emotional life by recoiling
your positive and negative life experiences.
 Cont.…
we should separate the process from the structure.
 Cont.….

o Memory processes are the mental activities we perform to put

information into memory, to keep it there, and to make use
of it later.
o a) Encoding: Taken from computer science, the term encoding
refers to the form (i.e. the code) in which an item of
information is to be placed in memory.
o In encoding we transform a sensory input into a form or a
memory code that can be further processed
 Cont.…

o b) Storage: To be remembered the encoded experience must leave

some record in the nervous system (the memory trace); it must be
squirreled away and held in some more or less enduring form for
later use.
o Storage is the persistence of information in memory.

o c) Retrieval: is the point at which one tries to remember to dredge

up a particular memory trace from among all the others we have
stored.
o In retrieval, material in memory storage is located, brought into
awareness and used.
 Cont.…

o Failure to remember can result from problems during any of the

three phases of the memory process
o Memory is the process by which information is

encoded (phase1)
stored (phase 2)
retrieved (phase 3).
 5.1.2 Stages/Structure of Memory

o Memory structure is the nature of memory storage itself-

how information is represented in memory and how long it
lasts and how it is organized.
o Many cognitive psychologists relate the mind to an
information processor, along the lines of a digital computer
that takes items of information in; processes them in steps or
stages, and then produces an output.
 Cont.….
o Example;
 Consider how the computer works (see page 59 & 60 in the module)

o According to Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968),

memory has three structures:
I. Sensory Memory/Sensory Register: It is the entry way to memory. It is
the first information storage area.
 Sensory memory acts as a holding bin, retaining information until we
can select items for attention from the stream of stimuli bombarding

our senses.
 Cont.…
 It can hold virtually all the information reaching our senses for
a brief time.
 For instance, visual images (Iconic memory) remain in the
visual system for a maximum of one second.
 Auditory images (Echoic memory) remain in the auditory
system for a slightly longer time, by most estimates up to two
second or so.
 Most information briefly held in the sensory memory simply
decays from the register.
 Cont.…
II. Short-term Memory: is part of our memory that holds the
contents of our attention.
 consist of the by-products or end results of perceptual analysis.

 STM is important in a variety of tasks such as thinking,

reading,, speaking and problem solving.

 There are various terms used to refer to this stage of memory,

including working memory, immediate memory, active

memory, and primary memory.
 Cont.…
Questions
• Why do we call STM as a working memory?
 Cont.…
 Short term memory is distinguished by four characteristics:
 It is active :- information remains in STM only so long
as the person is consciously processing, examining, or
manipulating it. People use STM as a ―workspace to
process new information and to call up relevant
information from LTM.
 Rapid accessibility Information in STM is readily available for
use. In this respect, the difference between STM and LTM is the
difference between pulling a file from the top of a desk versus
searching for it in a file drawer, or between searching for
information in an open computer file versus file stored on the hard
drive.
 Preserves the temporal sequence of information :- STM usually
helps us to maintain the information in sequential manner for
a temporary period of time. It keeps the information fresh until
it goes to further analysis and stored in LTM in meaningful way.

 Limited capacity :- According to most models of memory, we

overcome this problem, by grouping small groups of information
into larger units or chunks.
Chunking is the grouping or packing of information into higher
order units that can be remembered as single units.
It Help to overcome the natural limitation of memory
 Cont.…
 Chunking expands working memory by making large amounts of

information more manageable.

 The real capacity of STM is not a few bits of information but a few

chunks.
 A chunk may be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or even a visual

image, and it depends on previous experience.

 Eg. Shopping list might be broken down into smaller grouping,,

phone No... Letters

 Material in STM is easily displaced unless we do something to keep

it there.
 Cont.…

III. Long Term Memory

 It is a memory system used for the relatively permanent storage of
meaningful information.
 The capacity of LTM seems to have no practical limits.

 The huge amount of information stored in LTM enables us to

learn, get around in the environment, and build a sense of
identity and personal history.
 LTM stores information for indefinite periods

 It may last for days, months, years, or even a lifetime.

 Types of LTM
• Episodic memory is a part of long-term memory that stores
information of our personal experiences that took place at
specific times and in specific places.
• For example, when remember what happened at our high school,
we are recalling information from our long-term episodic
memory.
• Semantic memory contains the facts and generalized information
that we know; concepts, principles, or rules and how to use them;
and our problem–solving skills and learning strategies.
• Procedural memory is memory for skills and other procedures.
Memories of how to ride a bicyce, to drive a car, etc are
procedural memories.
 Cont.…
 The LTM is assumed to be composed of different sub systems:
 Declarative/ explicit memory the conscious recollection of information
such as specific facts or events that can be verbally communicated.
 subdivided into semantic and episodic memories.

i. Semantic memory- factual knowledge like the meaning of words, concepts

and our ability to do math.

ii.Episodic memory-memories for events and situations from personal

experience. They are internal representations of personally experienced events.
 Cont.…
 Non-declarative/ implicit memory-refers to a variety of
phenomena of memory in which behavior is affected by prior
experience without that experience being consciously recollected.
Eg defintion of learning
 One of the most important kinds of implicit memory is procedural memory.

 Serial Position- Effect occurs when you are introduced to a lot of

people at a party and find you can recall the names of the first few
people you met and the last, but almost no one in between.
 Cont. …
o Factors that Influence Memory Process in Humans are as follows:
a. Ability to retain: This depends upon good memory traces left in the brain
by past experiences.

b. Good health: A person with good health can retain the learnt material better
than a person with poor health.

c. Age of the learner: Youngsters can remember better than the aged.

d. Maturity: Very young children cannot retain and remember complex

material.

e. Will to remember: Willingness to remember helps for better retention.

 Cont.…
f. Intelligence: More intelligent person will have better memory than a dull
person,

g. Interest: If a person has more interest, he will learn and retain better.

h. Over learning: Experiments have proved that over learning will lead to
better memory.

i. Speed of learning: Quicker learning leads to better retention,

j. Meaningfulness of the material: Meaningful materials remain in our

memory for longer period than for nonsense material,

k. Sleep or rest: Sleep or rest immediately after learning strengthens

connections in the brain and helps for clear memory.
 5.2 Forgetting

Questions
 What is forgetting? How forgetting occur or what causes
forgetting?
 Why do human beings forget information?
 In what way and how do we forgot that information?
 Is forgetting bad or good for us?
 4.2.1 Meaning and Concepts of Forgetting

o Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885/1913).

o If we attempt to encode, store and recall all the information we
face daily, we are in trouble. Hence, we are selective in storing
and forgetting information.
o Psychologists generally use the term forgetting to refer to the
apparent loss of information already encoded and stored in the
long-term memory.
 Theories of Forgetting
o 4.2.2.1.The Decay Theory

• The decay theory holds that memory traces or engram fade with time if they
are not accessed now and then.
• This explanation assumes that when new material is learned a memory trace
or engram- an actual physical change in the brain- occurs.
• In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing left behind, because of
the passage of time.
• passage of time does not account for forgetting in long term memory.
• People commonly forget things that happened only yesterday while
remembering events from many years ago.
 4.2.2.2. Interference
o Interference theory holds that forgetting occurs because similar items
of information interfere with one another in either storage or retrieval.
o The information may get into memory, but it becomes confused with
other information.
o There are two kinds of interference that influence forgetting: proactive
and retroactive.
o Proactive Interference, information learned earlier interferes with
recall of newer material.
o Retroactive Interference, new information interferes with the ability to
remember old information
4.2.2.3. New Memory for Old/ Displacement
Theory
o This theory holds that new information entering memory can
wipe out old information, just as recording on an audio or
videotape will obliterate/wipe out the original material.
o This theory is mostly associated with the STM
 4.2.2.4. Motivated Forgetting

• Sigmund Freud maintained that people forget because they

block from consciousness those memories that are two
threatening or painful to live with, and he called this self-
protective process Repression.
• Today many psychologists prefer to use a more general term,
motivated forgetting.
 4.2.2.5. Cue Dependent Forgetting
o Often when we need to remember, we rely on retrieval cues.
o When we lack retrieval cues/indicators, we may feel as if we
have lost the call number for an entry in the mind‘s library.
o In long-term memory, this type of memory failure may be the
most common type of all.
o Cues that were present when you learned a new fact or had an
experience are apt to be especially useful later as retrieval
aids.
 4.3. Improving Memory

o To improve our memories other than drug must rely on the

following mental strategies
o General guidelines.
 Pay Attention
 Encode information in more than one way
 Add meaning
 Take your time
 Over learn
 Monitor your learning