Memory

Part 2

What is memory?

Memory is the storage of learned information for retrieval and future use.

REVIEW: The Key Questions

When psychologists study memory they focus on 3 key questions:

1. How does information get INTO memory?

2. How is information MAINTAINED in memory?

3. How do we get information BACK OUT of memory?

3 ?s correspond to the 3 key memory processes:

ENCODING = into

STORAGE= maintained

RETRIEVAL= back out

Review- ENCODING

a process of forming a memory code in order to get information into your memory- you focus awareness on a narrow range of stimuli or events

Ex. May emphasize shape of a dog’s nose to identify the breed- German Shepard’s have a long nose, more pointed than a bull dog- make the code for German Shepard according to the nose characteristics

STORAGE

Maintaining encoded information in memory over a period of time

Memory stores

RETRIEVAL

Recovering information from memory stores

Memory : How does it work?

1. you encounter a stimuli (an event) which goes into sensory storage

2. the information is preserved for a few seconds at most

3.the information will be lost unless we pay attention to it

4. once successfully recognized, you are able to bring info to your STM

Short Term Memory

A limited capacity store that can maintain information for approximately 20 seconds

If you rehearse the information, by repeating it or verbalizing it, the memory may last a bit longer

Ex. Call the operator for a phone number- no pen- you say the number over and over while dialing- won’t likely go into long term memory store but will stay in STM for a while

ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL

The only way to bring STM into LTMConnecting new information with

previously stored, already existing associative structures

Ex. When a teacher used to make you use a new vocabulary word in context by making up a sentence and writing it

Long Term Memory

An unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time

Subcategories of LTM: Declarative memory: factual information like dates

and names Episodic memory: information about events, people,

places Semantic memory: mental models of the

environment as well as procedures (rules, language, strategies for problem solving)

Non-declarative memory: implicit memory (motor skills)

RECONSTRUCTION of memory-How accurate are our memories?

The piecing together from a few highlightsInformation may or may not be accurateCritical details can be forgotten,

misremembered, or complete new details incorporated into a memory

Bartlett (1886-1969) people systematically distort facts and circumstances of experiences

SCHEMAS- an individual’s storage box

The frameworks of knowledge and assumptions about people, objects, and events

Our schemas often contain association cues for retrieval of memories

When we confront new information, we often distort some aspect of the information or forget other aspects

DISTORTION IN MEMORY- is it deliberate? Are we lying?

Occurs when people alter the memory of an event or an experience to fit their beliefs, expectations, logic, or prejudice

We usually distort memories of our lives in a positive direction

Ex. Liberation of concentration camps- German people denial

You probably remember the A’s you earned more than your D’s

SYSTEMATIC DISTORTION: Eye Witness Testimony

Why is eye witness testimony often unreliable? Highly subject to error- many wrongful convictions Plays vital role in the US justice system Police are notorious for asking leading questions and

evoking a desired response from a witness TV, newspapers, media contamination- more you learn

about a case, more likely you are to incorporate info into your own memory of the event

RECOVERING REPRESSED MEMORIES

Called motivated forgetting- a purposeful blocking or “suppressing” of information

Freud referred to this as repression- keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious

Are memories actually repressed or are they false memories?

False memories

Holes or gaps in your memory filled in by experiences and social influences

Ex. False memories in child abuseThe research is not conclusive- repressed

memories have gotten a lot of attention recently, but they may not be as common as people believe- power of suggestion

Ex. Car accident

Infantile amnesia

inability of older children and adults to recall events from their first few years of life

In conclusion- current research supports both the possibility that repressed memories exist and that false memories can be constructed in response to suggestions of abuse

Unusual Memory Phenomenon

FLASHBULB MEMORIES:

extremely vivid memories formed when a person learns of an event that is very surprising, shocking, or highly emotional

EIDETIC IMAGERY

5% children have a photographic memory- most lose this ability before adulthood

MEMORY and CULTURE

People more easily remember stories set in their own culture

The manner and matter (the how and what) of recall are often predominantly determined by social influences

Ex. Adolescent culture and music lyrics

What influences your memory? Why is some information easier to recall than others? Serial information effect: for information

learned in a sequence, recall is better for items at the beginning and the end rather than for items in the middle of the sequence

Information at the beginning of a sequence that you recall better than the middle terms: primary effect

Ex. I went to the Bronx Zoo and brought…A an apple, B a baseball, C…

continued

Recency effect: the tendency to recall the last items in a sequence more readily than those in the middle

Poorer recall of middle info- it is no longer in your short- term memory and has not yet been placed in long-term memory; the “end” information is still in your short-term memory

Environmental Context and Memory

Research states that many elements of the physical setting in which you learn information are encoded with the information and become part of your memory

If you can’t recall answers to a test question- visualize yourself in the room where you studied

Odors can also be a powerful retrieval cue for memory

Taste- gum chewing when studying and taking a test

Can your emotions and other states of consciousness affect memory?

State-dependent memory effect: information is recalled better if you are in the same state (psychological or pharmacological) as when the information was encoded

Studies: people learned things in both a sober and intoxicated state and recalled things better when asked to do so in the same state for both learning and testing

Emotions and memory, continued

Anxiety and fear influence memory- people going through significant life stresses do more poorly of tests of recent memories

Subjects who were clinically depressed recall more negative life experiences from their pasts- as the depression lifted, the tendency toward negative recall reverses itself