King of Memory Experiments Hermann Ebbinghaus Studied his

King of Memory Experiments: Hermann Ebbinghaus • Studied his own learning & forgetting on new verbal material. • Strings of non-sense syllables. • Ex: JIH, FUB, YOX, XIR,

Findings of Ebbinghaus • 1. Practice makes perfect. The more rehearsal (conscious repetition) he did on day 1, the less rehearsal it took to learn the syllables again on day 2. Over learning increased retention. • 2. The Spacing Effect: . SPACED STUDYING BEATS CRAMMING!!!

Findings of Ebbinghaus • 3. Serial Position Effect: our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list. Ex: Presidents

Explaining the Serial Position Effect • Primacy Effect: remember concepts at the beginning of a list (terms we see most often while reviewing) • Recency Effect: remember concepts at the end of the list (seen most RECENTLY). • MIDDLE IS FORGOTTEN MOST OFTEN.

Types of Encoding • Semantic Encoding: encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words…. yields best memory. Use letters to make sense. • Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words…. usually the least effective. Try to remember by saying the letters out loud • Visual Encoding: the encoding of picture images.

“I studied for FOREVER and I still failed!”

REHEARSAL practice saying and writing the words over and over --but, of course, the most effective rehearsal is distributed

SHORT-TERM Memory The most we can hold in our short term stores is just 5 -9 items! But what if you have to remember more than that?

CHUNKING group like things together How do you remember a phone #? 9528295379 You CHUNK it! 952 - 829 - 5379

make it I want you to remember: VISUAL So when you see the word “humanism” I tell you to think about: HUMANISM –a psychological approach that focuses on free will Free Willy!

make it MEANINGFUL • Whose phone numbers do you remember? Why?

make it RHYTHMIC • “Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue in 1492” • “The THALAMUS is a grand station, it sends and receives information. ”

FALSE MEMORIES • Are you a reliable eyewitness?

Storage – Retaining Information (Stages of Memory) • 1. Sensory Memory • 2. Short-Term Memory • 3. Long –Term Memory

Types of Sensory Memory: the initial recording of sensory information in the memory system. All info is held here briefly (1/2 to 4 seconds) Sensory Memories include both: 1. Iconic Memory: a momentary sensory memory of a visual stimuli. Lasts for a few tenths of a second. 2. Echoic Memory: a momentary sensory memory for auditory stimuli. Sound memories can usually last up to 3 or 4 seconds. Sensory memory is very hard to measure since it fades as we try to measure it.

George Sperling’s Experiment to Measure Iconic Memory •

How Does Sensory Memory Get Processed Into Memory? • Sensory memories disappear unless you focus your selective attention on the information. • Attention causes information to be further processed. • What does this say about subliminal messages?

Is Long Term Memory Like an Attic? • Sherlock Holmes: “I consider that a man’s brain is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose…It is a mistake to think that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something you knew before. ” • Is this true?

Neural Basis and Emotional Impact For Memory • Long Term Potentiation (LTP): refers to the longlasting strengthening of the connection between 2 neurons. (Neural basis for learning and memory) • Process occurs naturally when we learn through association…after learning, neurons involved in process become more efficient at transmitting the signals. • Drugs that block LTP interfere with learning – Trying to develop drugs that boost glutamate to enhance LTP for Alzheimer’s • When learning occurs, serotonin is released at synapses

Stress and Memory • Stronger Emotion = Longer lasting memories • Stress hormones make more glucose available to fuel brain activity – Prolonged stress can corrode neural connections & shrink hippocampus • Amygdala – boost activity in memory-forming areas • Flashbulb Memories – clear memory of emotionally significant event

Sequence of Information Processing

Storage Loss: Amnesia • Amnesia refers to the loss of memory. • Amnesiac patients typically have losses in explicit memory. • Explicit Memory (declarative memory): memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.

Types of Amnesia • Anterograde Amnesia: type of memory loss where patients are UNABLE TO FORM ANY NEW MEMORIES. Can’t remember anything that has occurred AFTER a traumatic head injury. • Retrograde Amnesia: type of memory loss where patients are UNABLE TO REMEMBER PAST EVENTS. May forget everything that happened BEFORE a traumatic head injury.

Hippocampus’s Role in Explicit Memory • Hippocampus: neural center located in limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

Implicit Memory • Other type of memory storage is known as Implicit Memory (Procedural or Skill Memory): retention of things without conscious recollection.

Cerebellum’s Role in Implicit Memory • Cerebellum: helps facilitate associate learning responses ie classical conditioning. • Cutting pathway to the cerebellum makes rabbits unable to learn conditioned responses.

Retrieval: Getting Information Out • Recall: a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier. • Ex: Fill in the Blank.

Retrieval: Getting Information Out • Recognition: a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned. • Ex: Multiple Choice

Retrieval Cues • Priming: activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations of memory.

Retrieval Cues • Context Effects Memory Retrieval: able to retrieve information better when you are in the same context you learned it in. • Emotional/Mood Impact of Memory: – – State-Dependent Memory: information is most easily recalled when in same “state” of consciousness it was learned in. Mood Congruent Memory: tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood.

Forgetting • Forgetting is a result of either: 1. Encoding Failure 2. Storage Decay OR 3. Retrieval Failure

Forgetting As Storage Decay • Ebbinghaus’s study concluded that forgetting occurs rapidly at first and then levels off over time. His famous forgetting curve is below.

Forgetting As Interference – Proactive(forward acting) Interference • disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information – Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference • disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information

Self Quiz: Retroactive or Proactive? • Time Warner cable changes the channel numbers on your TV and you keep clicking the old channel numbers when trying to turn the channels instead of new ones.

Self Quiz: Retroactive or Proactive? • Get a new cell phone number and your old one keeps getting in the way of you remembering your new one.

Self Quiz: Retroactive or Proactive? • Teacher learning names of current students makes them forget the names of last years’ students.

Self Quiz: Retroactive or Proactive? • Keep putting in locker combination from last year when trying to open this year’s locker.

Self Quiz: Retroactive or Proactive? • You were an expert skier but after learning to snowboard, you have had trouble getting used to skiing again.

Self Quiz: Retroactive or Proactive? • Mom reorganizes kitchen and you look for a plate in the place it used to be.

Revisiting Terms: Retrieval Failure • Tip of the Tongue phenomenon: when we are certain we know something yet we are unable to recall it. • Relates to retrieval failure, usually priming or external cues will help you recall the information you are looking for.