Learning Objectives Memory 1 2 3 4 5

Learning Objectives: Memory 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. What is memory? Why is it so susceptible to errors? What are source misattribution and flashbulb memories? What are the 3 circumstances under which confabulation is likely to take place? What can cause errors in eyewitness testimony? What is the difference between recognition and recall? Implicit and explicit memory? What is the Three-Box model of memory? What are the 3 boxes in the “three-box model” of memory?

chapter 8 Memory is the capacity to retain and retrieve information. Memory is not a library, recorder, or camera íIt is selective and reconstructive • we don’t remember EVERYTHING • we remember new information in the context of information we already know

chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors Source misattribution Fading Flashbulb Confabulation Power of Suggestion

chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors Source misattribution The inability to distinguish what you originally experienced from what you heard or were told later about an event

Flashbulb Memories • Some unusual, shocking, or tragic events hold a special place in memory. - typically hold an amazing amount of photographic detail 6 categories of information 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Location Ongoing Events The informant Emotional Effects in others Emotional Effects in self Aftermath/Consequentiality

chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors The Fading Flashbulb Even such vivid memories tend to fade over time and become mixed with a little fiction or affected by source misattribution Over time even flashbulb memories will contain just as many inconsistencies as everyday memories.

chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors Confabulation Confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you, or. . . A belief that you remember something when it never actually happened Conditions of Confabulation is most likely when: 1. You have thought or heard about the event many times. 2. The image of the event contains many details. 3. The event is easy to imagine

chapter 8 Reconstruction of Memories: Possible Errors The Power of Suggestion: Eyewitnesses are not always reliable Factors influencing eyewitness accuracy: 1. Cross race identification 2. Question wording (e. g. , “crashed” vs “hit”) 3. Misleading information

chapter 8 Children’s testimony Under what conditions are children more suggestible? 1. When they are very young 2. When interviewers’ expectations are clear 3. When other children’s memories for events are accessible

chapter 8 Explicit memory Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or item of information. How to measure explicit memory: Recall: The ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously learned material Recognition: The ability to identify previously encountered material

chapter 8 Implicit memory Unconscious retention in memory, as evidenced by the effect of a previous experience or previously encountered information on current thoughts or actions. How to measure: Relearning Compares the time required to relearn material with the time used in the initial learning of the material. Priming A person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects performance on another type of task - word-stem completion

Models of Memory • Information-Processing Models • Mind likened to a computer • Encode, storage, retrieval • Three-Box Model of Memory • Sensory Registry • Short-Term Memory • Long-Term Memory

chapter 8 Three-box model of memory

Last Class in Review • Memory • Retaining and retrieving information • Selective and reconstructive • Reconstructive = susceptible to errors – – Source misattribution Fading Flashbulb (flashbulb memories) Confabulation Power of Suggestion (eyewitness testimony) • Explicit Memory – Recall – Recognition • Implicit Memory – Priming – Relearning • Three-Box Model of Memory

Learning Objectives: Memory 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. What are the 3 boxes in the three-box model of memory? What is the sensory register? What are the capacity limits of short-term memory? What is chunking and how does it help overcome these capacity limits? How is long-term memory organized? What are semantic categories? What are the differences in procedural, declarative, semantic, and episodic memories? What are the primacy and recency effects? What are some effective strategies for encoding information in storage for long-term memory? How do decay, replacement, and interference each contribute to forgetting? What evidence is there both for and against the existence and accuracy of repressed memories? What are 4 explanations of childhood amnesia? What are some techniques that can help you better retain the information that your study?

chapter 8 Three-box model of memory

chapter 8 Sensory Registry • Fleeting, Brief, Holding Bin • Large Capacity • “Holding bin” for sensory information • Sensory subsystems • Extremely accurate and detailed images from senses • Brief retention of images • 0. 5 seconds visual sensory images • 2 seconds auditory sensations • Prevents “double exposures” • If it does not go into STM, it is FORGOTTEN

chapter 8 Short-term memory (STM) • “Scratch Pad” for new memories OR “Working memory” on a computer • Temporary • 30 seconds to a few minutes • Information actively “in use” • Limited capacity • Encoded sensory image • Chunking – allows us to remember the beginning of a sentence or a long string of numbers « 7+2 • Remember H. M. ?

chapter 8 The value of chunking X IBM CIA FBI CBS MTV See how much easier it was to remember 6 chunks of information vs. 16 individual letters Chunking – allows us to remember the beginning of a sentence or a long string of numbers, by grouping them together into meaningful units

chapter 8 Short-term memory (STM) Working memory A memory system which includes STM and mental processes that control retrieval of information from long-term memory (LTM) and interpret that information appropriately for a given task 1. 2. 3. • Short-term Memory Rehearsal and Retrieval of info from LTM Interpretation of info from LTM for task at hand Remember H. M. ?

chapter 8 Long-term memory The memory system involved in the long-term storage of information • Helps us LEARN about ourselves and the environment • No real limits • How is information in LTM organized? • • • Semantic categories Sound and form (tip-of-the-tongue) Familiarity Relevance Association with other information

chapter 8 Long-term memory Other types of conceptual maps: Slide Trays Shower APA Store Party San Diego

chapter 8 Long-term memory The memory system involved in the long-term storage of information • Helps us LEARN about ourselves and the environment • No real limits • Semantic categories • Organizing words (or their concepts) into groups or clusters corresponding to semantics (meaning)

chapter 8 Conceptual grid

chapter 8 Long-term memory Other types of conceptual maps: Slide Trays Shower APA Store Party San Diego

chapter 8 Types of long-term memories

Types of Long-Term Memory • Procedural Memories– “knowing how” – Once learned they are implicit – Actions or skills • Declarative Memories – “knowing that” – Explicit – Facts, rules, concepts, events 1. Semantic Memories • Internal representations of the world – Rules, facts, concepts 2. Episodic Memories • Internal representations of experienced events - Your first date with your significant other How your dog tore up the back door What is the definition of Classical Conditioning?

chapter 8 Your turn What kind of memory is your memory for the fact that the earth is round? 1. 2. 3. 4. Procedural memory Semantic memory Episodic memory Flashbulb memory

chapter 8 Serial-position effect The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list

chapter 8 Serial-position effect The tendency for recall of first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list AGCTYH 123 UVBMQ 45 PIAFDC 98 WRIL Primacy Effect STM empty = easier to transfer to LTM Hardest to remember STM crowded making it difficult to make into LTM Recency Effect Still in STM at time of recall

chapter 8 Your turn You are asked to recall the following list of letters: Z, S, E, R, F, V, B, H, U, I, K, M, N, G, B, F, O Which letters are you most likely to remember in longterm memory? 1. 2. 3. 4. Z, S, E, R F, V, B, H U, I, K, M G, B, F, O

How do we remember? STM LTM • Encoding helps us remember – extracting the main points and summarizing them – Effortful encoding • Select main points • Label concepts • Associate information with personal experience

How do we encode memories? STM LTM • Rehearsal • Mnemonics

chapter 8 Rehearsal A technique for keeping information in STM and helping it move along to LTM Types of Rehearsal: • Maintenance rehearsal: rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory • Elaborative rehearsal: association of new information with already stored knowledge and analysis of the new information to make it memorable – the processing of meaning, rather than simply the physical or sensory features of a stimulus – Prolongs retention of information

chapter 8 Mnemonics (neh-MON-ics) Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such as use of a verse or a formula STM LTM Helps retain and retrieve information But may not help you understand it 1. 2. 3. Acronyms Rhymes and Catch Phrases Method of Loci

chapter 8 Mnemonics - Examples 1. 2. Acronyms • Kids • Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species Every Good Boy Does Fine Notes on a treble clef Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach Rhymes and Catch Phrases • • • 3. Prefer I before E, except after C Thirty days hath November, April, June, and September. Of twenty-eight is but one And all the remnant thirty-one A, B, C…. next time won’t you sing with me Method of Loci – Mentally positioning things to remember in a well-known room

chapter 8 Method of Loci Candles Soda Cake Balloons Soda Cake Chips Candles

Why can’t I remember? !? 1. Decay – Information in memory eventually disappears if it is not accessed • 2. Applies more to short-term than long-term memory Replacement – 3. New information replaces old information Interference – Similar items interfere with one another. 4. Cue-Dependent Forgetting – Inability to retrieve information stored in memory due to insufficient recall cues 5. Amnesia – – – The loss of memory for important personal information Brain injury, disease, psychological (psychogenic amnesia) Repression: the involuntary pushing of a threatening or upsetting information into the unconscious

chapter 8 Interference Retroactive interference: recently learned material interferes with previously stored information New Old Retroactive interference French Spanish Learned first Learned second Proactive interference: previously stored material interferes with remembering recently learned material Old New Old Phone Number New Phone Number Learned first Learned second

chapter 8 When should we question recovered memories? • If a person claims memories of first year or two of life • If over time the memories become more and more implausible • If therapist used suggestive techniques such as hypnosis, dream analysis, age regression, guided imagery, or leading questions

chapter 8 What is your earliest memory? Write down one of the first/earliest events you can clearly remember in your life. Try to make sure that it isn’t subject to source misattribution or confabulation. How old were you? - for most it won’t be before your 3 rd or 4 th birthday Why don’t you remember something from earlier in life?

chapter 8 Childhood amnesia The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first two or three years of life Cognitive explanations: 1. 2. 3. 4. Lack of sense of self Impoverished encoding A focus on the routine Different ways of thinking about the world

What is happening in the brain? • Stem cells and Neurogenesis – Fred Gage, Salk Institute – Stem cells: unspecialized (immature) cells that retain the ability to divide and mature into specific cell types – Neurogenesis: The process by which new nerve cells are generated – In response to experience stem cells divide and mature • Environmental enrichment enhances neurogenesis • Exercise – “use it or lose it” • Long-term potentiation (LTP) – Physical change in the structure of the neuron – Proposed neural mechanism by which STM LTM