Post on 22-May-2015
Chapter 6: Memory
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Memory
The process by which we encode, store, and retrieve information
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Encoding
Refers to the process by which information is initially recorded in a form usable to memory
Storage
The maintenance of material saved in the memory system
Retrieval
Material in memory storage is located, brought into awareness, and used
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
The Three Systems of Memory: Sensory Memory
The initial, momentary storage of information, lasting only an instant
Iconic memory– Reflects
information from our visual system
Echoic memory– Stores
auditory information coming from the ears
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
The Three Systems of Memory: Short-Term Memory
Memory store in which information first has meaning
May hold approximately 7 (plus or minus 2) chunks of information– A chunk is a meaningful
grouping of stimuli that can be stored as a unit in short-term memory
Holds information for approximately 15 to 20 seconds
PBSFOXCNNABCCBSMTVNBC
PBS
FOX
CNN
ABC
CBS
MTV
NBC
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
The Three Systems of Memory: Short-Term Memory
Rehearsal– The repetition of information
that has entered short-term memory
Elaborative rehearsal– Occurs when information is
considered and organized in some fashion resulting in a greater likelihood to be transferred into long-term memory
Mnemonics– Formal techniques for
organizing information in a way that makes it more likely to be remembered
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
The Three Systems of Memory: Long-Term Memory
A storehouse of almost unlimited capacity
Information in long-term memory is filed and coded so that we can retrieve it when we need it
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Contemporary Approaches To Memory
Working memory– View of short-term memory
as an active “workspace” in which information is retrieved and manipulated, and in which information is held through rehearsal
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Working Memory
Central Executive Processor
(coordinates material through reasoning and decision making)
Visual store
(visual & spatial information)
Verbal store
(speech, words, & numbers)
Episodic Buffer
(episodes and
occurance)
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Models of Memory
Associative model– Memory consists of mental
representations of clusters of interconnected information
Priming– Phenomenon in which
exposure to a word or concept later makes it easier to recall related information
Spreading activation– Activating one memory
triggers the activation of related memories
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Modules of Memory
Explicit memory– Intentional or conscious
recollection of information Implicit memory
– Memories of which people are not consciously aware, but which can affect subsequent performance and behavior
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Recalling Long-Term Memories
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon– Inability to recall information
that one realizes one knows - a result of the difficulty of retrieving information from long term memory
Retrieval clues– Stimulus that allows us to
recall more easily information that is located in long-term memory
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Recalling Long-Term Memories
Levels-of-processing theory– Emphasizes the degree to
which new material is mentally analyzed
– The depth of information processing during exposure to material (meaning the degree to which it is analyzed and considered) is critical, the greater the intensity of its initial processing, the more likely we are to remember it.
Explicit memory– Intentional or conscious recollection of information
Implicit memory– Memories in which people are not consciously aware but that can
affect subsequent performance and behavior.
Flashbulb memories– Memories around a specific, important, or surprising event that are
so vivid they represent a virtual snapshot of the event
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Constructive Process in Memory
Constructive process– Processes in which
memories are influenced by the meaning that we give to events
Schemas– Organized bodies of
information stored in memory that bias the way new information is interpreted, stored, and recalled
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Recalling Long-Term Memories
Memory in the courtroom– Repressed memory
– False memory Autobiographical memory
– Recollections of circumstances and episodes from our own lives
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Forgetting: Herman Ebbinghaus
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Forgetting: When Memory Fails
Decay– Loss of information through
nonuse
– Assumes that when new material is learned a memory trace appears (actual physical change in the brain
Interference– Information in memory
displaces or blocks out other information, preventing its recall
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Proactive Interference
Information learned earlier interferes with recall of newer material
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Retroactive Interference
Difficulty in recall of information because of later exposure to different material
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Biological Bases of Memory
Long-term potentiation– Certain neural pathways
become easily excited while a new response is being learned
Consolidation– Changes in the number of
synapses between neurons as the dendrites branch out to receive messages and memories become fixed and stable in long-term memory
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Memory Dysfunctions
Alzheimer’s disease– An illness that includes
among its symptoms severe memory problems
Korsakoff’s syndrome– A disease afflicting long-
term alcoholics
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Memory Dysfunctions
Amnesia– Memory loss that occurs
without other mental difficulties
Retrograde amnesia– Memory is lost for
occurrences prior to a certain event
Anterograde amnesia– Loss of memory occurs for
events following an injury