Introduction to Psychology

Memory

Memory

System for receiving, encoding, storing, organizing, altering, and receiving information

Memory Encoding: converting information

into a form in which it can be retained

Storage: holding information for later use

Retrieval: recovering information from storage in memory

Sensory Memory

1st stage of memory

Exact record: a few seconds or less

Icon: exact mental picture for .5 seconds

Echo: exact continuation of what you heard; 2 seconds

Short Term Memory Holds small amounts of

information for a brief time

Through images or by sound

Temporary storehouse

Sensitive to interference/interruption

Information “Bits”

STM:

We can remember 7 “bits” on average

Working Memory: in STM

Briefly holds information while other mental processes happen

Mental “scratchpad”

Chunking

Easier to remember information in meaningful “chunks”

IBMNYCPSU vs. IBM NYC PSU

Rehearsal

STM lasts a very short time, unless rehearsed

Maintenance rehearsal: repeating

Elaborative rehearsal: linking new info with preexisting knowledge

Long Term Memory

Meaningful information Nearly limitless

Research: the more info in LTM, the easier it is to add new info

Long Term Memory

Stored by meaning, not sound

To answer questions, info is transferred from LTM to STM

Types of LTM

Procedural Memory

Declarative Memory

Semantic Memory

Episodic Memory

Procedural Memory

Memory for how to perform skills

Actions/conditioned responses

Driving; riding a bike

Declarative Memory

Stores factual information Names, faces, words, dates, ideas

People with amnesia may lose this type of memory

Semantic Memory

Basic factual information Resistant to forgetting

Days of the week Names of the months

Episodic Memory

Autobiographical memory

Our personal stories

Allows us to revisit these memories

Memory Tasks

Recall: direct retrieval of facts/info Essay test

Recognition: correctly identifying information Multiple choice test

Relearning

Relearning information you previously knew

We pick it up faster

Exceptional Memory Due to training/practice:

remembering long numbers

Born with the skill, or developed through strategies

Specialized interests/natural ability: Zip code man

Why do we forget?

Encoding failure: never learned the details in the first place

Decay: over time, we lose information; “use or lose”

State dependent hypothesis

“Same state” learning

Some support in the research Environmental “triggers”

Repression vs. Suppression

Repression: motivated forgetting; unconscious

Suppression: consciously avoiding a memory

Dissociative Fugue

Following a trauma

Amnesia regarding our identity

Assuming a new identity

Bartlett: Constructivist View

Memories are not a mirror of reality

We reconstruct information

Radical transformation Schema theory We condense/add/integrate

information

Memory reconstruction

Revising memory to enhance self-image: Remember good grades, not bad ones

“Memories are colored by emotions, judgments, and what is personally meaningful” (Schacter, 1996).

False Memories

Source memory

Development of “false memories” or “pseudo memories”

Loftus: False Memory Research

“Misinformation Effect”: when we witness an event and are later exposed to new/misleading information about it, our recollections become distorted

Loftus: False Memory Research

“Lost in the Mall” study

Imagination Inflation

How do false memories form?

Another corroborates your account

Applying pressure

Encouraging imagination/uncritical acceptance

Implications

Avoid powerful suggestions/applying pressure

Avoiding leading questions Warn people about misinformation

effects Avoid aggressive interrogation

efforts