4 th Edition Copyright 2004 Prentice Hall7-1 Memory Chapter 7.

Copyright 2004 Prentice Hall 7-1

4th Edition

Memory

Chapter 7


Initial Studies

• Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted the pioneering research on memory in the late 1800s.

• Ebbinghaus devised nonsense syllables, which he believed had no meaning attached to them, to study how associations between stimuli are formed.


Initial Studies

• Ebbinghaus devised nonsense syllables, which he believed had no meaning attached to them, to study how associations between stimuli are formed.


Initial Studies

• Through the use of serial learning, Ebbinghaus determined that much of what we learn is forgotten very shortly after a learning session.

• Other methods include paired-associate learning and free recall.


Initial Studies

• These basic methods were developed and expanded by incorporating additional tasks, such as the recognition test and the relearning test

• The savings score is produced by the relearning method.


Traditional Models of Memory

• Some investigators have drawn a parallel between the computer and human memory.



• Computers and human memory have (a) an input or encoding stage, (b) a storage process, and (c) a retrieval process.



• The stages-of-memory model of memory proposes that memories can be processed in different ways.

• There are three types of memory: sensory, short-term, and long-term.



• Sensory memory is a very brief (lasting one-half to 1 second) memory for a large array of stimuli.

• Short-term memory (STM) is more limited in capacity than sensory memory but lasts longer (10 to 20 seconds).

• Working memory is the second stage of short-term memory, during which attention and conscious effort are brought to bear on material.



• With practice or rehearsal, memories may persist even longer and ultimately be transferred to more permanent storage in long-term memory (LTM).



• Memories may not be retrievable from LTM because they have faded or because of interference by other memories.

• Proactive Interference occurs when old material interferes with the retrieval of material learned more recently.

• Retroactive interference occurs when recently learned material interferes with the retrieval of material learned earlier.


Other Approaches

• Craik and Lockhart proposed only one type of memory.

• The level of processing may determine the permanence of the storage of this memory.


Other Approaches

• Other researchers have proposed that there is more than one type of long-term memory.

• Four types have been identified: procedural, semantic, episodic, and priming or implicit memory.

• Each serves to store a different kind of information.


Other Approaches

• The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon has been used to study the network of semantic memories

• The study of flashbulb memories has provided information about episodic memory.


Other Approaches

• Research on the retrieval of memories has shown that we scan both STM and LTM to locate an item we wish to recall.


Other Approaches

• Encoding specificity has a great deal to do with the ease with which a memory is retrieved.

• If the cues that were present when a memory was encoded or stored are not present during retrieval, it is difficult to retrieve that memory.


Other Approaches

• Encoding specificity appears to be at work in state dependent learning, which states that we recall information


Other Approaches

• It has been suggested that memories of childhood sexual abuse may be repressed and recalled during adulthood.

• Many of these repressed memories appear to have been induced during therapy sessions by suggestions made by the therapist.


Other Approaches

• The number of sessions, distribution of practice, meaningfulness of items, similarity of items, and serial position of items influence human learning.


Other Approaches

• Our memory can be improved by using a mnemonic device such as imagery.

• The method of loci and the peg-word technique are two popular mnemonic devices.


Other Approaches

• Grouping and coding are two other techniques that can be used as memory aids.

• Acronyms, words formed by the first letter(s) of the items to be remembered, and acrostics, a verse or saying in which the first letter(s) of each word stands for a bit of information, are two popular forms of coding.


The Physiological Basis of Learning and Memory

• Physical trauma may result in a loss of memory known as amnesia.

• Anterograde amnesia occurs when new information cannot be stored, although old memories remain intact.

• Anterograde amnesia can result from damage to the hippocampus.


The Physiological Basis of Learning and Memory

• Retrograde amnesia occurs when memories for events that happened before the traumatic event are lost.

• Retrograde amnesia may occur when memories are not allowed to consolidate or set.

4 th Edition Copyright 2004 Prentice Hall7-1 Memory Chapter 7.

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Transcript of 4 th Edition Copyright 2004 Prentice Hall7-1 Memory Chapter 7.