Intro to Memory• Memory is the process by which we

recollect prior experiences and information and skills learned in the past

• Basically have 3 stages, encoding, storage and retrieval

Encoding• Begin with two types of processing, automatic and

effortful• Automatic processing- encoding info without

effort. Ever remember a song you wish you could forget?

• Effortful- must take time and effort to encode info. Need to rehearse it– The more you rehearse, the more effective your

memory will be

Rehearsal

• Is the conscious repetition of information

• According to research, is the most important processing strategy

• Studies indicate, the more you rehearse the more you retain

Overlearning• Continuing to rehearse info even after you

think you have memorized it

• You need to keep rehearsing info even if you think you have studied enough

Serial Position Effect• Primacy effect- remember best what you

study first because you have time to rehearse it

• Recency effect- remember what you studied last because it is freshest in your head

• So to study, you should mix up the order of the stuff you study

Spacing of rehearsal• Distributed practice works better than mass

practice

• In other words, cramming is a bad strategy, especially if you actually want to remember any of it, say for a final

OMG! Only 4 hours ‘til

daylight

Encoding meaning• Can use acoustic encoding- encode using sound • Visual encoding- obviously by sight. Where was

the info on the page?• Best? Semantic encoding- encode by finding

meaning• Why it works best to try to find a way to apply the

info you are studying to your everyday life

It was on the right side under

the picture

Mnemonic Devices• A way to apply meaning to what you have studied

• Can use acrostics and acronyms like ROYGBIV and Every Good Boy Does Fine

• Also use method of loci- assign info to a specific place. Like imagine your grocery list in each room of your house

• Also use peg-word system. Use a # rhyming list to remember items

Peg-word system• One is bun• Two is shoe• three is tree• Four is door• Five is hive• Six is sticks• Seven is heaven• Eight is gate• Nine in lie• Ten in hen

Organizing information

• Having information organized first, leads to better encoding

• Can organize in meaningful units, called chunks, and is known as chunking

• Can also organize in a hierarchy (I.e. notes)

Storage• Maintenance of encoded information for a

period of time

• First pass through sensory memory

Stage 1-Sensory memory• The immediate, initial recording of info that

passes through our senses

• Lasts only a fraction of a second

• Memory of sounds lasts longer than memory of sight- repeating things out loud helps you remember

Stage 2-Short-term memory• Called working memory

• When you hear a phone number and want to remember it, you put it in short-term memory

• Info here fades after a few seconds, must rehearse or repeat it if you want it to stay

Rehearsal

• Can store thru maintenance rehearsal which is basically repeating it over and over

• Or…

555-7234

555-7234

555-7234

555-7234

Elaborative rehearsal• Make information more meaningful by

relating it to other info

• In English class they make you use words in a sentence and not just write definition

The ________ is fat and brown.Cat

Stage 3-Long-term memory• Short-term memory acts as a bridge between

sensory and long-term memory• To make info stay in long term memory, you must

take steps to store it there• There is no limit to the amount of info stored in

long-term memory• Only limit is the attention we pay to things

Sensory memory

Long term memory

Videotape?• No, your brain is not like a videotape• You do not record in perfect detail every part of

your life and then get to recall it in that perfect detail

• Remember, most times you have to pay attention to remember something

• However, you do have flashbulb memories, a vivid memory of an emotionally significant event

Your brain and memory• Long-term potentiation- when you form an

additional receptor site on a neuron• Now you have two connections when you

used to have one• You now have an additional way to access

the information stored there• So in the future its easier for those neurons

to fire again

Explicit memory• memories of information and events

– episodic memory or specific events in your life

– It also includes generic memories like George Washington was the first president or the alphabet

• Stored in the hippocampus

Implicit memory• procedural memories-how to do things

– like how to ride a bike or how to hit a baseball

• Stored in the cerebellum

(So the day you learned to ride a bike is an episodic memory but the actual muscle memory to ride one is procedural)

Don’t let go Dad!

Retrieval• Recall- remember without cues like an essay test

• Recognition- remember with help like a multiple choice test

• Context-dependent memory- remember better when in a similar environment to where you encoded the info the first time– So you should study in an environment similar to the one you will taking

the test in

• State dependent memory- are able to retrieve information better when you are in the same physical or emotional sates as when you encoded the information (i.e. caffeine)

Wow, too bad my teacher won’t let me

test this way!

Forgetting• Can forget for various reasons

• Can forget because of encoding, storage, or retrieval failure (coin example)

• Also interference can cause memories to leave short-term memory

• Either repression or amnesia can affect long-term memory

Encoding failure• Don’t encode it because we weren’t paying

attention

• Then you want to remember and find out it was never there because you never actually encoded it

Storage failure• Studies show you forget a lot quickly but

then levels off

• You do have some memories in permastore memory that are very resistant to forgetting even if sometimes you wish you could

Retrieval failure• Most of where our forgetting happens

• It really is there but you can’t get to it

• Might be due to interference

Interference• When 1 memory gets in the way of another

• Proactive interference- When old disrupts new. You remember your old TV channels when you change providers

• Retroactive- when new disrupts old. Can’t remember old phone number when you get a new phone

Was it 555-9098 or 555-9890?

Motivated forgetting• Forgetting can provided protection from anxiety

or distress• “Forgetting” things that are painful or traumatic

Freud called this repression• Repression isn’t actually forgetting, it is pushing

these memories into the unconscious• It is a defense mechanism to protect us from

recalling anxiety causing memories• Very controversial when you get into repressed

memory about sexual abuse when young• And most studies indicate this is just not true

Amnesia• Infantile amnesia- cannot remember before

age 3

• Anterograde amnesia- cannot form new memories after brain trauma

• Retrograde amnesia- cannot remember what happened before the trauma

• Not as common and usually not as dramatic as on TV/movies

Misinformation effect• Distortion of a memory by misleading post-event

information• If a memory is constructed, then info given after

the event may shape the construction process• Ex. Car accident test. “How fast were they going

when they (crashed, hit, bumped into) each other?