Memory 1

Memory 1

1. History

   • Aristotle - empirical obsv - associationism - memory = associations - 3 principles: contiguity, frequency, similarity
   • Early experimental psych - EBBINGHAUS STUDIED MEMORY EXPERIMENTALLY USING NON WORDS - VERBAL LEARNING APPROCH - LEARNING LISTS OF WORDS AND NON WORDS - STUDIED OBSERVABLE STIMULUS-RESPONSE ASSOCIATIONS - CRITICISM = NO CLEAR EXPLANATION OF CONSTRUCTION OF THEORIES
     • Gestalt psychology - Germany then North America - emphasis = active role of the learner/remeberer - internal representations as opposed to observed behaviour
       • Britain - Bartlett complex meaningful material - interpreted memory phenomena in terms of internal representations about the world/society (schemas) but how to study internal representations? Info processing approach - the computer analogy - let to development of cognitive psychology

2. Info processing approach to memory

   • Stages = encoding (entering info) storage (retain/consolidate memories) retrieval (recovering stored memories)
     • Cliver wearing - amnesia, can't learn new info, some preserved memory for facts or personal info, musical abilities remain in tact
   • Neurophysiological evidence support the idea that men is not a unitary entity but multiple memory systems are involved - Atkinson and shiffrin's 1968 modal model - input > sensory memory > attention > STM (working mem) control processes = rehearsal, coding, decision, retrieval strategies > LTM
     • Sensory memory - (iconic (visual) memory) - the perceptual system stores visual info for less than 1s - a static image is stored long enough by sensory (or iconic) memory to integrate it with the next resulting in the perception of motion - a principle that is used in motion pictures
       • Sperling - number of items available for report in visual memory - recall decreases when the delay is increased - a visual mask (e.g a bright flash of light) is interfering with the memory trace
         • Echoic (acoustic) memory - brief sensory memory of the auditory system that holds auditory info for a few seconds - 'what did you say' phenomenon (play back) - not all info from iconic or echoic memory will be passed onto the more stable short-term memory
     • Short term memory - more stable but limited in capacity - temp storage of small amounts - maintenance through rehearsal which in many cases can be verbal - severely limited in capacity - miller's magic 7/2
       • Is short term memory qualitatively different from LTM? most evidence suggest different store, but more recent experimental evidence suggests that LTM interacts with STM to allow maintenance of info
         • Working memory - concept closely related to STM - a mental workspace, linker to attention, that allows to 'keep things in mind' whilst performing complex tasks - STM = temp store, WM = manipulates info
           • when performing complex tasks, you don't just rely on storing info but you need a way to manipulate and update them - WM explains dynamic processes needed to explain complex cognitive functions such as understanding language, solving problems and making decision - the multicomponent model of WM by baddeley and hitch
             • multicomponent model of WM baddeley and hitch -
       • LTM - archive of info about past events in out lives - sketches from a few months to as far back as we can remember
         • LTM
         • Non-Declarative memory - long term memory for info that is reflected through performance rather than overt remembering - e.g motor skills like learning to ride a bike - priming = an unconscious tendency to recall a previously seen or related item
           • Amnesia - memory disorder that can have psycholigxal of physical causes - regardless of causes, amnesiacs typically have significant impairments in episodic encoding/retrieval - have difficulties forming new semantic memories - this suggests that semantic memories are normally formed by generalising info first encoded episodically - have a preserved ability to acquire and use implicit memories

3. Leanring

   • Learning and memory are interrelated - different kinds of learning lead to different kinds of memory - capacity to retrieve from memory depends on how we learned something
     • Ebbinghaus - scientific study of leaning and memory - tested only himself - nonsense syllables - avoided associations with real words - explored rate of learning and forgetting - result - learning linearly related to amount of study - practice makes perfect - applies not only to word leaning but also writing, music, chess etc
       • Distributed practice - distribute learning trials sparsely across a period of time - faster improvement rates of learning and less forgetting - caveats - distributed practice takes longer - not always practical or convenient - individuals feel less efficient
         • Simple repetition with no attempt to organise the material might not lead to learning - e.g drawing the back of a penny - especially if info is complex and not perceived as useful - memory and attention are very selective
           • The testing affect/generation affect - to showcase the importanttance of testing, they assigned 4 Dif groups to learn Swahili English pair words over the course of a week - g1 = word pairs repeated studied and tested - g2 = after successful recall, the word was not studied or tested further - g3 = after successful recall, the word was not tested (they continued to be studies - g4 = after successful recall, word was not studied, continued to be tested
             • G1 and g4 recalled 80% of words after delay - presence of tests important
               • Generation affect - shows that having to retrieved answer, rather than presenting it, leads to greater retention
                 • Spaced practice and testing - expanding retrieval method - 2 competing factors (spacing and generation effect) - spaced presentation enhances memory - successfully generating items strengthens memory than passive presentation
                   • Spaced study cycle test - a new item is initially tested after a short delay to ensure that it can be recalled - as the item becomes better learned, the practice test interval is gradually extended - each item should be tested at the longest interval at which is can be reliably recalled - receiving corrective feedback after test trials is beneficial

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