CHAPTER 7: MEMORY

CHAPTER 7: MEMORY

1. ENCODING

   • THE ROLE OF ATTENTION
     • attention is focusing your awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events
       • some psychologists think we have attention filters; for when something is too hard to understand (high cognitive load), or even when you're standing around talking to someone (low cognitive load)
     • cocktail party phenomenon-- shows that we can talk to one person in a room of other conversations but tune out everything unless we hear our own name
     • effortful processing-- intentionally listening to remember information
     • automatic processing-- remembering something without intending too
     • CRAIG AND LOCKHART'S LEVEL OF PROCESSING THEORY
       • the deeper level of processing (encoding) results in being able to remember something longer
       • 1. structural encoding-- shallow processing
         • ex: if the words flashed on the screen was small or was written in big letters
       • 2. phonemic encoding-- intermediate processing
         • saying the word aloud or silently
       • 3. semantic encoding-- deep processing
         • you learn the meaning of something so you don't have to think about it that much
   • ENRICHING ENCODING
     • This tells you the four things that you can do in order to get new information from STM to LTM
     • 1. Elaboration-- linking the to-be remembered information to some other information at the time of encoding
       • this is done with semantic encoding, it involves thinking about the stimuli you want to remember and associating that information with something you already know
     • 2. visual imagery-- creating a mental or actual picture to represent the information you want to remember
       • this is one of the most powerful tools, especially when colored
     • 3. Self- Referent Encoding-- involves deciding how or whether information is personally revelant
       • when words are flashed on a screen and people relate them to something
       • it provides elaboration and better organization of the information
     • 4. Other Sensory Imagery-- memory is also enhanced by using your 5 senses
       • writing something down multiple times to remember it, or puckering your lips because you remember the taste of a lemon
   • DUAL CODING THEORY
     • memory is enhanced by using two or more encoding strategies because it provides multiple pathways for retrieval

2. STORAGE

   • refers to how memory is maintained and retained in our brain
   • MULTI-STORES MODELS OF MEMORY
     • refer to memory storage as having multiple levels known as 'stores'. these levels each have different characteristics, depending on the type of information being processed and the length of time that the information needs to be retained
     • model of Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971)
     • 1. Sensory Memory-- the capacity to preserve sensory information in its original form for 1/4 of a second
       • Partial report (sperling)-- classic experiment on visual sensory store
       • much larger percent recalled, regardless of which row
       • tone cues participants which row to report; the tone comes after the array is gone
     • 2. Short-term memory (STM)-- limited capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to 20 seconds
       • the number of items that can be recalled from STM, in order, on half of the tested memory trials is 7 plus or minus 2
       • chunking and rehearsing information shows it is likely 4 plus or minus 1
       • chunking -- storage information into meaningful or familiar units
         • ex: chess players can recall meaningful arrangements of pieces on a board not random
       • Rehearsal -- repeating words over and over or thinking about the information
         • maintenance rehearsal -- just done to keep it in your memory (phone number)
         • elaborative rehearsal -- think more about it so you are more likely to remember it later
     • 3. Long term memory (LTM)-- unlimited capacity store that can hold information for days, weeks or years which can be permanent
       • flashbulb memories-- vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events and research shows that they may not be permanent and accurate
         • rather like memories, they become less detailed and accurate with time; but they are special because people are influenced by emotion and are more attached to these memories
   • HOW IS KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTED AND ORGANIZED IN MEMORY
     • Cluster-- remembering similar items in groups
     • conceptual hierarchies-- multilevel classification system
     • schemas -- an organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event which we understand from previous experience
     • semantic networks-- nodes represent concepts and are joined to related concepts
     • connectionist networks and PDP models -- cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation; like neural networks

3. FORGETTING

   • MEASURES OF FORGETTING/RETENTION
     • to measure forgetting, a researcher is also measuring retention or remembering
       • retention is the proportion of material retained or rememebered
       • retention interval is the length of time between when the subject is given the materials to remember and the time foretting is measured
     • 3 principle methods of measuring forgetting and retention: recall, recongition, relearning
       • 1. recall -- requires the subjects to reproduce information on their own without any cues (mayor of LLB?)
       • 2. recognition-- requires the subject to selct previously learned information from a number of options (MC questions)
         • recognition tests yield higher scores than recall tests on the same materials, however, there is no guarentee that the recognition test will be easier
       • 3. relearning -- requires a subject to memorize information a second time to determine how mucj time or effort is saved by having learned it before
   • WHY WE FORGET
     • problem with encoding, storage or retrieval
     • 1. Ineffective Coding -- People may think they have forgotten something but it wasn't remember in the first place, it just hasn't been encoded. This is called pseudoforgetting and it happens usually because a lack of attention.
       • ex: is the loon on the coin facing left or right?
       • We forget sometimes, because the encoding is done ineffectively.
     • 2. Decay -- This has to do with storage. The decay theory propses that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time, so we forget because of the time that passes.
       • A person can forget over time because of the sensory memory and their STM.
     • 3. Interference -- If the subject has to try to remember something, but also has to remember some other information that goes with it, and the new information then interferes with remembering the original information.
       • In other words, people forget information because of competition from other material, usually in LTM.
       • Retroactive Interference-- occurs when new information interferes with the information one has already learned
       • Proactive Interference-- occurs when information that one has already learned prevents the person from remembering the new information
     • 4. Retrieval Failure -- Retrieval failure is shown when we remember something later that we couldn't think of something earlier. It is more likely to happen when there is a mismatch between the way we encoded the material and the retrieval cue
       • The value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code. A good retrieval cue matches the encoding.
       • Transfer- appropriate Processing -- process of encoding and process stimulated by the measure of retention also needs to match for the best recall.
     • 5. Motivated Forgetting -- Comes from Frued's ideas and refers to forgetting things you don't want to think about. Freud had called this repression which referred to keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconcious.
       • Repressed Memories--People under hypnosis are easily suggestible and may come to believe things that are true and are only suggested to them by the hypontherapist.
         • Hypnotic Pseudomemory-- Memories were implanted in people under hypnosis and found that they were highly susceptible to hypnosis, they were likely to report the implanted memories as true.

4. MEMORY

   • memory involves several important processes
     • 1. encoding-- how memories are formed
     • 2. storage-- how memories are kept over time
     • 3. retrieval-- how memories are recovered and translated into performance
   • a persons memory can be changed overtime when they talk to people about the said event
     • also because different parts of the memory are stored in different parts of your brain
   • THE PHYSIOLOGY OF MEMORY
     • specific memories rely on the increase or decrease in the release of neurotransmitters at certain synapses; Eric Kandel and colleagues
     • history of the study of memory by Wilder Penfield and James McConnell
     • James McGaugh-- hormones influence memory storage by affecting neurotransmitter activity
     • adequate protein synthesis is necessary to form memories and demonstrate that drugs interfere with the protein synthesis
     • NEURAL CIRCUITS
       • Specific memories may depend on the localized neural circuits in the brain
       • not all memory paths go to the cerebellum but rather to various parts that may be mapped out for specific memories
       • Long term Potentiation (LTP)-- the long lasting increase in neural excitability at synapses along a specific neural pathway
         • natural events may also increase neural pathway excitability
         • memory formation may allow for new dendrites to grow along these pathways
     • THE ANATOMY OF MEMORY
       • Organic amnesia-- extensive memory loss due to head injury
         • 1. Retrograde Amnesia-- loss of memories for events that occurred before the injury or onset of amnesia
           • a person has an accidents and they cannot remember what happened three years prior to the incident
         • 2. Anterograde Amnesia-- loss of memories for events that occur after the onset of amnesia
           • a person is severely injured and cannot remember the people he meets after the fight but remembers his family before the fight happened
   • SYSTEMS AND TYPES OF MEMORY
     • Implicit memory-- remembering something that you did not intend to memorize
       • amnesiacs shown words they would not remember after words but will fill the blanks with what comes to mind, and they will choose something from the previous list like normal people do
     • explicit memory-- intentionally remembering something
       • may be handled by different memory systems but not all the memory is affected by amnesia, age, alcohol..etc
     • Declarative memory system-- handles factual information like definitions of words, math concepts, faces, dates..
       • handled by the medial temporal lobe and parts of the cortex it communicates with
       • semantic-- general facts
       • episodic -- personal facts and experience
       • prospective memory-- refers to recalling something you must do in the future
       • retrospective memory-- refers to remembering the past events or facts
     • procedural memory system -- memory for actions, skills and conditioned responses (typing, riding a bike..)
       • this may be related to implicit memory; and the cerebellum and amygdala are likely to be involved
   • IMPROVING MEMORY
     • Mneumonic System-- methods to increase the recall of information
       • uses information already in long term memory
       • organizes the information
       • what we learn fits in already with what we know
       • it makes information easier to understand, and more detailed; which makes it easier to recall
     • overlearning-- continuing to rehearse and learn information you think you already know
     • serial-position effect -- its easy to learn the things at the beginning and end of lists so change the difficult information to the beginning
     • disturbed practice-- don't try to remember everything at once; don't cram
     • acrostics-- first letter of words in a sentence to remember (HOMES-- great lakes)
     • acronyms-- you make up a word from the first letter of information you need to remember (ROY G BIV)
     • narrative methods-- make a story or song
     • rhymes-- thirty days hath september
     • keyword method-- when you have to remember a name or foreign word, relate it to a concrete word that can be pictured
     • Method of Loci-- invented by the greeks when they wrote on clay to remember poems and long speeches; associated items were remembered by specific locations

5. RETRIVAL: GETTING INFORMATION OUT OF MEMORY

   • Tip of the tongue phenomenon-- temporarily inable to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that is just out of reach
   • memories can often be jogged with retrieval cues; one type is called context cues which is reinstating the context such as crime stoppers
   • Encoding specificity principle -- various pieces of information stored at the same time or in the same type of situation, mood, place
   • Reconstructing memories and the misinformation effect -- subjects who read a story twice and rewrote it left out boring details and added things that were not in the story, likely what fit their schema
   • Elizabeth Loftus' studied that the misinformation effect has 3 part
     • 1. subject's view an event
     • 2. subjects are exposed to information about the event, some of which is misleading
     • 3. subjects are later tested on what they remember about the original event
   • source monitoring -- refers to making decisions about the origins of memory
     • it is not necessarily encoded at the time we heard the information and can make source monitoring errors
   • reality monitoring -- to whom did i tell that to
     • memory from internal and external forces
     • we are more likely to believe something happened if:
       • 1. the memory is rich in sensory information
       • 2. if you have contextual information

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