Theories of Memory

Theories of Memory

1. Information Processing Model

   • Encoding
     • Encoding is the process of taking in information. Encoding is the most important aspect of memory. 
   • Storage
     • Keeping information taken in somewhere
   • retrieval
     • retrieving information

2. Richard Atkinson's Theory

   • sensory memory
     • senses keep information
   • Short term memory
     • short term memory is the working kind of memory and is limited in many ways. STM has room and can handle 5-9 pieces of information. STM is limited to the length of time that you can hold onto these pieces of information, unless you repeat the information. Every time you repeat information it is like resetting the clock. EX: talking to a friend on the phone and they give you a phone number. you try to find a paper to write down the number, so you repeat the numbers to try and remember. 
   • Long Term Memory
     • Long term memory is limited in the length of time. Information is not lost and stays forever. LTM is like a huge filing cabinet, index cards of new memories are thrown in and the older memories get buried. You must keep information organized so you can access it later. 

3. Endel Tulring's Theory

   • episodic memory
     • LTM. when you remember something and you remember circumstances under which.  *when we first learn something, it is episodic.EX: remembering graduation. you have a mental image and a complete scene about that event.
   • Semantic Memory
     • LTM. remember information but not the circumstances. 

4. Forgetting

   • Interference theory
     • Retroactive
       • we cannot remember old information because there is new information in the way.
     • Proactive
       • cannot remember new information because old information is in the way.
   • Motivated forgetting
     • Ex: trying to forget a tragic or emotional event
   • Amnesias
     • When someone cannot remember something like their mother's name.  Ex: people in a car accident forget things that happened right before the accident.
     • Anterograde amnesia
       • if people cannot remember what happened AFTER the accident. 
     • Retrograde amnesia
       • If people cannot remember what happened BEFORE an accident.

5. Memory Characteristics

   • Recall and recognition tests
     • recall: ask people to tell you how much they remember about a topic. Recognition: better than recall. People perform better on recognition tasks than recall.
   • Primacy and Recency Effects
     • We have a tendancy to remember things we learned in the beginning and end.  Primacy: beginning Recency: end
   • Reconstructive nature of memory
     • deals with how info is stored in long term memory.