Memory

1. Memory Information Processing Mod 20

2. Three Stages Involved in the Memory Process 1. Encoding 3. Retrieval 2. S t o r a g e Environmental Stimuli Bring Memories back Short- term Memory Sensory Storage Long- term Memory Discard Forget

3. What do we Forget Most Often? (21-1) • Names 83% • Where you put things (e.g. keys) 60% • Telephone numbers just checked 57% • Specific words 53% • Not recalling that you had already told something to someone 49% • Forgetting what people had told you 49% • Faces 42% • Directions 41% • Forgetting what you started to do 41% • Forgetting what you were saying 41% • Remembering what you have done (e.g., turning off the stove) 38% Gordon, B. (1995). Memory: Remembering and forgetting in everyday life. New York: Mastermedia Limited. Reprinted by permission.

4. Stages of Memory • The environment is loaded with stimuli. • Our senses are constantly bombarded with information. • Short term memory lasts about 20 seconds • Long term memory is all learned material, can last for lifetime.

5. The Seven Dwarfs Exercise *Exercise 21-1 • Take out a piece of paper and (without looking at anyone else’s paper) name the seven dwarfs from Snow White.

6. Was your memory fuzzy?

7. The Seven Dwarfs • How difficult or easy was the task? • As you can see, memory is information processing. • Did you experience the tip-or-the-tongue phenomenon? • Would it help to ask you how many syllables it has? What letter does it begin with? What meaning does it have? • Did your recall have a pattern?

8. Short Term and Long Term Memory • STM is transient memory seems to have a capacity of seven pieces of information, plus or minus two—the same as the number of dwarfs Through the use of chunking or other organizing schemata, the actual number of items recalled can be greater than five to nine • LTM can hold information for a greater time—hours, days, years.

9. Dwarfs • Copy this list: Grouchy, Gabby, Fearful, Sleepy, Smiley, Jumpy, Hopeful, Shy, Droopy, Dopey, Sniffy, Wishful, Puffy, Dumpy, Sneezy, Lazy, Pop, Grumpy, Bashful, Cheerful, Teach, Shorty, Nifty, Happy, Doc, Wheezy, and Stubby.

10. Dwarfs • Circle the correct dwarf names, cross out the ones you know are incorrect, and leave the others alone. • Is this easier? • Why? • What type of memory were you using this time?

11. Short Term and Long Term Memory • The original task was a test of recall from LTM. • Now, if you have been following the discussion, the names should be in STM. • Turn your sheet over and recall the names of the seven dwarfs. • Theoretically, everyone should be able to name them all.

12. Dwarf Memory - Mnemonics • Keeping track of all seven dwarfs is actually quite simple once you have mastered this simple mnemonic device: two S’s, two D’s, and three emotions.

13. Dwarf Memory - Mnemonics • Two S’s: Sleepy and Sneezy; two D’s: Dopey and Doc; and three emotions: Happy, Bashful, and Grumpy. • Why would this information help you?

14. Information-Processing Model of Memory • Forgetting can occur from any memory stage • Retrieval puts information from LTM into STM • Moving information from Sensory memory to STM requires attention • Moving information from STM to LTM requires proper encoding

15. Encoding • Automatic Processing – done with little effort, includes information about space, time, and frequency. • Effortful Processing – requires attention and conscious effort. • Rehearsal – conscious repetition of information to remember it for short or long term.

16. Encoding What works? First we must get the information into our memory. *Handout 18-2 Follow the directions at the top of the page, and rate each of the sentences as I read them to you.

17. Encoding – Meaning and Memory Does knowing the context make remembering something easier? Therefore, if you understood something discussed in a class, are you more likely to recall it? Try this exercise, and we’ll see for ourselves. *Exercise 21 - A

18. Encoding – Meaning and Memory • http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 Article on the importance of taking tests in learning and remembering.

19. Sensory Memory • Visual sensory memory (iconic) • Fleeting photographic memory • Lasts a few tenths of a second • Auditory sensory memory (echoic) • Auditory sensory images • Lasts for 1-2 seconds • Ex: Repeating accurately after friend asks if you are listening, even if you really weren’t. • Ex: Seeing a number, letter, or sign and having recall for a few 10ths of a second.

20. Short Term Memory (STM) • Limited capacity -- 7 plus or minus 2 chunking Chunk: a meaningful unit Examples: • A single letter (S) • A group of letters (FBI) • A group of words (Four score and seven years ago) • Duration of 20-30 sec. due to limited capacity & interference • Also called “working memory”

21. Short Term Memory (STM) • STM is limited • We can immediately recall roughly 7 items of information (Magic #7 plus or minus 2) *Exercise 21 – B • Take out a clean sheet of paper. • I will be reading a series of unrelated digits. • After I complete each series, write down as many digits as you can recall in the correct order • Each series will begin with the word “ready” and end with the word “recall” • What have you learned?

22. Chunking How many of these can you remember? IB MF BI US AC IA 816 44 93 62 51 69 41 • Why is this difficult?

23. Chunking When regrouped into meaningful units, how many can you remember? IBM FBI USA CIA 9 x 9 = 8 x 8 = 7 x 7 = 6 x 6 = etc. • Why did this just get easier?

24. Long Term Memory (LTM) • Huge capacity • Potentially long duration (decades) • Organized by meaning • Procedural Memory:Memory for motor skills learned through practice • Declarative Memory:Memory for facts & personal experiences

25. The Nature of Memory • Prior Knowledge - The ability to learn and remember new material is enhanced by what we already know. • Attending - We must focus our attention on information we want to know. • The relationship between learning and memory involves the passage of time.

26. The Nature of Memory • Influences - Prior and subsequent knowledge, stereotypes, emotions, and meaningfulness influence what we remember. • Mnemonics - improve memory because they utilize attention, organization, meaningfulness, and chunking.

27. Prior Knowledge • The ability to acquire material is greatly influenced by what we already know. • You can read familiar material much more quickly and easily than an unfamiliar topic.

28. Factors Affecting Retrieval • Serial Position • Environmental Context • State-Dependence • Stress and Anxiety

29. The Serial-Position Effect • Subjects memorized lists of words • Recall immediate (yellow line) or delayed (green line) • Primacy: Good recall of first items on list • Recency: Good recall for last items

30. Interference and Forgetting

31. Interference • Proactive – prior learning interferes with remembering new information • Retroactive – new learning interferes with remembering old information If you study psychology and then go to sleep, you will remember more of it than if you went on to do some- thing else after studying.

32. Stereotypes and Prejudice • People may recall something that never occurred. • Beliefs about what must have happened bias recalled events. • Memory can be distorted by our stereotypes.

33. Attention • If you don’t pay attention, you won’t acquire information. • We tend to pay attention when we are interested in the subject. • The “penny exercise” is an example of how we learn only when we pay attention.

34. Repression – Motivated forgetting • Highly emotional events can be withheld from our awareness (unconscious). • Mood can serve as a retrieval cue (making the unconscious, conscious).

35. Misinformation and Imagination Effects • Our memories about an event fade. • We become more open to misinformation. • We undergo some reconstruction of the memory. • We believe the new memory to be correct when it is not. Examples: remembering the wrong name for someone you knew, the order of events during an accident, the way the policemen who gave you the ticket looks.

36. Misinformation and Imagination Effects We can imagine things to be completely different from the reality, and then we honestly believe what we imagined. Examples: Believe you failed a test (when you didn’t) and never come back to the class. Believe you did or did not see someone steal something in a store. Believe you saw a gun in someone’s hand when it really was a cell phone.

37. Source Amnesia • When we encode memories, we do not generally encode the source. • Therefore, we can confuse something we have read or seen with the real thing. Examples: Sometimes we can read a story with such vivid descriptions of the scenery that we feel we were there. Our families can tell stories about us so many times that we believe we remember being there, even though we were very young.

38. Source Amnesia • When we encode memories, different aspects of them go to different parts of the brain • We might see a familiar person but have no idea where we saw them before • We might recall an event that was story in a book or on a television program and believe it happened to u

39. Repressed or Constructed memories of Abuse • is a “cornerstone of Freud’s theory” • is a source of heated debate in psychology • can also be a source of obsessive thinking • can be hidden from the survivor and brought out by therapy or a reminder experience

40. Repressed or Constructed memories of Abuse • Injustice, incest and sexual abuse happen. • Forgetting happens. • We often recover good and bad memories. • Hypnosis and/or drugs do not produce reliable memories. • Memories before age 3 are unreliable.

41. Anxiety and Stress • A moderate amount of anxiety may improve performance. • Extreme anxiety adversely affects recall and clear thought.

42. Stress and Memory Performance Low Moderate High Stress

43. Organization • Material that is organized is easier to remember.

44. girl heart robin purple finger flute blue organ man hawk green eagle Piano child lung Organizationa great strategy for remembering

45. Organizationa great strategy for remembering green piano man purple flute girl blue organ child heart eagle lung hawk finger robin

46. Elaborative Rehearsal • Subjects were shown lists of words • Asked to use one of three strategies: • Visual: Is the word printed in capital letters? • Acoustic: Does the word rhyme with _____? • Semantic: Does the word fit the sentence _________?

47. Retrieval Cues • help us locate where we have stored a memory • allow us to use what we know *18-5A and 18-5B

48. Retrieval Cues – Getting the Info Out • Priming, having the right cues to help us retrieve a specific memory Example: When you select a password on a computer site, they often will have you list a question that will prime your memory for the password. What was your first girlfriend’s name, your pet, etc.?

49. Retrieval Cues - access stored knowledge How many of these words can you recall in order? winter lunch green Russia foot pencil collie sweater spaghetti juniper ebony Chicago violin bible French

50. Retrieval Cues (continued) Now use the following retrieval cues to recall: a part of the body a planet a writing instrument a language an article of clothing a meal a breed of dog a food a name of a city a magazine a type of book a country a musical instrument