MEMORY

What is memory?

Human memory is an information processing system that works constructively to encode, store,
and retrieve information.

The Basic Memory Processes

In February 2002, prison warden James Smith lost his set of master keys to the Westville
Correctional Facility. As a result, 2,559 inmates were kept under partial lockdown for eight days
while the Indiana Department of Correction spent $53,000 to change locks in the affected areas.
As it turned out, the warden had put the keys in his pocket when he went home, forgot he had
done so, and reported the keys missing when they were not in their usual place in his office the
next day.

Memory depends on three basic processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval (see Figure 7.1).

First, information must be put into memory, a step that requires encoding. Just as incoming
sensory information must be coded so that it can be communicated to the brain, information to
be remembered must be put in a form that the memory system can accept and use. We use
various memory codes to translate information from the senses into mental representations of
that information.
― Codes for acoustic memory (also known as auditory memory) represent information as
sequences of sounds, such as a tune or a rhyme.
― Codes for visual memory represent information as pictures, such as the image of your
best friend’s face.
― Codes for semantic memory represent the general meaning of an experience.

Storage refers to keeping information in memory over time—often over a very long time. When
you find you can recall a vacation from many years ago, you are depending on the storage
capacity of your memory.

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Retrieval occurs when you locate information stored in memory and bring it into
consciousness. Retrieving stored information such as your address or telephone number is
usually so fast and effortless that it seems automatic. The search-and-retrieval process becomes
more noticeable, however, when you read a quiz question but cannot quite recall the answer.
Retrieval involves both recall and recognition.
― To recall information, you have to retrieve it from memory without much help. This is
what is required when you answer an essay test question.
― In recognition, retrieval is aided by clues, such as the response alternatives given on
multiple-choice tests and the questions on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Accordingly, recognition tends to be easier than recall.

Types of Memory
How many types of memory are there?
No one is sure, but most research suggests that there are at least three. Each type of memory is
named for the kind of information it handles: episodic, semantic, and procedural (Rajaram &
Barber, 2008).
― Any memory of a specific event that happened while you were present—that is, during
an episode in your life—is called episodic memory (Tulving, 2005). Remembering what
you had for dinner yesterday, what you did last summer, or where you were last Friday
night all require episodic memory.
― Semantic memory contains generalized knowledge of the world that does not involve
memory of a specific event. So if you were asked, “Are wrenches pets or tools?” you
could answer correctly using your semantic memory; you don’t have to remember a
specific episode in which you learned that wrenches are tools.
― Memory of how to do things, such as riding a bike or tying a shoelace, is called
procedural memory, or procedural knowledge (Cohen & Squire, 1980). Procedural
knowledge often consists of a sequence of movements that are difficult or impossible to
put into words. For example, a gymnast might not be able to describe the exact motions
in a particular routine. Accordingly, teachers of gymnastics, music, dance, cooking,
woodworking, and other skills usually prefer to first show their students what to do
rather than describe how to do it.

Many activities require all three types of memory. Consider the game of tennis. Knowing the
official rules or how to score a match involves semantic memory. Remembering which side
served last requires episodic memory. Knowing how to hit the ball involves procedural
memory.

Explicit and Implicit Memory

― Recalling these three kinds of memories can be either intentional or unintentional, that
is, explicit or implicit. You are using explicit memory when you consciously and
intentionally try to remember something, such as where you went on your last vacation
or the correct answer to an exam question (Masson & MacLeod, 1992).

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 ― In contrast, implicit memory involves the unintentional recollection and influence of
prior experiences (McDermott, 2002). For example, you can solve a puzzle faster if you
have solved it in the past. This improvement in performance—often called priming—is
automatic, and it occurs without conscious effort.
― Episodic, semantic, and procedural memories can be explicit or implicit, but procedural
memory usually operates implicitly—once you have learned to do something well, you
can just do it. This is the reason that, for example, you can skillfully ride a bike even
though you cannot explicitly remember all the procedures necessary to do so.

Models of Memory

Levels of Processing
The levels-of-processing model of memory suggests that what you remember depends on the
extent to which you encode and process information when you first encounter it (Craik &
Lockhart, 1972).
― Consider the task of remembering a phone number you just heard on the radio. If you
were unable to write it down, you would probably repeat the number over and over to
yourself until you could find a pen or get to your phone. This repetition process is called
maintenance rehearsal. It can be an effective way of remembering information
temporarily.
― If you need to remember something for hours, months, or years, you are better off using
elaborative rehearsal, a process in which you relate new material to information you
have already stored in memory. For example, instead of trying to remember a new
person’s name by simply repeating it to yourself, you could try thinking about how the
name is related to something you know well.
― Study after study has shown that memory is improved when people use elaborative
rehearsal rather than maintenance rehearsal (Jahnke & Nowaczyk, 1998). According to
the levels-of-processing model, elaborative rehearsal improves memory because
information is mentally processed to a greater degree or depth (Roediger, Gallo, &
Geraci, 2002). The more you think about new information, organize it, and relate it to
existing knowledge, the deeper the processing and the better your memory of it
becomes.

Transfer-Appropriate Processing
The transfer-appropriate processing model of memory suggests another critical factor, the
match between how we try to retrieve information and how we originally encoded it. In one
study, for example, half the students in a class were told that their next exam would contain
multiple-choice questions. The rest of the students were told to expect essay questions. Only
half the students actually got the type of exam they expected, however. These students did
much better on the exam than those who took an unexpected type of exam.
― Apparently, in studying for the exam, the two groups used encoding strategies that were
more appropriate to the type of exam they expected.

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 ― Those who tried to retrieve the information in a way that did not match their encoding
method had a harder time (d’Ydewalle & Rosselle, 1978).
― Results such as these illustrate that the harmony between encoding and retrieval
processes can be as important as depth of processing in memory.

Parallel Distributed Processing Models

These models suggest that new experiences do more than provide specific facts that are stored
and later retrieved one at a time. Those facts are also combined with what you already know
so that each new experience changes your overall understanding of the world and how it
operates.
― For example, when you first arrived on campus, you learned many specific facts, such as
where classes are held, what time the library closes, and where to get the best pizza.
Over time, these and many other facts about student life form a network of information
that creates a more general understanding of how the whole college system works.
The development of this network makes experienced students not only more
knowledgeable than new students but also more sophisticated.
― PDP models of memory reflect notion of knowledge networks. PDP memory theorists
begin by considering how neural networks might provide the framework for a functional
memory system (Anderson, 2000). The structure of neural networks allows each part to
be linked to every other part.
― When this network model is applied to memory, each unit of knowledge is seen as
connected to every other unit, and the connections between units are seen as getting
stronger the more often the units are experienced together. From this perspective, then,
“knowledge” is distributed across a dense network of associations. When this network
is activated, parallel processing occurs. That is, different portions of the network operate
simultaneously, allowing people to quickly and efficiently draw inferences and make
generalizations.

Multiple Memory Systems

The multiple memory systems model suggests that the brain contains several relatively separate
memory systems, each of which resides in a different area and each of which serves
somewhat different purposes (Schacter & Tulving,1994; Schacter, Wagner, & Buckner, 2000).
― Explicit and implicit memories appear to operate on different principles suggests that
they are separate systems, each of which is supported by activity in different regions of
the brain.
― Additional evidence for the multiple memory systems approach comes from case
studies in which damage to the brain’s hippocampus impairs performance on tests of
explicit memory but not on implicit memory tests (e.g., Warrington & Weiskrantz, 1970).

Information Processing
The information-processing model of memory suggests that for information to become firmly
implanted in memory, it must pass through three stages of mental processing: sensory memory,
short-term memory, and long-term memory (Atkinson & Shiff rin, 1968; see Figure 7.3).

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 ― In sensory memory, information from the senses—sights or sounds, for example—is held
very briefly, often for less than a second, before being lost. But if information in sensory
memory is attended to, analyzed, and encoded as a meaningful pattern, we say that it
has been perceived. Information in sensory memory that has been perceived can now
enter short-term memory. If nothing further is done with it, the information will
disappear in less than twenty seconds. However, if information in short-term memory is
processed further, it may be encoded into long-term memory, where it may remain
indefinitely.
― The act of reading illustrates all three stages of memory processing. As you read any
sentence in this book, light energy reflected from the page reaches your eyes, where it is
converted to neural activity and registered in your sensory memory. If you pay
attention to these visual stimuli, your perception of the patterns of light can be held in
short-term memory. This stage of memory holds the early parts of the sentence so that
they can be integrated and understood as you read the rest of the sentence. As you
read, you are constantly recognizing words by matching your perceptions of them with
the patterns and meanings you have stored in long-term memory. In other words, all
three stages of memory are necessary for you to understand a sentence.

Storing New Memories

We can’t retrieve information if we haven’t stored it. According to the information processing
model, sensory, short-term, and long-term memory each provide a different type of storage
system.

Sensory Memory
― Our ability to recognize that we are looking at a car, for example, depends on the
brain’s ability to analyze, compare, and match the features of that car with information
about cars that is already stored in long-term memory.
― This process is very quick, but it still takes time. The major function of sensory memory
is to hold information long enough for it to be processed further (Nairne, 2003). This
maintenance is the job of the sensory registers, which act as temporary storage bins.
There is a separate register for each of the five senses, and each register can store a
nearly complete representation of sensory stimuli. Although sensory memories are
stored only briefly, often for less than one second, this is long enough for stimulus
identification to begin (Eysenck & Keane, 2005).

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Short-Term Memory and Working Memory
Short-term memory (STM) is the part of your memory system that stores limited amounts of
information for up to about eighteen seconds. When you check the building directory to see
which floor your new dentist’s office is on and then keep that number in mind as you press the
correct elevator button, you are using short-term memory.
― Working memory is the part of the memory system that allows us to mentally work
with, or manipulate, the information being held in short-term memory. When you
mentally calculate what time you have to leave home in order to have lunch on campus,
return a library book, and still get to class on time, you are using working memory.
― Short-term memory is actually a component of working memory, and together these
memory systems allow us to do many kinds of mental work (Baddeley, 2003). Suppose
that you are buying something for 83 cents. You go through your change and pick out
two quarters (25 cents), two dimes (10 cents), two nickels (5 cents), and three pennies (1
cent). To do this, you use both short-term and working memory to remember the price
(STM), retrieve the rules of addition from long-term memory, and keep a running
count (working memory) of how much change you have so far.
― Now try to recall how many windows there are on the front of the house or apartment
where you grew up. In answering this question, you probably formed a mental image of
the building. You used one kind of working-memory process to form that image, and
then you maintained the image in short-term memory while you “worked” on it by
counting the windows. So working memory has at least two components: maintenance
(holding information in short-term memory) and manipulation (working on that
information).

Long-Term Memory
When people talk about memory, they are usually talking about long-term memory (LTM), the
part of the memory system that encodes and stores memories that can last a lifetime.
― Some information is encoded into long-term memory even if we make no conscious
effort to memorize it (Ellis, 1991). However, putting information into long-term memory
is often the result of more conscious processing that usually involves semantic encoding.
― Semantic encoding often leaves out details in favor of the more general meaning of the
information.

Retrieving Memories
Have you ever been unable to recall the name of an old television show or movie star, only to
think of it the next day? Remembering something requires not only the encoding and storing of
information but also the ability to bring it into consciousness. In other words, you have to be
able to retrieve it.

Retrieval Cues and Encoding Specificity

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 ― Retrieval cues are stimuli that help you retrieve information from long-term memory.
They allow you to recall things that were once forgotten and help you recognize
information stored in memory. Retrieval cues are what make recognition tasks (such as
multiple-choice tests) easier than recall tasks (such as essay exams).
― The effectiveness of retrieval cues depends on the extent to which they tap into
information that was encoded at the time of learning (Tulving, 1983). This rule is known
as the encoding specificity principle, and it is consistent with the transfer-appropriate
processing model of memory. Because long-term memories are often encoded
semantically, in terms of their general meaning, cues that trigger the meaning of the
stored information tend to work best.

Context and State Dependence

― In general, people remember more of what they learned when they are in the place
where they learned it (Smith & Vela, 2001). Because if they have encoded features of the
environment in which the learning occurred, those features may later act as retrieval
cues (Richardson-Klavehn & Bjork, 1988).
― Context-specific memory, also known as context-specific learning, refers to memories
that are helped or hindered by similarities or differences in environmental context.
― Sometimes we encode information about how we were feeling during a learning
experience, and this information can also act as a retrieval cue. When our internal state
influences retrieval, we have a state-dependent memory, also known as state
dependent learning.
― People tend to remember more pleasant events when they are feeling good at the time of
recall and more negative events when they are in a sad or angry mood (Eich &
Macaulay, 2007; Lewinsohn & Rosenbaum, 1987).

Retrieval from Semantic Memory

Semantic Networks
― One view of semantic memory suggests that virtually everything we know about,
including concepts such as bird or animal, is represented in a dense network of
associations (Churchland, 1989).

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― In general, semantic network theories suggest that information is retrieved from
memory through spreading activation (Medin, Ross, & Markman, 2001). In other words,
when you think about some concept, it becomes activated in the network, and this
activation—in the form of neural energy—begins to spread along all the paths that are
related to it. So if you are asked if a robin is a bird, the concepts of both “robin” and
“bird” will become activated, and the spreading activation from each will meet
somewhere along the path between them. When they do, you know what answer to
give. Some associations within the network are stronger than others.

Retrieving Incomplete Knowledge

― There may be times when you can retrieve some features of a concept from your
semantic network but not enough of them to identify the concept. For example, you
might know that there is an animal that has wings and can fly and yet be unable to
retrieve its name. When this happens, you are retrieving incomplete knowledge. (The
animal in question is a bat.)
― You have probably experienced a particular example of incomplete knowledge called
the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. In a typical experiment on this phenomenon, people
listen to dictionary definitions and are asked to name the word being defined (Brown &
McNeill, 1966). If they can’t recall the correct word, they are asked if they can recall any
feature of it, such as its first letter or how many syllables it has. People are surprisingly
good at this task, indicating that they are able to retrieve at least some knowledge of the
word (Brennen et al., 1990). Being almost—but not quite—able to recall the precise word
or name we are looking for is a common experience.
― Another example of retrieving incomplete knowledge is the feeling-of-knowing experience,
which some researchers study by asking trivia questions (Reder & Ritter, 1992). When
research participants cannot answer a question, they are asked to say how likely it is that
they could recognize the correct answer among several options. Again, people are
remarkably good at this task. Even though they cannot recall the answer, they can

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 retrieve enough knowledge to determine whether the answer is actually stored in their
memory (Costermans, Lories, & Ansay, 1992).

Constructing Memories
― Our memories are affected by what we experience but also by what we already know
about the world (Schacter, Norman, & Koutstaal, 1998). We use that knowledge to
organize new information as we encounter it, and we fill in gaps in the information as
we encode and retrieve it (Sherman & Bessenoff , 1999). These processes are called
constructive memory.
― In one study of constructive memory, undergraduates were asked to wait for several
minutes in the office of a graduate student (Brewer & Treyens, 1981). Later, they were
asked to recall everything that was in the office. Most of the students mistakenly
“remembered” seeing books, even though there were none. Apparently, the general
knowledge that graduate students read many books influenced the participants’
memory of what was in the room (Roediger, Meade, & Bergman, 2001).

Relating Semantic and Episodic Memory: PDP Models

― PDP models suggest that newly learned facts alter our general knowledge of the world.
In these network models, learned associations between specific facts come together.
― PDP networks also produce spontaneous generalizations. So if your friend tells you that
she just bought a new car, you would know without asking that like other cars you have
seen, it has four wheels.
― Schemas: PDP models also help us understand constructive memory by explaining the
operation of the schemas that guide it. Schemas are mental representations of categories
of objects, events, and people.
― The generalized knowledge contained in schemas provides a basis for making inferences
about incoming information during the encoding stage. So if you hear that a baseball
player was injured, your schema about baseball might lead you to encode the incident as
game-related, even though the cause was not mentioned.