Chapter 5:

Memory: Models and Research

Methods
Some Questions of Interest
qWhat are some of the tasks used for studying
memory?
qWhat is the traditional model of memory? What
are some of the alternative models?
qWhat have psychologists learned by studying both
exceptional memory and the physiology of the
brain?
Processes in Memory

ØEncoding (you transform sensory data

into a form of mental representation)
ØStorage (you keep encoded information
in memory)
ØRetrieval (you pull out or use
information stored in memory)
Methods Used to Study Memory
Recall (you produce a fact, a word, or other
item from memory)
◦ Serial recall (you recall items in the exact order
in which they were presented)
◦ Free recall (you recall items in any order you
choose)
◦ Cued recall (you are first shown items in pairs,
but during recall you are cued with only one
member of each pair and are asked to recall
each mate)
Methods Used to Study Memory
Recognition (you select or otherwise identify an item as being one
that you have been exposed to previously)
= these are explicit memory tasks
Procedural Memory

Knowing how to do something

◦Ride a bike
◦Skateboard
◦Ski
Methods to Assess Procedural
Memory

Rotary-pursuit task
◦ Keep stylus on a dot on a
rotating disk

Mirror-tracing task
◦ Watch mirror image to
trace a figure
 Models of Memory

Represent ways that memory has been

conceptualized
◦Atkinson & Shiffrin’s three-stage model
◦Craik & Lockhart’s level of processing model
◦Baddeley’s working memory model
◦Tulving’s multiple memory systems model
◦McClelland & Rumelhart’s connectionist model
Traditional Model of Memory
Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) three-stage model
 Short-Term Memory
Rehearsal
Attention
◦ Attend to information in
the sensory store, it
moves to STM Short-Term
Memory
Rehearsal (STM)
◦ Repeat the information to
keep maintained in STM
Retrieval
◦ Access memory in LTM
and place in STM Attention
Storage &
Retrieval
Research on Short-Term Memory
Miller (1956)
◦ Examined memory capacity
◦ “chunks”
Chunking: organize input into larger units
◦ 1 9 8 0 1 9 9 8 2 0 0 3 - Exceeds capacity
◦ 1980 1998 2003 - Reorganize by chunking

Birth College
HS
year graduation
graduation
Long-Term Memory
Capacity
◦Thus far limitless Long-Term
Memory
(LTM)
Duration
◦Potentially permanent
Bahrick’s Research on Very Long-Term
Memory

qHigh school yearbooks containing student

names and photos
q392 high school graduates (17-74) took four
different memory tests
qFor some of the participants, it was as long
as 48 years since they graduated
 Bahrick et al. (1975) Results
Ø90% accuracy in face and name recognition after
34 years
Ø80% accuracy for name recognition after 48 years
Ø40% accuracy for face recognition after 48 years
Ø60% accuracy for free recall after 15 years
Ø30% accuracy for free recall after 30 years
 Levels of Processing
Model of Memory

Craik & Lockhart (1972)

◦Deep processing leads to better memory
◦ Elaborating according to meaning leads to a strong
memory
◦Shallow processing emphasizes the physical
features of the stimulus
◦ The memory trace is fragile and quickly decays
◦Distinguished between maintenance rehearsal and
elaborative rehearsal
 Self-Reference Effect
Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker (1977)
◦Encoding with respect to oneself increases
memory

Capital Rhymes Means the Describes

letters? with? same as? you?
Baddeleys’ Working Memory Model
 Working Memory Model
Phonological Loop
◦ Used for acoustic rehearsal
Visuo-spatial sketch pad
◦ Used for visuo-spatial information
Episodic buffer
oUsed for storage of a multimodal code, holding an integrated episode between
systems using different codes

Central executive
o Focuses attention
o Plans sequence of tasks, switches attention between different parts
Neuroscience
and Working
Memory
Tulving’s Multiple-Memory Systems Model
Semantic memory
◦ General knowledge
◦ Facts, definitions, historical dates

Episodic memory
◦ Event memories (first kiss, 6th birthday)
 McClelland & Rumelhart
Connectionist Perspective
Parallel distributed processing model
◦ Memory uses a network
◦ Meaning comes from patterns
of activation across the entire
network
◦ Spreading activation network
model
◦ Supported by priming effects
Deficient Memory
Amnesias
◦Retrograde amnesia
◦ Loss of memory for events that occurred before
the trauma
◦Infantile amnesia
◦ Inability to recall events of young childhood
◦Anterograde amnesia
◦ No memory for events that occur after the
trauma
 Amnesia Studies
Amnesiacs show normal priming (implicit),
but poor recognition memory (explicit)
◦They did not remember having seen the
word list, but completed the word fragments
at the same rate as normal
 Hippocampus and Memory

◦ Critical for integration and

consolidation
◦ Essential for declarative
memory
◦ Without the hippocampus, only
the learning of skills and habits,
simple conditioning, and the
phenomenon of priming can
occur
 Alzheimer’s Disease
Symptoms (gradual, continuous, and irreversible)
◦ Memory loss
◦ Problems doing familiar tasks
◦ Problems with language
◦ Trouble knowing the time, date, or place
◦ Poor or decreased judgment
◦ Problems with abstract thinking
◦ Misplacing things often, such as keys
◦ Changes in mood, behavior, and personality
These symptoms could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s when it
affects daily life
Alzheimer’s Disease and the Brain
• Atrophy of the cortical tissue
– Alzheimer’s brains shows abnormal fibers that appear to
be tangles of brain tissue and senile plaques (patches of
degenerative nerve endings)
– The resulting damage of these conditions may lead to
disruption of impulses in neurons
Project: Memory Movies
ØTake any character from a movie who has a memory deficit, and, using terms
from the chapters:
◦ Explain what the memory problem is and why it occurs
◦ What can you do to manage, prevent or cure it? Refer to your DSM books.

ØSample movies to watch. You can look for other movies that you prefer (every group
should have different movies):
Johnny Mnemonic; 50 First Dates; Memento; Total Recall; Bourne Identity; Dark City;
Manchurian Candidate; Overboard; The Changeling; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind;
The Majestic: Mulholland Drive; The Notebook; Paycheck; Sommersby; The Vow

ØIt should be group work. Individual work is not allowed. Submit it via online. I will be
sending the google drive at our gc. Final work should be in document and not in pdf file.
Deadline is on May 3, 2024 @12 midnight.