Memory


PSYC1001
 Memory

 The retention of information over time

 Our memories are surprisingly good in some situations, and

surprisingly bad in others. (paradox of memory)

 E.g. Eyewitnesses can provide very compelling legal testimony, but rather
than recording experiences flawlessly, their memories are susceptible to a
variety of errors and biases. They (like the rest of us) can make errors in
remembering specific details and can even remember whole events that
did not actually happen.

 Read: Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases - Cara Laney and

Elizabeth F. Loftus
Activity: Read these lists

Sour Nice Candy
Honey Sugar Soda
Bitter Chocolate Good
Heart Taste Cake
Tooth Tart Pie
 Activity Contd.

Write down all the words
you remember!
 Activity Contd.

 Did you include the word "sweet"?

 If so, this is a memory illusion.

 Our brains will often go beyond the available

information to make sense of the world.
 Generally adaptive, but makes us prone to errors

In what situations can this be good/bad?

 Reconstructive
Memory

 When remembering, we actively reconstruct memories, not passively
reproduce them.
 The Three-Memory Model. This model subdivides memory into sensory,
short-term, and long-term memory. Information flows from left to right, but
also from right to left in the case of information retrieved from long-term
memory and moved into short-term memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968).
 Three Systems of
Memory

 Sensory, short-term, and long-term
memory

 Differ in terms of span and duration

 Information moves from sensory to STM to

LTM, and then back to STM when it is
retrieved.
 Sensory Memory


 Brief storage of perceptual information before
it is passed to short-term memory

 Each sense has its own form of sensory

memory.

 Iconic (visual) lasts only 1 second; echoic

(auditory) can last 5-10 seconds.
 Short-term Memory

 Memory system that retains information for limited
durations

 Closely related to working memory

 Brief in duration; 5-20 seconds
 We can lose information in our STM due to two
different processes:
 Decay – information fades over time
 Interference – loss of information due to competition
with new, incoming information
 Short-term Memory

 The span of STM in adults is 7 +/- 2 pieces
(chunks) of information: the Magic Number
7.

 Can extend our STM span by chunking –

organizing information into meaningful groups

 Think about phone numbers…

Types of Interference

 Retroactive interference happens when
learning new information hampers memory for
earlier learning.

 Proactive interference happens when earlier

learning gets in the way of new learning.

 Both are more likely to occur when old and

new stimuli are similar.
 Short-term Memory

 Rehearsal, repeating information in STM,
extends its duration.

 Maintenance rehearsal is simply repeating

STM information in its original form.

 Elaborative rehearsal is forming meaningful

links among STM material.
 Short-term Memory


 Elaborative rehearsal is usually more effective,
consistent with levels-of-processing* model.

 Three levels: visual, phonological (sound-related),

and semantic (meaning-related)

 Visual is the most shallow; phonological somewhat

less shallow; and semantic the deepest.

 *will be explained later

 Long-term Memory

 Relatively enduring store of information

 Includes facts, experiences, and skills we've

developed over a lifetime

 Differs from STM in several ways

Primacy and Recency Effects

 Primacy effect – tendency to remember
stimuli presented earliest (now in LTM)

 Recency effect – tendency to remember

stimuli that presented most recently (still in
STM)

 Also more likely to remember stimuli that are

odd or distinctive
A summary of the subtypes of
explicit and implicit memory

 Types of LTM

 Explicit memory is the process of recalling
information intentionally.

 Divided into:
 Semantic memory (knowledge of facts)
 Episodic memory (events in our lives)
Types of Long-Term Memory

• Implicit memory is recalling
information that we don't remember
deliberately.
 Unlocking our front door
 Tying our shoelaces
• Includes habituation, classical
conditioning, and other forms of
learning
 Three Processes of Memory

 Encoding is getting information into memory.

 Storage is keeping information in memory.

 Retrieval is the reactivation or reconstruction

of information from memory.
 Encoding

 To encode material, we must first attend to it.
 Most events we experience are never encoded in the
first place.
 The next-in-line effect (not remembering what other
people said because they were too busy rehearsing their
own part) and memory for common objects
 Mnemonics are learning aids that enhance recall.
 Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
 Every Good Boy Does Fine
 While applicable to almost anything, they depend on
existing knowledge store.
 Storage

 How we store our experiences in memory depends
on our interpretations and expectations of them.
 Schemas are organized knowledge structures or
mental models that we've stored in memory.
 What happens when you go to a restaurant?
 Schemas give us frames of reference and allow us
to interpret new situations.
 Useful, but tend to oversimplify information
 Strong example of why the paradox of memory
exists
 Retrieval

 Many types of forgetting are failures of retrieval.
 Using retrieval cues can help to access information
in long-term memory.
 Measuring memory makes use of the "3 Rs."
 Recall - generating previously remembered
information
 Recognition - selecting previously remembered
information from an array of options
 Relearning - "savings"; how much more quickly we
reacquire something learned before
 Retrieval

 Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon Retrieval
failure where we are sure we know the
answer, but can't come up with it

 When people believe that something is on the

tip of their tongue, they're frequently right.
 Encoding Specificity

 We are more likely to remember something when the
conditions present at the time we encoded it are also
present at retrieval.

 Context-dependent learning - Superior retrieval when

the external context of the original memories matches
the retrieval context

 State-dependent learning - Superior retrieval of

memories when the organism is in the same
physiological or psychological state as it was during
encoding
 Biology of Memory

 Memories of different types of experiences are
stored in different brain regions.

 Long-term potentiation is the gradual

strengthening of the connections among
neurons from repetitive stimulation.
 Amnesia

 Most common types are retrograde (loss of
past memories) and anterograde (loss of
ability to make new memories).
 Emotional Memory

 The amygdala and hippocampus interact to
give us emotional memories.

 Amygdala helps recall emotions associated

with fearful events.

 Hippocampus helps us recall the events

themselves.
 Biology of Memory Deterioration

 Memory usually begins to show some declines after
65, but not always.
 Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent cause of
dementia (50-60% of cases).
 Show memory and language losses, consistent with
cortical loss
 Research shows that those with active lifestyles are
less likely to develop AD.
 Greater education and intellectual activity are
related to lower AD rates.
 Use it or lose it!
 The Levels of Processing Model
Craik and Lockhart, 1972


 Focuses on the depth of processing involved in memory, and
predicts the deeper information is processed, the longer a
memory trace will last.
 Depth: "the meaningfulness extracted from the stimulus rather
than in terms of the number of analyses performed upon it.”
 There is no clear distinction between long and short-term
memory
 Memory is just a result of processing information
 The way information is encoded affects how well it is
remembered.  The deeper the level of processing, the easier the
information is to recall.
 The Levels of Processing Model

Shallow Processing

1. Structural processing (appearance) which is when we encode only the physical
qualities of something.  E.g. the typeface of a word or how the letters look.
2. Phonemic processing – which is when we encode its sound.
Shallow processing only involves maintenance rehearsal (repetition to help us
hold something in the STM) and leads to fairly short-term retention of
information. 
Deep Processing
3. Semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word
and relate it to similar words with similar meaning.
Deep processing involves elaboration rehearsal which involves a more
meaningful analysis (e.g. images, thinking, associations etc.) of information and
leads to better recall.
For example, giving words a meaning or linking them with previous knowledge.