Chapt - Eight - Memory (Autosaved)

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Chapter Eight: Memory
Overview
 Studying and Encoding Memories
 Storing and Retrieving Memories
 Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving
Memory
Studying Memories
 Memory
 Persistence of learning over time through the
encoding, storage, and retrieval of information
 Evidence of memory
 Recalling information
 Recognizing it
 Relearning it more easily on a later attempt
EBBINGHAUS’
RETENTION CURVE
Ebbinghaus found that
the more times he
practiced a list of
nonsense syllables on
day 1, the less time he
required to relearn it on
day 2.
Speed of relearning is
one measure of memory
retention (From
Baddeley, 1982.)
Studying Memories
 Psychologists use memory models to think and

communicate about memory.
 Information-processing models
 Compares human memory to computer operations
 Involves three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval
 Connectionism information-processing model
 Focuses on multitrack, parallel processing
 Views memories as products of interconnected neural
networks
Memory Models
 Three processing stages in the Atkinson-
Shiffrin model
 We first record to-be-remembered information as a
fleeting sensory memory
 From there, we process information into short-term
memory, where we encode it through rehearsal
 Finally, information moves into long-term memory
for later retrieval.
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s classic three-step model helps us to think about how
memories are processed, but today’s researchers recognize other ways long-
term memories form. For example, some information slips into long-term
memory via a “back door,” without our consciously attending to it (automatic
processing). And so much active processing occurs in the short-term memory
stage that many now prefer to call that stage working memory.
A MODIFIED THREE-STAGE
INFORMATION-PROCESSING MODEL OF MEMORY
Memory Models
 Atkinson-Shiffrin model updated concepts
 Working memory, to stress the active processing
occurring in the second memory stage
 Automatic processing, to address the processing of
information outside of conscious awareness
Memory Models
Working memory
•Involves newer understanding of short-term
memory
Focuses on conscious, active processing of
incoming auditory and visual-spatial information,
and of information retrieved from long-term
memory
Is handled by a central executive (Baddeley,
2002)
WORKING MEMORY
Alan Baddeley’s (2002) model of working memory, simplified
here, includes visual and auditory rehearsal of new information.
Part of the brain functions like a manager, a central executive
focusing attention and pulling information from long-term
memory to help make sense of new information.
Dual-Track Memory: Effortful Versus

Automatic Processing
 Dual-track memory system
 Explicit memories (declarative memories) of
conscious facts and experiences encoded through
conscious, effortful processing
 Implicit memories (nondeclarative memories) that
form through automatic processes and bypass
conscious encoding track
Encoding Memories
 Automatic processing and implicit memories
 Implicit memories include automatic skills and classically
conditioned associations.
 Information is automatically processed about
 Space
 Time
 Frequency
 Effortful processing and explicit memories
 With experience and practice, explicit memories become
automatic.
Sensory memory
What is sensory
memory?
•First stage in forming
explicit memories
•Immediate, very brief
recording of sensory
TOTAL RECALL—BRIEFLY
information in the memory When George Sperling (1960) flashed
system a group of letters similar to this for
•Iconic memory: Picture- one-twentieth of a second, people
could recall only about half the letters.
image memory But when signaled to recall any one
•Echoic memory: Sound row immediately after the letters had
memory disappeared, they could do so with
near-perfect accuracy.
Capacity of Short-Term and Working

Memory
 Short-term memory
 Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (such
as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing)
before the information is stored or forgotten
 Working memory
 Newer understanding of short-term memory that
stresses conscious, active processing of incoming
auditory and visual-spatial information, and of
information retrieved from long-term memory
Capacity of Short-Term and Working

Memory
 Short-term memory
 George Miller (1956)
 Magical Number Seven: People can store about seven bits
of information (give or take two)
 Baddeley and colleagues (1975)
 Without distraction, about seven digits or about six letters or
five words
 Working memory
 Capacity varies by age and distractions at time of
memory tasks
Effortful Processing Strategies

 Chunking: Organization of items into familiar,
manageable units; often occurs automatically
 Mnemonics: Memory aids, especially
techniques that use vivid imagery and
organizational devices
 Peg-word system
 Hierarchies: Organization of items into a few
broad categories that are divided and subdivided
into narrower concepts and facts
Effortful Processing Strategies

 Spaced study and self-assessment
 Spacing effect: Encoding is more effective when it is
spread over time.
 Distributed practice: Produces better long-term recall
 Massive practice: Produces speedy short-term learning and
feelings of confidence
 Testing effect (retrieval practice effect or test-
enhanced effect): Encoding is very effective.
Levels of Processing
 Verbal information processed at different levels
which affect long-term retention
 Shallow processing encodes on a very basic level
(word’s letters) or a more intermediate level (word’s
sound)
 Deep processing encodes semantically based on
word meaning
Explicit-Memory System:
Hippocampus And Frontal
Lobes
 Is dedicated to explicit
memory formation
 Registers and temporarily
holds elements of explicit
memories before moving
them to other brain
regions for long-term
storage.
THE HIPPOCAMPUS  Neural storage of long-
term memories is called
memory consolidation.
Memory Retrieval Cues

 Memory retrieval
 Memories held in storage by web of associations
 Retrieval cues serve as anchor points for pathways to
memory suspended in this web.
 Best retrieval cues come from associations formed at
the time a memory is encoded
 Priming
 Activation, often unconsciously, of particular
associations in memory
Forgetting and the Two-track Mind
 Humans have two distinct memory systems

controlled by different parts of the brain.
 Forgetting has several causes
 Encoding failure
 Storage decay
 Retrieval failure
 Interference
 Motivated forgetting
Forgetting: Encoding and Storage Decay
 Encoding failure
 Age: Encoding lag is linked to age-related memory
decline
 Attention: Failure to notice or encode contributes to
memory failure
 Storage decay
 Course of forgetting is initially rapid, and then levels
off with time
 Physical changes in the brain occur as memory forms
(memory trace).
Reason for Failure
• Events and memories are not available because

these were never acquired.
• Memories have been discarded due to stored
memory decay.
• Insufficient information to access memories
make these out of reach.
Forgetting
 Interference
 Proactive: Occurs when older memory makes it more
difficult to remember new information
 Retroactive: Occurs when new learning disrupts memory
for older information
 Motivated forgetting
 Freud: Repressed memories protect self-concept and
minimize anxiety.
 Today: Attempts to forget are more likely when information
is neutral, not emotional.
WHEN DO WE FORGET?
• Forgetting can occur at any

memory stage.
• As we process information,
we filter, alter, or lose
much of it.
Improving Memory

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Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images

Chapter Eight: Memory

 Psychologists use memory models to think and

Dual-Track Memory: Effortful Versus

Capacity of Short-Term and Working

Capacity of Short-Term and Working

Effortful Processing Strategies

Effortful Processing Strategies

Memory Retrieval Cues

Forgetting and the Two-track Mind

 Humans have two distinct memory systems

Forgetting: Encoding and Storage Decay

Reason for Failure

• Events and memories are not available because

• Forgetting can occur at any

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