Memory Processes  Transfer of Information from Short-Term Memory to

Long-term Memory
Encoding – refers to how you transform a physical, sensory
 Two key problems:
input into a representation that can be placed into memory.
1. Interference – when competing information
Storage – refers to how you store encoded information in interferes with our storing information.
memory. 2. Decay – when we forget facts just because time
passes.
Retrieval – refers to how you gain access to information in  Declarative memory – facts and knowledge.
memory.  Nondeclarative memory – procedural memories
such as skills.
ENCODING AND TRANSFER OF INFORMATION
 Some forms of nondeclarative memory are highly
Forms of Encoding volatile and decay quickly.
 Other nondeclarative forms are maintained readily,
 Short-term Storage particularly as a result of repeated practice or
 Acoustic code is more important than a visual code. repeated conditioning.
 Semantic code – one based on word meaning.  Entrance into long-term declarative memory may
 Short-term memory relies primarily on an acoustic occur through a variety of processes.
rather than a semantic code. 1. Deliberately attending to information to
 We are more likely to forget visual information than comprehend it.
acoustic information. Thus, initial encoding is 2. Making connections or associations between
primarily acoustic in nature, but other forms of the new information and what we already know
encoding may be used under some circumstances. and understand.
 Long-term Storage  We make connections by integrating the new data
 Most information stored in long-term memory into our existing schemas of stored information.
primarily is encoded semantically.  Consolidation – process of integrating new
 It is encoded by the meanings of words. information into stored information
 Participants were remembering words by clustering  Stress generally impairs the memory functioning.
them. But, stress can also enhance the consolidation of
 When learning lists of words, participants move more memory through the release of hormones.
information into long-term memory when using a  A range of studies suggests that during the process
semantic encoding strategy than when using a of consolidation, our memory is susceptible to
nonsemantic strategy. disruption and distortion.
 In persons with autism, information may not be  Metamemory strategies involve reflecting on our
encoded semantically, or at least, not to the same own memory processes to improve our memory.
extent as in people who do not have autism.  Metacognition – our ability to think about and
 When engaged in semantic processing, people with control our own processes of thought and ways of
autism show less activation in Broca’s area than do enhancing our thinking.
healthy participants.
 Encoding of information in long-term memory is not Rehearsal
exclusively semantic.
 Rehearsal – the repeated recitation of an item.
 fMRI studies have found that the brain areas that are
 Practice effects – result of such rehearsal.
involved in encoding can be, but do not necessarily
 Rehearsal may be overt, in which case it is usually
have to be, involved in retrieval.
aloud and obvious to anyone watching.
 Anterior medial prefrontal cortex and the right
 Or it may be covert, in which case it is silent and
fusiform face area contributes mostly to encoding
hidden.
processes.
 Both encoding and retrieval of places activate the left Elaborative and Maintenance Rehearsal
hippocampal place area; the left PPA is associated
with encoding rather than retrieval.  Elaborative rehearsal – the individual somehow
 Medial temporal and prefrontal regions are related elaborates on the items to be remembered.
to memory processes in general, no matter what kind  Maintenance rehearsal – the individual simply
of stimulus is used. repeats the items to be remembered.

Lucian Comanda
Spacing Effect  Reconsolidation – It is a distinct process that serves
to maintain, strengthen and modify memories that are
 Hermann Ebbinghaus noticed that the distribution already stored in the long-term memory.
of study sessions over time affects the consolidation
of information in long-term memory.
 Distributed practice – learning in which various
sessions are spaced over time. ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION
 Massed practice – learning in which sessions are  Mnemonic devices – are specific techniques to help
crammed together in a very short space of time. you organize and memorize information.
 The greater the distribution of learning trials over 1. Categorical clustering – organize a list of items
time, the more the participants remembered over long into a set of categories.
periods. 2. Interactive images – create interactive images
 To maximize the effect on long-term recall, the that link the isolated words in a list.
spacing should ideally be distributed over months, 3. Pegword system – associate each new word
rather than days or weeks. This effect is termed the with a word on a previously memorized list and
spacing effect. form an interactive image between two words.
 You will recall information longer, on average, if you 4. Method of Loci – visualize walking around an
distribute your learning of subject matter over time area with distinctive landmarks that you know
and you vary the context for encoding. well, and then link the various landmarks to
 Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep – is the sleep specific items to be remembered.
stage characterized by dreaming and increased 5. Acronym – devise a word or expression in
brainwave activity. which each of its letters stand for a certain other
 Specifically, disruptions in REM sleep patterns the word or concept.
night after learning reduced the amount of 6. Acrostic – form a sentence rather than a single
improvement on a visual discrimination task that word to help you remember the new words.
occurred relative to normal sleep. 7. Keyword system – form an interactive image
 Other research also shows better learning with that links the sound and meaning of a foreign
increases in the proportion of REM-stage sleep after word with the sound and meaning of a familiar
exposure to learning situations. word.
 People who suffer from insomnia, a disorder that  Most adults spontaneously use categorical
deprives the sufferer of much needed sleep, have clustering, its inclusion in this list of mnemonic
trouble with memory consolidation. devices is actually just a reminder to use this
 Many studies have confirmed that REM sleeps aids common memory strategy.
us in the formation of memory.  Reminders – external memory aids – to enhance the
 REM sleep plays an important role in synaptic likelihood that we will remember important
consolidation, whereby memories are strengthened information.
that previously were organized in slow-wave (deep)  Forcing functions – physical constraints that prevent
sleep. us from acting without at least considering the key
information to be remembered.
NEUROSCIENCE AND MEMORY CONSOLIDATION  Retrospective memory – our memory for the past.
 In studies of rat hippocampal cells, researchers have  Prospective memory – memory for things we need
found that cell of the hippocampus that were to do to remember in the future.
activated during initial learning are reactivated during  Research suggests that having to do something
subsequent periods of sleep. regularly on a certain day does not necessarily
 Increased hippocampal activity was seen during sleep improve prospective memory for doing that thing.
after the person had learned the spatial information.  Over the years, we retain more of our prospective
 The hippocampus acts as a rapid learning system. memory than of our retrospective memory.
 It temporarily maintains new experiences until they NEUROSCIENCE: HOW ARE MEMORIES STORED?
can be appropriately assimilated into the more
gradual neocortical representation system of the  Cerebral cortex appears to play an important role in
brain. memory in terms of the long-term storage
 The dentate gyrus in the hippocampus is an information.
important brain region for memory formation, and  The hippocampus also seems to play a key role in the
new cells are generated there continuously. encoding of declarative information.

Lucian Comanda
  Its main function appears to be in the integration  RETRIEVAL FROM SHORT-TERM MEMORY
and consolidation of separate sensory  Parallel processing – the simultaneous handling of
information as well as spatial orientation and multiple operations.
memory.  The items stored in short-term memory would be
 It is involved in the transfer of newly retrieved all at once, not one at a time.
synthesized information into long-term  Serial Processing – operations being done after
structures supporting declarative knowledge. another.
 Hippocampus also has a significant role in the  According to the serial model, the more the numbers
recollection of information. that were presented in the positive set, the longer it
 Cerebellum also seems to play a key role in memory should take to retrieve them.
for classically conditioned responses and contributes  Exhaustive Serial Processing – implies that the
to many cognitive tasks in general. participant always checks the test digit against all
 The amygdala often is associated with emotional digits in the positive set even if a match were found
events. partway through the list.
 Some amount of activation in the amygdala was  Self-terminating serial processing – implies that the
associated with recall. participant would check the test digit against only
 The more emotionally charged the emotional those digits needed to make a response.
memory, the greater the probability the memory will  RETRIEVAL FROM LONG-TERM MEMORY
later be retrieved  Categorization dramatically can affect retrieval.
 Some evidence suggests that women recall  Availability is the presence of information stored in
emotionally charged pictures better than do men. long-term memory.
 The amygdala also appears to play an important role  Accessibility is the degree to which we can gain
in memory consolidation, especially in cases in which access to the available information
emotional experience is involved.
 Long-term potentiation – repeated stimulation of PROCESSES OF FORGETTING AND MEMORY
particular neural pathways tends to strengthen the DISTORTION
likelihood of firing.
 Interference theory – forgetting that occurs because recall
 The repeated activity of the synapse can lead to
of certain words interferes with recall of other words.
structural changes that eventually can lead to long-
 Retention interval – this is the time between the
term potentiation.
presentation of the last letter and the start of the recall
 Both serotonin and acetylcholine seem to enhance
phase of the experimental trial.
neural transmission associated with memory.
 Retroactive interference – occurs when newly acquired
 Norepinephrine also may do so.
knowledge impedes the recall of older material.
 High concentrations of acetylcholine have been  This kind of interference is caused by activity
found in the hippocampus of normal people, but low occurring after we learn something but before we are
concentrations are found in people with Alzheimer’s asked to recall that thing.
disease.  Proactive interference occurs when material that was
 Both serotonin and acetylcholine seem to enhance learned in the past impedes the learning of new material/
neural transmission associated with memory.  The interfering material occurs before learning of the
 Norepinephrine also may do so. to-be-remembered material.
 High concentrations of acetylcholine have been  Proactive interference seems to be associated with
found in the hippocampus of normal people, but low activation in the frontal cortex.
concentrations are found in people with Alzheimer’s  It activates Brodmann area 45 in the left hemisphere.
disease.
 Alcoholic patients have difficulty integrating past
 Serotonin also plays a role in another form of information with new information.
memory dysfunction, Korsakoff Syndrome – severe
 Release from proactive interference – list switches to
prolonged abuse of alcohol can lead to this words, your performance will rebound.
devastating form of anterograde amnesia.
 The effects of proactive interference appear to dominate
under conditions in which recall is delayed.
 Schemas are mental frameworks that represent knowledge
in a meaningful way.
 Serial-position curve represents the probability of recall
of a given word, given its serial position in a list.
RETRIEVAL
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 Recency effect – superior recall of words at and near the MEMORY DISTORTION
end of a list.
 Primacy effect – superior recall of words at and near the  7 SEVENS SINS OF MEMORY
1. Transience
beginning of a list.
2. Absent-mindedness
 Words at the end of the list are subject to proactive
3. Blocking
interference.
4. Misattribution
 Words at the beginning of the list are subject to
5. Suggestibility
retroactive.
6. Bias
 Words at the middle of the list are subject to both
7. Persistence
types of interference.
 Postidentification feedback – telling the participnts that
DECAY THEORY they had identified the perpetrator made them feel more
secure in their choice, whereas the feedback that they had
 Decay theory asserts that information is forgotten identified a filler person made them back away from their
because of the gradual disappearance, rather than judgment immediately.
displacement, of the memory trace.
 Decay theory views the original piece f information as REPRESSED MEMORIES
gradually disappearing unless something is done to keep  Repressed memories are memories that are alleged to
it intact. have been pushed down into unconsciousness because of
 Intertrial interval the time between the presentation of the distress they cause.
one set of target words and subsequent probe.  Source-monitoring error which occurs when a person
1. Decay only had relatively small effect on forgetting attributes a memory derived from one source to another
in short-term memory. source.
2. Interference accounted for most of the forgetting.  Source monitoring – figuring out the origins of a
3. So, even if both decay and interference contribute to memory.
forgetting, it can be argued that interference has the  Spreading activation – every time an item is studied, you
stronger effect. think of the items related to that item.
 Encoding specificity – what is recalled depends on
THE CONSTRUCTIVE NATURE OF MEMORY
what is encoded.
 Reconstructive – involving the use of various strategies
to retrieve the original memory traces of our experiences
and then rebuild the original experiences as a basis for
retrieval.
 Constructive – prior experience affects how we recall
things and what we actually recall from memory.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY

 Autobiographical memory – memory of an individual’s

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