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OVERVIEW

3 Basic Tasks of Memory

MEMORY Types of Memory
Types of Forgetting
Factors affecting Forgetting
AP PSYCHOLOGY 12
ERIC HAMBER
Improving Memory

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Memory Memory’s Three Basic Tasks

• A system that encodes, stores • According to the information-processing model, the human brain
and retrieves information. takes essentially meaningless information and turns it into meaningful
patterns.
• While we are learning more
about memory every day,
psychologists still are unsure • It does this through three steps:
exactly what parts of the brain • Putting it in: Encoding
are involved and where it is all
stored. • Keeping it in: Storage
• Getting it out: Retrieval

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How does it work? Basic Memory Tasks: 1. ENCODING

– sensory memory
Attention to important • Not all sensory memory consists of images, each sensory receptor
Sensory input or novel information has its own sensory register.
Encoding • Also, sensory images have no meaning associated with them, that is
External Sensory Short-term Long-term the job of the next stage, working memory.
events memory memory memory
Encoding Retrieving Visual Stimulation-iconic memory

Auditory Stimulation-echoic memory

Tactile(touch) Stimulation-tactile memory

Working Long Term
Memory Memory
Olfactory (smell) Stimulation-olfactory memory

Gustatory (taste) Stimulation-gustatory memory

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Basic Memory Tasks: 1. Encoding

Basic Memory Tasks: 1. Encoding
• Encoding: the modification of Using 16 unrelated 3 letter sequences

information to fit the preferred Time in

format for the memory system. The more time we minutes 20
spend learning taken to
relearn
• In most cases, encoding is novel information,
the more we
list on 15
day 2
automatic and happens without remember.
our awareness. Other encoding,
however, like these notes, require 10

extra encoding effort called

elaboration to make the memory 5

useful. 0
8 16 24 32 42 53 64
Number of repetitions of list on day 1

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Basic Memory Tasks: 1. Encoding-

Basic Memory Tasks: 1. Encoding - 3 types Levels of Processing
§ When we are exposed to stimuli and encode information,
we do it in three ways:
1. Semantic Encoding
• encoding of meaning
• including meaning of words
2. Acoustic Encoding
• encoding of sound
• especially sound of words Processing a word by its meaning
(semantic encoding) produces better

3. Visual Encoding
recognition of it lat a later time.

• encoding of picture images

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Basic Memory Tasks: 2. Basic Memory Tasks: 2. Storage - Atkinson & Shiffrin
Storage (1968)
• Storage: the retention of encoding material
over time.
• In terms of storing material, we have
three stages of memory
• Sensory Memory
• Working Memory (short-term
memory)
• Long-term Memory
• A good example of this approach is Atkinson
& Shiffrin’s Multi- Store Model of working
Memory

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Basis Memory Tasks: 2. Storage - Synaptic Changes and Storage Basic Memory Tasks: 2. Storage - Strengthening LTP
• Memory storage creates a physical • Research suggests that the best way to remember
change in the in the synapses. things is to study them and then sleep!

• Memories begin as impulses whizzing • Once LTP has occurred, even passing an electrical
through the brain circuits, leaving a current through the brain will not erase well
semi-permanent trace. stored memories.
• More recent memories will be wiped out
• Long Term Potentiation (LTP) - a long-
lasting strengthening of synapses • People who have a concussion and cannot
between nerve cells & is the ability of remember what happened just before or
after the injury have not had a chance to
brain cells to retain how frequently
they send signals to other brain cells. “consolidate” their memories to the long-
term

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Basic Memory Tasks: 3. Retrieval Types of Memory: 1. Sensory memory

• Retrieval: The locating and recovering of • The shortest of our memories.
information from memory. • It holds sights, sounds, smells, textures and other sensory
information for a fraction of a second.
• While some memories return to us in a • Sensory memories lasts just long enough to dissolve into the
split second, other seemed to be next one, giving us the impression of a constant flow.
hidden deeper, and still others are
never “recovered” correctly. • Sensory memory holds a large amount of information, far more
• NOTE: How you encode information is than ever reaches consciousness.
how it will be retrieved. • Sperling’s experiment: letters in rows, tone to indicate which
row to recall.

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Eidetic imagery Autism & Memory

• A technical term for a photographic memory.
• Eidetic imagery can: Video: Stephen Wiltshire
• recall a memory in minute detail • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI
• portray the most interesting and meaningful parts
most accurately. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejhNxNIKvOI
• last as short as a brief moment, or as long as days.
• Eidetic imagery tends to be more common in children
& seem to decline as a person’s language abilities
increase.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YYSl8iXuA0
Big Bang:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ugfCjqlZ4

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Types of Memory: 2. Working Memory Baddeley & Hitch: Three Systems of Working Memory
Central Executive •Drives the whole system (e.g. the boss of working memory)
• Also known as short term memory. •Allocates data to the subsystems (VSS & PL).
•Controls our attention and coordinates working memory for a specific task.
•Deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem solving.
• Sort and encode information before transferring
it to long-term memory or forgetting it. Visuo-spatial sketchpad: • (Inner eye): Stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form.
• Used for navigation

• Generally, it holds information for about 18-20 Phonological loop: Stores and utilizes semantic (word) information.
seconds, far longer than sensory memory. Deals with spoken and written material.
It can be used to remember a phone number.
It consists of two parts:

• Most research suggest that we can hold seven

Phonological Store (inner ear) Articulatory control process (inner voice) –
pieces of information plus or minus 2. • Linked to speech perception Holds • Linked to speech production.
information in speech-based form (i.e. • Used to rehearse and store verbal information from
spoken words) for 1-2 seconds. the phonological store
• We recall digits better than letters.

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BADDELEY & HITCH BADDELEY & HITCH

THREE SYSTEMS OF WORKING MEMORY THREE SYSTEMS OF WORKING MEMORY
Central Executive •Drives the whole system (e.g. the boss of working memory)
•Allocates data to the subsystems (VSS & PL).
•Controls our attention and coordinates working memory for a specific task.
•Deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem solving.

Visuo-spatial • (Inner eye): Stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form.
sketchpad: • Used for navigation

Phonological loop: Stores and utilizes semantic (word) information.

Deals with spoken and written material.
It can be used to remember a phone number.
It consists of two parts:

Phonological Store (inner ear) Articulatory control process (inner

• Linked to speech perception voice) –
Holds information in speech- • Linked to speech production.
based form (i.e. spoken • Used to rehearse and store verbal
words) for 1-2 seconds. information from the phonological
store

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LEVELS OF PROCESSING:(CRAIK AND LOCKHART,

WORKING MEMORY/ STM
1972)
¡ Working memory is subject to two limitations: limited capacity and short duration. ¡ In working memory, information can be elaborated on, or connected with long term
memories.
¡ The brain has mechanisms to assist with short term memory
Chunking ¡ The Levels-of-processing theory -The idea that the way information is encoded
• A chunk is any memory pattern or meaningful unit of memory. affects how well it is remembered. The deeper the level of processing, the easier
• By creating these chunks, a process called chunking, we can fit more the information is to recall
information into the seven available slots of working memory.
• Example: 5036574100 vs. 503-657-4100

Maintenance rehearsal

• This is a process where information is repeated to keep it from fading while in

working memory.

• This process does not involve active elaboration-assigning meaning to

the information.

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TYPES OF MEMORY: 3. LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM) STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF LTM

¡ No limit to the duration or capacity of the long-term memory.

¡ Long term memory is essentially all of your knowledge of yourself and the world
around you.
¡ Unless an injury or illness occurs, this memory is limitless.

¡ ENGRAM (Biological basis for long term memory)

¡ Permanent change in the brain accounting for the existence of memory
¡ It is also known as the memory trace

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EFFORTFUL PROCESSING (DECLARATIVE) EFFORTFUL PROCESSING

¡ Distributed practice or spacing effect ¡ Testing Effect (aka. retrieval practice effect or
¡ A strategy of learning using smaller increments of test-enhanced learning)
study and practice over a longer period of time. ¡ enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than
simply reading, information.
¡ Massed practice
¡ Utilizing longer study and practice periods over a ¡ Overlearning
short period of time. ¡ to practice by repeating a skill to further
strengthen memory.
¡ NOTE: Distributed practice has been shown to be
¡ E.g. your name, the alphabet
more effective for learning and memory retention
than massed practice.

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ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
STUDIES: IMPLICIT VS. EXPLICIT
¡ Early stages, the most commonly
recognized symptom is partial loss of
• People with amnesia who read a story once, will read it faster a second time,
the semantic memory
showing implicit memory.
– There is no explicit memory though as they cannot recall having seen the text
before. ¡ Middle stages, the individual has
• People with Alzheimer's who are repeatedly shown the word perfume will not recall problems with her short term
memory
having seen it.
– If asked the first word that comes to mind in response to
the letters per, they say perfume readily displaying learning. ¡ Later stages, the individuals’ long term
• General rule: A memory is implicit if it can affect behavior or mental memory is severely impaired
processes without becoming fully conscious. Explicit memories always
involve consciousness.

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FLASHBULB MEMORY

¡ Of all our forms of memory, a few are exceptionally

clear and vivid. We call these flashbulb memories.

¡ These tend to be memories of highly emotional

events. Typically people remember exactly where
they were when the event happened, what they
were doing and the emotions they felt.
¡ JFK’s Assassination
¡ Ex. 9/11

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PARTS OF THE BRAIN USED IN MEMORY TWO TYPES OF FORGETTING

• Two parts of the brain psychologists know for sure • Retrograde Amnesia: Unable to recall events that occurred before the
are involved in memory are: development of amnesia.
– Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNPv247yyas
• hippocampus
• amygdala • Anterograde Amnesia: Loss of the ability to create new memories after
the event that caused the amnesia
• Consolidation
– Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk7WuvNKe_g
• information in the working memory is gradually
changed over to long term memories.
• The amygdala seems to play a role in strengthening NOTE: As memories form, neurotransmitters collect at the synapses, (before absolute threshold is
memories that have strong emotional connections. crossed). These are called memory traces. A sharp blow to the head, or electric shock can prevent
these traces from consolidating, making it hard to recall that information.

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TYPES OF AMNESIA AND FORGETTING AMNESIA THROUGH BRAIN DAMAGE:

WHAT TYPE OF AMNESIA?

¡ Henry Molaison (H.M.): Had two thirds of

his hippocampus removed due to surgery.

¡ He lost 11 years of his past memories prior to

the surgery.

Can you have both Anterograde & Retrograde Amnesia? ¡ Was unable to form new memories

Clive Wearing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwigmktix2Y

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AMNESIA THROUGH BRAIN DAMAGE:

WHAT TYPE OF AMNESIA? TYPES OF MEMORY: 3. RETRIEVAL (LTM)

¡ Retrieval depends on both implicit & explicit memory

¡ Clive Wearing: contracted a virus
¡ Retrieval clues
(herpes simplex encephalitis) that attacked
Search terms we use to activate memory—think of a Google search.
his brain. ¡

¡ The more specific you are, the better the results will be.
¡ Some memories are easily remembered, while others are much
¡ He has lost most of his past memories harder to bring up.
and is unable to form new memories. ¡ For example, if you draw a blank on a test, it may be a result of the
wording on the test not being the same as the wording you used
while studying.

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TAKE OUT A PIECE OF PAPER….. WAS IT EASY OR HARD?

¡ Name the seven dwarves…..

¡ It depends on several things….

¡ If you like Disney movies?

¡ When was the last time you have seen

the movie?
¡ Are people around you being loud so
Now name them….. you cannot concentrate?

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OTHER FACTORS AFFECTING

RETRIEVAL RECALL AND RECOGNITION

¡ Encoding specificity principal: the more closely the retrieval clues

¡ Memories can be cued in two ways:
match way the information was encoded, the better the information will
be remembered. ¡ Recall: a retrieval method in which one must

¡ Think Google search

reproduce previously presented material.
¡ E.g.Essay test; police sketch of a suspect
¡ Mood-congruent memory: a theory which says we tend to
selectively remember memories that match (are congruent with) our ¡ Recognition: a retrieval method in which one
current mood. must identify information that is provided, which
¡ Has an affect on how people are treated for medical conditions
has previously been presented.
¡ E.g. Multiple choice test; police line-up

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MEMORY CONSTRUCTION MEMORY CONSTRUCTION: CULTURAL SCHEMA

¡ We often construct our memories as we encode them,

Bartlett (1932)
and we may also alter our memories as we withdraw
them ¡ Found that pre-existing schema may lead to
memory distortions.
¡ We infer our past from stored information and what
we assume
¡ Retelling the story was different based on language
¡ By filtering information and filling in missing pieces, our ¡ E.g. Canoeàboat
schemas (understanding of specific settings) direct our
memory construction ¡ Europeans left out words from the story due to
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¡ EG. War of Ghosts, Bartlett them being unfamiliar

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MISINFORMATION EFFECT

¡ As memory fades with time following § Eyewitnesses

an event, the injection of Depiction of actual accident reconstructed memories
when questioned
misinformation becomes easier.
¡ Misinformation effect:
incorporating misleading information
into one’s memory of an event. Leading question:
“About how fast were the cars
¡ Imagination inflation occurs because going when they smashed into
visualizing something and actually each other?”
perceiving it activate similar brain Memory
areas. construction

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REPRESSED MEMORIES SOURCE AMNESIA

¡ During the 1990s, the idea of repressing painful ¡ The inability to remember where, when or how
memories became a big topic. previously learned information has been acquired, while
¡ While some psychoanalysts still support the idea retaining the factual knowledge. (aka. source
of repressed memories, most psychologists agree misattribution)
that events that are traumatic are typically etched ¡ Example:
on the mind as vivid, persistent, haunting ¡ Donald Thompson, an Australian psychologist, was an
memories. initial suspect in a rape case.
¡ Loftus Ted Talks Video:
¡ The rape victim confused her memories of Thompson
¡ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2OegI6wvI and the actual rapist because she had seen Thompson's
image on TV shortly before she was attacked.

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MEMORY CONSTRUCTION MEMORY CONSTRUCTION

• People fill in memory gaps with plausible guesses and assumptions ¡ Most people can agree on the following:

• Imagining events can create false memories ¡ Injustice happens

• Memories of Abuse ¡ Incest happens
– Repressed or Constructed?
• Child sexual abuse does occur ¡ Forgetting happens
• Some adults do actually forget such episodes
¡ Recovered memories are commonplace
• False Memory Syndrome
¡ Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs are unreliable
– condition in which a person’s identity and relationships center
around a false but strongly believed memory of traumatic ¡ Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable
experience
¡ Memories, whether false or real, are upsetting
– sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists

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FORGETTING FORGETTING

¡ As you know, not all the information you learn will stick in your brain.
According to Daniel Schacter, this is the result of one of the “seven sins
of memory:”
¡ Transience
¡ Absent-mindedness Three sins of forgetting
¡ Blocking
¡ Misattribution
¡ Suggestibility Three sins of distortion
¡ Bias
¡ Persistence (Intrusive memories)

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1) TRANSIENCE
2) ABSENT-MINDEDNESS

¡ The impermanence of long-term

¡ Forgetting caused by lapses in attention.
memories-based on the idea that
memories gradually fade in strength over ¡ E.g. Forgetting where you parked; losing your keys
time-also known as “decay theory.”
¡ e.g. Former President Bill Clinton's
"convenient lapses of memory" during
the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
For most memories, there is a sharp decline in
¡ Clinton claimed in the hearings that he memory, followed by declining rate of loss
sometimes couldn't remember what
had happened the previous week.

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3) BLOCKING
4) MISATTRIBUTION
¡ Forgetting when a memory cannot be retrieved
because of interference. ¡ Memory faults that occur when memories are retrieved, but are
¡ Proactive Interference: When an old memory associated with the wrong time, place or person.
disrupts the learning and remembering of a new ¡ Likely to occur when individuals are unable to monitor and control the
memory. influence of their attitudes, toward their judgments, at the time of
¡ Ex. Writing the new date after New Year’s retrieval.
¡ Retroactive Memory: When a new memory blocks ¡ E.g. Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The rental shop mechanic
the retrieval of an old memory. who thought Timothy McVeigh had an accomplice (John Doe); he
thought he'd seen the two of them together in his shop. In fact,
¡ Ex. Now that you are learning French, you
the mechanic had encountered John Doe alone on a different day.
cannot recall the Spanish you learned last year.

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5) SUGGESTIBILITY 6) BIAS

¡ The process of memory distortion as the result of deliberate or ¡ The influence of personal beliefs, attitudes and experiences on memory.
inadvertent suggestion. ¡ E.g. research indicates that people currently displeased with a romantic
relationship tend to have a disproportionately negative take on past states of the
¡ Eyewitness accounts are one a large part of relationship.
our legal system. Unfortunately they can be
incredibly faulty. ¡ Expectancy Bias: A memory tendency to distort recalled events to fit one’s
expectations.
¡ With the misinformation effect, memories can
be embellished or even created by cues and ¡ Self-consistency Bias: A commonly held idea that we are more consistent in our
attitudes and beliefs, over time, than we actually are.
suggestions.
¡ People mold their past memories in a way to sustain their ever changing
¡ Eyewitness False memory video present.

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7) PERSISTENCE SERIAL POSITION EFFECT

• A memory problem where unwanted memories cannot be put out of
our mind.
• Depressed people cannot stop thinking about how bad their life • A form of interference related to the sequence in which
is and how unhappy they are. It can create a self-fulfilling material is presented.
problem.
• Generally items in the middle are remembered less.
• E.g. the case of Donnie Moore of the California Angels, who
– Information in the middle is exposed to both retroactive
threw the pitch that lost his team the 1986 American League and proactive interference.
Championship against the Boston Red Sox. Moore fixated on
the bad play, said Schacter, "became a tragic prisoner of – Primacy: relative ease of remembering the first
memory," and eventually committed suicide. information in a series.
– Recency: Strong memories of the most recent
– Psychologists think that emotions strengthen the physical information in a series
changes in the synapses that hold our memories, thus highly
emotional memories can be harder to put out of mind.

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ENCODING: SERIAL POSITION EFFECT FORGETTING ISN’T ALL BAD

Percent 90 Serial Position Effect-- ¡ According to Schacter, the “seven sins” are actually a normal
age of 80 recalls the first and last part of human memory and are the results of adaptive
words
70 items in a list more often features in our memories.
recalled
60 than the middle items ¡ According to Schacter, each of the “sins” is for a reason:
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¡ Transience-to prevent memory overload
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30 ¡ Blocking-to focus on task at hand
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Immediate recall ¡ Absent-mindedness-ability to shift attention
10
0
Later recall
¡ Misattribution/bias/suggestibility-to focus on meaning &
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 not detail
Position of
word in list ¡ Persistence-to remember especially emotional memories

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IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY

IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY

¡ Study repeatedly to boost recall

¡ Activate retrieval cues- mentally recreate situation and mood
¡ Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking
about the material
¡ Recall events while they are fresh- write down before interference
¡ Make material personally meaningful
¡ Minimize interference
¡ Use mnemonic devices ¡ Test your own knowledge
¡ associate with peg words- something already ¡ rehearse
stored
¡ determine what you do not yet know
¡ make up story
¡ chunk-acronyms

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RECAP: CRASH COURSE

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSycdIx-C48

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVWbrNls-Kw

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