Memory Processes: Mrs .Buddhini Athukorala

MEMORY
PROCESSES
Mrs .Buddhini Athukorala
THREE COMMON OPERATIONS:
 Encoding - refers to how you transform a physical, sensory
input into a kind of representation that can be placed into
memory
 Storage - refers to how you retain encoded information in
memory.
 Retrieval - refers to how you gain access to information stored
in mem

FORMS OF ENCODING
The encoding process is the brain's way of understanding information and
converting it into memory for storage and retrieval.
 Visual encoding
 Acoustic encoding
 Semantic encoding
VISUAL ENCODING
 Visual image is converted to understanding it as an object
 Iconic memory is an important component of visual encoding and allows us to

register large amounts of visual information for brief periods of time.
ACOUSTIC ENCODING
 This is when a person begins to understand the auditory aspects of an object

or experience
 The phonological loop is a vital component of acoustic encoding, and involves
two processes
 First, information comes into the brain acoustically for a very short period of
time.
 Next, in order to retain this quickly passing information, rehearsal is required.
Therefore, when we attempt to remember a chunk of information, we
rehearse by saying it out loud multiple times.
SEMANTIC ENCODING.
 The encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
 which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to

similar words with similar meaning.
SHORT-TERM STORAGE
Sensory memory
Working memory
Short -term memory
Long-term memory
SHORT -TERM MEMORY
 Sensory memory is responsible for transferring environmental

information you receive from your five senses to your brain.
 Then the information is processed by working memory
 Short -term memory involves processing all of the information
being supplied by your sensory systems, working memory
provides it with the ability to prioritize and process all of the
information coming in
 Long-term memory allows us to hold on to and use
information for days, months, or years
TRANSFER OF INFORMATION FROM SHORT-TERM MEMORY
TO LONG-TERM MEMORY
Two key problems when we transfer information from

short-term memory to long-term memory:
 Interference - competing information interferes with our
storing information
 Decay - we forget facts just because time passes
TRANSFER OF INFORMATION FROM SHORT-TERM MEMORY
TO LONG-TERM MEMORY
Consolidation
 The process of integrating new information into stored
information.
 We make connections by integrating the new data into our
existing schemas of stored information
REHEARSAL
 The repeated recitation of an item
 Rehearsal may be overt or may be covert
 it is silent and hidden

ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL
 The items either more meaningfully integrated into what
the person already knows or more meaningfully
connected to one another and therefore more memorable
 Maintenance rehearsal - the individual simply
repetitiously rehearses the items to be repeated. Such
rehearsal temporarily maintains information in short-term
memory without transferring the information to long-
term memory.
THE SPACING EFFECT
 The greater the distribution of learning trials over time,

the more the participants remembered over long periods.
 To maximize the effect on long-term recall, the spacing
should ideally be distributed over months, rather than
days or weeks.
 The spacing effect is linked to the process by which
memories are consolidated in long-term memory
ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION
 Mnemonic devices are specific techniques to help you
memorize lists of words
 Mnemonic devices are methods and strategies for
organizing information to improve later recall
TYPES OF MNEMONIC DEVICE
 Chunking - organize a list of items into a set of categories
 Acronym - devise a word or expression in which each of its
letters stands for a certain other word or concept.
 The acrostic method - form a sentence, rather than a single
word, to help one remember new words
 Keyword technique -create an interactive image that links the
sound and meaning of a foreign word with the sound and
meaning of a familiar word
TYPES OF MNEMONIC DEVICE
 Method of loci- visualize walking around an area with
distinctive, well-known landmarks and link the various
landmarks to specific items to be remembered
 Acrostic - form a sentence, rather than a single word, to help
one remember new words
 Interactive images - the objects represented by words you
have to remember as if the objects are interacting with each
other in some active way
RETRIEVAL FROM
SHORT-TERM
MEMORY
RETRIEVAL FROM SHORT-TERM MEMORY
 Parallel processing
 Serial processing
 Exhaustive serial processing
 Self-terminating serial processing

PARALLEL PROCESSING
 The simultaneous handling of multiple operations
 The brain's ability to make sense of several different incoming stimuli at the
same time
 Your brain is constantly taking in information through your senses
 Ex; sniffing a rose

SERIAL PROCESSING
 Operations being done one after another.
 Serial processing is when you have to process more than one thing. It is slow
and systematic.
 You must process one thing and then the other, as in a series.
SERIAL VS. PARALLEL
 Parallel processing is fast and automatic
 Serial processing is slower and more effort
 Parallel processing allows us to take notice of one target
 Serial processing we have to search for a series of targets

EXHAUSTIVE SERIAL PROCESSING
 The participant always checks the test digit against all digits in the positive
set, even if a match were found partway through the list
 You would take the same amount of time to find any digit and Where in the
list it was located would not matter
SELF-TERMINATING SERIAL PROCESSING
 The participant would check the test digit against only
those digits needed to make a response
 It response time now would increase linearly as a function
of where a test digit was located in the positive set
PROCESSES OF
FORGETTING AND
MEMORY DISTORTION
WHY WE FORGET INFORMATION STORED IN
WORKING MEMORY
 Interference theory
 Decay theory
INTERFERENCE THEORY
 Learning new material can sometimes interfere with our ability to recall
previously learned material.
 The old information is still being stored in memory, but it cannot be retrieved
due to the competition created by the information that has been newly
acquired or previously learned
 retroactive interference
 Proactive interference
DECAY THEORY
 The information is forgotten because of the gradual disappearance, rather
than displacement, of the memory trace.
THE CONSTRUCTIVE NATURE OF MEMORY
Autobiographical Memory
 Autobiographical memory is constructive.
 Ex : diary studies
 Important performances also were better recalled than less important ones.
FLASHBULB MEMORY
 Which are memories of learning something so shocking or surprising that it
creates a strong and seemingly very accurate memory of learning about the
event--but not the event itself.
 Ex: 9/11, Death of LTTE leader
MEMORY DISTORTIONS
 Transience
 Absent-mindedness
 Blocking
 Misattribution
 Suggestibility
 Bias
 Persistence
THE EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY PARADIGM
 Many studies have been done that have shown that eyewitness accounts are
not always accurate
 when eyewitnesses believe that they remember what they saw but are wrong
 Two things that can make eyewitness testimony unreliable
misinformation effect
source monitoring
LOFTUS' EXPERIMENT
 Subjects were shown a series of slides leading up to a car accident.
 Some people were shown one of a car stopped at a stop sign
 Others were shown the car stopped at a yield sign

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MEMORY

 Iconic memory is an important component of visual encoding and allows us to

 This is when a person begins to understand the auditory aspects of an object

 which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to

Short -term memory

 Sensory memory is responsible for transferring environmental

Two key problems when we transfer information from

 The repeated recitation of an item

 Rehearsal may be overt or may be covert

 it is silent and hidden

 The greater the distribution of learning trials over time,

 Exhaustive serial processing

 Self-terminating serial processing

 Ex; sniffing a rose

 Serial processing is slower and more effort

 Parallel processing allows us to take notice of one target

 Serial processing we have to search for a series of targets

 Two things that can make eyewitness testimony unreliable

 Some people were shown one of a car stopped at a stop sign

 Others were shown the car stopped at a yield sign

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