Chapter 7

MEMORY
 Forming
Memories

Types of
Memory
Chapter Memory and the
Overview Brain

Malleability of
Memory

Forgetting and
Memory Loss
 Forming Memories
Memory is the ability to take in, solidify, store, and use information. It is also used to describe our store of what
has been learned and remembered.
Our book describes the process of forming memories as comprising 4 steps:
1. Encoding: the process by which we attend to, take in, and process sensory information. Commonly, faulty
memory occurs at this stage, as sensory information is not encoded well.
• There are two kinds of encoding process:
• Automatic processing occurs with little effort or conscious attention to the task. Information processed at
this level is often not deeply encoded and thus is not easily recalled later.
• Effortful processing, on the other hand, requires careful attention and conscious effort. This type of encoding
is the basis for a type of memory called semantic memory.
• Mnemonic devices are strategies are that are aimed to help us better encode information so that it reaches the
deeper levels of memory. Examples include rhymes, acronyms, etc.
2. Consolidation: the process of establishing, stabilizing, or solidifying a memory. When memories become consolidated, they are
resistant (but not immune) to distraction, interference, and decay.
◦ Sleep is believed to aid in the consolidation process, as we tend to remember information that is learned immediately prior to
sleeping, and we tend to remember less well if we are sleep deprived.

3. Storage: the process of retaining memory over time. We store memories in multiple ways; our book describes two:
◦ Hierarchies are ways of organizing related pieces of information from the most specific feature they have in common to the most
general feature they have in common.
◦ Associative networks are chains of associations between related concepts. Each concept in a network is called a node, and each
link between the nodes is called an association. When a node is activated, it increases that the likelihood that another node will be
activated.

4. Retrieval: the process of recovering information stored in memory.

◦ The details regarding how we retrieve information is related to the previous three steps. If errors occur during encoding,
consolidation, or storage, it likely to be retrieved improperly.
◦ Retrieval requires focused attention and occasionally conscious effort in order to remember stored information.
◦ Often people assume that the retrieval process is like playing back a recording; however, it is more of a constructive process,
combining bits of the information from the hierarchies and networks they are stored in.

Forming Memories
 There are four ways to help us encode information optimally:
◦ Attention is the first step in the encoding process. In order to remember
information well, we need to pay attention to it so it moves past the
encoding phase to the consolidation phase.
◦ Processing the information deeply (as opposed to superficially) is a way to
better encode that information.
◦ Levels of processing is a conceptual approach to memory, which holds
that the more deeply people encode information, the more likely they will
recall it.
Aids to ◦ The shallowest level of processing is structural processing, which may
focus on arbitrary factors like appearance.
Memory ◦ Phonemic processing occurs at the middle level, and this often
emphasizes the sound of remembered words.
Formation ◦ The deepest level of processing is semantic processing, which involves
relating information in a meaningful way.
 ◦ As discussed earlier, sleep aids in memory by making retention and
recall of information easier.
◦ The sooner a person sleeps after learning material, the better they
remember that material.
◦ Sleep protects memories from being forgotten, as well as making
them more accessible during recall.

Aids to ◦ Emotional memories are often remembered easier than factual

memories.
Memory ◦ Emotional memories are often encoded very well due to emotions
often being associated with events that are important to the
Formation individual in some way.
◦ Negative emotional memories are particularly well-remembered on
a both explicit and implicit levels.
◦ Flashbulb memories are detailed, snapshot memories of what we
were doing when we first experienced a major, public, emotionally
charged event. These memories are often very durable compared to
other memories, although they are only as consistent as your
average memory.
 Similar to how certain factors make memories more readily encoded
and retrieved, there are also factors that make it more difficult to
encode information:
• Dividing our attention and multitasking often impede memory at the
encoding level. When we attempted to take in multiple stimuli at once
Impediments to instead of selectively attending to certain information, the information
is often not encoded, or is encoded in a very shallow manner.
Memory •Emotion, while also aiding memory, can also inhibit memory.
Formation Particularly, if we have an emotion related to a memory, we may feel
that we remember the memory well, but the details may be distorted
(for example, remembering an experience as more positive or negative
than it actually was). In some circumstances, traumatic events are
remembered very poorly.
Prior to 1953, it was generally believed that there was only one type of memory. However, in 1953 psychologists
were posed with the case of H.M.

H.M. was a 27-year-old man who regularly experienced epileptic seizures. As a means of treating these seizures,
H.M. received a lobotomy, having his hippocampus removed.

After the surgery, it became apparent that H.M. could not remember any new information, but he remembered
information from before the surgery.

It also turned out that H.M. could learn new skills, but he was unaware that he had these skills. Thanks to studies
on H.M., we have learned that the memory of how to do things was different than memories of particular events
or information.

Types of Memory
Types of Memory
Typically, psychologists subscribe to a three-stage model of memory. This theory holds that information must
pass through three phases in order to be encoded and remembered:

1. Sensory memory is the part of memory that holds information in its original sensory form for approximately
half a second or less.

2. Short-term memory is the part of memory that temporarily stores a limited amount of information before
that information is either stored or forgotten. This type of memory typically lasts for 2 to 30 seconds.

3. Long-term memory is the part of memory that has the capacity to store a vast amount of information for as
little as 30 seconds and as long as a lifetime.

Types of Memory
Sensory Memory

This type of memory is made If we sense and attend to a

up of the brief traces of particular stimuli, it is held in
sensation left by firing sensory this memory for half a second
neurons. to up to 3 seconds.
 Short-term and Working Memory
• If we attend to sensory information, it transitions to short-term memory, where we become conscious of it.
• A subtype of short-term memory is working memory. This is the part of memory required to attend to and solve a particular
problem we are faced with. Working memory is often used when we are forced to switch between tasks or while being
distracted.
• The average number of pieces of information that can be held in working memory at once is 7 items, plus or minus 2 (there is a
range of 5 to 9). However, we can increase our working memory capacity by chunking, or breaking down a list of items into
smaller, meaningful units.
• Baddeley has developed a three-stage model of short-term memory:
1. Attending to a stimulus.
2. Storing information.
3. Rehearsal. This is the process of repeatedly practicing material so that it enters long-term memory.
• Research has demonstrated that individuals experience a serial position effect. This is the tendency for people to have better
recall of items in a list depending on their position in the list. When items at the beginning of the list are recalled better, it is
called the primacy effect, and when items at the end are recalled better, it is called the recency effect.
 Types of Short-Term Memory
In order to process information and have process through the steps of short-term
memory, different types of attentional and memory processes are used:
• Central executive controls our attention and determines which aspects of
stimuli we should attend to and store.
• After information is attended to by the central executive, it is sent to one of
multiple temporary storage spaces. If the information is visual, it is sent to the
visuospatial sketchpad.
• If information is related to language or sounds, it is sent to the phonological
loop.
• If the information being remembered is a particular event or experience, it is
sent to the episodic buffer.
After memory passes through these storage spaces, it is sent to long-term
memory.
When we rehearse material, it is brought out of long-term memory into one of
the three mental storage spaces, and it is attended to by the central executive.
 Long-term Memory
Long-term memory is the storage system where all of our memory that is deeply
encoded is contained. As we have learned from H.M., there are multiple types of
long-term memories:
• Implicit memory (a.k.a. non-declarative memory) is a kind of memory made up of
knowledge based on previous experience but is outside of our conscious awareness.
There are multiple types of implicit memory:
• Procedural memory is a kind of memory made up of implicit knowledge for
almost any behavior or physical skill we have learned.
• Priming is a kind of implicit memory that occurs when recall is improved by
earlier exposure to related stimuli.
• Explicit memory (a.k.a. declarative memory) consists of the conscious recall of
facts and events. Similar to implicit memory, there are multiple types of explicit
memory:
• Semantic memory is a form of memory that recalls facts and general knowledge.
• Episodic memory is a form of memory that recalls particular events we have
experienced.
 Memory and the Brain
In 1949, Hebb theorized that neurons that repeatedly fire and activate
nearby neurons develop permanent changes in those nearby neurons.
This strengthens the synaptic connections between those two neurons.
This process is called long-term potentiation.

Colloquially, this is called Hebb’s law. A mnemonic device for this

law is “Neurons that fire together, wire together,” meaning that their
high amount of simultaneous firing results in the development of a
synaptic cleft between these neurons.
 Memory and the Brain
Kandel (2001) studied memory in sea slugs by administering shocks to a sea slug. Kandel found that the sea slug
reacted defensively for about may ten minutes after first shock. However, after 4 or 5 shocks, the sea slug
maintained its defensiveness for days afterward.

Kandel also found that repeated stimulation of a neuron can affect the cells nucleus, where DNA is contained.
Repeated stimulation can result in CREB generation. CREB then turns on genes that are responsible for developing
new synapses. This provides an epigenetic explanation for Hebb’s law.

Some scientists are developing medications that can stimulate CREB production as a way to treat memory loss and
prevent memory decline in older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.

Our book also describes some medications that slow down CREB generation, making synaptic connections (and
thereby memories) more difficult to form.
 Different Types of Memory &
Different Parts of the Brain
As we have learned from H.M., memory is related to the hippocampus.
However, there are other portions of the brain involved in memory as well.
In sensory memory:
1. Information travels from the sensory receptors to the thalamus.
2. Information travels from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex.
3. Information travels from the cerebral cortex to the visual cortex, the
auditory cortex, and the somatosensory cortex.
In short-term memory:
4. The prefrontal cortex determines which information is attended to.
5. Attended to information is then sent to the hippocampus.
6. In order to information to remain in storage, it must cycle between the
hippocampus and prefrontal cortex multiple times through rehearsal.
In long-term memory, different types of memory are related to different brain
structures:
• The cerebellum and striatum are related to procedural memory.
• The amygdala is related to emotional memory.
• The hippocampus is related explicit memory.
 Forms of Forgetting
Interference is the disruption of memory
because other information competes with the
information we are trying to recall.
When new experiences or information disrupt Absent-mindedness is a Blocking is the inability to
older information, retroactive interference form of forgetfulness that retrieve some information
occurs. results from inattention. that once was stored.
When previous information disrupts the
learning of new information, proactive
interference occurs.

Amnesia is a form of memory loss due to

brain injury or disease.
Repression is the unconscious act Anterograde amnesia is the inability to
remember events or form new memories after
of keeping threatening thoughts, an injury or the onset of a disease (like the
feelings, or impulses out of case of H.M.).
consciousness. Retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall
events that happened before the onset of a
disease or injury.
 Malleability of Memory
Studies regarding memory have shown us that memory, even memories we are very confident about, are very prone to error. For
this reason, psychologists have shifted to a more “constructivist” theory of memory; it is now believed that each time we
remember something, we are not simply taking it out of storage or playing it back like a recording. Instead, the memory is
constructed from various pieces of information.

Reconsolidation occurs when reactivation of a memory weakens the original memory and a new consolidation happens, resulting
in a slightly different memory.

False memories are memories for events that never happened but were suggested by someone or something. Loftus has
conducted multiple studies regarding false memories in various situations. Her studies have demonstrated that eyewitness
testimony is prone to errors, despite the eyewitness being confident of how accurate their memory was.

Recovered memories are memories that are supposedly from a real event that was encoded, stored, but not retrieved for a long
time until some later event brings it to consciousness. Loftus has conducted studies revealing that “recovered memories” may
often actually be false memories that were suggested to individuals.

Suggestibility is a problem with memory that occurs when memories are implanted in our minds based on leading questions,
comments, or suggestions by someone else or some other source. This is related to the misinformation effect, which occurs
when information learned after an original event is wrong but gets incorporated into the memory as true.