General Psychology

• The process by which we encode, store, and

retrieve information
– Each of the three parts of this definition
represents a different process, and only if all 3
processes have been operated will you experience
success in retrieving a particular memory
Encoding

• the initial recording of information

Storage

• the process whereby information is stored for

future use

Retrieval

• the recovery of the stored information.

ENCODING
• Keyboard

STORAGE
• CPU / Hard Disk

RETRIEVAL
• Monitor
Three-stage model of memory
In this model, memory has three major components:
(1) Sensory memory, which briefly holds incoming sensory information.

Sensory memory:
+ iconic storage
+ echoic storage
• initial, momentary storage of information

• lasts only an instant

• stores almost exact replicas of all sensory

stimuli experienced by that person

• forgetting occurs after 1 second

Three-stage model of memory
(2) Working (short-term) memory, which processes certain information received from
sensory memory and information retrieved from long-term memory.

Short-term memory: Lasts 12-30 seconds

Capacity of 7 +/- 2 chunks of information
• second stage of memory

• holds information for 15-25 seconds

– Capacity of 7 +/- 2 chunks
• meaningful grouping of stimuli that can be stored as a
unit in short-term memory
– Rehearsal
• the repetition of information in short-term memory
• repetitive rehearsal keeps information in short-term
• elaborative rehearsal moves information to long-term
memory
Three-stage model of memory
(3) Long-term memory, which stores information for longer periods of time.
Source: Adapted from Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968.

Long-term memory:
+ Permanent method of
storing memories
+ Unlimited capacity
• third stage of memory

• stores information on a relatively permanent

basis, but can be difficult to retrieve
 LONG-TERM
MEMORY

DECLARATIVE PROCEDURAL
MEMORY MEMORY

SEMANTIC EPISODIC
MEMORY MEMORY
• Declarative Memory
– Memory for factual information
• Names
• Faces LONG-TERM
MEMORY

• Dates
• Facts DECLARATIVE PROCEDURAL
– (a car has 4 wheels) MEMORY MEMORY

SEMANTIC EPISODIC
MEMORY MEMORY
• Semantic Memory
– Memory for general knowledge and facts about
the world
– Memory for the rules of logic that are used to
deduce facts
• E.g. zip codes, country capitals, spelling
• Episodic Memory
– Memory for events that occur in a particular time,
place, or context
• first kiss, birthday
• SEMANTIC
– General Knowledge/Information

• EPISODIC
– Personal Information
• Procedural Memory
– Non-declarative memory
– Memory for skills and habits
• Tie your shoes LONG-TERM
MEMORY
• Ride a bike
• Drive DECLARATIVE PROCEDURAL
MEMORY MEMORY

SEMANTIC EPISODIC
MEMORY MEMORY
• Information about things:
– Declarative
• Information on how to do things:
LONG-TERM
– Procedural MEMORY

DECLARATIVE PROCEDURAL
MEMORY MEMORY

SEMANTIC EPISODIC
MEMORY MEMORY
TIP-OF-THE-TONGUE
PHENOMENON
• Retrieval cue
– a stimulus that allows you to more easily recall a
long-term memory because it is connected to that
memory
• Recall
– specific information must be retrieved from
memory
• Recognition
– when presented with a stimulus, you determine
whether you’ve been exposed to it previously, or
you identify the correct information from a list of
alternatives
• Levels-of-processing theory
– emphasizes the degree to which new material is
mentally analyzed
– the greater the intensity of initial processing, the
more likely we are to remember the information
• Explicit memory
– intentional or conscious recollection of
information
• Implicit memory
– memories of which people are not consciously
aware, but which can affect subsequent
performance and behavior
Where were you on June 30,
2010?
• Flashbulb memories
– specific, important, or
surprising events that
are so vivid in memory it
is as if they represented
a snapshot of the event
• Constructive processes
– memories are influenced by the meaning we give
to events
• Schemas
– organized bodies of information stored in memory
that bias the way new information is interpreted,
stored, and recalled
• Autobiographical memories
– our recollections of circumstances and episodes
from our own lives
Why do we need to forget?
• Forgetting is important to memory
– if we couldn’t forget inconsequential details, they
would get in the way of remembering more
important information
Why do we forget?
• Failure of encoding
– paying attention to and placing information in
memory

• Decay
– the loss of information because of nonuse
• Interference
– information in memory disrupts the recall of other
information

• Cue-dependent forgetting
– forgetting due to insufficient retrieval cues
• Proactive interference
– information learned earlier disrupts the recall of
newer material

• Retroactive interference
– difficulty in recalling information learned earlier
because of later exposure to different material
• PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE

– Old phone # New Phone #

• RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE

– Old phone # New Phone #

• occurs when information is being organized,
stored, processed, or communicated.
• Mental images
– representations in the mind of an object or event
(can take the form of any of the senses: visual,
auditory, etc.)
– Use of mental imagery can improve various skills
• many athletes use visualization
• Concepts
– categorizations of objects, events, or people that
share common properties; enable us to organize
complex things into cognitive categories we can
use

– Prototypes
• typical, highly representative examples of a concept
• ideas that represent a class or category of events or
objects.
– Enable us to organize complex phenomena into simpler,
and therefore more easily usable, cognitive categories.
– Help us classify newly encountered objects on the basis of
our past experiences
How do you view these structures?
Two houses of worship (A & B), two similar examples of architecture (B & C), or three
buildings: all illustrate the use of concepts.
A. B. C.
• typical, highly representative examples of a
concept.
– High agreement exists among people in a particular culture
about which examples of a concept are prototypes, as well
as which examples are not.
Ranking of Prototype: Concept Category
Most to Least Typical Furniture Vehicle Weapon Vegetable

Most Typical

Least Typical
 Concept Category
Ranking of Prototype:
Most to Least Typical Furniture Vehicle Weapon Vegetable

Most Typical Chair Car Gun Peas

Sofa Truck Knife Carrots
Table Bus Sword String beans
Dresser Motorcycle Bomb Spinach
Desk Train Grenade Broccoli
Bed Trolley Car Spear Asparagus
Bookcase Bicycle Cannon Corn
Footstool Airplane Bow&Arrow Cauliflower
Lamp Boat Club Lettuce
Piano Tractor Tank Beets
Radio Raft Fists Eggplant
Least Typical Stove Sled Rocket Onion
Language
• Language
– the ability to communicate with individuals of
your culture.
– cooing, babbling, one-word speech and
telegraphic speech.
Course of Normal Language Development in Children

Age Speech Characteristics

4-6 months Babbling sounds begin to occur. These contain
sounds from virtually every language. Child
vocalizes in response to verbalizations of others.
• Babble
– speech-like but meaningless sounds made by
children from around 3 months to 1 year old

– Critical period
– time when a child is particularly sensitive to
learning/acquisition of skills; critical period for
language development early in life; difficult to
acquire language skills if critical period is missed
– cooing, babbling, one-word speech and
telegraphic speech.
Course of Normal Language Development in Children

Age Speech Characteristics

7-11 months Babbling sounds narrow to include only the
phonemes heard in the language spoken by
others in the environment. Child discriminates
between some words without understanding
their meaning and begins to imitate word
sounds heard from others.
– cooing, babbling, one-word speech and
telegraphic speech.
Course of Normal Language Development in Children

Age Speech Characteristics

12 months First recognizable words typically spoken as
one-word utterances to name familiar people
and objects.
– cooing, babbling, one-word speech and
telegraphic speech.
Course of Normal Language Development in Children

Age Speech Characteristics

12-18 months Child increases knowledge of word meanings
and begins to use single words to express whole
phrases or requests.
– cooing, babbling, one-word speech and
telegraphic speech.
Course of Normal Language Development in Children

Age Speech Characteristics

18-24 months Vocabulary expands to between 50 and 100
words. First rudimentary sentences appear,
usually consisting of two words with little or no
use of articles (the, a). This condensed, or
telegraphic speech is characteristic of first
sentences throughout the world.
• Telegraphic speech
– sentences in which words not critical to the
message are left out; used by children beginning
around age 2 ½
– (ex.: “I show book” instead of “I showed you the
book”)
• Overgeneralization
– by about age 3, children employ language rules
even when it results in an error
– (ex.: adding –ed to “run” to form the past tense)
• Learning theory approach to language
development
– language acquisition follows the principles of
reinforcement and conditioning
A child who says “mama”
receives hugs and praise
from her mother, which
reinforces the behavior of
saying “mama” and
makes its repetition more
likely.
• Nativist approach to language development
– a genetically determined, innate mechanism
drives language development (Noam Chomsky)
• The understanding of speech
WERNICKE’S AREA

in the temporal lobe,

is primarily involved in
speech
comprehension.

Damage to this
cortical region leaves
patients unable to
understand written or
spoken speech.
• Speech formation
BROCA’S AREA

in the frontal lobe, is

mainly involved in the
production of speech
through its connections
with the motor cortex
region that controls the
muscles used in speech.
Damage to this area leaves
patients with the ability to
comprehend speech, but not
to express themselves in
words or sentences.
• Universal grammar
– common underlying structure shared by all the
world’s languages

• Language-acquisition device
– a neural system of the brain that Chomsky
thought permits understanding of language
• Interactionist approach to language
development
– combination of the learning theory and nativist
approaches (brain’s language-acquisition device is
the “hardware;” exposure to language in the
environment allows us to develop the “software”)
• Linguistic- relativity hypothesis
– the idea that language shapes and may determine
the way people in a specific culture perceive and
understand the world (language produces
thought)
– However, most recent research suggests that
thinking produces language, although language
may influence how we think