Week 9: Memory Part 1

Memory: Topic schedule ............................................................................................................ 3

Keywords ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
What is “memory”? ................................................................................................................... 3
The importance of memory ....................................................................................................... 3
Paradox of Memory ................................................................................................................... 3
The Nature of memory Review: ................................................................................................. 4
The 3 systems of memory ................................................................................................... 5
Sensory Memory: (Iconic + Echoic) ............................................................................................. 5
Short-term Memory................................................................................................................... 5
o Decay ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
o Interference (proactive/ retrospective) .................................................................................................. 5
Rehearsal:..................................................................................................................................................... 6
o Elaborative rehearsal (visual, phonological, and semantic) .................................................................... 6
Long-term Memory .................................................................................................................... 6
Bahrick, 1984 – remembering vocab in another language .......................................................................... 7
Short-term vs. Long-term Memory............................................................................................. 7
Serial Position Curve .................................................................................................................. 8
Types of Long-term Memory .............................................................................................. 8
Implicit memory (e.g., Unlocking our front door) ....................................................................... 8
Procedural memory (e.g., riding a bike) ..................................................................................... 8
• Priming ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
Explicit memory: ........................................................................................................................ 9
Semantic:...................................................................................................................................................... 9
Episodic: ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Implicit: ..................................................................................................................................... 9
The 3 processes of memory ................................................................................................ 9
• Encoding ................................................................................................................................. 9
• Mnemonics (encoding) ............................................................................................................................ 10
• Storage ...................................................................................................................................10
Sleep-dependent memory consolidation .................................................................................................. 10
Storing new memories review: ................................................................................................11
• Retrieval ................................................................................................................................11
Measuring Memory ‘3 Rs’ ................................................................................................ 12
• Recall .....................................................................................................................................12
• Recognition ............................................................................................................................12
• Relearning..............................................................................................................................12
Encoding Specificity ......................................................................................................... 12
Context-Dependent Learning ....................................................................................................12
State-Dependent Learning ........................................................................................................12
Time-Dependent Learning.........................................................................................................13
Retrieving memories review: ....................................................................................................13
PSY 1022 ...................................................................................................................................13
 Memory: Topic schedule

o Memory basics.
o The three memory systems (sensory, short-term, long-term) o The three memory
processes (encoding, storage, retrieval)

o Mnemonics
o Encoding specificity o ...and more

o The biology of memory and false memory

Keywords

What is “memory”?

The retention of information over time.

Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store and later retrieve information.

The importance of memory

Memory allows us to learn about the things in our environment that promote survival and
avoid those things that may harm us.
More adaptive than relying on “instinct” alone.

Paradox of Memory

• Did you include the word “sweet”?

• If so, this is a memory illusion

• Our brains will often go beyond the available information to make sense of the world
– Generally adaptive, but makes us prone to errors

The Nature of memory Review:

The 3 systems of memory

Sensory Memory: (Iconic + Echoic)

a high-capacity sensory register that briefly holds perceptual information

Each sense has it’s own form of memory

Iconic (visual) lasts only 1 second
Echoic (auditory) can last 5-10 seconds.

Short-term Memory
o Memory system that retains information for limited durations
o Related to working memory
o Very brief in duration, 5-20 seconds

We can lose information in our STM due to two different processes

o Decay
– fades over time , non-rehearsed
o Interference (proactive/ retrospective)
– loss of information due competition of new incoming information
- Proactive – something pre-learnt, when trying to learn something new, previous
learning interferes with new learning

- retroactive = interfering with things in short term memory, when learning new stuff, it
retroactively wipes old info out of short term memory

The span of STM in adults is 7 + 2 pieces of information

o Magic number 7 + 2 (Miller, 1956)
The span of STM in adults is 7 + 2 pieces of information
o Can extend our STM span by using chunking

Rehearsal:
repeating information in STM, extends the duration of it

o Maintenance rehearsal
is simply repeating the stimuli in the same form

o Elaborative rehearsal
links stimuli to each other in a meaningful way

o Elaborative rehearsal (visual, phonological, and semantic)

Elaborative is usually more effective, consistent with levels-of-processing: Craik & Tulving
(1975)

o Three levels:

visual, phonological (sound- related), and semantic (meaning-related)

o Visual is the most shallow, phonological somewhat less, and semantic the deepest

Long-term Memory
o Relatively enduring store of information

o Includes facts, experiences, and skills we’ve developed over lifetime

o Differs from STM in several ways

Bahrick, 1984 – remembering vocab in another language

Short-term vs. Long-term Memory

Serial Position Curve

Blue bar, is when interference occurs, allowing for decay and interference.

Types of Long-term Memory

Implicit memory (e.g., Unlocking our front door)

Is recalling information that we don’t remember deliberately

– Unlocking our front door – Tying our shoelaces

• Includes procedural memory, habituation, classical conditioning, and other forms of

learning

Procedural memory (e.g., riding a bike)

refers to motor skills and habits

– Riding a bicycle, touch typing

• Priming
is our ability to identify a stimulus more easily or more quickly after we’ve encountered
similar stimuli. E.g., Remember Queen from the word list? If you said King, you
demonstrated a priming effect
Explicit memory: conscious

Semantic:

meaning of words

Episodic:

episodes from life

Implicit: not consciously aware of to execute memory for

The 3 processes of memory

• Encoding
is getting information into memory

To encode it, we must first attend to it

• Most events we experience are never encoded
in the first place
• The next-in-line effect and memory for common objects
• Mnemonics (encoding)
are learning aids that enhances recall
– Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
• While applicable to almost anything, they depend on existing knowledge store

Types of Mnemonics

• Pegword method (uses rhyming) 1= gun, imagine gun

• Method of loci (place imagery) attaching location to each thing on the list
• Keyword method (language learning, reminder words) link with word you already know

• Storage
is keeping information in memory

Sleep-dependent memory consolidation

 Storing new memories review:

• Retrieval

is the reactivation or reconstruction of information from memory

• Many types of forgetting are failures of retrieval

• Using retrieval cues can help to access information in long-term memory
• Measuring memory makes use of the “3 Rs”
Measuring Memory ‘3 Rs’

• Recall - generating previously remembered information

• Recognition - selecting previously remembered information from an array of options

• Relearning - “savings”; how much more quickly we reacquire something learned before

Encoding Specificity

• We are more likely to remember something when the conditions present at the time we
encoded it are also present at retrieval

• Two kinds: context-dependent learning and state-dependent learning

Context-Dependent Learning

• Superior retrieval when the external

context of the original memories
matches the retrieval context

State-Dependent Learning

• Superior retrieval of memories when the organism is in the same physiological or

psychological state as it was during encoding

• Can extend to mood-dependent learning

Time-Dependent Learning
Animals will often only be able to retrieve a memory when testing occurs at the same time as
training.

Retrieving memories review:

PSY 1022