Psych 222b In persons with autism, information

Chapter 6 – Memory Processes may not be encoded semantically, or

at least, not to the same extent.
Less activation in Broca’s area = may
Encoding and Transfer of Information be related to semantic deficits.
Retrieval
Processes of Forgetting and Memory Distortion Encoding is not exclusively semantic; visual
The Constructive Nature of Memory encoding.
fMRI studies have found brain areas involved
in encoding can be involved in retrieval.

Encoding, storage, and retrieval often are viewed as Faces = anterior medial prefrontal
sequential stages. You first take in information, hold cortex, right fusiform face area
it for a while, later you pull it out. (encoding and retrieval); left fusiform
face area (encoding processes).
The processes interact with each other and are
interdependent. Both encoding and retrieval of places
activate the left parahippocampal
A verbal label can facilitate encoding and hence place area (PPA) = associated with
storage and retrieval. encoding rather than retrieval.
Medial temporal and prefrontal
regions are related to memory
Encoding and Transfer of Information processes.
We encode our memories to store them. Acoustic information can be encoded in long-
Short-Term Storage term memory.

Acoustic code – based on how they sound. Transfer of Information from Short-Term to Long-
Term
We seem to encode visually
presented letters by how they sound, How we move information depends on
not by how they look. whether the information involves declarative
or nondeclarative memory.
Semantic code – based on word meaning.
Declarative memory – facts and
Semantics did not matter much for knowledge.
processing.
Nondeclarative memory – procedural
There may be some secondary semantic memory e.g., skills.
encoding.
Some forms of nondeclarative memory are
Sometimes temporarily encode information highly volatile and decay quickly e.g., priming
visually as well. and habituation.
More likely to forget visual Other nondeclarative forms are maintained
information. more readily as a result of repeated practice
(of procedures) or repeated conditioning (of
Initial encoding is primarily acoustic in
responses).
nature, but other forms of encoding may be
used under some circumstances.
Long-Term Storage
Most information stored in long-term memory
primarily is encoded semantically.
Levels of processing influences encoding.
Entrance into long-term declarative memory May be overt (aloud an obvious), or
may occur through a variety of processes. covert (silent and hidden).
a. Deliberately attending to To move information into long-term memory,
information to comprehend it. an individual must engage in elaborative
b. Making connections or rehearsal.
associations between the new
information and what we already Elaborative rehearsal – elaborates on
know and understand. the items to be remembered.

Consolidation – the process of integrating Makes the items either more

new information into stored information. meaningfully integrated into
what the person already
Consolidating declarative information knows or more meaningfully
into memory can continue for many connected to one another.
years after the initial experience.
Maintenance rehearsal – simply
Stress impairs memory functioning; repeats the items to be remembered.
enhance the consolidation of memory
through the release of hormones. Temporarily maintains
information in short-term
Disruption in consolidation has been memory.
studied in amnesics.
Without any kind of elaboration, the
We may use various metamemory information cannot be organized and
strategies to preserve or enhance the transferred.
integrity of memories during
consolidation. Our memory for information depends on how
we acquire it.
Metamemory strategies –
involve reflecting on our own Hermann Ebbinghaus noticed that
memory processes to the distribution of study (memory
improve our memory. rehearsal) sessions over time affects
the consolidation of information in
Important when we long-term memory.
are transferring new
information to long- Our memories tend to be good when
term memory by we use distributed practice.
rehearsing it. Distributed practice – learning
Metamemory in which various sessions are
strategies are just one spaced over time.
component of Memories are not as good when we
metacognition. use massed practice.
Metacognition – our Massed practice – learning in
ability to think about which sessions are crammed
and control our own together in a very short space
processes of thought of time.
and ways of
enhancing our The greater the distribution of
thinking. learning, the more information is
remembered over long periods.
Thinking about
how we think.
Rehearsal – keeping information active; the
repeated recitation of an item.
Effects are termed practice effects.
 Spacing effect – to maximize the Integrating new experiences too rapidly
effect on long-term recall, the spacing leads to disruptions in long-term memory
should ideally be distributed over systems.
months.
Dentate gyrus – in the hippocampus;
Linked to the process by memory formation, new cells are generated
which memories are here.
consolidated in long-term
memory. Reconsolidation – completed on previously
encoded information.
REM Sleep – the sleep stage characterized
by dreaming and increased brainwave Occur with relatively newly
activity. consolidated material.

Disruption in REM sleep patterns Stored memories are organized.

reduce the amount of improvement. Mnemonic devices – specific
Stage 1 = light sleep, muscle activity techniques to help you organize and
slows down, occasional muscle memorize information.
twitching. 1. Categorical clustering
Stage 2 = breathing pattern and heart (hierarchy technique) –
rate slow, Slight decrease in body organize a list of items
temperature. into a set of categories.
2. Interactive images –
Stage 3 = deep sleep begins, brain create interactive images
begins to generate slow delta waves. that link the isolated
words in a list.
Stage 4 = very deep sleep, rhythmic 3. Pegword system –
breathing, limited muscle activity, associate each new word
brain produces delta waves. with a word on a
Stage 5 = rapid eye movement, previously memorized list
brainwaves speed up and dreaming and form an interactive
occurs, muscles relax and heart rate image between the two
increases, breathing is rapid and words.
shallow. 4. Method of loci – visualize
walking around an area
Dreaming takes place during with distinctive landmarks
stage 5 (REM Sleep). that you know well, and
then link the various
Important for memory consolidation.
landmarks to specific
Insomnia – deprives the sufferer of items to be remembered.
much needed sleep; trouble with 5. Acronym – devise a word
memory consolidation. or expression in which
each of its letters stands
REM sleep may help us not only to for a certain other word or
remember but also to forget certain concept.
things. 6. Acrostic – form a
Extremely low levels of acetylcholine impair sentence rather than a
memory consolidation, but only for single word to help you
remember the new words.
declarative information.
7. Keyword system – form
Hippocampus – acts as a rapid learning an interactive image that
system. links the sound and
meaning of a foreign word
Temporarily maintains new with the sound and
experiences until they can be meaning of a familiar
appropriately assimilated. word.
 The effectiveness of the methods for Cerebellum – memory for classically
encoding is influenced by the kind of task conditioned responses and contributes to
(free recall; serial recall) required at the time many cognitive tasks in general.
of retrieval.
Amygdala – associated with emotional events.
Mnemonic devices and other techniques for
The more emotionally charged the emotional
aiding memory involve metamemory.
memory, the greater the probability the
Reminders – external memory aids; enhance memory will later be retrieved.
the likelihood that we will remember
Women recall emotionally charged pictures
important information.
better than men.
Forcing functions – physical constraints that
Memory consolidation; emotional experience
prevent us from acting without at least
is involved.
considering the key information to be
remembered. Long term potentiation – an increase in the synaptic
response and thus an increase in the firing rate.
Retrospective memory – memory for the
past. Potentiation – increase in activity.
Prospective memory – memory for things we Physiological changes in the dendrites of the
need to do or remember in the future. receiving neuron.
We retain more of our prospective memory Make the neuron more likely to reach the
than of our retrospective memory. threshold for firing again.
Specific sensory properties of a given experience Indicates that neurons in the hippocampus
appear to be organized across various areas of the may be able to change their interactions i.e.,
cerebral cortex. plastic.
Cerebral cortex – long-term storage of Repeated activity of a synapse lead to
information. structural changes that eventually can lead to
long-term potentiation.
Hippocampus – & nearby cerebral structures are
important for explicit memory of experiences and Learning and formation of new information
other declarative information. can involve the formation of new synapses
as well as the loss of old synapses.
Encoding of declarative information.
Brain oscillations – repetitive neural activity;
Main function = integration and consolidation
formation of memories.
of separate sensory information as well as
spatial orientation and memory. Levels of Processing (LOP) approach.
Involved in the transfer of newly synthesized Serotonin and acetylcholine enhance neural
information into long-term structures transmission associated with memory.
supporting declarative knowledge.
Norepinephrine also may do so.
Recollection of information.
Acetylcholine – low concentrations found in
Other memory structures may be responsible for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
nondeclarative forms of memory.
Severe loss of the brain tissue that
Basal ganglia – controlling procedural secretes acetylcholine.
knowledge.
Serotonin – plays a role in Korsakoff
Not involved in controlling the priming syndrome.
effect.
Severe or prolonged abuse of alcohol
can lead to this anterograde amnesia.
 Alcohol consumption disrupt the Faces activated areas = left
activity of serotonin. prefrontal temporal cortex and the
posterior cingulated cortex.
Korsakoff syndrome – often
accompanied by at least some Availability – the presence of information
retrograde amnesia. stored in long-term memory.
Damage in the diencephalon Accessibility – the degree to which we can
– thalamus and gain access to the available information.
hypothalamus.
Memory performance depends on
Linked to dysfunction of the accessibility of the information to
frontal and temporal lobes. be remembered.
Naturally occurring hormones stimulate increased
availability of glucose in the brain, which enhances
Processes of Forgetting and Memory Distortion
memory function.
Interference theory – interference occurs when
Often associated with highly arousing
competing information causes us to forget
events.
something.
Hormones play a role in remembering these
Retroactive interference – retroactive
events.
inhibition; occurs when newly acquired
knowledge impedes the recall of older
material; after.
Retrieval
Proactive interference – proactive inhibition;
From Short-Term Memory
occurs when material that was learned in the
Parallel processing – the simultaneous past impedes the learning of new material;
handling of multiple operations; retrieved all before.
at once.
Increases as the amount of learning
Serial processing – operations being done increases.
one after another; retrieved in succession.
Increases in the length of time
Exhaustive serial processing – all between the information is encoded
items retrieved, regardless of the and retrieved.
task.
Has stronger effects in older adults.
Self-terminating serial processing –
Activation in the frontal cortex and
retrieval stop as soon as an item
Brodmann area 45 in the left
seems to accomplish the task.
hemisphere.
From Long-Term Memory
Brodmann area 45 – likely
Apparent memory failures were largely a involved in the binding of
result of retrieval, rather than storage items into meaningful groups.
failures.
Release from proactive interference
Material that is processed in certain cortical – the effects of proactive interference
areas during perception also activates those appear to dominate under conditions
same areas again during long-term memory in which recall is delayed.
recall.
Proactive and retroactive interference may
Spatial positions activated areas = play a role in short-term memory; can be
parietal and precentral cortex. reduced by sleep.
 People bring existing schemas to memory In real-life situations, memory is also constructive.
tasks, which affect the way in which they
Constructive – prior experience affects how
recall what they learn.
we recall things and what we actually recall
Schemas – mental frameworks that from memory.
represent knowledge in a meaningful
Autobiographical memory – memory of an
way.
individual’s history; constructive.
Serial-position curve – represents the
One remembers one’s construction or
probability of recall of a given word, given its
reconstruction of what happened rather than
serial position in a list.
exactly what happened.
Recency effect – superior recall of
Differentially good for different periods of life.
words at and near the end of a list.
Middle-aged adults remember events
Primacy effect – superior recall of
from their youthful and early adult
words at and near the beginning of a
periods better than they remember
list.
events from their more recent past.
Words at the end are subject to
People with positive self-esteem remember
proactive interference; words at the
more positive events, whereas people with
beginning are subject to retroactive
negative self-esteem remember more
interference; words in the middle are
negative events.
subject to both.
Flashbulb memory – a memory of an event
Decay Theory – asserts that information is forgotten
so powerful that the person remembers the
because of the gradual disappearance, rather than
event as vividly as if it were indelibly
displacement, of the memory trace.
preserved on film.
Decay occurs when the passage of time
A memory is most likely to become a
causes us to forget.
flashbulb memory under three
Information is gradually disappearing unless circumstances:
something is done to keep it intact.
a. Important
Decay only had a relatively small effect on forgetting b. Surprising
in short-term memory. c. Has an emotional effect
Interference accounted for most of the forgetting. May be more vividly recalled because
of their emotional intensity, effects of
Both decay and interference contribute to forgetting,
rehearsal, and perceptual richness.
it can be argued that interference has the stronger
effect. The accuracy of recall diminishes
while the perceived vividness of recall
Interference also affects material in long-term
increases.
memory, leading to memory distortion.
Medial temporal lobe is involved in the recall
of autobiographical memories.
The Constructive Nature of Memory
Lesions cause trouble recalling
Memory retrieval is not just reconstructive. memories from their recent past.

Reconstructive – involving the use of various

strategies to retrieve the original memory
traces of our experiences and then rebuild
the original experiences as a basis for
retrieval.
Memory distortions – people tend to distort their Spreading activation – every time an
memories. item is studied, you think of the items
related to that item.
Seven sins of memory:
Emotions, moods, states of consciousness,
1. Transience – memory fades
schemas, and other features of our internal
quickly.
context, clearly affect memory retrieval.
2. Absent-mindedness
3. Blocking – people sometimes Cognitive contexts for memory
have something that they know clearly influence our memory
they should remember, but they processes of encoding, storing, and
can’t. retrieving information.
4. Misattribution – people often
Expertise enhances our confidence
cannot remember where they
in our recollected memories.
heard what they heard or read
what they read. When we encode semantic
5. Suggestibility – people are information during a particular mood
susceptible to suggestion or state of consciousness, we may
6. Bias – people often are biased in more readily retrieve that information
their recall. when in the same state again.
7. Persistence – people sometimes
remember things as People in a depressed mood can
consequential that, in a broad more readily retrieve memories of
context, are inconsequential. previous sad experiences.

Eyewitness testimony may be the most People suffering from depression

common source of wrongful convictions. tend to have deficits in forming and
recalling memories.
People’s great susceptibility to distortion in
eyewitness accounts may be due other than External contexts may affect out ability to
just constructive memory. recall information.

Questions, lineups, confessions, E.g., physical context.

feedback to eyewitnesses How items are encoded has a strong
(postidentification feedback effect), effect both on how, and on how well,
people of a racial or ethnic group, and items are retrieved.
stress.
Encoding specificity – what is
Repressed memories – memories that are recalled depends on what is
alleged to have been pushed down into encoded.
unconsciousness because of the distress
they cause. Overrides LOP; information
that was encoded only at a
Are inaccessible, but they can be shallow level still may be
dredged up. recalled easily.
Source-monitoring error – occurs Self-reference effect – when individuals
when a person attributes a memory generate their own cues for retrieval, they are
derived from one source to another much more potent than when other
source. individuals do so.
Source monitoring – figuring
out the origins of a memory.