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
