Memory

By: Dr. Abdifatah H. Daud PhD

Clinical Psychologist
 Introduction

• Memory consists of multiple stores

• Sensory stores
• Hold information very briefly
• Specific to each sensory modality
 Cont…
• Short term memory (STM)
• Hold information in the order of seconds to
minutes
• Limited capacity
• Long term memory (LTM)
• Hold information over very long periods of
time
• Unlimited capacity
 Short Term Memory (STM)
• Definition
• STM is the capacity for holding a small amount
of information in mind in an active, readily
available state for a short period of time
• The phases of a STM task
• Phase one: Item Presentation
• Encoding of information in STM
 Cont…
• Phase two: Retention Interval (storage)
• Keeping information active in STM (storage)
• Rehearsal
• Phase three: Retrieval of Information
• Recall or recognition
 Serial Position Effect
• Serial position effect
• Serial position curve
• U-shaped curve
• Primacy effect
• Early words can be rehearsed more often
• There is more time for deeper encoding
 Cont…
• Recency effect
• Last words are just still in memory
• Is reduced with a task during the retention
interval
 Chunking
• Chunking
• A collection of elements having strong associations with
one another, but weak associations with elements within
other chunks
• Chunks are based on previous knowledge
• Letters have to be learned first before they can be
chunked into words
• Miller: STM capacity is 5—9 chunks (7+/-2)
 Working Memory
• STM vs Working Memory (WM)
• Often used synonymously, but different concepts
• Short term memory (STM)
• Short term storage of information
• Example: remember a phone number 555-3421
 Cont…
• Working Memory (WM)
• Short term storage of information
• AND the capacity to manipulate this information
• Example: remember a phone number: 555-4421…
no it is 555-3421
• It is short term memory with control process…..
Correcting the information if you recall wrongly
 Long Term Memory
• Long Term Memory (LTM)
• Hold information over very long period of time
• Essential unlimited capacity
 Demonstration
15 Words to memories
1. Table 9. Car
2. Pen 10. Mosque
3. House 11. Shop
4. Soldier 12. Book
5. School 13. Door
6. Foreign 14. Football
7. Democracy 15. Restaurant
8. Laptop
Memories 15 Cities while adding
meaning
1. Jabuty 9. Istanbul
2. Jigjiga 10. Doha
3. Moqadisho
11. Mecca
4. Adisabab
12. Landon
5. Nairobi
6. Hargeisa
13. Kampala
7. Garoowe 14. Jerusalem
8. Gaza 15. Cairo
 Cont..
• How does information get into LTM?
• Rehearsal
• More repetition keeps information in STM but
does not result in transfer to LTM
 Cont…
• Depth of processing theory (Craik & Lockhart,
1972)
• The amount the stimuli have been processed
determines the strength of the memory trace.
• The more deeply processed the stronger the
memory trace
 Cont…
• Two types of rehearsal
• Maintenance rehearsal
• Simple rehearsal to keep stimuli in STM
• Elaborative rehearsal
• Deeper (usually semantic/meaning) processing
• Only elaborative rehearsal results in LTM storage
 Implication for Learning
• Don’t cram in information by mere rehearsal and repetition
• Instead, work with the information
• Try to understand it
• Think it through fully. Ask questions
• Link it to other knowledge you already have
• Make it holistic. E.g create vivid images of/with it
• Mnemonic Devices
 Types of Long Term Memory
1. Declarative memory
• Refers to knowledge about
• Facts (semantic memory)
• Events (episodic memory)
• Recall is conscious
• Sometime called (explicit memory)
• Recalled information is stored and may be manipulated in
STM
 A.Declarative—Semantic
Memory
• Stores general knowledge about the world
• Facts
• Concepts
• Schemas
• Scripts
 Cont…
• Facts
• Most basic units of semantic memory
• E.g. Mecca is in Saud Arabia
• Memory may be established immediately
 Cont…
• Concept
• A mental representation of categories of
objects or items
• A generalized and simplified form of a category
of objects
• Allows identification and categorization of new
never seen things like trees
• Concepts may also be about abstract things
 Cont…
• Schema
• Organized memory structure that organizes categories of
information (eg concepts) and the relationship among them
• Organized packet of information about
• The world
• People
• Events
 Cont…
• Example
• Trees (concept)
• Forest (schema) organize the relationship
between different concepts (trees, plants,
animals)
 Cont…
• Build on past experience
• Organize our perception (Brewer and Treyes, 1981)
• Experiment:
• Participant were asked to wait in an office
• Then, after came out from the office was asked material
in the office
• They have mentioned books which was not there
• Just knowing, that were are in an office helps organizing our
perception
 Cont…
• Script
• A script is a schema for sequences of events
• A sequence of expected behaviors for a given
situation
 Cont…
• Classic example: restaurant dining
• Being seated
• Ordering food and drink
• Eating and drinking
• Paying the bill
• Leaving the restaurant
 B. Declarative—Episodic
Memory
• Memory for events
• That people have experienced on their own
• That can be situated in time and space
• Subclass of episodic memory: Autobiographical memory
• Personal experiences that are important in one’s life
• E.g. date of birth, accident, etc
 Cont…
• Endel Tulving
• Coined term “episodic memory” 1972
• He made a distinction between
• Knowing (factual; semantic)
• Remembering (a feeling that is located in the
past; episodic)
 Cont…
• Characteristics
• Subjective sense of time (mental time travel)
• Connection to the self
• Often primarily in the form of visual images
• But may have many dimensions (e.g. time, place, emotions, contexts, situations,
smell, taste,…)
• When accessed, all stored dimensions are collectively experienced (a holistic
memory)
• Subject to rapid forgetting
• Breakfast of Monday last week
 Procedural Memory
• Procedural memory (muscle memory)
• Fascinating aspect of our cognitive system,
primarily concerned with the learning and
retention of skills and habits.
Characteristics of Procedural
Memory
• Implicit Nature
• Skill Acquisition
• Durability (long time)
• Automaticity
 Stages of Learning
1.Cognitive Stage: This is the initial phase where the individual
learns the basics of the task. It requires conscious thought and
attention.
2.Associative Stage: In this phase, practice leads to fewer errors,
and the learner begins to refine their skills. They may still think
about what they are doing, but the process becomes more fluid.
3.Autonomous Stage: Here, the skill becomes automatic. The
individual can perform the task efficiently without conscious
effort or thought.
 Deliberate Practice
• How does one become an expert (skilled)?
• Practice, practice, practice, and practice
• However, many people practice a lot but never become
expert
• Watching many videos can’t make you a video editor
• The type of practice matters
• Only deliberate practice can make you an expert
 Cont..
• Deliberate practice
• Highly structured activities that aim to eliminate weaknesses
• At the appropriate level of difficulty
• Closely monitored so that constant feedback is provided
• Not inherently enjoyable
 Forgetting
• Forgetting in Short Term Memory (STM)
• Two theories
• Decay theory
• Information fades away after no activation any more
• Interference theory
• Information does not face
• It interferes with old or new information
 Cont…
• Interference theory
• Proactive interference:
• Learning new material is hard because
something has been learned before
• Retroactive interference
• Learning new material affects memory of
previously learned material
 Cont…

• Interference arises mainly by semantic

similarity
• Learning a list of numbers and then a list of
letters does not interfere
• Learning a list of words and then a list of
synonyms of the first words interferes
 Forgetting in LTM

• Forgetting in Long Term Memory

• Two explanations for LTM forgetting
• Inability to access the information
• Deletion of information
• Active deletion of information
 Cont…
• Inability to access
• Inability to access contents of memory, we need “retrieval cues”
which act like an index
• Example
• You want to remember a doctor
• His specialty
• His place
• His looks
 Cont…
• Deletion of memory traces
• If a stored memory turned out to be of no use, it can be discarded
• Memory traces are not deleted in an immediate and final way
• Even in directed or intentional forgetting
• Instead this is a slow process
 Cont…
• What is the time course of this?
• Bahrick et al (2008) asked 276 alumni who had graduated up to
54 years before about their grades
• The more the time pass the more the alumni forget about their
grades
 Prospective Memory
• Remembering:
• What you have to do
• When you have to do
• It involves
• Working memory
• And sense of time
 Cont…
• Problems of prospective memory
• Missing a window of opportunity
• Mistrust
• For your ability
• Or other people think you are not reliable
• Covering up/lying
• After repeatedly miss and appointment the person start
developing lying about missing these deadlines
 Cont…
• Improving working memory
• Don’t wait; do it instantly
• Use a to do list or agenda
• Not writing means choose not to do it
• Use items as their own reminders
• Get rid of clutter
• Remove not important stimuli out of your working memory
 Cont…
• Improving a sense of time
• Set alarms/reminders
• Do it or snooze it (set another reminder)
• Leave notes in specific location
• Leave yourself a voicemail/text
• Make use a paper schedule