PSYCHOLOGY 2e

Chapter 8 MEMORY
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MEMORY
The study of memory looks at some of the following questions:
- How do we process and store information?
- Are there different types of memory?
- How do we retrieve memories?
- Why do we forget?

Photographs can trigger our memories and bring past experiences back to life. (credit: modification
of work by Cory Zanker)
What’s your earliest memory?

On the board, write down the following:

1. Age of earliest memory
2. Location (at a party, in bedroom, at school)
3. Can you remember an emotion or just that happened?
(Write down “happened” or tell us the emotion)
**How do you know it is a REAL memory? Not just a photo or
story you have heard a million times?

Example:
4 years old Preschool parking lot Happy

 Do you trust your memories? Have you argued with people

before on what “REALLY” happened?
HOW MEMORY FUNCTIONS

Memory is an information processing system like a computer. It is a set of processes

used to encode, store and retrieve information over different periods of time.
1. Encoding involves the input of information into the memory system.
2. Storage is the retention of the encoded information.
3. Retrieval, is getting the information out of memory and back into awareness.
ENCODING
When the brain receives information from the environment it:

- Labels/codes it.
- Organizes it with other similar information.
- Connects new concepts to existing
concepts.
Encoding occurs through 2 types of
processing:
Automatic processing – encoding of details
like time, space, frequency, and the meaning
of words.
When you first learn new skills such
- Usually done without conscious awareness. as driving a car, you have to put forth
- E.g. remembering WHEN you last studied. effort and attention to encode
information about driving. Once you
Effortful processing – encoding of details know how to drive, you can encode
that takes time and effort. additional information about this skill
- E.g. WHAT you last studied, learning new automatically.
skills. (credit: Robert Couse-Baker)
TYPES OF ENCODING

1. Semantic encoding – encoding of words and their meanings.

- Most effective form of encoding. Attaching meaning to information makes it easier
to recall later.
- Involves a deeper level of processing.
2. Visual encoding – encoding of images.
- Words that create a mental image, such as car, dog and book (concrete words)
are easier to recall than words such as level, truth and value (abstract words).
3. Acoustic encoding – encoding of sounds.

Self-reference effect – the tendency for an individual to have better memory for
information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal
relevance.
STORAGE: BADDELEY & HITCH MODEL

Baddeley and Hitch proposed a model of storage where short-term memory has
different forms depending on the type of information received.
- Storing memories is like opening different files on a computer and adding
information.

3 short-term systems:
1. Visuospatial sketchpad
2. Episodic buffer
3. Phonological loop.
According to the model, a
central executive supervises
the flow of information between
the systems.
(Credit: mercercognitivepsychology)
STORAGE: A-S MODEL
Storage is the creation of a permanent record of information.
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory
- Information passes through three distinct stages in order for it to be stored in long-term
memory.
- Based on the belief that memories are processed the same way that a computer
processes information.
SENSORY MEMORY

Sensory memory – storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and
tastes.
- Stored for up to a couple of seconds.
- First step of processing stimuli from the environment.
- If the information is not important, it is discarded.
- If the information is valuable then it moves into our short-term memory.
THE STROOP EFFECT

The Stroop effect was discovered while studying sensory memory and describes
why it is difficult for us to name a color when the word and the color of the word
are different.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY (STM)

Short-term memory/working memory – a temporary storage system that processes

incoming sensory memory.
- Lasts about 20 seconds.
- Capacity is usually about 7 items +/-2 (discovered by George Miller).

Short-term memories are either discarded

or stored in long-term memory.
Memory consolidation – Transfer of STM
to long-term memory.
One way memory consolidation can be
achieved is through rehearsal.
Rehearsal – the conscious repetition of
information to be remembered.
LONG-TERM MEMORY (LTM)
LTM is the continuous storage of information.
It has no limit and is like the information you store on the hard drive of a computer.
There are two components of long-term memory: explicit and implicit.
LTM: EXPLICIT MEMORY
Explicit (declarative) memory – memories of facts and events we can consciously
remember and recall/declare.
Explicit memories include two types:
Semantic – knowledge about words, concepts and language.
- Knowing who the President is.

Episodic – information about events we have personally experienced.

- Remembering your 5th birthday party.
- The what, where, when of an event.
- Also called autobiographical memory.
- A small number of people (including actress Marilu Henner) have a highly
superior autobigraphical memory known as hyperthymesia.
LTM: IMPLICIT MEMORIES
Implicit memory - memories that are not part of our consciousness.
- Formed through behaviors.
Procedural – stores information about how to do things.
- Skills and actions.
- E.g. how to ride a bike, tie your shoe laces, drive.

Implicit memory also includes behaviors learned through

emotional conditioning.
- You might have a fear of spiders but not consciously
remember why or what occurred to condition that fear.
RETRIEVAL
How to you get information back out of storage?
Retrieval – the act of getting information out of memory storage and back into
conscious awareness.
Retrieval is needed for everyday functioning (e.g. knowing how to drive to work, or
how perform your job once you get there).
3 ways to retrieve information:
1. Recall – being able to access information without cues.
- Used for an essay test.
2. Recognition – being able to identify information that you have previously learned
after encountering it again.
- Used for a multiple choice test.
3. Relearning – Learning information that you previously learned.
- After learning Spanish in high school, you might forget how to speak it if you do
not use it. However, if you try to relearn it, you will learn it quicker than the first
time.
PARTS OF THE BRAIN INVOLVED IN MEMORY

Karl Lashley and Engrams

Karl Lashley was looking for evidence of an engram – the group of neurons that
serve as the “physical representation of memory”.
- Studied parts of the brain involved in memory by making lesions in the brains of
animals such as rats and monkeys.
- Trained rats to learn their way around a maze and then made lesions to try to
remove the memory.
- Lashley was unable to find evidence of an engram. The rats were still able to
remember their way around the maze so he formulated a new hypothesis.
Equipotentiality hypothesis – if part of one area of the brain involved in memory is
damaged, another part of the same area can take over that memory function.
Eric Kandel
- Studied the synapse and its role in controlling the flow of information through
neural circuits needed to store memories.
PARTS OF THE BRAIN INVOLVED IN MEMORY

Scientists have now identified different parts of the brain involved in memory.
PARTS OF THE BRAIN INVOLVED IN MEMORY
Amygdala
- Involved in fear and fear memories (memory storage is influenced by stress
hormones).
- Processes emotional information important in encoding memories at a deeper
level and memory consolidation.
Hippocampus
- Associated with explicit memory, recognition memory and spatial memory.
- Projects information to cortical regions that give memories meaning and connect
them with other memories.
- Involved in memory consolidation.
- Damage leads to an inability to process new declarative memories.
Patient H.M:
- Had both temporal lobes removed (including hippocami) to help control his
seizures.
- Declarative memory was significantly effected.
- Could not form new semantic knowledge or episodic memories.
PARTS OF THE BRAIN INVOLVED IN MEMORY

Cerebellum
- Plays a role in processing procedural memories, such as how to play the piano
and classical conditioning.
- Damage prevents classical conditioning such as an eye-blink in response to a
puff of air.
Prefrontal cortex
- Appears to be involved in remembering semantic tasks.
- PET scans show activation in the left inferior prefrontal cortex when completing
semantic tasks.
- Encoding is associated with left frontal activity.
- Retrieval of information is associated with the right frontal region.
NEUROTRANSMITTERS
Communication among neurons via neurotransmitters is critical for developing new
memories.
Repeated neuron activity → increased neurotransmitters in the synapse → stronger
synaptic connections. (This is how memory consolidation occurs).
Neurotransmitters involved in memory:
- Epinephrine
- Dopamine
- Serotonin
- Glutamate
- Acetylcholine
Arousal Theory – strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories and
weaker emotional experiences form weaker memories.
- Strong emotional experiences can trigger the release of neurotransmitters which
strengthen memory.
- Evidenced by flashbulb memories - an exceptionally clear recollection of an
important emotional event.
FLASH BULB MEMORY
Flash bulb memory – a record of an atypical and unusual event that has very strong
emotional associations.

Depending on the age and awareness/interests of the person, certain flashbulb

memories can act as generational reference points. Examples include:

• The assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm
X, or Robert Kennedy.
• The first humans landing on the Moon
• The attacks of September 11, 2001

Flashbulb memory formation may depend on cultural reference and personal

investment/involvement.
• A national leader suddenly resigning may become a flashbulb memory for those
citizens only.
• An athlete suddenly retiring may become a flashbulb memory for fans of that sport
or team.

9/11 is the most recent flashbulb memory that has been extensively researched.
AMNESIA
Amnesia – the loss of long-term memory that occurs as the result of disease,
physical trauma, or psychological trauma.
There are 2 common types:
Anterograde amnesia – inability to remember new information after point of trauma.
- Commonly caused by brain trauma.
- Hippocampus is usually affected – causes inability to transfer information from
STM to LTM.
Retrograde amnesia – loss of memory (partial or complete) for events that occurred
prior to the trauma.
MEMORY CONSTRUCTION &
RECONSTRUCTION

Construction – formulation of new memories.

Reconstruction – process of bringing up old memories.
When we retrieve memories, we tend to unintentionally alter and modify them,
resulting in inaccuracies and distortions.
Suggestibility
Suggestibility is the effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the
creation of false memories.
- Can cause people to claim to remember something that was only a suggestion
someone made.
- Memories are fragile making them vulnerable to the power of suggestion.
- An important area of study has been the role of suggestibility in eyewitness
testimonies.
EYEWITNESS MISIDENTIFICATION
Eyewitness identification and testimony is often used in the prosecution of criminals.
Research suggests that suggestive police identification procedures can lead to
alterations in an eyewitnesses memory leading to misidentification.

In studying cases where DNA evidence has exonerated people from crimes, the Innocence
Project discovered that eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful
convictions (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, 2009).
THE MISINFORMATION EFFECT

Elizabeth Loftus
- Studied false memories.
Misinformation effect paradigm – after exposure to incorrect information, a person
may misremember the original event.
Study (1974):
- Asked college students to estimate the speed of cars using different forms of
questions.
- Participants were shown films of car accidents and were asked to play the tole of
eyewitness and describe what happened.
- Were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they (smashed, collided,
bumped, hit, contacted) each other?”
- Participants that heard the word smashed estimated that the cars were travelling a
lot faster than those that heard the word contacted.
- If they heard the word glass, they were more than twice as likely to say they
remember seeing glass (a false memory).
- The implied meaning of the word used influenced the participants memory of the
accident.
LOFTUS STUDY

When people are asked leading questions about an event, their memory of the
event may be altered.
Figure 8.13 (credit a: modification of work by Rob Young)
REPRESSED & RECOVERED MEMORIES

A controversial topic within psychology is the idea that whole events can be
repressed or falsely recalled.
False memory syndrome – recall of false autobiographical memories.
Repressed memories:
Some psychologist believe it is possible to completely repress traumatic childhood
memories such as sexual abuse.
- Can lead to psychological distress in adulthood.
- Some believe that these can be recalled through hypnosis and guided imagery
techniques.
- Loftus challenges the idea of repressed memories and questions if recalled
memories are accurate or whether the processes of questioning and
suggestibility leads to the misinformation effect.
How can suggestibility be avoided when questioning eyewitnesses?
WHY DO WE FORGET?
Forgetting – loss of information from long-term memory.
Encoding Failure
Encoding failure occurs when the memory is never stored in our memory in the first
place.
Successful encoding requires effort and attention.
Can you tell which coin is the accurate depiction of a US nickel?
Most American’s cannot tell which one because we do not encode the specific
details, we just know enough to differentiate it from other coins.
MEMORY ERRORS
Schacter’s 7 sins of memory
Forgetting type:
1. Transience – Accessibility of memory decreases over time (storage decay).
2. Absentmindedness – Forgetting caused by lapses in attention.
3. Blocking – Accessibility of information is temporarily blocked (aka tip-of-the-
tongue phenomenon).
Distortion type:
4. Misattribution – Source of memory is confused.
5. Suggestibility – False memories.
6. Bias – Memories distorted by current belief system.
Intrusion type:
7. Persistence – Inability to forget undesirable memories.
TRANSIENCE/STORAGE DECAY
Overtime, unused information tends to fade away.
Ebbinghaus (1885)
Studied the process of memorization.
The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve shows how quickly memory for new information decays.
- 50% after 20 minutes.
- 70% after 24 hours.
BIAS

According to Schacter, your feelings and view of the world can distort your memory of
past events.
Stereotypical bias - involves racial and gender biases.
- After presenting people with a list of names, they more frequently incorrectly
remembered typical African American names to be associated with the occupation
basketball player, and typical white names to be associated with the occupation
politician.
Egocentric bias – involves enhancing our memories of the past.
- People remember events in a way that makes them look better.
Hindsight bias – the tendency to think an outcome was inevitable after the fact.
- Thinking you knew it all along.
PERSISTENCE

Many veterans of military conflicts involuntarily recall unwanted, unpleasant memories.

(credit: Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth)
INTERFERENCE

Sometimes forgetting is caused by a failure to retrieve information. This can be

due to interference, either retroactive or proactive.
WAYS TO ENHANCE MEMORY

Rehearsal – conscious repetition of information to be remembered.

Chunking – organizing information into manageable bits or chunks.
E.g. Separating phone numbers into 3 chunks.
Elaborative rehearsal – technique in which you think about the meaning of the
new information and its relation to knowledge already stored in your memory.
Mnemonic devices – memory aids that help us organize information for
encoding.
E.g. One way to remember the order of planets is the name MR. VEM J. SON.
Other techniques can include:
- Expressive writing.
- Saying words aloud.
MNEMONIC DEVICES

This is a knuckle mnemonic to help you remember the number of days in each
month. Months with 31days are represented by the protruding knuckles and
shorter months fall in the spots between knuckles.
(credit: modification of work by Cory Zanker)
 HOW TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY
Memory techniques can be useful when studying for class.
1. Use elaborative rehearsal – link information to other information/memories to
make it more meaningful.
2. Apply the self-reference effect – make information personally meaningful to
YOU.
3. Don’t forget the forgetting curve – keep studying to prevent storage decay.
4. Rehearse.

5. Be aware of interference – study without

distractions.
6. Keep moving – aerobic exercise
promotes neurogenesis (growth of new
brain cells in the hippocampus).
7. Get enough sleep – the brain
consolidates memories while sleeping.
8. Make use of mnemonic devices. (credit: Barry Pousman)

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