Chapter 7

Cognition
Student Slides
What is Memory?

Human memory is an
information processing
system that works
constructively to encode,
store, and retrieve
information
 What is Memory?

Memory –
Any system – human, animal, or machine
– that encodes, stores, and retrieves
information
 -Metaphors for Memory

Cognitive psychologists see human

memory more as an interpretive system,
such as an artist, rather than a system
that takes an accurate recording, such as
a video recorder
 -Human Memory is Good at:

Information on which attention is focused

Information in which we are interested
Information that arouses us emotionally
Information that fits with our previous
experiences
Information that we rehearse
 Memory’s Three Basic Tasks

Encoding Storage Retrieval

 How Do We
Form Memories?

Each of the three memory

stages encodes and stores
memories in a different way,
but they work together to
transform sensory experience
into a lasting record that has a
pattern of meaning
 The Three Stages of Memory

Sensory Working Long-term

Memory Memory Memory
 The Three Stages of Memory

Sensory Working Long-term

Memory Memory Memory
Preserves brief
sensory
impressions of
stimuli
 The First Stage: Sensory Memory

The actual capacity of sensory memory

can be twelve or more items
All but three or four items disappear before
they can enter consciousness
There is a separate sensory register for
each sense
Sensory Memory
 The Three Stages of Memory

Sensory Working Long-term

Memory Memory Memory

Preserves recently
perceived events or
experiences for less
than a minute without
rehearsal, also called
short-term memory or
STM
The Second Stage: Working Memory

Working memory consists of

• A central executive
• A phonological loop
• The sketchpad
 Encoding and Storage
in Working Memory
Chunking –
Organizing pieces of information into a
smaller number of meaningful units
Maintenance rehearsal –
Process in which information is repeated
or reviewed to keep it from fading while in
working memory
 Encoding and Storage
in Working Memory

Elaborative rehearsal –
Process in which information is actively
reviewed and related to information
already in LTM
Acoustic encoding –
Conversion of information to sound
patterns in working memory
 Encoding and Storage
in Working Memory

Levels-of-processing theory –
Explanation for the fact that information
that is more thoroughly connected to
meaningful terms in LTM will be better
remembered
 The Three Stages of Memory

Sensory Working Long-term

Memory Memory Memory
Stores material
organized
according to
meaning, also
called LTM
 The Third Stage:
Long-Term Memory
Procedural memory –
Division of LTM that stores memories for
how things are done
Declarative memory –
Division of LTM that stores explicit
information
(also known as fact memory)
 Long-term memory

Declarative memory Procedural memory

Semantic memory Episodic memory Includes memory

for:
Includes memory Includes memory motor skills,
for: for: operant and
language, facts events, personal classical
general knowledge experiences conditioning
 The Biological Basis
of Long-Term Memory

Engram –
The physical trace of memory
Anterograde amnesia (forget the new)
Inability to form memories for new information
(example: 50 First Dates)
Retrograde amnesia (forget the past)
Inability to remember information previously
stored in memory (example: Samantha Who?)
 The Biological Basis
of Long-Term Memory

Consolidation –
The process by which short-term
memories are changed to long-term
memories
 How Do We
Retrieve Memories?

Whether memories are

implicit or explicit, successful
retrieval depends on how
they were encoded and how
they are cued
 How Do We
Retrieve Memories?

Implicit memory –
Memory that was not deliberately learned
or of which you have no conscious
awareness
Explicit memory –
Memory that has been processed with
attention and can be consciously recalled
 Retrieval Cues

Retrieval cues –
Stimuli that are used to bring a memory
to consciousness or into behavior
 Retrieval Cues

Priming –
Technique for retrieving implicit
memories by providing cues that
stimulate a memory without awareness of
the connection between the cue and the
retrieved memory
 Priming

If you are presented with the following

words:

assassin, octopus, avocado, mystery,

sheriff, climate
 Priming

An hour later, you would easily be able to

identify which of the following words you
had previously seen:

twilight, assassin, dinosaur, mystery

 Priming

However, an hour later, you would also

have a much easier time filling in the
blanks of some of these words than
others:
ch_ _ _ _ nk
o _ t _ _ _ us
_ og _ y _ _ _
_ l _ m _ te
 Priming

While you did not actively try to remember

“octopus” and “climate” from the first list,
they were primed in the reading, which
made them easier to identify in this task
chipmunk
octopus
bogeyman
climate
 Retrieving Explicit Memories

Anything stored in LTM must be “filed”

according to its pattern or meaning
 Recall and Recognition

Recall –
Technique for retrieving explicit
memories in which one must reproduce
previously presented information
Recognition –
Technique for retrieving explicit
memories in which one must identify
present stimuli as having been previously
presented
 Other Factors Affecting Retrieval

Encoding specificity principle –

The more closely the retrieval clues
match the form in which the information
was encoded, the better the information
will be remembered
 Other Factors Affecting Retrieval

Mood congruent memory –

A memory process that selectively
retrieves memories that match one’s
mood
TOT (tip of the tongue) phenomenon –
The inability to recall a word, while
knowing that it is in memory
Why Does Memory
Sometimes Fail Us?

Most of our memory

problems arise from memor
y’s “seven sins” – which are
really by-products of
otherwise adaptive features
of human memory
 Memory’s
“Seven Sins”

Absent-
Transience Blocking
Mindedness

Misattribution Suggestibility

Bias Persistence
 Can’t remember those 7 sins of
memory? Use this mnemonic device!

Try (transience)
Asking (absent-mindedness)
Bappleby (blocking)
Maybe (misattribution)
She’s (suggestibility)
Brilliant in (bias)
Psychology (persistence)
 Transience

The impermanence of a long-term memory;

based on the idea that long-term
memories gradually fade in strength over
time
Forgetting curve –
A graph plotting the amount of retention and
forgetting over time for a certain batch of
material
 Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve

Percent retained 60
50
40
30
20
10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Days

Recall decreases rapidly, then reaches a plateau,

after which little more is forgotten
 Absent-Mindedness

Forgetting caused by lapses in attention

 Blocking

Forgetting that occurs when an item in

memory cannot be accessed or retrieved
• Proactive interference ( forward blocking -
old information blocks the new)
• Retroactive interference (backward
blocking - new information blocks the old)
• Serial position effect (remember the stuff
in the beginning and the end but not in the
middle – double dose of interference!)
 Old information blocks the new information. All you remember is Spanish!

New information blocks the old information. All you remember is the French!
 Misattribution

Memory fault that occurs when memories

are retrieved, but they are associated
with the wrong time, place, or person
 Suggestibility

Process of memory distortion as a result of

deliberate or inadvertent suggestion
Misinformation effect –
The distortion of memory by suggestion or
misinformation
 Factors Affecting the Accuracy of
Eyewitnesses:
Recollections are less influenced by
leading questions if possibility of memory
bias is forewarned
Passage of time leads to increase in
misremembering information
Age of the witness matters
Confidence in memory is not a sign of
accuracy
 Bias

An attitude, belief, emotion, or experience

that distorts memories
Expectancy bias –
A tendency to distort recalled events to
make them fit one’s expectations
Self-consistency bias –
Idea that we are more consistent than we
actually are
 Persistence

Memory problem in which unwanted

memories cannot be put out of mind
 The Advantages of the
“Seven Sins” of Memory

Despite the grief they cause us, the “seven

sins” may actually be by-products of
adaptive features of memory
For example, absent-mindedness is the by-
product of the useful ability to shift our
attention
Misattributions, biases, and suggestibility
result from a memory system built to deal
with meaning
 Improving Memory with Mnemonics

Mnemonics –
Techniques for improving memory,
especially by making connections
between new material and information
already in long-term memory
Mnemonic strategies include
Method of loci
Natural language mediators
 How Do Children
Acquire Language?

Infants and children face an

especially important
developmental task with the
acquisition of language
 How Children Acquire Language

Innateness theory of language –

Children learn language mainly by
following an inborn program for acquiring
vocabulary and grammar
Language acquisition device (LAD) –
Structure in the brain innately
programmed with some of the
fundamental rules of grammar
 How Children Acquire Language

Early stages of language acquisition

include the following:
• The babbling stage (infancy – varies)
• The one-word stage (6 - 12 mo.)
• The naming explosion (18 mo.)
• The two-word stage (24 mo.)
• Telegraphic speech (short, simple
sentences) (24 mo. and up)
 The Rules of Grammar
Grammar –
The rules of a language
Phonemes – The smallest units of sounds to form meaningful
utterances (a, b, c, d, etc.)
Morphemes –
Meaningful units of language that make up words (put the
sounds together to morph into a word – “downtown” is two
morphemes – two words with meaning but they morph into
one meaningful word). Can also be used to mark tense (“I
miss you” vs. “I missed you”) and possession (“Jessica” vs
“Jessica’s”).
Overregularization –
Applying a grammatical rule too widely and thereby creating
incorrect forms
(e.g. using “hitted” and “feets”)
 How Children Acquire Language

Other language skills

Social rules of conversation
Abstract words (e.g. hope, truth)
 What Are the
Components of Thought?

Thinking is a cognitive process

in which the brain uses
information from the senses,
emotions, and memory to
create and manipulate mental
representations, such as
concepts, images, schemas,
and scripts
 Concepts
Concepts –
Mental representations of categories of items or ideas, based
on experience
Natural concepts represent objects and events – not only are
they words, but they evoke images or emotions of the object
or event as well. Natural concepts invoke a mental
prototype, or a generic image that represents an example of
a conceptual category (e.g. Bird).
Artificial concepts are defined by rules – dictionary
definitions, mathematical formulations. Artificial concepts
help to clearly define the natural concept (e.g. Bird is a
feathered biped). The concept of the term “concept” is an
artificial concept!
We organize much of our declarative memories into concept
hierarchies
 Animal
Has skin
Eats
Breathes

Bird Fish
Has wings Has fins
Can fly Can swim
Has feathers Has gills

Canary Ostrich Shark Salmon

Can sing Can’t fly Can bite Is pink
Is yellow Is tall Is dangerous Is edible
 Thought and the Brain

Event-related potentials –
Brain waves shown on an EEG in
response to stimulation
 Schemas and Scripts Help you Know
What to Expect
Schema –
A knowledge cluster or general
framework that provides
expectations about topics,
events, objects, people, and
situations in one’s life (your
schema of telephone is much
different than my grandparents’
schema of telephone!)
Script –
A cluster of knowledge about
sequences of events and
actions expected to occur in
particular settings (an event
schema!)
What Abilities Do Good
Thinkers Possess?

Good thinkers not only have

a repertoire of effective
algorithms and heuristics,
they know how to avoid the
common impediments to
problem solving and decision
making
 Problem Solving

Good problem solvers are skilled at

Identifying the problem
Selecting a strategy
 Selecting a Strategy

Algorithms –
Problem-solving procedures or formulas
that guarantee a correct outcome if
correctly applied
Heuristics –
Cognitive strategies used as shortcuts to
solve complex mental tasks; they do not
guarantee a correct solution
 Heuristics

Useful heuristics include:

• Working backward
• Searching for analogies
• Breaking a big problem into smaller
problems
 Obstacles to Problem Solving

Mental set –
Tendency to respond to a new problem in
the manner used for a previous problem
Functional fixedness –
Inability to perceive a new
use for an object associated
with a different purpose
 Obstacles to Problem Solving

Other obstacles include:

• Self-imposed limitations
• Lack of interest
• Fatigue
• Drugs (legal and illegal)
Judging and Making Decisions

Confirmation Bias

Hindsight Bias

Anchoring Bias

Representativeness
Bias

Availability Bias
 Judging and Making Decisions

Confirmation Bias Ignoring or finding

fault with information
that does not fit our
Hindsight Bias opinions, and
seeking information
Anchoring Bias with which we agree

Representativeness
Bias

Availability Bias
 Judging and Making Decisions

Confirmation Bias
Tendency, after
learning about an
Hindsight Bias event, to believe that
one could have
Anchoring Bias predicted the event in
advance
Representativeness
Bias

Availability Bias
 Judging and Making Decisions

Confirmation Bias

Faulty heuristic
Hindsight Bias caused by basing
(anchoring) an
Anchoring Bias estimate on a
completely unrelated
Representativeness quantity
Bias

Availability Bias
 Judging and Making Decisions

Confirmation Bias

Faulty heuristic
Hindsight Bias strategy based on
presumption that,
Anchoring Bias once a person or
event is categorized,
Representativeness it shares all features
Bias of other members in
that category
Availability Bias
 Judging and Making Decisions

Confirmation Bias

Hindsight Bias
Faulty heuristic
Anchoring Bias strategy that
estimates
Representativeness probabilities based
Bias on information that
can be recalled from
Availability Bias personal experience
 End of Chapter 7
We are halfway through!

Hopefully this chapter will not become “only a memory” now that you
are finished with it!