By Darla Rocha
Memory
What is memory?
Memory is an active system that senses, organizes, alters, stores, & retrieves information.
Memory is selective... it has to be. You cannot remember every detail of everyday. (Examples - What
were you wearing two years ago today?; What did you eat for dinner last April the 10th?)
If you did remember every detail of every event, your memory would become cluttered. Most of
these details are unimportant - hence, we don’t need to remember them.
What are the 3 processes of memory?
Memory involves three basic processes:
1) Encoding is the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to
convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems.
2) Storage is holding onto information for some period of time.
3) Retrieval is getting information that is in storage so it can be used.
If there is a failure in any one of these processes, memory failure will occur.
What is the Stage Model of Memory?
The Stage Model of Memory states that we have 3 separate, but interacting memory stages/systems.
Sensory Memory
The function is to hold incoming sensory information until STM is ready for it. No processing
takes place in the sensory memory.
The capacity is very large (can hold a lot at once) but it’s not unlimited.
The duration is very brief (holds visual information for approximately 1/2 second, holds
auditory information for approximately 2 seconds)
Short-Term Memory (abbreviated STM) (sometimes called ‘Working Memory’)
The function is the conscious processing of information (while it is being used). Any time you
are working with information, whether it be speaking, writing, thinking, holding a
conversation, studying, etc., you are doing so from your short-term memory. ALL processing
of information takes place here.
The capacity is about 7 items at once (plus+ or minus- 2).
o This capacity can be expanded via Chunking which is grouping separate bits of
information into larger units (or chunks) so more info can be held in STM at once.
The duration is about 30 seconds without rehearsal.
o Maintenance rehearsal is repeating information over and over so it can be retained
longer than 30 seconds
o Displacement is when STM is full and new information enter, it will kick out the old
information (it becomes displaced or lost).
Through active rehearsal, information is transferred from the STM to the LTM.
By Darla Rocha
Long-Term Memory (abbreviated LTM)
The function is where all permanent memories are stored when they are not being used.
o Elaborative Rehearsal is transferring info from STM to LTM by making info meaningful.
The capacity is unlimited; you will never run out of room.
The duration is thought to be permanent (researchers disagree).
There are 2 main types of LTM:
Non-declarative memories are implicit memories (not easily brought into
conscious awareness; hard to explain).
Procedural memory is a memory of a specific skill, task, or procedures that
we require through repetitive practice (typically step-by-step type task)
(examples – I know how to ride a bike; I know how to eat with a fork, I
know how to drive a car).
Declarative memories are explicit memories (consciously known; easy to
‘declare’).
Semantic memories are memories of general information, facts &
knowledge. (I know that 2+2=4; I know George Washington was the first
president; I know that Wundt is the father of Psychology).
Episodic memories are memories of specific life events or “episodes.”
(Examples - I know that I fell of my bike and broke my arm; I know that I
teach Psychology; I know that I have 2 dogs).
What are ways to measure memory?
There are several ways to measure memory.
Recall is when information must be “pulled” out of memory with no cues. (Example – an essay
exam). Two variations of recall are…
Cued recall when the information is produced with the aid of a retrieval cue.
(Examples– fill in the blank test questions; remembering someone’s name because you
see an initial on their shirt).
Serial recall when the information must be recalled in a certain order, or series.
(Examples – reciting the alphabet; remembering directions to your house).
Sometimes when recalling information, the serial position effect occurs.
Serial Position Effect is when information at the beginning and the end of a list, such as
a poem or song, tends to be remembered more easily and accurately. Two variations
of this are…
Primacy effect is when words at the very beginning of the list tend to be
remembered better than those in the middle of the list.
Recency effect is when words at the very end of the list tend to be remembered
better than those in the middle of the list.
Recognition is simply recognizing the information as being familiar. (Examples - multiple choice
test questions and matching test questions).
Sometimes with recognition, a false positive occurs.
A False positive is when one thinks that one recognizes someone or something but in
fact does not.
By Darla Rocha
Relearning is learning the same piece of information over and over. (Example –
comprehensive final exam). The more you study a piece of information, the better you learn it.
What is forgetting and what are reasons we forget?
Forgetting is simply the inability to remember something previously in memory.
German Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909), conducted studies on memory and found that
his recall of words from memorized word lists was greatest immediately after learning the list but rapidly
decreased within the first hour. After the first hour, forgetting leveled off. He called this the Forgetting
Curve.
Reasons for forgetting include…
Encoding failure is the failure to pay attention to and process information into STM; info was
never encoded into long-term memory. Most likely, the information was unimportant, therefore
the brain did not take the time to encode it.
Consolidation failure is when the physiological and chemical processes of consolidation is
interrupted usually due to head trauma, such as fainting, concussion, blow to the head,
seizure, etc. Types of consolidation failure include…
Retrograde amnesia is memory loss of experiences that occurred before the loss of
consciousness.
Anterograde amnesia is memory loss of experiences that occurred after the loss of
consciousness.
Decay is when memories fade/decay with time when they are not used.
Interference are memories interfering with other memories. There are 2 types…
Proactive interference is when information learned earlier interferes with
information learned later. OLD interferes with NEW.
(Examples - calling your new girlfriend by your old girlfriend’s name; writing 2014
on your checks, although you know it’s 2015; Moving from the United States to
England, where people drive on the left instead of the right side of the road).
Retroactive interference is when information learned later interferes with
information learned earlier. NEW interferes with OLD.
(Examples - on application, you are asked to list your previous residential
address. You cannot remember your old zip code although you lived there for
over 10 years; you try to call a co-worker in the department you used to work in
and you can’t remember the extension, even though you were in that
department for 5 years; trying to program an old cell phone after having the
new one for a year).
Motivated forgetting is when we forget painful and embarrassing experiences because we are
motivated to forget them. (Examples - suppressed memories, repressed memories).
By Darla Rocha
Retrieval failure is when the information is stored in the long-term memory, you are just unable
to locate it. This is also known as the “Tip of The Tongue” phenomena. (Examples - You are
taking a test and you are confident that you know what proactive interference is... However,
when you get to that question on the test, your mind goes blank.... You are unable to think of
the answer. This is retrieval failure. The information is in your memory, you just cannot locate it
at that particular moment).
How are memories reconstructed?
When we remember an event, we do not remember every detail (like a recorded video). Our
memories have gaps because we only remember highlights of events, not specific details. Our
memories are pieced together one highlight at a time.
Reconstruction is the process of constructing memories to be complete by filling in gaps. Often these
gaps are filled in with incorrect information.
The process of reconstruction is a very biased and subjective process.
Here is an example of why… when you are sitting around with old childhood friends or your siblings,
you tend to remember childhood events differently. You hear people saying things like, “That’s not
what happened.” OR “No, remember Mary wasn’t at THAT party” OR “I wasn’t scared when that dog
was chasing me, you are thinking about Tommy.”
Even though memory and the process of reconstruction is flawed, courts still rely heavily on
eyewitness testimony; which is one reason so many people are wrongly convicted. The problem with
eyewitness testimony is partly due to the faulty nature of memory and partly due to flawed
investigation techniques.
Elizabeth Loftus is a Cognitive Psychologist who studies memory. Loftus conducted research in which
she showed subjects a three-minute video clip taken from the movie Diary of a Student Revolution. In
the clip, eight demonstrators run into a classroom and eventually leave after interrupting the
professor’s lecture in a noisy confrontation. At the end of the video, two questionnaires were
distributed containing one key question and 90 “filler” questions. The key question for half of the
subjects was, “Was the leader of the four demonstrators who entered the classroom a male?” The
other half was asked, “Was the leader of the twelve demonstrators who entered the classroom a
male?” One week later, a new set of questions was given to all subjects in which the key question
was, “How many demonstrators did you see entering the classroom?” Subjects who were previously
asked the question incorrectly giving the number as “four” stated an average recall of 6.4 people,
while those who read the question incorrectly giving the number as “twelve” recalled an average of
8.9 people. Loftus concluded that subjects were trying to compromise the memory of what they had
actually seen—eight demonstrators—with later information.
Misinformation Effect is misleading information that is presented after an event has taken place can
affect the accuracy of the memory for that event.
In one study, subjects viewed a slide presentation of a traffic accident. The actual slide presentation
contained a stop sign, but in a written summary of the presentation, the sign was referred to as a
yield sign. Subjects who were given this misleading information after viewing the slides were far less
accurate in their memories for the kind of sign present than were subjects given no such information.
A flashbulb memory is a memory for particularly emotional or traumatic event that seems as vivid
By Darla Rocha
and detailed as if the person were looking at a snapshot of the event. These memories are no more
accurate than any other memories.
What are ways to improve/enhance memory?
1) GET ORGANIZED - When you study, organize the information you are studying. Make outlines
and/or flashcards. The more organized the information is when it is put into the memory, the
easier it is to locate inside the long-term memory.
2) OVERLEARN - Once you have made your flashcards, carry them around with you and review
them every chance you get. Overlearn. (Brainwash yourself).
3) SPACED STUDY SESSIONS - Study in small spaced out study sessions. Study within the limitations
of your attention span. If you can only focus for an hour or two, then study for an hour, and
take a break. Go jog a couple of laps around the neighborhood and then come back for
another hour of study. Do not engage in massed practice, or what students call cramming.
This is an inefficient way to study. It doesn’t work.
4) STUDY OUT LOUD - Always talk out loud when you study. You will recall more if you recite the
information that you are studying. After you read a section in the textbook, stop and say out
loud, in your own words, what the authors are talking about. This will also safeguard against
encoding failure.
5) STUDY IN YOUR OWN VOCABULARY - Don’t use the fancy words of the professor or textbook
authors.
How is biology involved in memory?
Consolidation is a chemical process occurring in the brain that affects the structure and functioning
of neurons when an engram is formed.
The hippocampus is the area of brain responsible for the formation of LTMs.
The amygdala plays a role in emotional memories.
The cerebellum is involved in the implicit memories required to perform various skills.
Infantile Amnesia is the inability of older children and adults to recall events for the first two years of
life. The hippocampus (where memories are processed) is not organized until age 2.
How does memory change with age?
As we age, some minor memory changes may be noticed. For the most part, many of our memories
remain stable or improve.
Declines that do occur are related more to recall and episodic memories. Processing speed also
declines (neurons do not fire as fast as they once did).
One common fear related to age and memory is dementia. Dementia is irreversible loss of
intellectual functioning caused by organic brain disease. Primary symptoms include confusion and
forgetfulness. Dementia is more common with age. There are over 70 diseases that cause dementia.
The most common type is Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a very severe form of dementia characterized by proliferation of plaques
and tangles (both of these are abnormalities in the cerebral cortex that destroy brain functioning).
By Darla Rocha
Symptoms of AD usually begin with changes in memory, which may be rather mild at first but
become more severe over time, causing the person to become more and more forgetful about
everyday tasks, such as remembering to turn off the stove. Eventually more dangerous forgetting
occurs, such as taking extra doses of medication or leaving something cooking on the stove
unattended. The person with this disorder repeats things in conversation, thoughts become
disorganized, and messages get garbled. As Alzheimer’s progresses, the ability to do simple
calculations such as balancing a checkbook is lost, along with remembering how to do simple tasks
such as bathing or getting dressed. It is a costly disease to care for, and caretakers often face severe
emotional and financial burdens in caring for a loved one who is slowly becoming a stranger.
By Darla Rocha
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1. Three basic processes involved in the act of remembering are:
a. exposure, attention, and retention
b. encoding, storage, and retrieval
c. stimulus, interpretation, and response
d. acquisition, application, and extinction
2. Consider this sentence: “Sean was able to get the dog to come out from under the
abandoned house by shaking a bag of dog food.” In order for you to consciously make
sense out of the sentence, the information was processed in your:
a. sensory memory
b. short-term memory
c. long-term memory
d. cerebellum
3. Which of the following is the name of the physiological/chemical change in the brain that
allows information to be stored?
a. habituation
b. conditioning
c. memory alteration
d. consolidation
4. Transforming information into a form that can be stored in memory is called ___ ; bringing
the material that has been stored to mind is called ___.
a. encoding; decoding
b. consolidation; retrieval
c. consolidation; decoding
d. encoding; retrieval
5. Because she didn’t have a piece of paper handy, Mary mentally repeated the long
distance phone number over and over. Mary was trying to keep the information in:
a. sensory memory
b. long-term memory
c. short-term memory
d. nondeclarative memory
6. Which of the following numbers best represents the number of separate items that can be
held in the short-term memory at once?
a. 3
b. 7
c. 5
d. 10
7. The amount of information that can be held in long-term memory:
a. depends on the amount of rehearsal performed on the information
b. seems to be limitless
c. is approximately 7 bits of information
d. varies depending upon the type of information being stored
By Darla Rocha
8. The process of combining separate pieces of information into large units in short-term
memory is referred to as:
a. encoding
b. chunking
c. recall
d. consolidation
9. Adam vividly remembers when he had to go to the emergency room for stitches. This is an
example of which type of long-term memory?
a. nondeclarative
b. semantic
c. contextual
d. episodic
10. Jeff is able to ride a bicycle although he hasn’t ridden one for a few years, thanks to his:
a. procedural memory
b. episodic memory
c. cognitive memory
d. semantic memory
11. Collette could not remember the name of the husband of a very important client. So,
Collette began reciting the alphabet until a letter jarred her memory, and she could
remember the name. The letter of the alphabet:
a. served as a nondeclarative memory that caused retrieval of the information
b. is an example of recognition
c. is a procedural memory cue
d. served as a retrieval cue
12. The memory for events we have experienced personally is known as:
a. nondeclarative memory
b. semantic memory
c. iconic memory
d. episodic memory
13. While Brain was drunk at an office party, he hid his car keys so they wouldn’t get stolen.
The next day, Brian couldn’t recall where he hid his keys and had to get a new set of keys
made for his car. When Brian got drunk again at a jazz festival three weeks later, he
remembered where he hid his car keys. This example illustrates:
a. source confusion
b. state-dependent memory
c. environmental context
d. consolidation
14. The memory that stores general information, facts, and knowledge is called the:
a. episodic memory
b. nondeclarative memory
c. cognitive memory
d. semantic memory
By Darla Rocha
15. In a study of more than a thousand convictions in which the people turned out to be
innocent of the crime, the largest factor leading to the false convictions was:
a. anterograde amnesia
b. hypnotically induced false memories
c. state-dependent retrieval errors
d. eyewitness error
16. On a visit to his mother’s home, Steve’s mother introduced him to her new next-door
neighbor. After chatting with the neighbor for a few minutes, Steve realized that he could
not remember the new neighbor’s name. The MOST likely explanation for Steve forgetting
the neighbor’s name is:
a. proactive interference
b. retrieval failure
c. encoding failure
d. decay
17. When 4-year-old Josh can recite his alphabet, he is using:
a. free recall
b. serial recall
c. relearning
d. structured recall
18. As Rick was filling out the loan application, he couldn’t remember his previous address
even though he had lived there for 5 years. Rick’s memory of his current address was
interfering with his memory of his old address, which is an example of:
a. encoding failure
b. the misinformation effect
c. proactive interference
d. retroactive interference
19. All of the following test items are recognition questions except:
a. multiple-choice questions
b. matching questions
c. true-false questions
d. essay questions
20. Marcy was stood up by her date for the senior prom. She tried not to dwell on the painful
experience, and after a few years she could remember only a few details of that
humiliating evening. Marcy’s deliberate attempt to forget that evening is an example of:
a. interference
b. decay
c. repression
d. motivated forgetting
21. Yolanda has witnessed a robbery, and the police have asked her to identify the guilty
person in a police line up. Yolanda is performing a:
a. recall task
b. recognition task
c. relearning task
d. savings task
By Darla Rocha
22. Spacing your study sessions is to ___ as cramming the night before is to ___.
a. rehearsal; consolidation
b. massed practice; spaced practice
c. serial position effect; proactive interference
d. spaced practice; massed practice
23. Although you may seem to forget all of the material on this exam, you do retain something
because you will not have to study it as much for the comprehensive final. This is an
example of which method of measuring memory?
a. recognition
b. recall
c. serial recall
d. relearning
24. When a person fails to remember because the information was never put into long-term
memory, which of the following has occurred?
a. consolidation failure
b. encoding failure
c. retrieval failure
d. motivated forgetting
25. In college, Kate is having difficulty learning Spanish because French words she learned in
high school keep coming to mind. This is an example of:
a. interference
b. displacement
c. consolidation failure
d. decay
26. What is the memory that is not an exact replica of an event, but one that has been pieced
together from several highlights and using information that may or may not be accurate?
a. hypermnesia
b. schematization
c. metamemory
d. reconstruction
27. The inability of older children and adults to recall events from the first few years of life is
known as:
a. infantile amnesia
b. repressed memory syndrome
c. motivated forgetting
d. retrograde amnesia
28. If you are trying to remember details about an event that happened in your kitchen, it
would be most helpful to:
a. return to the kitchen so the context helps you to recall
b. leave the kitchen so that current cues do not interfere with recalling the event
c. picture yourself in the kitchen as you try to recall the event
d. think about something else for a while
By Darla Rocha
29. At a local restaurant, Anna was having a detailed conversation with her friend Karen
about her blind date from the previous evening. Just when the details were getting good,
the waiter came and asked for the ladies lunch order. After the waiter left, Anna turned to
her friend with a confused look and said, “Okay, where was I?” This is an example of:
a. chucking
b. consolidation
c. displacement
d. encoding failure
30. Retrograde amnesia is a type of. . .
a. encoding failure
b. motivated forgetting
c. consolidation failure
d. decay
ANSWERS
1. B
2. B
3. D
4. D
5. C
6. B
7. B
8. B
9. D
10. A
11. D
12. D
13. B
14. D
15. D
16. C
17. B
18. D
19. D
20. D
21. B
22. D
23. D
24. B
25. A
26. D
27. A
28. A
29. C
30. C