MEMORY
RETRIEVAL
Presented by:
Kedia Arambam
WHAT IS MEMORY RETRIEVAL?
It is the process of accessing stored information
from the brain and bringing it back into conscious
awareness when needed.
It involves recalling experiences, facts, skills, or
learned information that were previously encoded
and stored in memory.
• It is the third stage of memory after encoding
(taking in information) and storage (keeping it
over time).
• Retrieval allows us to use past information to
guide current thoughts, decisions, and
actions.
• It can occur either automatically (e.g.,
recognizing your favorite song) or actively
(e.g., remembering a password when logging
in).
PROCESS OF MEMORY RETRIEVAL
Recall – retrieving information without any
external stimuli (e.g., writing an essay from
memory).
Recognition – identifying information that
has been learned before or already in the
memory (e.g., correct judgement for MCQ
answers).
Relearning– learning previously learned
material again more quickly because some
memory remains after it has been forgotten.
(E.g., memorizing a poem we learned in school
but later forgot. When we study it again, we
relearn it much faster than we did the first time.
HOW ARE MEMORIES RETRIEVED ?
Long term memory has been compared to a library.
We retrieve information in a fashion similar to the process we
used to locate and check out a book. To retrieve something
from our mental “ data banks” we search our store of
memory to find the relevant information. Memory retrieval
takes place when information is taken out of storage.
When we search our memory we may not always find
a relevant information because our memories are affected by
a number of things including the situations we associate with
memories, and the personal or emotional context.
Serial
position
effect
Memory
retrieval
Accuracy Retrieval
in cues and
memory retrieval
retrieval task
SERIAL POSITION EFFECT
IT REFERS TO THE TENDENCY FOR ITEMS AT THE BEGINNING
AND AT THE END OF A LIST TO BE RECALLED MORE READILY
THAN ITEMS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIST.
EXAMPLE: IF SOMEONE GAVE YOU THE DIRECTIONS
“LEFT ON MOCKINGBIRD, RIGHT ON CENTRAL, RIGHT
ON STEMMONS, LEFT ON BALBOA, AND RIGHT ON
PARKSIDE,” YOU PROBABLY WOULD REMEMBER “LEFT
ON MOCKINGBIRD” AND “RIGHT ON PARKSIDE” MORE
EASILY THAN THE TURNS AND STREETS IN THE
MIDDLE.
SERIAL POSITION EFFECT INVOLVES BOTH “PRIMACY
EFFECT” AND “RECENCY EFFECT”.
1 Primacy effect-
Refers to better recall for items at the beginning
of a list. They are easily remembered because
they are rehearsed more or because they
receive more elaborative processing than do
words later in the list. Working memory is
relatively empty when they enter, so there is little
competition for rehearsal time. And, because
they get more rehearsal, they stay in working
memory longer and more likely to be
successfully encoded into long-term memory. In
contrast, many items from the middle of the list
drop out of working memory before being
encoded into long-term memory.
2 Recency effect-
Refers to better recall for items at the end of the list.
The last several items are remembered for different
reasons. First, at the time these items are recalled,
they might still be in working memory. Second,
even if these items are not in working
memory, their relative recency, compared with
other list items, makes them easier to recall.
RETRIEVAL CUES AND THE RETRIEVAL TASK
Two other factors involved in retrieval are:
1. The nature of the cues that can prompt your memory.
2. The retrieval task that you set for yourself.
If effective cues for what you are trying to remember do not
seem to be available, you need to create them - a process that
takes place in working memory.
Following are some task and cue considerations that affect the
abilty to retrieve memories :
[Link] and recognition – Recall is a memory task in
which the individual has to retrieve previously learned
information as on essay test. Recall test, such as essay
test have poor retrieval cues.
Recognition is a memory task in which the individual only
has to identify learned items when they are presented, as on
multiple choice tests.
RETRIEVAL CUES AND THE RETRIEVAL TASK
2. Encoding specificity- another consideration in understanding
retrieval is the amount of information present at the time of encoding or
learning that can serve as a retrieval cue. The more elaboration you
use in encoding information, the better your memory of the information
will be.
3. Context and state- an important consequence of encoding
specificity is that a change between encoding and retrieval can cause
memory to fail in many instances, people remember better when they
attempt to recall information in the same context in which they
learned it, a process referred to as context- dependent memory. This
is believed to occur because they have encoded features of the
context in which they learned the information along with the
information. Such features can later act as retrieval cues. People
also tend to remember information better when their psychological
state or mood is similar at encoding and retrieval, a process
referred to as state- dependent memory.
RETRIEVAL CUES AND THE RETRIEVAL TASK
4. Priming – it refers that people remember information better
and faster when it is preceded by similar information. Priming is a
form of implicit memory that is nonconscious.
5. Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon –it occurs when people
are confident that they know something but can’t quiet pull it out
of a memory. The TOT state arises because a person can retrieve
some of the desired information but not all of it. For example: In
spotting names of two people who are standing together. We know
that we have seen one person before and not sure if his name
begins with a B. But retrieval may not be the problem perhaps u
didn’t pay enough attention to his name when you were introduced to
remember more then the first letter. Another retrieval strategy is to
repeat initial letters syllables-such as Monetti, Mona, Magett etc...in
an attempt to identify Minnelli.
Retrieval of
autobiographical
memory
Autobiographical memory means the memory
of your own life — your experiences, events,
and personal moments. Retrieval of
autobiographical memory refers to how we
recall these personal experiences from the
past.
ACCURACY IN MEMORY RETRIEVAL
By now you should realize that memory is not a perfect reflection of reality. Our
memories are often wrapped in emotion, bias, and other distorting influences.
The result is inaccurate encoding and storage of memories, as well as faulty
retrieval, Several, memory phenomena related to accuracy are of considerable
interest to researchers and have echoes in public life:
1. FLASHBULB MEMORIES - are memories of emotionally significant
events that people recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than everyday
event Many flashbulb memories deteriorate over time. Still, flashbulb memories
are far more durable and accurate than memories of day-to-day happenin if
only because they are often discussed and thought about in the days, weei and
even years following an event. eg: terrorist attack, wedding day etc.
[Link] TRAUMA- is another type of emotionally arousing experience that may
create more detailed, longer-lasting memories than usual. The memories of traumas are
subject to some deterioration and distortion, the central part of the memory is almost
always effectively remembered. eg: traumatic experience of children.
3. REPRESSED MEMORIES - which are those pushed into some inaccessible part of the
unconscious mind, may be caused by the emotional blows of personal trauma, At some later
point, the memory might emerge in [Link]'s main function is to protect the
individual from threatening information. Repression doesn't erase a memory, but it makes
conscious remembering extremely difficult. eg: childhood trauma , accident and injury
4. EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY - in which people are called on to report what
they saw or heard in relation to a crime, may also contain errors. Estimates
are that between 2000 and 10, 000 people are wrongfully convicted each
year in the United States because of faulty eyewitness testimony. The amount
of time that has passed between and incident and a person's recollects of it is
a critical factor in eyewitness testimony. Hundreds of individuals have been
harmed by witnesses who made a mistake that could have been avoided. eg:
crime scene, accident.
MEMORY RETRIEVAL PROBLEMS
[Link] MISINFORMATION EFFECT :
The tendency of misleading information
presented after an event to alter the
memories of the event itself.
2. FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME :
Refers to the creation of inaccurate or
false memories through the suggestion of
others, often while the person is under
hypnosis
REFERENCES
“Educational Psychology”
- by John W Santrock
Internet source (Wikipedia)
Link- [Link]