Chapter 5: Memory: Models and Research Methods

Memory - the means by which we retain and draw on information from our past
experiences to use in the present; a dynamic mechanisms associated with storing,
retaining, and retrieving information about past experience.

Process of memory
Encoding- initial learning of information; transform sensory data into a form of mental
representation.
Storage - keep encoded information in memory; holding information in along- term
memory store.
Retrieval - process of pulling information out when it is needed

Tasks Used for Measuring Memory

Recall - produce a fact, a word, or other item from memory
Recognition - select or identify an item as being one that you have been exposed to
previously

Types of Tasks Used for Measuring Memory

Explicit-memory tasks - consciously recall particular information.
Declarative-knowledge tasks - recall facts
Recall tasks - produce a fact, a word, or other item from memory
Serial-recall task - recall items in the exact order in which they were presented
Free-recall task - recall items in any order
Cued-recall task - also called “paired-associates recall”
Recognition task - identify an item as being one that you learned previously; these task
are also referred to as tapping receptive knowledge (receptive means “responsive to a
stimulus.”)
Implicit-memory tasks - draw on information in memory unconsciously.
Tasks involving procedural knowledge - remember learned skills and automatic
behaviors, rather than facts.

Implicit versus Explicit Memory Tasks

Explicit Memory- conscious recollection; changes over the life span
Implicit Memory- use information from memory but unconsciously

Two Contrasting Models of Memory

Hypothetical constructs - concepts that are not themselves directly measurable or
observable but that serve as mental models for understanding how a psychological
phenomenon works

A. Sensory store
- capable of storing relatively limited amounts of information for very brief
periods; Erasable in nature
- the initial repository of much information that eventually enters the
shorthand long-term stores.
- a discrete visual sensory register that holds information for very short
periods.
- Also referred to as iconic store, first discussed in a doctoral dissertation by
a graduate student at Harvard University named George Sperling
B. Short-term store
- capable of storing information for somewhat longer periods but of
relatively limited capacity as well
- It also has some control processes available that regulate the flow of
information to and from the long-term store, where we may hold
information for longer periods
C. Long-term store
- capable of very large capacity and of storing information for very long
periods, perhaps even indefinitely
- Permastore refers to the very long-term storage of information

The Levels-of-processing Framework

Suggests that memory does not comprise of three, or even any specific number of
separate stores, but rather it varies along a continuous dimension in terms of depth of
encoding.

The deeper the level of processing of information, the higher the probability that the
information will be retrieved.

Levels of processing (shallow to deep)

Physical (Structural) – what does it look like?

Phonological – what does it sound like?

Semantic – what does it mean? what can I relate it to?

Semantically Related Words

The words most easily recalled would be semantically related words according to the
original levels-of-processing framework, if you were shown lists of semantically related
words (e.g., dog and animal), rhyming words (e.g., dog and log), and unrelated words
(e.g., dog and sun).

Self-Reference Effect

Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker (1977) performed one of the first studies examining the self-
reference effect making it a foundational article.

Participants show very high levels of recall when asked to meaningfully relate words to
themselves by determining whether the words describe them. Even the words that
participants assess as not describing themselves are recalled at high levels.

The high recall is a result of considering whether the words do or do not describe the
participant.

Working Memory

Refers to a portion of memory that may be viewed as a specialized part of long-term

memory, which holds only the most recently activated portion of long-term memory, and
which moves these activated elements into and out of short-term memory.

It holds only the most recently activated, or conscious, portion of long-term memory,
and it moves these activated elements into and out of brief, temporary memory storage.

It is involved with the manipulation of information.

It consists of several components:

1. Visuospatial sketchpad

2. Phonological loop

3. Central executive

4. Episodic buffer ("subsidiary slave systems")

Visuospatial Sketchpad

- Used for maintaining and processing visuo-spatial information

 - It is important for processing both spatial information and images

Phonological Loop

- Briefly stores verbal information for verbal comprehension and acoustic rehearsal

- It is well suited for handling verbal information and for rehearsing information

- We use it to handle everyday tasks

- Articulatory suppression is when subvocal rehearsal is inhibited, the new

information is not stored

a) Phonological storage – holds information in memory, can only hold about 2

seconds worth of speech-based info.

b) Subvocal rehearsal – holds information via practicing it nonverbally

Central Executive

- Focuses attention on relevant items and inhibits irrelevant ones

- Plans sequence of tasks to accomplish goals, schedules processes in complex

tasks, often switches attention between different parts

- Updates and checks content to determine next step in sequence

- It is responsible for coordinating attentional activities and regulating the flow of

information

Episodic Buffer ("Subsidiary Slave Systems")

- Used for storage of a multimodal code, holding an integrated episode between

systems using different codes

- It explains how we integrate information in working memory, LTM, the

visuospatial sketchpad, and the phonological loop

- It allows for an interface that can integrate different types of information from
various systems

Multiple Memory Systems

The working-memory model is consistent with the notion that multiple systems may two
kinds of explicit memory.

Semantic memory
- Stores general world knowledge. It is
our memory for facts that are not unique to us and that are not recalled in any particular
temporal context.

Episodic memory
- Stores personally experienced events or episodes.

A neuroscientific model called HERA (hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry)

- attempts to account for differences in hemispheric activation for semantic versus
episodic memories. According to this model, there is greater activation in the left
prefrontal hemisphere for episodic retrieval tasks. This model, then, proposes that
semantic and episodic memories must be distinct because they draw on separate areas
of the brain.

Connectionist network (PDP model)

- The model is based on a network of interconnected neuron-
like computational units (nodes).

prime
- is a node that activates a connected node.

priming effect
- is the resulting activation of the node.

Exceptional Memory and Neuropsychology

Outstanding Memory: Mnemonists

Someone who demonstrates extraordinarily keen memory ability, usually based on
using special techniques for memory enhancement. Perhaps the most famous of
mnemonists was a man
called “S.”
-He could reproduce extremely long strings of words, regardless of how much time had
passed since the words had been presented to him.

Synesthesia
- Is the experience of sensations in a sensory modality different from the sense
that has been physically stimulated.

Other mnemonists have used different strategies.

“V.P.,” a Russian immigrant, could memorize long strings of material, such as rows and
columns of numbers
Another mnemonist, “S.F.,” remembered long strings of numbers by segmenting
them into groups of three or four digits each.

Hypermnesia
- is a process of producing retrieval of memories that would seem
to have been forgotten

Deficient Memory
Many syndromes are associated with memory loss. Just as with the study of
exceptionally good memory, the study of deficient memory provides us with many
valuable insights into
How memory works. In this section, we will have a look at two syndromes.

Amnesia
- Amnesia is severe loss of explicit memory.

Retrograde amnesia
- Individuals lose their purposeful memory for events before whatever trauma
induces memory loss

Anterograde amnesia,
- the inability to remember events that occur after a traumatic event.
infantile amnesia,
- the inability to recall events that happened when we were very young

Amnesia and the Explicit-Implicit Memory Distinction

Explicit memory is typically impaired in amnesia. Implicit memory, such as priming
effects on word-completion tasks and procedural memory for skill-based tasks, is
typically not impaired

Alzheimer’s Disease
Although amnesia is the syndrome most associated with memory loss, it is often less
devastating than a disease that includes memory loss as one of many symptoms.