Unit 6
Agenda: Chapter 10 lesson 1 Notes. Guided
Reading lessons 1 & 2
We Will: Compare predominant theories of
motivation and emotion
I Will: Compare predominant theories of
motivation
Notes Chapter 10/Lesson 1
Processes and Stages of Memory
• Encoding, storage, and retrieval are the three main processes of
memory.
• Sensory, short-term (also called working), and long-term are three
stages of memory.
• Sensory memory holds input from the senses for a fraction of a
second, just long enough to determine whether the input needs to be
paid attention.
• Short-term memory saves information temporarily, allowing it to be
transferred to long-term memory.
• Long-term memory stores information over extended periods of
time.
Notes Chapter 10/Lesson 1
Memory and the Brain
Scientists are still searching for the location of memory in
the brain. Much of memory is stored in the cortex.
Memories may be stored as a result of physiological
changes, an idea at the center of active research.
Scientists are looking for a chemical code in the nervous
system that produces an actual physical change. This is
called the engram.
Processes and Stages of Memory
Memory is the input, storage, and retrieval of what has been learning or
experienced
Encoding: the transforming of information so that the nervous system can
process it. You use your senses—hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell—to
encode memories
You use acoustic codes when you try to remember something by saying
it out loud or to yourself.
When you attempt to keep a mental picture of the letters, you are using
visual codes
semantic codes. In this way, you try to remember the letters by making
sense of them.
Taking in and Storing information
After information is encoded, it goes through the second memory process,
storage.
This is the process by which information is maintained over time.
The third memory process, retrieval, occurs when information is
brought to mind from storage.
The ease with which information can be retrieved depends on how
efficiently it was encoded and stored, as well as on other factors, such
as genetic background and our past experiences.
Encoding, Storage and Retrieval ( 3 processes in taking in and storing
information)
Sensory Memory
3 Stages of Memory
Sensory
Short-Term
Long-term
Sensory Memory-the senses of sight, hearing, and touch are able to hold an
input for a fraction of a second before it disappears
Iconic Memory-brain is taking a mental picture of an object or image. Holds visual information
for up to a second
Echoic memory-a type of sensory memory that holds auditory for 1 to 2 seconds
Serves 3 functions: prevents you from being overwhelmed, gives you some
time to make a decision, allows continuity and stability in your world
Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory-memory that is limited in capacity to about seven
items and in duration by the subjects active rehearsal.
To keep information in short-term memory for then a few seconds you have to repeat the
information to yourself or out loud. (Maintenance Rehearsal) -Repeating over and over
Short term memory is limited to not only in its duration but also its capacity -it can only
hold about seven items at one time
Chunking: the process of grouping items to make them easier to
remember
For example (253-6794 or 253-67-94 insead of 2-5-3-6-7-9-4)
Even with chunking, storage in short-term memory is only temporary. Info is available
generally for less than 20 seconds and no more than 30 seconds
After that it is either gone or stored to long-term memory
Practice short memory
Primacy-Recency Effect & Working Memory
The primacy-recency effect refers to the fact that we are better able to recall
information presented at the beginning and end of a list
Primacy effect is remember the first few items of list and recency effect is
being able to remember the last few items on a list
Working memory: Used for problem solving
Two components -short term memory and executive attention
Short-term memory component consists of the limited information that humans
can keep in mind at one time.
The executive attention component is a regulatory process that determines the
type and amount of information that short-term memory can access.
Long-term memory
Long-term memory refers to the storage of information over extended
periods of time.
Contains representations of countless facts, experiences, and
sensations
Canadian psychologist, Endel Tulving proposed we have two types of
memory.
The first is semantic memory -is out knowledge of language, including its
rules, words, and meanings.
The second, episodic memory, is our memory of own life, such as when
you woke up this morning. Personal things where time of occurrence is
store here
Long-term memory
L.R. Squire has proposed a related model of memory.
Declarative memory involves both episodic and semantic memory.
This information you call forth consciously when you need it.
Procedural memory does not require conscious recollection to have
past learning or experiences impact on performance.
Example: Skills learned as we mature-including swimming, driving a car, tying
a tie
As we gain a skill we lose the ability to describe what we are doing.
Other types of procedural memory include fear of bugs, habits and thing
learning through classical conditioning.
Practice:
An experiment in
1979, fewer than
half the
participants were
able to spot the
genuine penny.
3 processes of memory:
Memory and the Brain
Thalmus-gives us the ability to process input from retina to create
memories
Our ability to to process sensory information which is crucial to creating memories
Amygdala creates the warm glow around cheerful childhood memories
Our ability to associate memories with emotions
Hippocampus is associated with long-term memory out ability to
transfer words, facts and events (declarative memory)
Short-term to long-term memory depends on the hippocampus
Cortex-Short-term and long-term memory
Short-term memory, words, facts and events
Long-term memory, words, facts and events
Physiological Changes
Different areas of the brain are responsible for different kinds of memories.
Procedural memories involve activity in an area of the brain called striatum
located deep in the front part of our cortex
Declarative memories result from activity in the hippocampus and the
amygdala.
As people age, their ability to retrieve memories changes, in large part due to
physiological changes in the brain.
A younger person’s frontal lobes are adept at focusing on important information
and screening out less important events.
An older person may find it more difficult to multi-task as the lobes are not as
agile, finding it more difficult to discriminate between environmental stimuli and
admit only those that are important.
Searching for the Engram
Since the 1920s, scientists have looked for a chemical code that produces an
actual physical change, or memory trace, in the nervous system. They call the
hypothetical means by which memory traces are stored the engram.
Engram is Hypothetical permanent change in the brain accounting for the
existence of a memory; a memory trace
American psychologist Karl S. Lashley conducted experiments in which he removed tissue
from the cortex of rats’ brains in an attempt to locate the physiological seat of memory. Rats
were trained to run a maze. Their ability to remember what they had been trained to do was
observed and measured after tissue had been removed from different locations on the cortex.
While the amount of tissue removed affected rats’ memories, the location from which it was
removed did not appear to have any effect. Lashley concluded that memories are not stored in
a specific location but distributed throughout the cortex. His failure to find the engram may
have been a result of his choice of memory task or his choice of the brain region to study.
Closure:
Guided Reading Lessons 1 & 2
Vocab quiz on Monday