MEMORY
Chapter 7
Part 2
Lecturer: Dr Lebo Phiri-Sithole
Email: lebop@[Link]
Office: C-ring 419
Consultations: Wednesdays 11:00 to 13:00 pm
• Or send me an email request with a convenient time tome
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Remainders:
1. Please complete my evaluation form on ulink
2. Test 3
Date: 17th May (APK) 22nd May (DFC)
Scope: Chapters 6&7
Venue: TBA
3. Exam:
Date: 05th June (APK & DFC)
Scope: More information to follow (but study all chapters for now)
Venue: TBC
Time: 12:30 – 15:30 pm
Duration: 90 minutes
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Lecture outcomes
By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
Areas of focus: Long-term memory, retrieval, forgetfulness, accuracy of memory
- Describe the different types of long-term memory and their characteristics.
- Describe the different types of amnesia and what case studies of amnesia have
taught us about memory.
- Explain retrieval processes in memory, and give real-world examples of them.
- Describe the accuracy of memory and its implications for eyewitness memory. (self
study)
- Describe what is known about the biology of memory. (self-study)
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Long-Term Memory
- Relatively permanent information storage system.
- Information in long-term memory is encoded in acoustic (sound) and
visual (images) forms.
- Unlike short-term memory, there is no known limit to the capacity
of long-term memory.
Organisation in Long-Term Memory
Semantic Encoding Schemas
• Process of encoding sensory input that has • A mental framework that helps individuals organise,
particular meaning or can be applied to process, and store information about their
a particular context. environment
• Connects features to our understanding of
their meanings for storing in long-term • Organised, general knowledge structures.
memory.
• Schemas organise to connect similar concepts to
• Levels-of-processing: long-term memory each other.
as a thorough form of storage.
• Allows us to make connections that are appropriate
• Semantic encoding is a deeper level of and necessary.
information processing because it engages
with the significance of the information Example: your schema for friendship could include,
being stored.
personal expectations, trustworthiness and
unconditional support.
Types of long-term memory
Declarative and Procedural (non-declarative)
Declarative memories (explicit memory): memories that involve conscious recall
of facts, events, and personal experiences. These can be easily verbalised or
described.
Sub-types:
- Semantic memories: involves the recall of ideas, concepts, and facts commonly
regarded as general knowledge. (e.g. birthday dates or recalling that a triangle
has three sides).
- are memories of factual, conceptual information not unique to any one person.
- Episodic memory: These are “time-stamped memories”/personal history
- a recall of one’s own unique experiences, integrated into autobiographical
memory and provides a sense of one’s personal history (e.g. your first kiss or the
place where you met your first crush).
Types of long-term memory
Declarative and Procedural (non-declarative)
Procedural memory (implicit memory) are “how-to’s” of our memory system,
often retrieved without any conscious effort or awareness. (e.g. remembering how
to cook your favourite meal without a recipe)
- stores information related to motor skills, habits, and actions.
- Memories you are not fully aware of but can influence your behaviour indirectly
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Amnesia: What Forgetting Can Teach Us About Memory
Amnesia is a condition in which a person
cannot recall certain declarative memories.
Two types
Anterograde Amnesia
• Inability to encode new declarative
memories in long-term memory.
Example: forgetting the most recent meal,
names of people newly met, or recent life
change.
Retrograde Amnesia
Inability to recall previously stored declarative
memories.
• Simply: when you can’t recall memories
from the past.
Amnesia in Everyday Life: Concussions in
Sports
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) likely develops in people who have
experienced repeated trauma to the brain.
• Characterised by cognitive difficulties, feelings of depression, and suicidal thoughts.
• People with brain injury show a buildup of tau protein in many areas of the brain.
• Head injuries in athletic activities affect one’s health, including memory abilities.
• Studies show that many athletes will suffer at least mild temporary amnesia.
Retrieval and
Forgetting in
Long-Term
Memory
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How we remember:
recognition and Recall
Retrieval is using stored information brought from storage when we needed at a later time.
• Recognition: a form of remembering characterized by a feeling of familiarity when something
previously experienced is again encountered.
- Recognition tasks takes stimulus and filters through the large amount of information it provides,
to match something previously stored. (a multiple-choice question in an exam is an example of a
recognition task).
• Recall (‘remembering): tasks tend to provide less information and require us to produce a
memory in its whole form, with less help from external hints or cues.
(an essay question would demonstrate a recall task).
Difference between recognition vs recall
Recognition is the ability to recognize something you have seen before, while recall is the ability to
remember something without (clues) being prompted.
Forgetting: Why Can’t I Remember That?
Decay theory Interference theory
• A common theory of forgetting is “use it • Stored information in memory can
or lose it”. obstruct the retrieval of other
information.
• Memory traces in LTM not occasionally
activated will fade away and disappear • Retroactive interference: when recently
over time. –if you don’t use the memory, encoded information obstructs the recall
it will disappear. of older information. (new learning
interferes with old learned info)
• It is unknown why some memories not
routinely activated fail to decay. • When the opposite occurs, it is proactive
interference.
Context and Forgetting
Cue-dependent forgetting: type of forgetting that occurs when one cannot recall
information in context other than the context in which it was encoded (simply:
when you can’t remember something because you're in the wrong place or using
the wrong reminder (cue).
Why it happens?
• Your brain links memories to the place, mood, or situation you were in when you
learned something. If you’re in a different context, it’s harder to remember.
• If we use the wrong cue/probe, we won’t be able to access specific memory
• Example:
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Motivated Forgetting: Repression
• Sometimes, people forget things on purpose, but not always consciously. This is
called motivated forgetting.
• Sigmund Freud suggested that if a memory is very upsetting or scary, especially
emotional memories, our mind might block it out to protect us. This is
called repression.
• Repression means pushing memories of bad or threatening events (like scary or
embarrassing things) deep into the unconscious mind, so we can’t easily
remember them.
Example: a person might forget a traumatic event like abuse because it’s too painful
to think about.
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The Accuracy of Memory
Flashbulb Memories:
Memory Is Not Like a Video Camera
• Sometimes, when something very emotional or shocking happens, like a big event or a
personal trauma, we form a very strong and vivid memory of it, called a flashbulb
memory.
• These memories feel very real and details because strong emotions help with storage
of the memory by the details might not always be completely accurate. We usually
remember the main idea or "gist" of what happened, but some small parts can be
wrong or forgotten.
• Flashbulb memories are very powerful and can be triggered by small reminders (like
a sound, smell, or place) that bring back the intense emotions from the original event.
• This is similar to what happens in PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), where
people can suddenly relive strong memories because of emotional triggers.
Distorted Memory Based on Misinformation
Misinformation effect is the distortion of memory that occurs when
people are exposed to misinformation.
• Memories can be permanently altered by things that happened after
we encode the memories.
• We accept subsequent misinformation as being correct.
• Becomes part of our memory for the original event when our memory
of the event is reconsolidated.
The Biology of Memory: where Does Memory
Lie in the Brain?
• Memory consolidation is the
stabilization and long-term storage
of memory traces in the brain.
• The biology of memory is very
complex.
• No evidence of a “memory center”
or single place in the brain exists.
Some Brain Structures That Are Important to Memory
Eyewitness Memory
The hippocampus and frontal lobes
play a crucial role in procedural
memory.
• Explicit memory tasks was
associated with increased blood
flow in the hippocampus regions.
• All blood flow changes were
outside the hippocampal regions
when implicit memory is used.
PET Scan of Brain
End of slides
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