Chapter 4
Memory and Forgetting
By: Gashaw T. & Awoke M.
11 E.C.
2009
What is MEMORY?
• Memory – internal record of
some prior event or
experience; a set of mental
processes that receives,
encodes, stores, organizes,
alters, and retrieves
information over time
Three Stages of Memory
• Stage 1 - Sensory Memory is a
brief representation of a stimulus
while being processed in the
sensory system
• Stage 2 - Short-Term Memory
(STM) is working memory
– Limited capacity (7 items)
– Duration is about 30 seconds
• Stage 3 - Long-Term Memory
(LTM) is large capacity and long
duration
Overview of Memory Model
Integrated Model Concepts
• Encoding – process of
translating info into
neural codes (language)
that will be retained in
memory
• Storage – the process of
retaining neural coded
info over time
• Retrieval – the process of
recovering info from
memory storage
Integrated Model of
Memory
Overview of LTM
Varieties of LTM
• Two types of LTM
– Semantic memory refers to factual
information
– Episodic memory refers to autobiographical
information as to where and when an event
happened
Organization of LTM
• Retrieval Cue – a clue or
prompt that helps
stimulate recall and
retrieval of a stored piece
of information from long-
term memory
– 2 types:
1. Recognition
2. Recall
1. Ziegarnik Effect
Memory Measures
• Recognition is when a specific
cue (face or name) is matched
against LTM
• Recall is when a general cue is
used to search memory
• Relearning - situation where
person learns material a
second time.
• Quicker to learn material 2nd
time
Flashbulb Memories
• Where were you when you first
heard:
– That The WTC had been crashed
into?
– That the federal building had
been bombed in Oklahoma City?
– That Princess Diana had been
killed in a car wreck?
Anatomy of Memory
Bilateral damage to
the hippocampus
results in anterograde
amnesia (Patient H.M.)
Anatomy of
Memory
Amygdala: emotional memory and memory consolidation
Basal ganglia & cerebellum: memory for skills, habits and CC
responses
Hippocampus: memory recognition, spatial, episodic
memory, laying down new declarative long-term memories
Thalamus, formation of new memories and working
memories
Cortical Areas: encoding of factual memories, storage of
episodic and semantic memories, skill learning, priming.
Forgetting
• Forgetting is
the inability
to recall
previously
learned
information
Forgetting rate is steep just after learning
and then becomes a gradual loss of recall
Serial Position Effect
Recall immediately Recall several hours
after learning after learning
LTM
Recall from Recall from
LTM STM Primacy effect – remembering stuff at
beginning of list better than middle
Recency Effect – remembering stuff at
the end of list better than middle
Study Strategies
• Distributed practice
refers to spacing
learning periods in
contrast to massed
practice in which
learning is
“crammed” into a
single session
• Distributed practice
leads to better
retention
Theories of Forgetting
• Proactive interference: old information
interferes with recall of new
information
• Retroactive interference: new
information interferes with recall of old
information
• Decay theory: memory trace fades with
time
• Motivated forgetting: involves the loss
of painful memories (protective memory
loss)
• Retrieval failure: the information is
still within LTM, but cannot be recalled
because the retrieval cue is absent
Organization of LTM
• Tip-of the tongue
phenomenon: person can’t
easily recall the item, but
shows some recall for its
characteristics (“…it begins
with the letter ….”)
Amnesia
• Amnesia is forgetting produced by
brain injury or by trauma
– Retrograde amnesia refers to
problems with recall of information
prior to a trauma
– Anterograde amnesia refers to
problems with recall of information
after a trauma
Anterograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
Point of Trauma
Issues in Memory
• Reasons for inaccuracy of
memory:
– Source amnesia: attribution of a
memory to the wrong source (e.g. a dream
is recalled as an actual event)
– Sleeper effect: a piece of information
from an unreliable source is initially
discounted, but is recalled after the source
has been forgotten
– Misinformation effect: we incorporate
outside information into our own
memories
Memory Strategies
• Mnemonic devices are strategies to
improve memory by organizing
information
– Method of Loci: ideas are associated with
a place or part of a building
– Peg-Word system: peg words are
associated with ideas (e.g. “one is a bun”)
– Word Associations: verbal associations
are created for items to be learned
– SQ3R- Survey, Question, Read, Recite,
Review