MEMORY
Memory
Objective’s for Today’s Class:
‐Encoding memories
‐Storing memories
‐Retrieving memories
Memory
The persistence of learning over
time through the storage and
retrieval of information.
Memory is a constructive process
through which we actively organize
and shape information.
Take out a piece of paper…..
• Name the seven
dwarves…..
Now name them…..
Was it easy or hard?
• It depends on several
things….
• If you like Disney
movies?
• When was the last
time you have seen
the movie?
• Are people around
you being loud pain
in the head so you
cannot concentrate?
Recall Versus Recognition
Recall Recognition
• you must retrieve the • you must identify the
information from your target from possible
memory targets
• fill-in-the blank or • multiple-choice tests
essay tests
The Memory Process
Three step process….
1. Encoding: The processing
of information into the
memory system.
2. Storage: The retention of
encoded material over
time.
3. Retrieval: The process of
getting the information out
of memory storage.
Encoding Exercise
The Ways we can encode…
• Visual Encoding:
the encoding of
picture images.
• Acoustic Encoding:
the encoding of
sound, especially the
sounds of words.
• Semantic
Encoding: the
encoding of
meaning.
STORAGE:
Maintaining
Information in
Memory
-Three-Stage Memory Model
Working memory is where
active thinking occurs.
The working memory has many limitations
• Short-term (working) memory is a
limited-capacity store that can
maintain unrehearsed information up to
30 seconds
• Capacity:
– “The magic number” (George Miller)
– Humans have the ability to retain 7 2
items of information (in adults).
How long can this information stay in STM?
• Memories disappear unless:
– You continually rehearse them
– They are really meaningful so they
get stored quickly into long-term
memory
• Rehearsal:
– The process of repetitively
verbalizing or thinking about
information
What do you remember?
Long Term Memory
• An unlimited capacity store that can hold
information over length periods of time
– Capacity: Unlimited
– Duration: Relatively permanent
• Information can be stored in separate
units and some information can be
retrieved without retrieving others
– Tip of the tongue phenomenon (temporarily
inaccessible)
RETREIVAL OF MEMORY
The Context Matters!!!
• Flashbulb
Memories
• Mood Congruent
Memory
• State Dependent
Memory
Mood-Congruent Memory
• The tendency to recall experiences
that are consistent with one's current
good or bad mood.
• If you are depressed, you will more
likely recall sad memories from you
past.
• Moods also effect that way you
interpret other peoples behavior
Context Effects
• It helps to put yourself
back in the same
context you
experienced (encoded)
something.
• If you study on your
favorite chair at home,
you will probably score
higher if you also took
the test on the chair.
Three Box Model of Memory
Forgetting Getting a new bus
number and
forgetting old bus
number.
• Retroactive
Interference: new
information blocks
out old information.
• Proactive
Interference: old
information blocks
out new information.
Calling your new girlfriend by old
girlfriends name.
Retrieval Failures
• Forgetting = failure to
retrieve information
from memory
– Decay
– primacy effect
– recency effect
• Distortion
Forgetting
• Encoding Failure: When a memory was never
formed in the first place
• Memory Traces: Physical changes in nerve cells or
brain activity that occur when memories are
stored
• Memory Decay: When memory traces become
weaker; fading or weakening of memories;
happens frequently for sensory memories and
short-term memories
• Disuse: Theory that long-term memory traces
weaken when memories are not used or retrieved
often
Déjà Vu
• That eerie sense that
you have experienced
something before.
• What is occurring is that
the current situation
cues past experiences
that are very similar to
the present one- your
mind gets confused.
HOW TO IMROVE MEMORY
Why is it that…?
– Phone numbers are 7 digits?
– Commercials use words in the
phone numbers?
Ways to Improve Memory
• Knowledge of Results: Feedback allowing you to
check your progress
• Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are
rehearsing material
• Rehearsal: Reviewing information mentally
(silently)
• Elaborative Rehearsal: Look for connections to
existing knowledge
• Selection: Selecting most important concepts to
memorize
• Organization: Organizing difficult items into
chunks; a type of reordering
Ways to remember things in STM…
so they go to LTM
• Chunking:
Organizing items
1-4-9-2-1-7-7-6-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1
into familiar,
manageable units.
• Mnemonic
devices “She looks too pretty , try to catch
her."
• Rehearsal