Chapter- 7

Human memory
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Understand the nature of memory,

 Distinguish between different types of memory,
 Understand how the contents of long-term memory are represented
and organised
 Constructive and reconstructive processes in memory,
 Understand the nature and causes of forgetting
 The strategies for improving memory.
DEFINITION

 Memory - an active system that receives information

from the senses, organizes and alters it as it stores it
away, and then retrieves the information from storage.
STAGES OF MEMORY
 (a) Encoding is the first stage which refers to a process by which information is
recorded and registered for the first time so that it becomes usable by our memory
system. Whenever an external stimulus impinges on our sensory organs, it generates
neural impulses. (A nerve impulse is the way nerve cells (neurons) communicate with
one another. Nerve impulses are mostly electrical signals along the dendrites to produce
a nerve impulse or action potential) These are received in different areas of our brain
for further processing.
 (b) Storage is the second stage of memory. Information which was encoded must also
be stored so that it can be put to use later. Storage, therefore, refers to the process
through which information is retained and held over a period of time.
 (c) Retrieval is the third stage of memory. Information can be used only when one is
able to recover it from her/his memory. Retrieval refers to bringing the stored
information to her/his awareness so that it can be used for performing various cognitive
tasks such as problem solving or decision-making.
It may be interesting to note that memory failure can occur at any of these stages. You may
fail to recall an information because you did not encode it properly, or the storage was
weak so you could not access or retrieve it when required.
INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH :
THE

STAGE MODEL
If you have worked on a computer then you would know that it has a
temporary memory (random access memory or RAM) and a permanent
memory (e.g., a hard disk). Based on the programme commands, the
computer manipulates the contents of its memories and displays the output
on the screen. In the same way human beings too register information, store
and manipulate the stored information depending on the task that they need
to perform. For example, when you are required to solve a mathematical
problem, the memory relating to mathematical operations, such as division
or subtraction are carried out, activated and put to use, and receive the output
(the problem solution).
 This analogy led to the development of the first model of memory, which
was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968. It is known as Stage
Model.
 Sensory Memory
The incoming information first enters the sensory memory. Sensory memory has a large
capacity. However, it is of very short duration, i.e. less than a second. It is a memory system that
registers information from each of the senses with reasonable accuracy. Often this system is
referred to as sensory memories or sensory registers because informations from all the senses
are registered here as exact replica of the stimulus. If you have experienced visual after-images
(the trail of light that stays after the bulb is switched off) or when you hear reverberations of a
sound when the sound has ceased, then you are familiar with iconic (visual) or echoic (auditory)
sensory registers.
 Short-term Memory
We do not attend to all the informations that impinge on our senses. Information that is attended
to enters the second memory store called the short-term memory (abbreviated as STM), which
holds small amount of information for a brief period of time (usually for 30 seconds or less).
Atkinson and Shiffrin propose that information in STM is primarily encoded acoustically, i.e. in
terms of sound and unless rehearsed continuously, it may get lost from the STM in less than 30
seconds. Note that the STM is fragile but not as fragile as sensory registers where information
decays automatically in less than a second.

Additional Reading-
 Long-term Memory.
Materials that survive the capacity and duration limitations of the STM
finally enter the long-term memory (abbreviated as LTM) which has a
vast capacity. It is a permanent storehouse of all informations that may
be as recent as what you ate for breakfast yesterday to as distant as
how you celebrated your sixth birthday. It has been shown that once any
information enters the long-term memory store it is never forgotten
because it gets encoded semantically, i.e. in terms of the meaning that
any information carries. What you experience as forgetting is in fact
retrieval failure; for various reasons you cannot retrieve the stored
information.
Atkinson and Shiffrin propose the notion of control processes which function to monitor the
flow of information through various memory stores. After the process of selective attention,
STM then sets into motion another control process of-
 Maintenance rehearsal- It is to retain the information for as much time as required. These
kinds of rehearsals simply maintain information through repetition and when such
repetitions discontinue the information is lost.
 Chunking. Through chunking it is possible to expand the capacity of STM which is
otherwise 7+2. For example, if you are told to remember a string of digits such as
194719492004 (note that the number exceeds the capacity of STM), you may create the
chunks as 1947, 1949, and 2004 and remember them as the year when India became
independent, the year when the Indian Constitution was adopted, and the year when the
tsunami hit the coastal regions of India and South East Asian countries.
 Elaborative rehearsals- From the STM information enters the long-term memory through
elaborative rehearsals. As against maintenance rehearsals, which are carried through silent
or vocal repetition, this rehearsal attempts to connect the ‘to be retained information’ to the
already existing information in long-term memory. For example, the task of remembering
the meaning of the word ‘humanity’ will be easier if the meanings of concepts such as
‘compassion’, ‘truth’ and ‘benevolence’ are already in place. The number of associations
you can create around the new information will determine its permanence. In elaborative
rehearsals one attempts to analyse the information in terms of various associations it
arouses. It involves organisation of the incoming information in
 WORKING MEMORY
 In recent years, psychologists have suggested that the short-term memory is not unitary,
rather it may consist of many components. This multicomponent view of short-term
memory was first proposed by Baddeley (1986) who suggested that the short-term
memory is not a passive storehouse but rather a work bench that holds a wide variety of
memory materials that are constantly handled, manipulated and transformed as people
perform various cognitive tasks. This work bench is called the working memory.
The first component of the working memory is the phonological loop which holds a limited
number of sounds and unless rehearsed they decay within 2 seconds.
The second component visuospatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial information and
like phonological loop the capacity of the sketchpad too is limited.
The third component, which Baddeley calls the Central Executive, organises information
from phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad as well as from the long term memory. Like
a true executive, it allocates attentional resources to be distributed to various informations
needed to perform a given cognitive operation and monitors, plans, and controls behaviour
Shallice and Warrington (1970) - Case Study of K.F.
 KF suffered brain damage as a result of a motorcycle accident. KF had no problem
with long-term memory, but his digit span was only two items (in others words he
could only remember two digits at a time whereas, on average, people remember
seven digits in short-term memory). These findings suggest that different parts of
the brain are involved in short-term and long-term memory. Warrington & Shallice
found that KF’s short-term forgetting of auditory letters and digits (things that are
heard) was much greater than his forgetting of visual stimuli. They also found that
KF’s short-term memory deficit was limited to verbal materials (e.g. letters, words)
and did not extend to meaningful sounds (e.g. cats mewing), in other words he
couldn't remember things like words, but could remember meaningful sounds.
ACADEMIC TASK- CASE STUDY OF
H.M.
 Use any internet resources that you can find to produce a detailed summary of H.M.
case study. Make sure you answer the following questions:

 What damage was done?

 What methods were used to investigate him?
 What conclusions were drawn about human memory from H.M.'s case?
LEVEL OF PROCESSING MODEL
 The levels of processing model (Craik and Lockhart, 1972) focuses
on the depth of processing involved in memory, and predicts the
deeper information is processed, the longer a memory trace will
last.
 Unlike the multi-store model it is a non-structured approach. The
basic idea is that memory is really just what happens as a result of
processing information. Memory is just a by-product of the depth of
processing of information, and there is no clear distinction between
short term and long term memory.
 Therefore, instead of concentrating on the stores/structures involved
(i.e. short term memory & long term memory), this theory
concentrates on the processes involved in memory.
We can process information in 3 ways:

 Shallow Processing- This takes two forms

1. Structural processing (appearance) which is when we encode only the physical
qualities of something. E.g. the typeface of a word or how the letters look.
2. Phonemic processing – which is when we encode its sound.
Shallow processing only involves maintenance rehearsal (repetition to help
us hold something in the STM) and leads to fairly short-term retention of information.
This is the only type of rehearsal to take place within the multi-store model.
 Deep Processing- This involves
3. Semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate
it to similar words with similar meaning.
Deep processing involves elaboration rehearsal which involves a more meaningful
analysis (e.g. images, thinking, associations etc.) of information and leads to better recall.
For example, giving words a meaning or linking them with previous knowledge.
 Supporting evidence:
Craik and Lockhart conducted a lab experiment where pp’s were asked to recognise words
that had been presented structurally, phonetically or semantically. They found that
recognition was 17% for words processed structurally; 36% for words processed
phonetically and 65% for words processed semantically. This supports the theory that
deeper processing leads to a stronger memory trace.

 Opposing evidence:
Deeper processing requires longer than shallow processing. It has been suggested that it is
time rather than depth that contributes to a stronger memory trace.

Also as we have described, factors such as effort and distinctiveness lead to stronger
memory traces, therefore it is hard to define what Craik and Lockhart meant by ‘depth’ and
the theory can be criticised for not being clear.
Additional Reading- other models of memory

[Link]
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 TYPE OF LTM
Long-term memory (LTM) the final stage of the multi-store memory model proposed by the
Atkinson-Shiffrin, providing the lasting retention of information and skills.
 Declarative Memory
Your ability to understand the concept of math, remember what you ate yesterday for
breakfast, and recall the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina are examples of declarative
memory. Declarative memory is the memory of factual information, general knowledge,
data, and events.
We are consciously aware of our declarative memories, and we can verbally 'declare' them.
That is, we can communicate our memories to ourselves and others by speaking. For
example, we can tell our friends that Hurricane Katrina displaced more than 400,000
residents. For this reason, declarative memory is also called explicit memory.
 Procedural Memory
Procedural memory is a part of the long-term memory is responsible for knowing how to do
things, i.e. memory of motor skills. It does not involve conscious (i.e. it’s unconscious -
automatic) thought and is not declarative. For example, procedural memory would involve
knowledge of how to ride a bicycle.
One of the earliest and most influential distinctions of long-term memory was proposed by
Tulving (1972). He proposed a distinction between episodic and semantic memory.
 Semantic memory
It is a part of the long-term memory responsible for storing information about the world. This
includes knowledge about the meaning of words, as well as general knowledge. For example,
London is the capital of England. It involves conscious thought and is declarative.
 Episodic memory
It is a part of the long-term memory responsible for storing information about events (i.e.
episodes) that we have experienced in our lives. It involves conscious thought and is
declarative. An example would be a memory of our 1st day at school.
 Evidence for the distinction between declarative and procedural memory has come
from research on patients with amnesia. Typically, amnesic patients have great
difficulty in retaining episodic and semantic information following the onset of
amnesia. Their memory for events and knowledge acquired before the onset of the
condition tends to remain intact, but they can’t store new episodic or semantic
memories. In other words, it appears that their ability to retain declarative information
is impaired.

 However, their procedural memory appears to be largely unaffected. They can recall
skills they have already learned (e.g. riding a bike) and acquire new skills (e.g. learning
to drive).
Phenomena of Long term memory
 A flashbulb memory is a detailed and vivid memory that is stored on one occasion and
retained for a lifetime. Usually, such memories are associated with important historical or
autobiographical events. People also may form flashbulb memories of important personal
events, such as hearing about the death of a family member or witnessing an unusual trauma
such as a disaster. In each case, what makes the memory "special" is the emotional arousal at
the moment that the event was registered.
 Autobiographical Memory : These are personal memories. They are not distributed evenly
throughout our lives. Some periods in our lives produce more memories than others. For
instance, no memories are reported pertaining to early childhood particularly during the first
4 to 5 years. This is called childhood amnesia.
 Implicit Memory : Recent studies have indicated that many of the memories remain outside
the conscious awareness of a person. Implicit memory is a kind of memory that a person is
not aware of. It is a memory that is retrieved automatically. One interesting example of
implicit memory comes from the experience of typing. If someone knows typing that means
s/he also knows the particular letters on the keyboard. But many typists cannot correctly
label blank keys in a drawing of a keyboard. Implicit memories lie outside the boundaries of
awareness.
Additional Reading about memory
[Link]
 Methods of Memory Measurement
 Free Recall and Recognition (for measuring facts/episodes related memory) : In free
recall method, participants are presented with some words which they are asked to
memorise and after some time they are asked to recall them in any order. The more they
are able to recall, the better their memory is. In recognition, instead of being asked to
generate items, participants see the items that they had memorised along with distracter
items (those that they had not seen) and their task is to recognise which one of those they
had learnt. The greater the number of recognition of ‘old items’, better is the memory.
 Sentence Verification Task (for measuring semantic memory) : semantic memory is not
amenable to any forgetting because it embodies general knowledge that we all possess. In
sentence verification task, the participants are asked to indicate whether the given
sentences are true or false. Faster the participants respond, better retained is the
information needed to verify those sentences (see the Activity on next slide for use of this
task in measurement of semantic knowledge).

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 Priming (for measuring information we cannot report verbally) : We
store many kinds of information that we can’t report verbally – for
instance, information necessary to ride a bicycle or play a sitar.
Besides, we also store information that we are not aware of, which is
described as implicit memory. In priming method, participants are
shown a list of words, such as garden, playground, house, etc. and
then they are shown parts of these words like gar, pla, ho, along with
parts of other words they had not seen. Participants complete parts of
seen words more quickly than parts of words they had not seen.
When asked, they are often unaware of this and report that they have
only guessed.

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 Memory Making
 Eyewitness Memory
Court procedures followed in criminal trials, use the testimony given by the eyewitness
of the offense. It is considered to be the most reliable evidence for or against the
accused. Some experiments carried out by Loftus and her colleagues during the mid-
seventies showed that the eyewitness’s memory is susceptible to many flaws. The
experimental procedure followed by Loftus was very simple. A film clipping of an
event (usually a car accident) was shown to the participants. This was followed by
some questions, which interferes with encoding of the event. One of the questions was
“how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other”. In another question
the verb smashed was replaced with the verb contacted. Those who were asked the first
question (which included the word ‘smashed’) estimated the speed of the cars as 40.8
mph. Those who were given the second question (i.e. with the word ‘contacted’)
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estimated that the speed of the cars was only 31.8 mph. Clearly, the nature of leading
questions changed the memory. In fact, the encoding of the event was ‘overwritten’ by

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misleading questions.
 False Memory
False memory syndrome - the creation of inaccurate or false memories through the suggestion
of others, often while the person is under hypnosis.
Evidence suggests that false memories cannot be created for just any kind of memory. – The
memories must at least be plausible.

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MEMORY AS A CONSTRUCTIVE
PROCESS
Ebbinghaus held the view which emphasised the quantity of information that can be stored in the
memory and judged its accuracy by matching the contents of storage and reproduction. If the
reproduced version of the stored material showed any deviation, it was seen as an error and a case
of memory failure. This storage metaphor of memory implied that the memory was a passive
occurrence of learnt material that has been transported to its long-term storehouse.
 This position was challenged by Bartlett in the early thirties who contended that memory is an
active process and all that we have stored undergoes continuous change and modification. What
we memorise is influenced by the meaning we assign to the stimulus material and once it is
committed to our memory system, it cannot remain in isolation from other cognitive processes.

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 In essence, therefore, Bartlett saw memory as a constructive and not a reproductive
process. Using meaningful materials such as texts, folk tales, fables, etc. Bartlett
attempted to understand the manner in which content of any specific memory gets
affected by a person’s knowledge, goals, motivation, preferences and various other
psychological processes. He conducted simple experiments in which reading of such
stimulus materials was followed by fifteen minutes break and then the participants of
his experiment recalled what they had read. Bartlett used the method of serial
reproduction in which the participants of his experiments recalled the memory
materials repeatedly at varying time intervals. While engaging in serial reproduction of
learned material his participants committed a wide variety of ‘errors’ which Bartlett
considered useful in understanding the process of memory construction. His
participants altered the texts to make them more consistent with their knowledge,
glossed over the unnecessary details, elaborated the main theme and transformed the
material to look more coherent and rational.

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NATURE AND CAUSES OF
FORGETTING
The first systematic attempt to understand the nature of forgetting was made by Hermann
Ebbinghaus, who memorised lists of nonsense syllables (CVC trigrams such as NOK or SEP etc.)
and then measured the number of trials he took to relearn the same list at varying time intervals.
He observed that the course of forgetting follows a certain pattern.
 As the figure indicates, the rate of forgetting is maximum in the first nine hours, particularly
during the first hour. After that the rate slows down and not much is forgotten even after many
days.
 Forgetting due to Trace Decay/Disuse theory
Trace decay (also called disuse theory) is the earliest theory of forgetting. The
assumption here is that memory leads to modification in the central nervous system,
which is akin to physical changes in the brain called memory traces. When these
memory traces are not used for a long time, they simply fade away and become
unavailable. This theory has been proved inadequate on several grounds. If forgetting
takes place because memory traces decay due to disuse, then people who go to sleep
after memorising should forget more compared to those who remain awake, simply
because there is no way in which memory traces can be put to use during sleep.
Results, however, show just the opposite. Those who remain awake after memorising
(waking condition) show greater forgetting than those who sleep (sleeping condition).
Because trace decay theory did not explain forgetting adequately, it was soon
replaced by another theory of forgetting
 Forgetting due to Interference
A theory of forgetting that has perhaps been the most influential one is the interference
theory which suggests that forgetting is due to interference between various
informations that the memory store contains. This theory assumes that learning and
memorising involve forming of associations between items and once acquired, these
associations remain intact in the memory. People keep acquiring numerous such
associations and each of these rests independently without any mutual conflict.
However, interference comes about at a time of retrieval when these various sets of
associations compete with each other for retrieval.
There are atleast two kinds of interferences that may result in forgetting. Interference
can be proactive (forward moving) which means what you have learnt earlier interferes
with the recall of your subsequent/new learning or retroactive (backward moving)
which refers to difficulty in recalling what you have learnt earlier because of learning a
new material. In other words, in proactive interference, past learning interferes with the
recall of later learning while in retroactive interference the later learning interferes with
the recall of past learning. For example, if you know English and you find it difficult to
learn French, it is because of proactive interference and if, on the other hand, you
cannot recall English equivalents of French words that you are currently memorising,
then it is an example of retroactive interference. A typical experimental design that is
used to demonstrate proactive and retroactive interference has been presented in Table
7.1.
 Forgetting due to Retrieval Failure
Forgetting can occur not only because the memory traces have decayed over time
(as suggested by the disuse theory) or because independent sets of stored
associations compete at the time of recall (as suggested by the interference theory)
but also because at the time of recall, either the retrieval cues are absent or they
are inappropriate. Retrieval cues are aids which help us in recovering information
stored in the memory. This view was advanced by Tulving and his associates who
carried out several experiments to show that contents of memory may become
inaccessible either due to absence or inappropriateness of retrieval cues that are
available/employed at the time of recall.
ENHANCING MEMORY
There are a number of strategies for improving memory called mnemonics (pronounced ni-mo-
nicks) to help you improve your memory. Some of these mnemonics involve use of images
whereas others emphasise self-induced organisation of learned information. You will now read
about mnemonics and some suggestions given for memory improvement.
Mnemonics using Imagery
Researchers have shown that if you create and use mental pictures or images of the items you
are studying, you will remember better. Repeating items over and over again does little to help
you remember them; however, visualizing them as you are learning can help you recall them.
For example, if you are learning the components of classical conditioning (Chapter 6), you
should not simply think “CS,” “US,” and “CR”; rather, visualize a concrete example of each.
The CS might be a noisy buzzer, the US a delicious apple pie, and so forth. The process of
visualizing items as they are being learned is known as imagery
 Method of Loci
Loci is the Latin word for “places”; the already stored cues for the method of loci are
specific places. When using this mnemonic device, you start with a set of familiar
locations. For example, you could list (in serial order) the major landmarks you see every
time you go from your house to your school. Such landmark could include the door of your
house, a tree, a specific shop, the round-about and so forth until you enter the gate of your
school. Then you would assign to each location an item that you want to learn. So, if you
were trying to learn the parts of brain, you could pair the medulla with your door, the
cerebellum with the tree and so on. Some people believe that the more bizarre the image,
the better your recall. For example, you could imagine an animated medulla hanging on
your door.
 First Letter Technique :
In order to employ the first letter technique, you need to pick up the first letter of each
word you want to remember and arrange them to form another word or a sentence. For
example, colours of a rainbow are remembered in this way (VIBGYOR- that stands for
Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red).
 Grouping/ Chunking
What is your number? You will answer with a a group of numbers, such as 7595-774-392.
While describing the features of short-term memory, we noted how chunking can increase
the capacity of short-term memory. In chunking, several smaller units are combined to
form large chunks. For creating chunks, it is important to discover some organisation
principles, which can link smaller units. Therefore, apart from being a control mechanism
to increase the capacity of short-term memory, chunking can be used to improve memory
as well.
 Mnemonic strategies for memory enhancement are too simplistic and perhaps
underestimate complexities of memory tasks and difficulties people experience while
memorising. In place of mnemonics, a more comprehensive approach to memory
improvement has been suggested by many psychologists. In such an approach,
emphasis is laid on applying knowledge about memory processes to the task of
memory improvement. It is suggested that one must :
(a) Engage in Deep Level Processing : If you want to memorise any information well,
engage in deep level processing. Craik and Lockhart have demonstrated that
processing information in terms of meaning that they convey leads to better memory
as compared to attending to their surface features. Deep processing would involve
asking as many questions related to the information as possible, considering its
meaning and examining its relationships to the facts you already know. In this way,
the new information will become a part of your existing knowledge framework and the
chances that it will be remembered are increased.
(b) Minimise Interference : Interference, as we have read, is a major cause of forgetting
and therefore you should try to avoid it as much as possible. You know that maximum
interference is caused when very similar materials are learned in a sequence. Avoid
this. Arrange your study in such a way that you do not learn similar subjects one after
the other. Instead, pick up some other subject unrelated to the previous one.
(c) Give Yourself enough Retrieval Cues : While you learn something, think of retrieval
cues inherent in your study material. Identify them and link parts of the study material
to these cues. Cues will be easier to remember compared to the entire content and
the links you have created between cues and the content will facilitate the retrieval
process
Review Questions
1. What is the meaning of the terms ‘encoding’, ‘storage’ and ‘retrieval’?
2. How is information processed through sensory, short-term and long-
term memory systems?
3. How are maintenance rehearsals different from elaborative
rehearsals?
4. Differenciate between declarative and procedural memories?
5. Describe the hierarchical organisation in long-term memory?
6. Why does forgetting take place?
7. How is retrieval related forgetting different from forgetting due to
interference?
8. What evidence do we have to say that ‘memory is a constructive
process’?
9. Define mnemonics? Suggest a plan to improve your own memory.