Chapter 8
Memory

Memory: Some Key Terms

Memory: Active system that stores, organizes, alters, and recovers (retrieves) information

Encoding: Converting information into a useable form

Storage: Holding this information in memory for later use

Retrieval: Taking memories out of storage

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory: Storing an exact copy of incoming information for a few seconds or less (either what is seen or heard); the first stage of memory

Iconic memory: A mental image or visual representation

Echoic memory: After a sound is heard, a brief continuation of the activity in the auditory system

Short-Term Memory (STM)

Storing small amounts of information briefly

Working memory: Part of STM; like a mental “scratchpad”

Selective attention: Focusing (voluntarily) on a selected portion of sensory input (e.g., selective hearing)

Phonetically: Storing information by sound; how most things are stored in STM

Very sensitive to interruption or interference

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Storing meaningful information relatively permanently

Stored on basis of meaning and importance

Short-Term Memory Concepts

Digit span: Test of attention and short-term memory; string of numbers is recalled forward or backward 

Magic number 7 (±2): STM is limited to holding seven (plus or minus two) information bits at once

Information bit: Meaningful single piece of information, like numbers or letters

More Short-Term Memory Concepts

Recoding: Reorganizing or modifying information to assist storage in memory

Information chunks: Bits of information that are grouped into larger units

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeating information silently to prolong its presence in STM

Elaborative Encoding

Links new information with existing memories and knowledge in LTM

Good way to transfer STM information into LTM

Long-Term Memory Concepts

Constructive processing: Updating memories on basis of logic, reasoning, or adding new information

Pseudo-memories: False memories that a person believes are true or accurate

Cognitive Interview

Use of various cues and strategies to improve eyewitness memory

Redintegration

Memories that are reconstructed or expanded by starting with one memory and then following chains of association to related memories

Types of Long-Term Memories

Procedural (skilled): Long-term memories of conditioned responses and learned skills (e.g., driving) 

Declarative (fact): Part of LTM that contains factual information

Subparts of Declarative Memory

Semantic memory: Includes impersonal facts and everyday knowledge

Episodic: Includes personal experiences linked with specific times and places

Measuring Memory

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state: Feeling that a memory is available but not quite retrievable

Feeling of knowing: Feeling that allows people to predict beforehand whether they’ll be able to remember something

Recall

Direct retrieval of facts or information

Hardest to recall items in the middle of an ordered list; known as the serial position effect 

Easier to remember first and last items in a list

Measuring Memory Continued

Recognition memory: Previously learned material is correctly identified

Usually superior to recall

Distractors: False items included with a correct item

Wrong choices on multiple-choice tests

False positive: False sense of recognition

More on Measuring Memory

Relearning: Learning again something that was previously learned

Used to measure memory of prior learning

Savings score: Amount of time saved when relearning information

Measuring Memory Concluded

Explicit memory: Past experiences that are consciously brought to mind

Implicit memory: A memory not known to exist; memory that is unconsciously retrieved

Priming: When cues are used to activate hidden memories

Curve of Forgetting

Graph that shows the amount of memory information remembered after varying lengths of time

Forgetting

Nonsense syllables: Meaningless three-letter words (fej, quf) that test learning and forgetting

Encoding failure: When a memory was never formed in the first place

Don’t Forget These Terms!

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

Disuse: Theory that memory traces weaken when memories are not periodically used or retrieved

Some More Theories of Forgetting

Memory cue: Any stimulus associated with a memory; usually enhances retrieval of a memory

A person will forget if cues are missing at retrieval time

State-Dependent Learning

When memory retrieval is influenced by bodily state at time of learning; if your body state is the same at the time of learning AND the time of retrieval, retrievals will be improved

If Robert is drunk and forgets where his car is parked, it may be easier to recall the location if he gets drunk again!

Interference

Tendency for new memories to impair retrieval of older memories, and the reverse

Retroactive interference: Tendency for new memories to interfere with retrieval of old memories

Proactive interference: Prior learning inhibits (interferes with) recall of later learning

Transfer of Training

Positive transfer: Mastery of one task aids learning or performing another

Negative transfer: Mastery of one task conflicts with learning or performing another

Repression and Suppression

Repression: Unconsciously pushing painful, embarrassing, or threatening memories out of awareness/consciousness

Motivated forgetting

Suppression: Consciously putting something painful or threatening out of mind or trying to keep it from entering awareness

Memory Formation

Retrograde Amnesia: Forgetting events that occurred before an injury or trauma

Anterograde Amnesia: Forgetting events that follow an injury or trauma

Consolidation: Forming a long-term memory in the brain

Electroconvulsive Shock (ECS)

Mild electrical shock passed through the brain produces a convulsion, destroys any memory that is being formed

One way to prevent consolidation

Memory Structures

Hippocampus: Brain structure associated with emotion and transfer of information passing from short-term memory into long-term memory

If damaged, person can no longer “create” long-term memories and thus will always live in the present

Memories prior to damage will remain intact

Flashbulb Memories

Memories created during times of personal tragedy, accident, or other emotionally significant events

Where were you when you heard that terrorists had attacked the USA on September 11th, 2001?

Includes both positive and negative events

Not always accurate

Great confidence is placed in them even though they may be inaccurate

Eidetic Imagery

Occurs when a person (usually a child) has visual images clear enough to be scanned or retained for at least 30 seconds

Usually projected onto a “plain” surface, like a blank piece of paper

Usually disappears during adolescence and is rare by adulthood

Ways to Improve Memory

Spaced practice: Alternating short study sessions with brief rest periods

Massed practice: Studying for long periods without rest periods

Lack of sleep decreases retention; sleep aids consolidation

Hunger decreases retention

Ways to Improve Memory (Cont)

Selection: Selecting most important concepts to memorize

Organization: Organizing difficult items into chunks; a type of reordering

Ways to Improve Memory Concluded

Whole Learning: Studying an entire package of information at once, like a poem

Part Learning: Studying subparts of a larger body of information (like text chapters)

Progressive Part Learning: Breaking learning task into a series of short sections

Serial Position Effect: Making most errors while remembering the middle of the list

Overlearning: Studying is continued beyond bare mastery

Retrieval Strategies

Knowledge of Results: Feedback allowing you to check your progress

Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are learning

Rehearsal: Reviewing information mentally (silently)

Mnemonics: Memory “Tricks”

Any kind of memory system or aid 

Use mental pictures

Make things meaningful

Make information familiar

Form bizarre, unusual, or exaggerated mental associations

Keyword Method

Aid to memory; using a familiar word or image to link two items

Using Mnemonics to Remember Things in Order

Form a chain or story: Remember lists in order, forming an exaggerated association connecting item one to two, and so on

Take a mental walk: Mentally walk along a familiar path, placing objects or ideas along the path

Use a system