Memory

Fact or Fiction?• Memory storage is never automatic; it always

takes effort.• Although our capacity for storing information is

large, we are still limited in the number of permanent memories we can form

• The hour before sleep, is a good time to commit information to memory

• When people learn something while intoxicated, they recall it best when they are again intoxicated

• Confidence is essential to eyewitness accuracy

You are what you remember!

What was your earliest memory?

Psychology Today

Can you name the Seven dwarfs?

What is memory process?

Get info into the brain (encode)

Retain information (storage)

Get information out (retrieval)

Types of Memory

• Procedural memory- memory for how to carry out skilled movement

• Episodic memory- memory regarding a personal experience

• Semantic memory- memory involving general knowledge

Encoding

Shiffrin/Atkinson Model

Visual Sensory Memory (Iconic)

Visual images stored 1-2 seconds

Auditory Sensory Memory (echoic)

Sound images last 3-4 seconds

Tactile Sensory Memory (touch)

Touch sensations last 1-2 seconds

Memory Processing Model

Herman EbbinghausMaintenance

Rehearsal Elaborate rehearsal

(rehearsal & meaning)

Schema & Constructive memory

ChunkingMeaningMnemonics

Imagery

Chunking

IBFIMBWBMATWIAC

Meaning

Storage

Short-term Memory= how does it work?

• Brief (20 seconds)

• Easily interrupted

• Limited in size

Short-term memory recall is approximately 7 digits

Magic Number 7

+ or - 2

Flashbulb memory= also called Episodic memory

VividLong-

LastingEmotional

Other Memory Types..

Semantic Memory= Memory for information

Procedural memory= Memory for actions (bike riding, swimming, tying your shoes) These are our most enduring types of memory.

Encoding specificity principle= we retrieve best when we can re-create the original conditions

Content dependent memory

Same physical space

State dependent memory

Same or similar emotional state

Forgetting as Encoding Failure

Module 23: Forgetting and Memory Construction

Encoding Failures

• People fail to encode information because:

– It is unimportant to them

– It is not necessary to know the information

– A decrease in the brain’s ability to encode

Retrieval…what if the memory is “in there” but you can’t get it

out?• Tip of the tongue phenomenon

• Recognize with “cues”

• Implicit memory= “remembering” something when we don’t realize that we do. (may need to be primed)

• Explicit memory=

Serial Position

Forgetting

Module 23: Forgetting and Memory Construction

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

• German philosopher who pioneering memory studies.

• Developed the forgetting curve, also called the “retention curve” or “Ebbinghaus curve”

The Forgetting Curve(Adapted from Ebbinghaus, 1885)

Forgetting as Retrieval Failure:

Interference

Module 23: Forgetting and Memory Construction

Interference

• A retrieval problem when one memory gets in the way of remembering another

• Two types of interference:

– Proactive interference

– Retroactive interference

Proactive Interference

• When an older memory disrupts the recall of a newer memory.

Proactive Interference

Retroactive Interference

• When a more recent memory disrupts the recall of an older memory.

Retroactive Interference

Forgetting (The Freudian view)

Repression

Memory & the Brain

Much is known

And much is still being discovered

Long-Term Potentiation

Neural explanationWhen groups of neurons fire together repeatedly, the synaptic connections form communications

Aplysia (sea snail)

Memory Jigsaw Analogy

• Memories, rather than being like a video tape, are formed as bits and pieces.

• People may retrieve only some of the pieces of the memory

Physical Structures of memory

• The Hippocampus- new memories

• The Cerebellum-procedural memories here

• The Prefrontal cortex- “habit” learning

• The Amygdala- emotional learning

Elizabeth Loftus (1944- )

• Psychologist at University of California, Irvine, whose research established the constructed nature of memory.

• Has found that subjects’ memories vary based on the wording of questions

• Memories are malleable• Demonstrated the

misinformation effect

Misinformation Effect

• Incorporating misleading information into a memory of an event.

• Affects eyewitness testimony

Misinformation Effect

Memory Construction:Recovered Memories

Module 23: Forgetting and Memory Construction

Accuracy of Memories