Introduction to MemoryModules 31 - 32

Opening Activity

• Get out a blank piece of paper• Write down all the responses that come

to mind, in the order they come to mind• Name the seven dwarfs.

What is Memory?

• To psychologists, memory is learning that has persisted over time; it is information that has been acquired, stored, and can be retrieved.• Research on the extremes helps us

understand more about memory• Examples of extremes• Clive Wearing – lost memory• Joshua Foer – winner 2006 USA Memory

Olympics

Memory Models

• Information-processing models are analogies that compare human memory to a computer’s operations. • Encoding describes getting information

into our brain.• Storage describes how we retain

information.• Retrieval describes how we later get the

information back out.

Memory Models

• Like all analogies, computer models have their limitations. • Computers process sequentially where

human dual-track minds process simultaneously.• Parallel Processing describes the

processing of many things simultaneously.• Enter the classroom; see the warm-up, hear

conversations, think about last class, etc.

Memory Models

• Connectionism model promotes the idea that neural connections are changed or strengthened when you learn something. • Atkinson and Shiffrin propose a three-

stage model:1. We first record information as a fleeting

sensory memory.2. From there, we process information into

short - term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal.

3. Finally, information moves into long - term memory for later retrieval.

Memory Models

• Atkinson and Shiffrin three-stage model

External Events

Sensory Memory

Long-term Memory

Memory Models

Others have modified the Atkinson and Shiffrin model to include the idea of working memory.

• Working memory is a newer concept of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Memory Models

Alan Baddeley’s working memory model

Memory Models

Modified three-stage model that includes the idea of working memory.

External Events

Sensory Memory

Long-term Memory Storage

Sensory InputSensory Input Encoding

Working Short-term

Memory

Encoding

Retrieving

Maintenance Rehearsal

Attention to important or novel

information

Automatic Processing

Building Memory: Encoding

Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing

• Atkinson & Shiffrin’s model focused on explicit memories.• memory of facts and experiences that one

can consciously know and “declare.” (Also called declarative memory)

• We encode explicit memories through conscious, effortful processing.• encoding that requires attention and

conscious effort.

Building Memory: Encoding

Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing

• Example of effortful processing:

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• At first this requires effort, but with practice it can become more automatic.

Building Memory: Encoding

Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing

• Automatic processing skips the conscious track and happens without awareness.• unconscious encoding of incidental

information such as space, time, frequency, and of well-learned information such as word meanings.

Building Memory: Encoding

Effortful –vs– Automatic Processing

• Examples of automatic processing:• Space: you encode the place on a page

where certain information is located.

• Time: you unintentionally note the sequence of events that happened in your day.

• Frequency: you effortlessly keep track of how many times things happen to you.

Homework

• Reproduce the modified three-stage processing model of memory on the bottom of page 319 in your textbook.

• Be prepared to recall information from this model.