Chapter 7 Memory

When you're sad (or happy or angry), you're more likely to remember events and circumstances from other times when you were what?

sad (or happy or angry).

Early researchers believed that sensory memory had an unlimited capacity. However, later research suggests that what?

sensory memory does have limits and that stored images are fuzzier than once thought

The second stage of memory processing, short-term memory (STM), temporarily stores and processes what?

sensory stimuli.

The storage stage also involves information processing in three interacting memory systems—? which is generally considered a separate model?

sensory, short-term, and long-term—which is generally considered a separate model, known as the three-stage memory model (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968; Moulin, 2011).

Each day we read, hear, and process an enormous amount of information, and it's easy to confuse "who said what to whom" and in what context. Forgetting the true source of a memory is known as what?

source amnesia

Distributed practice refers to what?

spacing your learning periods, with rest periods between sessions.

Specific cues require you only to recognize what?

the correct response.

Motivated forgetting theory is based on what?

the idea that we forget some information for a reason. According to Freudian theory, people forget unpleasant or anxiety-producing information either consciously or unconsciously.

Since Ebbinghaus's original research, scientists have discovered numerous factors that contribute to forgetting. Six of the most important are:

the misinformation effect, the serial position effect, source amnesia, the sleeper effect, spacing of practice, and culture.

Once it's entered, the information remains in sensory memory just long enough to locate relevant bits of data and transfer it on to what?

the next stage of memory.

The ability to forget is essential to what?

the proper functioning of memory.

General cues require you to recall previously learned material by searching what?

through all possible matches in LTM—a much more difficult task.

In interference theory, forgeting is caused by what?

two competing memories, particularly memories with similar qualities.

The immediate goal of elaborative rehearsal is to ?

understand— not to memorize.

Psychologists have long been interested in how and why?

we forget. Hermann Ebbinghaus first introduced the experimental study of learning and forgetting in 1885

If we try to memorize too much information at once (as when students "cram" before an exam), we're not likely to learn and remember as much as?

we would with more distributed study

Implicit/nondeclarative memory also includes priming:

where prior exposure to a stimulus (prime) facilitates or inhibits the processing of new information

In addition to problems with the misinformation effect, when study participants are given lists of words to learn, they remember some words better than others depending on what?

where they occurred in the list, known as the serial position effect. They remember the words at the beginning (primacy effect) and the end of the list (recency effect) better than those in the middle, which are quite often forgotten

Because short-term memory (STM) is active, or working, some researchers prefer the term:

working memory.

tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon:

—the feeling that a word or event you are trying to remember will pop out at any second—is known to result from interference, faulty cues, and high emotional arousal.

Short Term Memory: Tools

-Chunking -Maintenance Rehearsal -Hierarchies -Elaborative rehearsal -encoding -retrieval cues

Long term memory: Tools

-Deeper levels of processing -long term potentiation -consolidation

Sensory memory: Tools

-selective attention -iconic memory -echoic memory

retrieval cue:

A clue or prompt that helps stimulate recall and retrieval of a stored piece of information from long-term memory.

Recognition (a specific retrieval cue) :

A recognition task offers specific cues and only requires you to identify the correct response. So although many people would have a hard time naming their high school classmates many years later, both name and picture recognition remains high, even many years after graduation.

memory:

An internal record or representation of some prior event or experience.

Recall (a general retrieval cue):

Can you recall from memory the names of the eight planets in our solar system? If not, it's probably because recall, like an essay question on an exam, requires retrieval with only general, nonspecific cues. Note how much easier it is if you're provided these specific, recognition-type, retrieval cues: Mer-, Ven-, Mar-, Jup-, Sat-, Ura-, Nep-.

Method of loci :

Greek and Roman orators developed the method of loci to keep track of the many parts of their long speeches. Orators would imagine the parts of their speeches attached to places in a courtyard. For example, if an opening point in a speech was the concept of justice, they might visualize a courthouse placed in the first corner of their garden. As they mentally walked around their garden during their speech, they would encounter, in order, each of the points to be made. Using this same example, the second point that the orator might plan to make would be something about the prison system, and the third point would involve the role of government.

Implicit/ Nondeclarative Memory:

Procedural memory, classically conditioned memory and priming.

encoding:

Processing information into the memory system.

Short- term memory storage:

Purpose—holds information temporarily for analysis and retrieves information from LTM Duration—up to 30 sec without rehearsal Capacity—limited 5-9 items

(2) Sensory Memory Storage:

Purpose—holds sensory information Duration—lasts up to 1/2 sec for visual; 2-4 sec for auditory Capacity—large

Long term memory storage:

Purpose—receives and stores information from STM Duration—relatively permanent Capacity—relatively unlimited

retrieval:

Recovering information from memory storage.

maintenance rehearsal:

Repeating information to maintain it in shortterm memory (STM).

storage:

Retaining information over time.

encoding specificity principle:

Retrieval of information is improved when the conditions of recovery are similar to the conditions that existed when the information was encoded.

chunking:

The act of grouping separate pieces of information into a single unit (or chunk).

elaborative rehearsal:

The process of linking new information to previously stored material.

explicit/ declarative memory:

The subsystem within long-term memory that consciously stores facts, information, and personal life experiences.

implicit/ non declarative memory:

The subsystem within long-term memory that consists of unconscious procedural skills, simple classically conditioned responses (Chapter 6), and priming.

Echoic memory:

Think back to times when someone asked you a question while you were deeply absorbed in a task. Did you ask "What?" and then immediately find you could answer them without hearing their repeated response? Now you know why. A weaker "echo" of auditory information can last up to four seconds.

sensory memory:

This first memory stage holds sensory information. It has a relatively large capacity, but duration is only a few seconds.

short-term memory (STM):

This second memory stage temporarily stores sensory information and decides whether to send it on to longterm memory (LTM). Its capacity is limited to five to nine items, and its duration is about 30 seconds.

long-term memory (LTM):

This third memory stage stores information for long periods. Its capacity is limitless; its duration is relatively permanent.

Iconic memory:

To demonstrate the duration of visual, or iconic memory, swing a flashlight in a dark room. Because the image, or icon, lingers for a fraction of a second after the flashlight is moved, you see the light as a continuous stream, as in this photo, rather than as a succession of individual points.

Acronyms:

To use the acronym method, create a new code word from the first letters of the items you want to remember. For example, to recall the names of the Great Lakes, think of HOMES on a great lake (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). Visualizing homes on each lake also helps you remember your code word "homes."

Outline organization:

When listening to lectures and/or reading the text, draw a vertical line approximately three inches from the left margin of your notebook paper. Write main headings from the chapter outline to the left of the line and add specific details and examples from the lecture or text on the right.

sleeper effect:

When we first hear something from an unreliable source, we tend to disregard that information in favor of a more reliable source. However, as the source of the information is forgotten (source amnesia), the unreliable information is no longer discounted.

short-term memory is more than just a passive, temporary "holding area." Most current researchers (Baddeley, 1992, 2007; Berti, 2010; Buchsbaum, Padmanabhan, & Berman, 2011; Camos & Barrouillet, 2011) realize that what also occurs in STM?

active processing of information also occurs in STM.

Priming often occurs even when we do not consciously remember what?

being exposed to the prime. For example, you might feel nervous being home alone after reading a Stephen King novel, and watching a romantic movie might kindle your own romantic feelings.

This involves arranging a number of related items into what?

broad categories that are further divided and subdivided.

To extend the capacity of STM, you can use a technique called what?

chunking

There are five major theories that explain why forgetting occurs (Study Organizer 7.2):

decay, interference, motivated forgetting, encoding failure, and retrieval failure.

STM also retrieves stored memories from LTM. Otherwise, information does what?

decays and is lost.

Like organization, rehearsal also improves encoding for both STM and LTM. If you need to hold information in STM for longer than 30 seconds, you can simply keep repeating it (maintenance rehearsal). But storage in LTM requires deeper levels of processing, called what?

elaborative rehearsal.

Fortunately, this attempt to understand is one of the best ways to do what?

encode new information into long-term memory

To understand memory (and its constructive nature), you first need a model of how it operates. Over the years, psychologists have developed numerous models for memory. According to the encoding, storage, and retrieval (ESR) model, the barrage of information that we encounter every day goes through three basic operations:

encoding, storage, and retrieval.

This phenomenon, called mood congruence, occurs because a what?

given mood tends to evoke memories that are consistent with that mood.

To successfully encode information for LTM, we need to organize material into what?

hierarchies.

Finally, as illustrated in Figure 7.7, cultural factors can play a role in what?

how well people remember what they have learned.

Research on the misinformation effect shows that what?

information that occurs after an event may further alter and revise those constructions. For example, in one study subjects watched a film of a car driving through the countryside, and were then asked to estimate how fast the car was going when it passed the barn. Although there was no actual barn in the film, subjects were six times more likely to report having seen one than those who were not asked about a barn (Loftus, 1982). Other experiments have created false memories by showing subjects doctored photos of themselves taking a completely fictitious hot-air balloon ride, or by asking subjects to simply imagine an event, such as having a nurse remove a skin sample from their finger. In these and similar cases, a large number of subjects later believed that misleading information was correct and that fictitious or imagined events actually occurred

In most cases, we're able to remember better when we attempt to recall information in the same context in which what?

it was learned.

The capacity and duration of STM are what?

limited

If the information is important, STM organizes and sends this information along to what?

long-term memory (LTM).

Once information is transferred from STM, it is organized and integrated with other information in what?

long-term memory (LTM).

You can extend the duration of your STM almost indefinitely by consciously "juggling" the information, a process called what?

maintenance rehearsal.

People who are good at remembering names also know to take advantage of what?

maintenance rehearsal. They repeat the name of each person they meet, aloud or silently, to keep it active in STM.

In contrast, episodic memory is like a mental diary. It records the what?

major events (episodes) in our lives. Some of our episodic memories are short-lived, whereas others can last a lifetime.

Cramming is called what?

massed practice because the time spent learning is massed into long, unbroken intervals.

If you couldn't forget, your mind would be filled with what?

meaningless data, such as what you ate for breakfast every morning of your life.

Semantic memory is:

memory for general knowledge, rules, events, facts, and specific information. It is our mental encyclopedia.

In decay theory:

memory is processed and stored in a physical form—for example, in a network of neurons. Connections between neurons probably deteriorate over time, leading to forgetting. This theory explains why skills and memory degrade if they go unused ("use it or lose it").

One additional "trick" for giving your memory a boost is to use what?

mnemonic devices to encode items in a special way

According to retrieval failure theory, memories stored in LTM aren't forgotten. They're just?

momentarily inaccessible.

Proactive (forward-acting) interference :

occurs when old information interferes with new information. Have you ever been in trouble because you used an old romantic partner's name to refer to your new partner? You now have a guilt-free explanation—proactive interference.

For visual information, known as iconic memory, the visual image (icon) stays in sensory memory only about how long?

one-half of a second

Auditory information (what we hear) lasts about the same length of time as visual information?

one-quarter to one-half of a second, but a weaker "echo," or echoic memory, of this auditory information is held up to four seconds

Several processes can be employed to improve long-term memory. These include:

organization, rehearsal (or repetition), and retrieval.

memory is a constructive process through which we actively do what?

organize and shape information as it is being processed, stored, and retrieved.

When we need the information, it is sent back to STM for what?

our conscious use.

In encoding failure theory:

our sensory memory receives the information and passes it to STM. But during STM, we may decide there is no need to remember the precise details, so we do not fully encode it and pass it on for proper storage in LTM. For example, few people can correctly recognize the details on the U.S. penny (the location of the mint date, the direction of Lincoln's head).

Everything we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell must first enter what?

our sensory memory.

Memory allows us to learn from our experiences and to adapt to ever-changing environments— without it, we would have no what?

past or future.

Implicit/nondeclarative memory consists of what?

procedural motor skills, like tying your shoes or riding a bike, as well as classically conditioned memory responses, such as fears or taste aversions.

According to this model, three different storage "boxes," or memory stages, hold and process information. Each stage has a different what?

purpose, duration, and capacity

Explicit/declarative memory:

refers to intentional learning or conscious knowledge. -If asked to remember your phone number or your mother's name, you can state (declare) the answers directly (explicitly).

Implicit/nondeclarative memory:

refers to unintentional learning or unconscious knowledge. -Try telling someone else how you tie your shoelaces without demonstrating the actual behavior. Because your memory of this skill is unconscious and hard to describe (declare) in words, this type of memory is sometimes referred to as nondeclarative.

Compared with sensory memory and short-term memory, long-term memory has what?

relatively unlimited capacity and duration

But, just as with any other possession, the better we label and arrange our memories, the more readily we'll be able to do what?

retrieve them.

There are two types of interference:

retroactive interference and proactive interference

Explicit/declarative memory can be further subdivided into two parts:

Semantic Memory and episodic memory

Explicit/Declarative Memory:

Semantic and Episodic Memory

A number of biological changes occur when we learn something new. Among them are:

neuronal and synaptic changes and hormonal changes.

Retroactive (backward-acting) interference :

occurs when new information interferes with old information. This example comes from a story about an absent-minded icthyology professor (fish specialist) who refused to learn the names of his college students. Asked why, he said, "Every time I learn a student's name, I forget the name of a fish!"

Mnemonic Devices: These three mnemonics improve memory by tagging information to physical locations-

(method of loci), organizing information into main and subsidiary topics (an outline), and using familiar information to remember the unfamiliar (acronyms).

effective retrieval is critical to what?

improving longterm memory.

LTM serves as a storehouse for information that must be what?

kept for long periods.