chapter 8 memory
Eidetic (or "Photographic") Memory
The ability to hold a complete visual representation in short-term memory
Sensory Memory/ Duration
Very brief (a few seconds max)
Sperling (1960): Results
-Sensory memory is processed automatically without attention or conscious effort -Information is available just long enough for us to pay attention to specific elements that are important to us in that moment -Paying attention to something moves it to short-term memory
Causes of Wrongful Conviction
75% of wrongful convictions involved mistaken eyewitness identification (#1 cause)
Roediger & Karpicke (2006)
After a delay, the participants who were tested the most recalled the most
Autobiographical memories/Episodic Memory (Explicit)
Autobiographical memories of specific events or episodes, including the time and place they occurred What did you do last Saturday night? Memories of your first kiss Memories of your first day of work
Implications for Forensic Interviewing
Avoid suggestion (introducing new information into the memory report
Loftus & Palmer (1974)
Stronger verbs ("smashed") led to higher estimates of speed Semantic meaning of "smashed" different than "hit" Participants asked the following question after one week: Did you see any broken glass? Smashed 34% Hit 14% There was no broken glass in the film The higher speed estimate that they gave, the more likely they were to report seeing broken glass
PSTD
Symptoms Flashbacks, involuntary intrusive thoughts, nightmares Hass been used as a counterargument against repression PTSD: Difficult to forget trauma
To retrieve information:
Take a "mental walk" through the location
Source Confusion:
Telling a "new" story to your friend only to discover that he was the one who originally told you the story
Recency effect
Tendency to recall the final few items in a list Words at the end of the list are still "online" in short-term memory
Primacy effect
Tendency to recall the first items in a list Use rehearsal to get first few items into long-term memory
Visual codes
Tends to fade quickly for verbal information Becomes more important when trying to store nonverbal items (e.g., pictures) These codes are more difficult to store phonologically
Natural forgetting (i.e., memory decay)
Tends to occur when people do not think about prior events Ex. What was the name of your 2nd grade teacher? 4th grade? Little controversy here Generally accepted that forgetting does occur for any number of things
Motivated Forgetting
The idea that we forget because we are motivated to forget, usually because a memory is unpleasant or disturbing
What is memory?
The mental processes that enable us to retain and use information over time Any indication that learning has persisted over time
Serial Position Effect
The tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of a list better than items in the middle
transferring appropriate processing
The way in which we expect to retrieve information influences how we encode it If you expect to have your midterm be a multiple-choice exam, you will encode the information you study differently than if you expected an essay exam
Organization of Memory/Long-term memory (LTM) is very organized
Trying naming the months of the year alphabetically This is difficult to do because the months of the year are organized in a certain way in our LTM, to recall them out of order takes much longer
Eidetic (or "Photographic") Memory
Unlike an image in sensory (iconic) memory, the image does not fade in less than 500 ms
implications for Forensic Interviewing
Use closed-ended, (yes-no, forced-choice) specific questions only after free recall has been exhausted
Mnemonic Devices
Using mental images can be particularly useful for connecting pairs of unrelated items
Eidetic (or "Photographic") Memory
Very few people have eidetic memory
How does one create a false memory
Very similar procedures
Commit to memory an ordered sequence of locations
Walking through your home
To determine how much information was forgotten after different lengths of time
Wanted to test himself on completely new material Created his own non-sense syllables ROH, LEZ, SUW, QOV, XAR, KUF, WEP, BIW Conducted research on himself
Automatic Encoding: Unconscious processing
What was the last thing you ate? The last time you studied, was it light or dark outside? What shirt did you wear yesterday?
Roediger & Karpicke (2006)
What's the point? Testing yourself is key to retrieving information from long-term memory Exams do not test encoding or storage of information; they test retrieval
Phonological codes (acoustic)
When given a string of letters to remember, people most often confuse those that sound similar phonologically Ex. RLTKSJ (The "T" may be replaced with "B") Ex. Trying to remember a phone number
Current mood influences the kinds of memories you recall
When in a positive & happy mood, you are more likely to remember positive things When in a negative & sad mood, you are more likely to recall negative or unpleasant memories
Levels of Processing
When it comes to memory, it matters how deeply you process the information
Implicit Memory;Some sub-systems:Classical Conditioning
You develop associations that affect your behavior without being aware of it
Why are these procedural memories implicit
You don't have to consciously remember the steps involved in these actions to perform them
Retrieval
You have the information, but are unable to connect the question on the test with the information in your brain
Memory: Forgetting
You see a question on the test, you remember studying it, but can't remember the answer, it could be due to failure at:
Retrieval involves
active reconstruction -We filter or fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent
Lost in the Mall" study (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995)
contacted relatives for three stories from their childhood Inserted one false memory Being lost in the mall
Braun, Ellis & Loftus (2002)
have you been to Disneyland? Have you met any of the characters? Did you take a picture with any of the characters? Of the three most popular, who did you have pictures with: Mickey Mouse Bugs Bunny Goofy
Non-declarative memory
influences your thoughts or behavior without you being consciously aware of it Processed by cerebellum and basal ganglia
Working Memory
information is coded in working memory via
Sensory memory because it holds information from our
senses
nformation needs to be attended to in order for it to be transferred into
short-term memory
, optimal performance varies with
task difficulty
How does one recover a repressed memory
therapy Cue-dependent retrieval Guided imagery Hypnosis Detailed dream analysis Sodium amytal ("truth serum")
forgetting curve
two distinct patterns in the relationship between forgetting and the passage of time 1.Much of what we forget is lost relatively soon after we originally learned it 2.The amount of forgetting eventually levels off
Explicit (Declarative) Memory
Episodic memory Semantic memory
Form an image (of the word/phrase to be remembered) and associate it with a specific location
Grocery list: Bread nailed to door of bedroom
Long-Term Memory- Function: Organizes and stores memory
More passive than working memory
Elizabeth Loftus:
More than 200 experiments involving over 20,000 individuals document misinformation effect
Elaboration Enhances Memory
Within deep processing, the more extensive the processing, the better the memory Vivid examples
-Memories are not perfect -Memories can change over time Details can be added, subtracted, exaggerated, downplayed or even be completely wrong
true
People remembered more words under the influence of marijuana if they learned them under the influence
true
A memory distortion that occurs when
true source of the memory is forgotten
Repressed Memory
"Lost" but not forgotten Memory is in storage, but is unavailable for retrieval
short term/working memory/Function: Temporary store of information currently in use
-Conscious processing of information -Enables you to have rapid access to this information -Where information is actively worked on
Short-Term (Working) Memory
-Information can be prevented from decay if rehearsed - if process information well enough might get into LTM Maintenance vs. Elaborative Rehearsal
Organization of Memory
-Organization during encoding improves subsequent recall Thus, try to organize related concepts into clumps as you study
Loftus & Pickrell (1995)
25% came to believe they had been lost in the mall as children "That day I was so scared that I would never see my family again." Visualized a flannel shirt, bald head, and glasses of the old man who supposedly had found him. "I thought I remembered being lost...and lookin around for the guys. I do remember that, and then crying, and Mom coming up and saying, 'Where were you? Don't you ... ever do that again."
The Innocence Project
375 post-conviction DNA exonerations in U.S. history (as of 9/1/2020) Average sentence served: 14 years 21 of the 375 (6%) had served time on death row 165 of the 375 (44%) identified alternative assailants Convicted of 154 additional violent crimes while innocent person was serving time for their earlier offenses 83 sexual assaults, 36 murders, and 35 other violent crimes) Disproportionately affects Black and African Americans
Scripts
A kind of schema that involves the typical sequence of actions and behaviors at a common event Ex. Eating at a restaurant
False memory (i.e., pseudomemory)
A memory for an event that never occurred
Recovered Memory
A repressed memory that has once again become consciously accessible
Chunking
Allows more information to be in STM Capacity of STM is best expressed in chunks, not in individual items 7 +/- 2 chunks
Connected with our own identities
Amnesia; Alzheimer's disease
Visible Persistence
As the interval between the frames increases, detection decreases As the first frame's iconic memory decreases over time, it becomes less visible and is less easily integrated with the image of the second frame
Using a funnel approach reduces memory error
Ask open-ended questions "What happened?
Method of Loci
Associate items with an ordered sequence of places
Why are these explicit memories?
Because you consciously search your memory and declare your answer
Echoic memory (auditory)
Brief memory of a sound or echo Lasts ~3 - 4 seconds Ex. Answering a question you didn't "hear"
Iconic memory (visual)
Brief memory of an image or an icon Lasts ~.25 - .50 seconds Ex. Movies; driving home without "memory" of going through a part of a city
Short-Term (Working) Memory/Duration:
Brief storage (about 20 - 30 seconds) -Can "refresh" information by repeating it to keep in STM longer
Sensory Memory
Briefly holds information long enough to be processed for basic physical characteristics
Attributing a memory for one event to the wrong source
Can help to explain the misinformation effect
Explicit Memory
Can use explicit memory to directly respond to a question "Who was the first president of the USA?" "What did you do for your 18th birthday?"
Inverted U-shaped function
Cognitive resources that may otherwise be used for attending to an event may be reallocated to emotion-regulating systems, thereby reducing accurate memory performance
Sperling (1960)
Conducted a classic experiment on visual sensory memory Briefly showed a display of digits to participants Task: Report as many letters as you can from the entire display
Role of Memories
Connect historical time periods
Can take on several forms:
Context-dependent memory State-dependent memory Transfer appropriate processing
Video: The Case of Clive Wearing
Contracted encephalitis Hippocampus severely impaired Implicated in forming new memories Anterograde amnesia Moment to moment memory
Encoding
Did not properly store the information
Conducted one of the most famous studies of memory in psychology
Displayed the Ebbinghaus curve (Forgetting curve)
Long-Term Memory
Duration: Relatively permanent (minutes to years)
Stress & Memory Performance
During an emotional experience, our autonomic nervous system mobilizes energy in the body that arouses us
Two sub-types of explicit memory
Episodic Memory Semantic Memory
Rhyming
Ex. In 1400 and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue Make up a story using key words
Acrostics
Ex. North East South West = Never Eat Soggy Wheatie
Acronyms
Ex. ROY G BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
In order to encode information, you must first pay attention to it
Ex. Selective attention
Eyewitness Memory
Eyewitnesses are given a tremendous amount of weight in our judicial system -Yet, as we have seen memory is not perfect Often, a single eyewitness (with no corroborating evidence) is enough for a conviction
Tip for studying:
Focus attention, minimize distractions
Storage
Forgot the information between study and test
Encoding
Getting information into memory May be thought of as the culmination of perception Translation of environmental information into a mental representation
Retrieval
Getting items out of memory
Eich et al. (1975)
Had people learn lists and later recall them either under the influence of marijuana or not
Hyperthymesia
Highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) Tend to remember an unusually vast number of distant past life experiences (typically starting from mid-childhood) with extreme detail
Hyperthymesia
Highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) Tend to remember an unusually vast number of distant past life experiences (typically starting from mid-childhood) with extreme detail -people with HSAM are just as susceptible to creating false memories as control subjects (Patihis et al., 2013) Reconstructive processes are basic mechanisms for all humans
Other examples/Semantic Memory (Explicit)
How many tires are on a car? What is a cloud? What color is a banana? You do not have to recall the last time you ate a banana to say that they are yellow
False Memories
However, it's also possible to create memories that never actually occurred The formation of false memories
Recognition
Identifying the correct information out of several possible choices (e.g. multiple-choice)
Anterograde Amnesia
Inability to form new memories H.M. amnesia Memento amnesia Finding Dory amnesia "Pimento Memento" from Brooklyn 99
Memory: Forgetting
Inability to recall information that was previously available Can occur at any memory stage
Retrograde Amnesia
Inability to remember events that occurred prior to the injury or disease The Bourne Identity movies
Misinformation Effect
Incorporating new and misleading information into one's memory of an event Mere exposure to misleading information can lead to memory distortion
Long-Term Memory
Information enters it via elaborative processes from STM
Long-Term Memory
Information is retrieved from LTM and placed back into STM where it can be manipulated
Priming
Involves the activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember and process new information better and faster
Retrieval failure
Involves the sensation of knowing that specific information is stored in LTM, but being unable to retrieve it
How large are chunks?
It depends on the person and the kind of information. Experts have large chunks in their area of expertise Novices have small chunks
Levels of Processing
Items that are processed at a deeper level will result in better memory
Sensory Memory capacity
Large -Can hold many items at once (everything from our senses!)
Distributed Learning
Learning a little bit over a longer period of time
Massed Learning
Learning a lot in a short period of time (cramming) Less effective If students cram, they learn less and retain less than if they study regularly each day
Short-Term (Working) Memory/Capacity :
Limited (7 +/- 2 chunks)
Storage
Maintaining items in memory
Declarative or conscious memory/Explicit Memory
Memory consciously recalled or declared Processed by hippocampus and frontal lobes
Semantic memory/ General facts and knowledge about the world
Memory is not tied to personal events and history What is the capital of California? When and where did you learn that?
Memory Storage/Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory
Memory storage involves three separate systems that differ in function, capacity and duration
procedural memory
Memory that enables you to perform specific learned motor or cognitive skills, habitual responses Examples Riding a bike, tying your shoes, driving a stick-shift, typing
General Study Tips
Minimize distractions Get a good night's sleep Distribute your learning (don't cram) Organize the material Test yourself on the material instead of just reviewing it Use mnemonics Use elaborative rehearsal -Apply your knowledge Relate it to something in your own life State in your own words Match the context where you will be taking the test as closely as possible
source confusion
Misattributing a story to your friend that you heard on TV
false memories
Misinformation and source confusion can alter details for memories that already exist
Source Confusion
Mistakenly remembering doing something that you actually only imagined doing
Short-term memory intact
Moment to moment consciousness (only lasts about 20 seconds without rehearsal)
Suppression
Motivated forgetting that occurs consciously Ex. After witnessing a crime, you consciously avoid thinking about it, and attend to other things -Associated with overgeneralized autobiographical memories Episodic memories that are devoid of reference to a time or place
Repression
Motivated forgetting that occurs unconsciously (rooted in Freudian and psychoanalytic theory) Some memories are so horrible that our mind automatically pushes them into our unconscious mind
Memories are distributed across the cortex
One of the frailest parts of a memory is its source Retain the image, but not the context in which we acquired it
Chunking
Organizing items in short-term memory into meaningful groups of information (chunks)
H.M., After the surgery:
Part of long-term memory impaired - Unable to store new, explicit information Implicit memory intact; Explicit memory impaired Had difficulty forming new explicit long-term memories But, could remember events before the surgery
Roediger & Karpicke (2006)
Participants studied one of two passages, either one about "The Sun" or about "Sea Otters" Phase 1 (three conditions) SSSS (study the passage four times) SSST (study it three times, tested once) STTT (study it once, tested three times) Phase 2 Tested on passage
Brewer & Treyens (1981) What items do you remember being in the office?
People often recall things that were not in the office Ex. Books, telephone, lamp, pens, pencils, coffee cup
inverted U-shaped function
Performance peaks at medium levels of arousal
State-Dependent Memory
Phenomenon in which a given mood tends to evoke memories that are consistent with that mood
Long-Term Memory/ capacity
Potentially unlimited
Implicit (Non-Declarative) Memory
Procedural memory Classical conditioning Priming
Elaborative Rehearsal
Processing things at a deeper and more extensive level Ex. 49 is 7^2
examples of chunking
RUOYYLERECNIS Sincerely Yours 149 - 291 - 120 - 101 - 776 1492 - 911 - 2010 - 1776 O LDH ARO LDAN DYO UNGB EN Old Harold and Young Ben
flashbulb memories
Recall of very specific images or details surrounding a vivid, emotional, rare, or significant personal event Events that are "burned" into your memory
Encoding: The Role of Attention
Remember that dividing our attention can lead to interference
Cued-Recall
Remembering an item of information in response to a retrieval cue (e.g. fill-in-the-blank, matching)
H.M., Had severe epileptic seizures
Removal of portion of hippocampus Important for memory storage and processing explicit memories
Maintenance Rehearsal
Repetition, repetition, repetition Ex. 4972, 4972, 4972, 4972, 4972 This works, but it is not very effective or efficient
Repression is not the same as natural forgetting
Repression: Special memory mechanisms for trauma?
Effortful Encoding
Requires attention & effort Studying for upcoming exams Remembering the names of 6 people you just met Memorizing your new work phone number
Self-referencing effect
Restate in your own words Generate your own examples Associate with your own life
Encoding Specificity
Retrieval is more likely to be successful when the conditions of retrieval are similar to the conditions of encoding
Retrieval
Retrieving information without the aid of retrieval cues; also called free recall (e.g. essay tests)
Why do people remember things that were not there?
Schema for professor's office We can fill in the gaps of memories with things we would "expect" to be there Room was specifically designed not to have these things that we'd typically expect
Memory storage involves three separate systems
Sensory memory Short-term memory Long-term memory
Connect social relationships
Shared experiences, concepts, and ideas
