PSYCH 2: Memory
motivated forgetting
- Freud - painful memories are blocked from one's consciousness
causes of dementia
formation of plaques or tangles in areas of the brain controlling memory or vital cognitive functioning - originally found through autopsies
new memories for old
most recent version is saved
how to measure memory (3)
recall, recognition, relearning
memory
the capacity to retain and retrieve information
dementia
- clinical condition in which an individual loses cognitive abilities and functioning to a degree that impedes on normal activity and social relationships - alzheimer's is the most common form
cue dependent forgetting
- forget because you haven't figured out what you need to help remember - context, mental and physical states can all be retrieval cues - "back to the scene of the crime"
short-term memory
- holds limited amounts of information for up to 20/30 seconds - houses our working memory - uses pattern recognition: compares information already in our long term memory and then decides if the information will be stored or lost
long-term memory
- holds memories for minutes to decades - organized by semantic categories - procedural, declarative, prospective, retrospective memory
symptoms of dementia
- loss of memory for recent events or familiar and simple tasks - changes in personality - 3 A's: aphasia, apraxia, agnosia
post-traumatic amnesia
- memory loss as a result of an accident - often is reduced to just forgetting the events surrounding the accident - EX. Michelle from Full House
ways to improve memory (4)
- more frequency/repetition - greater distinctiveness - chunking items together - expert knowledge helps memory of relevant but not irrelevant information
magic number
- number of items we are able to hold in our short-term memory - research suggests around 4
procedural memory
- part of long-term memory - knowing "how"
declarative memory
- part of long-term memory - knowing "that" - declarative-semantic memories: facts, rules, concepts - declarative-episodic memories: experienced events, personal recollections
eyewitness testimony
- people tend to fill in missing information - how one words things affects memories - errors are greater when the subject's and witness's ethnicities are different
elaborative rehearsal
- retained in long term memory - know it, review it, practice it, give it meaning
sensory memory
- retains for 1-2 seconds - acts as a holding bin before you decide if it is worth processing or not
levels of processing (3)
- shallow, intermediate, deep - impact encoding
recognition
ability to identify previously encountered information
recall
ability to retrieve information which has been previously learned
anterograde amnesia
deficit in recalling events that happened AFTER the onset of amnesia
retrograde amnesia
deficit in recalling events that happened BEFORE the onset of amnesia
flashblub memories
dramatic positive or negative memories
relearning
effort is saved by having already learned something from before
effective encoding (6)
how to best learn information - maintenance rehearsal - elaborative rehearsal - visual imagery - method of loci - mnemonics - dual-coding theory
childhood amnesia
inability to remember things from the first years of life
apraxia
loss of ability to carry our coordinated body movement
agnosia
loss of ability to recognize familiar objects
aphasia
loss of ability to use language
method of loci
match up existing visual images with concepts
decay theories
memories fade with time
information processing model of memory (3 steps)
memory and mind are like a computer - encoding - involved in forming a memory code (entering data through the keyboard) - storage - involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time (saving data in file on hard drive) - retrieval - involves recovering information from memory storage (calling up file and displaying data on the monitor)
amnesia
memory deficit
dual-coding theory
memory is enhanced by using both semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall
primacy effect
memory of beginning pieces of a list
recency effect
memory of end pieces of a list
retroactive interference
new information interferes with old information (retro = new)
proactive interference
old information interferes with new (if you're a pro you're old)
retrospective memory
remember events from the past or previously learned information
prospective memory
remembering to perform actions in the future
maintenance rehearsal
retain in short term memory ex. repeat a phone number
3 box model of memory
sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory
intermediate processing
uses phonemic encoding - emphasizes what a word sounds like
deep processing
uses semantic encoding - emphasizes the meaning of verbal input
shallow processing
uses structural encoding - emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus
visual imagery
visual images to represent words/concepts to remember
ineffective encoding
we don't remember something in the first place