Chapter 7

Theories of Forgetting

As mentioned earlier, the ability to forget is essential to the proper functioning of memory, and psychologists have developed several theories to explain why forgetting occurs (Figure 7.8): decay, interference, motivated forgetting, encoding failure, and retrieval failure. Each theory focuses on a different stage of the memory process or a particular type of problem in processing information.

consolidation

In addition, we know that it takes a certain amount of time for these neural changes to become fixed and stable in long-term memory, a process known as ______. Like heavy rain on wet cement, the brain injury "wipes away" unstable memories because the cement has not had time to harden (retrograde amnesia).

Note: If you want to remember these five theories, think of how forgetting involves memories that grow "dimmer," and note that the first letter of each theory has almost the same spelling—D-I-M-E-R.

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").

Rehearsal

Like organization, rehearsal 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)

Interestingly, some research suggests that exposure to pornography can disrupt memory (see the photo). Researchers in one study asked men to view a series of both pornographic and nonpornographic images and judge whether they had previously seen each image (Laier et al., 2013). Men who saw the nonsexual images gave 80% correct answers, whereas men who saw the pornographic images gave only 67% correct answers. Can you see how sexual arousal interferes with working memory and how it may help explain these findings?

On the other hand, emotional arousal can sometimes lead to memory enhancement

mnemonic

One final trick for giving your recall a boost is to use ____devices to encode items in a special way (see the following Psychology and You). However, these devices take practice and time, and some students find that they get better results using the other well-researched principles discussed throughout this chapter.

short-term memory (STM)

The second stage of memory processing, _____, temporarily stores and processes sensory stimuli. If the information is judged to be important, STM organizes and sends it along to long-term memory (LTM)—otherwise, information decays and is lost. STM also retrieves stored memories from LTM.

Source amnesia and negative political ads

Think back to a recent political election. What type of television advertisements most readily come to mind? Research shows that we're more likely to recall ads that rely on creating negative feelings about one of the candidates. They stick in our memory even if we initially have negative feelings about them (Lariscy & Tinkham, 1999). In addition, over time the negative "facts" stay in our memory, and we forget the source—source amnesia! The good news for politicians, and in your personal life, is that direct rebuttals of negative ads are generally effective and do not backfire (Weeks & Garrett, 2014). © Maciej Dakowicz/Alamy Stock Photo

encode

To input data into a computer, you begin by typing letters and numbers on the keyboard. The computer then translates these keystrokes into its own electronic language. In a roughly similar fashion, our brains ___sensory information (sound, visual images, and other senses) into a neural code (language) it can understand and use.

working memory

Working Memory As you can see in Figure 7.4, short-term memory is more than just a passive, temporary "holding area." Given that active processing of information occurs in STM, many researchers prefer the term _______ (Baddeley, 1992, 2007; Radvansky & Ascraft, 2016). All our conscious thinking occurs in this "working memory," and the manipulation of information that occurs here helps explain some of the memory errors and false constructions described in this chapter.

maintenance rehearsal

You can also extend the duration of your STM almost indefinitely by consciously "juggling" the information—a process called ______. You are using maintenance rehearsal when you look up a phone number and repeat it over and over until you key in the number. In addition, people who are good at remembering names know how to take advantage of maintenance rehearsal. They repeat the name of each person they meet, aloud or silently, to keep it active in STM. They also make sure that other thoughts (such as their plans for what to say next) don't intrude.

Semantic memory

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

Implicit/nondeclarative memory

refers to unintentional learning or unconscious knowledge. Try telling someone 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. Implicit/nondeclarative memory consists of procedural motor skills, like tying your shoes or riding a bike, as well as classically conditioned emotional responses (CERs), such as fears and prejudices

Two types of amnesia

retrograde and anterograde

stored

scientific research. Once information is encoded, it must be____. Computer information is normally stored on a flash drive or hard drive, whereas human information is stored in our brains.

elaborative rehearsal

storage in LTM requires deeper levels of processing The immediate goal of elaborative rehearsal is to understand—not to memorize. Fortunately, this attempt to understand is one of the best ways to encode new information into long-term memory. This type of rehearsal involves forming a number of different connections of new material, and linking them to previously stored information. It's obviously easier to remember something if we associate it with something we already know. This is why we use so many analogies in this text. For example, earlier we compared the encoding, storage, and retrieval (ECR) model of memory to the workings of a computer, knowing that most of our readers are relatively familiar with computers

encoding, storage, and retrieval (ESR) model

the barrage of information that we encounter every day goes through three basic operations: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Each of these processes represents a different function that is closely analogous to the parts and functions of a computer

tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

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

retrograde amnesia

(acting backward in time), the person has no memory (is amnesic) for events that occurred before the brain injury because those memories were never stored in LTM. However, the same person has no trouble remembering things that happened after the injury. As the name implies, only the old, "retro," memories are lost. What causes retrograde amnesia? In cases where the individual is only amnesic for the events right before the brain injury, the cause may be a failure of consolidation. We learned earlier that during long-term potentiation (LTP), our neurons change to accommodate new learning.

Factors Involved in Forgetting Since Ebbinghaus's original research, scientists have discovered numerous factors that contribute to forgetting. Five of the most important are the misinformation effect, the serial-position effect, source amnesia, spacing of practice, and culture.

1. Misinformation Effect As mentioned earlier, our memories are highly fallible, and filled with personal constructions that we create during encoding, storage, and retrieval. Research on the misinformation effect shows that misleading information that occurs after an event may further alter and revise those constructions. Can you see how this is another example of retroactive interference? Our original memories are forgotten or altered because of misleading, post-event information. For instance, participants in one study completed an interview in one room and then answered questions about it in another room (Morgan et al., 2014). Participants who received neutral questions like, "Was there a telephone in the room?" answered accurately for the most part, making errors on only 10% of the interview questions. However, other participants were asked questions such as, "What color was the telephone?" which falsely implied that there had been a telephone in the room. Of these respondents, 98% "remembered" a telephone. Other experiments have created false memories by showing participants doctored photos of themselves taking a completely fictitious hot-air balloon ride, or by asking participants 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 participants later believed that the misleading information was correct, and that the fictitious or imagined events actually occurred (Kaplan et al., 2016; Kirk et al., 2015; Takarangi et al., 2016). 2. Serial-Position Effect Stop for a moment, and write down the names of all the U.S. presidents that you can immediately recall. How did you do? Research shows that most people recall presidents from the beginning of history (e.g., Washington, Adams, Jefferson), and the more recent (e.g., Clinton, Bush, Obama). This is known as the serial-position effect (Figure 7.10). We tend to recall items at the beginning (primacy effect) and the end (recency effect) better than those in the middle of the list. And when we do remember presidents in the middle, like President Abraham Lincoln, it's normally because they are associated with significant events, such as Lincoln and the Civil War.

retrieval failure theory,

According to _______ memories stored in LTM aren't forgotten. They're just momentarily inaccessible.

retroactive interference

According to interference theory, forgetting is caused by two competing memories, particularly memories with similar qualities. At least two types of interference exist: retroactive and proactive (Figure 7.9). When new information disrupts (interferes with) the recall of old, "retro" information, it is called ______(acting backward in time)

How does a sea slug learn and remember?

After repeated squirting with water, followed by a mild shock, the sea slug, Aplysia, releases more neurotransmitters at certain synapses. These synapses then become more efficient at transmitting signals that allow the slug to withdraw its gills when squirted. As a critical thinker, can you explain why this ability might provide an evolutionary advantage? Second, when learning and memory occur, there is a measurable change in the amount of neurotransmitter released, which thereby increases the neuron's efficiency in message transmission. Research with Aplysia (sea slugs) clearly demonstrates this effect Further evidence comes from research with genetically engineered "smart mice," which have extra receptors for a neurotransmitter named NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartate). These mice perform significantly better on memory tasks than do normal mice (Lin et al., 2014; Plattner et al., 2014; Tsien, 2000). Although it is difficult to generalize from sea slugs and mice, research on long-term potentiation (LTP) in humans supports the idea that LTP is one of the major biological mechanisms underlying learning and memory (Baddeley et al., 2015; Camera et al., 2016; Panja & Bramham, 2014).

ENCODING

As discussed earlier, the first step in memory is successful encoding. To improve your study skills and exam performance, try these encoding tips: - _____Pay attention and reduce interference. When you really want to remember something, you must selectively attend to the information you want to successfully encode, and ignore distractions. During class, focus on the instructor, and sit away from distracting people or views outside. When studying, choose a place with minimal interferences. Also, recall from earlier chapters that multitasking, while studying or listening to lectures, greatly increases interference, and reduces your ability to pay attention. _____Strive for a deeper level of processing. Some students try to study important terms or concepts by highlighting, rereading, or simply repeating the information over and over to themselves. As you recall from Chapter 1, highlighting and rereading are the LEAST effective study techniques. While repeating information (maintenance rehearsal) does extend the duration of STM beyond the normal limits of about 30 seconds, this type of rehearsal, highlighting, and rereading are all forms of shallow processing. They're not efficient for LTM or for preparing for exams. If you want to effectively encode (and later successfully retrieve) information, you need a deeper level of processing, which involves active reading and taking notes. Another way to deeply process is elaborative rehearsal, which involves thinking about the material, and relating it to other previously stored information. Hopefully, you've noticed that we formally define each key term immediately in the text, and generally give a brief explanation with one or two examples for each term. While studying this text, use these tools to help your elaborative rehearsal—and insure a deeper level of processing. In addition, try making up your own examples. The more elaborate the encoding of information, the more memorable it will become. _____Counteract the serial-position effect. Because we tend to remember information that occurs at the beginning or end of a sequence, spend extra time with information in the middle. When reading or reviewing the text, start at different places—sometimes at the second section, sometimes at the fourth.

Retrieval cues and recall versus recognition

Can you recall, in order, the names of the planets in our solar system? If not, it's probably because recall, like questions on an essay exam, requires retrieval using only general, nonspecific cues—like naming the planets. In contrast, a recognition task only requires you to identify the correct response, like a multiple-choice exam. Note how much easier it is to recognize the names of the planets when you're provided a specific retrieval cue, in this case the first three letters of each planet: Mer-, Ven-, Ear-, Mar-, Jup-, Sat-, Ura-, Nep-, Plu-. (Note that in 2006, Pluto was officially declassified as a planet and is now considered a "dwarf planet.") Antonio M. Rosario/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images

Understanding Repressed Memories

Creating false memories may be somewhat common, but can we recover true memories that are buried in childhood? There is a great deal of debate regarding this question (Boag, 2012; Brodsky & Gutheil, 2016; Kaplan et al., 2016). Repression is the supposed unconscious coping mechanism by which we prevent anxiety-provoking thoughts from reaching consciousness. According to some research, repressed memories are actively and consciously "forgotten" in an effort to avoid the pain of their retrieval (Anderson et al., 2004; Boag, 2012). Can you see how in this case repression might be a form of motivated forgetting, which we discussed earlier? Others suggest that some memories are so painful that they exist only in an unconscious corner of the mind, making them inaccessible to the individual (Haaken, 2010; Mancia & Baggott, 2008). In these cases, therapy supposedly would be necessary to unlock the hidden memories. Repression is a complex and controversial topic in psychology. No one doubts that some memories are forgotten and later recovered. What some question is the idea that repressed memories of painful experiences (especially childhood sexual abuse) are stored in the unconscious mind, especially since these memories may play a role in important judicial processes (Howe & Knott, 2015; Lampinen & Beike, 2015; Loftus & Cahill, 2007). Critics suggest that most people who have witnessed or experienced a violent crime or have survived childhood sexual abuse have intense, persistent memories. They have trouble forgetting, not remembering. Other critics wonder whether therapists sometimes inadvertently create false memories in their clients during therapy. In this case, if a clinician even suggests the possibility of abuse, the client's own constructive processes may lead him or her to create a false memory. The client also might start to incorporate portrayals of abuse from movies and books into his or her own memory, forgetting their original sources (a form of source amnesia), and eventually coming to see them as reliable. This is not to say that all psychotherapy clients who recover memories of sexual abuse (or other painful incidents) have invented those memories. For example, some research suggests that children may remember experiencing sexual abuse but not understand or recognize those behaviors as abuse until adulthood (McNally, 2012). Unfortunately, the repressed memory debate is hotly contested. The stakes are high because lawsuits and criminal prosecutions of sexual abuse are sometimes based on recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. However, the so-called, "memory wars" may be getting less heated. Comparing attitudes in the 1990s to today, researchers found less belief in repressed memories among mainstream psychologists, as well as among undergraduates with greater critical-thinking abilities (Patihis et al., 2014). In short, while the debate over repressed memories continues, we must be careful not to ridicule or condemn people who recover true memories of abuse. In the same spirit, we must protect innocent people from wrongful accusations that come from false memories. Hopefully, with continued research (and perhaps new technology) we may someday better protect the interests of both the victim and the accused. To close on another encouraging note, we're providing a final, brief section that summarizes the key tips for memory improvement. One of the many beauties of our human brain is that we can recognize the limits and problems of memory, and then develop appropriate coping mechanisms. Just as our ancestors domesticated wild horses and cattle to overcome the physical limits of the human body, we can develop similar approaches to improve our mental limits—especially those responsible for fine detail.

Like the fleeting visual images in iconic memory, auditory stimuli (what we hear) is temporary, but a weaker "echo," or echoic memory, of this auditory input lingers for up to four seconds (Erviti et al., 2015; Kojima et al., 2014; Neisser, 1967). Why are visual and auditory memories so fleeting? We cannot process all incoming stimuli, so lower brain centers need only a few seconds to "decide" if the information is important enough to promote to conscious awareness

Demonstrating iconic and echoic memories Early researchers believed that sensory memory had an unlimited capacity. However, later research suggests that sensory memory does have limits and that stored images are fuzzier than once thought (Cohen, 2014; Franconeri et al., 2013; Howes & O'Shea, 2014.)

AREA OF THE BRAIN Amygdala Basal ganglia and cerebellum Hippocampal formation (hippocampus and surrounding area) Thalamus Cerebral cortex

EFFECTS ON MEMORY Emotional memories Creation and storage of basic memory and implicit/nondeclarative LTM (such as skills, habits, and simple classically conditioned responses) Explicit/declarative and implicit/nondeclarative LTM, as well as sequences of events Formation of new memories and spatial and working memory; implicit/nondeclarative and explicit/declarative LTM Encoding, storage, and retrieval of explicit/declarative and implicit/nondeclarative LTM

Source Amnesia

Each day we read, hear, and process an enormous amount of information, and it's easy to get confused about how we learned who said what to whom, and in what context. Forgetting the origin of a previously stored memory is known as source amnesia (Ferrie, 2015; Leichtman, 2006; Paterson et al., 2011). (See Figure 7.11)

sensory memory

Everything we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell must first enter our __________. Once it's entered, the information remains in sensory memory just long enough for our brains to locate relevant bits of data and transfer it on to the next stage of memory. For visual information, known as iconic memory, the visual image (icon) stays in sensory memory only about one-half a second before it rapidly fades away. In an early study of iconic sensory memory, George Sperling (1960) flashed an arrangement of 12 letters like the ones in Figure 7.1 for 1/20 of a second. Most people, he found, could recall only 4 or 5 of the letters. But when instructed to report just the top, middle, or bottom row, depending on whether they heard a high, medium, or low tone, they reported almost all the letters correctly. Apparently, all 12 letters are held in sensory memory right after they are viewed, but only those that are immediately attended to are noted and processed.

Rehearsal

Finally, effective retrieval is critical to improving long-term memory. There are two types of retrieval cues (Figure 7.6). Specific cues require you only to recognize the correct response. General cues require you to recall previously learned material by searching through all possible matches in LTM—a much more difficult task.

retrieved

Finally, information must be _____, or taken out of storage. We retrieve stored information by going to files on our computer or to "files" in our brains. Keep this model in mind. To do well in college, or almost any other pursuit, you must successfully encode, store and retrieve a large amount of facts and concepts. Throughout this chapter, we'll discuss ways to improve your memory during each of these steps.

selective attention

Given that careful encoding is critical to being a good student and in almost all parts of life, let's examine it carefully. To successfully encode, the first step is to use _______ (Chapters 4 and 5), and deliberately focus our attention on information that we want to remember.

How working memory might work

Given that short-term memory (STM) is active, or working, it helps to picture STM as a "workbench," with a "worker" at the bench who selectively attends to certain sensory information, in addition to sending and retrieving material to and from long-term memory (LTM). The worker also manipulates the incoming, transferred, and retrieved information. Note the various "tools" the "worker" uses during the three stages of processing. [Q1] For example, researchers have found that people who play action video games (like those in the photo) show higher levels of visual, working memory capacity than those who play a control (non-action) video game (Blacker et al., 2014). This suggests that certain types of video games may provide mental training exercises that boost particular types of memory.

How Our Emotions May Be Primed

Have you ever felt nervous being home alone while reading a Stephen King novel, experienced sadness after hearing about a tragic event in the news, or developed amorous feelings while watching a romantic movie? These are all examples of how the situation we are in may influence our mood, in conscious or unconscious ways. Given this new insight into how priming can "set you up" for certain emotions, can you see how those who haven't studied psychology might be more likely to mislabel or overreact to their feelings?

Spacing of practice

Have you heard about the recent software programs and websites, such as Lumosity, that are heavily promoted on the Internet and television ads? They promise to dramatically decrease forgetting and improve our memory, while revolutionizing the way we learn (Schroers, 2014; Weir, 2014). Interestingly, most of these "new" programs are based on the older, well-established principle of distributed practice, in which studying or practice is broken up into a number of short sessions spaced out over time to allow numerous opportunities for "drill and practice." As you first discovered in the Strategies for Student Success at the end of Chapter 1, this type of spaced learning is widely recognized as one of the very best tools for learning and grade improvement (Dunlosky et al., 2013; Küpper-Tetzel, 2014; Mettler et al., 2016). In response to these research findings on the superiority of distributed practice, we've built in numerous opportunities for distributed practice and self-tests throughout this text. Unfortunately, many students do the exact opposite! They put off studying and believe they're better off using massed practice or "cramming" right before an exam, which is proven to be far less effective than distributed practice.

long-term potentiation (LTP)

How do these changes, called _____ , occur? They happen in at least two ways. First, early research with rats raised in enriched environments found that repeated stimulation of a synapse strengthens it by causing the dendrites to grow more spines (Rosenzweig et al., 1972). This repeated stimulation further results in more synapses and receptor sites, along with increased sensitivity.

anterograde amnesia

In contrast to retrograde amnesia, in which people lose memories for events before a brain injury, some people lose memory for events that occur after a brain injury, which is called anterograde amnesia (acting forward in time). This type of amnesia generally results from a surgical injury or from diseases, such as chronic alcoholism or senile dementia—a form of severe mental deterioration in old age. Continuing our analogy with cement, anterograde amnesia would be like having permanently hardened cement, which prevents the laying down of new memories. Keep in mind that retrograde amnesia is normally temporary and somewhat common, such as what happens to football players after a head injury. In contrast, anterograde amnesia is relatively rare and most often permanent. However, patients often show surprising abilities to learn and remember procedural motor skills, such as mowing a lawn. Also note that some individuals have both forms of amnesia. For example, H.M. (the man introduced in the chapter opener) had anterograde amnesia, as well as mild memory loss for events in his life that happened the year or two before the operation (retrograde amnesia) (Annese et al., 2014; Corkin, 2013; Mauguière & Corkin, 2015).

encoding failure theory

In encoding failure theory, our sensory memory receives the information and passes it to STM. But during STM, we may overlook precise details, and may not fully encode it, which would result in a failure to pass along a complete memory for proper storage in LTM

Culture and memory

In many societies, tribal leaders pass down vital information through orally related stories. As a result, children living in these cultures have better memories for information that is related through stories than do other children.

encoding-specificity principle

In this imagined baking bread episode, you have stumbled upon the ___________(Tulving & Thompson, 1973). In most cases, we're able to remember better when we attempt to recall information in the same context in which we learned it (Gao et al., 2016; Grzybowski et al., 2014; Unsworth et al., 2012). Have you noticed that you tend to do better on exams when you take them in the same seat and classroom in which you originally studied the material? This happens because the matching location acts as a retrieval cue for the information. People also remember information better if their moods during learning and retrieval match (Forgas & Eich, 2013; Rokke & Lystad, 2014). This phenomenon, called mood congruence, occurs because a given mood tends to evoke memories that are consistent with that mood. When you're sad (or happy or angry), you're more likely to remember events and circumstances from other times when you were sad (or happy or angry).

Professional Sports and Brain Damage

Junior Seau (photo on the left) was a famous, 10-time all-pro linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), who committed suicide in 2012—at the age of 43. Experts later concluded that Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a serious neurological disease linked to concussions—and to similar deaths of other sports players (CDC, 2016; Park, 2016; Pearce et al., 2015). Due to his personal concerns over concussions, San Francisco 49ers (NFL) linebacker Chris Borland, one of the league's top rookies (photo on the right), quit playing in 2015—despite being in the prime of his athletic career.

proactive interference

Learning your new home address may cause you to forget your old home address (prior, "retro," information is forgotten). Conversely, when old information disrupts (interferes with) the recall of NEW information, it is called _______ (acting forward in time). Old information (like the Spanish you learned in high school) may interfere with your ability to learn and remember material from your new college course in French.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD)

Like TBIs that can cause amnesia, various diseases can alter the physiology of the brain and nervous system, and thereby disrupt memory processes. For example, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive mental deterioration that occurs most commonly in old age (Figure 7.17). The most noticeable early symptoms are disturbances in memory, which become progressively worse until, in the final stages, the person fails to recognize loved ones, needs total nursing care, and ultimately dies (see photo of Pat Summit). The effect of Alzheimer's disease (AD) on the brain a. Normal brain In this PET scan of a normal brain, note the high amount of the red and yellow color (signs of brain activity). b. Brain of a person with AD In this PET scan of a person with AD, note how the reduced activity in the brain is most significant in the temporal and parietal lobes (the mostly black areas in the center and on the sides of this AD patient's brain). These are the key areas for storing memories.

age-related positivity effect

Memory and Age-Related Happiness Why are older people generally happier than the young? Research finds that they tend to have stronger relationships, to value their time more than money, and to become more selective with their time and friendships as they age (Birditt & Newton, 2016; Vaillant, 2012; Whillans et al., 2016). In addition, according to the ________older adults generally prefer and pay more sustained attention to positive versus negative information. They also remember more positive than negative events (Carstensen, 1993, 2006; English & Carstensen, 2015; Mikels & Shuster, 2016). To test possible neural changes underlying this positive attention and memory bias, researchers asked both younger adults (ages 19-31) and older adults (ages 61-80) to look at a series of photographs with positive and negative themes, such as a skier winning a race, or a wounded soldier, and to remember as much as they could about the photographs (Addis et al., 2010). While participants viewed these images, researchers measured their brain activity through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans (Chapter 2). Surprisingly, they found no difference between brain activity in the encoding of information among younger and older adults while watching the negative images. However, when viewing the positive images, areas of older adults' brains that process emotions (the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) directly affected the hippocampus. (As you recall, the hippocampus is responsible for encoding and storage of memories.) In contrast, in the younger adults' brains, the thalamus (a "simple" relay station) had a bigger influence on the hippocampus. This suggests that older adults may be better at sustaining attention on positive information, and remembering more good times, because brain regions that process positive emotions are instructing the hippocampus to "remember this."

How Emotional Arousal May Threaten Our Survival!

News reports are filled with stories of people becoming dangerously confused during fires or other emergencies because they panic and forget important survival tips, such as the closest exit routes. Can you see why airlines and fire departments routinely provide safety and evacuation drills, or why it's dangerous to drive when we're arguing with a loved one, or to discipline our children when we're very angry? Recognizing that we're sometimes "not in our right minds" during times of high emotional arousal may save our lives—and our relationships!

level of processing

Next, we need to use a deep _________to successfully encode (Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Craik & Tulving, 1975; Dinsmore & Alexander, 2016). The term "levels of processing" refers to a continuum ranging from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing leading to improved encoding, storage, and retrieval. The most efficient way to deep process is to link the new material to other previously learned material. This is why your instructors (and we the authors of this text) use so many analogies and metaphors to introduce new material. For example, we created Process Diagram 7.1 to clarify that the ESR model of memory is analogous to the workings of a computer because we know that most of our readers have previous knowledge about the basic functions of computers. In addition to creating your own analogies, you can deeply process new information by putting it into your own words and/or talking about it with others. Before going on, have you ever wondered why college instructors so often object to students using their smart phones during class lectures? It's primarily because instructors know that this type of distraction seriously interferes with selective attention and a deeper level of processing. But what about other activities like taking pictures during important events? Does being a photographer have similar negative effects?

Brain scans detecting true versus false memories

Note how different areas of the primary visual cortex are activated (the orange/white areas) when both true and false memories are recalled (the scan on the top) versus when only true memories are recalled (the scan on the bottom). Image provided courtesy of Roberto Cabeza, Duke University. From Cabeza, cerebral cortex, 2007, Figure 4. Reproduced with permission of Oxford University Press.

long-term memory (LTM)

Once information has been transferred from STM, it is organized and integrated with other information in _________. LTM serves as a storehouse for information that must be kept for long periods. When we need the information, it is sent back to STM for our conscious use. Compared with sensory memory and short-term memory, long-term memory has relatively unlimited capacity and duration (Eichenbaum, 2013). But, just as with any other possession, the better we label and arrange our memories, the more readily we'll be able to retrieve them. How do we store the vast amount of information we collect over a lifetime? Several types of LTM exist

False Daughter" Memories (Personal Confession from a Fellow Psychologist)

One of the co-authors of this book, Karen Huffman, is a dear friend of mine and we've co-taught intro psych for many years. During our times together in the classroom, we've often told stories about our own children to provide real-life examples of various psychological principles. Ironically, in the chapter on memory, we suddenly realized that some of the stories we were currently telling our students about our respective daughters were becoming blended in our own minds. We couldn't remember whether certain events happened to one of my three daughters or to Karen's only daughter! For us, this became a perfect, personal example of both the constructive nature of memory, as well as source amnesia! Professor Katie Townsend-Merino Palomar College San Marcos, CA

The Biology of Memory Loss Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

One of the leading causes of neurological disorders—including memory loss—among young U.S. men and women between the ages of 15 and 25 is traumatic brain injury (TBI). These injuries most commonly result from car accidents, falls, blows, and gunshot wounds. TBI happens when the skull suddenly collides with another object. Compression, twisting, and distortion of the brain inside the skull all cause serious and sometimes permanent damage to the brain. The frontal and temporal lobes often take the heaviest hit because they directly collide with the bony ridges inside the skull. One of the most troubling, and controversial, causes of TBIs is severe or repeated blows to the head during sports participation (CDC, 2016; Pearce et al., 2015; Solomon & Zuckerman, 2015). Both professional and nonprofessional athletes frequently experience concussions, a form of TBI, and multiple concussions can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Sadly, the frequency of sports-related brain injuries may have been grossly underestimated (Baugh et al., 2015), and a growing body of research connects these multiple brain injuries to diseases and disorders like Alzheimer's, depression, and even suicide

constructive process

Perhaps most important, memory is a constructive process through which we actively organize and shape information as it is being encoded, stored, and retrieved (Herriot, 2014; Karanian & Slotnick, 2015; Robins, 2016). As expected, this construction often leads to serious errors and biases, which we'll discuss throughout the chapter. Would you like personal proof of the constructive nature of your own memory?

Ebbinghaus's Forgetting Curve

Psychologists have long been interested in how and why we forget. Hermann Ebbinghaus first introduced the experimental study of learning and forgetting in 1885. As you can see in Figure 7.7, his research revealed that forgetting occurs soon after we learn something, and then gradually tapers off (Ebbinghaus, 1885).

Can Taking Photos Impair Our Memories?

Researchers interested in this and related questions set up two studies using participants who were led on a guided tour of an art museum (Henkel, 2014). During the tour participants were asked to take note of certain objects, either by photographing them or by simply observing them. The next day their memory for the specific objects was tested. As you may have suspected, participants were less accurate in recognizing the objects they had photographed, and weren't able to answer as many questions about the objects' details, compared to those they had only observed. However, when participants were asked to zoom in and photograph a specific part of the object, their subsequent recognition and detail memory was not impaired. Furthermore, participants' memories for features that were NOT zoomed in on were just as strong as memory for features that were zoomed in on. Can you see how this finding suggests that the selective attention and deeper levels of processing engaged by this focused activity improve overall encoding, and may eliminate the photo-taking-impairment effect? This research has important implications. Given that it's difficult to always be paying full focused attention, we need to keep in mind that while we're mindlessly taking numerous "selfies" and other photos we may encode fewer details. This means that taking photos the whole time we're on vacation or during a child's dance recital may not only interfere with our full enjoyment of the event, but our actual memories of those special occasions as well! (Study Tip: While reading this and other college texts and/or listening to lectures, you can improve your learning and memory by consciously directing your brain to pay focused, selective attention to important details. You can also process the material at a deeper level by "zooming in" on important details.)

A negative (and thankfully uncommon) FBM

Researchers recently examined memory in passengers involved in a potentially life-threatening near plane crash of Air Transit (AT) Flight 236. The plane ran out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean and thankfully glided safely to an island military base (McKinnon et al., 2015). Although no one was seriously hurt, virtually everyone experienced severe anxiety for the 25 minutes spent preparing to ditch at sea. This near accident occurred in 2001, and the research on their memory of the event was conducted in 2014. Despite the long passage of time, these passengers showed enhanced episodic recall of the event, including details like the oxygen masks coming down, jumping down the slide, and putting on life jackets. Keep in mind that research shows that our FBMs for specific details, particularly the time and place the emotional event occurred, are fairly accurate (Rimmele et al., 2012). However, these FBMs suffer the same alterations and decay as all other forms of memory. They're NOT perfect recordings of events (Hirst et al., 2015; Lanciano et al., 2010; Schmidt, 2012). For instance, President George W. Bush's memory for how he heard the news of the September 11, 2001 attacks contained several errors (Greenberg, 2004). Similarly, shortly after the death of Michael Jackson, researchers asked participants to report on their FBMs and other reactions to the news of his death. When these same people were interviewed again 18 months later, researchers found that despite several discrepancies in their memories, confidence in their personal accuracy remained high (Day & Ross, 2015). In sum, FBMs, like other forms of memory, are subject to alterations. What separates them from ordinary, everyday memories is their vividness and our subjective confidence in their accuracy. But confidence is not the same as accuracy—an important point we'll return to in the last part of this chapter. In addition, we all need to remember that our memory processes are sometimes impaired during high emotional arousal

Where Are Memories Located? Early memory researchers believed that memory was localized, or stored in a particular brain area. Later research suggests that, in fact, memory tends to be localized not in a single area but in many separate areas throughout the brain

The brain and memory Note the location and names of the major areas of the brain responsible for encoding, storage, and retrieval of memories. Today, research techniques are so advanced that we can identify specific brain areas that are activated or changed during memory processes by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans. For example, the brain activity of the previously mentioned passengers of the near crash of Air Transit (AT) Flight 236 was monitored using fMRIs to locate areas of the brain responsible for storing memories of the crash (Palombo et al., 2015). The survivors were shown videos of the AT disaster, the September 11, 2001 attack, and a comparatively nonemotional (neutral) event. The fMRI scans showed that traumatic memory enhancement was associated with activation in the amygdala, medial temporal lobe, anterior and posterior midline, and visual cortex in these passengers. This pattern was not observed in a comparison group of nontraumatized individuals who were also scanned.

Memory Improvement—Strategies for Student Success

The following TEN TIPS for memory improvement were discussed earlier in this chapter, and in the Strategies for Student Success at the end of Chapter 1. They're all research based and particularly helpful for increasing college success and reducing wasted time. Given that the three key steps in memory are encoding, storage, and retrieval (the ESR model), we've arranged these tips accordingly. To get the maximum benefits, first read through the list placing a check mark in the blank space next to items you're currently using, a + mark by the tips you want to add, and a − mark by those strategies you don't plan to try. After adding the new skills to your daily study habits, look back and reconsider those items with a − mark. We'd like to hear how these strategies work out for you ([email protected], [email protected].).

RETRIEVAL

The third and final stage of successful memory is retrieval. As you know, your grades in most courses are primarily determined by some form of quizzing or exams, both of which rely exclusively on retrieval. Here are five tips for improving retrieval: _____Practice testing. Recall from Chapter 1 that research clearly shows that practice testing is one of the very best ways to improve your retrieval—and course grades (Aziz et al., 2014; Bourne & Healy, 2014; Dunlosky et al., 2013). Taking tests is not a favorite pastime for most people. However, if you think of it as "practice," then it becomes more attractive and logical. Just as we all need to practice our skateboarding tricks, golf swing, or dance routine, we need to practice testing ourselves—BEFORE any exam. This is why we provide so many self-testing options within this text (e.g., the learning objectives questions that start each section, the self-tests at the end of each major heading, and the key term review at the end of each chapter). We also offer numerous additional free tests on our website. Be sure to take advantage of these options. _____Distribute your practice. In addition to practice testing, the next best way to improve your memory is through distributed practice. Researchers have found that we encode, store, and retrieve information better when our study sessions are distributed (or spaced out) over time (Dunlosky et al., 2013; Kang et al., 2014; Kornmeier et al., 2014). Although massed practice (cramming) can produce speedy, short-term learning, it's far less effective than distributed practice. There are at least two other major problems with staying up late or "pulling an all-nighter" to cram for exams: (1) Being drowsy while studying or taking an exam negatively affects overall performance, and (2) during sleep we process and store most of the new information we acquired when awake (Chapter 5). _____Remember the encoding specificity principle. When we form memories, we store them with links to the way we thought about them at the time. Therefore, the closer the retrieval cues are to the original encoding situation, the better the retrieval. Because you encode a lot of material during class time, avoid "early takes" or makeup exams, which are generally scheduled in other classrooms. The context will be different, and your retrieval may suffer. Similarly, when you take a test, try to reinstate the same psychological and physiological state that you were in when you originally learned the material. According to the mood congruence effect, you will recall more if the mood of your test taking matches the mood of the original learning. Similarly, in line with the state-dependent memory research, if you normally drink coffee while studying, you might want to drink it again right before your exam. _____Employ self-monitoring. When studying a text, you should periodically stop and test your understanding of the material using the built-in self-testing throughout each chapter. This type of self-monitoring is a common strategy of successful students. Even when you are studying a single sentence, you need to monitor your understanding. Furthermore, poor readers tend to read at the same speed for both easy and difficult material. Good readers (and more successful students) tend to monitor themselves and they slow down or repeat difficult material. Keep in mind that if you evaluate your learning only while you're reading the material, you may overestimate your understanding (because the information is still in STM). However, if you delay for at least a few minutes, and then test your understanding, your evaluation will be more accurate. _____Overlearn. Successful students know that the best way to ensure their full understanding of material (and success on an exam) is through overlearning—studying information even after you think you already know it. Don't just study until you think you know it. Work hard until you know you know it!

Improving Your LTM

There are several ways we can improve long-term memory. These include organization, rehearsal (or repetition), and retrieval.

Improving Your Memory Using 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). a. 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 back corner of their garden. Continuing this imaginary garden walk, the second point the orator might make would be about the prison system, and the third would be a set of scales, symbolizing the need for balance in government.

Improving Elaborative Rehearsal

Think about the other students in your college classes. Have you noticed that older students often tend to get better grades? This is, in part, because they've lived longer and can tap into a greater wealth of previously stored material. If you're a younger student (or an older student just returning to college), you can learn to process information at a deeper level and build your elaborative rehearsal skills by: Expanding (or elaborating on) the information The more you elaborate, or try to understand something, the more likely you are to remember it. For example, people who have a chance to reflect on a task show better learning/memory than those who don't (Schlichting & Preston, 2014). This study has clear implications teachers. Asking students to reflect on what they've just learned helps prompt them to remember that information better. As a student, you can discuss the major points of a lecture with your study group or practice repeating or reading something aloud. It's another form of elaborative rehearsal (Lafleur & Boucher, 2015). Linking new information to yourself All humans think about, and store memories, about themselves many times each day. Therefore, creating links between new information and our own experiences, beliefs, and memories will naturally lead to easier, and more lasting, memories. In addition to applying new information to your personal life, which is known as the self-reference effect, research shows that visual imagery (such as the numerous figures, photos and tables we've added to this text, and the personal images you create while listening to lectures or reading this text) greatly improves LTM and decreases forgetting (Collins et al., 2014; Leblond et al., 2016; Paivio, 1995). Finding meaningfulness When studying new terms in this book and other college textbooks, try to find meaning. For example, if you want to add the term iconic memory to your LTM, ask yourself, "What does the word iconic mean"? By looking it up on your smart phone, you'll discover that it comes from the Greek word for "image" or "likeness," which adds meaning to the word and thereby increases your retention. Similarly, when you meet people at a party, don't just maintenance-rehearse their name. Ask about their favorite TV shows, their career plans, political beliefs, or anything else that requires deeper analysis. You'll be much more likely to remember their names.

three-stage memory model

Three-Stage Memory Model Since the late 1960s, the most highly researched and widely used memory model has been the _____(Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968; Eichenbaum, 2013; Li, 2016). It remains the leading paradigm in memory research because it offers a convenient way to organize the major findings. Like the previous ESR model, the three-stage memory model has been compared to a computer, with an input, process, and output. However, unlike the ESR model, the three different storage "boxes," or memory stages all store and process information, but each has a different purpose, duration, and capacity (Process Diagram 7.2). Let's discuss each stage in more detail. The Traditional Three-Stage Memory Model Each "box" represents a separate memory storage system that differs in purpose, duration, and capacity. When information is not transferred from sensory memory or short-term memory, it is assumed to be lost. Information stored in long-term memory can be retrieved, and send back to short-term memory for use.

Organization

To successfully encode information for LTM, we need to organize material into hierarchies. This means arranging a number of related items into broad categories that we further divide and subdivide. (This organizational strategy for LTM is similar to the strategy of chunking material in STM.) For instance, by grouping small subsets of ideas together (as subheadings under larger, main headings and within diagrams, tables, and so on), we hope to make the material in this book more understandable and memorable.

Memory Models

To understand memory (and its constructive nature), you need a model of how it operates. Over the years, psychologists have developed numerous models for memory, and we'll focus on the two most important ones.

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 the acronym of homes.

A New Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease (AD)?

Unfortunately, there is currently no effective way to diagnose early Alzheimer's, but there is promising new research based on tell-tale changes in the retina of the human eye (Tsai et al., 2014). In addition, AD individuals may benefit from a healthy diet and exercise program. One encouraging study found that 9 out of 10 patients with AD who adopted such a program showed substantial improvement in memory and cognitive function (Bredesen, 2014).

How quickly we forget

Using himself as a research participant, Ebbinghaus calculated how long it took to learn a list of three-letter nonsense syllables, such as SIB and RAL. He found that one hour after he knew a list perfectly, he remembered only 44% of the syllables. A day later, he recalled 35%, and a week later only f this dramatic "curve of forgetting" discourages you from studying, keep in mind that meaningful material is much more memorable than Ebbinghaus's nonsense syllables. Furthermore, after some time had passed and Ebbinghaus thought he had completely forgotten the material, he discovered that relearning it took less time than the initial learning took. Similarly, if your college requires you to repeat some of the math or foreign language courses you took in high school, you'll be happily surprised by how much you recall and how much easier it is to relearn the information the second time around.

Understanding Memory Distortions There are several reasons why we shape, rearrange, and distort our memories. One of the most common is our need for logic and consistency. When we're initially forming new memories or sorting through old ones, we fill in missing pieces, make "corrections," and rearrange information to make it logical and consistent with our previous experiences or personal desires. For example, if you left a relationship because you found a new partner, you might rearrange your memories to suit your belief that you are just a weak-willed person who can't stay faithful or that you were mismatched from the beginning. However, if you were the one left behind, you might reconstruct your memories and now believe that you're doomed to lose people you love or that your partner was a manipulative "player" from the beginning.

We also edit, summarize, augment, and tie in new information into previously stored LTM memories for the sake of efficiency. Unfortunately, this "efficient" shaping and constructing sometimes results in a loss of specific details that we may need later on. For instance, when taking notes during lectures, you can't (and shouldn't) record every word. Instead, you edit, summarize, and (hopefully) augment and tie it into other related material. However, your note taking may occasionally miss important details that later trip you up during exams! Despite all their problems and biases, our memories are normally fairly accurate and serve us well in most situations. They have evolved to encode, store, and retrieve general and/or vital information, such as the location of various buildings on our college campus, or the importance of looking both ways when we cross the street. However, when faced with tasks that require encoding, storing, and retrieving precise details like those in a scholarly text, remembering names and faces of potential clients, or recalling where we left our house keys, our brains are not as well-equipped.

False Versus Repressed Memories

We invent memories. Without thinking. If we tell ourselves something happened often enough, we start to believe it, and then we can actually remember it." —S.J. WATSON Like eyewitness testimony, false memories can have serious legal, personal, and social implications. Have you heard the true life story of the famous memory expert and psychologist Elizabeth Loftus? When she was 14, her mother drowned in the family's pool. Decades later, a relative told Elizabeth that she, Elizabeth, had been the one to find her mother's body. Despite her initial shock, Elizabeth's memories slowly started coming back. Her recovery of these gruesome childhood memories, although painful, initially brought great relief. It seemed to explain why she had always been fascinated by the topic of memory. The relative who told Elizabeth that she had been the one to discover her mother's body later remembered—and other relatives confirmed—that it had actually been Aunt Pearl, not Elizabeth. Loftus, a world-renowned expert on memory distortions, had unknowingly created her own false memory. Understanding False Memories As demonstrated by Loftus's own personal experience, extensive research has shown that it's relatively easy to create false memories (Kaplan et al., 2016; Lindner & Henkel, 2015; Lynn et al., 2015). In fact, even innocent adult participants can be convinced, over the course of a few hours, that as teenagers they had committed serious crimes (Shaw & Porter, 2015). In this study researchers brought college students to the lab for three 40-minute interviews that took place about a week apart. In the first interview, the researcher told each student about two events he or she had experienced as a teen, only one of which actually happened. These false events were serious, such as an assault, theft (see the photo), personal injury, or attack by a dog. (The false event stories included some true details about that time in the student's life, which they obtained from talking to the student's parent or guardian.) Participants were then asked to explain what happened in each of the two events. When they had difficulty explaining the false event, the interviewer encouraged them to try anyway, explaining that if they used specific memory strategies they might be able to recall more details. In the second and third interviews, the researchers again asked the students to recall as much as they could about both the true and false event. Over half of the students were classified as having developed a false memory of the event, and many included elaborate details of their false experience.

b. Outline organization

When listening to lectures and/or reading this text, draw a vertical line approximately 3 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, as in this example: Outline Details and Examples from Lecture and Text 1. Nature of Memory ____________ a. Memory Models ____________ b. Sensory Memory ____________ c. Short-Term Memory (STM) ____________

Eyewitness Testimony

When our memory errors come into play in the criminal justice system, they may lead to wrongful judgments of guilt or innocence with possible life or death consequences. In the past, one of the best forms of trial evidence a lawyer could have was an eyewitness—"I was there; I saw it with my own eyes." Unfortunately, research has identified several problems with eyewitness testimony (Benton et al., 2014; Loftus, 1993, 2011; Michael & Garry, 2016). For example, if multiple eyewitnesses talk to one another after a crime, they may "remember" and corroborate erroneous details that someone else reported, which is why police officers try to separate eyewitnesses while taking their reports. As a critical thinker, can you see how the details and problems we discussed earlier about flashbulb memories (FBMs) might apply to eyewitness testimony? Traumatic events, like watching a crime, often create FBMs for eyewitnesses. Despite high confidence in their personally vivid memories, they can make serious errors, such as identifying an innocent person as the perpetrator Problems with eyewitness recollections are so well established that judges now allow expert testimony on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, and routinely instruct jurors on its limits (Benton et al., 2014; Cutler & Kovera, 2013; Safer et al., 2016). If you serve as a member of a jury or listen to accounts of crimes in the news, remind yourself of these problems. Also, keep in mind that research participants in eyewitness studies generally report their inaccurate memories with great self-assurance and strong conviction (DeSoto & Roediger, 2014; Kaplan et al., 2016; Morgan & Southwick, 2014). Interestingly, research now suggests that eyewitness statements taken at the time of the initial identification of a suspect are actually quite reliable (Wixted et al., 2016). And the overall accuracy of eyewitness testimony can be improved if people are asked to make very fast judgments (Brewer et al., 2012). In fact, giving people only a few seconds to identify the culprit in a lineup increases the accuracy of such identifications by 20 to 30%, compared to allowing people to take as long as they want to make a decision. In addition, simply asking people to close their eyes when they're tying to remember leads to greater accuracy in both audio and visual details (Nash et al., 2016). Figure 7.19 offers further insights on eyewitness testimony.

Emotional Arousal and Memory

When stressed or excited, we naturally produce neurotransmitters and hormones that arouse the body, such as epinephrine and cortisol (Chapter 3). These chemicals also affect the amygdala (a brain structure involved in emotion), and other brain areas, such as the hippocampus and cerebral cortex (parts of the brain that are important for memory). Research has shown that these chemicals can interfere with, as well as enhance, how we encode, store, and retrieve our memories (Conway, 2015; Emilien & Durlach, 2015; Quas et al., 2016).

The serial-position effect

When we try to recall a list of similar items, we tend to remember the first and last items best. Can you see how you can use this information to improve your chances for employment success? If a potential employer calls you to set up an interview, you can increase their memory of you (and your application) by asking to be either the first (primacy effect) or last (recency effect) candidate.

The Power of Retrieval Cues

Whether cues require recall or only recognition is not all that matters. Imagine that while house hunting, you walk into a stranger's kitchen and are greeted with the unmistakable smell of freshly baked bread. Instantly, the aroma transports you to your grandmother's kitchen, where you spent many childhood afternoons doing your homework. You find yourself suddenly thinking of the mental shortcuts your grandmother taught you to help you learn your multiplication tables. You hadn't thought about these little tricks for years, but somehow a whiff of baking bread brought them back to you. Why?

Common FBMs

Why do most people clearly remember their college graduations and wedding ceremonies, as shown in this photo of your author, Catherine Sanderson and her husband, on their wedding day? Due to the extraordinary level of emotionality that most of us experience during these happy occasions, we tend to automatically create detailed, long-lasting memories of our thoughts, feelings, and actions during these exciting and momentous events.

Culture

as illustrated in Figure 7.12, cultural factors can play a role in memory and how well people remember what they have learned (Gutchess & Huff, 2016; Wang, 2011).

STORAGE

he second step in successful memory is storage. The best way to create an effective storage system, in either your brain or your computer, is through logical filing and good organization. Try these two helpful tips: _____Use chunking. Although the storage capacity of STM is only around five to nine items, you can expand it by chunking information into groups. For example, if you need to remember a 12 digit number, try grouping it into four groups of three numbers. _____Create hierarchies. An efficient way to organize and store a large body of information is to create hierarchies, which involves grouping concepts from most general to most specific. Chapter outlines, and the tables and figures in this text, are examples of hierarchies. Be sure to study them carefully—and make up your own versions whenever possible.

priming

in which exposure (often unconscious) to previously stored information predisposes (or primes) one's response to related stimuli (Cesario, 2014; Clark et al., 2014). As you may recall from Chapter 4, research on subliminal perception finds that certain unconscious (unnoticed) stimuli can reach our brains and predispose (prime) us to make it easier or more difficult to recall related information already in storage (Loebnitz & Aschemann-Witzel, 2016; Xiao & Yamauchi, 2016). For example, if a researcher shows you the words "red" and "fire engine," you're likely to be slightly faster to recognize the word "apple" because those words are already stored and closely associated in your memory.

Motivated forgetting theory

is based on 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, such as the box of cookies you ate last night. Interestingly, people who just finish a marathon race often rate the intensity and unpleasantness of their pain about a 5.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. However, when you ask these same people 3 to 6 months later to report how they felt after the race, they've forgotten the pain, and guess that it was about a 3 (Babel, 2016). Do you see how the runners probably enjoyed the overall experience of the event and are motivated to forget the pain? Furthermore, this motivated forgetting theory may help explain why all children aren't only children—mothers tend to forget the actual pain of childbirth!

Memory

is learning that persists over time. It allows us to learn from our experiences and to adapt to ever-changing environments. Without it, we would have no past or future. Yet our memories are highly fallible. Although some people think of memory as a gigantic library, or an automatic video recorder, our memories are not exact recordings of events. Instead, memory is highly selective (Baddeley et al., 2015; Chen & Wyble, 2015; Matlin & Farmer, 2016). As discussed in Chapter 5, we only pay attention to, and remember, a small fraction of the information we're exposed to each day

episodic memory

is like a mental diary. It records the major events (episodes) in our lives. Some of our episodic memories are short-lived, whereas others can last a lifetime.e. Have you ever wondered why most adults can recall almost nothing of the years before they reached age 3? Research suggests that a concept of self, sufficient language development, and growth of the frontal lobes of the cortex (along with other structures) may be necessary for us to encode and retrieve early events many years later (Bauer & Larkina, 2014; Feldman, 2014; Pathman & Bauer, 2013). Interestingly, older adults describe their most important memories as occurring between the ages of 17 and 24, in part because many major life transitions—such as getting married, attending college, starting a first job, and having children—happen during this period of time (Steiner et al., 2014). Contrary to stereotypes about the "grumpy old people," psychological research consistently finds an increase in happiness and well-being as we grow older

chunking

mproving Your STM The capacity of STM is limited to 5 to 9 bits of information and the duration to less than 30 seconds (Bankó & Vidnyánsky, 2010; Nairne & Neath, 2013). To extend the capacity of STM, you can use a technique called _____, which involves grouping separate pieces of information into larger, more manageable units (Gilbert et al., 2015; Miller, 1956; Portrat et al., 2016). Have you noticed that your credit card, social security, and telephone numbers are almost always grouped into three or four distinct units (sometimes separated by hyphens)? The reason is that it's easier to remember numbers in chunks rather than as a string of single digits. Chunking even helps in football. What do you see when you observe this arrangement of players from a page of a sports playbook (Figure 7.3)? To the inexpert eye, it looks like a random assembly of lines and arrows, and a naive person generally would have little or no understanding or appreciation of the cognitive skills required in football. But experienced players and seasoned fans generally recognize many or all of the standard plays. To them, the scattered lines form meaningful patterns—classic arrangements that recur often. Just as you group the letters of this sentence into meaningful words and remember them long enough to understand the meaning of the sentence, expert football players group the different football plays into easily recalled patterns (or chunks).

Explicit/declarative memory

refers to intentional learning or conscious knowledge. If asked to remember your phone number or your mother's name, you can easily state (declare) the answers directly (explicitly). Explicit/declarative memory can be further subdivided into two parts.

flashbulb memories (FBMs)

vivid, detailed, and near-permanent memories of emotionally significant moments or events (Brown & Kulik, 1977). During important historical, public, or autobiographical events, such as the 9/11 attack, the musician Prince's death, or other personally memorable occasions, it appears that our minds automatically create FBMs. We tend to remember incredible details, such as where we were, what was going on, and how we and others were feeling and reacting at that moment in time. And these memories are long lasting. In fact, researchers have found that people have retained their FBMs of the 9/11 attack for as long as 10 years, and that their confidence in these memories has remained high (Hirst et al., 2015). We also sometimes create uniquely personal (and happy) FBMs How does this happen? It's as if our brains command us to take "flash pictures" of these highly emotional events in order for us to "pay attention, learn, and remember." As we've just seen, a flood of neurotransmitters and hormones helps create strong, immediate memories. Furthermore, as discussed in Chapter 3, the flood of the hormone cortisol that happens during traumatic events has been studied as a contributor to long-lasting memories and, sadly, to PTSD (Drexler et al., 2015). In addition to these chemical changes, we actively replay these memories in our minds again and again, which further encourages stronger and more lasting memories (