Chapter 8

recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

Why do we forget?

Anterograde amnesia is an inability to form new memories. Retrograde amnesia is an inability to retrieve old memories. Normal forgetting happens because we have never encoded information; because the physical trace has decayed; or because we cannot retrieve what we have encoded and stored. Retrieval problems may result from proactive (forward-acting) interference, as prior learning interferes with recall of new information, or from retroactive (backward-acting) interference, as new learning disrupts recall of old information. Some believe that motivated forgetting occurs, but researchers have found little evidence of repression.

How reliable are young children's eyewitness descriptions?

Children are susceptible to the misinformation effect, but if questioned in neutral words they understand, they can accurately recall events and people involved in them.

What are the levels of processing, and how do they affect encoding?

Depth of processing affects long-term retention. In shallow processing, we encode words based on their structure or appearance. Retention is best when we use deep processing, encoding words based on their meaning. We also more easily remember material that is personally meaningful—the self-reference effect.

What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remember new information?

Effective effortful processing strategies include chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, and distributed practice sessions. The testing effect is enhanced memory after consciously retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information.

Eliza's family loves to tell the story of how she "stole the show" as a 2-year-old, dancing at her aunt's wedding reception. Even though she was so young, Eliza says she can recall the event clearly. How is this possible?

Eliza's immature hippocampus and lack of verbal skills would have prevented her from encoding an explicit memory of the wedding reception at the age of two. It's more likely that Eliza learned information (from hearing the story repeatedly) that she eventually constructed into a memory that feels very real.

How do emotions affect our memory processing?

Emotional arousal causes an outpouring of stress hormones, which lead to activity in the brain's memory-forming areas. Significantly stressful events can trigger very clear flashbulb memories.

testing effect

Enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered.

How do external cues, internal emotions, and order of appearance influence memory retrieval?

External cues activate associations that help us retrieve memories; this process may occur without our awareness, as it does in priming. The encoding specificity principle is the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it. Returning to the same physical context or emotional state (mood congruency) in which we formed a memory can help us retrieve it. The serial position effect accounts for our tendency to recall best the last items (which may still be in working memory) and the first items (which we've spent more time rehearsing) in a list.

What information do we process automatically?

In addition to skills and classically conditioned associations, we automatically process incidental information about space, time, and frequency.

How do changes at the synapse level affect our memory processing?

Long-term potentiation (LTP) appears to be the neural basis of learning. In LTP, neurons become more efficient at releasing and sensing the presence of neurotransmitters, and more connections develop between neurons.

When you feel sad, why might it help to look at pictures that reawaken some of your best memories?

Memories are stored in a web of associations, tugging on one string will activate the emotions associated with the memory, mood-congruent memories, that will lift your mood.

How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction? How do we decide whether a memory is real or false?

Memories can be continually revised when retrieved, a process memory researchers call reconsolidation. In experiments demonstrating the misinformation effect, people have formed false memories, incorporating misleading details after receiving the wrong information after an event or after repeatedly imagining and rehearsing something that never happened. When we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may attribute it to the wrong source (source amnesia). Source amnesia may help explain déjà vu. False memories feel like real memories and can be persistent but are usually limited to the gist of the event.

What is memory, and how is it measured?

Memory is learning that has persisted over time, through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. Evidence of memory may be recalling information, recognizing it, or relearning it more easily on a later attempt.

How can you use memory research findings to do better in this and other courses?

Memory research findings suggest the following strategies for improving memory: Study repeatedly, make material meaningful, activate retrieval cues, use mnemonic devices, minimize interference, sleep more, and test yourself to be sure you can retrieve, as well as recognize, material.

What is the capacity of long-term memory? Are our long-term memories processed and stored in specific locations?

Our long-term memory capacity is essentially unlimited. Memories are not stored intact in the brain in single spots. Many parts of the brain interact as we encode, store, and retrieve memories.

How do psychologists describe the human memory system?

Psychologists use memory models to think and communicate about memory. Information-processing models involve three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Our agile brain processes many things simultaneously (some of them unconsciously) by means of parallel processing. The connectionism information-processing model focuses on this multitrack processing, viewing memories as products of interconnected neural networks. The three processing stages in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. This model has since been updated to include two important concepts: (1) working memory, to stress the active processing occurring in the second memory stage; and (2) automatic processing, to address the processing of information outside of conscious awareness.

How does sensory memory work?

Sensory memory feeds some information into working memory for active processing there. An iconic memory is a very brief (a few tenths of a second) sensory memory of visual stimuli; an echoic memory is a three- or four-second sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

What is our short-term memory capacity?

Short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two, but this information disappears from memory quickly without rehearsal. Working memory capacity varies, depending on age, intelligence level, and other factors.

What roles do the cerebellum and basal ganglia play in memory processing?

The cerebellum and basal ganglia are parts of the brain network dedicated to implicit memory formation. The cerebellum is important for storing classically conditioned memories. The basal ganglia are involved in motor movement and help form procedural memories for skills. Many reactions and skills learned during our first three years continue into our adult lives, but we cannot consciously remember learning these associations and skills, a phenomenon psychologists call "infantile amnesia."

Why have reports of repressed and recovered memories been so hotly debated?

The debate (between memory researchers and some well-meaning therapists) focuses on whether most memories of early childhood abuse are repressed and can be recovered during therapy using "memory work" techniques often involving leading questions or hypnosis. Psychologists now agree that (1) sexual abuse happens; (2) injustice happens; (3) forgetting happens; (4) recovered memories are commonplace; (5) memories of things that happened before age 3 are unreliable; (6) memories "recovered" under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable; and (7) memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting.

What roles do the frontal lobes and hippocampus play in memory processing?

The frontal lobes and hippocampus are parts of the brain network dedicated to explicit memory formation. Many brain regions send information to the frontal lobes for processing. The hippocampus, with the help of surrounding areas of cortex, registers and temporarily holds elements of explicit memories before moving them to other brain regions for long-term storage. The neural storage of long-term memories is called memory consolidation.

How do explicit and implicit memories differ?

The human brain processes information on dual tracks, consciously and unconsciously. Explicit (declarative) memories—our conscious memories of facts and experiences—form through effortful processing, which requires conscious effort and attention. Implicit (nondeclarative) memories—of skills and classically conditioned associations—happen without our awareness, through automatic processing.

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

The concept of working memory a. clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on the active processing that occurs in this stage. b. splits short-term memory into two substages—sensory memory and iconic memory. c. splits short-term memory into two types: implicit and explicit memory. d. clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on space, time, and frequency.

a. clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on the active processing that occurs in this stage.

The hippocampus seems to function as a a. temporary processing site for explicit memories. b. temporary processing site for implicit memories. c. permanent storage area for emotion-based memories. d. permanent storage area for iconic and echoic memories.

a. temporary processing site for explicit memories.

When tested immediately after viewing a list of words, people tend to recall the first and last items more readily than those in the middle. When retested after a delay, they are most likely to recall a. the first items on the list. b. the first and last items on the list. c. a few items at random. d. the last items on the list.

a. the first items on the list.

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Psychologists involved in the study of memories of abuse tend to disagree with each other about which of the following statements? a. Memories of events that happened before age 4 are not reliable. b. We tend to repress extremely upsetting memories. c. Memories can be emotionally upsetting. d. Sexual abuse happens.

b. We tend to repress extremely upsetting memories.

Children can be accurate eyewitnesses if a. interviewers give the children hints about what really happened. b. a neutral person asks nonleading questions soon after the event. c. the children have a chance to talk with involved adults before the interview. d. interviewers use precise technical and medical terms.

b. a neutral person asks nonleading questions soon after the event.

One reason false memories form is our tendency to fill in memory gaps with our reasonable guesses and assumptions, sometimes based on misleading information. This tendency is an example of a. proactive interference. b. the misinformation effect. c. retroactive interference. d. the forgetting curve.

b. the misinformation effect.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) refers to a. emotion-triggered hormonal changes. b. the role of the hippocampus in processing explicit memories. c. an increase in a cell's firing potential. d. aging people's potential for learning.

c. an increase in a cell's firing potential.

Ebbinghaus' "forgetting curve" shows that after an initial decline, memory for novel information tends to a. increase slightly. b. decrease noticeably. c. decrease greatly. d. level out.

d. level out.

When forgetting is due to encoding failure, information has not been transferred from a. the environment into sensory memory. b. sensory memory into long-term memory. c. long-term memory into short-term memory. d. short-term memory into long-term memory.

d. short-term memory into long-term memory.

When a situation triggers the feeling that "I've been here before," you are experiencing __________.

deja vu

shallow processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

The psychological terms for taking in information, retaining it, and later getting it back out are ______________, ______________, and ______________.

encoding; storage; retrieval

semantic memory

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory)

episodic memory

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory)

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined. (Also called source nusattribution). Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories

Sensory memory may be visual (__________ memory) or auditory (__________ memory).

iconic; echoic

Hippocampus damage typically leaves people unable to learn new facts or recall recent events. However, they may be able to learn new skills, such as riding a bicycle, which is an __________ (explicit/implicit) memory.

implicit

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

Memory aids that use visual imagery or other organizational devices (such as acronyms) are called __________.

mnemonics

misinformation effect

occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list

A psychologist who asks you to write down as many objects as you can remember having seen a few minutes earlier is testing your __________.

recall

Freud proposed that painful or unacceptable memories are blocked from consciousness through a mechanism called __________.

repression

implicit memory

retention independent of conscious recollection. (Also called procedural memory.)

explicit memory

retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare". (Also called declarative memory)

Specific odors, visual images, emotions, or other associations that help us access a memory are examples of __________ __________.

retrieval cues

The hour before sleep is a good time to memorize information, because going to sleep after learning new material minimizes __________ interference.

retroactive

Our short-term memory for new information is limited to about __________ items.

seven

We may recognize a face at a social gathering but be unable to remember how we know that person. This is an example of __________ __________ .

source amnesia

déjà vu

that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

retroactive interference

the backward-acting disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

proactive interference

the forward-acting disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

memory consolidation

the neural storage of a long-term memory

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

storage

the process of retaining encoded information over time

encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings