PSY 101 Ch 8 Memory

What is working memory like?

A mental workbench where the brain manipulates (works with) and assembles information to guide understanding, decision making, and problem solving

Implanting false memories example

- Loftus asked participants questions about 3 events that had actually happened to them as children, and questions about one event that had not happened: getting lost in a shopping mall - By the 3rd interview, approximately 25% of participants remembered the false event as a real event. It seems to be possible to "implant" false memories.

Innovation for wrongly identifying witnesses

- sequential police lineup procedure, in which a witness is shown one suspect at a time instead of all at once - rationale: when shown sequential lineups, people make absolute judgments, which lead to much lower rates of misidentification - the result: sequential lineups cut eyewitness misidentification in half compared to simultaneous lineups. Fewer innocent people go to jail.

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

- showed film of a car accident to participants - they then asked "how fast were the cars travelling when they ________ into each other?" - [contacted, hit, bumped, collided, smashed] - participants who were asked a leading question (with "smashed") were more likely to remember broken glass 2 weeks than were other participants

Procedural Memories involve

- space, time, frequency (where you ate dinner yesterday) - Motor and cognitive skills (riding a bike) - Classical conditioning (reaction to dentist's office)

Another example of proactive interference

Early event: Learn friend's e-mail address at college ([email protected]) Later event: Familiar old address interferes with recall of new e-mail address (nfleming@????)

What happens when we are excited or stressed?

Emotion-triggered stress hormones make more glucose energy available to brain, and the amygdala boosts activity in memory-forming areas of the brain

Sample questions to elicit processing

1. Is the word in capital letters? CHAIR 2. Does the word rhyme with train? brain 3. Would this word fit in this sentence? The girl put the ____ on the table. car

What is the typical number of items that can be stored in your short term memory?

7 + or - 2 items

What are the 3 processes memory occurs through?

Encoding, storage, and retrieval

What is modern technology proving that scientists, psychologists, and legal scholars have noted for years?

Eyewitness identification is often faulty and is the major cause of wrongful convictions. Identifications are more problematic when they are based on observations made under stress or in less than ideal conditions (ex. darkness, from a distance) Ex. Jennifer Thompson wrongly identified Marvin Anderson as her assailant. She tries to speak out about her experiences and the dangers of relying solely upon single eyewitness testimony to convict.

Does automatic processing occur?

Unconsciously

Working Memory

a combination of components that include short-term memory and attention that allow us to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks

Working/short-term memory

a few items are noticed and encoded

Short-Term Memory

limited capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless the individual uses strategies to retain it longer.

Compared to sensory memory, short-term memory is...

limited in capacity, but it can store information for a longer time

How we engage information also has an impact on...

memory

Atkinson-Shiffrin Theory

memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

Imagery

mental pictures

Think of retroactive interference as...

new information interferes with old information You study vocab for French test, which interferes with remembering vocab you studied in the past for a Spanish test, and then you take a Spanish test.

Retroactive interference

occurs when new information makes it harder to recall something you learned EARLIER.

Proactive interference

occurs when something you learned earlier disrupts your recall of something you experience LATER.

Think of proactive interference as...

old information interferes with new information You used to study vocab for French test, which interferes with studying vocab for Spanish test, and then you have to take Spanish test.

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units, w/ working memory the chunks are more complex usually

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units. Grouping or "packing" information that exceeds the 7 +/- 2 memory span into higher-order units that can be remembered as single units. Large amount of info become more memorable. - hot, city, book, forget, tomorrow, smile (easier) - O LDH ARO LDAN DYO UNGB EN (harder) - Old Harold and Young Ben (making it meaningful chunks makes it easier to remember)

True Believers

people who believe the mind is capable of repressing memories and who accept without reservation or question the authenticity of recovered memories

Episodic Memories involve

personally experienced events (family holidays)

Examples of explicit memory

remembering what you learned in your psychology class, recalling your phone number, identifying who the current president is, writing a research paper, and remembering what time you're meeting a friend to go to a movie

Storage

retaining information

Sleep may provide some protection against

retroactive interference

Echoic Memory

sensory memory for auditory information, which lasts 3 seconds

Iconic Memory

sensory memory for visual information, which lasts about 1/4 of a second (Sperling's experiment). Ex. sparklers

Examples of implicit memory

singing a familiar song, typing on your computer keyboard, brushing your teeth, driving a car, and riding a bicycle is another great example. Even after going years without riding one, most people are able to hop on a bike and ride it effortlessly.

Long-term storage

some items are altered or lost

Passive Memory

storehouse with shelves to store info until it moves to long-term memory

Multitasking

studies show that we are bad at it

Atkinson and Shiffrin's theory fails to capture...

the dynamic way short-term memory functions

What is memory not defined in terms of?

the length of learning that has persisted

What is the bottom line of what we learned from Ebbinghaus?

the more time we spend learning novel information, the better we learn it

Long-Term Potentiation

the prolonged strengthening of potential neuronal firing which provides a basis for learning and remembering associations. Below, one receptor site (gray) before LTP (a), and two receptors sites after (b). Essentially, if two neurons are activated at the same time, the connection between them - and thus the memory - may be strengthened.

Sensory memory

the senses momentarily register amazing detail

Implicit Memory

things we don't purposefully try to remember and must bring into our consciousness. This kind of memory is both unconscious and unintentional. Implicit memory is also sometimes referred to as nondeclarative memory since you are not able to consciously bring it into awareness. Procedural memories, such as how to perform a specific task like swinging a baseball bat or making toast, are one type of implicit memory since you don't have to consciously recall how to perform these tasks. While implicit memories are not consciously recalled, they still influence how you behave as well as your knowledge of different tasks.

Effortful processing

we must consciously attend to (selective attention) and process it to form durable and accessible memories

Spacing Effect

we retain information better if our rehearsal is distributed across time

Encoding failure

when the information was never entered into long-term memory

Retrieval cues

when you encode into memory a target piece of information, you associate it with other bits of info about your surroundings, mood, location, etc.

Active memory system

where thinking occurs

What did Sigmund Freud propose about painful memories?

That we repress painful memories to protect our self-concept and minimize anxiety.

How did we learn about brain regions are involved in forming new memories?

- Brain imaging studies - Observations of patients such as H.M., who had most of his hippocampus removed

What type of processing leads to better memory?

Deep processing

Retrieval from long-term memory

Depending on interference, retrieval cues, moods, and motives, some things get retrieved, some don't.

How did Ebbinghaus study rehearsal?

By teaching himself nonsense syllables; the more time he practiced the list of nonsense syllables on Day 1, the fewer repetitions he required to relearn it on Day 2.

What can improve short-term memory?

Chunking and rehearsal

Another example of retroactive interference

Later event: learn password for using bank debit card my99money Early event: can no longer recall password for using ATM card (my ...???)

Bunny Effect

Misinformation effect - Elizabeth Loftus was able to get subjects to remember seeing Bugs Bunny at Disneyland even though that's not possible

Are long-term memories always accurate?

No

What have people been accused, and sometimes convicted, of sexual abuse based on?

Repressed memories

What can prime memory retrieval?

Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something ("awaken" associations between what you are trying to recall and your surroundings

Explicit Memory

When you're trying to intentionally remember something (like a formula for your statistics class or a list of dates for your history class), this information is stored in your explicit memory. We use these memories every day, from remembering information for a test to recalling the date and time of a doctor's appointment. This type of memory is also known as declarative memory since you can consciously recall and explain the information.

Long-term memory

a relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of info for a long time (virtually unlimited)

Mnemonic

a strategy for improving memory for some material, which makes use of imagery or chunking. Ex. Roy G. Biv, HOMES, King Phillip Cut Open Five Green Snakes, Mary's Virgin Explanation Made Joseph Suspect Upstairs Neighbor, Now I need a drink alcoholic of course after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics

Misinformation effect

after exposure to misinformation, many people misremember

Skeptics

argue the notion of repression is purely hypothetical and untestable, based on the fact that it is unsubstantiated speculation and anecdotes that are impossible to confirm or deny

The bottom line is that forgetting can occur...

at any memory stage. As we process info, we filter, alter, or lose much of it.

Another word for retroactive interference is

backward-acting

Retrieval

bringing information back into consciousness

Implicit memories are processed in

cerebellum and basal ganglia

Working memory capacity is related to?

cognitive aptitudes (like IQ)

Rehearsal

conscious repetition of information - if uninterrupted, information can be retained indefinitely - inner voice and private inner eye - does not work well for retaining info over long term because meaning (deep processing) is usually not added

Forgetting Curve

course of forgetting is initially rapid and levels off with time. This could be because of decay of the physical memory trace.

Automatic Processing

encodes information such as the sequence of the day's events and the frequency of events. Ex. the # of times we run into a friend

Shallow processing

encoding information in terms of a superficial characteristic (the sound of the word, what it rhymes with or more shallow still is structural [appearance of letters or written in capitals])

Deep processing

encoding information in terms of its meaning (think of the meaning of the word, semantics)

Effortful processing produces what type of memories?

explicit

Effortful processing produces...

explicit memories (declarative) w/ conscious recall

Flashbulb memories

extremely vivid recollections of surprising events, but even they may be inaccurate. - Ex. Dr. Weaver's 9/11 example - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/was-brian-williams-a-victim-of-false-memory/

Semantic Memories involve

facts and general knowledge (this chapter's concepts)

How long can we remember information?

for a lifetime or for a few seconds

Even after encoding something well, we sometimes...

forget about it

Rehearsal

form of effortful processing that involves conscious repetition of the material

Another word for proactive interference is

forward-acting

Encoding

getting the information into our brain

Explicit memories are processed in

hippocampus and frontal lobes

Memory is the foundation of...

identity

Automatic processing produces what type of memories?

implicit

Automatic processing produces...

implicit memories (nondeclarative) w/o conscious recall