PSY Ch.7

chunking

Chunking is a term referring to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units. By grouping each piece into a large whole, you can improve the amount of information you can remember.

Ebbinghaus

Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory, and is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect.

SPAR method

S urvey P rocess meaningfully A sk questions R eview

memory

a general term for the storage, retention, and recall of events, information and procedures. - the persistence of info overtime

4. Savings

compares the rate at which someone relearns material as opposed to learning something new

Encoding

converting external, sensory info into your memory

2. Cued recall

gives the person being tested significant hints about the correct answer

3. Recognition

is the method that requires the person being tested to identify the correct item from the the list of several choices

1. Free recall

is the simplest method for the tester but the most difficult for the person being tested

Storage

once we encode the info, then it has to be stored

retrieval cues

reminders- will stimulate your memory later

Retrieval

this involves getting the info that we have stored back out.

Serial-order effect

we tend to remember the beginning and end of a list better than the middle -primacy effect -recency effect

working memory view

working memory is a system for processing or working with current info -- mental "workbench"

Proactive interference

------> when retaining old material makes it hard to retain new material.

levels of processing principle

-ease with which we can retrieve a memory depends on the number and types of associations that we form with that memory -more you think of the meaning of words, the deeper the processing -relate info to experiences in your life

capacity of STM

-info being held in short term memory is vulnerable immediately to the effects of the passage of time -forgetting tends to begin in seconds unless rehearsal in permitted

Short-term memory

-last 20 seconds

Sensory Store

-last a few seconds

Long-term memory

-permanent storage

Methods of memory testing

1. Free recall 2. Cued recall 3. Recognition 4. Savings

Retroactive interference

<----- when learning new material makes it hard to retain old material.

Ebbinghaus' pioneering studies of memory

- studied his own ability to memorize new material - he invented over 2300 nonsense syllables and put them into random lists