Chapter 6.1: Encoding

How is making a memory like following a recipe?

Memories are made by combining information we already have in our brains with new information that comes in through our senses. In this way memory is like cooking; starting from a recipe but improvising along the way, we add old information to new information, mix, shake, bake, and out pops a memory. Memories are constructed, not recorded, and encoding is the process by which we transform what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory.

Three types of judgements

- Semantic Judgments - rhyme judgments - visual judgments

3 Types of Encoding Processes

- semantic encoding - visual imagery encoding - organizational encoding

Darwinian idea of Encoding

And the survival of our ancestors likely depended on encoding and later remembering such things as the sources of food and water or where a predator appeared - The features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generations - Therefore, memory mechanisms that help us to survive and reproduce should be preserved by natural selection, and our memory systems should be built in a way that allows us to remember especially well encoded information that is relevant to our survival. researchers found that survival encoding resulted in higher levels of recall than several other non-survival-encoding tasks involving semantic encoding, imagery encoding, or organizational encoding superior recall is also observed for scenarios that involve planning but not survival

Why does visual imagery encoding work so well?

First, visual imagery encoding does some of the same things that semantic encoding does: When you create a visual image, you relate incoming information to knowledge already in memory. Second, when you use visual imagery to encode words and other verbal information, you end up with two different mental placeholders for the items—a visual one and a verbal one—which gives you more ways to remember them than just a verbal placeholder alone - Visual imagery encoding activates visual processing regions in the occipital lobe, which suggests that people actually enlist the visual system when forming memories based on mental images

How does visual encoding influence memory?

Numerous experiments have shown that visual imagery encoding can substantially improve memory. - participants who studied lists of words by creating visual images of them later recalled twice as many items as participants who just mentally repeated the words

Which is most effective, semantic, rhyme, or visual judgment, and why?

Participants who made semantic judgments (i.e., had thought about the meaning of the words) had much better memory for the words than did participants who thought about how the word looked or sounded.

Why might mentally organizing the material for an exam enhance your retrieval of that material?

Studies have shown that instructing people to sort items into categories like this is an effective way to enhance their subsequent recall of those items - People can improve their recall of individual items by organizing them into multiple-level categories

Where does this semantic encoding take place? What is going on in the brain when this type of information processing occurs?

Studies reveal that semantic encoding is uniquely associated with increased activity in the lower left part of the frontal lobe and the inner part of the left temporal lobe. The amount of activity in each of these two regions during encoding is directly related to whether people later remember an item. The more activity there is in these areas, the more likely the person will remember the information.

organizational encoding:

The process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items.

semantic encoding:

The process of relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already stored in memory. - long-term retention is greatly enhanced by this.

visual imagery encoding:

The process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures. - If you wanted to use Simonides's method to create an enduring memory, you could simply convert the information that you wanted to remember into a visual image and then store it in a familiar location

Brain Activity during Different Types of Judgments

fMRI studies reveal that different parts of the brain are active during different types of judgments: (a) during semantic judgments, the lower left frontal lobe is active; (b) during visual judgments, the occipital lobe is active; and (c) during organizational judgments, the upper left frontal lobe is active.

semantic judgments

think about the meaning of something

visual judgments

think about the shape/image of something.

rhyme judgments

think about the sound of something