What is memory

Stages of memory

encoding->storage->Retrieval

Brain & Chemistry of memory: Long-term potentiation (LTP)

enhanced response due to electrical stimulation that continues for a time Involves receptors on both sides: *Sending side produces *Glutamate *Receiving side needs NMDA *Ions in gap ferry across *Most cells that produce this in quantity are in the hippocampus

The Standard Theory of Human Information Processing

environmental input -> sensory registers (visual, auditory -- Haptic) -> short term store temporary working memory (Control processes: rehearsal, coding, decisions, retrieval strategies) -> <--long term store permanent memory store

Key to identity

essential in creating and developing our personality direct witness of our own past -narrative of YOU also of history and common knowledge

Helps us to organize our life

finding the location of objects, routes Remembering people, roles, norms Mental imagery

Visual imagery (1960's)

A picture is worth a thousand words

Memory: NOT a single unitary faculty BUT rather:

A series of separable systems that perform different tasks over widely different time scales from a fractions of seconds to many years An alliance of systems that are capable, reliable and flexible

Factors that affect memory

Attentiveness Motivation Emotional State Context

Degree of vigilance, alertness, ATTENTIVENESS, and concentration

Attentiveness is often said to be the tool that engraves information into memory. *Key for learning Thus, attention deficits can radically reduce memory performance. You can improve your memory capacity by making a conscious effort to repeat and integrate information.

Memory function

Critical to learning Helps us to organize our life Key to identity

Ebbinghaus (1885)

First person to apply the scientific method to the study of memory Set out to understand the formation of novel associations Serial learning *Remembering items in the order learned-serial list -Created nonsense syllables an presented them in lists -Ex. Alphabet, song lyrics

Short-term memory models (1970's-80's

Info-processing models

Cognitive behavior (1950's-70's)

Information-processing models- "coding" & "limited capacity" Change in how we study memory-introduced memory different tasks *Free recall, context specific-source memory, relevance

Interest, strength of MOTIVATION, and need or necessity

It is easier to learn when the subject fascinates you. Thus, motivation is a factor that enhances memory. Some young people who do not always do very well at the subjects they are forced to take in school often have a phenomenal memory for statistics about their favorite sports.

Critical to learning

Learning is the acquisition of new knowledge/skill Memory allows the expression of what you have acquired

Post-behaviorism memory research took 3 different avenues:

Mediator research(1968-1971)-how we make sense of nonsense terms *People try and hook new info to familiar/known info-mediators Meaning materials learning which abandoned nonsense learning *Looked at words, sentences, texts, pictures Transfer of knowledge *General (strategies for remembering) & specific (influence of prior associations)

Mediators & Hooks

Mediators act to link cues to targets a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something.

Brain & memory

Memory occurs in the limbic system: which includes the hippocampus, the amygdala, the cingulate gyrus, the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the epithalamus, the mammillary body and other organs

Mediators example

Order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies

Location, light, sounds, smells...in short, the entire context in which the memorizing takes place is recorded along with the information being memorized.

Our memory systems are contextual. Consequently, when you have trouble remembering a particular fact, you may be able to retrieve it by recollecting where you learned it *Was there a picture on that page? Was the information toward the top of the page, or the bottom? And because you always memorize the context along with the information that you are learning, by recalling this context you can very often, by a series of associations, recall the information itself.

Calkins (1884)

Paired-associates learning *Learn items in pairs-recall one item of pair at prompt of the other _Ex. Spanish-English words, flashcards

Paired-Associates learning

Peanut butter and Jelly Salt and Pepper Dog and Cat

S-R Behaviorism (1930-40's)

Rote Learning -Conditioned associations

Multiple memory systems (1990's)

The Brain-where does memory take place? How do the different types of memory interact?

What is memory

The mental process through which the mind encodes, stores and retrieves information an informational processing system with explicit and implicit functioning that is made up of a sensory processor, short-term (or working) memory, and long-term memory

Flaws: But memory is not entirely faithful.

When you perceive an object, groups of neurons in different parts of your brain process the information about its shape, color, smell, sound, and so on. Your brain then draws connections among these different groups of neurons, and these relationships constitute your perception of the object. Subsequently, whenever you want to remember the object, you must reconstruct these relationships. The parallel processing that your cortex does for this purpose, however, can alter your memory of the object.

Affective values associated with the material to be memorized, and the individual's mood and intensity of EMOTION.

Your emotional state when an event occurs can greatly influence your memory of it. Thus, if an event is very upsetting, you will form an especially vivid memory of it. 9/11 The processing of emotionally-charged events in memory involves norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that is released in larger amounts when we are excited or tense. As Voltaire put it, that which touches the heart is engraved in the memory.