INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE

Memory
Introduction to Psychology

Ram Manohar Singh

You guys are genius !

v Without looking at a ₹1 coin, try to draw the coin

v Check
Ø How accurate was your memory for the coin?
Ø Was the head facing the correct way?
Ø How many of the words (if any!) from the coin did you recall?
Ø Did you place these words correctly?

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Memory

v Memory is a selective and interpretive process.

v Encoding
Ø The process through which information is converted into a form
that can be entered into memory.
v Storage
Ø The process through which information is retained in memory.
v Retrieval
Ø The process through which information stored in memory is
located.

v Information-Processing Approach
Ø An approach to understanding human memory that emphasizes the
encoding, storage, and later retrieval of information.

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Basic memory model

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Sensory memory

v Sensory Memory
Ø A memory system that retains representations of sensory input for
brief periods of time.
Ø Experiment conducted by Sperling (1960)

v Mechanism of sensory memory

Ø Iconic Memory

Ø Echoic Memory

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UK 17 E 3995

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v Tell me the number just displayed ?

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Short-Term Memory (STM)

v A memory system that holds limited amounts of

information for relatively short periods of time.

v Mechanism of STM
Ø Phonological store
§ Representations of words, reflecting how they sound

Ø Rehearsal mechanism
§ Refreshes the contents of the phonological store through repetition of
these words

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IBFIMBWBMATWIAC

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v Recall the letters

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IBF, IMB, WBM, ATW, IAC

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v Recall the letters

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Short-Term Memory (STM)

v Capacity of STM
Ø Seven to nine separate pieces of information (chunks)

v Duration of STM
Ø Not very long
Ø Usually 20 – 30 sec

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Display
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Definition
Memory

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v Reproduce the words

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Short-Term Memory

v Short-Term Memory
Ø A memory system that holds limited amounts of information for
relatively short periods of time.
v Serial Position Effect (Curve) :
Ø The greater accuracy of recall of words or other information early
and late in a list than of words or information in the middle of the
list.

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Long-Term Memory

v Long-Term Memory
Ø A memory system for the retention of large amounts of information
over long periods of time.

Ø Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
§ The feeling that we can almost remember some information we wish
to retrieve from memory.

v Basic Operation
Ø Elaborative Rehearsal:
§ Rehearsal in which the meaning of information is considered and the
information is related to other knowledge already present in memory.
Ø Levels of Processing View
§ A view of memory suggesting that the greater the effort expended in
processing information, the more readily it will be recalled at later
times.

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Retrieval

v Our ability to locate information previously stored in

memory.
Ø organization. In general, the better organized materials are at the
time they are stored, the eas- ier it is to retrieve them later on

Ø hierarchies—classification systems that move from inclusive to

increasingly specific levels.

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Retrieval Cues

v Retrieval Cues: Stimuli associated with information stored in

memory that can aid in its retrieval.
v Context-Dependent Memory:
Ø The fact that information entered into memory in a partic- ular context
or setting is easier to recall in that context, or in a similar context, than
in others.
v State-Dependent Retrieval:
Ø The greater ease of retrieval of information stored in long-term
memory when our internal state is the same as it was when the
information was first entered into memory.
v Mood-Dependent Memory:
Ø The finding that what we remember while in a given mood may be
determined in part by what we learned when previously in that same
mood.
v Mood Congruence Effects:
Ø Our tendency to notice or remember information congruent with our
current mood.

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Forgetting

v Forgetting is the apparent loss or modification of

information already encoded and stored in an individual's
memory. It is a spontaneous or gradual process in which
old memories are unable to be recalled from memory
storage.

v The Trace Decay Hypothesis

Ø Perhaps the simplest view of forgetting is that information entered
long-term memory fades or decays with the passage of time.

v Retroactive Interference:
Ø Interference with retention of information already present in
memory by new information being entered into memory.
v Proactive interference:
Ø Previously learned information present in long-term memory
interferes with information you are learning at present.

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Amnesia

v Amnesia: Loss of memory stemming from illness,

accident, drug abuse, or other causes.
Ø Retrograde Amnesia: Loss of memory of events that occurred
before an amnesia-inducing event.
Ø Anterograde Amnesia: The inability to store in long-term memory
information that occurs after an amnesia-inducing event.

v H.M. Case study

v Infantile Amnesia: Our inability to remember

experiences during the first two or three years of life.

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