Memory

Chapter 2
Book: Essentials of Understanding Psychology by ROBERT S. FELDMAN
 Memory

• Memory is the set of process by which we encode, store, and retrieve

memory
 Memory

• Encoding
• the process by which information is initially recorder in a form usable to
memory
• Storage
• the maintenance of material saved in the meory system
• Retrieval
• material in memory storage is located, brought into awareness, and used
Three Basic Process of Memory
Three Stage model of Memory
 The Three Systems of Memory

• Sensory Memory
• the initial, momentary storage of information, lasting only an instant
• Iconic memory
• reflects information from our visual system
• Echoic memory
• stores information coming from the ears
Sensory Memory
 The Three Systems of Memory

• Short-Term Memory
• holds information for 15 to 25 seconds
• seven items
• Chunk
• a meaningful grouping of stimuli that can be stored as a unit in short-term
memory
Short-Term Memory
 The Three Systems of Memory

• Rehearsal
• the repetition of information that has entered short-term memory
• Working Memory
• central executive
• visuospatial sketch pad
• phonological loop
Working Memory
 The Three Systems of Memory

• Long-Term Memory
• Memory that stores information on a relatively permanent basis,
although it may be difficult to retrieve
Long-Term Memory
• Modules of Long-Term Memory
• Declarative Memory
• factual information
• Procedural Memory
• skills and habits
• Semantic Memory
• general knowledge and facts about the world
• Episodic Memory
• biographical details of our individual lives
 Recalling Long-Term Memories

• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
• inability to recall information that
one realizes one knows
 Recalling Long-Term Memories

• Retrieval cue
• a stimulus that allows us to recall
more easily information that is
located in long-term memory
 Recalling Long-Term Memories
• Levels-of-processing theory
• the theory that emphasizes the degree to which new material is
mentally analyzed
• information to which we pay greater attention is processed more
thoroughly and enters memory at a deeper level
 Recalling Long-Term Memories

• Explicit Memory
• intentional or conscious recollection of information
• Implicit Memory
• Memories of which people are not consciously aware, but which can affect
subsequent performance and behavior
 Recalling Long-Term Memories

• Flashbulb memories
• memories centered around a
specific, important, or surprising
event that are so vivid it is as if
they represent a snapshot of the
event
 Recalling Long-Term Memories
• Constructive processes
• processes in which memories are
influenced by the meaning that we
give to events
• Schemas
• general themes that contain
relatively little specific detail
• memories consist of a general
reconstruction of previous
experience
 Recalling Long-Term Memories
• Memory in the Courtroom
• Repressed memories: truth or fiction?
• Autobiographical memory
• recollections of circumstances and episodes from our own live
Forgetting: When Memory Fails

• Why do we forget information?

• Decay
• the loss of information through its nonuse
• when new material is learned, a memory trace
(engram) occurs
• Interference
• the phenomenon by which information in memory
displaces or blocks out other information, preventing
its recall
Forgetting: Interference

Forgetting may be caused by failure to retrieve information

This can be due to interference, either retroactive or proactive
How to Study
• Use elaborative rehearsal
• Apply the self-reference effect
• Don’t forget the forgetting curve
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
• Be aware of interference
• Keep moving
• Get enough sleep
• Make use of mnemonic devices
Forgetting: When Memory Fails

• Memory Dysfunctions:
Afflictions or Forgetting

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• an illness that includes among its
symptoms severe memory
problems
• Amnesia
• memory loss that occurs without
other mental difficulties