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Memory: Part 1

Power of the human mind:

The paomnnehil pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig

to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't
mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer
be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses
and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is
bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter
by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig eh?

Three Stages of Memory

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Characteristics of the Three

Memory Stages

SM

STM

LTM

Very large

7 +/- 2 chunks

Unlimited

Maximum Duration - 2 sec.

30 sec.

Permanent

Maintain
Information

Not possible

Maintenance
rehearsal

Elaborative
rehearsal/org.

Retrieve
Information

Perception

Serial, exhaustive
search

Search with
retrieval cues

Chief Cause of
Forgetting

Decay

Decay and
interference

Interference

Major Information
Code

Sensory

Acoustic

Semantic

Capacity

Types of Memory
Short

Term Memory
- Where sensory data is first
transmitted to for processing and
evaluation
- Aging impacts the depth of
processing that occurs in STM, sending
less to LTM

Types of Memory
Long

Term Memory
- Where STM is encoded for long-term storage
and future retrieval
How quickly and reliably we recall it depends on:
Activation: How long since we last used the
information.
Strength: How well we have practiced it
Archival Memory (a type of LTM)
- Used in the ultra-long term storage of
memories

Long Term Memory

V a r ie tie s o f L o n g T e r m M e m o r y
R e tr o s p e c tiv e
[p e r ta in s to th e p a s t]
D e c la r a t i v e
E p is o d ic

S e m a n t ic

P r o s p e c tiv e
[fu tu re e v e n ts ]

P ro c e d u ra l
C o g n it iv e

M o to r

Working Memory
Working

memory is a system for

temporarily storing and managing the
information required to carry out complex
cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning,
and comprehension.
Working memory is involved in the
selection, initiation, and termination of
information-processing functions such as
encoding, storing, and retrieving data.

Memory terms
Complex

mental function having four distinct

phases: (1) encoding or learning, (2) retention,
(3) recall/retrieval, and (4) recognition.

Clinically,

it is usually subdivided into

immediate, recent, and remote memory.

Retention
The

persistence to perform a
learned behavior (facts or
experiences) after an interval has
elapsed in which there has been no
performance or practice of the
behavior.

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Memory Theory
Recognition

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vs. Recall Issues

- Recognition - seeing something and knowing
what it is
- Recall - very construction oriented; requires
making connections
The process whereby a representation of
past experience is elicited.
- As we age, our recognition abilities get
stronger while recall weakens
- Recognition scenarios (like multiple choice
exams) are better for older learners

Mnemonic
'Mnemonic'

is another word for

memory tool.

Mnemonics

are methods for

remembering information that is
otherwise quite difficult to recall.

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How does our memory work?

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We

remember things by association. Every

piece of information in our memory is
connected to other pieces in some way or
another. For example, if you are given the
word "apple", what do you think of? Perhaps
something like this:
APPLE: red, round, sweet, teacher, tree, fruit

List of words

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cat apple ball tree

square head
house door box car king
hammer milk fish book tape
arrow flower key shoe

Law of Recency . . . and

Primacy
This

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type of experiment provides evidence

that there are 2 types of memory processes.
It is thought that memory is good for the
words read last because they are still in
short term memory - this is the recency
effect. Memory is good for the words read
first because they made it into long term
memory - this is the primacy effect.

Memory properties
Law

of Vividness:

We tend to remember the most

spectacular or striking impressions

rather than those that are more
ordinary.

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Law of Vividness:
We

are much better at

remembering pictures than we
are at remembering words and
names.

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Law of Frequency
We

tend to remember things we

experience the most often, rather
than those we experience only once
in a while.
You are much more likely to
remember your name or your phone
number than the square root of 3
(unless you are a mathematician).

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Concrete Words, Abstract

Words and Nonsense
Concreteness

refers the ability of a

word to form a mental image.

word with high concreteness is

easy to "see"; a word with low
concreteness (an "abstract" word) is
difficult to visualize.

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Concrete words
Concreteness

refers the ability of a

word to form a mental image.

word with high concreteness is

easy to "see"; a word with low
concreteness (an "abstract" word) is
difficult to visualize.

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Concrete words
alligator
apple
arrow
baby
bird
book
butterfly
car
corn
flower

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hammer
house
lemon
microscope
ocean
pencil
rock
shoes
table
window

Abstract words
anger

belief
boredom
chance
concept
effort
fate
freedom
glory
happiness

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honor

hope
idea
interest
knowledge
mercy
mood
moral
theory
truth

Nonsense words
ator
botam
crov
difim
firap
glimoc
gricul
hilnim
jolib
kepwin

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lumal
mib
natpem
peyrim
rispaw
stiwin
tubiv
vopec
yapib

Strong Emotional Context

With a strong emotional context, it is likely that

events will be better remembered.

The part of the brain responsible for

autobiographical memories is called the medial
temporal lobe.

Researchers have hypothesized that a structure

deep in this temporal lobe, called the amygdala
acts together with other structures of the
medial temporal lobe to enhance the ability of
the brain to process, encode and retrieve
emotional events.

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Forgetting: Decay or
Interference?

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Is

forgetting due to decay of unused

information, or to interference of new
information with old information?

Power
A

Law of Forgetting

survey of forgetting research concluded

that the rate at which we forget information
usually conforms to a power law: we forget a
lot at first, but over time the rate of
forgetting diminishes.