memory

1. 5 memory

2. why study memory?Without memory, how would we be able to learn anything? The ability to learn is the key to our very survival, and we cannot learn unless we can remember what happened the last time a particular situation arose. Why study forgetting? If we can learn about the ways in which we forget information, we can apply that learning so that forgetting occurs less frequently.

3. Learning Objectives • LO 5.1 Memory and the three processes of memory • LO 5.2 Sensory memory • LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • LO 5.4 Long-term memory • LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • LO 5.6 Kinds of cues that help people remember • LO 5.7 How recall and recognition differ • LO 5.8 How long-term memories are formed • LO 5.9 False memory syndrome • LO 5.10 Different causes of forgetting • LO 5.11 How and where memories are formed in the brain • LO 5.12 How does amnesia occur? • LO 5.13 What are the facts about Alzheimer’s disease

4. Memory and Its Processes LO 5.1 Memory and the three processes of memory • Memory • Active system that receives information from the senses • Organizes and stores it • Retrieves information from storage

5. Memory and Its Processes LO 5.1 Memory and the three processes of memory • Processes of Memory: • Encoding • Converts sensory information to a form usable in the brain’s storage systems • Storage • Holding onto information for some period of time • Retrieval • Recalling stored information in a form that can be used

6. Models of Memory LO 5.1 Memory and the three processes of memory • Information-processing model • Information is processed across three stages • Encoding, storage and retrieval

7. Models of Memory LO 5.1 Memory and the three processes of memory • Levels-of-processing model • Information is “deeply processed” • Processed according to meaning rather than just sound or physical characteristics of words • How well item is remembered depends on depth remembered

8. Models of Memory LO 5.1 Memory and the three processes of memory • Parallel distributed processing (PDP) model • Simultaneous processing, memories stretched across brain • Able to retrieve many aspects of a memory at once • Roots in artificial intelligence model

9. Figure 5.1 Three-Stage Process of MemoryInformation enters through the sensory system, briefly registering in sensory memory. Selective attention filters the information into short-term memory, where it is held while attention (rehearsal) continues. If the information receives enough rehearsal (maintenance or elaborative), it will enter and be stored in long-term memory.

10. Sensory Memory LO 5.2 Sensory memory • First stage of memory • Information enters nervous system through sensory systems • Encodes information into neural messages

11. Sensory Memory LO 5.2 Sensory memory • Two types of sensory memory studied: • Iconic • Visual sensory memory • Echoic • Auditory sensory memory

12. Iconic Memory LO 5.2 Sensory memory • Visual sensory memory • Lasts only a fraction of a second • Helps visual system view surroundings continuously • Long enough for brain stem to evaluate importance

13. Iconic Memory LO 5.2 Sensory memory • Partial report method (Sperling 1960) • Revealed iconic memory captures information all at once • Masking • Information is pushed out of iconic memory quickly • Replaced by new information • Eidetic imagery • Ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more

14. Figure 5.1 Three-Stage Process of MemoryInformation enters through the sensory system, briefly registering in sensory memory. Selective attention filters the information into short-term memory, where it is held while attention (rehearsal) continues. If the information receives enough rehearsal (maintenance or elaborative), it will enter and be stored in long-term memory.

15. Figure 5.2 Iconic Memory TestSample grid of letters for Sperling’s test of iconic memory. To determine if the entire grid existed in iconic memory, Sperling sounded a tone associated with each row after the grid’s presentation. Participants were able to recall the letters in the row for which they heard the tone. The graph shows the decrease in the number of letters recalled as the delay in presenting the tone increased.

16. Echoic Memory LO 5.2 Sensory memory • Brief memory of something just heard • Allows memory to remain long enough for meaningful conversation • Capacity • Limited to what can be heard at any one moment • Smaller than capacity of iconic memory

17. Echoic Memory LO 5.2 Sensory memory • Allows memory to remain long enough for meaningful conversation • Duration • Lasts longer than iconic • 2 to 4 seconds

18. Once these piano strings have been attached to the tuning pins, the piano can be tuned. Tuning a piano requires the use of echoic sensory memory. What other occupations might find a good echoic memory to be an asset?

19. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used • Selective attention • Ability to attend to one stimulus apart from total sensory input

20. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used • Selective attention • “Cocktail party effect” • Able to hear own name mentioned across a noisy room

21. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used • Selective attention • Two stage process • Stimuli filtered based on physical characteristics • Processed based on importance

22. Each person at this gathering is involved in a conversation with others, with dozens of such conversations going on at the same time all around. Yet if a person in another conversation says the name of one of the people in the crowd, that person in the crowd will be able to selectively attend to his or her name. This is known as the “cocktail party effect.”

23. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Working Memory • Not really short term memory but a process • Active system that processes information in short-term memory • Consists of three processes: • Central “executive” - controls other processes • “Sketchpad” - visual • “Recorder” - auditory

24. This woman must hold the phone number she is reading in short-term memory long enough to dial it on the phone next to her.

25. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Capacity of short term memory is 7+/−2 chunks of information • Young adults can hold three to five items without strategy to retain information

26. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Unfamiliar words, information result in further reductions • Digit-span test • Series of numbers is read to subjects • Subjects are asked to recall the numbers in order

27. Figure 5.3 Digit-Span TestInstructions for the digit-span test: Listen carefully as the instructor reads each string of numbers out loud. As soon as each string is ended (the instructor may say “go”), write down the numbers in the exact order in which they were given.

28. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Unfamiliar words, information result in further reductions • Chunking • Combining information into meaningful units or chunks • More information can be held in STM

29. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Maintenance rehearsal • information to be remembered is repeated over and over mentally • maintains it in short-term memory • STMs tend to be encoded in auditory form

30. Short-Term Memory LO 5.3 Short-term or working memory • Duration of STM • 12 to 30 seconds without rehearsal • STM is susceptible to interference • e.g. if counting is interrupted, count is lost

31. It is very important for this pharmacist to count out the number of pills in the prescription accurately. Short-term memory allows her to remember the last number she counted, but if she is interrupted, she will have to start all over again. Short-term memory is very susceptible to interference.

32. Long-Term Memory LO 5.4 Long-term memory • System of memory into which information is placed to be kept permanently • Physical change in brain takes place with LTM storage • Elaborative rehearsal • Information transferred from STM to LTM by making it meaningful • Deeper processing occurs with LTM

33. These students are rehearsing for a concert. They will use maintenance rehearsal (repeating the musical passages over and over) until they can play their parts perfectly. The movements of their fingers upon the strings of their instruments will be stored in long-term memory. How is this kind of long-term memory different from something like the memorized lines of one’s part in a play?

34. Types of LTM LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • Procedural (nondeclarative) memory • Includes memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses • These memories are not conscious • Implied to exist because they affect conscious behavior

35. Types of LTM LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • Declarative memory • Contains information that is conscious and known • Memory for facts

36. Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • Includes emotional associations, habits, simple conditioned reflexes • May or may not be in conscious awareness • Anterograde amnesia • Damage to hippocampus • New memories cannot be made • Usually does NOT affect procedural LTM

37. Procedural knowledge, such as tying one’s shoes, often must be learned by doing, as it is difficult to put into words. Once this child learns how to tie shoes, the knowledge will always be there to retrieve.

38. Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • Implicit memory • Memory not easily brought into conscious awareness

39. Figure 5.4 Tower of HanoiThe Tower of Hanoi is a puzzle that is solved in a series of steps by moving one disk at a time. The goal is to move all of the disks from peg A to peg C; the rules are that a larger disk can not be moved on top of a smaller one and a disk can not be moved if there are other disks on top of it. Amnesia patients were able to learn the procedure for solving the puzzle but could not remember that they knew how to solve it.

40. Declarative LTM LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • All the things that people know • Semantic memory • General knowledge, such as language and information learned in formal education • Episodic memory • Knowledge of personal information • Not readily available to others • Includes daily activities and events

41. Declarative LTM LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • Semantic and episodic memories are forms of explicit memory • Memory that is consciously known

42. Figure 5.5 Types of Long-Term MemoriesLong-term memory can be divided into declarative memories, which are factual and typically conscious (explicit) memories, and nondeclarative memories, which are skills, habits, and conditioned responses that are typically unconscious (implicit). Declarative memories are further divided into episodic memories (personal experiences) and semantic memories (general knowledge).

43. LTM Organization LO 5.5 Different types of long-term memory • LTM organized in terms of related meanings and concepts. • Semantic network model • Model of memory organization • Assumes information is stored in a connected fashion • Related concepts are stored physically closer to each other than those not related

44. Figure 5.6 An Example of a Semantic NetworkIn the semantic network model of memory, concepts that are related in meaning are thought to be stored physically near each other in the brain. In this example, canary and ostrich are stored near the concept node for “bird,” whereas shark and salmon are stored near “fish.” But the fact that a canary is yellow is stored directly with that concept.

45. Retrieval Cues LO 5.6 Kinds of cues that help people remember • A stimulus for remembering • Encoding specificity • Retrieval of information is improved • If related situation available when the memory is first formed is available when the memory is being retrieved • Example: • Best room to take a test in is the room the material was learned in

46. Retrieval Cues LO 5.6 Kinds of cues that help people remember • Encoding specificity • State-dependent learning • Easier to recall memories if in same physiological or psychological state as in when memory was made

47. When this bride and groom dance together later on in their marriage, they will be able to recall this moment at their wedding and the happiness they felt at that time. State-dependent learning makes it easier for people to recall information stored while in a particular emotional state (such as the happiness of this couple) if the recall occurs in a similar emotional state.

48. Recall LO 5.6 Kinds of cues that help people remember • Recall • Information to be retrieved must be “pulled” from memory • Few external cues • Retrieval failure • Recall has failed temporarily • Tip of the tongue phenomenon

49. Recall LO 5.6 Kinds of cues that help people remember • Serial position effect • Remember information at the beginning and end more accurately than information in the middle • Primacy effect • Best remember information at the beginning of a body of information • Recency effect • Best remember information at the end of a body of information

50. These people are waiting to audition for a play. The person who auditioned first and the one who auditioned last have the greatest chance of being remembered when the time comes for the director to choose. The serial position effect will cause the impression made by the actors who come in the “middle” to be less memorable.