MEMORY: How we acquire, store and forget information

1. MEMORY:How we acquire, store and forget information The role of memory in learning Acquiring information Forgetting Short and long term memory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grZuwo_YlY0&feature=related

2. ACQUIRING INFORMATION • The Influence of attention: attention refers to a persons alert focusing on material. When we attend to something, we become physically aroused and this activates chemicals in our brain that aid our ability to learn • Most learning takes place on a gradual upward slope representing increased retention of material, known as the learning curve

3. ACQUIRING INFORMATION • the implementation dip • a concept that knows we may make slower progress after a change in technique or process initially as we internalize the new skills • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkMStPbCHaY Steep learning curve is used to represent new knowledge or theories we believe will be difficult to pick up in the time we have

4. THE ROLE OF CHEMICALS INFLUENCING LEARNING • DEPRESSANT • Tranquilizers and alcohol • Block firing of brain nerve cells and reduce learning • STIMULANTS • Coffee, tea, and some soft drinks • Artificial sweeteners alter the normal brain firing patterns and therefore cancel the benefit of caffeine

5. THE ROLE OF TRANSFER IN LEARNINGhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQyOeXnMU60&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1 • Transfer of training • Principle: Learning task A will carry over (transfer) to learning task B if there are similarities between them • Positive Transfer • Takes place when some useful similarity exists between what you have learned in the past and the new material • Someone who has learned French moving to learning Spanish • Negative transfer • When a previously learned task is interfering with the present one • Manual vs. Automatic transmission

6. USING MNEUMONIC DEVICES • Named after the Greek goddess of memory • Today they are unusual memory associations made to material in order to aid memory • While they are not logical they can help you remember information • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotHC2nlGrQ&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1 • There are limitations to mnemonics if used excessively or with connections that are too bizarre to make the associations helpful • Mnemonics should be used early, the elderly have a hard time incorporating the skills if they did not use them early in life

7. CHUNKING AND LEARNING • Twinkle twinkle and the ABCs • Both utilize the concept of chunking • Putting things into chunks or clusters so that items are learned in groups rather than separately • What are common chunking techniques in education • Cause and effect • Before and after • Similarities and differences http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDbAYMUXpcA

8. FORGETTING WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED • Forgetting is best described as an increase in errors in bringing back material from memory • To try and combat the natural forgetting curve, one technique is overlearning • Learning something beyond one perfect recitation to the that the forgetting curve will have no effect, the development of perfect retention

9. FORGETTING WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED • The forgetting curve hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time. • A typical graph of the forgetting curve purports to show that humans tend to halve their memory of newly learned knowledge in a matter of days or weeks unless they consciously review the learned material • It is purported that in a typical schoolbook application most students remember only 10% after 3–6 days (depending on the material). • Therefore, 90% of what was learned is forgotten. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjAXlDBQuts

10. FORGETTING WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED • The typical human brain can hold about 7 pieces of information for less than 30 seconds. • If something does not happen, the information becomes lost – the memory becomes extinct • a great deal of memory loss occurs in the first hour or two after the initial exposure. • The relationship between repetition and memory is clear: meaningful, elaborate and deliberate repetition is a good method for establishing

11. FORGETTING WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED CONCEPTS RELATED TO FORGETTING • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo&feature=related • The interference theory • The idea that we forget because the new and old material conflict with one another • Focus • While helping us recall one thing can block other significant information out • Recall • The ability to bring back and integrate many specific learned details • Recognition • The ability to pick the correct object or event from a list of choices

12. AMNESIA • Amnesia is • the blocking of older memories and/or the loss of new ones • The term blocked is used because most material will return after a period of time • The material that disappears is fairly selective • Caused by two common methods • From a temporary reduction of blood supply from an injury • A blow to the head will cause electrical charges that disrupt the transmission across synapses and temporarily dislodge older memory systems • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbHwQ7Ygk0Q&feature=related

13. SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM MEMORY • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mmgEMbecJg • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TausqSK9p9k

14. SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM MEMORY • Consolidation • Process by which a memory solidifies over time, eventually becoming permanent • Sensory memory system • Occurs before short term memory • system that includes direct receivers of information from the environment • Iconic memory • A very brief visual memory and can be sent to short term memory • Acoustic memory • A very brief sound memory that can be sent to short term memory

15. PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY • Known in psychology as eidetic imagery • An iconic memory lasting a minute or so that keeps images “in front of” the viewer so objects can be counted or analyzed • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB1erG9qpqE&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMKGuel6OQ&feature=related

16. EYEWITNESSES AND MEMORY • Eyewitness testimony is often thought to be the most reliable in the criminal justice system • One of the reasons it is less reliable than we think is out brains are never content to let incoming information stand on its own • The unconscious processing, and reprocessing until it makes sense means it often includes information obtained after the fact

17. EYEWITNESSES AND MEMORY • Many factors can come into play: • Age • Health • personal bias and expectations • viewing conditions • perception problems • later discussions with other witnesses • Stress • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSzPn9rsPcY

18. REPRESSED MEMORIES • is a hypothetical concept used to describe a significant memory, usually of a traumatic nature, that has become unavailable for recall; also called motivated forgetting in which a subject blocks out painful or traumatic times in one's life. • According to proponents of the hypothesis, repressed memories may sometimes be recovered years or decades after the event, most often spontaneously, triggered by a particular smell, taste, or other identifier related to the lost memory, or via suggestion during psychotherapy

19. REPRESSED MEMORIES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RLvSGYxDIs&feature=fvsr • The existence of repressed memories is a controversial topic in psychology; some studies have concluded that it can occur in victims of trauma, while others dispute it • Although research on repressed memory is limited, a few studies have suggested that memories of trauma that are forgotten and later recalled have a similar accuracy rate as trauma memories that had not been forgotten • There has also been significant questioning of the reality of repressed memories. There is considerable evidence that rather than being pushed out of consciousness, the difficulty with traumatic memories for most people are their intrusiveness and inability to forget