INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Chapter 7
Memory
At the end of this Chapter you should be able to:
n Understand what memory is
n Learn about working memory
n Learn about three aspects of memory; acquisition, storage and retrieval
n Understand what happens when memory fails
Without memory....
No recollection of events
No knowledge
No reflection of past events; no giving advice to others
No basis for self-esteem and mood
No idea about past achivements
Acquisition, Storage, Retrieval
Any act of memory requires success at three aspects:
l Input, or the acquisition of knowledge - Acquisiton
l Creation of a memory trace, or the storage of knowledge - Storage
l Ability to use the knowledge - Retrieval
Acquisition
Includes any instance of new intentional (like memorizing) or incidental learning
l Incidental: What did you have for dinner yesterday? You didn’t memorize, but you know
Attention and engagement with to-be-remembered material is crucial; acquisition is not passive or “camera-like”
Raw input: translated first into a form that can be “acquired” by the brain
l This is a complex process itself!
The Stage Theory of Memory
n Different types of memory, each with different properties
l Working memory (Short-term)
n Instantly accessible information
l Long-term memory
n Less instantly accessible
Working Memory / Long Term Memory
When we are actively working, we want information to be immediately available to us. In our brain, this happens in Working (short-term) Memory.
Long Term Memory is for extra information. It contains everything you know. It is storage for information that is not used right now but may be needed later.
Storage Capacity of Working and Long-term memory
Long term capacity: huge
Working capacity: more modest
Memory span: way of measuring working memory capacity
l Random, unrelated information: we can store about 7, plus or minus 2, items (5 – 9 items)’
l Referred to as “the magic number 7”
Working Memory
“Loading platform” analogy
Long term memory must be “loaded” or “pass through” WM
How does it move? How is it transformed into Long term memory?
l Rehearsed
l Chunked
n Athough people see 10 TL many many times, they seem to have little recollection of it’s layout
Chunking
n Working memory can only handle a small number of items at one time. However what these packages contain can be up to us.
149162536496481
Can you remember all of these digits?
If you look at these digits independently, you will fail to remember them!
What about if you organize them differently?
14 9 16 25 36 49 64 81
Now you only have to remember the relationship between these items. So working memory’s capacity is dependent on these chunks, not independent items.
Active memory and organization:A changed emphasis
“Architecture” of memory: Storage labels (long term, short term) and analogies of loading docs
BUT: Learner’s activities must be considered when examining memory
l Maintenance rehearsal
l Processing and organizing information: the “Royal Road into Memory”
Depth of processing
Deep processing:
l Meaning-based attention
l Anything that connects new information to already-learned material
l Material that “makes sense” will be encoded more efficiently
l Results in superior recall
Memory connections:
l Links among ideas
l Abstract similarities
When the time comes to recall something, these connections, established during initial learning or acquisition, can be used as retrieval paths.
Mnemonics
l “Method of loci”
l Based on rhythm/rhyme/melody/visualization
Research participants shown related elements, such as a doll sitting on a chair and waving flag (A), are more likely to associate the words doll, flag and chair than participants who are shown the three objects next to each other but not interacting (B).
Storage
Once encoded, must be stored until needed
Record (stored memory): memory trace or the engram
Storage process difficult to research: long-term potentiation is no doubt involved
l But: a memory is NOT stored in a single location: different aspects of a memory can be stored in different brain structures
Consolidation
Memory traces are not created instantly. A period of time is needed after the experience to become established in memory. This makes memories permanent. (You need to sleep in order for this to take place!!!!)
Evidence for consolidation?
Retrograde amnesia: a blow to the head can interrupt the process of consolidation for events that happened 1-2 hours before the accident occurred
Memory for events during that time period is lost
Retrieval
Storage is not enough; we must be able to access the memory when needed
Inadequate coding à failure to retrieve
With an adequate retrieval cue, sometimes we realize that encoding wasn’t the problem after all. Like, if you see the person’s face, you’ll remember their name. A word or a smell may help you remember. These are all cues (hints).
Retrieval cues
Context reinstatement
l Re-creating or re-minding oneself of the context in which one originally learned something increases likelihood of being able to retrieve it later
Examples: Studying for an exam in the same room you will take the test; returning to your hometown and remembering things you had “forgotten”
So there is also a link between emotions and remembering!
When memory fails
“Drawing a blank”: no memory at all is recovered
Mistaken memory: we think we remember, but we make a mistake in what we recall in subtle or significant ways
Retrograde amnesia: Forgetting the past, but being able to make new memories. Soldiers are sometimes unable to remember their experiences in battle-even the ones that occured a day before.
Memory failures
Inadequate encoding: Forgetting can often be traced to poor or missing strategies for encoding
Forgetting: we knew it once, but no longer
l Passage of time
l Can be graphed with a “forgetting curve” – the opposite of a “learning curve”
n Ebbinghaus: Memory declines with time, more sharply at first, then more gradually
Decay: a process that occurs on a cellular level by normal metabolic “wear and tear” on cells involved with memory
Interference: New learning interferes – independent of the passage of time
l Passage of time not a powerful factor in explaining forgetting
l Number of intervening events a more useful variable to examine to explain forgetting
Other retrieval errors
Retrieval failure:
One type: the “tip of the tongue” phenomena
What is that technique used to carve whalebone?
What is the name of that Russian sled drawn by three horses?
Intrusion: Misinformation
Provision of misinformation creates the “memory” for that information
More (!) retrieval errors…
Intrusions from general knowledge
Misplaced familiarity
l Difference between recollection memory and familiarity
Big problem for us: No reliable way to tell “good” memories (accurate) from “bad” memories (those that are false or contain misinformation or inaccuracy)
Misinformation Effect
Imagine you eye witnessed a crime and see the thief flee in a blue car. The next day, you read a newspaper account of the same crime and learn that another witness reported that the thief fled in a green car.
How will this new information influence your memory?
The errors we make can be very large. People can be led to remember cars that were not actually present in an event, and whole buildings that do not exist. They can even recall events that never happened.
Misinformation can be used to insert new ideas into memory In these cases the original memory may even be lost because the person who is given the misinformation (new information about an event that happened) overwrites the original memory with the fake one.
Techniques for improving memory
How to help us create better memories?
l Techniques for improving “eyewitness identifications” that are more reliable:
n Re-create mind-set
n Minimize distractions/distractors
l Unhelpful techniques:
n Hypnosis: may improve motivation, but also creates eagerness to “please” the hypnotist
Amnesia
Different brain tissue supports implicit memories as compared to explicit memories
Evident when studying anterograde amnesia
l Lesions in hippocampus and temporal cortex: create anterograde amnesia
l Lesions from other types of brain injury: create retrograde amnesia
l Supports the theory that different brain structures/regions “handle” different types of memory
Anterograde Amnesia
Anterograde means ‘in a forward direction’. May be caused by a stroke or a physical trauma.
It is essentially an inability to learn anything new/make new memories. No short-term memory.
Famous case; Patient H.M.
He could read and write. His long-term storage is completely closed to new memories. His memories before the operation remain intact. He can function and comment intellectually on events.
What is wrong with H.M.?
He had an uncle that he really loved. His uncle passes away and then he is told about the death of his uncle. He was deeply distressed when told about this, but the he forgot! Some time later he would ask where his uncle was, and was again told about his death. His sadness and grief was just as intense as before each time he hears this sad news. He said he is hearing it for the first time-with all the shcck and grief.
It turns out these anterograde amnesia patients can acquire some new memories. For example H.M. plays the piano and each time he plays a piece, he plays it more skillfully.
Distinction between different types of knowledge: memory for skill, memory for general knowledge, memory for episodes.
KNOWING HOW vs. KNOWING THAT
Emotional Remembering
Does memory for emotional events differ in any systematic way?
Emotional events: remembered…
l More vividly
l More completely
l More accurately
… than memories for emotion-neutral events
“Flashbulb memories”
Especially vivid memories
Focus: immediate and personal details
Special mechanism to produce this type of memory?
No evidence that these types of memories are in a special class with respect to immunity from error or extreme longevity
They are likely to involve people we love and care about.
Some emotional memories are particularly long-lived, so that people claim to remember events from years and years ago “as if it were yesterday”.
Flashbulb memories are highly special events, usually unexpected and emotionally strong. Such as 9/11 terrorist attacks to the World Trade Center, or Princess Diana’s death.
Where and who were you with when you first heard these events? Most people remember all the details…