Chapter 10 – Memory and Thought & Chapter 11 – Thinking and Language
Dr. Zimbardo Video #9
Chapter 10
Section 1 – Taking In and Storing Information
A.The Process of Memory
- Memory – the storage and retrieval of what has been learned or experienced.
- First Memory Process is Encoding – the transformation of information so the nervous system can process it
- Use your senses of hearing, sight, touch, taste, temperature etc to encode and establish a memory
- Acoustic codes are when you attempt to memorize by saying something out loud or to yourself repeatedly
- Visual codes are when you attempt to memorize by keeping mental pictures of the object, etc.
- Semantic codes are when you attempt to memorize by making sense of the object, etc.
- Second Memory Process is Storage – the process by which information is maintained over a period of time
- How much is stored is dependent upon the effort in encoding the material. (100 trillion bits or more)
- Information can be stored for seconds or forever
- Like a filing cabinet
- Third Memory Process is Retrieval – the process of obtaining information that has been stored in memory
- How quickly and easily is dependent upon how efficiently it was encoded and stored (as well as genetics etc.)
B.Three Stages of Memory(Figure 10.2)
- Sensory Memory – very brief memory storage immediately following initial stimulation of a receptor
- Senses of sight and hearing hold information/input for a fraction of a second before it disappears
- Example of a movie or TV where one doesn’t see the blank spaces or gaps between frames
- Visual Memory = Iconic Memory, duration 1 sec
- Auditory Memory = Echoic Memory, duration 1 to 2 sec
- Serves 3 functions
- Keeps the person from being overwhelmed with information
- Billions of senses felt every day, many a one time
- Gives a person decision time
- Can decide whether or not to pay attention
- Allows for continuity and stability
- Short-Term Memory – memory that is limited in capacity to about 7 items and in duration by the subjects active rehearsal (20 secs without rehearsal)
- Maintenance Rehearsal – system for remembering that involves repeating information to oneself without attempting to find meaning in it
- Helps keep information in short-term memory longer
- Chunking – grouping items to make them easier to remember
- Seven items of any kind
- Chunk items as fast as they come
- The Primary-Recency Effect – we are better able to recall information presented at the beginning and end of a list
- Forgetting things in the middle.
- Working Memory
- Short term memory is also know as this
- Serves as a system for processing and working with current information
- Long-Term Memory – Storage of information over an extended period of time
- Capacity is seemingly endless
- Contains representations of countless faces, experiences and sensations
- In the process of long term memory, the least important information is dropped and the most important is retained to long-term memory
- Types of Long-Term Memory
- Semantic Memory – knowledge of language including its rules, words and meanings.
- Episodic Memory – memory of one’s life, including the time of occurrence
- Declarative Memory – memory of knowledge that can be called forth consciously as needed
- Procedural Memory – memory of learned skills that does not require conscious recollection
- Write Figure 10.2 (Page 275) on board
C.Memory and the Brain
- What happens to the brain when something is stored in long-term memory?
- A change in neuronal structure of nerves
- Molecular or chemical changes in the brain
Video – PBS: The Mind and the Brain: Learning and Memory
Section 1 Review
Section 2 – Retrieving Information
-The problem of memory is to store many thousands of items in such a way that you can find the one you need when you need it.
- The solution to retrieval is organization
- Recognition – memory retrieval in which a person identifies an object, idea or situation as one he or she has or has not experienced before
- You may not be able to remember a particular person, but if their name is said, you will recognize the name
- We can recognize the sound of a particular instrument no matter what tune is being played on it. We can also recognize a tune, no matter what instrument it is being played on.
- Shows that information may be indexed under several headings so that it can be reached in a variety of ways
- The more categories the features are filed in, the more easily they can be retrieved
- Recall – memory retrieval in which a person reconstructs previously learned material
- Involves a person’s knowledge, attitudes and expectations
- Reconstructive Process – the alteration of memories that may be simplified, enriched or distorted depending on an individual’s experiences, attitudes or inferences
- Confabulation – the act of filling in memory gaps
- Remembering information that was never there in the first place
- Schemas – conceptual frameworks a person uses to make sense of the world
- Sets of expectations about something that is based upon on past experiences
- Eidetic Memory – the ability to remember with great accuracy visual information on the basis of short-term exposure
- Photographic memory
- Extremely rare
- State-Dependent Learning – occurs when you recall information easily when you are in the same physiological or emotional state or setting as you were when you originally encoded the information
C.Relearning
- Measure of both declarative and procedural memory
- You will relearn material you have “forgotten” with fewer repetitions than someone learning the information the first time
D.Forgetting
- May involve decay, interference or repression
- Decay – fading away of memories over time
- Items quickly decay in sensory storage and short-term memory
- Not certain if long-term memories ever decay
- Some “forgotten” memories can be recovered through meditation, hypnosis or brain stimulation
- Interference – blockage of a memory by previous or subsequent memories
- Proactive Interference – An earlier memory blocks you from remembering related new information
- Move into a new home and new phone number but your old address or phone number gets in the way
- Retroactive Interference – A later memory or new information blocks you from remembering information learned earlier
- The new information is remembered but having trouble remembering the old data
- 2 separate concepts, one doesn’t necessarily cause the other
- Repression - a person may subconsciously block memories of an embarrassing or frightening experience
- Amnesia – loss of memory caused by a blow to the head, the result of brain damage, drug abuse or severe psychological stress
- Infant amnesia – relative lack of early declarative memories
- We don’t remember earlier than 2 or 3 years old
E.Improving Memory
- Meaningfulness and Association
- Elaborative Rehearsal – the linking of new information to material that is already known.
- remembering the letters DFIRNE by the word FRIEND
- You will remember more vividly information that you associate with things already stored in memory or with a strong emotional experience
- The more categories that information is indexed under, the more accessible it is
- Overlearn information
- Space out learning
- Study a little at a time
- Mnemonic Devices – techniques for using associations to memorize and retrieve information
- Using rhymes or other verbal clues
- Thirty days has September
- My dear aunt Sally
- Every good boy does fine
- Roy G. Biv
- Forming Mental Picture
Section 2 Review
Chapter 10 Review – Recalling Facts and Critical Thinking
Chapter 11
Section 1 – Thinking and Problem Solving
Video - PBS: The Mind and the Brain: Thinking
- Thinking – changing and reorganizing information stored in memory to create new information
- Units of Thought
- Image – a visual, mental representation of an event or object
- Only highlights of the original
- An effect way of thinking about concepts
- Symbol – an abstract unit of thought that represents an object or quality
- A sound, object or design
- Words, stand for something other than itself
- Where an image represents a specific sight or sound, a symbol may have numerous meanings
- Numbers, letters, punctuation marks and icons
- Concept – a label for a class of objects or events that have a least one attribute in common
- Animals, music, liquid, beautiful people
- Enables us to chunk large amounts of information
- Prototype – a representative example of a concept
- Has most the characteristics of the particular concept
- Rule – a statement of relation between concepts
- Complex unit of thought
- A person can’t be in 2 places at one time; mass remains constant despite changes in appearance
- Kinds of Thinking
- Directed Thinking – a systematic and logic approach/attempt to reach a specific goal or answer
- The solution to a problem
- Also know as convergent thinking
- Depends on symbols, concepts and rules
- Deliberate and purposeful
- Solve problems, formulate and follow rules and set, work toward and achieve goals
- Non-Directed Thinking – consists of a free flow of thoughts with no particular plan and depends more on images
- Rich in imagery and feelings such as daydreams, fantasies and reveries
- When relaxing or escaping from boredom or worry
- Also known as divergent thinking
- May provide unexpected insights into one’s goals and beliefs
- Metacognition – the awareness of one’s own cognitive process
- Thinking about thinking
- Thinking about a strategy may cause one to change to another strategy
B.Problem Solving
- One of the main functions of directed thinking is to solve problems, bridge the gap mentally between the present situation and a desired goal
- Strategies – specific methods for approaching problems
- Break down a complex problem into smaller, more easily solved, subgoals
- Work backward from the goal you have set
- Use strategies you have used before
- We tend to shy away from new situations that require new strategies
- The more unusual the problem, the more difficult it is to devise a strategy for dealing with it
- Algorithm – a fixed set of procedures that will lead to a solution if followed correctly
- Mathematical and scientific formulas
- Playing chess or checkers
- Heuristics – experimental strategies, or rules of thumb
- Basically shortcuts
- Lead to quick decisions that can result in bad decisions
C.Obstacles to Problem Solving
- Mental Set – when a particular strategy becomes a habit
- Starting tic-tac-toe in the middle box, always attempt to control a position of a chess board
- Rigidity – when a set interferes with problem solving
- Reading “read” for “red”
- Functional Fixedness – the inability to imagine new functions for familiar objects
- Making a wrong assumption about a problem
- Many people look for direct methods to solve problems and don’t see solutions that require several immediate steps
- Can be overcome
Thinking and Problem Solving Pages (Activity)
- Creativity – the ability to use information in such a way that the result is somehow new, original and meaningful
- Flexibility – the ability to overcome rigidity
- Imagining many different uses for a single object
- Recombination – rearranging the elements of a problem to arrive at an original solution
- Football and Basketball, there are no new moves, just a recombination of old ones
- Using the discoveries and formulas of other to develop new scientific and mathematical formulas and ideas
- Insight – the apparent sudden realization of the solution to a problem
- A continuation of a subconscious process
- The “aha” experience
Section 1 Review
Section 2 – Language
Dr. Zimbardo Video #6
A.The Structure of Language
- Language – the expression of ideas through symbols and sounds that are arranged according to rules
- Allows us to communicate
- The study of meaning (semantics) is the most complex aspect of language
- Phonemes – an individual sound that is the basic structural element of language
- Represented by a letter or combination of letters
- We can produce about 100 different, recognizable sounds
- English uses 43, some 15 and others up to 85
- Morphemes – the smallest unit of meaning in a given language
- A words, letter, prefix or suffix
- Syntax – language rules that govern how words can be combined to form meaningful phrases and sentences
- Ex. Placing adjectives in front of nouns
- Rules differ from language to language
- Semantics – the study of the meaning in language
- A word being both a noun and a verb
B.Language Development
- BF Skinner – children learn language through operant conditioning
- Other Psychologists – children learn language through observation, exploration and imitation
- Noam Chomsky – children inherit a mental program that enables them to learn grammar
- Reinforcement and imitation contribute to language development as well
C.How Language Develops
- Birth – crying and sounds indicating distress
- 2 months – cooing, “ooooh” and “eeeeh”
- 4 months – babbling, “dadada” and “bababa”
- 9 months – learn to control vocal chords, make/change/repeat/imitate sounds of parents
- 12 months – uttering single words (objects/people), “dada” or “doggie”
- Single words can describe longer thoughts
- 24 months – 2 words together to express an idea, “milk gone”, “me play”
- Learning rule of grammar, 50 - 100 words
- 2-3 years – form sentences of several words
- Telegraphic speech – leaving out article such as “the’, prepositions such as “with” and parts of verbs
- 5 years – language development is largely complete
- Vocabulary and sentence complexity continue to develop
D.Do Animals Learn Language
- In a word, no!
E.Gender and Cultural Differences
- Language affects our basic perceptions of the physical world
- Linguistic Relativity – idea of language influencing thoughts
- Inuit have many words for snow, where we have but 1
- Words also create gender stereotypes
Section 2 Review