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Memory
Three main goals of memory
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Encoding
Information is translated into a useable form
Perception
Storage
Holding information
Retention
Retrieval
Ability to recall and utilize memory
Recognize information we have seen before
USING information
Three-stage model of memory
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Different “modes” of memory
Information is processed SERIALLY
Differentiate between amount of time in
each unit
Three separate units include:
Sensory Memory
Short-term Memory
Long term memory
Three-stage model of memory
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Sensory Memory
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Similar to what we would call perception
Initial, brief storage of sensory information
Large (large number of units stored)
Very brief
Each sense has its own type of memory
Visual: ICONIC
Example: Billboard
Sperling (1960)
Auditory: ECHOIC
Sperling (1960)
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S D F G
P W H J
X C V N
Sperling (1960)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=GkZNHe49GcA
Short-term memory
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How much can we store?
Example: remember a phone number as you
walk across room
Duration: approximately 1-2 minutes
Brown-Peterson procedure
Capacity: 7 +/- 2 items (Miller)
Chunking
Example: MTV v. RTY
Working memory: Not just using memory, but
also manipulating the material
Long-term memory
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Capacity: Storage of large amounts of
information
Not always retrievable
All that we know: facts, personal memories, how to do
things, flashbulb memories, etc.
Duration: Indefinite
Not everything is remembered
Automatic v. effortful
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Some processing & rehearsal is automatic
Often after we have experienced information before
Examples: Events that occur throughout our day
Some processing & rehearsal is effortful
Most of the time when we are studying
Conscious decision to retain information
We tell ourselves that we need to pay attention or
retain something
Spacing effect: Spreading out information
over time is better (this is well-established!)
Forms of rehearsal
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Our memories depend on how the information
is encoded initially
Different types of cognitive processing is used
Shallow v. deep processing
Difficult to operationalize (define precisely)
Maintenance Rehearsal
Hold onto information
Not a deeper coding procedure
Elaborative rehearsal
Increase in depth at which information is encoded
Levels of processing
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Retaining information in short-term
memory: Rehearsal and deep processing
Rehearsal
The strategy of repeating information to retain it in
short-term memory.
Rehearsal limitations
Inconvenience and relative ineffectiveness
Deep processing
Thinking about something meaningful-deep processing.
Improvement in memory and recall (Craik & Tulving,
1975)
Automatic v. effortful
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Types of Long-Term Memory
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Episodic memory
Something that you have actually experienced
E.g. first day of high school
Semantic memory
Memories of general knowledge
E.g. There are 365 days of the year
Procedural memory
Information about actions or sequences of actions
E.g. how to ride a bike
Additional forms of memory
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Explicit v. implicit memory
Explicit: conscious awareness
Implicit: memory that we are not aware of but we have
evidence for
Activity 2
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Try to write down as many U.S. presidents as
you can.
Serial position effect
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Tend to remember beginning and ends of lists
Primacy effect v. recency effect
Serial position effect
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Photographic Memory
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VERY rarely, if ever,
exists
Some people have
better memories than
others
Memory can be
improved, however
Mood and Memory
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Semantic Network Model
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Semantic network models represent
knowledge as a network of associations
among concepts in the mind.
Concepts that are closer in meaning (e.g., car
and truck) are linked more closely within the
model than those whose meanings are
unrelated (e.g., car and clouds).
Activating one concept will activate others to
which it is linked.
Semantic Network Model
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What do you think?
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IS A PERFECT
MEMORY
SOMETHING WE
ALL WANT?
Parallel distributed process models
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A conceptual model of knowledge
representation in which long-term memory
consists of simple processing units that turn
on and off
Concepts are represented by patterns of
activation in large numbers of units
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FORGETTING
Forgetting: Ebbinghaus
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Developed “Forgetting Curve”
Forgetting, continued
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Spacing effect: We are less
likely to forget material we
learned over a period of
time
Interference
Retroactive
Later learning interferes
with earlier
Ex.?
Proactive
Earlier learning interferes
with later
Ex.?
Forgetting a foreign language
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Bahrick (1984) showed a similar pattern of
forgetting and retaining over 50 years
Hippocampus
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/34
10/01.html
Plays a role in memory, esp. consolidation
Much of what we know is from individuals
with damage to hippocampus
Sleep & memory
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Cerebellum
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Associated with
implicit memories
(retained even
though you don’t
necessarily know you
are retaining them)
Implicit memories
often require fewer
cortical memories
“Motivated forgetting”
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Are some things just too
painful to remember?
Freud: Repression is a defense
mechanism (talk about it later
in the quarter)
Highly controversial concept,
& many psychologists are
highly skeptical
Why? Memory research!
Loftus, E. F. (1975). Leading questions and the
eyewitness report. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 560-
572.
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Series of experiments that showed the fallibility of
memory.
Experiment 1: 150 participants saw a film of 5
car chain reaction
Group A: How fast was Car A going when it ran the
stop sign?
Group B: How fast was Car A going when it turned
right?
Both groups answered: Did you see a stop sign for
Car A?
Results: 53% of Group A saw the sign & 35% of
Group B reported seeing the sign.
Loftus, 1975, continued
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Experiment 2: 40 participants were shown a 3-
minute segment of a movie in which class is
disrupted by 8 anti-war demonstrators
Group A: Was the leader of the four
demonstrators who entered the class a male?
Group B: Was the leader of the twelve
demonstrators who entered the class a male?
1 week later, participants were asked follow-
up: How many demonstrators did you see
entering the classroom?
Results: Group A: 6.4, Group B: 8.85
Loftus, 1975, continued
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Experiment 3: Participants watched clips of
car without a barn
“How fast was the white sports car going when it
passed the barn while traveling a country road?”
“How fast was the white sports car going while
traveling a country road?”
1 week later, participants asked, “Did you see a
barn?”
Results: First condition: 17% reported seeing a
barn; Second condition: 3% reported seeing a
barn
Recovered memories/False memories
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http://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=elizabeth+loftus&FORM=HDRSC3#view=d
etail&mid=95152A70487158E490DD95152A7
0487158E490DD
Autobiographical memories
Fallibility
Loftus
Convinced participants:
They almost drowned
They were lost in the mall
What do you think?
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DO WRONGFUL
CONVICTIONS BASED
ON INCORRECT
EYEWITNESS
TESTIMONY REALLY
OCCUR?
Source amnesia
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Attributing an event to the wrong source that we
experienced, heard, read, or imagined
Misattribution
Often, we forget that we heard information from a bad source,
but later experience source amnesia and forget that the
information was not credible
