chapter 7 Flashcards
What is Memory For?
Memory is the tsorage of info in the brain forlater acess which allows us to learn from our experiences and create knwoledge that can guide our future behaviour
the brains abaility to recall the past is central to our existence and personhood but we take memry for granted until deprived of it
with total loss of memory you wouldnt be able to read, write or think- this are all dependent on memory in varied forms, derived from past learning experiences
memory not only allows your past to guide decisions in the present, it also helps you predict and navigate the future
memory may have orignated from an evlutionarily old function in most species, namely remembering teh spatial layout of the envrinment
memory is used to know where we have been, where we are and where we are going
as you read, you are converting new leanring into memories that you hope to retreive later
its useful to reflect on how we think memory works to better understand the challenges you face and that your memory failures may be by design
memory did not evolve for us to earn an A it evolved to help us navigate our every changing envirnment
today humans use tehri memories for many complex behaviours
early on psycholgist tradtinally seperated memory into distinct stages or phases
memory functions and potentially fails bc of three basic links in this chain:
- encoding occurs as we first perceive info in our envrinment and in concert with our thoughts and feelings, covert it into a form ready for storage
- storage is the maintance of teh encoded info in our brains for later acess - the duration of storage can last a blink of an eye or a lifetime
- retreival occurs when we access info stored in the brain from past experience
you must encode an event before you can later retrieve it from memory
as scientist learn more, they disocered that the mysteries of remembering and forgetting reflect a complex interplay between all stages and brain evidence shows that tehy arent nearly as distinct as scientsist once beelived
memory not only has multiple stages but aslo has multiple types supported by diff brain regions
we tend to think of memories as kind of tiem travel to the past
rmbring when adn rmbring how are diff types of memories
remembering skills, facts, and where and how you learn them are distinct expressions of memory depedent on diff brain regions
memory is constructive, more like a personal mental sketch
the prupose of memory is not to make detailed record of past experience but to pick out the improtant part of an expereince that could be useful for later
sometiems we use inference to reconstruct what we think happened in the past and these beliefs become part of our memory
in the picture studies, each group got diff verbal laebls and a control group got pics without labels
when asked to draw the pics, the control group most accurately depicted details of teh orhgiansl while other groups included more features consistent with what they were told the drawings depcited
particpiants had reconstructed the orinagl experience and adapted it to theri knowledge
thoughts and reasonings are central to how we rememebr
(we constrcut memories to fit with our knwoeldge and beliefs)
although we think of memories as moements supended in time, in reality our memories are under constant revision of new info
everyday in teh mrior you access a memory of your old self and at the same time store a new one
its impsosible to rmbr the old you to see these incrememntal changes
The Multistore Model of Memory: Bridging
One of the great mysetries of memroy is how our brain stores events after theyve passed
To understand how sensory inputs are transomred into enduring memories, we must consider memory storage, the capacity to maintain info over a certain period of time
storage is as mysterious is it invisble
it cocurs in between perceiving a stimulus at encoding (the face and name of someone you meet) and accessing taht info during retreival later (saying hi Kiesha)
to understand the persistence of memory, sicentsist have proposed stages of emeory storage that differ according to their duration (how long its stored) and capactiy (how much is stored)
one history theory of diff types of memory storage is multistore mdoel of memory proposed that info flows form our senses through three leevls of memory storage: momentary sensory memory, short term emory and long term memory
in the multistore model, info form the envrinment has potential to move through these elevsl of storage to form more and more permament memories with less and less detail
although this mdoel has been challenges and revised over the decades, it still guides how researchers discuss and stduy memory
sensory memory is high capacity but alkso extremely fragile and short lived
in vision this may not last much longer than a blink of an eye
the sensory memory produced from hearing is longer than vision but still less than a second
sensory ifno eitehr quickly fades away or is sent on to persist a little longer in short term emmory
in short term emmory info from all the senses can be held - from seconds to less than a minute before its stored more permanetly or forgotten
alternativly info can be held in long term emmory for hours to many years or a lifetime
this memory would be far less vivid than a picture or movie
although the borders between stages of memory storage are blurry, studies have found that tehy are in fact distinct from one another
neurologicla patients iwth impaired long-term memory can hold a memory intact only for a few seconds
this may not seem suprising
however neurlogicla patients with imapried short term memory can rmbr info when teh tetsing delay is longer seemingly bypassing the capcity of short term memory
this provides evidence of indepennt short term and long term meory stores
ppl with amnesia have largely intact short term memory and can hold a number in short term emory by rehearsal (process by which we consciously maintain events using our working memory) even for several minutes
indivduals diagnosed with parkinsosn disease have impaired short term memory but intact long term emmry and indivduals with alzehimers have impaired short and long term emory
these neurologcial double dissociations reveal that memory reterival of an event just two seconds old isnt merely easier than remembering something for two weeks
these are two disticnt forms of memory storage
researchers long have inferred these diff durations of storage by measurng memory itself
old memories and the formation of new ones have now been traced to altered activty in collections of indivdual neurons measured via eletcrodes inseted in the brain
in a study on idnivduals going brain surgery, researchers found that collections of neurons in the medial tempral lobe supported long-term memories of speciifc ppl and thus were able to see how new moemries formed
to do so, they showed partcipants images of celebrities but in context of locatins
when these particapnts were later shown these locations alone, teh collections of neurons that had fired for a celebrties face then bahan to fire to the newly associated place
as the new face-place association became stronger in the partciapnts memory, teh neural firing also became stronger
for the first time we can see memroies being stored in between neurons in teh human brain
our brain rapidly change with new experiences and teh stronger the patetrsn are the longer the storage of the experience
research findings also higklught the way new memories are built on old ones, intermixing something old with soemthing new
as such we now know that the stages in the multistore model of memory arent so clearly seperated and overlap much more in the rbain than previsouly thought
Holding Memories in Mind
Very brief snesory memroies can be made to last if tehy receive suffiecent attention for reaching short term memory
short term memory holds limited amount of info for a hsort time like up to. aminute dpeenidng on factors
most can hold approx seven items in verbal short term memory at one time
other studesi have shown the capacty to be more variable and depedent on the test used to measure it
the current consensis is that the capcity is limited to approx 4 items
despite its longer duration than sensory memory, short term memry have much mroe limited capacity for detail what we lose in capacity we gain in meaning
unlike sensory memory which contains info abt raw data like colour or brightness, short term memory can contain info abt meaning
while sensory memroy can hold an image of white fulfy obkect, our short term memory will understand it and rmbr it as a bunny
short term memroy is post categorical menaing that info is processed to the degree we understand what categopry of object were sensing
rather than rmbring all sensory attributes of a buny, we group it into a more manageble memory load, remembring a bunny
this feature also allows short term memory to use process called chunking which is teh chunking or grouping of stimuli into further meanigful wholes or categories
chunking allows us to overcome the limited amount of info we can retain in short term memory
bc short term emory infolves meaning rather than arbitatry units (sensory memroy) not only does it organize basic ivsual data into letters, it organizes letters into words and larger connections between words to reduce what needs to be stored
this heiarchal chunking is general principle of how rbain and mind work
underlying our abaility to organize info in a menaifgul way in short term memory and to use encoidng stageies such as deep processing is working memory (short term storage and in moment manipulation of info)
short term memroy has been replaced by woking memory
working memory is also bets thoght of as working with memory as it also has to reterive info abt what we already know abt the world tor eocgnize and interpet whats coming in through our senses
one of the reasons chunking is so useful is bc it uses our existing meories to organize new incoming info, freeing up space in the working memory, allowing for new info to be encoded
distsinct subsustems have been proposed in working memry that allows us to actively manipulate and maiantain info in short term emory in diff ways
one such operation is rehersal, the process of actevly maintaing info in working memory
working memory also shows that there are multiple forms of short term memory depending onn the type of info being remembred, eahc of which has its own special operations
ex. holding words in short term memory involves the phonological loop (hearing inner voice) and access to visual info is supoorted by a visuo-spatail sketchpad (minds eye which allows u to see mental images)
the subsystems occur in diff parts of the brain
seperate frontal cortical regions are involved in visual and verbal working memroy info processes, consistent with theri proposed operation
verbal processes for ex overalp with areas involved in langage
teh control center that works with these sensory specific stores is called the central executive, which allows u to manipulate info in short term memory
the central executive appaears to engage regions of frontal cortex commonly used for cognitive tasks and abilities
thus its not surpsing that the central executive functions reflected in working memory capcity have been shown to have some relationship not only to intelligence but also your abaility to filter out irrelevent info from working memory along iwth other abailities
as such, workingg memory and the central executive are central to many aspects of how we function from emotional repsonses to stress (higher working capcity is asociated with less severe afefctive repsonses to stressful events) to mainting approprate social distancing
working memory capcity is refefred to as working memory span, measurd by how many items can be juggled and manipulated in the mind
in a digit span task, partucpants see or hear seuence of digits and are asked to recall them with inceaslnt longer sequences being tested
in the context of this test your short term emory span is the longets number of digits you can rmbr
such tests, called simple span tasks are tests of the maintanece component of working memory which is reffered to as short term meory
a complex span task adds in other operations and is a full workout of the short term maintaence and working memeory capacity
Long Term Memory: What hppanes to your past
Long term memory is a form of storage that holds info from minutes to years
unlike sensory and short term memroy, long term emory has no clearly defined limits in its capcity or duration
research into long term meory behan with herman ebbinghaus
he tested his own memroy and disovered that recall of a word varies as a function of whetehr it was placed first, last or in the middle of a study list
wehn a partcipants recall ability it graphed, the curve looks like a big smile and is called the serial position curve
the right side of the smile which shows inc recall towards the end of the list is due to teh recency effect bc these words are still active in the short term and working memory so ppl can recall them immediatly
if ppl are distarcted at the end of teh wrod presentation, the recency effect is diminished bc the words are knowcked out of the working memory
meanwhile the left side of the smile reflects the primacy effect which occurs for items at beggining of the list
this inc recall may be due to inc prcoessing such as extra rehearsal and elabroation and abiluty for these fleeting events to make it into our long term meory
patients with a poor ability to form long-term meries do not show a primacy effect but show recenyc affect bc working emory is intact
ppl with alzehimers disease show dec primacy efefct while recency remains stable
indivduals iwth ad might use working memory to stay in present and recent past but quickly lose access to recent events in past, being stuck in the present
studies concenring long term meory were intially based on amnesia patients (loss of memory due to brain damage or trauam)
most famous of HM
HM went under surery to remove temproal lobes to stop the seizures
the lobes contain the amygdala and hippocampus
the hippocampl strcutrues rmeoved are critcial for laying down new concisou memroies of experiences and facts
while the surgery was succesful inr educing HMs seizures it has the ufnortunate effect of destoying his abilitu to convert new experiences into long term emories
despite his inability to form new meories he retains other aspects nromally icnluding short term memory
he could holds a teelphone number in short term meory
however he could rmbr his life from early childhood to a couple years before surgery
hm has form of memory loss called anterograde amenisa which is incapacity to form new long term memries - inabaility to trasnfer memory from short term into long term
other indivduals suffer from tetrograde amnesia whch impairs access to memories prior to he date of the brain damage but still permits person to place new experiences into long term memroy
these two types of amnesia suggest that the ability to rmbr old events and to acquire memeories of new events are not one and teh same
while case studeis of rbain damage are revealing they dont readily tell us abt what taks place in a healthy brain tof orm new long term memories of specific events
researchers have used fMRI to examine teh rbains responses to specific events and tehse studies confim that the degree of hippocampal activation during viewing is associated with how well they will be ememebred or whetehr they will be forgotten
therefore by tracking the acivty of hippocampus during encoding, researchers can see long term meories being formed by a person for a speicifc event allwing them to predict from a brain scan what a person will rmbr or forget
more rrcently researchers have been able to ensure the encoding into long term memory by externally stimulating brain networks that help the hippocmapus form memories
in addition, othe rmethods used to enhance long term memroy inc activty in the hippocampus
judging words deeply versus shallowliy leads to enhanced activty not only in the inferior prefonrtal cortex but also the hippocampus suppirting imrpived memroy condifende and accuracy
although diff encoding stargeies might engage distinct frontal brain regions to inc memeory, the hippocmapsu reps a common pathway for long term memory storage
in constrast existing memroies especially those made long ago may be distributed throughout teh rbain no longer depending on the hippocampus
Two distinct forms of long term memory
what HM could and couldnt rmbr after his surgery helped psychol;gists appreciate that long term emory comprises many forms of mmeroy - some that dont depend on the hippocampus
one branch is explcit memory (declarative memory) which involves intentional and conscious rememrbing
by contrast implicit memory (nondeclarative memory) occurs without intentional recollection or awarness and is measured indirectly through infleunce of prior learning on behaviour
rmbr your first bicycle ride infvolves explcit memory - you can recollect the time place etc
on the other hand, rememerbing how to ride a bike involves implicit memroy which is inferred by your behaviour - you can ride a bike
whereas the hippocampus specializes in teh formation of explcit memories, implicit memory depends on a variety of memorysystems throughout the brain
HM had severe anterograde amenisa which disrupted his abaility to form new explcit memories
however HMs performance on learning a new motor skill like drawing a shape reflected in teh mirror increaed with experience even though he has not explcit memory of ever learning it
this type of implicit meory is called procedural memroy
this form of memory for procedures need not be actions but can be habitual ways of thinking like multiplcaion or reading
procedural meory is impaired in chidlren with developmental dyselxia who show diffuclty in ready relative to age matched peers
ppl with severe retrograde amnesia may retain amamzing skills despite a total loss of explcit memory for have aquired them
clive wearing was a conductior until he got anterograde and retrordgrade amensia
he has a 30 second short term memory
he can still conduct tho is music is put ifnornt of him
these prcoedural memories are preserved in amnesia bc they are suported by regions other than the hippocampus in teh medial temproal lobe such as the brain rgeions important for mototr production and coordination
the hippocampus and explcit memory are not needed for acquiring or demonstrating compelx procedural skills
indivduals with amnesia can learn to prorgam computer even tho they dont rmbr training
indivduals with alzehmers can mainatin procedural meories unitl the later stages of the disease
this is thought to reflect the regions that support this form of memory - the basal ganglia and cerebellum - which are largely unaffected by the didsease
further evidence for the distinction between implcit and explcit meory comes from studies of priming
in memory, priming is a process in which previous exposure to a stimulus enhances a persons processing and respnse to that stimulus when its presented again
ex. ppl are explosed to a long list of words and then presented with the word stems for the words they saw and ones they didnt see - when asked to complete the stems, bc of implicit priming, the first words that came to mind tended to be ones tehy saw before even if they failed to epxlcitly recall seeing those words before
priming is also ofund in amnesia despite impaired explcit memory for having studies the words
this demonstrates that priming even for language related memories relies on nondeclartive memory (imprlcit memory)
implcit memory can aslo be expressed through affective conditions (stimulus having pos or neg value)
in a famous ex of affective conditionng, claprede daily greeted a patient with amensia who never mrbred him
one day he hid a pin in his hadn so that he pricked the patient when they shook hands
the next day, she didnt rmbr him but she did hesitate pulling her hand back before shaking, impclitly rmbring the pain despite amnesia for the main who caused her pain
less devious and more controlled studies have shown fear conditioning of bodily responses to an aversive stimulus like sweating in idnivduals without a hippocampus
in one study, amensia patients sweating respnses showed implcit memry that a certain colour predicted an aversive noise burts eeven though they had no explcit meory for the relationship
where impclit and explcit meries are formed and stored are dependent on the type of learning
visual priming is supported by decreased neural activty for prevously seen images in visual cortical regions suggesting that the brain finds repeated images easier to process
perceptual priming of faces, where prevously seen faces are processes is supported by face-senstive regions in the fusiform cotrex
explicit long term memories are stronger when they are deeply encoded versus shallowly encoded
priming by constrast occurs largely independtly of depth processing
priming takes place without need for deep procesisng or functioning hippocampus
no matter how much u think abt a recent vsiit to the museum, your implcit meory for its appearence wont improve
explcit and implcit memory are fundementally distinct exporession of your memroy and life experiences
Two Forms of Explciit Memory
Explicit meory (declartive memroy) also has distinct forms that depend on distinct brain structures
episodic memory involves the explcit recollection of personal experience that requires piecing together the eleemts of teh specific time and place - only u can rexperience these things
the hippocampus which is in the medial temproal lobe is critical for forming memories of these most personal episodes
the hippocmapus is like a personal time travel machine
some belive that episodic memory is unique to humans but othr vertrebates have a developed hppocampsu and in rodents its even larger proportionally to the neocoretx
many of the featurs of episodic memory are present in other animals such as birds that needs to rmbr where and when tehy stored food for a later meal
in contrast with the detailed who what hwne and where of episodic memory sometimes you just know something
semnatic memory is the explcit memory of supporting your knowledge abt the wolrd including concpets and facts
in totality this rmemebring versus knowing cpatures the distinction between expisodic and semnatic memory
much of what you know you rmbr from school can come to mind without a normally functioning hippocampus bc this depends on your semnatic memroy - you need to know the answer to the question but dont have to know where when or how u learned it
there is evidence for double dissociation of episodic and semnatic memory and the distinct brain regiosn that support them
further evidence for the double dissociation of episodic and semnatic memory and their distintc brain bases comes from children without a nromally functionng hippocampus who can learn and rmbr general knowledge info quite readily
one study followed children who suffered with hippocampal damage bc of disurpted oxygen supply to brains
despite their pronounced amnesia for episodes of their everyday lives, the children required no special education, learned to read and write and aquired a general knoweldge of the wolrd
whereas teh hippocampus is crtical for episodic memroy, the loss of semantic memory is associated withd egenrration fo the surounding lateral and anteriir temporal lobe hwere our language based knowledge abt the world is thought to be stored
this may be bringing together disticnt sensory experiences from various parts of teh brain, to be glued together by language
semnatic demntia is the loss of memroy for meaning in both vernal and nonverba domains following progressive degernaive disorders and can be rpesent in advanced alzehmers disease and frontotempral demntia
indivduals with semnatic demntia have difcultiy finidng theri words, impaired comprehension of words and an impaired abaility to reocgnize the relationship between semnaticlly related pics (open and closed umbrella) as if the underlying meaning is lost when the pictured objects arent visually similar
semntaic dementia can also alter the understanding of emotions, associated with a diffculty for one to read or labels ones feelings called alexithymia
something similar to the experience of semnatic dementia can be evoked in vinduals with healthy brrains throgh the process of semnatic sattaiatin where the repetition of a word can make that word sound meangless
this has been termed jamais vu (never seen)
recall that HM could retreive memries from his past despite not having a hippocampus
bc the hippocampus is neccersyr for epsidoic memories but not semnatic its been proposed that his older, suppsoedly episodic memroies were retained following hippocampal damge bc they becmae semanticized
these memroies may not have been tryly episodic reflecting recollecting of time and place
HM may have just known info abt his life like where he wnet to highschool but these memroies were more similar to facts and defintions
anotehr person with amneisa KC suffered both anterograde and retrograde amensia after an accident
he could reprot the sadest day of his life whne his brother drowned before tho
KC revealed no conscious episodic memory of teh event
he couldnt reach back in time to descrive the episode but he could state that his brother die showng evdience that the hippocampus may be necesary for detail emroies of personal experience not the mere fatcs abt ones life
The hippocamps is involved in travelling not only to the past but to the future
retrospective memroy involves rembering thinsg weve done in the past wehereas prospetcive memory involves rmbing things we need to do in teh future
although these two forms of memory differ in direction of memory in time, research shown that they arent entirely indepent
citizesn who can no longer prviide many details of their past alos cant reocunt many details abt the future
this is true espeically for older indiduals with mild cognitive impairment and inviduals with severe memroy loss due to brain dmaage who have great diffculty envisioning their future selves
The many infleunces on memory retreival
What happens at encoding can make a meory easier to rtereive later
retreivalk is best when its specifically recreates the way info was intitally encoded including teh spatial context, your mood and even the bdoily or mental state
all of these effects of encoding context on memory retreival fall under the encoding specificyy principle
ex sitting in the same seat for every lecture sevess as a retrival cue for what u learned in class
u might not think context is part of yoyr memroy but your brain thinks diff
if all of the orignal features arent there to recollect, memory retreival cna be impaired
one study showed how powerful teh encoding speicifty princople is by tetsing word recall for divers on land or underwater duirng encoding and testing - those who learned on land recalled better on land but those underwtaer recalled betetr underwater than on land
in the real world, the encoding speciifty principle is apprent in many situations
how often have u gotten up to retrieve something but once you went into the otehr room u forgto but then rmbr when u sat back down
the simple act of walking through doorways, called the doorway effect, infleunces memroy retreival bc the context changes as you pass through a door into another oom
this is the encoidng speicifcty princple at work
episodic memory by definition requires this kind of specificty for the time and place of the orgnial event
the encoding speicifty princple may seem like a peculiar feature of memory but if memory is to serve us well, retreival of what we learned should be tied to the cirucmstances similar to how and when the memory was formed
external forces are not the only things that serve as retreival cues
our brains are also susceptible to internal thoughts, emotions and body states when onciding memory
state dependent retrievla is the increased likely hood of remebrigg when a person is in the same mental ststae during both ecnoding and retreival (ex. if dirnking while stduying youll rmbr better if u drink befoe the test)
mood depednet retreival is an instance of the encoding specifity princple extended to your emotional states
ppl are more likely to recall events encoded during sad mood when they are sad again at reterival and they recall more events encoded during a happy mood when tehy are happy at reterival
you might expect that youll always rmbr info best if youve encoded it deeply - not so fast
in some cases, shallow processing can be betetr than deep rpocessing
when is that?
when your rteeival invokes the same shallow mental retreival rpocess that took place orginally at encoding
recall if u study by creating rhymes, your memry is best if u use rhymes during ur rtereival
in doing so u are most closely recreating your mental processes at encoding
the encoding specifiocty principle can often backfire during exams
there are times when u feel like u studies well but cant rtereive the info
why?
when a cue otehr than the one used to study is given on the exam, you cant retreive the correct info
if ur memories are files distributed througjout the brain u need to have processes to find them
encoding speicifyt provides correct search terms or rterval cues to find your files so u dont have to randomly search through all folders
research suggests that teh rbain does use diff cues and alorthims depending on what its searching for
the search process itself likely occurs in prefonrtal cortices, which are recruited even when retreival isnt succesful
whne retreval is succesful, the preforntal cortex activty is associated witha ctivty in the hippocampus, suggesting tha tthe search process accesses meories that are stored in other regions throughjout the brain
todays gen much of our memry retriavl is supplanted by devices
info that you would once need to retreive from memory can be offloaded to the computer for instant retreval
research shows that google might be changing how our brains work to retreive info ushc that internet searches are associated with reduced memroy recall
poll usgest that 18-34 year olds may have words moemry than those older than 55 for some basic info like where the car keys are or what day it is
study compared memory for adding an event to. a paper, tablet or phone calnedr found that partcipants who used a paper calendar has increased brain actviation and more acurate memroy for questions concerning the veent
how to use retrval cues to your advantage? study where ur gonna be tested and if u cant study in multiple locatioons so u can recall info no matter where u are
The many causes of forgetting
forgetting can take many forms
in its extremes, forgetting can involve not rlly learning in the frst place or conversly a temproary inability to acess what weve stored in our brains
we all have experienced the tip of the tongue phenomemon, a failure to retreive info often the name of a person or place, though we are confident its stored in mmeory - it occurs more as we age - even though its frustrating it shwos us that our brain is able to store more than u can retrive - direct measurements of neural actvity reveal that your brain knows more than you have access to - neural traces of memeory can persist, even if we lose the capcity to retrive them
in contrast to passive forgetting, sometimes we can willfully forgte
motivated forgetting occurs when indivduals inetionally try to forget info so that they are less likely to retreive it later
while the existence of repression a defense mechanism against remebring a traumtic event is hotly debated and controevrsial, tehre is good evdiecne that we can willfully reduce the liklihood we treive certain memories
in lab experiements, particapnts were instrcyred to think abt or not think abt presented events
successful supression of unwanted meories altered atcivty in the hippocampus and some of the sam eprefontal cortical mechanisms used in retreival were clled upon to surpress retreival of unwanted meomries
these finding sugegst that successful retreival of a meory may routinly reuqire supression of oher competeing memroies, gaurding againts interference
successful memory seraches are not just abt finidng what ur looking for but also filtering out what ur not
there are also times whne a meory failue isnt rlly a fialure of memory storage or retreival
encoding failure occurs when ifno doesnt even make it into our long term memroy
bc our snesory memroies fade quickly without proper atnnetino they never make it into short term memory let alone long term memory
if events never make it past rudimentary levels of encoding theyll never be remembred or forgtten
in eyewitness testimony, one exmpale of failure of encoding or an attentional mmeory effect is caleld weapon focus, wherby the central imprtant details like a gun are encoded and remembered but surroudning peripheral info like a colour of a shirt isnt
furthermore, ppl easily notice the disapeprence of a knife but fail to notice changes to other, less signfinat aspects of a scene
studies have shown that weapon focus occurs even if a witness eyes look at the forgotten lements of a scene
tehrefoe its not enough for us to look at an event for them to be conevrted into meories; they must reciev enough attention to be succesfully encoded
these attentional memory defiicets occur under everyday cirmcustances even when we are fully aware of the events aorund us
although u see common obkects thousands of times u still might not be able to reocgnize them
the issue of attention and memory becomes much more pertinent in our modern lives where distarctions sit at our fingertips or in our ears
we often say were mutlitasking but does diviidng the attention leave our memories spared?
whne partcoants listened to a list of words while paying full attention to another task, memery was sevrly impaired inthe dividied conditon, even though the partcpants appeared to perform both tasks easily
the encoding info into long-term memory appears to be a highly fragile proces that requires your full attention
you likley know that your memory will be worse in ur goldren years but why
age related changes in memory are understood to be abt diff ways younger and older adults endoc and attend
age related memry decline may be explained by decreaed selective attention, ifnleuncing what gets into memry more than whta has fallen out
despite being attentive, older adults appear to have decreaed focus of attention during enocidng into memry, rendeirng their attention more diffuse
ex. when asked to focus on a face thats in a picture of a place, odler adults had less activation in brain parts that encode faces and more actviatoon in those that encode places compared to young adults
when memory abt places was tested, the adults rmbrd better
rather than having memory impairment,s it may be changes in attention that lead to older adult to have memory for diff things than young adults
