Memory Flashcards
Three stages of memory
Encoding - transferring external stimulus to internal representation.
Storage - short term/long term, not all memories make it to long term.
Retrieval - reaccesssing stored memories.
Implict memory
AKA Procedural
Unconscious
Things we automatically remember how to do
Examples: how to walk, how to ride a bike…
Explicit memory
AKA Declarative
Conscious
Memory of specific events or facts we have learned
E.g. a walk you went on, your last lecture…
Rovee-Collier (1980) - mobile reinforcement paradigm
Ribbon attached to babies foot
Quickly understood moving foot makes mobile move
Remove mobile and ribbon
Attach child’s foot again after a delay
Did kicking rate increase from baseline (remember)
6-7mo tested 1, 7, 14 or 21 days after training
If same mobile used remembered 14 days later
Did not transfer to different mobiles
Memory capacity
Amount we can process in working memory.
Greater working memory capacity means more can be stored in STM and more encoded in LTM.
How to measure memory capacity
Digit span: how many numbers can you recall in a sequence.
Serial recall: how many unrelated words that can be remembered in a sequence.
Capacity increase with age
McCormack, Brown, Vouseden (2000)
- Letter recall improves with age.
- Debate whether due to increased capacity or processing speed.
Some studies suggest because children get quicker at naming things they can fit more into their phonological loop (Croker, 2012).
Wilson, Scott & Power (1987) - Visuo Spatial Task
5, 7, 11yo + adults
Shown set of blocks and asked which block was missing.
Difference in length of pause between seeing pattern and identifying block.
Condition 1: 2 second pause, no distractions
Condition 2: 10 second pause, no distractions
Condition 3: 10 second pause, counting task distraction
RESULTS:
Argue children reached adult levels of visuo-spatial memory by 11 as they performed equally to adults at this age.
Memory strategies - organisation - chunking
Chunking - digit span of 7 but if we chunk into larger numbers we remember more.
Sodian (1986) - Organisation
4 and 6yo play with different toys
Told to either:
Play and remember toys
Sort into categories and remember toys
After 2 minutes the toys were hidden and either:
Free recall: asked to remember all the toys they could
Cued recall: Doll asked them to remember all blue toys
RESULTS:
4yo remembered more when asked to sort them.
6yo remembered just as well in playing or sorting.
Older children using organisation without prompts.
6yo could have been using another strategy altogether
Schneider (1986) - organisation
7 and 10yo given black and white drawings to remember.
Drawings different in relation to a category (furniture):
Very related: chair, table, desk, sofa
Less related: fridge, stool, bookcase, stove
Results:
7yo
Used chunking when objects were very related
Very few sorted at all: 10%
10yo
Used chunking in both conditions equally
60% used chunking overall
Rehearsal - memory strategies
Consciously repeating information over and over again to remember it.
Flabell et al. (1966) - rehearsal
5, 7 and 10yo given paintings of objects to remember.
Experimenter pointed at paintings in order.
Child asked to point in same order immediately after or 15 secs later.
Experimenter taught to read lips to see sub-vocalisation
RESULTS: Use of subvocal rehearsal: 10% - 5yo 60% - 7yo 85% - 10yo
7yo who used rehearsal had better immediate and delayed recall than those who didn’t.
Ornstein et al. (1975) - rehearsal
8, 11 and 13yo shown items.
Two conditions:
Rehearse out loud
Try and remember as many words as possible
Immediate recall (no delay).
Older children rehearsed more words at a time (4, 4.5) than younger (2.5) so recall was better.
Naus (1977) - can children be taught rehearsal?
9 and 12yo
Two conditions:
Rehearse as normal
Rehearse most recent plus two others (teaching to rehearse multiple items at once)
RESULTS:
12yo:
No difference between groups
Spontaneously rehearse more than 3 items
9yo:
Better once told how to rehearse effectively
Limitations to study of memory strategies
Use of rehearsal and organisation increases with age but:
Only looking at short term memory
Possible long term memory strategy:
Elaboration (linking thngs together to remember them).
Why don’t young children use strategies
Mediation deficiency:
Don’t have the ability to use them
Strategies beyond their capabilities
Production deficiency:
Just don’t automatically use them
If taught, they are capable of using them effectively
Utilisation deficiency:
Younger children can use strategies but they don’t aid memory
Infantile amnesia definition
Lack of enduring autobiographical memories from before 3yo
Causes of infantile amnesia
Freud:
Repression of traumatic events.
Development of language:
Change in way memories are stored and retrieved.
Preverbal memories not accessible with new processes
Development of self:
Become able to organise autobiographical memories in reference to self.
Encoding failure:
Too poorly encoded to be maintained
Memory system to immature to support retention
Bauer and Mandler (1989) - infant amnesia
21mo shown three event sequences:
Familiar
Novel causal - each step linked to next one
Novel arbitrary - no cause or order between steps
Children showed immediate recall and delayed (6 weeks) recall for objects and order of events in familiar and novel causal only.
Replication (younger sample) of Bauer & Mandler (1989) - infant amnesia
16mo and 20mo (within infant amnesia timeframe).
Less delay - immediate and 2 weeks.
20mo could remember actions and order beter
Novel-causal remembered the best
Immediate and delayed recall for familiar
Delayed recall for novel only for 20mo
Only verbal recall was used,
Simcock & Haynes (2002) - infant amnesia - non verbal recall
27, 33 and 39mo engaged in novel event at their house
Tested for memory after 6m and 1y on verbal recall, photographic recall and re-eneactment.
RESULTS:
Age increases = better recall at 6m and 1y
Verbal recall lower for all ages
Shows that children do have autobiographical memories when not using verbal recall.
Should be noted:
Amnesia said to be 2-3yo so these children could be past it.
Also cues (photos) may have caused better recall and not the nonverbal nature of the task.
Children only used vocab they had at the time which shows that encoding is stuck at the time of the event.
Peterson & Rideout (1998) - infantile amnesia - injury
Compared preverbal (<25mo) and verbal (26-34mo) memories of serious injury.
Interviewed them 6 months after injury.
RESULTS:
Children who were preverbal at time provided less details even though they are verbal now.
Used statistics to control for age at time of interview and found that older children at time of injury still recalled more.
Howe & Courage (1993) - infantile amnesia - development of self
Development of self:
Signifies ability to create autobiographical memories.
Previously memories coded as general learning experience and not associated with ‘me’.
Significant development of self between 18-24mo which is similar to the time when infantile amnesia ends
Yes - Infantile Amnesia exists
Bjorklund (1992): often our earliest memries are things that happened to others or that others have repeated to us.
Simcock & Hayne (2002): memories prelanguage are stored in different ways to postlanguage and can only be retrieved nonverbally.
Peterson & Rideout (1998): controlling for age, verbal children remember more than preverbal at time of injury.
Fivush & Hammond (1990): young children’s memories don’t have distinct enough cues, babies haven’t learnt framework for recounting stories and events so they focus on routine and novel characteristics.
No - Infantile Amnesia doesn’t exist
Rovee-Collier & Bauer:
Children are ableto remember things prior to 3yo
Implicit memories are more robust with age
Bauer:
Not a separate phenomenon
Babies are just bad at encoding and consolidation
They have autobiographical memories but can’t measure them.
Methodological issues with infantile amnesia studies
Disagreement with what constitutes as an early memory.
Ask to recall significant events in early years but what is ‘significant’
Asking for a verbal account: age differences may just reflect language difficulties as it is unlikely to be a verbal event recalled.
