Memory Unit 3 Flashcards
Memory
Not a single process
Many different processes: note diversity of experiences you have when remembering different facts/events
4 characteristics of memory:
Time
Automatic-ness
Episodic-ness (some associated with experiences, others more generic and abstract)
Modality (some are verbal others are visual etc)
Two elements of the modal model of memory
- Types of memory
- Memory processes
Sensory memory
Ears, nose, eyes, touch, taste
Capacity : large
Duration: very brief -
Iconic (visual): 50mils
Echoic (auditory): 8-10 sec (longer bc it takes longer to listen/talk to people than to see
Unconscious
Working (short-term) Memory
Storage place, mental workbench, people differ, training does not improve it
Capacity: very small
Historically: 7+/-2 bits of info
Recently: 4 bits , it’s a dynamic process
Duration: brief, unless continue to think about it/operate on it
Consciously: all conscious thought and learning happens here
What can you do to improve working memory?
Chunking - maximize the space in small areas, more information
Long term Memory
Implicit
Explicit
Capacity: very large
Duration: very long (permanent)
Not conscious
Implicit memory
difficult to verbalize
three examples of implicit memory
1. Procedural knowledge (any actions that you are familiar with)
2. Learned association (classical/operant conditioning)
3. Priming ( activating specific information in memory increases the likelihood that related information will also be activated)
Explicit Memory
Easy to verbalize, or declare ( alternate name is declarative memory)
Explicit memory is what people usually think of when they think of the term “memory”
There are two types of explicit memory.
- Semantic
Memory for facts and concepts
Often not linked to a particular time/place - Episodic
Memories connected to specific time/place
Autobiographical memory
Nodes
nodes representing words with similar meaning are connected
Nodes are connected based on their personal meaning to you
Selective attention
is the memory process associated with moving information from sensory memory to working memory
Maintenance rehearsal
is the memory process associated with keeping information in working memory.
Describe the process of maintenance rehearsal, and how it works to help memory.
constant repetition that allows you to keep info in working memory
Encoding
is the memory process associated with moving information from working memory to long term memory.
activate existing LTM memories (nodes from the memory network) related to new material
New memories integrate into the network: new links between new and existing nodes become consolidated
New memories are influenced by our values and biases
Two processes that improve encoding
- Emotion
- Deep processing
Emotion to help encoding
in general, emotions ( positive or negative) make it more likely that experiences will be encoded in LTM, these emotional memories ( including flashbulb memories) are no more likely than other memories to be accurate but they feel like they are
Deep processing to help encoding
deep processing strategies help us to integrate new material in WM with information previously stored in the LTM network
2 Strategies that encourage deep processing
- Mental images:
Concept maps
Method of loci (memory palace) - Elaborative rehearsal
Process by which you process things more deeply
Organizes information by meaning
Connects the new idea to those already in memory
Hyde & Jenkins 1973 (study 1)
Hyde & Jenkins 1973
Study 1:
asked two groups to look at a list of words: one group has to check if the word has certain letters and group two has to rate the level of pleasantness to the word. Results group 2: 68% words remembered and group 1 39%: words remembered (incidental learning: were not told to remember the words)
Study 2:
same study as 1 except: intention to remember- told them to remember the words: results are very similar group 1: 43% and group 2: 69%
2 things that do NOT improve encoding
- Intention to remember
Study 2 from the research done by Hyde & Jenkins, 1973- same study as 1 except: intention to remember- told them to remember the words: results are very similar group 1: 43% and group 2: 69%
No guarantee of encoding - Repeated exposure
What are the correct order colors of google? See it everyday, yet do not remember
Reading something over and over does not necessarily mean you remember
Retrieval processes, how does it begin?
Work to help memory, moving information from LTM to WM, Capacity is limited; most of what we know is not instantly available ALL the time
Begins: retrieval cues- stimuli to help remember , is conscious , can be implicit or explicit
What is the next step after retrieval cues in retrieval processes?
Information that is closely connected to that particular cue by meaning in the memory network is now ‘activated’
Activation spreads through the memory network to the memories related in meaning, starting with the memories most closely related then outwards→ spreading activation and related to the process called redintegration - process by which you try to form a new complete memory by weaving together the bits of information through the process of spreading activation
Elephant is responsible for making this complete
Key point: speed and success of retrieval depends on the distance between nodes in the memory network
RETRIEVAL IS NOT LIKE A REWIND, ITS A CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
Construction process in retrieval
Bring up memories from the network but retrieval may be influenced by other factors
Schemas:
Organized ideas about concepts, situations or people; they guide what we expect and are based on past experiences, stereotypes and values (Friends example)
Sometimes could be right sometimes could be wrong
Intrusion errors:
‘Holes’ in our memory are filled in what’s typically true based on our schema for similar experiences but may be incorrect sometimes
Suggestions made by other people
loftus, miller, burns 1978
Sequence of slides (every person saw the exact same set) leading to red car in an accident
One slide shows the red car at a stop sign
People randomly assigned to two conditions when later completing a post exposure questionnaire
Controlled condition: did another car pass the red datsun while it stopped at the stop sign?
Misinformation condition: did another car pass the red datsun while it stopped at the yield sign?
Participants later asked to pick which photo they saw in the original setting: one yield sign, one stop sign
Results:
Controlled condition: more likely to pick the stop sign photo
Misinformation condition: more likely to pink the yield sign photo
Key message: suggestions can lead to misinformation effect, retrieval error caused when the misinformation modifies original memory
Loftus and pickleball 1995 - lost in the mall study
Participants took part with an older relative (parent or sibling) who provided incidents from participants childhood
Participants told stories about three true incidents and a fourth that was false created by a researcher (described the participant being lost in a mall at age 5)
Participants asked to recall the details of each story
25% of people were able to provide details of the false memory
Large number in the context of eyewitnesses
Replicated by Shaw and Porter, get people to remember being bitten by a dog or in a fought at school, had the same results: about 25% could fill in details
Returns us to: remembering a murder you didn’t commit
