remembering and forgetting Flashcards
what are the 3 steps to remembering?
Encoding: registering new info into memory
Storage
Retrieval
why are somethings better rembered than others according to the multi-store model?
give a limitatio to the multi-store model
the liklihood of transfer of STM to LTM depedns on rehersal
More you reherse the more it’ll likely be stored
Two types of rehearsal
• Distinction between maintenance rehearsal (Type I) - reciting it over and over again.
and elaborative rehearsal (Type II) (e.g., Craik and Lockhart, 1972)- connecting it to semantic memories
give a limiltation for maintanance rehersal
Glenberg, Smith, and Green (1977):
• Participants had to recall four-digit numbers
• In between study and recall, they had to rehearse a “distractor” word for some period of time (2 vs 6 vs 18 seconds), e.g., 4863, table, table, table, …, “4-8-6-3”
• There were 54 trials, and a different interpolated word was used on every trial
• After these 54 trials, participants were (unexpectedly) asked to recall the words
Atkinson and Shiffrin- if these worlds had been rehearsed for 18 seconds than the later tests should be better remembered and recalled than those at 2 and 6 seconds
However, even after 18 seconds, retrieval isn’t improved than what is seen at 2 and 6 seconds suggesting, time doesn’t dictate how long something takes to be transferred to LTM
Elaborative rehearsal is therefore more efficient at producing Long term retrieval than Maintenace
Outline the levels of processing hypothesis
Craik and Lockhart (1972)
information is taken in and processed at varying depths
e..g a printed word, visual info taken in first, followed by spojen sound, followed by by meaning.
each process leaves memory record
deeper processes leave more durable trace
outline the support for the LoP hypothesis
Crakin and Tulving (1975)
Presented a list of words
• Each word could be associated with one of three types of encoding
• Imagine one of the words was MEAL…
Three encoding conditions:
1. Structural (Orthographic): Is the word in upper case? (Yes)
2. Phonological: Does the word rhyme with “mat”? (No)
3. Semantic: Does the word fit in this sentence: “the man ate his _____” ? (Yes)
ppots then confronted w/ word list and sked to pick out the ones from the lsit just shown
greater depth processing= better recall
Limitation to LoP?
But… Levels-of-Processing view guilty of circular reasoning?
Basically experimenters get the results and link it to deeper processing rather than predicting it from the onset.
“In view of the vagueness with which depth is defined, there is the danger of using retention test performance to provide information about the depth of processing, and then using the putative depth of processing to “explain” the retention test performance, a self-defeating exercise in circularity”
Eysenck (1978, p.159)
Outline transfer appropriate processing
Morris, Bransford, & Franks, 1977
Memory performance depends on the extent to which processes used at the time of learning are the same as those used when memory is tested. • Levels-of-processing approach simply assumes that semantic processing is always better than non-semantic processing
• But encoding that is poor (“shallow”?) for one purpose might be good (“deep”?) for another.
•What type of encoding would be best for:
• learning to ride a bike? • learning technical terms? • studying for psychology exams?
Participants performed “deep” (semantic) vs. “shallow” (rhyme) orienting tasks:
After 32 of these sentences, participants were given a recognition test: Either: Standard recognition: LEAF SHEEP TRAIN
or Rhyming recognition: STREET GRAIN PLOT
Effect in standard test consistent with levels-of processing view
But opposite result for rhyming test
Semantic processing does not always enhance memory
Outline the encoding-specificity principle
The likelihood of retrieval depends on the overlap between cues present at encoding and retrieval.
Tulving & Thomson, 1973
Evidence for the encoding-specificity principle
Which of the following cues will be more effective for recalling the word PIANO?
– 1) something melodious?, or
– 2) something heavy?
• Depends on the learning context (Barclay et al., 1974)
• Participants who learns in this context: The man tuned the PIANO showed better recall with cue (1) than cue (2)
• Participants who learn in this context: The man lifted the PIANO showed better recall with cue (2) than cue (1)
• Conclusion: Participants encoded words with their context
outline the importance of contextual cues:
Baddeley, Hweitt and Muter
nability to recognise a face when it is seen out of context is a common example of the importance of contextual cues.
Can distinguish two types of context (Hewitt, 1973):
• Intrinsic - features that are integral to the stimulus
• Extrinsic - other features present at time of encoding (including one’s own cognitive state)
Which of the following are names of people who were famous before 1950?
Clarkson, Doyle, Ferguson, Franklin, Lane, Thomas, Walker
• Now try again with the following cues: “Author of the Sherlock Holmes Stories; Sir Arthur Conan _____”
“US statesman and inventor; Benjamin ______”
“Welsh poet; Dylan ______”
• Muter (1978) found that participants scored 29% correct in the name recognition task, versus 42% in the cued recall task.
Godden and Baddeley, 1975)
- Asked divers to learn lists of words on land or underwater.
- Recall was then tested either on land or underwater
40% worse performance if different external stimuli e..g recalling on land and learning on land better than recalling in water whilst learning on land
outline the evidence for state-dependendt recall`
Recall is better if one’s internal state during recall mirrors state during encoding
• Effect demonstrated for participants under influence of drugs, including:
– alcohol (Goodwin et al., 1969; Overton, 1972),
– caffeine (Kelemen & Creeley, 2001),
– nicotine (Kunsendorf& Wigner, 1985),
– marijuana (Eich et al., 1975) …
give evidence for organising information assisting recall
Organising information improves recall
• Mandler (1967): (Some) participants asked to organise words on printed cards into different piles => had to come up with 5-7 piles
• Group 1 told that there would be a memory test for the words
• Group 2 told about test and asked to organise the words
• Group 3 only asked to organise the words
• The results showed the following pattern of recall: Group 2 = Group 3 > Group 1
give the limitations to forgetting actually exisitng
“The existence of forgetting has never been proved: we only know that some things don’t come to mind when we want them to.” (Nietzsche)
Forgetting often reflects (possibly temporary) inability to access memory (i.e., retrieval failure) rather than a loss of memory
We can often recognise things we can’t recall, and cued recall is much better than free recall (Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966).
Availability versus accessibility.
Testing memory through recognition tests compared to recall tests often reveals that more is available than is necessarily accessible (e.g, Bahrick & Phelps, 1987)
Why do we forget?
Decay? Perhaps long-term memories gradually fade over time
• The Law of Disuse? (Thorndike, 1914).
- Decay theory suggests that rate of forgetting should be fixed over a given period of time, whatever the individual does in that time
- Bahrick and Phelps’ (1987) study of memory for classmates is not compatible with this account.
outline interfence
if forgetting is due to decay, then recall should simply depend on length of retention interval If forgetting is due to interference, then recall should depend on amount of similar learning within the retention interval (independently of its length).
- McGeoch (1932): Iron bar left out in the open air rusts, not due to passage of time per se, but due to oxidation.
- Retention interval is typically confounded with the number of additional experiences
If forgetting is due to decay, then recall should simply depend on length of retention interval If forgetting is due to interference, then recall should depend on amount of similar learning within the retention interval (independently of its length).
According to decay theory, there should be more forgetting after longer retention intervals even though the amount of new information remains constant
According to interference theory, there should be more forgetting after more new learning even when length of retention interval remains constant
