1 three questions for the study of memory 1. do we learn only with intention? 2. when we exert...

1Three Questions for the Study of Memory

1. Do we learn only with intention?

2. When we exert control over the process, what do we control?

3. If we learn both with and without intention, are these processes different?

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We often learn with intention…

Often, we commit things to memory deliberately.

E.g., rehearsing; using a mnemonic strategy such as the method of loci.

Invention of writing (writing is prosthetic memory).

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We also learn without intention

Language acquisition

Examples we set for children

Lewicki’s studies

4Three Questions for the Study of Memory

1. Do we learn only with intention?

2. When we exert control over the process, what do we control?

3. If we learn both with and without intention, are these processes different?

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How do we control learning?

Learning intentionally allows us to control certain aspects of the process:

a. The duration of processing

b. What type of code we generate.

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Control of processing duration

We can control processing time when  the stimuli are stable (don’t disappear)

  encoding is the most important thing to do

  there are few other important stimuli in our environment

7Evidence of control of processing duration

Rundus (1971) Serial Position Effect

Subjects rehearsed TBR words out loud.

Rundus counted rehearsals of each word.

Probability of recall precisely determined by # of times each word rehearsed, except for recency portion of curve.

Position in list

% Recall prob.

# rehearsals

9A reason to control processing duration…

Ebbinghaus (1885)

First scientific study of memory E learned lists of nonsense syllables Developed savings score. Effect of prolonging duration:

lists containing more words took longer to learn and were retained better

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How do we control learning?

Learning intentionally allows us to control certain aspects of the process:

a. The duration of processing.

b. What type of code we generate.

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Type of code we generate

Sometimes we can control what type of code we generate in response to a stimulus. Most everyday objects have names and categories.

So we can choose the type of code we generate (e.g., do we store category? image? name?)

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Type of code we generate

But we can’t always control the type of code generated…

Not all stimuli permit generation of any type of code we want.

For example, Shepard & Metzler stimuli have no name and no semantic category:

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Is one type of code better?

Related question:

If we have a choice of codes, is any particular type better than the others? Does any type lead to better recall?

Answer: Sometimes. See “Levels of Processing” theory in Chapter 6.

15Three Questions for the Study of Memory

1. Do we learn only with intention?

2. When we exert control over the process, what do we control?

3. If we learn both with and without intention, are these processes different?

163. How are the mechanisms of learning with and without intention different?

Standard model:

Learning with and without intention differ in the processes involved.

But the same memory system runs both kinds of memory.

There are implications for how memory is impaired by brain damage

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Standard model

Learning with intention happens when you expect that you will have to recall the material.

Learning without intention happens when (and even though) you have no expectation that recall will be necessary.

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Standard model

In order to understand standard model, we must distinguish between direct and indirect memory tests:

Direct memory tests:

you know your memory is being tested. example: recalling a list of words example: recognizing a set of faces

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Standard model

Indirect memory tests:

you don’t know your memory is being tested perceptual fluidity (Jacoby et al.) Warrington & Weiskrantz (1970)

Remember: intentional vs. unintentional learning, and direct vs. indirect tests of whether learning has happened.

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Standard model

In order to understand standard model, we must also distinguish between content memory and source memory:

Content memory what you learn.

Source memory where you learned it

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Standard model

Components of the argument:

Type of learning with vs. without intention

Type of test direct vs. indirect

Type of memory C + S vs. C alone

C + S: content + source C alone: content without source

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Standard model

Intention Content Source

Yes + +No + –

Learning with intention results in both content and source memory (= success on a direct test)

Learning without intention results in only content memory (= failure on a direct test)

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.

A competing model

Different memory systems:

Intentional and unintentional learning differ not so much in processes involved, but in that two separate memory systems are involved

Model preferred by many people who study brain damage (e.g., Squire, 1987), who see some memory sparing in presence of profound memory loss

24Different memory systems – example

Tulving – Episodic vs. Semantic memory

Episodic memory refers to things you know in virtue of being you

What did you have for dinner last night? What did your bathroom scales say this morning?

25Different memory systems - example

Semantic memory refers to publicly available information that most people in a society would know

What is the capital of Canada?

Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?

26Different memory systems - example

Argument:

intentional learning involves episodic memory (what was on the list you read 5 min ago?)

unintentional learning, detected by indirect tests, reflects semantic memory (e.g., increased availability of a representation in semantic memory)

27But are these models really different?

Some people argue:

Content with source = episodic memory

Content without source = semantic memory

If this is true, then the different systems view is really just a version of the different processes view.

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Mechanisms - Review

The standard account argues that direct memory tests require subject strategies for retrieval, using source information.

Those strategies are likely to be impaired in cases of amnesia following brain damage (source information: needed but not available).

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Mechanisms - Review

The standard account argues that indirect tests do not require those retrieval strategies, or source information.

This would explain why patients typically do as well as controls on such tests (source information: not needed, so unavailability doesn’t matter).

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Mechanisms – Review

The competing account suggests that intentional learning produces episodic memory, while unintentional learning depends upon semantic memory.

In amnesia, brain damage has compromised access to episodic memory, but not semantic memory

This may turn out to be a version of the different processes view.