Dec 10th, 2012

MemoryMemory: Active system that receives,

stores, organizes, alters, and recovers (retrieves) informationAcquired

EncodingStored in the brain

StorageLater retrieved

RetrievalEventually (possibly) forgotten

Figure 7.2

FIGURE 7.2 Remembering is thought to involve at least three steps. Incoming information is first held for a second or two by sensory memory. Information selected by attention is then transferred to temporary storage in short-term memory. If new information is not rapidly encoded, or rehearsed, it is forgotten. If it is transferred to long-term memory, it becomes relatively permanent, although retrieving it may be a problem. The preceding is a useful model of memory; it may not be literally true of what happens in the brain

Three-Box Model of Memory

Sensory MemoryFunction - holds

information long enough to be processed for basic physical characteristics

Capacity - largecan hold many items at

onceDuration - very brief

retention of images0.3 sec for visual info2 sec for auditory info

Sensory

InputSensory Memory

Sensory Memory

Divided into two subtypes:iconic memory - visual

informationechoic memory -

auditory informationVisual or iconic memory

was discovered by Sperling in 1960

Sensory

InputSensory Memory

Sperling’s ExperimentPresented matrix of letters

for 1/20 secondsWhole-report procedure

Participants are asked to report all the items of a display

Partial-report procedureParticipants are cued to

report only some of the items in a display

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s Iconic Memory Experiment

Sperling’s ExperimentSounded low, medium

or high tone immediately after matrix disappearedTone signaled 1 row to

reportRecall was almost perfect

Memory for images fades after 1/3 seconds or so, making report of entire display hard to do

High

Medium

Low

Results from Sperling’s experiment demonstrating the existence of a brief visual sensory store. Participants were shown arrays consisting of three rows of four letters. After the display was turned off, they were cued by a tone, either immediately or after a delay, to recall a particular one of the three rows. The results show that the number of items reported decreased as the delay in the cuing tone increased.

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory forms automatically, without attention or interpretation

Attention is needed to transfer information to working memory

Sensory

InputSensory Memory

Short-Term Memory (STM) A proposed intermediate system in

which information has to reside on its journey from sensory memory to long-term memory

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) Model

Proposes that as information is rehearsed in a limited-capacity STM, it is deposited in long-term memory

Memory spanThe number of elements one can

immediately repeat backTypical short-term memory span is about

seven items of information (i.e., words)George Miller (1957)Shepard and Teghtsoonian (1961)

Information cannot be kept in STM indefinitely

George Miller

“The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information” (1956)

Working MemoryHolds the Information Needed to Perform a task

Memory system that provides temporary storage for information that is currently being used in some conscious capacity (Baddeley, 1986)Function - conscious processing of information

where information is actively worked onCapacity - limited (holds 7 +/- 2 items) Duration - brief storage (about 30 seconds)Code - often based on sound or speech even

with visual inputs

Reading 1

Baddeley’s theory of working memory in which a central executive coordinates a set of slave systems.

Working MemoryThe Central Executive

An attentional control mechanism for working memory Coordinating between the various subsystems Temporary activation of long-term memory Shifting between tasks or retrieval strategies Relying on the frontal lobe, mainly in the left hemisphere

Use of language clearly relies on the central executive

Working MemoryThe visuospatial sketchpad

Integrating spatial, visual, and kinesthetic informationPhonological loop

Articulatory loop‘Inner voice’ used during rehearsal of verbal informationAble to maintain about 1.5 to 2 sec worth of material in

the loopPhonological store

An ‘inner ear’ that hears the inner voice and stores the information in phonological form

Word length effectwit, sum, harm, bay, topUniversity,opportunity,aluminum,constitutional,au

ditorium

Working Memory

Phonological similarity effect"G, C, B, T, V, P” vs. “F, L, K, S, Y, G.”

Performance is usually _____ when the items sound similar than when the items sound different.

The phonological store retains speech-based memory for a brief period of time and unless material is rehearsed, it usually decays within 2 seconds.

The articulatory control process, which is responsible for translating visual information into speech-based codes, as well as transfering it to the phonological store.

Processing depth

Elaboration leads to better recall than shallow processing

Typ

e of

P

roce

ssin

g

Shallow -Acoustic

Deep

Shallow - Visual

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000Percent of words recalledPercent of words recalled

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

Working Memory measures Digit span(Wechsler, 1974)

Forward digit span (Botwinick & Storandt, 1974) Backward digit span (Gathercole & Alloway, 2008) Letter-number sequencing (Wechsler, 1997)

Nonword repetition(Obrien et al., 2006) Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) (Miyake et al., 2000) Tower of Hanoi (TOH)/London (Korkman, Kirk, & Kemp, 1998) Random number generation (RNG) (Baddeley, 1998) Operation span (Miyake et al., 2000) Dual task (Papagno et al., 1991) N-back (Smith & Jonides, 1999) Delayed-recognition (Jha & McCarthy, 2000)

An illustration of the delayed match-to-sample task

Working MemoryThe Frontal Cortex and Primate Working Memory

•Delayed match-to-sample tasks with monkeys (Goldman-Rakic, 1992)• Monkeys with lesions in the frontal cortex

cannot perform this working memory task.• Human infants cannot perform similar

tasks successfully until their frontal cortices have somewhat matured (around 1 year)

Lateral views of the cerebral cortex of a human (top) and of a monkey (bottom). Area 46 is the region shown in darker color.

• Auditory-Verbal maintenance deficit following Left Supramarginal / Inferior Parietal lesions, eg KF (Warrington & Shallice, 1969)

• Visual-spatial maintenance deficit following Right Inferior Parietal lesion, eg ELD (Hanley et al 1991)

• Frontal patients impaired on manipulating information in Working Memory on tasks such as card sorting (Milner, 1963) and selection-without-repetition (Petrides & Milner, 1982)

• Age-related Working Memory deficits following frontal-striatal decline (Gabrieli, 1996)

Modality-specific, passive stores in posterior parietal/temporal cortex Common executive processes in frontal cortex

Working Memory - Neuropsychology

Neural Correlates of Working MemoryThe phonological loop – Speech

Left hemisphere: frontal and parietal regions

The visuo-spatial sketchpad – NonspeechRight hemisphere

The central executive – Domain generalFrontal lobe and ACC (anterior

cingulate cortex)

Anderson, Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications, Edition 7e – Chapter 6

Awh et al., 1996

Anderson, Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications, Edition 7e – Chapter 6

Modality independent(Schumacher et al., 1996)

Anderson, Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications, Edition 7e – Chapter 6

Baddeley, 2003

Memory aidsChunkingHierarchical organizationRehearsal

ChunkingGrouping small bits of information into larger

units of informationexpands working memory load

Which is easier to remember?4 8 3 7 9 2 5 1 6

483 792 516

Related items clustered together to form categoriesRelated categories clustered to form higher-order

categoriesRemember list items better if list presented in categories

poorer recall if presented randomlyEven if list items are random, people still organize info in

some logical pattern

Hierarchical Organization

Figure 7.4

FIGURE 7.4 A hypothetical network of facts about animals shows what is meant by the structure of memory. Small networks of ideas such as this are probably organized into larger and larger units and higher levels of meaning.

Training your working memory

Working MemoryBaddeley’s Theory of Working Memory (2003)

Memory FormationRetrograde Amnesia: Forgetting events that

occurred before an injury or traumaAnterograde Amnesia: Forgetting events that

follow an injury or traumaConsolidation: Forming a long-term memoryElectroconvulsive Shock (ECS): Mild electrical

shock passed through the brain, causing a convulsion; one way to prevent consolidation

AmnesiaRetrograde AmnesiaLoss of past memory

Anterograde AmnesiaCan’t form new memories

Anterograde Amnesia

Figure 7.5

FIGURE 7.5 The tower puzzle. In this puzzle, all the colored disks must be moved to another post, without ever placing a larger disk on a smaller one. Only one disk may be moved at a time, and a disk must always be moved from one post to another (it cannot be held aside). An amnesic patient learned to solve the puzzle in 31 moves, the minimum possible. Even so, each time he began, he protested that he did not remember ever solving the puzzle before and that he did not know how to begin. Evidence like this suggests that skill memory is distinct from fact memory.

Long-Term Memory

Long-Term Memory

Explicit Implicit

Available to conscious retrievalAvailable to conscious retrieval

Can be declared Can be declared (propositional)(propositional)

ExamplesExamples ““What did I eat for What did I eat for

breakfast?”breakfast?” (episodic)(episodic) ““What is the capital of What is the capital of

Spain?”Spain?”(semantic)(semantic) ““What did I just say?”What did I just say?”

(working)(working)

Experience-induced change in Experience-induced change in behaviourbehaviour

Cannot be declared Cannot be declared (procedural)(procedural)

ExamplesExamples Subliminal advertising?Subliminal advertising?

(priming)(priming) How to ride a bicycleHow to ride a bicycle

(skills)(skills) PhobiasPhobias

(conditioning)(conditioning)

Long-term Memory

Declarative Non-declarative

SemanticEpisodic Priming Procedural Conditioning

What did I have for

breakfast?

What is the capital of France?

Facilitated

processing

Reflex response to new stimuli

How to ride a bicycle

Explicit MemoryAlso known as declarative or conscious memory

Properties:memory consciously recalled or declaredCan use to directly respond to a question

Two subtypes of explicit memory

Episodic MemoryMemory tied to your own personal experiences

Examples:what did you have for dinner?do you like to eat caramel apples?

Why are these explicit memories?

Because you can actively declare your answers to these questions

Semantic MemoryMemory not tied to personal eventsGeneral facts and definitions about the worldExamples:

who was George Washington?what is a cloud?what is the climate at the north pole?

These are explicit memories because you can describe what you know about them.

Unlike episodic memories, your knowledge does NOT include your personal experience i.e., You may never have been to the north pole but do know

about it.

Implicit MemoryAlso known as nondeclarative memory

Influences your thoughts or behavior, but does not enter consciousness

Three subtypes

Classical Conditioning

Studied earlier Implicit because it

is automatically retrieved

PrimingPriming is influence of

one memory on another

priming is implicit because it does not depend on awareness and is automatic

Here is a demonstration

Unscramble the following words:

O R E S L T E P AK T A L S TSME L O B S O M SELAF

Procedural MemoryMemory that enables you to perform specific learned

skills or habitual responsesExamples:

Riding a bikeHow to speak grammaticallyTying your shoe laces

Why are these procedural memories implicit?Can’t readily describe their contents

try describing how to tie your shoesThey are automatically retrieved when appropriate

Mirror Tracing Mirror Tracing (e.g. Corkin, 1968)(e.g. Corkin, 1968)

Rotary–PursuitRotary–Pursuit(e.g. Gabrieli et al., 1997)(e.g. Gabrieli et al., 1997)

Serial Reaction TaskSerial Reaction Task(e.g. Hazeltine et al., 1997)(e.g. Hazeltine et al., 1997)

Procedural - Procedural - NeuropsychologyNeuropsychology

Amnesic patients show intact: Rotary Pursuit (Corkin 1968) Serial Reaction Task (Nissen & Bullemer 1987)

Alzheimer’s patients show intact: Rotary Pursuit (Gabrieli et al 1993) Mirror Tracing (Heindel et al 1989)

Parkinson’s patients impaired on: Rotary Pursuit (Heindel et al 1989) Serial Reaction Task (Ferraro et al 1993)

Huntington’s patients impaired on: Rotary Pursuit (Gabrieli et al 1997) Serial Reaction Task (Willingham & Koroshetz 1993)

but not: Mirror Tracing (Gabrieli et al 1997)

Cerebellar lesions impair Mirror Tracing (Sanes et al 1990)

Procedural - Procedural - NeuroimagingNeuroimaging

Rotary Pursuit learning correlates with activity in Primary and Secondary Motor Cortex (Grafton et al 1992)

Serial Reaction Task correlates with activity in Primary and Secondary Motor Cortex, and Basal Ganglia (Hazeltine et al 1997)

Two hypotheses:

1. Learning repetitive sequence involves Basal Ganglia-Thalamic-Motor Cortical loop Learning new visual-motor mappings involves Cerebellar-Motor Cortical loop

2. Open-loop learning (minimal feedback): Basal Ganglia-Thalamic-Motor Cortical loop

Closed-loop learning (continual feedback): Cerebellar-Motor Cortical loop

Rotary Pursuit and Serial Reaction Task involve open-loop motor learning with little visual feedback (impaired by Basal Ganglia lesions)

Mirror Tracing involves much visual feedback (impaired by Cerebellar lesions)

Need to examine nonvisual feedback

• MTL activations during episodic encoding (Tulving et al 1996) and retrieval (Schacter et al. 1996)

Anterior-Posterior dissociation? (Lepage et al. 1998; Schacter et al. 1999)

• Left Frontal during Encoding (Shallice et al., 1994), right during Retrieval

“HERA: Hemispheric Encoding Retrieval Asymmetry” (Tulving et al., 1994)

• Posterior cingulate / Precuneus (Fletcher et al., 1996)

• Left lateral inferior parietal cortex (Henson et al., 1999)

Network of Frontal - Medial Temporal – Posterior areas all involved:

Frontal areas control encoding and retrieval of memories?

Posterior association areas store components of memories?

Medial Temporal regions (temporarily) bind different components?

• Finer spatial resolution (fMRI) beginning to dissociate MTL regions, eg Hippocampus / Perirhinal for “Recollection / familiarity”? (Aggleton & Brown, 1999)

Episodic Memory - Neuroimaging

• Common activation in Left Inferior Frontal, Inferior Temporal, Angular gyrus and Temporal pole for semantic judgments to words and pictures (Vandenberghe et al 1996)

• Left Inferior Temporal activations for animal and tool naming, Temporal Pole for people naming (Damasio et al., 1996)

• Left Inferior Temporal activation for category- versus letter-fluency (Mummery et al 1996)

• Left Middle Temporal and Premotor activations for tool vs animal naming, Left Middle Occipital for animal vs tool naming (Martin et al 1996)

Distributed representations, with activations reflecting object’s interaction with world? E.g., tool naming activates motor regions

Semantic Memory - Neuroimaging

McClelland and Rogers, 2003

Basic Neuroanatomy of MemoryA) Subcortical structuresBasal ganglia and cerebellum –

Procedural memory. Caudate nucleus involved particularly with habit formation (unconscious learning)

Thalamus – Temporal sequencing information. Also supplementary role to medial temporal lobes in new learning

Basal forebrain – The binding together of different modal components in episodic memory

B. Cortical structuresHippocampus – Acquisition of new

factual knowledgePrimary association cortex – Visual,

auditory and somatosensory dataNon-medial temporal – Retrieval of

previously learned material e.g. autobiographical info, names, faces

Ventromedial frontal lobes – Memory traces linking facts and emotion

Dorsolateral frontal lobes – Recency and frequency memory. Working memory

Memory

Declarative Non-declarative

SemanticEpisodic Priming Procedural Conditioning

What did I have for

breakfast?

What is the capital of France?

Facilitated

processing

Reflex response to new stimuli

Medial temporal

Diencephalon Mammillary

bodiesFrontal lobe

LateralTemporal /

Frontal lobes

Many cortical

regions… Cerebellum/Amygdala

(MTL?)

How to ride a bicycle

Basal Ganglia

CerebellumMotor cortex

Measuring MemoryTip-of-the Tongue (TOT): Feeling that a memory is

available but not quite retrievableFeeling of Knowing: Feeling that allows people to

predict beforehand if they will be able to remember something (typically seen on game shows like Jeopardy)

Recall: Supply or reproduce facts or information with some external cues; direct retrieval of facts or informationHardest to recall items in the middle of a list;

known as Serial Position Effect Easiest to remember last items in a list because

they are still in STM

Figure 7.7

FIGURE 7.7 The serial position effect. The graph shows the percentage of subjects correctly recalling each item in a 15-item list. Recall is best for the first and last items.

Measuring Memory (cont'd)Recognition Memory: Identifies correctly

previously learned materialUsually superior to recall

Distractors: False items included with a correct itemWrong choices on multiple-choice tests

False Positive: False sense of recognition

Figure 7.8

FIGURE 7.8 (a) “Treasure map” similar to the one used by Kosslyn, Ball, and Reiser (1978) to study images in memory. (b) This graph shows how long it took subjects to move a visualized spot various distances on their mental images of the map.

Eidetic Imagery (Somewhat Like Photographic Memory)Occurs when a person (usually a child) has visual

images clear enough to be scanned or retained for at least 30 seconds

Usually projected onto a “plain” surface, like a blank piece of paper

Usually disappears during adolescence and is rare by adulthood

Figure 7.9

FIGURE 7.9 Test picture like that used to identify children with eidetic imagery. To test your eidetic imagery, look at the picture for 30 seconds. Then look at a blank surface and try to “project” the picture on it. If you have good eidetic imagery, you will be able to see the picture in detail. Return now to the text and try to answer the questions there. (Redrawn from an illustration in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.)

RelearningLearning again something that was previously

learnedUsed to measure memory of prior learning

Savings Score: Amount of time saved when relearning information

ForgettingNonsense Syllables: Meaningless three-letter

words (fej, quf) that test learning and forgettingCurve of Forgetting: Graph that shows the

amount of memorized information remembered after varying lengths of time

Encoding Failure: When a memory was never formed in the first place

Memory Traces: Physical changes in nerve cells or brain activity that occur when memories are stored

Memory Decay: When memory traces become weaker; fading or weakening of memories

Disuse: Theory that memory traces weaken when memories are not used or retrieved often

Figure 7.10

FIGURE 7.10 The curve of forgetting. This graph shows the amount remembered (measured by relearning) after varying lengths of time. Notice how rapidly forgetting occurs. The material learned was nonsense syllables. Forgetting curves for meaningful information also show early losses followed by a long gradual decline, but overall, forgetting occurs much more slowly.

Memory in the courtroom

Additional Theories of ForgettingMemory Cues: Any stimulus associated with a

memory; usually enhance retrieval of a memoryA person will forget if cues are missing at

retrieval timeState-Dependent Learning: When memory

retrieval is influenced by body state; if your body state is the same at the time of learning AND the time of retrieval, retrievals will be improvedIf Robert is drunk and forgets where his car is

parked, it will be easier to recall the location if he gets drunk again!

Figure 7.12

FIGURE 7.12 The effect of mood on memory. Subjects best remembered a list of words when their mood during testing was the same as their mood was when they learned the list.

Even More (!) Theories of ForgettingInterference: Tendency for new memories to

impair retrieval of older memories, and vice versaRetroactive Interference: Tendency for new

memories to interfere with retrieval of old memories

Proactive Interference: Prior learning inhibits (interferes) with recall of later learning

Figure 7.13

FIGURE 7.13 The amount of forgetting after a period of sleep or of being awake. Notice that sleep causes less memory loss than activity that occurs while one is awake.

Figure 7.14

FIGURE 7.14 Effects of interference on memory. A graph of the approximate relationship between percentage recalled and number of different word lists memorized. (Adapted from Underwood, 1957.)

Figure 7.15

FIGURE 7.15 Retroactive and proactive interference. The order of learning and testing shows whether interference is retroactive (backward) or proactive (forward).

More on ForgettingRepression: Unconsciously pushing painful,

embarrassing or threatening memories out of awareness/consciousnessMotivated forgetting, according to some

theoriesSuppression: Consciously putting something

painful or threatening out of mind or trying to keep it from entering awareness

Flashbulb MemoriesMemories created during times of personal

tragedy, accident, or other emotionally significant events that are especially vividWhere were you when you heard that the USA

was attacked on September 11th, 2001?Includes both positive and negative eventsNot always accurateGreat confidence is placed in them even though

they may be inaccurate

Improve Your MemoryStudy repeatedly to boost recallSpend more time rehearsing or

actively thinking about the materialMake material personally

meaningfulUse mnemonic devices

associate with peg words--something already storedchunk information into acronyms

Study in spaced intervals

Improve Your Memory

Activate retrieval cues--mentally recreate situation and mood

Minimize interference Test your own knowledge

to rehearse itto determine what you do not yet know

Déjà vu (似曾相识）

Déjà vu

Scientific explanationsDual processing (2 cognitive processes

momentarily out of synchrony)Neurological (seizure, disruption in neuronal

transmission)Memory (Implicit familiarity of unrecognized

stimuli) and attentional (unattended perception followed by attended perception)