introduction to psychology memory. system for receiving, encoding, storing, organizing, altering,...
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Introduction to Psychology
Memory
Memory
System for receiving, encoding, storing, organizing, altering, and receiving information
Memory Encoding: converting information
into a form in which it can be retained
Storage: holding information for later use
Retrieval: recovering information from storage in memory
Sensory Memory
1st stage of memory
Exact record: a few seconds or less
Icon: exact mental picture for .5 seconds
Echo: exact continuation of what you heard; 2 seconds
Short Term Memory Holds small amounts of
information for a brief time
Through images or by sound
Temporary storehouse
Sensitive to interference/interruption
Information “Bits”
STM:
We can remember 7 “bits” on average
Working Memory: in STM
Briefly holds information while other mental processes happen
Mental “scratchpad”
Chunking
Easier to remember information in meaningful “chunks”
IBMNYCPSU vs. IBM NYC PSU
Rehearsal
STM lasts a very short time, unless rehearsed
Maintenance rehearsal: repeating
Elaborative rehearsal: linking new info with preexisting knowledge
Long Term Memory
Meaningful information Nearly limitless
Research: the more info in LTM, the easier it is to add new info
Long Term Memory
Stored by meaning, not sound
To answer questions, info is transferred from LTM to STM
Types of LTM
Procedural Memory
Declarative Memory
Semantic Memory
Episodic Memory
Procedural Memory
Memory for how to perform skills
Actions/conditioned responses
Driving; riding a bike
Declarative Memory
Stores factual information Names, faces, words, dates, ideas
People with amnesia may lose this type of memory
Semantic Memory
Basic factual information Resistant to forgetting
Days of the week Names of the months
Episodic Memory
Autobiographical memory
Our personal stories
Allows us to revisit these memories
Memory Tasks
Recall: direct retrieval of facts/info Essay test
Recognition: correctly identifying information Multiple choice test
Relearning
Relearning information you previously knew
We pick it up faster
Exceptional Memory Due to training/practice:
remembering long numbers
Born with the skill, or developed through strategies
Specialized interests/natural ability: Zip code man
Why do we forget?
Encoding failure: never learned the details in the first place
Decay: over time, we lose information; “use or lose”
State dependent hypothesis
“Same state” learning
Some support in the research Environmental “triggers”
Repression vs. Suppression
Repression: motivated forgetting; unconscious
Suppression: consciously avoiding a memory
Dissociative Fugue
Following a trauma
Amnesia regarding our identity
Assuming a new identity
Bartlett: Constructivist View
Memories are not a mirror of reality
We reconstruct information
Radical transformation Schema theory We condense/add/integrate
information
Memory reconstruction
Revising memory to enhance self-image: Remember good grades, not bad ones
“Memories are colored by emotions, judgments, and what is personally meaningful” (Schacter, 1996).
False Memories
Source memory
Development of “false memories” or “pseudo memories”
Loftus: False Memory Research
“Misinformation Effect”: when we witness an event and are later exposed to new/misleading information about it, our recollections become distorted
Loftus: False Memory Research
“Lost in the Mall” study
Imagination Inflation
How do false memories form?
Another corroborates your account
Applying pressure
Encouraging imagination/uncritical acceptance
Implications
Avoid powerful suggestions/applying pressure
Avoiding leading questions Warn people about misinformation
effects Avoid aggressive interrogation
efforts