Memory

Dr. Urooj Sadiq

Memory: Active system that stores, organizes, alters, and

recovers (retrieves) information

Encoding: Converting information into a useable form

Storage: Holding this information in memory

Retrieval: Taking memories out of storage

Memory: Key Terms

Stages of Memory

1. Sensory Memory

2. Short-Term Memory

3. Long-Term Memory

Sensory Memory/Sensory register: Storing an exact copy of

incoming information for less than a second; until it has been

processed the first stage of memory

Icon: A brief mental image or visual representation

Echo: After a sound is heard, a brief continuation of the sound

in the auditory system

Sensory Memory

Short-Term Memory (STM): second stage of memory; stores small amounts of information briefly; very sensitive to interruption or interference

Phonetically: Storing information by sound;

Memory Span: STM is limited to holding seven (plus or minus two) information bits at once

Chunk: Meaningful units of information in memory

Short-Term Memory (STM)

Also called Working Memory

Whatever information is in conscious awareness. Any information that we are remembering or manipulating occurs in STM.

A typical individual’s digit span

Recoding: Reorganizing or modifying information in STM

Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating information silently to

prolong its presence in STM

Elaborative Rehearsal: Links new information with existing

memories and knowledge in LTM; Good way to transfer STM

information into LTM

Storing Info in STM

Chunking: Try and remember the following string of letters (in order):

XCI AFB IVC RDN AIB MQZ

Chunking: Try and remember the following string of letters (in order):

Long-Term Memory (LTM)• Storing information relatively permanently • Stored on basis of meaning and importance

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Explicit (declarative) memory (facts): factual knowledge & personal experiences

• Semantic Memory: Impersonal facts and everyday knowledge

• Episodic Memory: Personal experiences linked with specific times and places

Implicit (procedural) Memory (skills): Long-term memories of conditioned responses and learned skills, e.g., driving

Types of Long-Term Memory

Memory Organizational Chart

Loss of Memory

• Anterograde amnesia: the inability to form new explicit long-term memories for events following brain trauma or surgery. Explicit memories formed before are left intact. Cause possibly is damage to hippocampus

• Retrograde amnesia: the disruption of memory for the past, especially espisodic memory. After brain trauma or surgery, there often is retrograde amnesia for events occurring just before.

• Infantile/child amnesia: the inability as adults to remember events that occurred in our lives before about 3 years of age. Due possibly to fact that hippocampus is not fully developed.

Recall: Direct retrieval of facts or information

Serial Position Effect:

• Hardest to recall items in the middle of a list

• Primacy effect: easier to remember items first in a list than items in the middle, because first items are studied the most

• Recency effect: easier to remember items last in a list than items in the middle, because the last items were last studied

Serial Position Effect

A Little Demonstration: Serial Position Effect

See in class!

Graphic: Stages of Memory

Comparison of Three Stages of Memory

Sensory1. Large capacity2. Contains sensory

information3. Very brief retention

(1/2 sec for visual; 2 secs for auditory)

Short Term1. Limited capacity2. Acoustically

encoded3. Brief storage (up

to 30 seconds w/o rehearsal)

4. Conscious processing of information

Long Term

1.Unlimited capacity

2.Semantically encoded

3.Storage presumed permanent

4.Information highly organized

Encoding Information into Memory

Types of Processing

• Automatic processing: memory processing that occurs subconsciously and does not require attention. Example: How many of you can sing the theme song for

Drama humsafar ? How many learned it on purpose?• Effortful processing: memory processing that

occurs consciously and requires attentionExample: How many of you can name all of the divisions

of the nervous system? How many learned it on purpose?

Levels-of-Processing Theory

• Levels-of-processing theory: a theory of information processing in memory that assumes that semantic processing leads to better long-term memory

• Physical memory processing: encoding the word “birthday” by the way it is spelt, b – i – r – t – h – d – a – y

• Acoustic memory processing: encoding the word “birthday” by the way it sounds

• Semantic memory processing: encoding the word “birthday” by its meaning, “a day of joy and celebration, to remember the anniversary of one’s birth.”

Factors Affecting Encoding

• Encoding specificity principle: the principle that the environmental cues present at the time information is encoded into long-term memory serve as the best retrieval cues for the information.

• State-dependent memory: long-term memory retrieval is best when a person’s physiological state at the time of encoding and retrieval is the same.

• Mood-dependent memory: long-term memory retrieval is best when a person’s mood state at the time of encoding and retrieval is the same.

• Mood-congruence effect: long-term memory retrieval is best for experiences and information that are congruent with a person’s current mood.

Retrieving Information from Memory

• Recall: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that requires the reproduction of the information with essentially no retrieval cues.

• Recognition: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that only requires the identification of the information in the presence of retrieval cues.

• Relearning: the savings method of measuring long-term memory retrieval, in which the measure is the amount of time saved when learning information for the second time.

Measuring Retrieval

Example: Recall versus Recognition

Example of Recall:

The process of storing information in memory is called ______________.

Example of Recognition:

The process of storing information in memory is called:

a. rehearsal b. deep processing

c. encoding d. retrieval

Encoding failure theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to the failure to encode the information into long-term memory

Forgetting Due toEncoding Failure?

Storage decay theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to the decay of physical traces of the information in the brain; periodically using the information helps to maintain it in the brain

The “Use it or lose it” theory!

Forgetting Due toDecay in Storage?

Interference theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to other information in memory interfering

Proactive interference: old information interferes with the retrieval of newly-stored information

Retroactive Interference: newly-stored information interferes with the retrieval of previously-stored information

Forgetting Due toInterference?

Retroactive vs. Proactive Interference

Cue-dependent theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to the unavailability of the retrieval cues necessary to locate the information in long-term memory.

This is one explanation for why we do not seem to have many memories from early childhood (ages 3 to 6 or so)

Forgetting Due toLoss of Cues?

Improving Memory

Knowledge of Results: Feedback allowing you to check your

progress

Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are learning

Rehearsal: Reviewing information mentally (silently)

Selection: Selecting most important concepts to memorize

Organization: Organizing difficult items into chunks; a type of

reordering

Some Ways to Improve Memory

Whole Learning: Studying an entire package of

information at once, like a poem

Part Learning: Studying subparts of a larger body of

information (like text chapters)

Progressive Part Learning: Breaking learning task into a

series of short sections

Serial Position Effect: Making most errors while

remembering the middle of the list

Overlearning: Studying is continued beyond bare mastery

More Ways to Improve Memory

Spaced Practice: Alternating study sessions with brief rest

periods

Massed Practice: Studying for long periods without rest

periods• Lack of sleep decreases retention; sleep aids consolidation • Hunger decreases retention

Yet More Ways to Improve Memory

Mnemonics: Memory “tricks”; any kind of memory system

or aid - Using mental pictures- Making things meaningful- Making information familiar- Forming bizarre, unusual or exaggerated mental

associations

A Last Method to Help Memory