Memory

Memory Activities

Concentration

Tips to improve your memory

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Recreate the scene you saw…

MemoryThe capacity to retain and retrieve information as well as the structures that account for this capacity.

Allows us to:– Be competent– Convey a personal identity– Have a personal and cultural history– Helps guide decision-making

Memory

Memory is selective– Usually disjointed

Memory is reconstructive– We reproduce some information– But with complex information, we

alter it in ways to help us make sense of it

“Fading Flashbulb”

Some unusual events produce a strong memory– May seem frozen in time, with

photographic detail– May not always be perfect

• Facts may be mixed in with other memories or stories from others

Eyewitnesses

Watch the following video

Answer the questions that are on the paper

Summarize the events of the accident on the back of the paper

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The Eyewitness Conundrum

Eyewitness testimonies are not always reliableMay have input from other sourcesSubtle word changes may affect a person’s perception

• Hit/crash & a/the

• Bugs Bunny experiment

Journal

Why might eyewitness accounts be so unreliable?

Use what you have learned about memory to explain your opinion.

Why Eyewitnesses Are Unreliable

Re-imagining the eventCorroboration with othersLeading questions and unconscious influence from authoritiesDisjointed memoryConformity effectDouble Identification effect

Source Misattribution

The inability to distinguish an actual memory of an event from information you learned elsewhere.

Think of a very early memory– Have you seen pictures or videos

from that day that may have influenced you?

Confabulation

Confusing an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you.– Thought, heard, or told others about

the event many times– The event contains many details that

make it feel real– The event is easy to imagine

Memory Abuse

Read article about how behavior affects memory

Answer questions about the article

Explicit Memory

Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or item of informationRecall - retrieve and reproduce information– fill-in-the-blank, memory games

Recognition - identify information previously read, observed or heard – true/false, multiple choice

Recall

Name the 7 dwarves

Recognition

Check off the names of the 7 Dwarves

Bashful Weepy Bumpy

Dopey Happy Wheezy

Mickey Slumpy Doc

Sneezy Mac Grumpy

Pappy Sleepy Mopey

Implicit Memory

Unconscious retention in memory, usually based on previous experience

Relearning method - Learn a topic twice– If you learn faster the second time, you are

clearly remembering from the first lesson

Priming - a person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see if the information affects later performance

cold curtain money

sun candle llama

chair wing ink

ox tree house

table rabbit green

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Using Implicit and Explicit Memory

How are the 2 types of memory useful outside of the academic field?

Why would some companies take advantage of a person’s implicit memory?

How is it possible to utilize a person’s implicit memory to manipulate them?

Memory

The brain is most similar to a computer– You retrieve info when you need to use it– Organized into schemas (networks of topics)

Short Term Memory

Limited capacity

Brief period (30 seconds to few minutes)

Also holds information retrieved from long-term memory

Long-Term Memory

Lasts a few minutes to a decade– May even be permanent

Unlimited capacity

Information is organized

Information passes between STM and LTM

Serial Positioning

When shown a list of items, you are most likely to remember the items at the beginning and end of the list.

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BookTieCar

GrassChairPhone

LegCat

AnswerPurseBubbleFeatherSquidGraphClone

Encoding

Usually occurs without us thinking about it– Listening to others– Where things are in your locker

Effortful Encoding (aka studying)– Memorizing the plot of a story– Learning specific facts

Rehearsal

Repeating information over and over in order to remember it– Flashcards– Practicing a script– Forgetting a number or directions

Elaborative rehearsal - associating new information with old to make it more memorable.

Mnemonics

Strategies and tricks to remember information– Even Godzilla Buys Dog Food– 30 days hath September…– ROYGBIV– Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally– My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us

Noodles

Mnemonics

Acrostics/Phrases

Acronyms

Songs/rhymes

Location

Chunking

Practicing

Memory ExperimentUsing the strategies discussed today, think of a NEW way to study for an upcoming test/quiz.

Write down your strategy, what you are studying for, materials you will use, and how it differs from your normal routine.

After the test/quiz: record how effective you think the strategy was, and if you would be willing to use the strategy for other exams. – Use full sentences, explain your answers

Why We Forget

Decay

Replacement

Interference

Cue-Dependent Forgetting

Repression/Amnesia– Childhood amnesia

Decay

Memory fades with time unless we rehearse them

Some memories do remain because of emotional significance

Some memories can also randomly stick around

Replacement

New information drives out the old

Leading questions can change your memory

Interference

Specific memories are confused with similar ones– Names– addresses

Cue-Dependent Forgetting

You remember better if you can repeat the environment that you learned in– Same:

seat people aroundtime temperaturenoises physical state

** may explain déjà vu - similar scene from a book, movie, dream etc.

Repression - AmnesiaRepression - involuntary pushing of threatening info into the unconsciousAmnesia - partial or total loss of memory for an important personal reason– Psychogenic

• Lose entire memory for several weeks• Occurs after shock, embarrassment, shame etc

– Traumatic • Forget specific events for long parts of time• Memory returns with high accuracy

Childhood Amnesia Tendency to forget events that happened in the first 4 years of life

There are fewer memories for ages 0-8 than any other stage in a person’s life

Possible Explanations: – fewer connections between neurons– Lower ability to understand the world

Study Guide

Eyewitness conundrumSource MisattributionConfabulationExplicit (recall, recognition)

Implicit (re-learning, priming)

Short TermLong Term (mnemonics, serial positioning, chunking)

State dependent memoryForgettingAmnesiaRepression