2. Chapter 5 MEMORY :
Module 1: The foundations of memory
Module 2: Recalling long term memories
Module 3: Forgetting: When memory fails or why we
forget?
3. Content :
What is memory?
Three – stage model of memory
Three types of memory: SM, STM, LTM
Recalling long term memories
Why do we forget?
How can you improve your memory?
References
7. Sensory memory
Sensory memory - The ability to look at an item, and
remember what it looked like with just a second of
observation, or memorization, is an example of
sensory memory.
Sensory memory lasts only an instant.
Types of sensory memory:
•Iconic memory
•Echoic memory
•Haptic memory
8. Short-term memory
Short-term memory -is the capacity for
holding a small amount of information in
mind in an active, readily available state for
a short period of time.
Short-term memory lasts from a few
seconds to a minute.
9. Long-term memory
Long Term Memory -contains information that you have
recorded in your brain in the past.
Long-term memory can last as little as a few days or as
long as decades
Long-term memory modules :
-Declarative memory
*Semantic memory
*Episodic memory
-Procedural memory
28. How can you improve your memory?
Sleep well
Organize your life
Eat well and eat right
Key words / take effective notes
Practice and rehearse
Don’t’ believe claims about drugs that improve
memory
29. Conclusion :
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain,
and recall information and experiences. Memory is one of the
most important things to our life. It helps us to improve our
ability to understand the world. Memory traditionally can be
devided into three parts : sensory , short-term and long-term
memory.
30. Conclusion :
Memory loss through decay come from nonuse of the memory;
memory loss through interference is due to the presence of
other information in memory, whereas, cue dependant forgetting
is due to insufficient cues available to retrieve information from
memory.
31. References :
Information was taken on September 16th
Robert Feldman. “Understanding Psychology”, New York (N.Y.) : McGraw-Hill, 2008
http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarative_memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_memory
32. Pictures references:
All pictures were picked on September 16th
http://www.montonfashion.com/lit/wp212/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/smelio-laikrodis.jpg
http://www.kaunozinios.lt/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/klaustukas_sxc.jpg
http://www.trukme.lt/uploads/images/LMDP/Lamiga/23_m0204_pilka.jpg
http://blog.wonghongting.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/thinking-pic.jpg
http://ims.mii.lt/klav/nuotrauka1.gif
http://hdnaujienos.lt/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/1-13-09-samsung_p2370.jpg
http://www.tykiai.lt/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/deze-300x300.jpg
http://blog.cyclope-series.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/idea_bulb.jpg
http://www.nurseweb.villanova.edu/womenwithdisabilities/Stress/Thought2.jpg
http://www.dynamicflight.com/avcfibook/learning_process/1-9.gif
Editor's Notes
Impairment
the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon —exemplifies the difficulties that can occur in retrieving information stored in long-term memory One reason recall is not perfect is the sheer quantity of recollections that are stored in long-term memory. Although the issue is far from settled, many psychologists have suggested that the material that makes its way to long-term memory is relatively permanent. One of the major ways we sort through memories is through the use of retrieval cues. A retrieval cue is a stimulus that allows us to recall more easily information that is located in long-term memory. It may be a word, an emotion, a sound; whatever the specific cue, a memory will suddenly come to mind when the retrieval cue is present. Retrieval cues guide people through the information stored in long-term memory in much the same way as a search engine like “Yahoo” guides people through the World Wide Web. They are particularly important when we are making an effort to recall information, as opposed to being asked to recognize material stored in memory. In recall , a specific piece of information must be retrieved—such as that needed to answer a fill-in-the-blank question or write an essay on a test. In contrast, recognition occurs when people are presented with a stimulus and asked whether they have been exposed to it previously, or are asked to identify it from a list of alternatives. As you might guess, recognition is generally a much easier task than recall (see Figure 7-7 and 7-8).
the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon —exemplifies the difficulties that can occur in retrieving information stored in long-term memory One reason recall is not perfect is the sheer quantity of recollections that are stored in long-term memory. Although the issue is far from settled, many psychologists have suggested that the material that makes its way to long-term memory is relatively permanent. One of the major ways we sort through memories is through the use of retrieval cues. A retrieval cue is a stimulus that allows us to recall more easily information that is located in long-term memory. It may be a word, an emotion, a sound; whatever the specific cue, a memory will suddenly come to mind when the retrieval cue is present. Retrieval cues guide people through the information stored in long-term memory in much the same way as a search engine like “Yahoo” guides people through the World Wide Web. They are particularly important when we are making an effort to recall information, as opposed to being asked to recognize material stored in memory. In recall , a specific piece of information must be retrieved—such as that needed to answer a fill-in-the-blank question or write an essay on a test. In contrast, recognition occurs when people are presented with a stimulus and asked whether they have been exposed to it previously, or are asked to identify it from a list of alternatives. As you might guess, recognition is generally a much easier task than recall (see Figure 7-7 and 7-8).
Levels-of-processing theory suggests that the amount of information processing that occurs when material is initially encountered is central in determining how much of the information is ultimately remembered. According to this approach, the depth of information processing during exposure to material—meaning the degree to which it is analyzed and considered—is critical; the greater the intensity of its initial processing, the more likely we are to remember it. The theory goes on to suggest that there are considerable differences in the ways information is processed at various levels of memory. At shallow levels, information is processed merely in terms of its physical and sensory aspects. At the deepest level of processing, information is analyzed in terms of its meaning. We may see it in a wider context and draw associations between the meaning of the information and broader networks of knowledge. Levels-of-processing theory has considerable practical implications. For example, the depth at which information is processed is critical when learning and studying course material. Rote memorization of a list of key terms for a test is unlikely to produce long-term recollection of information, because processing is being carried out at a shallow level. In contrast, thinking about the meaning of the terms and reflecting on how they relate to information that one currently knows is a far more effective route to long-term retention. Flashbulb memories are memories around a specific, important, or surprising event that are so vivid they represent a virtual snapshot of the event. Several types of flashbulb memories are common among college students. For example, involvement in a car accident, meeting one’s roommate for the first time, and the night of high school graduation are all typical flashbulb memories (Rubin, 1985; see Figure 7-9 ).
Levels-of-processing theory suggests that the amount of information processing that occurs when material is initially encountered is central in determining how much of the information is ultimately remembered. According to this approach, the depth of information processing during exposure to material—meaning the degree to which it is analyzed and considered—is critical; the greater the intensity of its initial processing, the more likely we are to remember it. The theory goes on to suggest that there are considerable differences in the ways information is processed at various levels of memory. At shallow levels, information is processed merely in terms of its physical and sensory aspects. At the deepest level of processing, information is analyzed in terms of its meaning. We may see it in a wider context and draw associations between the meaning of the information and broader networks of knowledge. Levels-of-processing theory has considerable practical implications. For example, the depth at which information is processed is critical when learning and studying course material. Rote memorization of a list of key terms for a test is unlikely to produce long-term recollection of information, because processing is being carried out at a shallow level. In contrast, thinking about the meaning of the terms and reflecting on how they relate to information that one currently knows is a far more effective route to long-term retention. Flashbulb memories are memories around a specific, important, or surprising event that are so vivid they represent a virtual snapshot of the event. Several types of flashbulb memories are common among college students. For example, involvement in a car accident, meeting one’s roommate for the first time, and the night of high school graduation are all typical flashbulb memories (Rubin, 1985; see Figure 7-9 ).
Levels-of-processing theory suggests that the amount of information processing that occurs when material is initially encountered is central in determining how much of the information is ultimately remembered. According to this approach, the depth of information processing during exposure to material—meaning the degree to which it is analyzed and considered—is critical; the greater the intensity of its initial processing, the more likely we are to remember it. The theory goes on to suggest that there are considerable differences in the ways information is processed at various levels of memory. At shallow levels, information is processed merely in terms of its physical and sensory aspects. At the deepest level of processing, information is analyzed in terms of its meaning. We may see it in a wider context and draw associations between the meaning of the information and broader networks of knowledge. Levels-of-processing theory has considerable practical implications. For example, the depth at which information is processed is critical when learning and studying course material. Rote memorization of a list of key terms for a test is unlikely to produce long-term recollection of information, because processing is being carried out at a shallow level. In contrast, thinking about the meaning of the terms and reflecting on how they relate to information that one currently knows is a far more effective route to long-term retention. Flashbulb memories are memories around a specific, important, or surprising event that are so vivid they represent a virtual snapshot of the event. Several types of flashbulb memories are common among college students. For example, involvement in a car accident, meeting one’s roommate for the first time, and the night of high school graduation are all typical flashbulb memories (Rubin, 1985; see Figure 7-9 ).
As we have seen, although it is clear that we can have detailed recollections of significant and distinctive events, it is difficult to gauge the accuracy of such memories. In fact, it is apparent that our memories reflect, at least in part, constructive processes , processes in which memories are influenced by the meaning that we give to events. The notion that memory is based on constructive processes was first put forward by Sir Frederic Bartlett, a British psychologist. He suggested that people tend to remember information in terms of schemas , organized bodies of information stored in memory that bias the way new information is interpreted, stored, and recalled (Bartlett, 1932). Our reliance on schemas means that memories often consist of a general re-construction of previous experience. Bartlett argued that schemas were based not only on the specific material to which people are exposed, but also on their understanding of the situation, their expectations about the situation, and their awareness of the motivations underlying the behavior of others In short, our expectations and knowledge affect the reliability of our memories (Katz, 1989; Ross & Newby, 1996; McDonald & Hirt, 1997). In some cases, the imperfections of people’s recollections can have profound implications, as we see when we consider memory in the legal realm.
For William Jackson, the inadequate memories of two people cost him five years of his life. Jackson was the victim of mistaken identity when two witnesses picked him out of a lineup as the perpetrator of a crime. On that basis, he was convicted and sentenced to serve fourteen to fifty years in jail. Five years later the actual criminal was identified, and Jackson was released. Research on eyewitness identification of suspects, as well as on memory for other details of crimes, has shown that witnesses are apt to make substantial errors when they try to recall details of criminal activity (Miller, 2000; Wells et al., 2000). One reason is the impact of weapons used in crimes. When a criminal perpetrator displays a gun or knife, it acts like a perceptual magnet attracting the eyes of the witnesses. As a consequence, witnesses pay less attention to other details of the crime and are less able to recall what actually occurred. One reason that eyewitnesses are prone to memory-related errors is that the specific wording of questions posed to them by police or attorneys can affect the way they recall information, as a number of experiments illustrate. The same constructive processes that act to make us inaccurately recall the behavior of others also reduce the accuracy of autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memories are our recollections of circumstances and episodes from our own lives. For example, we tend to forget information about our past that is incompatible with the way in which we currently see ourselves. One study found that adults who were well adjusted but who had been treated for emotional problems during the early years of their lives tended to forget important but troubling childhood events, such as being in foster care. College students mis-remember their bad grades—but remember their good ones (see Figure 7-11; Robbins, 1988; Bahrick et al., 1996; Stein et al., 1996).
The first attempts to study forgetting were made by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus about a hundred years ago. Using himself as the only participant in his study, he memorized lists of three-letter nonsense syllables—meaningless sets of two consonants with a vowel in between, such as FIW and BOZ. By measuring how easy it was to relearn a given list of words after varying periods of time had passed since initial learning, he found that forgetting occurred systematically, as shown in Figure 7-12. As the figure indicates, the most rapid forgetting occurs in the first nine hours, and particularly in the first hour. After nine hours, the rate of forgetting slows and declines little, even after the passage of many days. Despite his primitive methods, Ebbinghaus’s study had an important influence on subsequent research, and his basic conclusions have been upheld (Wixted & Ebbesen, 1991). There is almost always a strong initial decline in memory, followed by a more gradual drop over time. Furthermore, relearning of previously mastered material is almost always faster than starting from scratch, whether the material is academic information or a motor skill such as serving a tennis ball.
Decay is the loss of information through nonuse. This explanation for forgetting assumes that when new material is learned, a memory trace — an actual physical change in the brain—appears. In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing left behind, because of the mere passage of time. Although there is evidence that decay does occur, this does not seem to be the complete explanation for forgetting. Often there is no relationship between how long ago a person was exposed to information and how well it is recalled. Because decay does not fully account for forgetting, memory specialists have proposed an additional mechanism: interference . In interference, information in memory displaces or blocks out other information, preventing its recall. To distinguish between decay and interference, think of the two processes in terms of a row of books on a library shelf. In decay, the old books are constantly crumbling and rotting away, leaving room for new arrivals. Interference processes suggest that new books knock the old ones off the shelf, where they become inaccessible. Most research suggests that interference is the key process in forgetting (Mel’nikov, 1993; Bower, Thompson, & Tulving, 1994). We mainly forget things because new memories interfere with the retrieval of old ones, not because the memory trace has decayed.
Decay is the loss of information through nonuse. This explanation for forgetting assumes that when new material is learned, a memory trace — an actual physical change in the brain—appears. In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing left behind, because of the mere passage of time. Although there is evidence that decay does occur, this does not seem to be the complete explanation for forgetting. Often there is no relationship between how long ago a person was exposed to information and how well it is recalled. Because decay does not fully account for forgetting, memory specialists have proposed an additional mechanism: interference . In interference, information in memory displaces or blocks out other information, preventing its recall. To distinguish between decay and interference, think of the two processes in terms of a row of books on a library shelf. In decay, the old books are constantly crumbling and rotting away, leaving room for new arrivals. Interference processes suggest that new books knock the old ones off the shelf, where they become inaccessible. Most research suggests that interference is the key process in forgetting (Mel’nikov, 1993; Bower, Thompson, & Tulving, 1994). We mainly forget things because new memories interfere with the retrieval of old ones, not because the memory trace has decayed.
Decay is the loss of information through nonuse. This explanation for forgetting assumes that when new material is learned, a memory trace — an actual physical change in the brain—appears. In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing left behind, because of the mere passage of time. Although there is evidence that decay does occur, this does not seem to be the complete explanation for forgetting. Often there is no relationship between how long ago a person was exposed to information and how well it is recalled. Because decay does not fully account for forgetting, memory specialists have proposed an additional mechanism: interference . In interference, information in memory displaces or blocks out other information, preventing its recall. To distinguish between decay and interference, think of the two processes in terms of a row of books on a library shelf. In decay, the old books are constantly crumbling and rotting away, leaving room for new arrivals. Interference processes suggest that new books knock the old ones off the shelf, where they become inaccessible. Most research suggests that interference is the key process in forgetting (Mel’nikov, 1993; Bower, Thompson, & Tulving, 1994). We mainly forget things because new memories interfere with the retrieval of old ones, not because the memory trace has decayed.
In proactive interference , information learned earlier interferes with recall of newer material. Suppose, as a student of foreign languages, you first learned French in tenth grade, and then in eleventh grade you took Spanish. When in the twelfth grade you take a college achievement test in Spanish, you may find you have difficulty recalling the Spanish translation of a word because all you can think of is its French equivalent.
retroactive interference refers to difficulty in recall of information because of later exposure to different material. If, for example, you have difficulty on a French achievement test because of your more recent exposure to Spanish, retroactive interference is the culprit (see Figure 7-14). One way of remembering the difference between proactive and retroactive interference is to keep in mind that pro active interference progresses in time—the past interferes with the present—whereas retro active interference retrogresses in time, working backward as the present interferes with the past. Although the concepts of proactive and retroactive interference suggest why material may be forgotten, they still do not explain whether forgetting due to interference is caused by the actual loss or modification of information, or by problems in the retrieval of information. Most research suggests that material that has apparently been lost because of interference can eventually be recalled if appropriate stimuli are presented (Tulving & Psotka, 1971; Anderson, 1981), but the question has not been fully answered
Decay is the loss of information through nonuse. This explanation for forgetting assumes that when new material is learned, a memory trace — an actual physical change in the brain—appears. In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing left behind, because of the mere passage of time. Although there is evidence that decay does occur, this does not seem to be the complete explanation for forgetting. Often there is no relationship between how long ago a person was exposed to information and how well it is recalled. Because decay does not fully account for forgetting, memory specialists have proposed an additional mechanism: interference . In interference, information in memory displaces or blocks out other information, preventing its recall. To distinguish between decay and interference, think of the two processes in terms of a row of books on a library shelf. In decay, the old books are constantly crumbling and rotting away, leaving room for new arrivals. Interference processes suggest that new books knock the old ones off the shelf, where they become inaccessible. Most research suggests that interference is the key process in forgetting (Mel’nikov, 1993; Bower, Thompson, & Tulving, 1994). We mainly forget things because new memories interfere with the retrieval of old ones, not because the memory trace has decayed.
Alzheimer’s disease , an illness that includes among its symptoms severe memory problems. Alzheimer’s, discussed earlier in the chapter, is the fourth leading cause of death among adults in the United States. One in five people between the ages of 75 to 84, and almost half of those 85 and older, have the disease. In its initial stages, Alzheimer’s symptoms appear as simple forgetfulness of things like appointments and birthdays. As the disease progresses, memory loss becomes more profound, and even the simplest tasks—such as how to dial a telephone—are forgotten. Ultimately, victims may lose their ability to speak or comprehend language, and physical deterioration sets in, leading to death. The causes of Alzheimer’s disease are not fully understood. However, increasing evidence suggests that it results from an inherited susceptibility to a defect in the production of the protein beta amyloid, necessary for the maintenance of nerve cell connections. When the manufacture of beta amyloid goes awry, large clumps of cells grow that trigger inflammation and the deterioration of nerve cells in the brain (Barinaga, 1999; Cowley, 2000; Cooper, Kalaria, McGeer, & Rogers, 2000; see Figure 7-17). Korsakoff’s syndrome , a disease afflicting long-term alcoholics. Although many of their intellectual abilities may be intact, Korsakoff’s sufferers display a strange array of symptoms, including hallucinations and repetition of the same story over and over again.
amnesia , memory loss that occurs without other mental difficulties—the syndrome that affected Terry Dibert, described in the chapter opening prologue. The classic case involves a victim who receives a blow to the head and is unable to remember anything from his or her past. In reality, amnesia of this type, known as retrograde amnesia, is quite rare. In retrograde amnesia , memory is lost for occurrences prior to a certain event. Usually, lost memories gradually reappear, although full restoration may take as long as several years. In certain cases, some memories are lost forever (Eich et al., 1997; Kapur, 1999). A second type of amnesia is exemplified by people who remember nothing of their current activities. In anterograde amnesia , loss of memory occurs for events following an injury. Information cannot be transferred from short-term to long-term memory, resulting in the inability to remember anything other than what was in long-term storage prior to the accident.
