CH 9 - The Paradox of Memory PDF

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Instructor: Sue Hobbs...

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The Paradox of Memory

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Hyperthymestic syndrome – the ability to remember almost everything you experienced Savant syndrome – when people with developmental disabilities have genius capabilities incongruent with their mental disabilities Sensory memory – Brief storage of perceptual information before it is passed to short term memory o Remains for brief period of time before it is moved to short term memory or lost o Echoic memory – realize meaning of something you heard a couple seconds ago o Iconic memory – seeing lightning a few seconds after you see it for real Short term memory – lasts 5 to 20 seconds without rehearsal. Can generally hold between 5 and 7 pieces of info o Only lasts up to 20 mins o Also called working memory, where we work on (process and think about about) information o Info then either passes to long term memory or is lost o Rehearsal ▪ Maintenance rehearsal – simply repeating info over and over ● Not very useful in getting info into long term memory ▪ Elaborative rehearsal – linking stimuli to one another in a meaningful way ● Trying to understand the relations between stimuli ● Depth of processing – the more deeply we process info, the better we remember it o Decay – the information fades away over time o Interference – other stuff gets in the way ▪ Can't rehearse because too busy ▪ Two ways interference works ● Info you have already learned interferes with info you are newly learning ● Newly learned info interferes with info you have already learned o Digit span (visual test) ▪ Flash numbers on screen. How many can remember o Memory for sentences (auditory test) o Primacy and recency effects – more likely to remember things we see/hear first and last in list Long term memory – capacity is enormous. About as much info as 500 encyclopedias (1500 pages each) o Info often endures for many years (sometimes permanently) o Explicit memory – things you consciously know ▪ Semantic memory – things we consciously know about the world ● Who was Hillary's main opponent in the current election? ● Who spoofs Sarah Palin on SNL? ▪ Episodic memory – recall of events in our lives

● What did you do on your last birthday? Implicit memory – things you know but do not deliberately recall ▪ Procedural memory – memory for motor skills and habits ● How to tie a shoe ● How to ride a bike ● How to not fall down o Memory processes ▪ Attention – attending to information (paying attention) ▪ Rehearsal – processing info ▪ Encoding – getting info into memory banks ▪ Storage – keeping info in memory ▪ Retrieval – remembering info when it is needed o Encoding specificity – phenomenon of remembering something better when the conditions under which we learn it are the same as when we remember it ▪ Context dependent learning (and retrieval) ● Refers to the external context in which the learning occurred ▪ State dependent learning (and retrieval) ● Refers to internal state in which the learning occurred ● People who learned things when under influence of alcohol remembered those things better when drunk than when sober ● Mood dependent learning – state dependent learning sometimes extends to mood o Tip of the tongue phenomenon – experience of knowing something almost but not being able to recall it ▪ Usually know first letter of word and how many syllables but not actual word Where is memory stored in the brain? o Lashley trained rats to run a maze o Created lesions in different parts of the rats’ brains ▪ Size of lesions affected rats’ memories for the maze, not where was removed o Case study – H. M. had hippocampus removed and allowed scientists to postulate theory of sensory, short, and long term memory o Anterograde amnesia – cannot form new memories o Retrograde amnesia – cannot remember old memories o

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