Chapter 6 Study Guide PDF

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Chapter 6: Memory 1. The Nature of Memory Memory is defined as the retention of information or experience over time. Memory occurs through three important processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding occurs when we take in information from the world around us. Storage is what happens when we do something with that information in order to remember it at a later stage. Retrieval is the process of recalling information we have stored. 2. Memory Encoding Encoding is the way in which information is processed for storage in memory. A. Attention In order to encode information we must first pay attention to it. Selective attention occurs when we attend only to certain things in the environment. We ignore other stimuli and attend to only a specific aspect of an experience. Divided attention occurs when we have to pay attention to several different things at the same time. People who give divided attention to a memory task are less successful at encoding the information from it than are those who give their full attention to the task. Sustained attention (also called vigilance) is the ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time. Multitasking, which in some cases involves dividing attention not just between two activities but among three or more, may be the ultimate in divided attention. B. Levels of Processing The term levels of processing refers to a continuum from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory. The shallow level of processing occurs when the physical and perceptual features are recognized. The intermediate level of processing occurs when the stimulus is recognized and labeled. The deepest level of processing occurs when semantic, meaningful, symbolic characteristics are used. Studies have shown that a person’s memory improves when processing at the deepest level. C. Elaboration Effective encoding of a memory depends on more than just depth of processing. Elaboration refers to the formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at any given level of memory encoding. D. Imagery Imagery functions as an encoding tool and improves memory and makes memory distinctive. Allan Paivio suggests that memory is stored in one of two ways: as a verbal code (a word or

a label) or an image code. His dual-code hypothesis states that memory for pictures is better than memory for words because pictures—at least those that can be named—are stored as both image codes and verbal codes. 3. Memory Storage Storage determines how information is represented in memory and how long it is retained. The Atkinson-Shiffrin theory states that memory storage involves three systems. The first system is sensory memory, wherein information is stored for up to several seconds. In the second system, short-term memory, information is stored for up to 30 seconds. The third system is long-term memory, in which information is stored for up to a lifetime. A. Sensory Memory Sensory memory holds information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses. Sensory memory is very rich and detailed, but we lose the information in it quickly unless we use certain strategies that transfer it into short-term or long-term memory. One processes many more stimuli at the sensory level than you consciously notice. Echoic memory is auditory sensory memory which is retained for several seconds. Iconic memory is visual sensory memory, which is retained only for about 1/4th of a second. George Sperling conducted the first type of research on iconic memory. He found that people could remember seeing as many as nine letters he had flashed on a screen for about 1/20 of a second. However, this iconic memory was too brief for people to be able to transfer all nine letters to short-term memory, where they could be named, so they could recall only four or five of them. B. Short-Term Memory Short-term memory is a limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless we use strategies to retain it longer. Most people can hold about seven, plus or minus two, items in short-term memory. This is known as memory span. Chunking and Rehearsal Chunking involves grouping or “packing” information that exceeds the 7 plus or minus 2 memory span into higher-order units that can be remembered as single units. Chunking works by making large amounts of information more manageable. Rehearsal involves repeating information over and over again to remember it. The information retained by rehearsal can be held indefinitely unless there is some sort of interruption. Rehearsal works best when a person must remember the information only briefly and not for longterm retention, mainly because rehearsal does not involve deep processing. Working Memory

Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention that allow us to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. Working memory is not the same thing as short-term memory. Alan Baddeley (1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2012) has proposed an influential model of working memory featuring a threepart system that temporarily holds information while a person is working on a cognitive task. Unlike long-term memory, working memory and its components have limited capacity. The first component is the phonological loop, which stores speech-based information about the sounds of language. It includes an acoustic code and rehearsal. The second component, the visuospatial sketchpad, stores visual and spatial information, including visual imagery. The phonological loop and visuospatial working memory function independently and can be used concurrently for separate tasks. The third component, the central executive, combines information from the phonological loop and visuospatial working memory. It also integrates information from long-term memory. Though it is compelling, Baddeley’s notion of working memory is merely a conceptual model describing processes in memory. Neuroscientists have only just begun to search for brain areas and activity that might be responsible for these processes. C. Long-Term Memory Long-term memory is a relatively permanent memory storage base. The capacity of longterm memory is staggering. Components of Long-Term Memory Long-term memory is complex. At the top level, it is divided into substructures of explicit memory and implicit memory. Explicit memory can be further subdivided into episodic and semantic memory. Implicit memory includes the systems involved in procedural memory, classical conditioning, and priming. Explicit Memory Explicit memory (declarative memory) is a type of memory for specific facts or events and information that can be verbally communicated. A study by Harry Bahrick found that any information forgotten from explicit memory was forgotten within the first three years after the memory was stored; after that, the forgetting leveled off. Bahrick concluded that how well students initially learned the material was even more important than how long ago they had studied it. Bahrick calls information that is retained for such a long time “permastore” content. Permastore memory represents that portion of original learning that appears destined to be with the person virtually forever, even without rehearsal. Episodic memory is the retention of information about the where, when, and what of life’s happenings—how we remember life’s episodes. Episodic memory is autobiographical, meaning that it pertains specifically to a given person’s life. Semantic memory is a person’s knowledge about the world. It includes general, everyday, and academic knowledge, but not the personal information of episodic memory. Many explicit or declarative memories are neither purely episodic nor purely semantic. Tulving (1983, 2000) argues that episodic and semantic systems often work together in forming new memories. Implicit Memory

Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory), is a type of memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without conscious memory of the experience. For example, a person may know how to type on a computer without consciously remembering the past learning process. Three subsystems of implicit memory are procedural memory, classical conditioning, and priming. Procedural memory is a memory for skills. For example, when you first learn how to drive a car, there are many steps involved and you consciously follow each of these steps. However, after you have been driving for a while, you start the car and drive without thinking through all the steps involved. Classical conditioning involves nonconscious implicit memory. This type of memory involves making automatic associations between different stimuli. Priming involves taking information that a person has already learned out of storage in order to learn new information. By using priming, a person is able to learn the new information faster and better. Priming occurs when a trigger in the environment evokes a response in the memory. Priming can stimulate goal-directed behavior. How Memory Is Organized Psychologists have developed a variety of theories of how long-term memory is organized. Schemas A schema is a preexisting mental concept that helps us organize and interpret new information. Schemas help us reconstruct inexact long-term memories by filling in the gaps between fragments. Schemas have scripts, which help us figure out what is happening around us and to organize our storage of memories about events. Connectionist Networks Connectionism, or parallel distributed processing (PDP), is based on the theory that memories are stored throughout the brain in connections among neurons. Several of these neuronal connections may work together to form one memory. Where Memories Are Stored Karl Lashley (1950) discovered that memories are not stored in one specific area of the brain but throughout various parts of the brain. Neurons and Memory Researchers today believe that memories are located in specific sets or circuits of neurons. Larry Squire (1990, 2007) says that most memories are probably clustered in groups of about 1,000 neurons. Researchers have also discovered that when brain chemicals such as neurotransmitters are released in sea slugs, they trigger memories. Scientists theorize that this process may occur the same way in humans. Brain Structures and Memory Functions Implicit memory and explicit memory appear to involve different locations in the brain. Neuroscientists have found that the hippocampus, the temporal lobes in the cerebral cortex, and other areas of the limbic system play a role in explicit memory. The cerebellum (the structure at the back and toward the bottom of the brain) is active in the implicit memory required to perform skills. Various areas of the cerebral cortex, such as the temporal lobes and hippocampus, function in priming.

4. Memory Retrieval Retrieval occurs when information that has been retained in long-term memory is taken out of storage. A. Serial Position Effect The serial position effect is the tendency to recall the items at the beginning and the end of a list more easily than information in the middle. The primacy effect refers to better recall for items at the beginning of a list. The recency effect refers to better recall for items at the end of a list. B. Retrieval Cues and the Retrieval Task Two other factors are involved in remembering information: the nature of the cues you can use to prompt your memory, and the retrieval task that you set for yourself. Recall and Recognition Recall is a memory task that is used when a person needs to retrieve previously learned information from storage. This type of memory is used often on essay exams. Recognition is a memory task employed when a person needs to identify certain items that have been presented as familiar. This type of memory is used often on multiplechoice exams. Encoding Specificity The encoding specificity principle states that the information available at the time of encoding tends to be effective in helping to remember that information. Context at Encoding and Retrieval In many instances, people remember better when they attempt to recall information in the same context in which they learned it—a process referred to as context-dependent memory. C. Special Cases of Retrieval Some memories have special significance because of their relevance to the self, because of their emotional or traumatic character, or because they have unusually high levels of apparent accuracy. Retrieval of Autobiographical Memories Autobiographical memories, a form of episodic memory, are a person’s recollections of his or her life experiences. The reminiscence bump refers to the effect that adults remember more events from the second and third decades of life than from other decades. Martin Conway and David Rubin (1993) sketched a structure of autobiographical memory that has three levels. The most abstract level of autobiographical memories consists of life time periods.

The middle level consists of general events. The most concrete level consists of eventspecific knowledge. When people tell their life stories, all three of these levels are usually present and intertwined. Most autobiographical memories are comprised of a mixture of truth and myth. Retrieval of Emotional Memories Flashbulb memory is the memory of emotionally significant events that a person may recall with much more accuracy than memories of everyday events. Most people express confidence about the accuracy of their flashbulb memories. However, flashbulb memories probably are not as accurately etched in our brain as we think. The emotions triggered by flashbulb events also figure in their durability. Although we have focused on negative news events as typical of flashbulb memories, such memories can also occur for positive events. Memory for Traumatic Events Research has shown that memories of traumatic events are vivid and detailed, and more accurate and long-lasting than memories of everyday events. Where distortion often arises is in the details of the traumatic episode. Stress-related hormones likely play a role in memories that involve personal trauma. The release of stress-related hormones, signalled by the amygdala and regulated by the hippocampus, likely accounts for some of the extraordinary durability and vividness of traumatic memories. Repressed Memories Repressed memories are forgotten memories of a very traumatizing event. First the memories are forgotten, and then the person forgets the act of forgetting them. Repression is a special form of motivated forgetting, which occurs when individuals forget something because it is so painful and anxiety laden that remembering it is intolerable. Jonathan Schooler, a cognitive psychologist, suggested that a better term for recovered memories is discovered memories. Eyewitness Testimony Eyewitness testimony occurs when people are asked to report exactly what they saw or heard in relation to a crime. An estimated two thousand to ten thousand people are wrongly accused and convicted each year because of inaccurate eyewitness testimony. The factors involved in faulty memory are distortion (because memory fades), bias, and inaccuracy in memory. 5. Forgetting If we forget so quickly, why put effort into learning something? Various factors influence how well we can retrieve information from long-term memory. A. Encoding Failure Encoding failure occurs when information is never stored into long-term memory.

B. Retrieval Failure Researchers have various theories on retrieval failure, such as problems with the information in storage, the effects of time, personal reasons for remembering or forgetting, and the brain’s condition. Interference According to interference theory, people forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember. Proactive interference occurs when information that was learned at a previous time interrupts the learning of new information. Retroactive interference occurs when the learning of new information disrupts the remembering of previous information. Decay Decay theory states that neurochemical memory traces disintegrate over time. Thus this theory suggests that forgetting always increases with the passage of time. Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon is a type of “effortful retrieval” that occurs when we can almost remember something and are confident we know it but cannot retrieve it. This phenomenon occurs when we retrieve some of the information but not all of it. Prospective Memory: Remembering (or Forgetting) When to Do Something Retrospective memory is remembering information from the past. When a person is trying to remember to do something in the future, this is called prospective memory. This is a memory for intentional types of information. It includes timing and content. Time-based prospective memory occurs when a person intends to do something after a specified amount of time has passed. Event-based prospective memory happens when a person intends to do something that is elicited by some external event or cue. The cues available in event-based prospective memory make it more effective than time-based prospective memory. Some failures of prospective memory are referred to as absentmindedness. Amnesia Amnesia refers to the loss of memory. Anterograde amnesia occurs when a person cannot remember new information. This disorder occurs forward from the time of the event causing the amnesia. Retrograde amnesia occurs when someone cannot remember past information but does not have a problem forming or retrieving newer memories. In retrograde amnesia the forgotten information is old—it occurred prior to the event that caused the amnesia—and the ability to acquire new memories is not affected. In some cases, people can have both anterograde and retrograde amnesia. 6. Tips from the Science of Memory—for Studying and for Life

In order to store information in memory, a person should look for ways to make it more meaningful to himself or herself. A. Organizing, Encoding, Rehearsing, and Retrieving Course Content Organize Tips for organizing Review your course notes routinely and catch potential errors and ambiguities early. Organize the material in a way that will allow you to commit it to memory effectively. Experiment with different organizational techniques. Encode Tips for encoding Pay attention. Process information at an appropriate level. Elaborate on the points to be remembered. Use imagery. Understand that encoding is not simply something that you should do before a test. Rehearse Tips for rehearsing Rewrite, type, or retype your notes. Talk to people about what you have learned and how it is important to real life in order to reinforce memory. Test yourself. While reading and studying, ask yourself questions such as “What is the meaning of what I just read?” “Why is this important?” and “What is an example of the concept I just read about?” Treat your brain kindly. If you are genuinely seeking to improve your memory performance, keep in mind that the brain is a physical organ. Retrieve Tips for retrieving Use retrieval cues. Sit comfortably, take a deep breath, and stay calm. B. Autobiographical Memory and the Life Story Autobiographical memories allow us to learn from our experiences, because we store the lessons we learn from life. Autobiographical memories also allow us to understand ourselves. They provide a person with a sense of identity. Autobiographical memories play a role in social bonding. They are a way for people to share of themselves with others. C. Keeping Memory Sharp

Memory can tell us about how the brain is functioning. When people lead lives that are active intellectually and physically, they seem to be protected against the mental decline typically associated with age. Most people have a personal memory that is associated with a meaningful event in their life. Many everyday occurrences are potentially remarkable and we can remember them, provided that we are actively engaged in them. The processes of attention and encoding explored in this chapter suggest that actively engaging in ...