Chapter 7 Long-Term Memory- Encoding, Retrieval, & Consolidation PDF

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Chapter 7: Long-Term Memory- Encoding, Retrieval, & Consolidation Getting Information into LTM ● Encoding: acquiring information and transforming it into memory ● Retrieval: transferring information from LTM to working memory ● Maintenance Rehearsal ○ Repetition of stimuli that maintains information but does not transfer it to LTM ● Elaborative Rehearsal ○ Using meanings and connections to help transfer information to LTM Levels of Processing Theory ● Memory depends on how information is encoded ● Depth of Processing ○ Shallow Processing ■ Little attention to meaning ■ Focus on physical features ■ Poor memory ○ Deep Processing ■ Close attention to meaning ■ Better memory ● Beware of Circular Reasoning! ○ Which task causes deeper processing? ■ Using a word in a sentence or deciding how useful an object might be on a desert island? ● Other Factors that Aid Encoding ○ Visual imagery ○ Self reference effect ■ Able to remember things a lot better if we can relate it to ourselves ○ Generation effect ■ Creating/generating the word leads to better memory than just reading it ○ Organizing to-be-remembered information ■ Chunk similar items together ○ Relating words to survival value ○ Retrieval practice Organization, Comprehension, and Memory ● Bransford and Johnson (1972) ● Presented participants with difficult-to-comprehend information ○ Experimental group 1 first saw a picture that helped explain the information ○ Experimental group 2 saw the picture after reading the passage ○ Control group did not see the picture ● Group 1 outperformed the others ○ Having a mental framework of comprehension aided memory encoding and retrieval

● Encoding Specificity ○ We learn information together with its context ○ Baddeley’s (1975) “diving experiment” ■ Study words while underwater vs. on land ■ Half were tested underwater or on land within each group ■ Best recall occurred when encoding and retrieval occurred in the same location ○ State-Dependent Learning ■ Learning is associated with a particular internal state ● Better memory if person’s mood at encoding matches mood during retrieval Improving Learning and Memory

● Distributed versus Massed Practice Effect ○ Distributed: studying an hour a day over a week ○ Massed Practice Effect: pulling an all nighter and studying all information at once ■ Difficult to maintain close attention throughout a long study session ■ Studying after a break gives feedback about what you already know Consolidation ● Transforms new memories from fragile state to more permanent state ○ Synaptic consolidation occurs at synapses, happens rapidly ○ Systems consolidation involves gradual reorganization of circuits in brain ● Muller and Pilzecker (1900) ○ Participants placed in immediate group and delayed group ■ Immediate: study and encode 2 lists of words in succession, shortly after tested for memory of first list, recall was 28% ● Interference is bad for consolidation ■ Delayed: studying list 1 and list 2 is delayed by 6 minutes, tested for list 1, recalled 48% ● No interference and time to consolidate information ● Multiple Trace Hypothesis ○ Hippocampus is involved in encoding, consolidation and retrieval The Fragility of New Memories ● Retrograde amnesia: loss of memory for events prior to the trauma ● Graded amnesia: memory for recent events is more fragile than for remote events ● Anterograde amnesia: inability to form new memories following an event or injury

Improving Learning and Memory ● Elaborate Encoding: associate what you are learning to what you already know; best way to encode ● Generate and test: the generation effect 2...