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Cognition: Memory

Chapter 7

Cognitive Psychology

• Subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.

• Studies on memory, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, language, intelligence, and creativity.

• “Cognitive Revolution" initiated by Noam Chomsky -- 1960s

• Trace back to Piaget 2

Count the syllables in 45 Secs.

• Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

• Brain: an apparatus with which we think that we think.

• Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.

10 equations & 20 seconds

6 X 7 15 – 6 13 + 4

3 X 9 16 / 4 19 – 8

8 X 5 9 + 6

6 / 2 4 X 8

Memory

•Memory is any indication that learning has persisted over time. •Our ability to store and retrieve information.

If memory was nonexistent, everyone would be a stranger to you; every language foreign; every task new; and even you yourself would be a stranger.

Take out a piece of paper…..

• Name the seven dwarves…..

Now name them…..

Was it easy or hard?

• It depends on several things….

• If you like Disney movies?

• When was the last time you have seen the movie?

• Are people around you being loud so you cannot concentrate?

30 words & 2 minutes

circle pilot tubing apple midnight

bread rope pottery mind bell

dog office shape head problem

sister map edge kite flap

coat thunder section brand point

sleigh folder train account wallet

The Memory ProcessThree step process….1. Encoding: The

processing of putting information into the memory system.

2. Storage: The retention of encoded material over time.

3. Retrieval: The process of getting the information out of memory storage.

Three Box/Stage Model of Memory

Atkinson-Schiffrin (1968) three-stage model of memory includes a) sensory memory, b) short-term memory, and c) long-term memory

Baddeley & Hitch's Model of Working Memory (1974)

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Encoding

• Getting Information In • Parallel Processing vs Serial

Processing• Automatically Processed–

Space b/w objects, sequence & how often events happen

• Effortful Processing – Novel/ New InfoRequires attention and effort

Figure 2

The Ways we can Encode…

• Visual Encoding: the encoding of picture images.

• Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words.

• Semantic Encoding: the encoding of meaning. (Associate w/ what already know = better recognition later than acoustic or visual alone)

• Organizational Encoding: Categorizing / Chunking / Hierarchies

Take out a piece of paper and name all the Presidents…

Memory & Encoding Effects

• Primacy Effect

• Recency Effect

• Serial Positioning Effect (When your recall is better for first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items)

Rehearsal & Spacing Effect• Effortful learning usually requires

rehearsal or conscious repetition• Hermann Ebbinghaus studied

rehearsal by using nonsense syllables: TUV YOF GEK XOZ

• We retain information better when we rehearse over time (Spacing Effect)

• DO NOT CRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!• Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve

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Rehearsal

Forgetting Curve

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Storage: Retaining Information

Storage is at the heart of memory. Three stores of memory are shown

below:SensoryMemory

WorkingMemory

Long-termMemory

Encoding

RetrievalEncoding

Events

Retrieval

Storage: Sensory Memory

• A split second holding tank for ALL sensory information.

• George Sperling’s (1960) research on Iconic Memory – free recall vs cued recall (brief perfect image then discarded)

• Echoic Memory

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Sensory Memory

The longer the time delay, the greater the memory loss.

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40

60

80

Perc

en

t R

ecog

niz

ed

0.15 0.30 0.50 1.00

Time (Seconds)

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Sensory Memories

Iconic0.5 sec. long

Echoic3-4 sec. long

Hepatic< 1 sec. long

The duration of sensory memory varies for the different senses.

Short Term Memory

• The stuff we encode from the sensory goes to STM.

• Events are encoded visually, acoustically or semantically.

• Working Memory

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Why a Working Memory Model?

• A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

• Some information skips the first two stages and enters long-term memory automatically.

• Since we cannot focus on all the sensory information received, we select information that is important to us and actively process it into our working memory.

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STM/ Working Memory Capacity

•George Miller

•The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two (1956).

•Limited capacity = 7 bits ± 2

George MillerM U T G I K T L R S

Y P

Ready?

Ways to remember things in STM…so they go to LTM

Chunking: • Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.• Acronyms are examples of chunkingHOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie,

SuperiorROY G. BIP = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,

Blue, Indigo, Purple

1-4-9-2-1-7-7-6-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M

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Ways to remember things in STM…so they go to LTM

• Mnemonic devicesUtilize Vivid Imagery &

Organizational Devices to aid memory– Examples = Method of Loci (visualize

places) & Peg Word Approach (1 = bun)

• RehearsalPlease Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies

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Working Memory Duration

Peterson and Peterson (1959) measured the duration of working memory by

manipulating rehearsal.

CH??

Duration of working memory is about 20 sec.

CHJMKTHIJ547

547544541…

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Working Memory Duration

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Memory Feats – Simon Reinhard &

Ben Pridmore -- WMC

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Long-Term Memory

SensoryMemory

WorkingMemory

Long-termMemory

Encoding

RetrievalEncoding

Events

Retrieval

Long Term Memory

• Unlimited storehouse of information.

• Lasts for Years.

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Memory Stores

FeatureSensoryMemory

Working Memory

LTM

Encoding Copy Phonemic Semantic

Capacity Unlimited7±2

ChunksVery Large

Duration 0.25 sec. 20 sec. Years

Storing MemoriesLong-Term Potentiation• Synaptic Enhancement after

learning (synaptic plasticity)• long-lasting enhancement in

signal transmission between two neurons that results from stimulating them synchronously.

• In other words…they learn to fire together and get better at it…creating a memory.

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Storing Memories•Heightened emotions (stress-related or otherwise) make for stronger memories.•Flashbulb memories are clear memories of emotionally significant moments or events

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Storing Implicit & Explicit Memories

•Explicit Memory = Declarative memories -- facts and experiences that you consciously know and declare.•Implicit memory = Procedural memories & Conditioned learning.

Explicit Memories

• Episodic Memories -- Events

• Semantic Memories – Facts & Meaning

• Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbic system that processes explicit memories

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No New Memories

Anterograde Amnesia

AnterogradeAmnesia

(HM)

Surgery

After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient Henry Molaison (HM) remembered everything before the operation but could not make new memories. We call this anterograde amnesia.

Memory Intact

Implicit Memories

• Procedural Memories = Skills

• Conditioned Memories

• Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain that processes implicit memories

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Implicit Memory

HM learned the Tower of Hanoi (game) after his surgery. Each time he played it, he was unable to remember the fact

that he has already played the game.

HM was unable to make new memories that aredeclarative (explicit), but he could form newmemories that were procedural (implicit).

CBA

Case of Clive Wearing

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Retrieval: Getting Information Out

Retrieval refers to getting information out of the memory store.

Types of RetrievalRecall

• you must retrieve the information from your memory using effort.

• fill-in-the blank or essay tests

• The capital of France is ______.

Recognition

• you must identify the target from possible targets

• multiple-choice tests

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Measures of Memory

In relearning, the individual shows how much time (or effort) is saved when learning material for the second time.

Relearning EffectListJetDaggerTreeKite…SilkFrogRing

It took 10 trialsto learn this list

ListJetDaggerTreeKite…SilkFrogRing

It took 5 trialsto learn the list

1 day laterSaving

OriginalTrials

RelearningTrials

OriginalTrials

10 510

50%

X 100

X 100

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Retrieval Cues

Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations are like anchors that help retrieve memory.

Fire Truck

truck

red

fire

heatsmoke

smellwater

hose

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Priming

To retrieve a specific memory from the web of associations, you must first

activate one of the strands that leads to it. This process is called priming.

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The Context Matters!!!

• Context Effect• Flashbulb

Memories• Mood Congruent

Memory• State Dependent

Memory

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Mood-Dependent MemoryWe usually recall experiences that are consistent with our current mood.Emotions, or moods, serve as retrieval cues. Our memories are mood-congruent.State-Dependent Memories?

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Déjà Vu• Déjà Vu means “I've experienced this before.”• Cues from the current situation may

unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience.

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Forgetting

•An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval.•Encoding Failure - cannot remember what we do not encode•Storage Decay - Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay - Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

Forgetting

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Retrieval Failure

Although the information is retained in the memory store, it cannot be accessed.

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon. Given a cue (What makes blood cells red?) the subject says the word begins

with an H (hemoglobin).

Interference

• Retroactive Interference: new information blocks out old information.

• Proactive Interference: old information blocks out new information.

Calling your new girlfriend by old girlfriend’s name.

Getting a new bus number and forgetting old bus number.

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Motivated Forgetting

•People unknowingly revise their memories.

Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

Sigmund Freud

Constructive Memory• Memories are not always what they seem.• Source Amnesia• Elizabeth Loftus• A constructed memory is a created

memory.• Misinformation effect• Fabricated memories?

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Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when questioned about the event.

Misinformation Effect

Depiction of the actual accident.

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Misinformation

Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?

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Memory Construction

A week later they were asked: Was there any broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A

(hit).Eyewitness Accounts?

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Improving Memory

1. Rehearsal -- study repeatedly to boost long-term recall.

2. Spacing Effect -- spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material.

3. Semantic Ecoding -- make material personally meaningful.

4. Chunk material – Acronyms5. Use mnemonic devices:

peg words make up a story

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Improving Memory

6. Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate the situation and mood.

7. Recall events while they are fresh — before you encounter misinformation.

8. Minimize interference:1. Test your own knowledge.2. Rehearse and then determine what you

do not yet know.