Chapter 5

“THREE is the KEY for MEMORY”

Qz. #6 pages 181-201

What do you remember?What do you remember?

Your birth dateYour phone numberYour health card numberYour address and postal codeYour license plate numberYour student numberYour social insurance numberWhat you ate for dinner last night

On the other hand, imagine what it would be like if you never forgot anything◦You would have difficulties focussing on any one

thingIn order to function properly in life, we need

to be able to selectively remember certain things, while at the same time forget others

Most of us only think of our memory when we can’t remember something; any other time our memory comes naturally we take it for granted

Memory vs. LearningMemory vs. Learning

◦Learning = a process that will modify a subsequent behaviour; it is a permanent change in our knowledge or in our behaviour as a result of an experience

◦Memory = the ability to remember past experiences; Memory is basically nothing more than the record that is left behind by a learning process/experience

What is Memory?What is Memory?

…is defined as the capacity to acquire, retain, and recall knowledge and skills.

Your brain works on electrochemical energy weights approximately 3 pounds

Size of fists together

More than 100 billion brain cells called neurons

Connections more important than Connections more important than numbernumber

Types of MemoryTypes of Memory

Episodic Memory◦Ability to recall events from a specific past

experience◦i.e. what was on the last Anthropology test

Semantic Memory◦Knowledge of how the world works, but you

haven’t actually experienced it yourself◦i.e. what is an Australopithecus afarensis?

Procedural Memory◦Knowledge of how to do things◦i.e. how to ride a bike

Three Types of Memory

1.Episodic – memories of personal experience

2.Semantic – general knowledge or memory for facts

3.Procedural – memory for skills

Episodic – Do you remember your first interaction with a personal computer?

Semantic – Do you know the meaning of personal computer?

Procedural – Are you fluent in the use of a personal computer?

Three Levels Three Levels of Memoryof Memory

Levels of MemoryLevels of Memory

Sensory Memory◦Receives information from the environment

through your five senses◦Records this information for only a few seconds◦Enables you to hold information long enough to

record what is necessary◦i.e. what does it feel like to bang your elbow on

the desk?

1. Sensory Memory - the type or stage of memory first encountered by a stimulus. Sensory memory holds impressions briefly, but long enough so that series of perceptions are psychologically continuous.

• Saccadic Eye Movement

• Memory trace

• Sensory RegisterIconic memoryEchoic memory

Three Levels of Memory

Different Levels of MemoryDifferent Levels of Memory

Short-Term Memory (aka. Working Memory)◦Memory that is stored for 15 – 20 seconds

information in your mind right now (unrehearsed memory)

◦If you continue to work with the information, it will remain in your STM longer or will be transferred into your LTM

◦can store up to 7, separate, unorganized items, plus or minus 2 more than 7 items begins to stress out our STM unless

we organize the info into meaningful groups i.e. NFL, NHL, NBA are easier to remember than FNL,

HLN, ABN◦Information in your STM is lost by decay (the

fading of information over time) or displacement (replaced by new information)

Short Term MemoryShort Term Memory (STM) (STM)

SERIAL POSITION EFFECTSERIAL POSITION EFFECT – – the tendency to recall the tendency to recall more accurately the first and last items in a series.more accurately the first and last items in a series.

PRIMACY EFFECTPRIMACY EFFECT – – the tendency to recall the tendency to recall the initial items in a series of items.the initial items in a series of items.

RECENCY EFFECTRECENCY EFFECT – – the tendency to recall the tendency to recall the last items in a series of items.the last items in a series of items.

[ 7+/-2 - about 1 min.]

Test #1Test #1How many unrelated items can you store

in your short-term memory?

76512

Test #2Test #2Testing your short-term memory

Different Levels of MemoryDifferent Levels of Memory

Long-Term Memory◦Information that is important and meaningful to

you will be stored in your long-term memory◦Memory that is longer than 15 – 20 seconds (can

last minutes or a lifetime)◦This memory has been compared to the workings

of a library Information is encoded and stored in a systematic and

organized way It is retrieved by giving cues (like an online search) It is lost when it is misplaced, improperly stored, or

erased

Mnemonic Device

System for remembering in which items are related to easily recalled sets of symbols, such as acronyms,

phrases, or jingles

“i” before “e” except after “c”

“Be, all that you can be!”

“Like a Rock”

“Every Good Boy Does Fine!”

EXAMPLES

Which is involved?

1.First Kiss 10.Use a computer

2.Riding a bike 11.Spell C-A-T

3.Walking through a maze 12.Driving a car

4.List the 50 states 13.H20

5.Define Memory 14.Describe a fight to someone

6.Cut and Paste an art project 15.First day in high school

7.Writing notes off an overhead

8.Formula for classical conditioning

9.Witness a car accident

Three Three ProcessesProcesses of Memory of Memory

1..ENCODINGENCODING - modifying information so that it can be placed in - modifying information so that it can be placed in

memory memory

a. visual codea. visual code

b. acoustic codeb. acoustic code

c. semantic codec. semantic code

2.2.STORINGSTORING - maintenance of information over time - maintenance of information over time

a. maintenance rehearsal a. maintenance rehearsal

3.3.RETRIEVINGRETRIEVING - location of stored information and its return to- location of stored information and its return to consciousnessconsciousness

a. proper cuesa. proper cues

ENCODINGENCODING

STORINGSTORING

RETRIEVINGRETRIEVING

Short Term Memory (STM)

OTHER KEY TERMS:

Chunk - a stimulus or group of stimuli that are perceived as a discrete piece of information

*Rote - mechanical associative learning that is based on repetition

Displace - in memory theory, to cause chunks of information to be lost from short term memory by adding new items

In order to study FORGETTING

1st We need to know what nonsense syllables are.

2nd We need to know what the three basic memory tasks are.

3rd How are nonsense syllables and the three memory tasks related?

Remember,3 is the key

Three Tasks of Memory A. A. RReecognitioncognition – the easiest memory task, – the easiest memory task, involving identification of objects or events involving identification of objects or events encountered beforeencountered before

B. B. RRecallecall – retrieval and reconstruction of learned – retrieval and reconstruction of learned materialmaterial

a. a. paired associatespaired associates – nonsense syllables – nonsense syllables presented in pairs in experiments that presented in pairs in experiments that measure recallmeasure recall

C. C. RReelearninglearning – a measure of retention; material – a measure of retention; material is usually relearned more quickly than it is is usually relearned more quickly than it is learned initiallylearned initially

a. a. method of savingsmethod of savings & & savingssavings

2nd We need to know what the three basic memory tasks are.

INTERFERENCE THEORYWe may forget stored material because

other learning interferes with it

Retroactive Interference - forget the old because of the new

Proactive Interference - forget the new because of the old

Provide a few examples

Provide a few examples

AmnesiaChildhood Amnesia

Anterograde Amnesia

Retrograde Amnesia

•State reasons for childhood amnesia

Check textbook (pages 206-207)

•What is your earliest memory?•How old were you?

Failure to remember events that occur AFTER physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma

Failure to remember events that occur prior (retro = old) to physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma

Improving Memory Improving Memory

1. Visualize it! Visualize it!

2. Chain it! Chaining

3.Place it! The Method of Loci

4.Chunk it! Chunking

5.Acrostic it! Those Catchy Phrases

Ten Principles of Memory Ten Principles of Memory Pay attention Get the info right the 1st time Be sure you fully understand Try to see the significance of what you’re learning Involve your ego, if possible Associate new material with related facts you know Organize the material so that it can be stored If there is a basis for doing so, divide and group Reinforce what you’ve learned through repetition Recite often !