Chapter 7 Memory

Memory

• Process by which we recollect prior experiences, information, skills learned in the past

3 Types of Memory

Episodic

Special events, happening to or in the present of the person

Flash bulb– We photograph

many details everyday to recall events.

Generic memory

– general knowledge– Usually do not

remember when we acquired the information

– Most information learned in school

Procedural Memory

• Skills, procedures you have learned

• Once skills are learned unlikely to forget

Section 2 3 processes of memory

3Processes of

Memory

encode store Retrieve information

1st process-Encoding

• Information is changed (encoded) into a form that can be stored

• Visual codes– see them as a mental picture

• Acoustic codes– repeating out loud (auditory code) (_7_)

• Semantic codes (bone-dog)– (relating to meaning) words, sentences,

numbers

2nd process-Storage

• Maintenance rehearsal– repeating information over and over again to keep

from forgetting. (Phone numbers, addresses)

• Elaborative Rehearsal– put the word into sentences (used in education)

• Organizational– everything is put in files, files can be expanded,

• Filling errors– subject to errors, not a perfect system

3rd process Retrieval

• Locate stored information and returning it to conscious thought.

– Context-Dependent Memory

– State-Dependent Memory

Context-dependent memories

• Are dependent on the place– Park– church– School– Memories are encoded at the place

State-dependent memory

• Emotional state influences memories

• Moods and emotion that you were in or feeling help bring back memories

Section 3

3 stages of Memory

1st stage- Sensory Memory

• Immediate, initial recording of information that enter through our senses

Sensory Memory

Iconic memoryVisual stimuli called

Icon are held in sensoryMemory. Snapshots

Eidetic memoryAbility to remember visual Stimuli over long periods

Photographic memory

Echoic memoryMental races of sounds Called echoes are held

here. Are easier to remember.

2nd stage-Short-term Memory

Can disappear after 10-12 seconds unless transferred to long term memory.

Dialing a phone number helps you remember it

Primacy Effect

• Tendency to recall the

first items in a series of items

Recency Effect

• Tendency to recall the

last items in a series of items

Chunking Interference

• Organization of items into familiar or manageable units

• Can put in short-term memory 7 items

• Takes the places of information that is already in short-term memory

3rd stage-Long-term memory

• Must take certain steps to store it in long term memory

• No limit to how much can be stored

Reconstructive Schemas

• Memories are reconstructed from bits and pieces of our experiences.

• People will interpret information differently

• Mental representations that we form of the world by organizing information into knowledge

Section 4

Forgetting and Memory improvement

Forgetting and Memory Improvement

3 Basic Memory

Tasks

RecognitionIdentifying objects

or events that you have encountered

before

RecallBring it back to mind

reconstruct

RelearningCan relearn something

faster

Different kinds of forgetting

• Repression (Freud)

–Forget things on purpose

Amnesia

• Infantile

– Forgetting of earlier events

• Anterograde

– Memory loss caused by trauma

• Retrograde

– Period leading up to a traumatic event

Improving Memory

• Drill and practice

• Relate to things you already know

• For unusual association (lion- cats)

• Construct links

• Use mnemonic devices (Homes)