© 2010 by W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

Interconnections BetweenAcquisition and Retrieval

Chapter 6Lecture Outline

Chapter 6: Acquisition and Retrieval

Lecture OutlineLearning as Preparation for RetrievalEncoding SpecificityDifferent Forms of Memory Testing Implicit MemoryTheoretical Treatments of Implicit MemoryAmnesia

Chapter 6: Acquisition and Retrieval

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Learning as Preparation for Retrieval

Learning connects new material with existing memory

These retrieval paths help us learn new material

Learning as Preparation for Retrieval

Context-dependent learning is dependent on the state one is in during acquisition

Learning as Preparation for Retrieval

Context-dependent learning

Worse memory

Worse memory

Better memory

Better memory

Learning as Preparation for Retrieval

No change better

Change worse

Learning as Preparation for Retrieval

Context reinstatement, or re-creating the context present during learning, improves memory performance (Fisher & Craik, 1977)

However, although the external environment is important at the time of encoding in creating multiple pathways for retrieval, other studies have shown that simply creating the same internal state that you had at the time of encoding is sufficient to serve as a retrieval cue.

Learning as Preparation for Retrieval

Fisher & Craik (1977) Participants told to remember the second

word of a word pair that was semantically related or rhymed

During testing, the prime words were presented as cues or hints

Learning as Preparation for Retrieval

Depth of processing

Context reinstatement

Encoding Specificity

Encoding specificity—remembering something within a specific context

Encoding Specificity

“The man _word_ the piano.”

Context Word Best cue word

Heavy lifted Something heavy

Music tuned Something with a nice sound

Encoding Specificity

Explains why only one interpretation will be drawn Encoding specificity

also explains why memory for having seen an ambiguous figure depends on the interpretation being the same at encoding and retrieval.

Spreading Activation

Spreading activation travels from one node to another, via the associative links

Similar to neurons Input sums to reach a threshold, causing firing Activation levels below the response threshold,

so-called subthreshold activation Activation is assumed to accumulate, so that

two subthreshold inputs may add together and bring the node to threshold.

warmed up, so that even a weak input will be sufficient to bring the node to threshold.

Spreading Activation

We have seen this notion of networks and spreading activation earlier in the course in our discussion of feature nets

Spreading Activation

Networks suggest an explanation for why hints help us remember

Subthreshold activity

Subthreshold activitySums

Spreading Activation

State-dependent learning and context reinstatement

Context Material

Normal cues

Learning

Testing

Context

Better retrieval

If you are in the same context during testing, the learned material will receive preactivation from these connections.

Spreading Activation

Bread

Related concepts

Wheat, white, butter, sandwich

Faster responses

lexical-decision task

Different Forms of Memory Testing

RecallGenerate item with or without a cue “What was the name of the restaurant that we

went to?”Requires search through memory

Different Forms of Memory Testing

Recognition Decide if an items is the right one “Is this the name of the restaurant?”

If source memory is available, recognition responses are similar in mechanism to recall “Yes, I saw this word before.”

(recollection/remember) In other cases, recognition responses are based

on a feeling of familiarity (know) “This feels familiar, so I must have seen it recently.”

Different Forms of Memory Testing

Recognition Dual process vs single process

Can rely on source memory, similar to recall “Yes, I saw this word before.”

Or on familiarity “This feels familiar, so I must have seen it recently.”

Different Forms of Memory Testing

Different Forms of Memory Testing

Source memory and familiarity are also distinguishable neuroanatomically

Participants asked to judge whether a particular item was encountered (“remember”) or if they had a feeling of familiarity (“know”)

Different Forms of Memory Testing

Smaller rhinal cortex with familiarity

Larger hippocampal cortex with recollection

Implicit Memory

Indirect memory tests Look at how a second encounter yields different

responses than the first

Implicit Memory

Movie

Word or lexical decision

Cat Movie

Word presented a second time

Faster reactionTimeeven if the person is not aware of it.

Dessert Faucet

Implicit Memory

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Repetitionimprovesmemory

Explicit memory

Implicit memory

Implicit Memory

Complete word stem

E_ _ P_ _N_Several minutes of class

Implicit Memory

Results like these led to the distinction between two kinds of memory

Explicit memory Direct memory testing, such as recall or recognition Conscious

Implicit memory Indirect memory testing, such as a priming task Unconscious

Implicit Memory

“False Fame” Study by Jacoby et al. (1989).

Shown list of fictitious names Later, shown a list of famous people and fictitious names

Asked to rate fame

Some fictitious names rated asfamous

Implicit Memory

Illusion of truth—an effect of implicit memory in which claims that are familiar end up seeming more plausible

Implicit Memory

In one study demonstrating an illusion of truth,Statements that were heard before—even

those that had been labeled as false—were later judged to be more credible than sentences never heard before

Gail Logan says that crocodiles sleep with their eyes open

Implicit Memory

Another misattribution of a familiarity effect can be observed in frequently misspelled words

Implicit Memory

Source confusion Eyewitness may select

someone from a photo lineup based only on familiarity, not on actual recall

Theoretical Treatments of Implicit Memory

People may be influenced by memories that they are not aware of May have familiarity without episodic memory May be influenced without a feeling of familiarity

Theoretical Treatments of Implicit Memory

Implicit memory involves processing fluency—an improvement in the speed or ease of processingRecently encountered items are easier to

recognize a second timeFor instance, just as seeing a stimulus raises

the activation level of the relevant detectors, perceiving a word or thinking about its meaning leads to a similar preactivation or fluency in the relevant cognitive mechanisms.

Theoretical Treatments of Implicit Memory

Processing fluency may underlie the feeling of familiarity for stimuli that we have previously encountered

Memory Types

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There are many forms of implicit memory

Amnesia

The distinction between explicit and implicit memory is also supported by evidence from cases of brain damage

Amnesia is a disruption of memory due to brain damage

Amnesia

Clyde Wearing Good memory for generic information Love for his wife Unable to remember events

Disrupted episodic memory but intact semantic memory

video

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Amnesia

Retrograde amnesia = loss of memory before disruption

Anterograde amnesia = inability to form new long-term memories

Amnesia

H.M.Severe epilepsySevere anterograde amnesia, unable to form

new long-term memoriesHM video (6:40)

Amnesia

Korsakoff’s syndromeDeficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1) because

of alcoholismSevere anterograde amnesia

Amnesia

Anterograde amnesiaNo loss of existing memories.Damage to the hippocampus and surrounding

brain regionsDifficulty forming new long-term memories

Amnesia

Amnesia supports the distinction between explicit and implicit memory

Anterograde amnesia affects explicit memory, while implicit memory is preserved

Amnesia

For instance, in 1911 Swiss neurologist Édouard Claparède performed an informal experiment with a Korsakoff-syndrome patient

When introducing himself to the patient, he hid a pin in his hand, which pricked the patient

Later, the patient could not explicitly remember Claparède but refused to shake his hand, saying, “Sometimes pins are hidden in people’s hands.”

Amnesia

Amnesic patients demonstrating preserved implicit memories without explicit memory Knowing the answer to a trivia question the second

time around Preferring a musical melody that they had been

exposed to before

Amnesia

Anterograde amnesics can learn new implicit tasks (procedural learning task).

Preserved implicit with impaired explicit memory.

A good example of an implicit task that can be shown in an image is drawing a star using a mirror.

Amnesia

Double dissociation Impairment of explicit with preserved implicit (HM) Impairment of implicit with preserved explicit (?)

Amnesia

SMO46: explicit memory with no fearWC1606: fear with no explicit memory

Controls show bothexplicit memory and a fear response

(Bechara et al., 1995)One patient had damage to the hippocampus but an intact amygdala, while the other patient had damage to the amygdala and an intact hippocampus.a blue light was followed by a loud boat horn

Amnesia

Hippocampus damageFear with no memory

Amygdala damageMemory with no fear

Amnesia

The data from amnesia echo an earlier point about the relationship between learning and memory retrieval

The nature of a disruption in the acquisition of new memories depends on how the memories will be used or retrieved later on

Amnesia

What you are learning about memory is relevant for how to memorize the material in this course

At one level, you may want to learn the material in a manner that prepares you for the form of retrieval that is required for your exams

To make memory even stronger, the best strategy is to employ multiple perspectives, creating multiple retrieval paths for the material you want to learn

Chapter 6 Questions

1. Which of the following is an advantage of connecting new information to prior knowledge in several different ways?

a) It “cements” the new material in memory less securely, so the neurons are more likely to decay.

b) It only allows state-dependent learning to take place.

c) It improves your implicit memory for the information.

d) It allows the information to be accessed from multiple retrieval paths.

2. Which of the following is true regarding recall performance?

a) Recall performance is usually better than recognition performance.

b) Recall performance does not benefits from context reinstatement.

c) Whether a clue about a word’s sound is more helpful for recall than a clue about its meaning depends on how the word was thought of when it was learned.

d) Physical context is more important to recall than psychological context.

3. A question like, “What’s the name of the doctor?” requires _____; a question like, “Isn’t that the guy we usually see at the gym?” requires _____.

a) recall; recognition

b) recognition; recall

c) source memory; familiarity

d) familiarity; source memory

4. Which of the following provide evidence for a dissociation between familiarity and source memory?

a) It is common to realize that a face is familiar but be unable to place it; it is also possible to have source memory without familiarity.

b) People’s patterns of brain activity are different when they are making judgments based on familiarity than when they are making judgments based on familiarity plus source memory.

c) Source memory is promoted by creating memory connections; familiarity can be promoted merely by sustained exposure.

d) all of the above

5. Which testing method mainly targets implicit, rather than explicit, memory?

A) recognition tasks

b) sentence verification

c) recall tasks

d) word-stem completion

6. In which of the following situations are you LEAST likely to decide a stimulus is familiar?

a) Processing fluency is quite low.

b) Processing fluency is at the level you had expected.

c) You can recall when and where you last saw the stimulus.

d) Processing fluency is high and you attribute this to the stimulus being very beautiful.

7. The dangers of source confusion are NOT particularly relevant to which real-world situation?

a) eyewitness identification

b) false fame effect

c) jury selection

d) misattribution