• You are now going to take a memory test.• At the start of the test you will be shown

pictures of a group of objects.• Try to memorize them.• You will have 20 seconds• When the objects disappear write down all

the objects you can remember.• Who has the best memory?………..

In Psychology you will learn strategies to

improve your memory

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Memory

•So what is Memory?•Memory is the process of storing and retrieving information about the past.•What would life be like without our memories?....•How would we …… •Make a cup of tea? •Find our way home? •Know who are friends or enemies were?

•Is there anything that we don’t need our memories for?

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Types of MemoryTypes of Memory

* *

**Procedural Memory (skills)*

* *Requires conscious thought Does not require conscious thought

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Implicit and Explicit Memory• Implicit memory is memory for things not

intentionally remembered (without conscious thought) e.g. If you remembered the bee in the last slide – did you intend to?

• Explicit memory is when you intend to remember something (which requires conscious thought) e.g. you revise so that you can remember information in the exam.

• We may remember through implicit memory far more than we are consciously aware.

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Procedural (Skills) Memory• Procedural – skills; actions that do not require

conscious thought (riding a bicycle?) you don’t have to think about how you pedal or balance.

• Procedural memory is much more resistant to forgetting.

• Procedural includes implicit memory (that means you may remember something without intentionally learning it or intentionally remembering it e.g. you don’t try to learn to text without looking at your fingers: you learn by practice.)

Give some examples of skills that you may have learned via procedural memory…… 5

Declarative Memory:- Semantic and Episodic Memory

• Declarative things you can declare:– facts, faces, names, events (what did you have for breakfast this morning?)

• There are two kinds of Declarative memory:

• Episodic Memory= memories of personal experiences or events (e.g. Christmas, birthdays, what I had for breakfast)

• Semantic Memory= learned memories; knowledge not linked to time or events (e.g. what is good for me to have at breakfast, capital city of France)

• Give some of your own examples of Episodic and Semantic Memory… 6

The Three Processes of Memory

EncodingTaking information / stimulus from

environment and programming it into our brains. Stimulus is usually visual

(iconic) , but it can be sound (acoustic) and smells etc. It can then be programmed or ‘encoded’ into our brains as iconic, acoustic or semantic

encoding

Storage

Retrieval

Storing information until it is required at a later time. The length of time the information is stored is the store’s DURATION and how

much information can be stored is its CAPACITY

Recalling by using ‘cues’ to remember items you have stored. People may do this differently.

(what has to happen in order for a memory to be formed and remembered)

Copy processes and underlined part onto your handout.

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Activity

8• My documents Psy 20 unit 2 Memory Gorilla Movie

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Who has the best attention?Watch the video clip carefully and count the

number of times the white team catches the ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

Multi-Store Memory Model

Environment

Sensory Stimuli

Sensory Memory

Long Term

Memory

Attention Short Term

Memory

If not attended to information is lost

Retrieval

Rehearsal

Loss via displacement or decay if not

rehearsed

Coding

Coding

Coding

By Atkinson & Shiffrin.

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DETAIL: Sensory Memory Store:• Temporary storage of information stimulus taken

in….

• Visual encoding (iconic)

• Auditory encoding (acoustic)

• Probably others as well (smell – chemical)

– Capacity: Very large– Duration: Very short

• about 250 ms. for iconic (visual)• 1-2 sec. for acoustic (sound)

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Detail: Short Term Memory (STM)• Capacity: Small: 7 plus or minus 2 units or

‘chunks’ (Miller, 1956)

Chunk: a meaningful unit

Examples:

• A group of letters (FBI)

• A group of 7 numbers(8346179) are chunked into two groups for even easier recall 941-0657

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Bread

Displacement in STM

Bread

STM7 slots

( For 7 units or ‘chunks

of information)

Lost from STM

MilkBreadFlourMilkBread

ApplesFlourMilkBread

SyrupApplesFlourMilkBread

PeasSyrupApplesFlourMilkBread

EggsPeasSyrupApplesFlourMilkBread

CheeseEggsPeasSyrupApplesFlourMilk

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This experiment shows that the duration of the STM is around 18 seconds.

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Primacy-Recency effect

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Primacy Effect

• First items in a list are remembered better than items in the middle

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Recency Effect

• The last items in a list are remembered better than items in the middle, if tested immediately

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Evidence for the Primacy-Recency Effect

Remember the following words:

TIMEPEAKSLOWPENSLONGAGESTHANVASTHEATRAINMORESOMETUNERAREWITHBEARTHISTIESHEARLIFE 17

Count how many you recalled:

TIMEPEAKSLOWPENSLONGAGESTHANVASTHEATRAINMORESOMETUNERAREWITHBEARTHISTIESHEARLIFE

7371457167624534464834454148426753344578 18

Detail: Long Term Memory (LTM)

• Capacity: Potentially Infinite

• Duration: A lifetime (decades)

• Encoding: Organized by meaning (semantic)

• Procedural Memory: habits and motor skills, conditioned or practiced

• Declarative Memory: Memory for semantic knowledge (facts) and personal experiences (episodic)

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Summary of Multi Store Memory Model Components

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The multi store memory model suggests that forgetting happens because of:

• Trace Decay: Memory fades with time if not used– temporary if not rehearsed – otherwise it becomes permanent

Peterson and Peterson (1959) (STM & LTM)

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Displacement: Information in STM is pushed out by newer information. 7+/- 2 !

(STM ONLY)

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Interference: Memories are disrupted or obscured by other incoming information. Confusion or entanglement of similar memories (STM & LTM)

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Retrieval Failure: Information/memories in LTM store cannot be accessed because suitable retrieval cues are not available. (LTM ONLY)

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Diversion of attention: mainly in SM but also affects STM

Watkins et al. (1973)

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Memory in Everyday Life

• In this section we will look at factors affecting memory recall (remembering and forgetting) in particular in connection with Eyewitness testimony and Memory improvement methods

• When things are forgotten or not remembered it is because:– The memory Is not available (it has ceased to exist)– The memory Is just not accessible (though we might find it given

time or the right cues)

• Forgetting is fastest right after initial learning

• But slower for more meaningful material26

Cue dependent retrieval failure is when information may be available to recall but is temporarily inaccessible.

Evidence – Tip of the tongue phenomenon (Brown & McNeill 1966) The feeling of being on the verge of recalling

something, often you can say what letter it starts with, or how many syllables it has.

This means that there are Cues that can aid retrieval e.g.

• CATEGORY :- We remember things better when we sort information in to different categories (Tulving & Pearlson 1966)

• CONTEXT :- (Godden & Baddeley 1975) found external environmental cues present at the time of learning affected our ability to recall information.

• STATE :- Internal bodily cues that were experienced at the time of learning may affect our ability to recall information. (Goodwin 1969) Investigated the effects of alcohol.

• Stress and Anxiety can also cause retrieval failure. (as stress is a bodily state!)

KARMA SUTRA

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Context dependent memory

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Godden & Baddeley 1975

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Stress and MemoryP

erf

orm

an

ce

Stress

Low Moderate High

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ANXIETY…..THE EFFECT OF EMOTION ON MEMORY

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Emotional states: Can emotion make us forget? (Repression)

Freud said that we repress memories (our ego’s bury them in our unconscious mind), usually to avoid dealing with traumatic experiences; this is referred to as motivated forgetting. This is a protective ego defence mechanism.

EVIDENCE • Levinger and Clarke found that emotionally charged words

were remembered less well than emotionally negative words. (did we find this?)

• Memories of Child Sex Abuse are occasionally only recovered by psychoanalysis or hypnotherapy.

• Shell Shock – Soldiers loose their memories of war horrors.

• Witnesses of violent crimes often remember less detail than would be expected.

• Major disasters such as 9/11 are less well remembered by the people directly involved, but remembered well by others watching on TV or reading in the news.

• Loftus & Burns showed participants two videos of a bank robbery – one video was extremely violent the other was not. Participants remembered much more from the non-violent video. (can you think of another reason for this?)

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EVALUATION of REPRESSION (is this the whole story?)

• Uncomfortable / horrific memories may just not be thought of so much – so are rehearsed less often than normal memories…. So a weaker engram is laid down, which makes the memory trace more likely to fade away. OR

• It could be caused by high levels of stress! • Loftus later theorised that the violent video

was less well remembered because the participants focused on the weapon used rather than the trivial details of the situation, and that this weapon focus (which diverts attention from other details) is why less was remembered in the violent video.

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Flashbulb memories Can emotion help us remember better?• Brown & Kulik (1977) Coined the phrase Flashbulb memory. It

is a type of Episodic Memory that is especially vivid or detailed and relates usually to some major public event (Twin Towers, Princess Diana’s Death).They theorised that an emotional event triggered a neural mechanism in the brain and that the scene was printed on the memory (a strong engram was laid down instantly).

EVIDENCE • Brown & Kulik questioned participants about famous

people’s assassinations – J. F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King. They found that certain things were almost universally remembered about them, these were:-

• Where you were, What you were doing, Who gave you the news

• What you felt, What others felt, What happened immediately afterwards.

• Do you have similar memories of Twin Towers 9/11• Further evidence showed that the more personally significant

the event the more likely you were to develop a flashbulb memory for it. (75% of black people questioned had a flashbulb memory to Martin Luther King’s death whereas only 33% of white people did!)

• Can you think of other reasons why things like these are remembered so vividly?

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EVALUATION• It could be that the vivid memories

are simply due to over rehearsal – frequent repetition of event on news / everyone talking about it etc. (so really strong engrams are laid down)

• But other research supports Brown and Kulik . Christianson and Hubinette found that emotional involvement does increase the accuracy of memory. When interviewing 110 people who witnessed a bank robbery they found those who had been personally threatened had better memory of the event. This goes against Freud’s theory of repression. 35

Memory Recall The Time Factor• The longer we watch the

more likely we are to remember details (more time for rehearsal and elaboration).

• The longer the interval between an event and the recall the worse the recall. (Trace decay theory) If the memory is not revisited shortly after the event and often then the memory trace will fade away, however..... 36

Research shows that witnesses beliefs about their own testimony

changes over time but their level of accuracy doesn’t! :

Low

er

Time

Hig

her

Explain this using memory theories you have learned 37

Other factors influencing the accuracy of Eyewitness testimony: Research shows...• FACES:- Faces are recalled from top down – hair,

forehead, are the first things we recall about someone. So people with heads covered or wearing glasses are less well remembered when those items are removed.

• CLOTHING:- People tend to focus attention on clothing rather than height or other features

• CONTEXT / STATE / FAMILIARITYSTEREOTYPES have an effect on what we expect, and therefore what we remember.

• LEADING QUESTIONS:- (LOFTUS 1975) (MISSLED MEMORY) If people are asked questions that lead them in a certain direction they will usually go there.

• RACE:- People remember their own race better.• WEAPON FOCUS:- (Loftus) People focus on the

weapon / violence rather than the person who is perpetuating it.

• SOCIAL INFLUENCE:- People can be influenced by what the other witnesses say.

• STRESS/ High emotion:- – Repressed memories. Loftus:- People who saw the

more violent video remembered less.38

Improving Memory

Strategies for Improving memory

Cues

Mnemonics & mind maps

•10

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Using cues

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Cues: Organization Experiment•Daffodil•Plum•Nose•Weather•Copper•Labrador•Water•Flowers•Brass•Foot•Tulips•Pansy•Dogs•Sleet•Milk•Orange•Toe•Snow•Flute

•Pear•beagle,•Clarinet•Hail•Rain•Drinks•Rose•Squash•Hand•Boxer•Iron•Coke•Gold•Harp•Piano•Metal•Apple•Body•Fruit

•Dogs•Labrador•Beagle•Boxer•Spaniel•Fruit•Apple•Pear•Plum•Orange•Weather•Snow•Rain•Sleet•Hail•Flowers•Daffodil•Rose•Pansy

•Instrument•Harp•Piano•Flute•Clarinet•Drinks•Water•Milk•Squash•Coke•Body•Nose•Foot•Toe•Hand•Metal•Brass•Gold•Copper

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List the words you can recall in your booklet now

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How did you do?•Daffodil•Plum•Nose•Weather•Copper•Labrador•Water•Flowers•Brass•Foot•Tulips•Pansy•Dogs•Sleet•Milk•Orange•Toe•Snow•Flute

•Pear•beagle,•Clarinet•Hail•Rain•Drinks•Rose•Squash•Hand•Boxer•Iron•Coke•Gold•Harp•Piano•Metal•Apple•Body•Fruit

•Dogs•Labrador•Beagle•Boxer•Spaniel•Fruit•Apple•Pear•Plum•Orange•Weather•Snow•Rain•Sleet•Hail•Flowers•Daffodil•Rose•Pansy

•Instrument•Harp•Piano•Flute•Clarinet•Drinks•Water•Milk•Squash•Coke•Body•Nose•Foot•Toe•Hand•Metal•Brass•Gold•Copper

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Mnemonics

Strategies that can increase memory, especially for material that is not easily organized;

Mnemonics can be…. tricks, games, or rhymes that help you remember something.

By this we can impose an artificial structure on items that would otherwise be hard to remember

There are different types of Mnemonic techniques that may suit different materials or learning styles. E.g. visual or verbal

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Verbal Mnemonics

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Verbal Mnemonics

Rhymes E.g

• i before e except after c

• 30 days hath September ….. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue….

•Also good when remembering• the order of something 48

Visual Imagery Mnemonics

• Method of Loci –Involves pairing each thing to be remembered with one of an organized set of familiar locations

•Good for visual learners! 49

Visual Imagery Mnemonics• Peg-word system - Connecting each thing

to be remembered in an interactive image with each item on a standard list using visualization: e.g.

• One-bun

• Two-shoe

• Three – tree ….

• Good for shopping lists or lists of any sort....

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Visual Imagery Mnemonics•Mind maps

•Giving each page of revision notes an unique, distinctive visual appearance

•An example of elaborative rehearsal

A mind map on how to

do a mind map!

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Improving Memory: other methods

• Recall Practice: Practicing recalling material rather than just rereading it; especially useful for college material

• Spaced Practice: Shorter practice sessions spaced widely apart; more effective than massed practice

• Over-learning: Practicing material well beyond the point needed to recall it for the moment 52

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Now try a strategy yourself!!

Use two or more of the techniques you have learned today to help you to remember as much as you can about Memory Improvement Techniques to help you study for your upcoming test. You will need to discuss the strategies you used to study. 55

That’s all folks!

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