copyright © allyn & bacon 2007 memory cognition the process of thought

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Memory

Cognition The Process of

Thought


Human memory is an information processing

system that works constructively to encode,

store, and retrieve information

Key Question: What is Memory?

Any system – human, animal, or machine – that encodes, stores, and retrieves information

What is Memory?

•Cognitive psychologists see human memory more as an interpretive system, such as an artist, rather than a system that takes an accurate recording, such as a video recorder

Metaphors for Memory

•Information on which attention is focused•Information in which we are interested•Information that arouses us emotionally•Information that fits with our previous experiences•Information that we rehearse

Human Memory is Good at:

•Images that serve well enough in everyday life but are sparse in details •Example: The image of a nickel

…we automatically fill in the gaps and missing details without realizing how much of the memory we are actually creating

Vague Memory

Encoding Storage Retrieval

Memory’s Three Basic Tasks


The Process of Remembering1. Select a certain stimulus out of many2. Identify the distinctive features3. Mentally label it to make it meaningful

Elaboration

Deliberate encoding in which you connect a new concept with existing information in your memory



•The retention of encoded material over time



•Involves the location and recovery of information from memory


Testing Your Memory • Try to recall as many of the following words as

possible without writing any of the down

comforter tirednight blanketmoon pajamasblanket monkeypillow darksnoring bedspreaddreams blanketavocado quiet clock peaceful

Each of the three memory stages encodes and stores memories in a different way,

but they work together to transform sensory experience into a lasting record that has a

pattern of meaning

How Do WeForm Memories?

The Three Stages of Memory

Sensory Memory

Working Memory

Long-term Memory


Sensory Memory

Working Memory

Long-term Memory

Preserves brief sensory impressions of stimuli


The First Stage: Sensory Memory

•On the next slide, you will see a series of letters for one second •Try to remember as many letters as you can

•DO NOT WRITE THEM DOWN

D J BX H GC L Y


• How many can you recall?

D J BX H GC L Y


• A. Capacity/Duration• Holds the barrage of incoming

sensations just long enough for brain to scan it and decide which information needs attention….1/4 of a sec

• Lasts just long enough to dissolve into another and give us a sense of flow and continuity in our experience


• Actual storage capacity can be 12 or more items, but all but 3 or 4 disappear before they enter our consciousness

The First Stage: Sensory Memory• B. Structure/Function• There is as separate sensory register for each

sense…each holds a different kind of sensory information

Visual Stimulation = Iconic MemoryAuditory Stimulation = Echoic MemoryTactile (touch) Stimulation = Tactile Sensory MemoryOlfactory Stimulation = Olfactory Sensory MemoryGustatory Stimuli = Gustatory Sensory Memory


• The job of sensory memory is to store these images briefly If they were held too long, they would interfere with new

information• Psychologists believe that, in this stage, memory images take the form

of nerve impulses


Sensory Memory

Working Memory

Long-term Memory

Preserves recently perceived events or experiences for less than a minute without rehearsal, also called short-term memory or STM

The Second Stage: Working Memory

• Working memory consists of…

• A central executive• A phonological loop• The sketchpad

Three Parts of Working Memory

• Central Executive: Directs attention to material retrieved from LTM or to important input from the

sensory memory

• Phonological Loop: Temporarily stores sounds….like someone’s name

• Sketchpad: Stores and manipulates mental images…like when you can imagine yourself

driving a car to school from home

Working Memory• Like the central processing chip

of a computer

• The center of mental action AND the go-between for the other parts of memory

• It is where the brain sorts out and encodes information before adding it to long term memory

• We are conscious of everything in the working memory


Working Memory

• Also the area where ‘thinking’ occurs… which is the brain mulling over images and ideas taken from the LTM

• AKA = Short Term Memory Example: A phone number you just

looked up

Capacity/Duration• Has limited capacity and a short

duration • Typically hold information for

about 20 seconds

• “Magic Number Seven” …seven items of any sort..(letters, numbers, words, shapes, sounds) will fill the working memory of most people

• Has the smallest capacity of the three stages

“Put on your thinking cap”


Biological Basis: Working memory probably holds information in actively firing nerve circuits…most likely in the frontal cortex

Encoding and Storage in Working Memory• I. Chunking

• II. Rehearsal• Maintenance Rehearsal• Elaborate Rehearsal

• III. Acoustic Encoding: The Phonological Loop

• IV. Visual and Spatial Encoding.. the sketchpad


Working Memory Aides To Overcome Limited Capacity and Short Duration

Chunking Organizing pieces of information into a smaller number of meaningful units

• Example: A social security number

F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M

FBI TWA CIA IBM


Acronyms

HOMES Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie,

Superior

PEMDAS Parentheses, Exponent,

Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract

ROY G. BIV Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,

Blue, Indigo, Violet

NATO North Atlantic Treaty

Organization

SNAFU Situation Normal, All F***ed

Up

WTF Williamstown Theater Festival

Acronyms are another way of chunking information to remember it.

Rehearsal Process in which information is repeated or reviewed to keep it from fading while in working memory

Spacing EffectWe retain information

better when we rehearse over time

Rehearsal

Maintenance Rehearsal Repeating information to

remember it

Ex: Cramming for a test, a shopping list in your head • Not an efficient method of

transferring information into the LTM

Elaborate Rehearsal Repeating information AND connecting it to knowledge

already stored in LTM • A more efficient method of

transferring information into the LTM

• Ex: 1-800-EYE-EXAM

Acoustic Encoding Encoded memory of a stimulus on the basis of any sound associated with it

Whrr -- pop -- splash -- cuckoo: You can hear in your mind the sounds they describe

Examples:

Hearing words and phrases

Repeating notes to yourself while studying.

Working Memory Aides To Overcome Limited Capacity and

Short Duration

• Visual and Spatial Encoding... The Sketchpad

• Encodes visual images and mental representations of objects in space• • Example: Holds those images you think of when trying to remember

where you left your lost coat

Working Memory Aides To Overcome Limited Capacity and

Short Duration

Explanation for the fact that the more connections you make with new information while it is in the working memory to prior knowledge in the LTM, the more likely you are to remember it.

Also known as… Elaboration or Elaborative Rehearsal

Levels-of-Processing Theory


Sensory Memory

Working Memory

Long-term Memory

Stores material organized according to meaning, also called LTM


Capacity and Duration: • Largest capacity and duration

• Capacity is unlimited • Lasts a lifetime unless damaged/dementia

• Unknown why it has unlimited capacity • Stores information according to meaning

The Third Stage:Long-Term Memory


Parts of the Brain Associated with Long Term Memory

Amygdala and Hypothalamus Strengthens memories that have strong emotional

associations…. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Visual Cortex Generating visual images

Hippocampus• Deterioration of the hippocampus the cause of Alzheimer’s

Disease• Long term memories make a stop here before going into long term

storage


The Third Stage:Long-Term Memory

Procedural Memory Division of LTM that stores memories for how things are done

Example: How to tie a shoe

Declarative Memory Division of LTM that stores explicit information (also known as fact memory)

Requires some conscious

mental effort

Example: The capital of Alberta

Yes…this was intentional

Subdivisions of Declarative Memory

Episodic Memory

Memory that stores personal events, or

“episodes”

Semantic Memory

Memory that stores general knowledge,

including meanings of words and concepts


Please read the following story, and be prepared to have your memory tested for one of its sentences.

This is an interesting story about the telescope. In Holland, a man named Lippershey was an eyeglass maker. One day his children were playing with some lenses. They discovered that things seemed very close if two lenses were held about a foot apart. Lippershey began experimenting, and his “spyglass” attracted much attention. He sent a letter about it to Galileo, the great Italian scientist. Galileo at once realized the importance of the discovery and set about to build an instrument of his own. He used an old organ pipe with one lens curved out and the other in. On the first clear night he pointed the glass toward the sky. He was amazed to find the empty dark spaces filled with brightly gleaming stars! Night after night Galileo climbed to a high tower sweeping the sky with his telescope. One night he saw Jupiter, and to his great surprise discovered near it three bright stars, two to the east and one to the west.


Now decide which one of the following sentences was in the story

A. He sent Galileo, the great Italian scientist, a letter about it.

B. A letter about it was sent to Galileo, the great Italian scientist.

C. Galileo, the great Italian scientist, sent him a letter about it.

D. He sent a letter about it to Galileo, the great Italian scientist.

Semantic memory

Includes memory for:language, factsgeneral knowledge

Episodic memory

Includes memory for:events, personal experiences

Includes memory for:motor skills, operant and classicalconditioning

Long-term memory

Declarative memory Procedural memory

Eidetic Memory• The so-called “photographic” memory• An "unfounded myth?????" • Evidence of it is found more often in children than adults

Eidetic memory as observed in children is typified by the ability of an individual to study an image for approximately 30 seconds, and maintain a nearly perfect photographic memory of that image for a short time once it has been removed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ugfCjqlZ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ugfCjqlZ4

The Biological Basisof Long-Term Memory

• Engram or Memory TracePhysical change in the brain associated with memory

Where are memories held????…Probably anywhere

• Long-term Potentiation (po-TEN-she-a-shun)

The long-lasting improvement in communication between two neurons that results from stimulating them simultaneously

Consolidation The process by which short-term memories are changed to long-term memories

The Biological Basisof Long-Term Memory

AmnesiaAnterograde Amnesia Inability to form memories for new information

Retrograde Amnesia –Inability to remember information previously stored in memory

• Watch 50 First Dates trailer• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErjP5xMTc

8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErjP5xMTc8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErjP5xMTc8I

Flashbulb Memories

Clear, vivid long term memory of an especially meaningful and emotional event

Usually accurate for at least the first year after the event

Information can be lost, but not destroyed or deleted

• Watch 9/11 Flashbulb Memories on Youtube• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evj6q0eCdd8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evj6q0eCdd8

Long-term memory

Working orShort-term

Memory

Sensory

Input

Sensory Memory

AttentionEncoding

Retrieval

Maintenance Rehearsal

¼ of a second 20 seconds Forever?

Forgetting

copyright © allyn & bacon 2007 memory cognition the process of thought

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