memory memory is the process of taking in, storing and retrieving information
TRANSCRIPT
Memory
Memory is the process of taking in, storing and retrieving information
Stages of memoryPsychologists believe that the process of memory involves three stages: encoding, storage and retrieval.
Encoding: Put in memoryStorage: Maintain in memoryRetrieval: Recover from memory
For anything to be remembered it must go through all of these stages.If failure occurs at any of these stages, the information will not be retrieved- will be forgotten.
How good is your memory?
• The experimenter will read out a list of numbers from 1 number to 17 numbers.
• Starting from the top, the experimenter will read out one line of numbers to the participants, who will then have to write them down correctly.
• How many numbers do you think the participants will be able to remember?
A psychological experiment...
• What did we find?
• In an experiment in 1956, George Miller, a psychologist discovered that the capacity of short term memory was limited. He came up up with the magical number 7 +/- 2 (basically between 5-9) units of information. Do our results fit with his?
• How would this information be useful in everyday life?• Phone numbers?
How about this?• What about the letters below? How many can you
remember. You have 10 seconds to learn them.
DCS LOL OMG FBI CIA USA BBC IBM ABC
• Could you remember more? Why?
• Miller stressed the importance of “chunking” information.
• Could you use this information in everyday life?
Short-term memory and long-term memory
• Psychologists distinguish between short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM)
• STM cannot hold as much information and has a limited capacity.
• LTM memory can hold an apparently an unlimited amount of information and has a vast capacity.
The Generation Game
Contestants…Ready?
Generation Game
Now write down your answers!
Swap and Mark…
HairdryerTomatoLamp GnomeCupCheeseBeansBBQTelephoneJeansTelevisionKitten/CatSunglassesCupcakeWheelie Bin
Primacy and Recency Effect
Glanzer & Cunitz (1966)
They carried out a similar experiment using lists of words. They found the following:
Early and later words, in the sequence, are more likely to be recalled (primacy and recency effect) due to the long term and short term memory effects.
Primacy effect occurs because the first words are likely to have been transferred into the long term memory store.
Recency effect occurs because the last words in the sequence are likely to be still in the short term memory store.
Glanzer & Cunitz additionally found that if there was a 10 second delay while a distraction task was performed, preventing rehearsal before recall, there was only primacy effect – the first few words were transferred into LTM only STM was effected.
This supports the idea that the STM and LTM are separate memory stores.
How does your memory work?
Cognitive Psychology - memoryCognitive Psychologists try to use MODELS in order to try and illustrate human cognitive functioning e.g. memory.
Models of memory:
•The multi-store model
•The working memory model
•Levels of processing model
What is a “Model”?
The Cognitive Psychologists tried to develop computer programs to mimic human cognitive functioning – however this didn’t work as the programs ended up being very time consuming & complex to operate…so…
They use flow charts (models) to illustrate the process…e.g. Multi Store Model
(Not this type)
Long Term Memory
Sensory Memory
Short TermMemory
Basically think of “models” like the tube map…
•Not an EXACT copy, but a representation of something
•Helps us understand how something works
The First Memory Model
Multi-store Model(Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968)
Multi-store Model(Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968)
Sensory Memory (SM)
Short Term Memory (STM)
Long Term Memory (LTM)
Capacity
Duration
Attention Rehearsal
Rehearsal Loop
Terms
Encoding
Model
Decay
Interference
Displacement
The Multi-store Model (Atkinson & Shiffrin1968)
SensoryMemory
(SM)
Short TermMemory(STM)
Long TermMemory(LTM)
SensoryInput
AttentionRetrieval
Rehearsal Loop
Tip: Remember this structural model…as it could be very useful for the future.
The model is a structural model because it focuses on the storage components of the memory system
Not attended to I.e. lost by DECAY
Lost by DECAY orDISPLACEMENT
Lost (not available)
EncodingSelective
Key Features of the MSM
•There are THREE different types of memory
•The Multi Store model describes the different types of memory as “memory stores”; Sensory Memory (SM), Short Term Memory (STM) and Long Term Memory (LTM)
•The model illustrates memory as a flow of information through an information processing system.
•The flow of information is fixed i.e. information can not by-pass the Sensory memory and go straight into the Short Term Memory store – has to go in sequence!!!
•At each stage of the process, there are constraints in terms of capacity,
duration and encoding.
CAPACITY
DURATION
ENCODING
The length of time the information can be stored with the Individual stores
Amount of information which can be storedwithin the Individual stores
How the information is stored i.e. acoustic or semantic
What is meant by capacity, duration and encoding?
Each memory store differs in terms of the concepts above..so we are going to BREAK THE MODEL DOWN
SENSORY MEMORY
The Multi-store Model (Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968)
SensoryMemory
(SM)
Short TermMemory(STM)
Long TermMemory(LTM)
SensoryInput
Attention
Encoding
Rehearsal Loop
Not attended to I.e. lost by DECAY
Lost by DECAY orDISPLACEMENT
Lost (not available)
Retrieval
Selective
Sensory Memory
Information coming from the external environment firstly goes into the SENSORY STORE. The store holds information for a fraction of a second after the physical stimulus is no longer available.
There are three separate sensory stores to hold different kinds of input:
ICONIC STORE:
ECHOIC STORE:
HAPTIC STORE:
e.g. colours, shapes, faces
e.g. music, voices, alarms
e.g. texture
Stored as images
Stored as sounds
Stored as feelings
The Sensory Store sifts through a huge amounts of incoming sensory information in order to avoid overloading the system. The sensory memory holds on to an image/sound of the environment for a few milliseconds whilst they are scanned to decide which ones should be given attention and passed through the system for further processing.
Attention is an important term in the model. The sensory information,
given attention, pass through to the Short Term Memory.
Sensory Memory Store
SENSORY MEMORY
CAPACITY Information enters the system from the environment and first registers on the sensory memory store. It is thought that there is unlimited capacity. However, it is hard to measure as it decays too quickly to be remembered.
DURATION Sensory memory holds information for a fraction of a second after the physical stimulus is no longer available. It is either attended to and passed to the STM or decays in a matter of seconds.
ENCODING Echoic store: auditory inputHaptic store: tactile inputIconic store: visual input
Sensory Memory
Look out for what colour the EXIT sign is?
Questions
• How many glasses were on the table?
• Were there any men in the picture? If so how many?
• What colour flowers were on the table?
• Was the lady in the black dress, in the centre of the picture, wearing a necklace?
3 glasses
White flowers
Two men
Necklace
You remember this because….
Your ATTENTION was focused on the question “what colour was the EXIT sign? ”
Therefore, according to the Multi Store Model, the information went from your SENSORY MEMORY STORE (ICONIC STORE) and filtered into your SHORT TERM MEMORY because you paid ATTENTION to the stimulus.
Input Stimulus(Party Scene)
Sensory StoreFiltering Party Scene
Exit Sign
Attention Short Term MemoryExit Sign
Long TermMemory
Encoding
SHORT TERM MEMORY
The Multi-store Model (Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968)
SensoryMemory
(SM)
Short TermMemory(STM)
Long TermMemory(LTM)
SensoryInput
Attention Retrieval
Rehearsal Loop
Not attended to I.e. lost by DECAY
Lost by DECAY orDISPLACEMENT
Lost (not available)
Selective Encoding
Material given ATTENTION in the Sensory Memory (SM) will pass through to the Short Term Memory.
The Short Term Memory holds the information an individual is consciously thinking about at any one time.
Changing information to be remembered into a form which makes it suitable for the memory to deal with.
Short Term Memory prefers to encode information according to it’s sound – echoic.
Example
Your friend asks you to get them Subway sandwich – they ask for ….
Encoding
You have to wait in a very long queue.
How are you going to remember them???
No Pickles
I would repeat them in my head – SUBVOCALLY – slightly to ourselves
You may choose to repeat them out loud – EXPLICITY VOCALISE
Encoding - STM
It therefore suggests that the Short Term Memory (STM) prefers to code things
acoustically (in sounds).
This preference for sound was demonstrated by Conrad (1964)
Conrad (1964) •Used a string of letters to investigate short term memory
•A typical string maybe “AKJBSL”
•Letters presented very quickly on screen
•Results were very interesting….
•The letters B and V were muddled with P – sound the same
•But P was very rarely muddled with S
•Conrad said that it was the sound of the letters that mattered in encoding in the STM.
•Even though the visual information was presented on screen it must have been changed into sound for the errors to have occurred
Encoding - STM
Capacity - STM
Capacity is the amount of information which can be held.
“THE MAGIC number 7+/-2” Miller (1956)
Miller suggested that we could hold between five and nine items of information.
Example: try to remember one of these telephone numbers-
Mila Kunis’s telephone number:
0 7 7 8 9 9 5 6 7 6 5 1
Or, Ashton Kutcher’s telephone number:
0 7 7 9 5 1 6 8 6 9 0 1
It’s difficult isn’t it…
Now try “CHUNKING”
Mila Kunis’s telephone number:
0 7 7 8 9 9 5 6 7 6 5 1
Or, Ashton Kutcher’s telephone number:
0 7 7 9 5 1 6 8 6 9 0 1Before the telephone numbers were too long – but – by CHUNKING the information into meaningful chunks should make it easier toremember!!!
Duration – STM
The length of time or duration that information can be held on to the STM is also limited
If a memory is not in use, it will quickly disappear
By repeating the information we are effectively making it re-enter the STM
Rehearsal prevents the information from disappearing and we can hold onto it for longer.
Duration – STM
STUDY – Peterson & Peterson (1959)
•Presented participants in their study with a TRIGRAM (three letters in alphabet – GLC)
•Then asked them to count backwards in threes
•It was found after 18 seconds of counting backwards they could notremember the trigrams
•The study by Peterson & Peterson suggested that STM has a limited duration.
•If we do not use information in our STM quickly it decays and is lost.
•The study also shows that STM is sensitive to INTERFERENCE
Maintenance Rehearsal – just keeps information in the Short Term Memory – Example repeating something over and over
Elaborative Rehearsal – the information is used and changed in someway. The way the information is rehearsed is important in whether it becomes more permanent. It is through elaborative rehearsal that information is passed into the LONG TERM MEMORY
Some researchers have distinguished between the types of rehearsal:
Short-termMemory
Capacity 7+/-2 itemsMiller proposed that most people have a digit span of 7+/-2 (i.e. 5-9). However he also suggested that if information is put into “CHUNKS” then we can hold 7+/-2 of these chunks in our STM
Duration Up to 30 seconds. After this, it is lost unless it is maintained in the store by rehearsal.
Peterson & Peterson (1959)Participants shown trigrams and asked them to recall them after a distraction (counting backwards in threes). They were able to recall about 80% after 3 seconds and only 10% after 18 seconds.
Encoding Mainly Acoustic
With enough rehearsal information is transferred into the LTM
LONG TERM MEMORY
The Multi-store Model (Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968)
SensoryMemory
(SM)
Short TermMemory(STM)
Long TermMemory(LTM)
SensoryInput
Attention
Rehearsal Loop
Not attended to I.e. lost by DECAY
Lost by DECAY orDISPLACEMENT
Lost (not available)
Selective Encoding
Retrieval
Long Term Memory is where information is held for some period of time. It could be held for a few seconds to a life time.
Where all our knowledge/skills are held – swimming/cycling/cooking/names.
Without the Long Term Memory we would not be able to do even the simplest task.
Encoding - LTM
Information in the Long Term Memory is encoded in terms of meaning.
Another term for “meaning” is “semantic”
An example –
If people from the UK are trying to remember the word “barn” we are more likely to say “shed” or “hut” rather than “barn” – therefore we are looking at meaning rather than sound.
Capacity – LTM
UNLIMITED – estimating a upper limited is IMPOSSIBLE!!!
The amount of information that the LTM can hold is certainly very large indeed.
Example:
Luria (1968) studied a Russian journalist called Solomon Shereshevesky who appeared to have a limitless memory capacity. It is claimed that his memory was so perfect, he could remember nearly every detail of his life.
Duration - LTM
STUDY – Bahrick et al (1975)
•Bahrick et al (1975) 392 people were asked to name ex class mates.
•They were then given photos and asked to recall the names of the people shown (photo recognition test) or given the names and asked to match them to a photo (name recognition test).
•Within 15 years of leaving school, participants could still recognise 90% of names and faces. After 48 years recognition was still good at about 75%
Long-termMemory
Capacity Unlimited
Duration Can last up to a lifetime
Encoding Mainly Semantic
Summary-main theoretical claims.
• Memory is not unitary but comprises Three different memory stores. Namely Sensory, Short tem and Long term.
• These stores differ from each other in a number of respects including duration, capacity and encoding.
• Information flows between these stores in ways controlled by control processes such as attention, rehearsal and retrieval.
Experimental studies relevant to MSM
Over to you!
Each individual or pair will have to present the AMFE’s for the following studies:
Peterson and Peterson-PrindaMiller-JessBaddeley-Isabelle STM/Sofia LTMGlanzer and Cunitz-RonaldoHM and Clive Wearing–Maddy
In addition you will provide a summary of the study and explain why it is relevant to MSM.
Evaluating MSM
Strengths:
•The model pioneered the new approach to memory where humans are seen as information processors.•The model is supported by research which shows there are 3 distinctly different memory stores.•It has been possible to make predictions based on the model and to design experiments.•It could be argued that newer models simply elaborate on the MSM.
Evaluating MSM
Weaknesses:
•Offers too simplistic a view of how memory works. It does not fully account for how information is passed between stores, (e.g. how information from LTM may indicate what is important and relevant to pay attention to in the sensory memory). It is too simplistic to think that the stores can only communicate with each other in a linear fashion.•The importance of rehearsal for encoding into the LTM has been doubted. We can remember things when they are not rehearsed (e.g. flashbulb memory).
Evaluating MSM
Weaknesses continued:
•Research into encoding of LTM has challenged the single store version of LTM. It is now accepted that LTM contains several stores (e.g. semantic, episodic, procedural).•Too much emphasis on structures (the stores) at the expense of investigating processing in any detail (attention and rehearsal are mentioned not explained).