Remembering and Forgetting

Problems encoding and/or storing in the media

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNX2YVIMRqs – 5 minutes

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvF113uty4 - Dory

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFWAE1CffbY&feature=related (bleep out 1:10-1:22)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnc5MWuFurU&feature=related – overboard

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f1eVRpXOJo&feature=related - Paycheck

• http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/movies.htm

Terms

• Explicit Memory– Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or of specific

information– Recall and Recognition are part of this

• Name the 7 Dwarves• Which of the following are the 7 Dwarves?

• Implicit Memory– The unconscious retention of previous experiences that creep

into our current thoughts/actions– Studied through priming

• In between these two:– Ebbinghaus…. Re-learning method…recalling, but also using

previous experience…from repeitition

Ebbinghaus Study• The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve:• Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to scientifically study

forgetting. • Used self as subject • Tested his memory using lists of 3-letter nonsense syllables (like KAF, PEB)

– Nonsense because he didn’t want his existing knowledge to be able to help out his memory

• Tested his memory for periods of time ranging from 20 minutes to 31 days. • His results show a forgetting “curve” (time and forgetting)

– Initially, information is often lost very quickly after it is learned. Factors such as how the information was learned and how frequently it was rehearsed play a role in how quickly these memories are lost.

• The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting does not continue to decline until all of the information is lost. At a certain point, the amount of forgetting levels off. What exactly does this mean? It indicates that information stored in long-term memory is surprisingly stable.

• Adapted from: http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/forgetting.htm

Models of Memory

• Information Processor (sound familiar?)– Encode info to make it useful– Store it (here it is put in cognitive schemas for

organization)– Retrieve it

• Storage part involves 3 kinds of memory– 1. sensory– 2. short term (STM)– 3. long term (LTM)

Multi-store Model of Memory(Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968)

Sensory Memory

• The “waiting room” of the memory• Momentarily preserves extremely accurate

images of sensory info to be taken into STM• We can identify what we see based on stored

LTMs• If info doesn’t go to STM lost forever

Short-term Memory (STM)• “Working Memory” “Scratch Pad”• Processes info that is coming in and new (learning)• Processes info that is retrieved from LTM to use in the current situation• “Leaky Bucket” analogy – George Miller – 5-7 objects at once• Chunking (go read page 323 of book)• http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/facemem.html - facial memory• www.luminosity.com• Psych Sim 5 – Short Term Memory• http://www.youramazingbrain.org/yourmemory/#

• H.M. example – can do short term memory, but can not store to Long Tem memory (gives validity to the Multi-store model)

Long-term Memory (LTM)

• The “final destination”• Helps us: learn, get around, form identity• Semantic categories activity

• Types of Information in LTM:– Procedural: knowledge HOW TO do something– Declarative: Knowing something is TRUE• Semantic: facts, rules, concepts• Episodic: personally experienced events

Serial Position Effect

• Why mostly first and last items of list remembered?

• 1st – STM relatively empty when starting• Last – info still in STM and available for recall

• Still somewhat of a mystery…

• Seen in the Roediger and McDermott Study

How We Remember• Effective Encoding –

– automatic (like your location in space and time… “Where did you eat breakfast this morning?”)

– Effortful (remembering facts for tests)• Rehearsal

– Repeating over and over to keep in STM before it goes to LTM– Most people use speech to encode and rehearse (saying things over

and over to yourself)– Maintenance Rehearsal: rote repetition– Elaborative Rehearsal: associating new item with many already

known facts– Deep Processing: processing the meaning rather than just the

physical or sensory features– *Bloom’s Taxonomy

Mnemonics

• Rhymes – “30 Days has September”– Parks and Rec clip– Any others?

• Acronyms – HOMES– What can you think of?

• Imagery Associations

• Partner activity: With the mnemonic I give you, you and a partner come up with a way to remember all the territories of Canada

Why We Forget

• To a certain degree, forgetfulness is a positive thing…keeps our mind sane and helps us survive…gets rid of the clutter

• Marigold Linton..pg 334

• Psychologists have suggested that there are 5 mechanisms that account for forgetting…

Forgetting

• Decay – memory traces fade with time if not accessed now and then….second language?

• Replacement – misleading info can cause forgetting of original material

• Interference – similar info in your mind gets confused with one another – Retroactive interference: new info interferes with old

(Judy/Julie)– Proactive interference: old info distracting the new

(French then Spanish)

Forgetting

• Cue-dependent forgetting – inability to retrieve information stored because of insufficient cues for recall– Ex: knowing an actor’s first name might cue you to

remember the last name too– Cues present when learning can help trigger those

memories later…remembering in same physical environment as event is easier

– De ja Vu – when cues overlap…makes us think we’ve been somewhere/seen something before when we haven’t

Cue-dependent forgetting (cont.)

• State-dependent forgetting– The mental or physical state you were in when

learning something, may be needed to be reproduced to remember it again• Emotional arousal, intoxication, mood• Language in Italy, happy memories when feeling happy• Mood-congruent memory effect can be vicious in the

negative direction

Psychogenic Amnesia

• Amnesia = inability to remember important personal information (usually traumatic or stressful)

• Reading…pgs 338-344– Take notes on “Seven Basic Sins”