Memory

• Memory


  How we retain and draw on our past experiences to use that information in the present
• Memory


  • Ability to retain information and reproduce it over a while when required to perform a cognitive task
• Memory as a process


  Storing, retaining, and retrieving information about past experiences
• Three common operations in memory

  • Encoding
  • Storage
  • Retrieval
• Retrieval


  Locating and bringing the stored material information to one's awareness when required to complete a task
• Declarative (Explicit) Memory


  Memory system which can be controlled consciously and for which we are aware in some form
• Subsystems of Declarative Memory


  • Working Memory
  • Semantic Memory
  • Episodic Memory
• Working Memory


  Responsible for processing and storing information needed for immediate use
• Episodic Memory


  Memory that is associated with our experiences or life events
• Subsystems of Nondeclarative Memory

  • Priming
  • Conditioning
  • Procedural
• Conditioning


  Memory for associations formed between two stimuli
• Procedural


  Involved in completing a task (e.g., motor memory) after the task is well learned and has become automatic
• Recall versus Recognition Tasks

  • Recall
  • Recognition
• Types of Recall Tasks

  • Serial recall
  • Free recall
  • Cued Recall
• Recall


  Retrieval of related details from memory
• Recognition


  Selecting or identifying an item as being one that you have been exposed to previously
• In the mid-1960s, researchers proposed a model of memory distinguishing two structures of memory first proposed by William James (1890, 1970): primary memory and secondary memory
• Sensory Memory


  Capable of storing relatively limited amounts of information for very brief periods
• Short-term Memory (STM)


  Holds information for a short duration of time
• Long-term Memory (LTM)


  Capable of storing information for very long periods, perhaps even indefinitely
• How information moves from one memory system to another

  1. Information that can grab our attention will move from sensory memory to STM

  2. Information from STM can only be moved to LTM through elaborative rehearsal
• The Levels-of-Processing model refutes the claim of the Atkinson and Shiffrin model that memory consists of different subsystems
• Levels of Processing (Craik & Tulving, 1975)

  • Physical/Structural Processing
  • Phonological Processing
  • Semantic Processing
• Studies on the Levels-of-Processing model have suggested that the deeper the level of processing, the higher its probability to be retrieved successfully
• Components of the Working Memory (Baddeley)


  • Visuospatial sketchpad
  • Phonological loop
  • Episodic buffer
  • Central executive
• Visuospatial sketchpad


  Holds visual images
• Phonological loop


  Responsible for storing verbal and auditory information
• Episodic buffer


  A temporary store that integrates information from the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory
• Central executive


  Coordinates and regulates cognitive operation between subordinate systems, decides which memory will become part of long-term memory and which will fade away
• Forgetting


  Our inability to recall already encoded and stored information from our memory system
• Hermann Ebbinghaus


  • German psychologist who conducted the first systematic experiment on forgetting in 1879
  • Used the introspective method of experimenting on himself and using his own experience
• Nonsense syllables


  CVC (constant vowel constant) syllables like NAK or PUD
• Theory of Interference


  1. Proactive interference: Forgetting of newly acquired information due to interference from previously learned information

  2. Retroactive interference: Forgetting of previously stored information due to the learning of new information
• Trace Decay Theory


  • Also known as disuse theory
  • Learning causes physical changes in the brain (memory traces)
  • Forgetting occurs when these memory traces are not used for a long time and fade away
• Cue-Dependent Forgetting Theory


  Forgetting can occur due to the absence of an appropriate cue or the presence of a poor cue
• Mnemonic Devices


  1. Categorical Clustering: Organizing a list into categories

  2. Method of loci: Associating items with locations in a familiar place

  3. Interactive Imagery: Creating interactive images that link the items

  4. Acronym: Using a word where each letter stands for another word

  5. Acrostics: Forming a sentence to remember

  6. Chunking: Combining smaller units into larger meaningful units
• Schacter's Seven Sins of Memory

  • Transience: Memory fades quickly
  • Absent-mindedness
  • Blocking: Unable to retrieve information
  • Misattribution: Incorrectly remembering the source of information
  • Suggestibility: Susceptibility to suggestions
  • Bias: Biased recall
  • Persistence: Remembering inconsequential things as consequential
• Korsakoff Syndrome is a chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1), most commonly caused by alcohol misuse
• Amnesia is a temporary or permanent loss of memory brought on by a disease, an accident, or a stressful environment