Memory processes

• Levels of Processing


  Focuses on the types of processing that we do in order to store and retrieve items from memory
• Types of encoding


  • PA - physical appearance
  • R - rhyme
  • M - meaning
• Probability to remember things

  Meaning > rhyming > physical appearance
• Maintenance Rehearsal


  Simply memorizing something, allows you to remember something just until you need it, doesn't transform it into any code
• Elaborative Rehearsal


  Elaborate on the meaning of something, transforms the info into a deeper code
• Flashbulb memories


  • Crystal clear, vivid memories, with high emotional content of an important event
  • People often experience those with photographic detail
• Eye Witness Testimony (Loftus and Palmer)

  1. All participants witnessed the same crash and asked to estimate the speed the cars were going when they each other

  2. Given a list of verbs (smashed, collided, bumped, contacted)

  3. Estimated lower speeds for less harsh verbs even though they all saw the same thing

  4. Asked a week later if there was broken glass at the scene

  5. Those who had harsher verbs reported that there was even though there actually wasn't
• Shows constructive view of memory
• Roediger and McDermott: Can memories be created

  1. Participants given a list of words to memorize and repeat

  2. Web, insect, bug, fright, arachnid, crawl, tarantula, creepy, animal, bite

  3. 40% of participants included the word spider even though it was not part of the list, just simply strongly related
• Henry M (Clive wearing)


  • Suffered profound memory loss after surgery on his temporal lobes and hippocampus
  • Retained his intelligence and perceptual abilities but unable to form any new long-term memories
• Anterograde Amnesia


  Affects long-term but not short term memory
• Retrograde Amnesia


  Loss of memory for past events, does not affect social skills, language, or previously mastered skills
• Types of amnesia


  • Anterograde Amnesia
  • Retrograde Amnesia
• Alzheimer's and Korsakoff's Syndrome are types of amnesia
• Semantic Memory


  General collection of world knowledge, generally the same amongst similar groups of people
• Semantic Memory


  • Hierarchical Network, uses categories/concepts so that the same information doesn't have to be stored in multiple separate places
• Spreading Activation


  Allows us to activate associated concepts in memory, e.g. when thinking of doctor we automatically think of nurses
• Explicit Memory


  Memories we consciously recall, e.g. holidays, events, dinner last night, linked to a particular time
• Implicit Memory


  Memories you are not aware of taking, a small amount of learning becomes apparent when tested