MEMORY

• Semantic memory is the ability to recall general knowledge about the world, such as facts or concepts.
• Episodic memory is the ability to remember specific events that have happened at particular times and places.
• Eyewitness Testimony

  Evidence provided by people who witnessed a particular event or crime, relying on recall from memory
• Eyewitness Testimony

  • Can be inaccurate and distorted
  • Has important implications for police interviews
• Leading questions


  Questions where a certain answer is implied
• Post-event discussion can affect the accuracy of recall
• Leading questions can mislead people into thinking they saw something they didn't
• Multi-Store Model


  1. Sensory input goes into sensory register

  2. Attended information passes into short-term memory

  3. Information processed further (rehearsed) can be transferred to long-term memory
• Multi-Store Model


  • Short-term memory has finite capacity and duration
  • Long-term memory can store information indefinitely
• Miller's Magic Number


  Short-term memory capacity is about 7 items, plus or minus 2
• Chunking


  Combining individual items into larger, more meaningful units to increase short-term memory capacity
• Coding


  • The way information is stored in memory
  • Acoustic coding (how information sounds)
  • Semantic coding (meaning of information)
• Short-term memory (STM) capacity


  About seven chunks of information
• Coding


  The way information is stored in memory
• STM coding


  • Acoustic coding - about how the information sounds
• LTM coding


  • Semantic coding - about the meaning of the information
• Miller's magic number


  The capacity of short-term memory is about 7 plus or minus 2 items
• Sensory register


  Temporarily stores information from the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell)
• Short-term memory (STM)


  Has limited capacity and duration, uses acoustic coding
• Long-term memory (LTM)


  Has unlimited capacity and is theoretically permanent, uses semantic coding
• Types of long-term memory


  • Episodic memory - stores information about experienced events
  • Semantic memory - stores facts and knowledge
  • Procedural memory - stores knowledge of how to do things
• Schema- a mental framework that organizes and interprets information from the environment.
• Schemas can be thought of as mental templates that allow us to categorize and understand new information based on our past experiences.
• Working memory model

  
• The working memory model is an updated version of the multi-store model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974). It suggests that there are three main components of working memory:
• Phonological loop - involved in processing auditory information such as speech sounds
• Central executive - responsible for controlling and coordinating other processes within working memory
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad - responsible for visual and spatial information
• Episodic buffer - integrates information across different modalities and maintains it over time
• Visuo-spatial Sketchpad – involved in processing visual and spatial information.
• Articulatory process - involves rehearsal of verbal material through silent repetition or recitation
• Acoustic store - temporary storage area where spoken words are held until they can be processed further
• Visual cache - temporary storage area that holds visual images
• Iconic store - short term memory system that stores visual information for up to half a second
• Participants with damage to their phonological loop had difficulty repeating back lists of words or numbers, suggesting its importance in short term memory.
• Short term memory (STM) - the ability to hold small amounts of information briefly, typically lasting less than 30 seconds
• Short term memory (STM) - capacity is limited to around seven items plus/minus two
• Multi store memory model

  
• Sensory register - holds sensory information from our environment for about 1/2 a second
• Sensory register - information moves into STM if it's deemed important enough by the brain