intropsy 6-10

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• PSYC1101 - Chapter 6, 4th Edition PowerPoint
• The nature of memory and encoding
• Study of memory in psychology
• Memory


  The ability to encode, store, retain and subsequently recall information and past experiences in the human brain
• Long-term memory (LTM)


  • Stores information for extended periods of time
  • Divided into semantic, episodic and procedural memory
• Encoding is the process of getting information into memory
• Retrieval is the process of getting information out of memory
• Forgetting is the inability to retrieve information from memory
• Memory is influenced by factors such as attention, perception, learning, emotion, and motivation
• Memory can be improved through techniques like mnemonics, spaced repetition, and elaboration
• Memory is a complex cognitive process that is still not fully understood by psychologists
• Sensory memory


  Briefly registers information that enters through the sensory system
• Short-term memory


  Holds information while attention (rehearsal) continues
• Long-term memory


  Stores information that receives enough rehearsal (maintenance or elaborative)
• Memory processes


  1. Encoding

  2. Storage

  3. Retrieval
• Information-processing model


  • Assumes information processing for memory storage is similar to how a computer processes memory - in a series of three stages
• Parallel distributed processing (PDP) model

  • Memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections
• Levels-of-processing model


  • Assumes information that is more "deeply processed" - processed according to its meaning, rather than just the sound or physical characteristics - will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time
• Selective attention filters the information into short-term memory
• If the information receives enough rehearsal (maintenance or elaborative), it will enter and be stored in long-term memory
• Levels-of-processing model


  Assumes that information that is more "deeply processed"—or processed according to its meaning, rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words—will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time
• Three-Stage Process of Memory

  1. Information enters through the sensory system, briefly registering in sensory memory

  2. Selective attention filters the information into short-term memory, where it is held while attention (rehearsal) continues

  3. If the information receives enough rehearsal (maintenance or elaborative), it will enter and be stored in long-term memory
• Sensory memory


  The very first stage of memory, the point at which information enters the nervous system through the sensory systems
• Iconic memory


  • Visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second
  • Capacity: everything that can be seen at one time
  • Duration: information that has just entered iconic memory will be pushed out very quickly by new information, a process called masking
• Eidetic imagery


  The (rare) ability to access a visual memory for thirty seconds or more
• Echoic memory


  • The brief memory of something a person has just heard
  • Capacity: limited to what can be heard at any one moment; smaller than the capacity of iconic memory
  • Duration: lasts longer than iconic; about two to four seconds
• Short-term memory (STM; working memory)


  The memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used
• Selective attention


  The ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input
• Digit-span test


  • A series of numbers is read to subjects who are then asked to recall the numbers in order
  • Capacity of STM is about seven items or pieces of information, plus or minus two items—or from five to nine bits of information
• Chunking


  Bits of information are combined into meaningful units, or chunks, so that more information can be held in STM
• Maintenance rehearsal


  Saying bits of information to be remembered over and over in one's head in order to maintain it in short-term memory (STMs tend to be encoded in auditory form)
• STM lasts from about twelve to thirty seconds without rehearsal
• STM is susceptible to interference, e.g., if counting is interrupted, one will have to start over
• Long-term memory (LTM)


  The memory system into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently
• Elaborative rehearsal


  A method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way
• Nondeclarative (implicit) memory


  • Type of long-term memory including memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses
  • These memories are not conscious, but their existence is implied because they affect conscious behavior
  • Also include emotional associations, habits, and simple conditioned reflexes that may or may not be in conscious awareness
• Procedural memory


  Memory that is not easily brought into conscious awareness
• Anterograde amnesia


  • Loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories
  • Usually does NOT affect procedural LTM