Module 3

• Memory


  The means by which we retain and draw on our past experiences to use that information in the present
• Memory (as a process)

  The dynamic mechanisms associated with storing, retaining, and retrieving information about past experience
• Common operations of memory

  • Encoding
  • Storage
  • Retrieval
• Encoding


  Transforming sensory data into a form of mental representation
• Storage


  Keeping encoded information in memory
• Retrieval


  Pulling out or using information stored in memory
• Memory tasks

  • Recall
  • Recognition
• Recall


  Producing a fact, word, or other item from memory
• Recognition


  Identifying an item as having been previously encountered
• Recall tasks

  • Serial recall
  • Free recall
  • Cued recall
• Serial recall


  Recalling items in the exact order in which they were presented
• Free recall


  Recalling items in any order
• Cued recall


  Recalling one member of a previously learned pair when cued with the other member
• Relearning


  The number of trials it takes to learn once again items that were learned in the past
• Recognition memory is usually much better than recall
• Explicit memory


  Conscious recollection of information
• Implicit memory


  Using information from memory without being consciously aware of doing so
• Culture-relevant tests


  Measure skills and knowledge that relate to the cultural experiences of the test-takers
• Stages of memory model

  • Sensory store
  • Short-term store
  • Long-term store
• Sensory store


  Initial repository of much information that eventually enters the short- and long-term stores
• Short-term store


  Holds information for about 30 seconds, unless it is rehearsed to retain it
• Long-term store


  Theoretically has unlimited capacity, the main constraint on recall being accessibility rather than availability
• Levels-of-processing model


  Memory varies along a continuous dimension in terms of depth of encoding, with deeper levels of processing leading to better memory
• Levels of processing

  • Perception
  • Structural features
  • Meaning
• Elaborative rehearsal


  Processing information in a way that ties it to existing memories
• Encoding, storage, and retrieval processes interact with each other and are interdependent
• Encoding


  The process of transforming information for storage in memory
• Short-term storage


  Encoding information primarily in acoustic form
• Long-term storage


  Encoding information primarily in semantic (meaning-based) form