Memory

• Memory


  The processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present
• 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
• Recall


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


  Selecting or identifying an item as being one that you have been exposed to previously
• Types of recall tasks

  • Serial recall
  • Free recall
  • Cued recall
• Relearning


  The number of trials it takes to learn once again items that were learned in the past
• Anticipating recall tasks generally elicits deeper levels of information processing than anticipating recognition tasks
• Receptive knowledge


  Responding to a stimulus in a recognition-memory task
• Expressive knowledge


  Producing an answer in a recall-memory task
• Explicit memory


  Conscious recollection of words, facts, or pictures from a particular prior set of items
• Implicit memory


  Using information from memory without being consciously aware of doing so
• Priming effect


  Facilitation of your ability to utilize missing information
• Procedural memory


  Memory for processes, like riding a bike or driving a car
• Modal model of memory

  A model that included many of the features of memory models being proposed in the 1960s
• Structural features of the modal model

  • Sensory memory
  • Short-term memory
  • Long-term memory
• Control processes


  Active processes that can be controlled by the person and may differ from one task to another, like rehearsal
• Encoding


  The process of storing information in long-term memory
• Retrieval


  The process of remembering information stored in long-term memory
• Sensory memory


  The retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation
• Persistence of vision


  The retention of the perception of light in your mind for a fraction of a second
• Iconic memory


  The brief sensory memory for visual stimuli
• Echoic memory


  The persistence of sound, lasting for a few seconds after presentation of the original stimulus
• Short-term memory (STM)


  The system involved in storing small amounts of information for a brief period of time
• Recall


  Participants are presented with stimuli and then, after a delay, are asked to remember as many of the stimuli as possible
• Recognition

  This is when you select or identify an item as being one that you have been exposed to previously.
• John Brown, Lloyd Peterson and Margaret Peterson used the method of recall to determine the duration of STM
• Recall


  Measured as a percentage of the stimuli that are remembered
• Recall is also involved when a person is asked to recollect life events, such as graduating from high school, or to recall facts they have learned, such as the capital of Nebraska
• Recognition


  In memory recognition people are asked to pick an item they have previously seen or heard from a number of other items that they have not seen or heard, as occurs for multiple-choice questions on an exam
• Determining the duration of Short-Term Memory

  1. John Brown, Lloyd Peterson and Margaret Peterson used the method of recall

  2. Participants were asked to remember letters, then count backwards by 3s from a number, then recall the letters
• Decay


  Peterson and Peterson interpreted the result as demonstrating that participants forgot the letters because of decay - their memory trace decayed because of the passage of time after hearing the letters
• Keppel and Underwood found that if they considered the participants' performance on just the first trial, there was little falloff between the 3-second and the 18-second delay
• Proactive interference (PI)


  Interference that occurs when information that was learned previously interferes with learning new information
• The effective duration of STM, when rehearsal is prevented, is about 15–20 seconds
• Digit span


  The number of digits a person can remember
• George Miller suggested that the limit of STM is somewhere between 5 and 9 items
• Luck and Vogel concluded that participants were able to retain about 4 items in their short-term memory
• Chunking


  Small units (like words) can be combined into larger meaningful units, like phrases, or even larger units, like sentences, paragraphs, or stories