THE STORAGE OF OUR EXPERIENCES

1. THE STORAGE OF OUR EXPERIENCES Chapter 13

2. A Fleeting Experience 2 • The case of “Donald” • A accidental blow to the head caused damage to hippocampus. • Severe memory problems • Anterograde amnesia: the inability to form long-term memories. • To recall an event, the brain must: • Store the event as a memory • Encode the memory into a meaningful form • Retrieve the memory

3. Measures Of Memory 3 • Explicit measures of human memory • An observable measure of the strength of a memory. • Recall: requires the subject to access a memory. • Free recall • Cued recall • Recognition: judging whether information accurately reflects a previous experience. • Yes/no recognition • Forced choice recognition

4. 4 • Implicit measures of human memory • A measure that provides an indirect assessment of the strength of a memory. • Ebbinghaus’ (1885) savings score. • Used to measure memory. • (# trials original learning required) – (# trials necessary to relearn task) • Reaction time.

5. Taxonomy of Human Memory 5 Procedural Declarative automatic, incremental, unconscious effortful, can be conscious Motor Skills Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Working vs. Reference Memory Episodic vs. Semantic Memory

6. A Three-stage View of Memory 6 • Atkinson & Shiffrin (1971) • Sensory register • The initial storage of memory for a very brief time as an exact duplicate of the event. • Short-term store • A temporary storage facility where information is modified to create a more meaningful experience. • Temporary and limited (typically 5 – 15 sec.) • Continued storage depends upon rehearsal and repetition. • Long-term store • Site of permanent memory storage.

8. A Rehearsal Systems Approach 8 • Baddeley’s Rehearsal Systems Approach • Inputs retained in the sensory registers for analysis by working memory. • Working memory • Information being actively processed by rehearsal systems. • Reference memory • long term retention of events, relationships, and procedures

10. 10 • Phonological loop • A rehearsal system that holds and analyzes verbal information. • Evolved to facilitate the acquisition of language. • Retains information in the verbal sensory system for a about 2 sec. unless rehearsal keeps the information in working memory. • Probably not of great importance for a pigeon or monkey

11. 11 • Visuospatial sketchpad • A rehearsal system that holds and analyzes visual and spatial information. • Allows for people to acquire knowledge of the appearance of objects and how to use those objects, as well as spatial orientation and geographical knowledge. • Should be good in a pigeon and maybe a monkey

12. 12 • Central executive • The process that coordinates rehearsal systems and retrieves memory from and transfers information to permanent memory. • Relies heavily on environmental cues to control behavior. • Can switch to an attentional supervisory control when routine automatic control is insufficient. • Is assumed to be a function of the frontal lobes.

13. 13 • Episodic buffer • The system that binds visual and verbal information in the long-term store and retrieves information from the short-term. • Was a fourth component added by Baddeley to his original conceptual framework of the working memory.

14. Short-term Store or Working Memory 14 • Five major characteristics: • Has a brief storage span for new sesnory inputs • Memories easily disrupted by new experiences. • Storage capacity is limited • Has a rehearsal function.

15. food Working Memory in Animals 15 • Hunter (1913)

16. food Working Memory or Body Orientation? 16

17. Delayed Matching to Sample (DMTS) 17 Sample Comparison Comparison

18. Delayed Matching to Sample (DMTS) 18 PECK PECK NO FOOD FOOD

20. Symbolic Matching to Sample 20

21. Symbolic Matching to Sample 21 PECK PECK NO FOOD NO FOOD FOOD FOOD

23. What is Learned in DMTS? 23 • General Matching Rule • Pigeon = No! (with few samples) • Cumming & Berryman (1965) • - Trained on Red, Green, Blue • - Failed to transfer to Yellow • b) Specific “If-Then Rules” • Symbolic Matching-To-Sample • - Learned as rapidly as Standard DMTS

24. Memory Coding a) Retrospective = Backward Looking b) Prospective = Forward Looking

25. Retrospective Code: , Remember IF Prospective Code: , Remember IF

28. Roitblat, 1980 Confusion Errors? 1. between samples 2. between comparisons Confusions: Comparisons > Samples Therefore: Prospective Coding

29. Serial List Learning 29 Present list of items to subject one at a time A  B  C  D  E  F Recall in any order

30. Recency effect Primacy effect Accuracy A B C D E F Serial List Learning 30 Ask subject to recall or recognize a single item

31. Accuracy Accuracy A B C D E F A B C D E F Humans: Testing immediately after list produces a recency effect Testing after a delay produces a primacy effect What about in other animals?

33. Radial Arm Maze 33

34. How Solved? 34 • Random Choice • Odour Trail • Patterned Responding • Working Memory*

36. 12-Arm Radial Maze

37. 12-Arm Radial Maze

38. Switch from retrospective to prospective? 38

39. Cook et al. (1985) 39 • Rats removed after making 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 choices • Shifting from retrospective to prospective midway produces the lowest memory load (inverted U-shaped error curve)

40. Cook et al. (1985) 40 Remember Places Not Visited Remember Places Visited

41. Memory Coding 41 a) Active = rehearse relevant information b) Passive = gradual fading of a memory trace

42. Human Forgetting Curve With No Rehearsal 42

43. Pigeon Forgetting Curve With Rehearsal 43 Roberts, 1972

44. Directed Forgetting 44 Sample Remember cue Forget cue don’t peck ITI peck Comparison

45. peck peck peck Forget cue Delay Least More Most

46. Human Reference Memory 46 • Duration (relatively long-term) • Capacity (relatively large) • Forgetting (details lost, gist remembered) • Requires Consolidation

47. Retention of Fear Conditioning 47

50. Food Storing Bird About 5,000 Caches 20 x 20 KM Area 9-month Buried Under Snow Clark’s Nutcracker 50