: WHEN MEMORY LAPSES

1. : WHEN MEMORY LAPSES HUH?

2. EBBINGHAUS’S FORGETTING CURVE • Hermann Ebbinghaus tested memory • Created Forgetting Curve: graphs retention and forgetting over time • Showed steep drop in retention within hours of learning

3. MEASURING FORGETTINGFORGETTING • Retention: proportion of material retained • 3 principle methods for measuring forgetting: recall, recognition, and relearning

4. RECALL • DEF: requires subjects to reproduce info on their own w/o any cues

5. RECOGNITION • DEF: requires subjects to select previously learned info from any array of options • Yield higher scores than recall

6. RELEARNING • DEF: requires a subject to memorize info a 2nd time to determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before • Compare time spent learning the 1st time with time spent learning same material a 2nd time

7. WHY WE FORGET • Pseudoforgetting—due to ineffective encoding (penny test) • Decaytheory: forgetting occurs b/c memory traces fade with time • Interference theory: people forget info b/c of competition from other material • 2 types of interference: • 1) retroactive interference: when new info impairs the retention of previously learned info • 2) proactive interference: when previously learned info interferes w/retention of new info

8. WHY WE FORGET CONTINUED • Retrieval failure • Encoding specificity principle: the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code • Transfer appropriate processing: occurs when the initial processing of info is similar to the type of processing required by the subsequent measure of retention • Motivated forgetting: tendency to forget things one doesn’t want to think about • Freud called this Repression: keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious

9. IN SEARCH OF THE MEMORY TRACE: THE PHYSIOLOGY OF MEMORY

10. BIOCHEMISTRY OF MEMORY • Specific memories may depend on biochemical changes at specific synapses (alterations in synaptic transmission) • Neurotransmitters may help with storage of new info

11. NEURAL CIRCUITRY OF MEMORY • Memories may create unique, reusable neural pathways • Long-term pontentiation: a long lasting increase in neural excitability at synapses along a specific neural pathway

12. ANATOMY OF MEMORY • Studies in organic amnesia give clues • 2 basic types of amnesia: • 1)Retrograde: loss of memories for events that occurred prior to the onset of amnesia • 2)Anterograde: loss of memories for events that occur after the onset of amnesia • Studies in amnesia have shown the hippocampal region is critical for LTM and Consolidation: a hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of info into durable memory codes stored in LTM

13. ARE THERE MULTIPLE MEMORY SYSTEMS?

14. IMPLICIT VS. EXPLICIT MEMORY • Implicity memory: type of memory apparent when retention is exhibited on a task that does not require intentional remembering • Explicit memory: intentional recollection of previous experiences

15. DECLARATIVE VS. PROCEDURAL MEMORY • Declarative memory system: handles factual information • Procedural memory system: houses memory for actions, skills, operations, and conditioned responses

16. SEMANTIC VS. EPISODIC MEMORY • Episodic memory system: made up of chronological, or temporally dated, recollections of personal experiences • Semantic memory system: contains general knowledge that is not tied to the time when the info was learned

17. PROSPECTIVE VS. RETROSPECTIVE MEMORY • Prospective memory: involves remembering to perform actions in the future • Retrospective memory: remembering events from the past or previously learned info