Memory

1. Memory

2. Memory Memory is the basis for knowing your friends, your neighbors, the English language, the national anthem, and yourself. If memory was nonexistent, everyone would be a stranger to you; every language foreign; every task new; and even you yourself would be a stranger.

3. Memory • List 3 of your best experiences • Which is more important to you: your experiences or your memories of them?

4. What is memory? • “Any indication that learning has persisted over time. It is our ability to store and retrieve information”.

5. What does memory entail? • Write down Santa’s reindeerson a sheet of paper. • What was involved in your memory of Santa’s reindeers (from first exposure of the information to your recollection of it)?

6. Memory • Memory is like a computer: • Get information – encoding • Retain information - storage • Get information back out – retrieval Sensory Information Retrieval Storage Encoding

7. How do we encode? • Automatic processing • Space – place on a page • Frequency – how many times something happens • Time – sequence of events

8. How do we encode? • Effortful processing • Requires effort • Usually more durable and accessible citamotuaemocebnacgnissecorpluftroffE Rehearsal can help boost memory

9. Ebbinghaus - Rehearsal • Rapidly read these syllables out loud 8 times • JIH, BAZ, FUB, YOX, SUJ, XIR, DAX, LEQ, VUM, PID, KEL, WAV, TUV, ZOF, GEK, HIW • The amount remembered depends on the time spent learning.

10. What we encode • Visual encoding (imagery) • Acoustic encoding (sounds) • Semantic encoding (meaning) Two codes are better than one – encoding semantically, acoustically, and visually enhances memory

11. Semantic encoding • The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do…After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life.

12. Visual Encoding

13. What we encode • How do commercials take advantage of this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIk7Q_DJIgQ

14. Mnemonics • Greek for “memory” • Developed by ancient Greek scholars and orators to help remember lengthy passages and speeches • Use acoustic, spatial, and/or visual cues

15. Mnemonics: Peg Words One is a bun Two is a shoe Three is a tree Four is a door Five is a hive Six is sticks Seven is heaven Eight is a gate Nine is swine Ten is a hen

16. Amazing Mnemonics • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzghjYg6r0Q • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vsYCSmBcM0&playnext=1&list=PLE25C47112973D23B&feature=results_video

17. Method of Loci • Greek orators imagined themselves moving through a familiar series of locations, associating each place with a visual representation of the to-be-remembered topic • When speaking, the orator would mentally revisit each location and retrieve the associated image • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8S8V9VEFyI&feature=related

18. Organizing Information • Mentally organize information during encoding to enhance memory • Chunking • Hierarchies

19. Chunking • Breaks down information into easy to remember groupings • Phone numbers, social security numbers • Acronyms: • ROY G BIV • HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eerie, Superior

20. Acronyms

21. CI AFB IKG BDN ABB CU KCN NUS A

22. CIA FBI KGB DNA BBC UK CNN USA

23. Making a story… The CIA, FBI, and KGB are all searching for a spy’s DNA. The story is reported on the BBC in the UK and CNN in the USA.

24. Hierarchies • Broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts

25. Hierarchies Encoding (Automatic or Effortful) Meaning Sound Imagery Organization Chunks Hierarchy

26. Encoding Technique Recap • Rehearsal • Mnemonics • Peg words • Method of loci • Chunking • acronyms • Making a story • Hierarchies

27. Storage • Retained information • Allows for the recollection of information at a later time Sensory Information Retrieval Storage Encoding

28. Working/Short-TermMemory • Limited in duration and capacity • Consciously process only a limited amount of information • Unless you work at it, it goes away • The Magical Number Seven, plus or minus two

29. Long-term Memory • “The total memory capacity of computers all over the world is far less than that of a single brain.” • Store information over long periods of time • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sWnkBf5V7s

30. Stress Hormones • “Stronger emotional experiences make for stronger, more reliable memories”. • Flashbulb memory – clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

31. Stress hormones Stress Glucose Fuels brain activity Important event Amygdala boosts activity in memory-forming areas

32. Stress hormones • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GpFYQKETNc&feature=relmfu • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLfZJhfX6Go&feature=relmfu

33. Storing Memory • Implicit (procedural) memory • Retention independent of conscious recollection • Explicit (declarative) memory • Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”

34. Retrieval • Retrieving information from working or long-term memory and returning it to conscious thought Sensory Information Retrieval Storage Encoding

35. Measuring Memory • Recognition: identifying items previously learned • 1. What is the name of the psychologist who first characterized classical conditioning? • John B. Watson • Albert Bandura • Sigmund Freud • Ivan Pavlov

36. Measuring Memory • Recall: retrieving information learned earlier • 1. The name of the psychologist who first characterized classical conditioning is __________________________.

37. Measuring Memory • Relearning: assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time • You learn things more quickly the second time

38. Retrieval cues • Anchor points you can use to access the target information when you want to retrieve it later

39. Context • Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something • Where is the best place for you to study psychology?

40. Déjà vu • Similar contexts may trigger an experience of déjà vu • Common when tired or stressed

41. Moods • Events in the past may arouse an emotion • “An emotion is like a library room into which we place memory records. We best retrieve those records by returning to that emotional room”. • Memories help sustain the current mood

42. Forgetting • Inability to retrieve information due to a failure to encode, store, or retrieve the information • Valuable to discard useless or out-of-date information

43. Encoding Failure • We cannot remember what we have not encoded • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBPG_OBgTWg

44. Storage Decay • We encode, but later forget

45. Retrieval Failure • Stored information cannot be accessed • Forgetting is often not memories discarded, but memories unretrieved • Tip of the tongue phenomenon

46. Memory Construction • We often construct our memories as we encode them, and alter our memories as we withdraw them from our memory bank

47. Misinformation • Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA

48. Constructed Memories • Elizabeth Loftus et al 1996 • Implanted false memories in children • Children constructed false memories and believed they actually happened

49. How can you Improveyour memory? • Study repeatedly • Spend time activelythinkingabout the material • Make the material personally meaningful • Use mnemonic devices • Activate retrieval cues • Recall events when they are fresh • Minimize interference • Test your knowledge

50. How we encode