1. Persisted Learning: Memory Lecture 9 2/25/04

2. Memento • Inspired by the condition of anterograde amnesia that he learned about in a Georgetown psychology class, Nolan wrote a short story entitled “Memento Mori” about a man with this illness trying to deal with a traumatic event in his past.

3. H.M., 8/23/53 • Epileptic Seizures • Bilateral medial temporal lobe removal • Including hippocampus • IQ, personality, perceptual abilities • Memory prior to surgery = ok ** • Severe ANTEROGRADE amnesia • Every new moment = new & fresh • Any delay between presentation & recall = impaired

4. H.M. continued • Doesn’t know where he lives, who cares for him, what he ate at his last meal, what year it is, who the president is, how old he is… • In 1982, failed to recognize picture of himself on 40th birthday • BUT, can learn some new things and not know it • Mirror-drawing task • Classical conditioning*

5. What did we learn… • Structures that store are separate from mechanisms that encode • Declarative and Procedural memory are distinct • D: conscious knowledge of facts/ events • P: implicit memory for motor skills/behaviors

6. Memory as information processor • Encode, store & retrieve

7. Overview

8. Sensory Memory • Registers incoming information; leaves trace on NS for split second

9. Short term memory • We pay attention to and encode important/ novel stimuli

10. Long term memory • If rehearsed (stare) long enough, or deemed important, encoded for long-term storage & can be retrieved

11. The Sensory Register: George Sperling Testing for Iconic Memory • P’s recalled more letters when signaled to recall only one row compared to trying to recall all the letters

12. Chunking iujhgyegdbnjkofiutyhs Short-term Memory: Capacity Iuj hgy egd bnj kof iut

13. Short-term Memory: Duration • Can hold things for ~20 seconds • Rapidly decays UNLESS actively rehearsed • E.g. 1hr per day X 3-4 weeks • Digit span from 7 to 80 • Interference • Example (consonants & counting)

14. Short-term Memory: Function • Working memory • ACTIVE • Access to senses AND LTM • “inner voice” • Serial Position Curve • Primacy • Recency

15. What goes into LTM ? AND How do we get it there?

16. Long-Term Memory • Elaborative Rehearsal • Tree • LION • Shoe • APPLE • Turquoise • Is the word printed in capital letters? • Does the word rhyme with ____? • What does the word mean?

17. More thought = Better memory

18. Are any of these self-descriptive? • Number 1-20 • Circle the numbers of self-descriptive adjectives

19. Self-reference effect • Retrieval superiority for info related to self-schema • Deeper processing of self-relevant terms • Schema = useful framework to help us perceive, organize, process and use information REMINDER: Password

20. LTM: Access • “Mild torment, something like the brink of a sneeze” • Definitions, line drawings, odors, faces • Occur ~1/wk, increase w/age • Words related in spelling, then meaning • First letter guessed 50-71% time • Number of syllables 80% time • ~40-666% resolved after 1 minute

21. Quick note: Storage***

22. Long Term Memory: access • Retrieval cues • Encoding specificity • Any stimulus encoded with experience can later trigger it When learn & retrieve in same context… • Divers • Beach vs 15ft under • Cafeteria Noise • Scent of Chocolate • Russian/ English bilinguals

23. State-dependent memory • On alcoholics and their keys… • Marijuana & Alcohol • Tested sober vs. high • Memory best when tested in same state in which studied • NOTE: BEST SOBER ON BOTH • Worst performance by intoxicated then sober! • Internal state = retrieval cue • Emotions & moods…

24. Implicit Memory • Amnesics may know more than they think… • Memory during amnesia • “cancer” • “you will not feel any pain” • “beached whale” • In everyday life

25. Implicit memory… • Déjà vu • A sense of familiarity but no real memory • The false-fame effect • Names presented only once, familiarity but no real memory, assume person is famous • Eyewitness transference • Face is familiar, but situation in which they remembering seeing face is incorrect • Unintentional plagiarism • Take credit for someone else’s ideas without awareness

26. Autobiographical Memory • Recollections of personal experiences and observations • Most vivid for times of transition • In college, memories from the beginning of the first year and end of the last year.

27. Autobiographical Memory • Flashbulb Memories • Highly vivid and enduring memories, typically for events that are dramatic and emotional • Childhood Amnesia • The inability of most people to recall events from before the age of three or four • Hindsight Bias • The tendency to think after an event that one knew in advance what was going to happen