1. Module 11 Types of Memory

2. INTRODUCTION • Definitions • Memory • ability to retain information over time through three processes: encoding, storing, and retrieving • not copies but representations of the world that vary in accuracy and are subject to error and bias • Encoding • refers to making mental representations of information so that it can be placed into memory

3. INTRODUCTION (CONT’D) • Definitions • Storing • process of placing encoded information into relatively permanent mental storage for later recall • Retrieving • process of getting or recalling information that has been placed into short- or long-term storage

4. THREE TYPES OF MEMORY • Sensory memory • Initial process that receives and holds environmental information in its raw form for a brief period of time, from an instant to several seconds • Short-term memory • Also called working memory; refers to another process that can hold only a limited amount of information an average of seven items, from 2 to 30 seconds • Long-term memory • Process of storing almost unlimited amounts of information over long periods of time

5. THREE TYPES OF MEMORY (CONT’D) • Memory processes • Sensory memory • don’t pay attention, information is forgotten • pay attention, information is automatically transferred into short-term memory • Short-term memory • don’t pay attention, information isn’t encoded and is forgotten • Long-term memory • encoded information will remain on a relatively permanent basis

6. THREE TYPES OF MEMORY (CONT’D)

7. SENSORY MEMORY: RECORDING • Iconic memory • Form of sensory memory that automatically holds visual information for about a quarter of a second or more; as soon as you shift your attention, the information disappears • Icon means image • Echoic memory • Form of sensory memory that holds auditory information for 1 to 2 seconds • Holds speech sounds long enough to know that sequences of certain sounds form words

8. SENSORY MEMORY: RECORDING (CONT’D) • Functions of sensory memory • Prevents being overwhelmed • Gives decision time • Provides stability, playback, and recognition

9. SHORT-TERM MEMORY: WORKING • Short-term, or working, memory • Process of holding a limited amount of information (an average of seven items) for a limited period of time (2 to 30 seconds) • Short duration can be lengthened by repeating or rehearsing the information • Two features • Limited duration • Maintenance rehearsal • practice of intentionally repeating information so that it remains in short-term memory longer

10. SHORT-TERM MEMORY: WORKING (CONT’D) • Interference • Results when new information enters short-term memory and overwrites or pushes out information that’s already there • Chunking • Combining separate items of information into a larger unit, or chunk, and then remembering these chunks rather than individual items

11. SHORT-TERM MEMORY: WORKING (CONT’D) • Functions of short-tem memory • Attending • selectively attend to relevant information and disregard everything else • Rehearsing • allows you to hold information for a short period of time until you decide what to do with it • Storing • helps store or encode information in long-term memory

12. THREE TYPES OF MEMORY (CONT’D)

13. LONG-TERM MEMORY: STORING • Putting information into long-term memory • Encoding • transferring information from short- to long-term memory by paying attention to it, repeating it, or forming new associations • Long-term memory • process of storing almost unlimited amounts of information over long periods of time • Retrieving • process of selecting information from long-term memory and transferring it to short-term memory

14. LONG-TERM MEMORY: STORING (CONT’D) • Separate memory systems • Primacy versus recency • Primacy effect • better recall or retention of information presented at the beginning of a task • Recency effect • better recall or retention of information presented at the end of a task • Primary-recency effect • better recall of information presented at the beginning and end of a task

15. LONG-TERM MEMORY: STORING (CONT’D) • Declarative versus procedural or nondeclarative • Declarative memory • involves memories for facts or events, such as scenes, stories, words, conversations, faces, or daily events • aware of and can recall or retrieve these kinds of memories • Semantic memory • type of declarative memory that involves knowledge of facts, concepts, words, definitions, and language rules

16. LONG-TERM MEMORY: STORING (CONT’D) • Declarative versus procedural or nondeclarative • Episodic memory • type of declarative memory that involves knowledge of specific events, personal experiences (episodes), or activities, such as naming or describing favorite restaurants, movies, songs, habits, or hobbies

17. LONG-TERM MEMORY: STORING (CONT’D) • Declarative versus procedural or nondeclarative • Procedural or nondeclarative memory • involves memories for motor skills (playing tennis), some cognitive skills (learning to read), and emotional behaviors learned through classical conditioning • can’t recall or retrieve procedural memories

18. ENCODING: TRANSFERING • Encoding • Acquiring information or storing it in memory by changing it into neural or memory codes • Two kinds of encoding • Automatic encoding • transfer of information from short- to long-term memory without effort or awareness (personal events, interesting facts, skills/habits) • Effortful encoding • transfer of information from short- to long-term memory by working hard to rehearse the information or by making associations

19. ENCODING: TRANSFERING (CONT’D) • Rehearsing and encoding • Maintenance rehearsal • simply repeating or rehearsing information rather than forming any new associations • works better for short-term memory • Elaborative rehearsal • using effort to actively make meaningful associations between new information that you wish to remember and old or familiar information already stored in long-term memory

20. ENCODING: TRANSFERING (CONT’D) • Levels of processing • Theory says that remembering depends on how information is encoded • Information encoded at a shallow level results in poor recall • Deeper and deepest processing: encode by making new association

21. REPRESSED MEMORIES • Definition of repressed memory • Process by which the mind pushes a memory of some threatening or traumatic event deep into the unconscious mind • Implanting false memories • Studies show that a false suggestion can grow into a vivid, detailed, and believable personal memory

22. UNUSUAL MEMORIES • Photographic memory • Occurs in adults; ability to form sharp, detailed visual images after examining a picture or page for a short period of time and to recall the entire image at a later date • Eidetic imagery • Form of photographic memory that occurs in children; the ability to examine a picture or page for 10 to 30 seconds and then for several minutes hold in one’s mind a detailed visual image of the material

23. UNUSUAL MEMORIES (CONT’D) • Flashbulb memories • Vivid recollections, usually in great detail, of dramatic or emotionally charged incidents that are of interest to the person • Encoded effortlessly and may last for long periods of time

24. UNUSUAL MEMORIES (CONT’D)