Memory

1. Memory

2. Memory • Ability to retain information over time through 3 processes • Encoding • making mental representations of information • Storing • process of placing encoded information into relatively permanent mental storage for later recall • Retrieving • process of recalling information that has been placed into short-term or long-term storage

3. 3 Types of Memory • Sensory Memory • Initial process that receives & holds information in its raw form for a brief period of time • Short-Term Memory (STM) • Holds on average 7 items of information for 2 to 30 secs. • Long-Term Memory (LTM) • Process of storing almost unlimited amounts of information over long periods of time

4. Memory Process

5. 3 Functions of Sensory Memory • Prevents one from being overwhelmed • Gives decision time • Provides stability, playback & recognition

6. 2 Features of STM • Limited duration • Maintenance rehearsal retains information for longer periods of time • practice of intentionally rehearsing information

7. 2 Features of STM (cont.) • Limited capacity • Interference is one of the main reasons why information disappears from STM • when new information enters STM & overwrites information that is already there • Chunking is combining separate items of information into a larger unit and then remembering the chunks of information • phone numbers are remembered in chunks • 622-875-9211

8. 3 Functions of STM • Attending • Selectively attend to information that is relevant & disregard everything else • Rehearsing • Hold information for a short period of time until you decide what to do with it • Storing • Helps to store information in LTM

9. Features of LTM • Capacity • Researchers estimate that the capacity is almost unlimited • Retrieval • Depends on how information was encoded & the amount of interference

10. Accuracy of LTM Bar graph data from “Accuracy and Distortion in Memory for High School Girls,” by H. P. Bahrick, L. K. Hall & S. A. Berger, 1996, Psychological Science, 7, 265-271.

11. Types of LTM • Declarative memory • Involves memories for factors or events • Includes semantic & episodic memory • semantic memory involves knowledge of facts, concepts, words, definitions & language rules (e.g., what you learn in class) • episodic memory involves knowledge of specific events, personal experiences, or activities (e.g., activities in college)

12. Types of LTM • Procedural or Nondeclarative memory • Memories for motor skills, some cognitive skills (learning to read), and emotional behaviors learned through classical conditioning • We cannot recall or retrieve procedural memories

13. 2 Kinds of Encoding • Automatic Encoding • Transfer of information from STM to LTM without any effort & usually without awareness • Effortful Encoding • Transfer of information from STM to LTM either by working hard to repeat or rehearse the information, or especially by making associations between new & old information • Maintenance rehearsal • simply repeating information, rather than forming any new associations

14. 2 Kinds of Encoding • Elaborative rehearsal • using effort to make meaningful associations between new information and old information that is already stored in LTM