Unraveling Memory Models and Research Methods

1. Chapter 5: Memory: Models and Research Methods

2. Some Questions of Interest • What are some of the tasks used for studying memory? • What is the traditional model of memory? What are some of the alternative models? • What have psychologists learned by studying both exceptional memory and the physiology of the brain?

3. But first, a test! • Let’s generate some words…

4. Processes in Memory • Encoding • Storage • Retrieval

5. Which type of test would you rather have? An essay or a multiple-choice exam?

6. Demonstration • The 7 Dwarfs

7. Methods Used to Study Memory • Recall • Serial recall • Free recall • Cued recall • Recognition • = these are explicit memory tasks

8. Implicit memory • Remember priming? • Procedural memory, too

9. Participants are exposed to a word list Tiger Lion Zebra Panda Leopard Elephant After a delay… Participants then complete word puzzles; they are not aware this is a type of memory test Word fragment completion: C_E_TA_ E_E_ _A_ N_ _ E _ R A Word stem completion: Mon _____ Pan_____ Implicit Memory Tasks

10. Procedural Memory • Knowing how to do something • Ride a bike • Skateboard • Ski

11. Methods to Assess Procedural Memory • Rotary-pursuit task • Keep stylus on a dot on a rotating disk • Mirror-tracing task • Watch mirror image to trace a figure

12. Models of Memory • Represent ways that memory has been conceptualized • Atkinson & Shiffrin’s three-stage model • Craik & Lockhart’s level of processing model • Baddeley’s working memory model • Tulving’s multiple memory systems model • McClelland & Rumelhart’s connectionist model

13. Traditional Model of Memory • Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) three-stage model

14. Sperling Sensory Memory Demonstration: CogLab Partial Report • A matrix of 12 letters and numbers briefly flash on the next few slides • As soon as you see the information, write down everything you can remember in its proper location

15. Sperling’s Results

16. Averbach & Coriell (1961) Iconic Memory Research N M L C W D P Q A X I N Y K J U • - Showed matrix for 50 msec • - Placed a small mark above a letter at different delays • Found that as many as 12 letters could be stored in • sensory memory • Backward visual masking was also discovered with this technique

17. Second Demonstration G E U L M F S X W P M B D H J Y • - Showed matrix for 50 msec • - Placed a small mark above a letter at different delays • Found that as many as 12 letters could be stored in • sensory memory • Backward visual masking was also discovered with this technique

18. Sensory Stores • Iconic store or visual sensory register • Holds visual information for 250 msec longer • Information held is pre-categorical • Capacity: up to 12 items • Information fades quickly • Econ or auditory sensory register • Holds auditory information for 2-3 seconds longer to enable processing

19. Short-Term Memory Rehearsal • Attention • Attend to information in the sensory store, it moves to STM • Rehearsal • Repeat the information to keep maintained in STM • Retrieval • Access memory in LTM and place in STM Short-Term Memory (STM) Attention Storage & Retrieval

20. Demonstration: STM span

21. Research on Short-Term Memory • Miller (1956) • Examined memory capacity • 7+/- 2 items or “chunks” • Chunking: organize input into larger units • 1 9 8 0 1 9 9 8 2 0 0 3 - Exceeds capacity • 1980 1998 2003 - Reorganize by chunking College graduation Birth year HS graduation

22. Long-Term Memory • Capacity • Thus far limitless • Duration • Potentially permanent Long-Term Memory (LTM)

23. Bahrick’s Research on Very Long-Term Memory • High school yearbooks containing student names and photos • 392 high school graduates (17-74) took four different memory tests • For some of the participants, it was as long as 48 years since they graduated

24. Bahrick et al. (1975) Results • 90% accuracy in face and name recognition after 34 years • 80% accuracy for name recognition after 48 years • 40% accuracy for face recognition after 48 years • 60% accuracy for free recall after 15 years • 30% accuracy for free recall after 30 years

25. Levels of Processing Model of Memory • Craik & Lockhart (1972) • Deep processing leads to better memory • Elaborating according to meaning leads to a strong memory • Shallow processing emphasizes the physical features of the stimulus • The memory trace is fragile and quickly decays • Distinguished between maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal

26. Support for Levels of Processing • Craik & Tulving (1975) • Participants studied a list in three different ways • Structural: Is the word in capital letters? • Phonemic: Does the word rhyme with dog? • Semantic: Does the word fit in this sentence? “The ______ is delicious.” • A recognition test was given to see which type of processing led to the best memory

27. Craik & Tulving (1975) Results

28. cogLab: levels of processing

29. Self-Reference Effect • Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker (1977) • Encoding with respect to oneself increases memory Capital Rhymes Means the Describes letters? with? same as? you?

30. Baddeleys’ Working Memory Model

31. Working Memory Model • Phonological Loop • Used for acoustic rehearsal • Visuo-spatial sketch pad • Used for visuo-spatial information • Episodic buffer • Used for storage of a multimodal code, holding an integrated episode between systems using different codes • Central executive • Focuses attention • Plans sequence of tasks, switches attention between different parts

32. Working Memory Model Support • Baddeley (1986) • Participants studied two different list types • 1 syllable: wit, sum, harm, bay, top • 5 syllables: university, opportunity, aluminum, constitutional, auditorium

33. Working Memory Model Support • Visuo-spatial sketch pad • Dual-task paradigm • Sketchpad can be disrupted by requiring participants to repeatedly tap a specified pattern of keys or locations while using imagery at the same time

34. Neuroscience and Working Memory

35. Tulving’s Multiple-Memory Systems Model • Semantic memory • General knowledge • Facts, definitions, historical dates • Episodic memory • Event memories (first kiss, 6th birthday)

36. Multiple-Memory Systems Model Support • Nyberg, Cabeza, & Tulving (1996) • Asked people to engage in semantic or episodic memory tasks while being monitored by PET   • Results  • Left (hemisphere) frontal lobe differentially active in encoding (both) and in semantic memory retrieval • Right (hemisphere) frontal lobe differentially active in retrieval of episodic memory

37. Connectionist Perspective • Parallel distributed processing model • Memory uses a network • Meaning comes from patterns of activation across the entire network • Spreading activation network model • Supported by priming effects

38. Exceptional Memory • Case studies of mnemonists • Studies of skilled memory

39. Memory Movies • Take any character from a movie who has a memory deficit, and, using terms from the chapters, explain what the memory problem is and why it occurs • Johnny Mnemonic; 50 First Dates; Memento; Total Recall; Bourne Identity; Dark City; Manchurian Candidate; Overboard; The Changeling; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; The Majestic: Mulholland Drive; The Notebook; Paycheck; Sommersby; The Vow

40. Case Studies • S. (Luria, 1968) • Long strings of words • Remembered over 15-18 years • Rajan Mahadevan • Can recite pi to 31,811 places • No forgetting on matrices up to 20 x 20 digits

41. Deficient Memory • Amnesias • Retrograde amnesia • Loss of memory for events that occurred before the trauma • Infantile amnesia • Inability to recall events of young childhood • Anterograde amnesia • No memory for events that occur after the trauma

42. Amnesia Studies • Amnesiacs show normal priming (implicit), but poor recognition memory (explicit) • They did not remember having seen the word list, but completed the word fragments at the same rate as normals

43. Hippocampus and Memory • Critical for integration and consolidation • Essential for declarative memory • Without the hippocampus, only the learning of skills and habits, simple conditioning, and the phenomenon of priming can occur

44. Alzheimer’s Disease • Symptoms (gradual, continuous, and irreversible) • Memory loss • Problems doing familiar tasks • Problems with language • Trouble knowing the time, date, or place • Poor or decreased judgment • Problems with abstract thinking • Misplacing things often, such as keys • Changes in mood, behavior, and personality • These symptoms could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s when it affects daily life

45. Alzheimer’s Disease and the Brain • Atrophy of the cortical tissue • Alzheimer’s brains shows abnormal fibers that appear to be tangles of brain tissue and senile plaques (patches of degenerative nerve endings) • The resulting damage of these conditions may lead to disruption of impulses in neurons