Chapter 7

Memory
 LECTURE OUTLINE
Introduction: Information Processing

The Functions of Memory: Encoding, Storing, and The Development of New Memories
Retrieving Overview of the Traditional Three-Stage Model of
Explicit and Implicit Memory Memory
Priming Sensory Memory
Short-Term Memory (STM)
Long-Term Memory (LTM)

The Process of Memory

Storage The Accuracy of Memory

Encoding Retrieval
Sensory memory Short-term memory (STM) Recognition & Recall Flashbulb Memories
Chunking Forgetting Memory
Rehearsal Decay Theory Reconstruction
Levels of Processing Interference Misinformation
Serial Position Curve Context and Forgetting Effect
The Working Memory Model Motivated Forgetting:
Components of Working Memory Repression
Long-term memory (LTM) Biology of Memory
Organisation in LTM: Schemas
Introduction: Information
Processing

• Mind works like sophisticated computer

• Information Processing: general term
referring to several cognitive functions,
one of which is memory
• Memory fits directly between learning
(taking in information) and thinking
(manipulating and using that information)
The Functions of Memory: Encoding,
Storing, and Retrieving
Memory consists of three main processes:

Encoding Storage Retrieval

Forming a memory code Maintaining encoded information Recovering information from
(memory traces) in memory over time memory stores
Explicit and Implicit Memory
• Not all memory is conscious
• Explicit memory:
• Conscious use of memory
• When we actively try to remember something
• Mostly verbal
• Implicit memory:
• Unconscious use of memory;
• Using memory (stored knowledge) without realising it
• Non-verbal
• E.g., motor skills, habits, classical conditioning, priming, motor skills,
habits, classical conditioning, priming
Priming

• Type of implicit memory

• Unconscious activation of memory
• Shows that related concepts are closely linked in memory
• E.g., because you have been exposed to the word “yellow”, you will react faster to things
that are closely associated with the concept of “yellow”
• Priming can explain how expectations influence outcomes

Change in response to a stimulus because you have experienced a certain stimulus earlier
The Development of New Memories
The Traditional Three-Stages Model of Memory
Overview
The Development of New Memories
The Traditional Three-Stages Model of Memory
Sensory Memory
Sensory memory briefly holds incoming sensory information.

Sensory memory:
• iconic memory
• echoic memory
• haptic memory
 The Development of New Memories
The Traditional Three-Stages Model of Memory
Short-Term Memory
Working (short-term) memory processes certain information received from sensory memory and information retrieved
from long-term memory.

Short-term memory:
• Coding visual, verbal,
acoustic semantic
• Lasts about 30s
• 7 ± 2 items
• 4 ± 1 chunks
The Development of New Memories
The Traditional Three-Stages Model of Memory
Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory stores information for long periods of time.

Long-term memory:
• Permanent method of
storing memories
• Unlimited capacity
 Sensory Memory

• Very brief store of information coming from our senses

• Lasts just long enough to give us a continuous impression of our environment
• Consists of:
• Visual (iconic): visual images
• Acoustic: sounds and words
• Lasts longer than visual (Why?)
• Haptic: touch and body senses
 STEP
1

Encoding
• Process of acquiring sensory information
• Changing it into format (code) that can be stored in memory
• Conscious attention not strictly necessary, but helps
• More we attend to some information in environment, the stronger our
sensory experience, and the greater the information available to put into
memory
 STEP
Storage 2

• Involves processes that keep information for periods of time from less than a
second through to decades
• Memories must be transferred from initial sensory codes to short-term or
working memory, and then to long-term memory
• Each step involves different processes, requirements, and brain areas
 Short-Term Memory (STM)
• Short-term memory uses multiple coding systems in which memories can be encoded visually, acoustically
(with sound), verbally, or semantically (in terms of meaning) in memory
• Lasts for about 30s
• Use rehearsal to keep it in STM longer
• Limited capacity
• George Miller: Magical number 7 ± 2
• Recently: About 4 bits of information
• Use chunking to increase capacity
• Why are time and space limitations a good thing for STM?
STM: Chunking
• Breaking information into shorter “chunks” or groups to reduce the
number of pieces you need to remember
• UNCNASABCSABUJ
STM: Rehearsal No Rehearsal Elaborative Rehearsal

• Maintenance rehearsal
• Repeating information over and over
to help you remember it

• Elaborative rehearsal
• Associating new information with
existing knowledge to help you
remember it
• Better way of remembering things, as
seen with levels of processing theory
STM: Levels of Processing
• The deeper information is processed, the better it will be stored and
recalled
• Information that is processed deeply and elaboratively will be retained
and recalled best
 Serial Position Effect

• From a list of information to

remember, we’ll have best
memory of items at start of list
and at end of list
• We’ll have poorest memory of
items in middle of list
• Primacy effect:
• Best memory for items at start
of list
• Recency effect:
• Best memory for items at end
of list
The Working Memory Model: Parallel Memory

• Three-stages model views memory

process as sequential
• Alternative view is working memory
• WM model says we process different
aspects of memory at the same time
• Working memory is believed to consist
of four components:
• phonological loop
• episodic buffer
• visuospatial sketch pad
• central executive
Components of Working Memory

• Phonological loop
• Works with verbal information for
short periods of time
• Visuospatial sketchpad
• Where visual and spatial data are
briefly stored and manipulated
• Central executive
• Directs attention, makes plans,
coordinates activities
• Determines what information is
used and what is ignored
• Episodic buffer
• Forms bridge between memory and
conscious awareness
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
• By manipulating information in working memory (e.g., via rehearsal and/or
linking it to information already in LTM), it can be stored in long-term memory
• LT memories can last lifetime
• Appears to have unlimited space
Organisation in LTM: Schemas
• Organised pattern/structure of knowledge or internalized expectations about some aspect of
world gained from previous experience
• Filing systems we use for knowledge about particular concepts
• Contain general information on the characteristics of concept’s category, function, etc.
• Reflect most typical features of objects and situations
• Schemas serve function similar to that of chunking
Types of Long-Term Memory
Declarative (Explicit) Memory

• Memories you are fully aware of Declarative

(explicit)
• Can be consciously retrieved
• Easily verbalized (put into words)
• Develops throughout childhood and adolescence Semantic memory Episodic memory
• Consists of:
• Semantic memory: memory for more general
concepts and knowledge, including information Autobiographical
stored in language memory
• Episodic memory: memory of a personal
experience
• Autobiographical memory: Combo of semantic and
episodic memories that refer to yourself
Non-Declarative
(Implicit) Memory

• Memories you are not fully aware of but can influence your behaviour indirectly
• Difficult to verbalize (put into words)
• Procedural memory: memory for skills
Amnesia
 STEP
Retrieval 3

• Process of moving information from LTM back into working memory

• To access memories, they must be activated or retrieved
• Done by sending probe or cue into LTM to find encoded memories
• Probe or cue triggers memory; can be many things, e.g. something you see,
touch, smell, etc.
Recognition and Recall

• Recognition:
• Type of retrieval process where probe or cue (e.g. test question) contains lots of
information, including item/memory being sought, e.g. MCQs
• Recall:
• Type of retrieval process where probe or cue does not contain much information, e.g.
essay questions
Forgetting
• Memories are imperfect
• Sometimes incorrect information gets stored in LTM, and sometimes even LT
memories are lost
• Is forgetting really loss of memories, or just inability to retrieve them?
Forgetting:
Decay Theory

• When memory trace is stored in LTM, it must be activated/recalled every now and then to
keep it there
• Otherwise, memory trace fades with time
Tip-of-the-Tongue (ToT)

• Feeling when you can almost remember something, but not quite
• Closely related concepts may be activated, or target concept may be activated just
enough to find first letter of the word, or number of syllables, without remembering the
whole word
• Can be due to interference
 • Condition where memory trace is still available but has
Interference become temporarily inaccessible
• Worsens with age
• Two types:
Context and Forgetting
• Cue-dependent forgetting: type of forgetting that occurs when one cannot recall
information in context other than context in which it was encoded
• If we use wrong cue/probe, we won’t be able to access specific memory

If an image of a chess piece was

used when encoding “queen”, then
an image of a playing card will not
help in remembering “queen”
Encoding Specificity Principle
• We encode aspects of context in which we learn information and later use these contextual
aspects as cues to help us retrieve information from LTM
• We should have better memory when we retrieve information in similar setting that we learned it
in
• Also true for mood, states of consciousness:
• Information learned while drinking alcohol/smoking marijuana/in bad mood, is better recalled
when also drinking/smoking marijuana/in bad mood
Motivated Forgetting: Repression

• Forgetting on purpose
• Freud: emotional aspects of a memory can affect our
ability to retrieve it
• Repression: type of forgetting proposed by Freud
where memories for events, desires, or impulses that
we find threatening are pushed into inaccessible part
of mind (the unconscious)
• Repressed memories of sexual abuse are attributed to
motivated forgetting but these are not always
accurate (see work of Loftus)
The Accuracy of Memory:
Flashbulb Memories

• Powerful emotional experiences can cause emotion itself to be stored in LTM,

along with vivid, detailed episodic memory
• Flashbulb memories are not always accurate in terms of details, but “gist” of
memory is strongly encoded
• Flashbulb memories (like those in PTSD) can be elicited with intense emotional
feelings by even small cues associated with original experience
Memory Reconstruction

• Memory is not like video recording of event

• When recalling, mind recreates memory by blending retrieved information (reconstruction) with
schemas, etc., filling in blanks (construction)
• This creates memory that can be inaccurate
• When memories are retrieved, inaccuracies can easily be added to memory and again stored like that
in LTM
• Misinformation effect: distortion of memory that occurs when people are exposed to misinformation
Biology of Memory
Different structures work together
during memory processes