Definitions

• Rehearsal
  • Repeating the same information over and over to persist it in long-term memory.

Goals

• Name the three stages of memory.
  • Sensory Memory
    • Lasts for a couple of milliseconds. Related to our senses and holding perceptions in memory for a brief time so we can connect and piece together parts of the world.
  • Short-Term Memory
    • Memory lasts only a couple of minutes, max. Can hold 7±2 objects in memory at one time. Maintenance of rehearsal, re-playing the same memories, persists those memories in short-term memory for a while longer.
  • Long-Term Memory
    • Lasts forever, unless forgotten over time, from non-use. When retrieved, becomes short-term memory for a time.
• Name the three processes of memory.
  • Attention
    • Focusing on a sensory detail to bring it into short-term memory.
  • Maintenance Rehearsal
    • Repeating an item in short-term memory to store it in long-term memory.
  • Encoding
    • The process of having something transfer into long-term memory.
  • Retrieval
    • Bringing something from long-term memory back into short-term memory for processing.
• Discuss ways to improve memory.
  • Encoding
    • The process by which we place the things that we experience into memory.
  • Elaborative encoding
    • The process of interpreting or embellishing information to be remembered or the process of relating information to other material already known and in memory.
      • Remembering information to the tune of a story.
      • Remembering information by relating it to your life.
  • Testing Effect (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006)
    • Lean toward more testing trials with review of corrective feedback rather than repeated studying.
      • People learn better when having to actively recall information (are tested on it), than they do by passively re-reading the information.
• Understand ways memory can fail.
  • Confirmation Bias
    • People look and remember evidence that fits an already assumed bias that someone has about the world. We are more critical evidence about information that doesn't already confirm what we believe.
  • Inadequate Encoding (Attention Blindness)
    • We are less likely to pick up and remember information that is not relevant to our safety or situation. Information in the background of a situation is less likely to be given our attention and thus remembered. Women are more likely to pick up danger around a situation than men are.

Memory Overview

Sensory input -> Sensory memory (unattended information is lost) + attention -> Short-term memory (Unrehearsed information is lost) + encoding -> Long-term memory (Information is lost over time).

Neurotransmitters

Acetylcholine helps with memory by potentiating the hippocampus.

Sensory Memory

Lasts for a couple of milliseconds. Related to our senses and holding perceptions in memory for a brief time so we can connect and piece together parts of the world.

Short-Term Memory

Memory lasts only a couple of minutes, max. Can hold 7±2 objects in memory at one time. Maintenance of rehearsal, re-playing the same memories, persists those memories in short-term memory for a while longer.

Long-Term Memory

Lasts forever, unless forgotten over time, from non-use. When retrieved, becomes short-term memory for a time.

Explicit Memory

Requires conscious awareness.

Examples

• The capital of South Korea is Seoul.
• I remember breaking my leg while skiing.

Semantic Memory

Facts and general knowledge.

Examples

• The capital of South Korea is Seoul.

Episodic Memory

Personally experienced events.

Examples

• I remember breaking my leg while skiing.

Implicit Memory

Does not require conscious awareness.

Examples:

• Riding a bike
• Salivating to a bell when food has been associated with the bell.
• If you are sitting in an aquarium, you are primed to more likely to think fishy thoughts.

Procedural Memory

Motor and cognitive skills.

Examples:

• Riding a bike

Priming

Enhanced identification of objects or words. Recall by association.

Examples:

• If you are sitting in an aquarium, you are primed to more likely to think fishy thoughts.

Classical Conditioning

Examples

• Salivating to a bell when food has been associated with the bell.

Improve Memory

• Encoding
  • The process by which we place the things that we experience into memory.
• Elaborative encoding
  • The process of interpreting or embellishing information to be remembered or the process of relating information to other material already known and in memory.
    • Remembering information to the tune of a story.
    • Remembering information by relating it to your life.
• Testing Effect (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006)
  • Lean toward more testing trials with review of corrective feedback rather than repeated studying.
    • People learn better when having to actively recall information (are tested on it), than they do by passively re-reading the information.

Ways Memory Fails

Confirmation Bias

People look and remember evidence that fits an already assumed bias that someone has about the world. We are more critical evidence about information that doesn't already confirm what we believe.

Inadequate Encoding (Attention Blindness)

We are less likely to pick up and remember information that is not relevant to our safety or situation. Information in the background of a situation is less likely to be given our attention and thus remembered. Women are more likely to pick up danger around a situation than men are.