LESSON 6: Memory Processes Transfer of Information from Short-Term Memory to Long-

Term Memory
three common operations:
 Encoding refers to how you transform a physical, sensory encounter two key problems:
input into a representation that can be placed into memory.  Interference
 Storage refers to how you store (keep) encoded  When competing information interferes with our
information in memory. storing information, we speak of interference.
 Retrieval refers to how you gain access to information  ( Imagine you have watched two crime movies with
stored in memory. the same actor. You then try to remember the story
line of one of the movies but mix it up with the second
Encoding and Transfer of Information movie. You are experiencing interference)
Forms of Encoding  Decay
 Short-Term Storage  When we forget facts just because time passes
 For short-term memory, an acoustic code is more
important than a visual code, as shown in the Conrad  declarative memory refers to facts and knowledge
experiment. whereas nondeclarative memory refers to procedural
 One such code would be a semantic code—one memories such as skills.
based on word meaning.  This process of integrating new information into stored
 Baddeley (1966) argued that short-term memory relies information is called consolidation.
primarily on an acoustic rather than a semantic code.
 Thus, encoding in short-term memory appears to be Metamemory strategies
primarily acoustic, but there may be some secondary  We may use various metamemory strategies to preserve or
semantic encoding as well. In addition, we sometimes enhance the integrity of memories during consolidation
temporarily encode information visually as well  involve reflecting on our own memory processes to
 Long-Term Storage improve our memory.
 Most information stored in long-term memory primarily  Metamemory strategies are just one component of
is encoded semantically.  metacognition, our ability to think about and control our
 In other words, it is encoded by the meanings of words. own processes of thought and ways of enhancing our
 Participants were remembering words by clustering thinking.
them into categories.  metacognition is thinking about how we think.
 Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
studies have found that the brain areas that are Rehearsal
involved in encoding can be, but do not necessarily  One technique people use for keeping information active
have to be, involved in retrieval.  the repeated recitation of an item.
 the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and the right  The effects of such rehearsal are termed practice effects.
fusiform face area play an important role both in  Rehearsal may be overt, in which case it is usually aloud
encoding and retrieval, and obvious to anyone watching. Or it may be covert, in
 the left fusiform face area contributes mostly to which case it is silent and hidden.
encoding processes.
 Both encoding and retrieval of places activate the left Elaborative and Maintenance Rehearsal
parahippocampal place area (PPA);  elaborative rehearsal,
 the left PPA is associated with encoding rather than  the individual somehow elaborates on the items to be
retrieval. remembered.
 In addition, medial temporal and prefrontal regions are  Such rehearsal makes the items either more
related to memory processes in general meaningfully integrated into what the person already
knows or more meaningfully connected to one another
Mnemonic Devices and therefore more memorable.
 maintenance rehearsal
 the individual simply repeats the items to be
remembered.
 Such rehearsal temporarily maintains information in
short-term memory without transferring the information
to long-term memory.

The Spacing Effect

Hermann Ebbinghaus noticed that the distribution of study
(memory rehearsal) sessions over time affects the consolidation
of information in long-term memory;
 distributed practice
 Our memories tend to be good when we use
distributed practice
 learning in which various sessions are spaced over
time.
 massed practice
 Our memories for information are not as good when
the information is acquired through massed practice
 learning in which sessions are crammed together in a
very short space of time
 spacing effect
 The greater the distribution of learning trials over time,
the more the participants remembered over long
periods.
  To maximize the effect on long-term recall, the  retrospective memory—our memory for the past.
spacing should ideally be distributed over months,  prospective memory—memory for things we need to do
rather than days or weeks. or remember in the future. (For example, we may need to
 The spacing effect is linked to the process by which remember to call someone, to buy cereal at the
memories are consolidated in long-term memory supermarket, or to finish a homework assignment due the
next day)
Sleep and Memory Consolidation  Prospective memory, like retrospective memory, is
 particular importance to memory is the amount of rapid eye subject to decline as we age.
movement (REM) sleep a person receives. strategies to improve prospective memory.
 REM sleep is the sleep stage characterized by dreaming  keeping a to-do list
and increased brainwave activity  asking someone to remind us to do something
 disruptions in REM sleep patterns the night after learning  tying a string around our finger to remind us that we need
reduced the amount of improvement on a visual to do something.
discrimination task
Neuroscience: How Are Memories Stored?
 long-term potentiation
 in which potentiation refers to an increase in activity).
 we know that repeated stimulation of particular neural
pathways tends to strengthen the likelihood of firing.
 The repeated activity of a synapse can lead to
structural changes that eventually can lead to long-
term potentiation

 brain oscillations (repetitive neural activity) may play a

role in the formation of memories.
 People who suffer from insomnia, a disorder that deprives  Serotonin also plays a role in another form of memory
the sufferer of much needed sleep, have trouble with dysfunction, Korsakoff syndrome.
memory consolidation  Severe or prolonged abuse of alcohol can lead to this
 REM sleep plays an important role in synaptic devastating form of anterograde amnesia.
consolidation
Retrieval from Short-Term Memory
Neuroscience and Memory Consolidation  Saul Sternberg (1966) presented participants with a short
list including from one to six digits.
 The digits that were presented are termed the positive set.
 Those that were not presented are termed the negative
Organization of Information set.
 Mnemonic devices Parallel or Serial Processing?
 specific techniques to help you organize and  Parallel processing
memorize information.  refers to the simultaneous handling of multiple
 These devices are especially helpful in memorizing operations.
lists of words because such devices add meaning to  As applied to short-term memory, the items stored in
otherwise meaningless or arbitrary lists of items short-term memory would be retrieved all at once, not
 Even music can be used as a mnemonic device when one at a time.
a well-known or easy melody is used and connected  Serial processing
with the material that needs to be learned. Music can  refers to operations being done one after another.
serve as a retrieval cue.  In other words, on the digit-recall task, the digits would
 Mnemonic devices and other techniques for aiding be retrieved in succession, rather than all at once (as
memory involve metamemory (our understanding and in the parallel model).
reflection upon our memory and how to improve it).  According to the serial model, the more numbers that
 each of us often uses various kinds of reminders— were presented in the positive set, the longer it should
external memory aids—to enhance the likelihood that take to retrieve them
we will remember important information. Exhaustive or Self-Terminating Processing?
(taking notes during lectures, writing shopping lists for If information processing were serial, there would be two ways
items to purchase, setting timers and alarms, and even in which to gain access to the stimuli:
asking other people to help you remember things)  Exhaustive serial processing
 In addition, we can design our environment to help us  implies that the participant always checks the test digit
remember important information through the use of against all digits in the positive set, even if a match
forcing functions---These are physical constraints were found partway through the list.
that prevent us from acting without at least considering  you would take the same amount of time to find any
the key information to be remembered. digit.
(For example, to ensure that you remember to take your  Exhaustive processing would predict the pattern of
notebook to class, you might lean the notebook against the data
door through which you must pass to go to class)  Self-terminating serial processing
 forcing functions also are used in professional settings,  implies that the participant would check the test digit
such as hospitals, to change behavior. against only those digits needed to make a response.
 The study used the Look-Ask-Pick mnemonic in  It shows that response time now would increase
which children where first instructed to “Look” at sign linearly as a function of where a particular test digit
and denominators of the fractions, “Ask” whether the was located in the positive set.
smallest denominator divides into the largest
denominator an even number of times, and “Pick” a
certain type of fraction to solve the mathematical task
  Decay theory asserts that information is forgotten
because of the gradual disappearance, rather than
displacement, of the memory trace.
 decay theory views, the original piece of information
as gradually disappearing unless something is done to
keep it intact.
 Decay theory turns out to be exceedingly difficult to
test
 A research paradigm called the “recent-probes task”
has been developed that does not encourage
participants to rehearse the items presented
The Winner—a Serial Exhaustive Model— with Some  Participants are shown four target words.
Qualifications  Next, participants are presented with a probe
word.
 Participants decide whether or not the probe word
Retrieval from Long-Term Memory is identical to one of the four target words.
 The recall test was done in one of two ways. In the free
recall condition, participants merely recalled as many The Constructive Nature of Memory
words as they could in any order they chose.  Reconstructive involving the use of various strategies
 In a cued recall condition, however, participants were (e.g., searching for cues, drawing inferences) to retrieve
tested category by category. the original memory traces of our experiences and then
 Categorization dramatically can affect retrieval. rebuild the original experiences as a basis for retrieval
 Availability is the presence of information stored in long-  constructive, in that prior experience affects how we recall
term memory. things and what we actually recall from memory
 Accessibility is the degree to which we can gain access to
the available information.  Autobiographical Memory
 refers to memory of an individual’s history.
Processes of Forgetting and Memory Distortion  Autobiographical memory is constructive.
 Interference Theory  One way of studying autobiographical memory is
 Interference theory refers to forgetting that occurs through diary studies.
because recall of certain words interferes with recall of  An often-studied form of vivid memory is the
other words. flashbulb memory—a memory of an event so
 The purpose of having the participants count powerful that the person remembers the event as
backward was to prevent them from rehearsing during vividly as if it were indelibly preserved on film
the retention interval.  Memory Distortions
 This is the time between the presentation of the last  People tend to distort their memories (For example,
letter and the start of the recall phase of the just saying something has happened to you makes
experimental trial. you more likely to think it really happened)
two kinds of interference  These distortions tend to occur in seven specific ways,
1. Retroactive interference (or retroactive inhibition) which Schacter (2001) refers to as the “seven sins of
 occurs when newly acquired knowledge impedes the memory.”
recall of older material. Here are his seven sins:
 This kind of interference is caused by activity 1. Transience: Memory fades quickly. For example, although
occurring after we learn something but before we are most people know that O. J. Simpson was acquitted of criminal
asked to recall that thing. charges in the murder of his wife, they do not remember how
2. Proactive interference (or proactive inhibition) they found out about his acquittal. At one time they could have
 occurs when material that was learned in the past impedes said, but they no longer can.
the learning of new material. 2. Absent-mindedness: People sometimes brush their teeth
 Interfering material occurs before, rather than after, after already having brushed them or enter a room looking for
learning of the to-be-remembered material. something only to discover that they have forgotten what they
 Proactive as well as retroactive interference may play a were seeking.
role in short-term memory 3. Blocking: People sometimes have something that they know
 Proactive interference seems to be associated with they should remember, but they can’t. It’s as though the
activation in the frontal cortex. information is on the tip of their tongue, but they cannot retrieve
 if you are learning a list of numbers, your performance in it. For example, people may see someone they know, but the
learning the list will decline gradually as the list continues. person’s name escapes them; or they may try to think of a
If, however, the list switches to words, your performance synonym for a word, knowing that there is an obvious synonym,
will rebound. This enhancement in performance is known but are unable to recall it.
as release from proactive interference 4. Misattribution: People often cannot remember where they
heard what they heard or read what they read. Sometimes
 Schemas are mental frameworks that represent people think they saw things they did not see or heard things
knowledge in a meaningful way. they did not hear. For example, eyewitness testimony is
 serial-position curve represents the probability of recall of sometimes clouded by what we think we should have seen,
a given word, given its serial position (order of presentation) rather than what we actually saw.
in a list. 5. Suggestibility: People are susceptible to suggestion, so if it
 recency effect refers to superior recall of words at and is suggested to them that they saw something, they may think
near the end of a list. they remember seeing it. For example, in one study, when
 The primacy effect refers to superior recall of words at asked whether they had seen a television film of a plane
and near the beginning of a list. crashing into an apartment building, many people said they had
seen it. There was no such film.
 Decay Theory 6. Bias: People often are biased in their recall. For example,
 explains how we forget information people who currently are experiencing chronic pain in their lives
are more likely to remember pain in the past, whether or not
they actually experienced it. People who are not experiencing
such pain are less likely to recall pain in the past, again with
little regard to their actual past experience.
7. Persistence: People sometimes remember things as
consequential that, in a broad context, are inconsequential. For
example, someone with many successes but one notable failure
may remember the single failure better than the many
successes.

The Eyewitness Testimony Paradigm

 What Influences the Accuracy of Eyewitness
Testimonies?
The use of eyewitness testimony as the sole, or even the
primary, basis for convicting accused people of The use of eye-
witness testimony as the sole, or even the primary, basis for
convicting accused people of
 Children as Eyewitnesses
Children’s recollections are particularly susceptible to distortion.
Such distortion is especially likely when the children are asked
leading questions, as in a courtroom setting.
Consider some relevant facts
 First, the younger the child is, the less reliable the
testimony of that child can be expected to be.
 Second, when a questioner is coercive or even just seems
to want a particular answer, children can be quite
susceptible to providing the adult with what he or she
wants to hear.
 Third, children may believe that they recall observing things
that others have said they observed.

 Can Eyewitness Testimonies Be Improved?

Repressed Memories
 Repressed memories are memories that are alleged to
have been pushed down into unconsciousness because of
the distress they cause.
 Such memories, according to the view of psychologists
who believe in their existence, are inaccessible, but they
can be dredged up
Why are people so weak in distinguishing what they have
heard from what they have not heard?
 One possibility is a source-monitoring error, which
occurs when a person attributes a memory derived from
one source to another source.
 People frequently have difficulties in source monitoring,
or figuring out the origins of a memory.

The Effect of Context on Memory

In one experiment, Watkins and Tulving (1975) had participants
learn a list of 24 paired associates, such as ground-cold and
crust-cake.
 Participants were instructed to learn to associate each
response (such as cold) with its stimulus word (such as
ground).
 After participants had studied the word pairs, they were
given an irrelevant task.
 Then they were given a recognition test with distracters.
 Participants were asked simply to circle the words they had
seen previously.