Unlocking Memory: Strategies to Enhance Recall and Retention
School
Cerritos College**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
PSYC 101
Subject
Psychology
Date
Dec 10, 2024
Pages
12
Uploaded by GrandSummerMongoose3
MEMORY •Why is our memory not as good as we think it is & how can we improve it? •Why is it that we can remember useless things, such as what you ate for breakfast last week, but be unable to remember what's on your lecture notes? WHAT IS MEMORY? •Memory: an active system that receives information from the senses, organizes and alters that information as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage. PROCESSES OF HOW MEMORY WORKS •Information Processing Model, Atkinson & Shiffrin oBreaks down memory into 3 stages: §Encoding: the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that information into a form that us usable in the brain’s storage systems. §Storage: holding onto information for some period of time §Retrieving: getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used. oExample: Think of it as typing a document unto the computer (encoding phase). After typing you need to save it on the desktop or flash drive (storage phase). Later, you need to retrieve it to make changes or print it. Keep in mind that you can also edit it and add more to it. oNote: errors can occur at any time during these 3 phases that can prevent you from accessing and storing a particular memory.
•Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Model oMemory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections. •Levels of Processing Model oInformation that is more “deeply processed” – or processed according to its meaning, rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words – will be remembered more efficiently & for a longer period of time. oExample: Think of the word Psychology? §What does the word actually mean? •Psycho & -ology §Think acoustically – what does it rhyme with? •Sociology §Think about the letters in the word? •P-S-Y-C-H-O-L-O-G-Y oThe deeper we process that information, the likely to be remembered. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY •Video- Case study of Clive Wearing INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL •Let’s take a test.
oDo you ‘remember’ what a penny looks like? oDon’t remember? It could be that you never encoded this information. That means that you didn’t spend enough time studying the penny to remember the details. oCurious as to what the answer is: A HOW DOES THE PROCESS OF MEMORY WORK? WHERE DO WE PUT IT? •Receive information from the outside world (e.g., smell things, see, touch) •This information gets hold for a fraction of a second in our sensory memory •If we spend attention to this information, we can send it to short term memory where it can be stored for under a minute, unless its rehearsed •If rehearsed, we can hold this in short-term memory a bit longer to move to long-term memory. SHORT TERM & LONG-TERM MEMORY •Short-term memory (STM), can hold information there if we do maintenance rehearsal •Maintenance rehearsal: saying bits of information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in short-term memory oSTMs tend to be encoded in auditory form oExample: You just met Nancy & you’re trying to remember her name, so you keep repeating it.
•Long-term memory (LTM):all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently oOur goal is store memory here & we can do so via elaborative rehearsal oElaborative rehearsal: transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way. •STM only holds about 7 items of information, referred to as the Magic #7 +-2 oWe can hold about 5 to 9 units of information •How do we transfer more information to LTM? oChunking: organizing information into meaningful units §Example: instead of trying to remember the following unit – 5628602451 TRY to break it down into chunks •562– 860– 2451•562 as the area code for a phone number and so on •Now you have 3 chunks of information that you can hold on to & can add other pieces of information OTHER USEFUL TECNIQUES TO ENHANCING MEMORY •Encoding specificity: tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surrounding or physiological state) available when the memory was first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved •Example: if you are taking an online psychology course it would make sense to be given a test in an online environment because that is the same environment that you encoded this information •Scuba diving study:Goddenand Baddeley oResearchers instructed new scuba divers either in a classroom OR underwater oWhen asked to retrieve information related to scuba diving, they found that the environment they were in when they learned the information actually served as an aid for them to remember that information oIf students learned in a classroom, they were less likely to remember when they were underwater. MEMORY DEMONSTRATION
•Close your eyes and listen to the words oCoffee, Butter, Sugar, Shampoo, tomatoes, Bread, Cheese, Pasta, Bananas •Can you remember all the words that were read to you, all 9 of them? •Normally, people remember the word coffee and bananas •Why do you think that is? •Serial position effect:information at the beginning and the end of a body of information are more accurately remembered than the information in the middle •Where an item is placed on the list will be more likely to enhance its recall oPrimacy effect: tendency to remember information at the beginning better than what follows §The reason why you probably the words coffee and butter oRecency effect:tendency to remember information at the end better than information ahead of it §Reason why you remembered pasta or bananas oWhat about the middle words? Why would you remember shampoo who is not at the beginning or the end? §It’s the only item that is not food. Any item that tends to stick out enhances its recall (Vaughn restorative effect) OTHER WAYS THAT MEMORY GETS STORED •Automatic encoding:tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding oWe usually don’t spend time to store information about time and spatial relationships oExample: when you go to a classroom, you usually know where you sat before oExample: when you are taking an exam, you can visualize where a term or chart is on the textbook, yet you cannot remember the textual information in there
•Flashbulb memories: automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it oExample: think about the event that was important or unexpected to you? §Do you remember your HS graduation? A wedding? When the country went on lockdown for COVID-19? §You can actually remember what you were wearing as if someone took an actual picture of yourself and what you were doing oVideo to learn more about flashbulb memories oNote: be careful because a lot of times flashbulb memories are not as accurate as we think they are LONG-TERM MEMORY •Non declarative (implicit) LTM: memory for skills, procedure, habits, and conditioned responses (e.g., skills, playing the cello, writing) oMemories are not conscious oIncludes emotional association, habits, and simple conditioned reflexes that may or may not be in conscious awareness •Declarative (explicit) LTM: type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known oFacts and information that make-up knowledge oSemantic and episodic memories are forms of explicit memory •Semantic memory: declarative memory containing general knowledge oKnowledge of language, information learned in formal education oExample: everything you have learned so far about memory in this course •Episodic memory:declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others oDaily activities and events oExample: I got up this morning, brushed my teeth, ate breakfast, and left the house. Episodes about your life. RETRIEVAL •Two types: recall and retrieval oThink of them differently as an essay exam vs a multiple choice exam •Recall
oBlanket retrieval, no cues oExample: if someone calls you and says hello. You may not know the person or have any cues as to who this person may be •Retrieval cues oContext dependent learning refers to physical surroundings oState-dependent learning: memories formed during a particular physiological or psychological state will be easier to recall while in a similar state oExample: if someone calls you and addresses you by your name and other personal information, you might get cues as to who this person might be. FORGETTING AMNESIA •Amnesia is forgetting that can occur temporarily or permanently •Anterograde amnesia: loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories oUsually does NOT affect procedural LTM §People can still retain the ability to speak a new language, walk, or play an instrument oExample: someone suffers trauma to the head and cannot hold on to new information; they can no longer learn new information •Retrograde amnesia: inability to recall previously stored LTM oExample: When someone suffers trauma to head, Doctors ask your name, year, and maybe the 1stpresident of the USA to see if your LTM has been affected HOW RELIABLE ARE LONG-TERM MEMORIES? •Hindsight bias: tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event oExample: Lottery “I knew all along those numbers were going to be the winning numbers” oExample: when a couple breaks up, “I knew they would always break up” oCareful: this may not always be correct •Misinformation effect: misleading information presented after an event alters memories of the event itself
oExample: if you witness a crime, you are asked to write down all the details that led to the event before you forget it oStudy by Elizabeth Loftus §Participants witness a car approaching a yield sign & then got into a car accident §Then they were questioned how fast the car was going when the car approached the stop sign §They were presented with information after the fact §When questioned about the accident, participants were very confident that they saw a stop sign even though there was no stop sign in the original image •Video – Ted talk By Dr. Elizabeth Loftus •False memory syndrome: creation of inaccurate or false memories through the suggestion of others, often while the person is under hypnosis REASONS FOR FORGETTING •Encoding Failure: failure to process information into memory oSimilar to the penny demonstration done at the beginning oAnother similar example- which stop sign is accurate?
•Decay or Disuse oExample: if you don’t study what you learn in geometry from HS, you will have to retake it or studied more to remember that information •Proactive interference: memory retrieval problem that occurs when older information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of newer information oExample: if you met Julie first and then met Judy, there will be some interference between those 2 names and may have a hard time learning Judy’s name •Retroactive Interferences: memory retrieval problem that occurs when newer information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older information •Example: you met Judy, now you can’t remember the first person’s name, Julie •Example: have you ever tried to learn a first or a second language? oMemory is egocentric – were more likely to remember things that are similar to ourselves FORGETTING CURVE
•Ebbinghaus found that his recall of words from his memorized word lists was greatest immediately after learning the list but rapidly decreased within the first hour. After the first hour, forgetting leveled off oDistributed practice: spacing one’s study sessions oMassed practice: studying a complete body of information all at once •Ebbinghaus gave participants a list of nonsense words to remember oHe found that recall of words was greatest after learning the list but decline after the hour oLook at the figure. BIOLOGICAL BASIS FOR BEHAVIOR •Consolidation: changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when a memory is formed oLong-term potentiation §The more we often practice or rehearse a memory we strengthen those neurons connections §Animal research - we can put a rat inside a container and in the middle of the water there is a platform. The rat needs to learn how to swim over to the platform to stop swimming. Before learning, rat will swim for a long time until it finds the platform. After learning were the platform is, the rat will very quickly swim to the platform. •Hippocampus: area responsible for the formation of LTMs (case of H.M.) oDamage here-diffculty accessing LTMs
WHEN MEMORY FAILS •Alzheimer’s disease o2020 5.3 million cases in ye US oPrimary memory difficulty is anterograde amnesia §Difficulty remembering new information oRetrograde amnesia can also occur as the disease progresses •Various drugs for slowing progression of Alzheimer’s disease, but no cure •Risk factors for Alzheimer’s: oHigh cholesterol oHigh blood pressure oSmoking oObesity oType II diabetes oLack of exercise HEALTH AND MEMORY •Sleep is important in forming memories oMemories rehearsed during sleep are more likely to be consolidated oOne can’t learn something new while sleeping, but consolidation is enhanced oSleep deprivation severely interferes with hippocampal function oSleep helps prevent forgetting
•Brief exercise can be good for your memory oTake a walk with your dog, yoga, and more oDoesn’t have to be intense exercise •Fish is brain food oOmega-3 fatty acid called DHA (docosahexaenoic) helps memory cells communicate found in salmon, bluefin or albacore tuna, & swordfish.