MEMORY

The retention of information over time through the process of encoding, storage, and retrieval

Three processes: Memory

1. ENCODING process by which information gets into memory storage

a. Attention [although brains are efficient, they cannot attend to everything. This limitation mean that
we have to attend selectively to some things in our environment and ignore others]
divided attention when a person attend to several things simultaneously

Levels of attention processing

1. Shallow level the sensory or physical features of stimuli are analyzed.

2. Intermediate level- stimulus is recognized and given a label

3. Deepest level information is processed semantically, in terms of its meaning.

b. Elaboration the extensiveness of processing at any given level.

c. Imagery one of the most powerful ways to make memories distinctive
Mnemonic skills in remembering

2. MEMORY STORAGE retention of information over time and the representation of information in
memory.

Atkinson-Shiftrin Theory

1. Sensory memory information from the world that is held in its original form only for an instant, not
much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.

> Echoic memory (auditory) holds information up to several seconds

> Iconic memory (visual) holds the information for only of a second

2. Short-term memory limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only
as long as 30 seconds unless strategies are used to retain it longer.

Memory span - 72 the number of digits an individual can report back in order after a single
presentation of them.

Improving short term memory:

a. Chunking grouping or packing information that exceeds 72 memory span into

higher order units that can be remembered as single units.

Memorize the following in 2 minutes:

Nine Swap Cell Ring Lust Plugs

Lamp Apple Table Sway Army Bank
Fire Hold Worm Clock Horse Color
Baby Sword Desk Hold Find Bird
 According to George A. Miller, the typical storage capacity for short-term memory is seven plus
or minus two items. However, memory rehearsals strategies such as chunking can significantly
increase memorization and recall.

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b. Rehearsal the conscious repetition of information; if rehearsal is not interrupted,

information can be retained indefinitely.

> Verbal - (giving the impression of an inner voice)

> Spatial or visual (giving the impression of a private inner eye)

3. Long-term memory a relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for
a long time

Long-term memory system

a. EXPLICIT MEMORY the conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events
that can be verbally communicated. (Ex. Recounting the events in a movie)

Episodic memory the retention of information about the where, when, and what of lifes
happenings (detail of birthdays, what happened in your first date, etc).

Semantic memory persons knowledge about the world (areas of expertise, general knowledge
you learned in school, everyday knowledge about the meanings of words, famous individuals,
important places, common things).

b. IMPLICIT MEMORY memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without that
experience being consciously recollected.

(Ex. Playing basketball, biking, typing on a computer board; Repetition in your mind of a song you
heard playing in the supermarket, even though you did not notice that song playing).
 Procedural memory involves memory for skills (Ex. Typist types without looking at the keys)

Priming involves the activation of information that people already have in storage to help them,
remember new information better and faster.

Classical Conditioning involves the automatic learning of associations between stimuli.

3. MEMORY RETRIEVAL the memory process of taking information out of storage.

a. Serial position effect the tendency for items at the beginning and at the end of a list to be recalled
more readily than those in the middle.

Retrieval of Emotional Memories

Flashbulb memory the memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall more accurately
and vividly than everyday events

Repressing memory making conscious remembering extremely difficult

Forgetting

1. Encoding failure

- People have not forgotten something, rather, they never encoded the information in the first place
- Encoding failure occurs when information was never entered into long-term memory.

2. Retrieval failure

a. interference theory states that people forget not because memories are lost from storage but
because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember.

b. proactive interference situation in which material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of
material learned later.

c. retroactive interference situations in which material learned later disrupts the retrieval of
information learned earlier

d. decay theory states that when something new is learned, a neurochemical memory trace is
formed, but over time this trace tends to disintegrate.

e. tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon the effortful retrieval that occurs when people are confident that
they know something but cannot pull it out of memory.

f. amnesia the loss of memory

o Anterograde amnesia memory disorder that affects the retention of new information and
events.
o Retrograde amnesia memory disorder that involves memory loss for a segment of the past
but not for new events.