psychology

PSY-101: Principles of Psychology

Chapter 7: Memory

MEMORY The process by which a person encodes, stores, and retrieves information

● We often use the computer metaphor:

SENSORY MEMORY ● Holds information that has been pulled in from our senses ● Has a duration of one or two seconds

○ Needs to make room for new sensory information

● We don’t pay attention to most of the information in our sensory memory ○ Therefore, majority of information in sensory memory is lost

● Once you pay attention to information from your sensory memory, it is pulled into your working memory

WORKING / SHORT-TERM MEMORY ● “Works” with information that is attended to from sensory memory and also

information retrieved from long-term memory ○ It’s your mental workspace ○ You’re using it right now!

● Can typically hold 5 to 9 pieces of data for 5 to 20 seconds (unless rehearsed)

Rehearsal strategies ● Maintenance Rehearsal

○ Repeating information to keep it in working memory ● Elaborative Rehearsal

○ Connecting information to things you already know (THIS IS HOW WE LEARN)

LONG-TERM MEMORY ● Your “hard drive” ● Potentially unlimited capacity

○ Some argue ONE MILLION GIGABYTES of storage

Knowledge can exist in long-term memory as three main types ● Semantic

○ Language-based word meanings and facts ● Episodic

○ Events from your life (i.e., autobiographical memory) ● Procedural

○ How to do things

MEMORIES ARE CONSTRUCTED (AND RECONSTRUCTED)

● Memories are influenced by our past experience, emotions, and expectations ○ Nobody is recording the TRUTH in high definition

● Every time we retrieve a memory, we may reconstruct it ○ Especially true for episodic memories

Our memories are affected by misinformation and suggestibility ● We can unknowingly alter existing memories or even create false

memories given the right cues

WHY WE FORGET Encoding Failure

● Either did not pay attention to or did not rehearse the information

Decay ● Loss of information through lack of use ● Neural associations have weakened

Interference ● Information disrupts either the encoding or retrieval of other

information

PROACTIVE AND RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE

AMNESIA Retrograde Amnesia

● Loss of existing memories after trauma ● E.g., hit your head in a car accident and forget the entire day

leading up to the accident ● Sometimes memories return, but sometimes they don’t

Anterograde Amnesia ● Inability to make new explicit memories after trauma ● E.g., can’t form new episodic memories following brain surgery ● VERY rare

CLIVE’S ANTEROGRADE

AMNESIA

ENHANCING MEMORY ● Use elaborative rehearsal to process information deeply

○ How does the information connect to what you already know?

● Revisit the information repeatedly ○ Overlearning prevents decay

● Avoid distractions when studying ○ You need your attention for effective encoding and storage

● GET SOME SLEEP ○ Your brain needs sleep to build long-term memories ○ Try not to sacrifice sleep for extra study time

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The material for these slides was adapted from:

Introduction to Psychology An open-access text written and edited

by multiple individuals and organizations

Greg Mullin, 2022 - Licensed CC BY - SA