Human) Memory

(Human) Memory • Memory is essential to the very essence of being a human being. • Can you imagine language, relationships, your sense of who you are without memory?

Three Basic Questions to Ask: • How are memories formed? (encoding) • How are memories retained? (storage and maintenance) • How are memories recalled? (retrieval)

Encoding strategies • Ways of encoding which have been shown to increase the likelihood of a successful memory trace include … • Mnemonics (Roy G. Biv) • Organising information • Depth of processing • Connecting the to-be-learned information with knowledge already held (elaborative rehearsal).

method of loci • useful mnemonic device is imagery. • – E.g. imagine items to be remembered in specific and different locations.

What type of memory EVERYONE is good at?

Survival – based !!!! ….. ….. ….. …..

Survival – based !!!! Locations How to do things (extremely lasting!) Emotional events (last for a lifetime!) Conditioned response (strengthened through repetition)

What is NOT on the list?

Semantic (word-based memories) (less related to survival) World’s seven longest rivers? Names for Egyptians dynasties? ….. …..

Mechanism of memory  When memories are formed, a structural change occurs at the synapse.  This strengthens the connection between associated neurones.  This is Hebb’s theory (1949)

The destribution of memery Using PET and fMRI techniques, some areas of the brain seem to be more actively involved than others in memory formation and retrieval. E.g. hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

Different types of memory:

MEMORY

Long-term

Short-term or Working memory

Difference between STM and LTM • Short term memory is a temporary storage with a finite capacity. • Long term memory is a long term storage with potentially unlimited storage (think of all the things you know!). • What is the capacity of short term memory?

• The magic number 7 (+ or - 2) (George Miller, 1956) • How can it be increased (think of our experiments)?

The Stage Theory of Memory

Remember! The way in which information is handled in WM can influence the likelihood that it will pass into long term storage!

Multiple pathways • Different kinds of life experience encode differently (Fuster, 1995). • Implications for teachers?

Declarative and Nondeclarative memory

MEMORY

Explicit

Long term

Implicit

Working

Procedural

Priming

Conditioned, automated learning Episodic

Semantic

Memory check!

Summary - How can the things you have learnt in this lecture improve your memory?

Summary - How can the things you have learnt in this lecture improve your memory? • There are more effective ways of remembering than repeating the information over and over. (Maintenance vs Elaborative rehearsal.) • Organise your thoughts into coherent groups. (e.g. Mandler,‘66). • Keep the environment you learn in as similar as possible to the environment you will be tested in (Encoding Specificity),or if in an exam room try to picture the room you revised in before attempting to recall.

• Understand different types of memory. • Cognitive phenomena of memory: – The Primacy / recency effect – The capacity of working memory (magic number …..?)