Iconic Memory (sensory memory)Short term memoryTemporaryConsolidation into longterm memoryLasts several seconds to minutesLimited capacity- can only hold so much until some things are pushed out to remember othersLong term memoryOstensibly Permanent: the act of recalling a memory might slightly change the memory (like a lifelong game of telephone-every recalling may distort the memory a bit)Unlimited capacityParticularly evocative/meaningful/Working memoryConscious recollection of what one is doing, what has been done, what just happenedThe direction of attention towards information your short term memoryMemory of specific eventsThere’s a whole bank of info that happened in the last 3 min (short term memory), working memory directs attention to those memoriesHow does it workInfo comes in via sense organs: sensory memoryFrom sensory buffers there is a encoding processConsolidation from short term long term memory OR…From short termworking memoryretieval and performanceOr from long term (after consolidation from short term)working memretrieval OR…Loss of memoriesWorking memory in animalsVery ancestral ability the ability to use working memory is crucial for survivalRat study:Rat is in a boxa light comes on behind a partition partition is removed rat goes to cubical under where the light had been flashed  food= use of working memoryOr conditioning?EncodingAutomatic processing:Unconscious encoding of incidental information such as space, time, frequency and of well learned information, such as word meanings. (ex what you ate for dinner last night, the route you take to class)Effortful processingConscious attention, conscious effort. Like learning concepts from a textbookDiffers for people depending on what sort of info your talking aboutRehearsal:repetition of informationOften conscious but not always consciousRetention curve: repetition=memorySpacing effect:If you distribute studying or practice (space out info) it will go into long term memoryGradually increase the delay between study periods= optimal studyingSerial Position Effect:Tend to recall best the first and last items in a list; the rest (middle) tends to get lostDelay determines how much is remembered, but first and last are proportionally more retainedEncoding meaningShallow vs deep processingDeep:Semantic encoding: If you encode the meaning of a wordIf after every word the experimenter asks the study questions after presented the word (is the word an animal? Person needs to be conscious of what a dog “means”)Shallow:Acoustic: encoding the sound, especially of wordsVisual: encoding picture imagesDoes the word ryhm with belly= phonetic, not meaningEncoding ImageryImagery: mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic codingMnemonics: Memory aides especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devicesInsert very specific details into an already superficially knownsuperficial: when I wake up I go to the bathroom then to the kitchen for coffee vs.I wake up to a dog slobbering on my face, I push myself up after hitting snooze 3 times. I get up and push through the doors to get into my restroom with white tile floors… etc.…Using a rhyme pattern (little song) where the first letter of every word of the patter corresponds to the first letter of a word in the list you want to remember (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally-Order of operation)Organizing information for encodingDifferent kinds of memory for the different kinds of memory we encode for the different types of informationTypes of long term memoryDeclarative: once thought to be the domain uniquely of humans; now no the case. Memory that is directly accessible to conscious recollection; facts and information acquired through learning. Deals with the whatEpisodic memory: autobiographic memory that pertains to a persons history.Semantic memory: more generalized. Learning vocabulary without knowing where you learned it from. Speech seems to come automatically; we don’t think about where we learned every word we use in speechNon-declarative: memory that is displayed through performance, rather than conscious recollection. Deals with how (everytime you get into your car, you remember how to drive your car)Skill learning: learning to perform a challenging task in repeated trial s in one or more sessionsPriming: exposure to a stimulus (word or picture)followed by the presentation of a portion of the stimulusConditioning: learning of associations between two or more eventsDependent vs non dependent: two different regions, separate from one another- damaged declarative while undamaged non-declarativeDeclarative memoryLanguage is critically important for declarative memory; so non human animals cannot access declarative memoryProven now to be untrueBirds:Given the opportunity to hide two foods (peanuts [not prefferd] and wax worms [they love])Group 1: caching 1= peanut 1st 120 hrs caching 2= wax worms 4 hours chooseGroup 2: caching 1=worm 120 hrs caching 2= peanuts 4 hrs chooseBecause peanuts do not degrade but worms do, a conscious creature would choose the food that is going to be least degraded, regardless of perferanceThe birds do thisStoring memories in the brainSynaptic changes: increased synaptic efficiency makes for more efficient neural circultsLong term potentiation (LPT): increases a synapse’s firing potential after a brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be the neural basis for learning and memoryHow do we increase the post synaptic firingIncrease the number of receptor sites (slower)Increase in neurotransmitter output (fast)Increase in dendritic spines in the neuron (more dendrite branches that connect to the cell)Video:Sea snail that has been shocked aware of threatWith shock (threat) there is a chemical change: the synaptic cleft sees many more neurotransmitters being released to many more receptor sites= Short term memoryWhen shocks are given over a longer period there is a physiological change: there are more dendrites grown and formed that communicate= Long term memoryStructuresHippocampus: involved in the consolidation of the information from short term memory (STM) to long term memory (LTM); transfers/ trains the rest of the brain to know to be afraid of a context= consolidation process (consolidation from short term memory to long term memory)= the memory of the fear of the context is no longer dependent on the