Psychology Reading for February 11th Pages 240 266 Hyperthymestic Syndrome A memory that is too good How Memory Operates The Memory Assembly Line Memory The retention of information over time Paradox of Memory Our memories are surprisingly good in some situations and surprisingly poor in others o The same memory mechanisms that serve us well in most circumstances can sometimes cause us problems in others o Memory Illusion A false but subjectively compelling memory The Reconstructive Nature of Memory o Actively Reconstruct When we try to recall an even o Observer Memory A memory in which we see ourselves as an outside observer would o Field Memory Seeing the world through your visual field The Three Systems of Memory o These systems serve different purposes and vary along at least two important dimensions Span How much information each system can hold Duration Over how long a period of time that system can hold information o Three systems Sensory Memory Tied closely to the raw materials of our experiences our perceptions of the world Iconic Memory The type of sensory memory that applies to vision Eidetic Imagery Photographic memories Echoic Memory Hearing memory Short Term Memory Works actively with the information handed to it transforming it into more meaningful material before passing some of it on to the third system Working Memory Our ability to hold on to information we re currently thinking about Decay Memories fade away over time Interference Our memories get in the way of each other o Retroactive Interference Occurs when something new hampers earlier learning o Proactive Interference Occurs when earlier learning gets in the way of new learning Magic Number Seven plus or minus two piece of information universal limit of short term memory Chunking Organizing material into meaningful groupings Rehearsal Repeating the information mentally or even out loud Two types o Maintenance Rehearsal Repeating the stimuli in their original form o Elaborative Rehearsal Elaborate on the stimuli we need to remember by linking them in some meaningful way Levels of processing The more deeply we process information the better we tend to remember it Three levels o Visual o Phonological o Semantic meaning related Long Term Memory Permits us to retain important information for minutes days weeks months or even years Permastore Long term memory which remains frozen over time Semantic Long term memories based on the information received Acoustic Based on the sound of the information we ve received on a list Primacy Effect The tendency to remember stimuli early Recency Effect The tendency to remember stimuli later in a list Serial Position Curve Graph depicting both primacy and recency effects on people s ability to recall items on a list Semantic Memory Our knowledge of facts about the world Episodic Memory Our recollection of events in our lives Explicit Memory The process of recalling information intentionally Implicit Memory The process of recalling information we don t remember deliberately o Procedural Memory Memory for motor skills and habits o Priming Our ability to identify a stimulus more easily or more quickly when we ve previously encountered similar stimuli The Three Processes of Memory Three major processes of memory o Encoding The process of getting information into our memory banks Mnemonic A learning aid strategy or device that enhances recall Pegword Method Associate each number in a list with a word that rhymes with each number Method of Loci Relies on imagery of places Keyword Method Depends on your ability to think of an English word that reminds you of the word you re trying to remember o Storage The process of keeping information in memory Schema An organized knowledge structure or mental model that we ve stored in memory o Retrieval To remember something we need to fetch it from our long term memory banks Retrieval Cues Hints that make it easier for us to recall information Scientists measure people s memories in three major ways o Recall Generating previously remembered information on our own o Recognition Selecting previously remembered information from an array of options o Relearning How much more quickly we learn information when we study something we ve already studied relative to when we studied it the first time Distributed Versus Massed Practice Tells us that we tend to remember things better in the long run when we spread our learning over long intervals than when we pack it into short intervals Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon We re sure we know the answer to a question but can t come up with it Encoding Specificity We re more likely to remember something when the conditions present at the time we encoded it are also present at retrieval Context Dependent Learning Superior retrieval when the external context of the original memories matches the retrieval context State Dependent Learning Superior retrieval of memories when the organism is in the same physiological or psychological state as it was during encoding The Biology of Memory Memories of different features of experiences are almost certainly stored in different brain regions Long Term Potentiation A gradual strengthening of connections among neurons by repetitive stimulation over time The hippocampus is critical to memory The two most common types of amnesia o Retrograde Amnesia Learn the memories of our past o Anterograde Amnesia We lose the capacity to form new memories Pages 271 276 False Memories When Good Memory Goes Bad Flashbulb Memories Emotional memories that seem so vivid that people seem able to recount them in remarkable even photographic detail Source Monitoring Confusion A lack of clarity about the origin of a memory Source Monitoring Our efforts to identify the origins of a memory Cryptomnesia We mistakenly forget that one of our ideas originated with someone else Suggestive Memory Techniques Procedures that strongly encourage people to recall memories Misinformation Effect Providing people with misleading information after an event can lead to fictitious memories