April 12 2015 Chapter 6 Memory Textbook Notes Introduction Hyperthymesia a syndrome causing one to have a rare ability to recall specific events from ones past Also causes that person to spend a large amount of time thinking about their personal past Brad Williams is known as the Human google can recall news events or personal events he himself has experienced specific dates and the weather on those dates Jill Price a woman who remembers every detail of her life both the good and bad the woman who can t forget Learning is the key to our very survival and we cannot learn unless we can remember what happened the last time a particular situation arose If we can learn about the ways in which we forget about info we can apply that learning so that unintended forgetting occurs less frequently Section 1 What is Memory An active system that receives organizes stores and retrieves information Receives info from environment organizes and alters that info as it stores it away and then retrieves the info from storage Memory is a process and also has a place in the brain as well Models of memory Information processing model Focuses on the way info is processed through three different stages systems of memory While it is common to refer to the three systems of this model as stages of memory that term seems to imply a sequence of events Most comprehensive and the most influential Assumes that length of time that a memory will be remembered depends on the stage of Encoding storage and retrieval are part of this model memory in which it is stored Levels of processing model Focuses on the depth of processing associated w specific information Memory s duration depends on the depth the effort made to understand the meaning to which the info is processed or encoded Processing somethings meaning requires more mental effort than processing just its looks Deeper processing associated w longer retention Parallel distributed processing PDP model While many aspects of memory formation may follow a series of steps or stages this model focuses on simultaneous all at the same time processing of information across multiple neural networks stretched across the brain Model was derived from work in the development of artificial intelligence AI Connectionism use of artificial neural networks to explain mental abilities of humans Related to LTM as well used to explain the speed at which diff points can be accessed 3 processes of memory getting info into memory system storing it there and getting it back out Encoding putting it in Set of mental operations that ppl perform on sensory info sight sound etc to convert that info into a form that is usable in the brain s storage systems When ppl hear a sound their ears turn the vibrations in the air into neural messages from the auditory nerve transduction making it possible for the brain to interpret that sound Accomplished differently in each of the three different storage systems of memory Storage keeping it in Holding on to info for some period of time April 12 2015 Period of time will vary in length depending on system of memory being used Memory storage can be automatic Retrieval getting it out Getting info that is in storage into a form that can be used 6 1 What are the three processes of memory and the different models of how memory works Memory can be defined as an active system that receives info from the senses environment puts that info into a usable form organizes it as it stores it away and then retrieves the info from storage The three processes are encoding storage and retrieval In the levels of processing model of memory info that gets more deeply processed is more likely to be remembered In the parallel distributed processing model of memory info is simultaneously stored across an interconnected neural network that stretches across the brain Each of these views of the workings of memory can be seen as speaking to different aspects of memory The information processing model provides a big picture view of how the various memory systems relate to each other how the memory machine works The PDP model is less about the mechanics of memory and more about the connections and timing of memory processes The depth to which info is processed can be seen to address the strength of those parallel connections w in each of the three memory systems w strength and duration of the memory increasing as the level of processing deepens Section 2 The Information Processing Model Three Memory Systems Information processing theory looks at how memory and other processes work and bases its model for human thought on the way that a computer functions Info processing theorists first proposed that there are 3 stages or types of memory systems sensory memory short term memory and long term memory Sensory memory is the point at which info enters the nervous system through the sensory systems eyes ears etc Figure 6 1 Three Stage Process of Memory April 12 2015 Double take processing something after it already happened brain filters what to go back and process Reticular formation noticed the new and important information odd occurrences 6 2 How does sensory memory work Iconic memory is the visual sensory memory in which an afterimage or icon will be held in neural form for about one fourth 0 25 to one half 0 50 second George Sperling first capacity of iconic memory study subjects could only remember 4 5 letters was an inaccurate measure bc the human tendency to read from top to bottom took long enough that the letters on the bottom of the grid faded from memory by the time the person had read the letters at the top Developed partial report method subjects were told to report the top row of letters if they heard high tone middle row if they heard medium tone and lowest row if they heard a low tone they didn t hear tone until after the grid went away Subjects could accurately report any of the 3 rows The entire grid was stored in the subject s iconic memory The capacity of the iconic memory is everything that can be seen at one time Duration of iconic memory caused there to be a decrease in the number of letters recalled as the delay in presenting the tone increased in time from 0 15 sec to 1 sec Any longer than 1 second and subjects could no longer recall and letter from the grid Masking Info that has just entered iconic memory will be pushed out very quickly by new info After a quarter of a second old info is replaced by new info Eidetic memory rare ability to access a visual sensory