PSY 2012 0004 Katie s Notes Chapter 7 Memory 7 1 Types of Memory Hermann Ebbinghaus pioneered the scientific study of memory by using his own capacity for memorizing lists of nonsense syllables He invented over 2300 nonsense syllables and organized them into random lists Over 6 years he memorized thousands of lists of nonsense syllables The delay between memorization and recall caused him to forget of many of them He memorized meaningless syllables Meaningfulness increases memorability Distinctive unusual information is easier to retain this is the Von Restorff Effect A nonsense syllable among real words is distinctive Lists of nonsense words lack meaning and distinctiveness Different Types of Memory 1 Free Recall a To recall something is to produce a response b As you do on essay tests or short answer tests no hint provided c Simplest method to give most difficult test to take d Example Please name all the children in your second grade class You probably will not name many partly because you confuse the names of the kids in your other grades 2 Cued Recall a You receive significant hints about the material b A fill in the blank tests uses this c Example a photograph of the children in your second grade class or a list of their initials will help you remember 3 Recognition 4 Savings a Someone chooses the correct item among several options b You do this on multiple choice tests c This is the easiest type of test to take d Example If you are given a list of 60 names and asked to check off the correct names of children in your second grade class a Also known as relearning method b Compares the speed of original learning to the speed of relearning c You save time when you relearn something d Example If you can t name or pick out the kids in your second grade class you would nevertheless learn a correct list of names faster than a list of people you had never met 1 PSY 2012 0004 Katie s Notes Implicit Memory Also known as indirect memory It is an experience influences what you say or do even though you might not be aware of the influence Implicit memory is that which we know although we don t experience conscious awareness of that knowledge Procedural memories memories of motor skills such as walking or eating with chopsticks are another kind of implicit memories Primes reading or hearing a word temporarily primes that word and increases the chance that you will use it yourself even if you are not aware of the influence Explicit Memory Also known as direct memory Free recall cued recall recognition and savings are tests of explicit memory Someone who states an answer regards it as a product of memory Explicit memory is information we know or know we should know When asked to name state capital a conscious effort is made to remember Declarative memories memories we can readily state in words is a kind of explicit memory Concept Check Although you thought you had forgotten your high school French you do better in your college French course than your roommate who never studied French Savings You are trying to remember the phone number of the local pizza parlor without looking it up in the phone directory Free recall You hear a song on the radio without paying attention to it Later you find yourself humming a melody but you don t know what it is or where you heard it Implicit memory Helpful table 7 2 on page 238 of the textbook Children as Eyewitnesses Should we trust children s reports when they are witnesses or victims of a violent crime How well can the child report those events Listed below are several factors that influence the accuracy of young children s reports 1 Delay of Questioning a child who is asked immediately after an incident reports the event more correctly than a child asked 3 months later 2 Type of Question an open ended question such as Tell me what happened produces an answer that is short but accurate After a suggestive question like Did he touch you under your clothing produces and answer less accurate and less dependable 3 Hearing Other Children a child who hears other children reporting something is likely to make the same report even if it is wrong 2 PSY 2012 0004 Katie s Notes 4 Repeating the Question if someone asks a child the same question two or three times within a session the child often changes answers apparently assuming that th first answer must have been wrong 5 Using Doll Props children often act out events that did not happen when using dolls Tips for effectively and ethically interviewing young children o Use simple questions o Create a non threatening atmosphere o Avoid suggestions or pressure o Interview reasonably quickly after the event Information Processing View of Memory This model compared human memory to that of a computer o Information that enters the system is processed coded and stored Information first enters short term memory a temporary store and some short term memory transfers into long term memory like a hard disk Eventually a cue from the environment prompts the system to retrieve stored information The computer has RAM random access memory for temporary storage of information not yet saved in the hard drive o The information is still vulnerable to corruption or loss o This is like our short term memory Two major types of long term memory 1 Semantic memory memory of principles and facts a This includes everything you learn in school b Examples law of gravity simple math how to play a game 2 Episodic memory memory for specific events in your life a Example getting married the memory of you first kiss b Episodic memories are more fragile than semantic memories c Older people are especially likely to forget specific episodes You may remember something you have heard semantic memory but forget where you heard it episodic memory Forgetting where or how you learned something is source amnesia Short term memory Most normal adults can repeat a list of about seven letters numbers or words 7 plus or minus 2 is well established as the capacity of short term memory Chunking grouping items into meaningful sequences or clusters Example the word seventy six is 10 letters long we can remember it as 76 which is only two digits 3 PSY 2012 0004 Katie s Notes Decay of short and long term memory Information stored in long term memory is vulnerable to interference Generally it doesn t decay with passage of time Short term memory is vulnerable to passage of time Forgetting starts in second unless rehearsal occurs People s memory of a set of letters