PSY 101 Exam 3 Notes Disclaimer All notes have been taken by me using Dr Poulin s lecture slides and any images are also taken from his slides to better represent certain information concepts Memory 1 Overview Memories thoughts experiences or associations from the past Memory the process of making and using memories a process by which stimuli thoughts experiences become memories o Encoding deciding which stimuli get stored o Storage representing information in the brain o Retrieval accessing memories for later use such as trying to remember someone s name you know it but you need to retrieve the information Memory is selective Class example nobody remembers what they ate for dinner on July 13 2012 but Dr Poulin does because his wife went into labor that day It is a date of personal relevance so he is more likely to remember the events clearly 2 Encoding Memories can be encoded in three sequential stages o Sensory memory Stimuli appear in sensory memory Sensation itself is very briefly replayed thanks to pre processing in sensory e g sights iconic memory like the picture of the tree and the boy and cortical areas sounds echoic memory Any time you see an image it is retained in your visual sensory memory iconic for at most a few seconds Any sounds you hear are stored for up to three seconds in the auditory cortex for instance when somebody asks you a question very quickly and you respond what because you didn t understand the brain processes their question by replaying it in the auditory cortex before they can ask again and you respond properly o Working short term memory If stimuli are the target of attention they are represented in working memory The section of your memory for information that is currently in use memory you are actively using at that moment Unlike sensory memory working memory is selective and limited in its capacity of how much you can actively hold at one time Limited capacity 7 2 units of information example number sequences from class most people could successfully write the 5 6 and 7 numbered sequences but very few could write the 8 or 9 numbered sequences This capacity increases when you are well rested and energetic and decreases when you are tired Real life applications phone numbers license plates etc Things that people need to have in their memory and a 7 numbered license plate or phone number is at the general limit of what we can remember Limited duration 30 seconds we cannot remember longer than that Example if someone gives you their number and you don t have anything to o Long term memory write it down or put it in your phone you start repeating it to yourself until you do This puts it in sensory memory because you keep hearing yourself saying the number in your head echoic memory Some information makes it into long term memory Anything successfully remembered longer than 30 seconds to 2 minutes is by definition long term memory Essentially unlimited in capacity and duration could potentially last forever in theory Automatic processing effortlessly remembering certain features of the environment Spatial position where the information is Temporal position sequence the order in which things occur Example someone asks you about your day you automatically just them what happened from the morning to the night in order rather than the opposite or a scattered account of your day Frequency how often the information is presented Example seeing a friend in passing multiple times in one day Emotionally intense events Flashbulb memory Examples remembering exactly what happened during 9 11 If an event was emotionally charged enough to affect you profusely you will remember in excruciating detail where you were how you felt what you were doing etc Effortful processing forming memories deliberately Types of effortful processing Repetition rehearsal inefficient flashcards for studying Effective but Chunking break the information into groups Each group can be subdivided as well Example trying to remember the order and names of the planets Break them into groups of the inner and outer planets focus on each group in isolation and then combine the two groups Effective and very efficient easily digested information that is easier to remember Chunking into hierarchies of information make it much easier to remember Linking information into sensory data combining with visual auditory aids is very effective Linking information with other concepts semantic encoding principle behind mnemonic devices to remember names PEMDAS for instance 3 Storage How information is stored depends upon the kind of memory explicit or implicit Explicit memory memory for facts and events Includes episodic experiences and semantic facts concepts memory o o Encoded via but not stored in the hippocampus Damage to the hippocampus prevents you from being able to form new explicit memories facts and experiences Implicit memory memory for skills conditioning Pavlov s dogs associating bell with meat powder is an implicit memory for instance o Encoded via but not stored in the cerebellum Where Apparently throughout the brain association areas At the neural level as long term potentiation o New or strengthened connections when learning occurs this happens Increased likelihood that when one neuron fires an adjacent one will be affected o o Memory consists of increasing levels of functional neuron pairing or long term potentiation 4 Retrieval Retrieval requires you to encounter information related to a memory the key to retrieving a memory is to be presented with information related to something in long term memory so you can pull out that information For example on a test the questions relate directly to what you study obviously so you remember the material o Encountering the same information again you will quickly realize you already know it the Recognition facilitated by simplest form of retrieval Recall facilitated by o Reversing the encoding process An example is chunking grouping the information separately will help you remember You can also use sensory aids using diagrams as a visual aid for instance o Mood congruence you are more likely to remember things depending on your mood If you re sad it s easier to remember very sad events in life rather than happy memories This is actually why depression is so hard to treat successfully because people tend to wallow in sadness and self pity without being able to remember anything else o Matching encoding physiological state if you are in a high arousal