Chapter 7 Psychology Notes Memory Cognitive Psychology Part 1 Computer Science and Cognitive Psychology Cognitive Psychology and computer science evolved together in the 1960 s Prior to the 60 s behaviorists thought taking about mental states was unscientific John Van Nuemann One of the greatest scientists you have never heard of He had a PhD in Math worked as a physicist but made substantial contributions to economics psychology computing weather forecasting and social science John Nuemann Architecture Computer Science and Psychology Processor Control Unit Arithmetic Logic Unit ALU Input devices Memory the primary memory secondary memory Output devices Computing gave psychologists analogies which allowed them to think of the brain as assort of computer that manipulates information The Information Processing Approach to Memory Environmental stimuli Sensory Memory SM Attention Short term memory STM Elaborative rehearsal Long term memory retrieval Short term memory STM Maintenance Rehearsal Short term memory STM Information Retrieval So is the Brain a Computer Memory Not exactly The brain is much more complex However the analogy between brains and computers is so useful that we still use computing terms to this day In both computing and the brain memory 1 Converts information into a form that can be stored Encoding 2 Stores the encoded information Storage 3 And retrieves that information and reconverts it to a stable form Human Memory vs Computer Memory Human memory is more complex Computers convert information to 1 s and 0 s Brains convert information to changes in the structures of neurons Hence humans and computers remember different kinds of things Humans have memory for sensory stimuli emotional events natural language motor tasks directions to school etc Computers can execute complex algorithms repeatedly Computers can retrieve an exact copy of a paper you wrote But their job is less complex Since human memory is more complex and storage is based on the 3 D layout of your brain human memory is also subject to biases computers are not subject to Human memory for events is always imperfect We don t replay events the way we replay a DVD All memories for events are approximations This is necessarily so Memory is Reconstructive Three Stages of Memory 1 Sensory Memory 2 Short Term Working Memory 3 Long Term Memory Sensory Memory Sensory memory briefly maintains our sensory perceptions so we can process what is important Iconic Memory You continue to see an image for about a second after it has changed or disappeared Echoic Memory You can hear a sound for up to 10 seconds after it has stopped Often we use these terms interchangeably The book primarily refers to short term memory I like working memory models better Short Term Working Memory Working Memory Central Executive o Phonological Loop o Visuo spatial Sketchpad o Episodic Buffer Central Executive Coordinates and controls the other subsystems Phonological loop Short term memory for something heard Maintained by rehearsal Visuospatial Sketchpad Used to manipulate and rehearse visual information Episodic Buffer Communicates information between working and long term memory Has a limited capacity for information Can hold about 5 to 9 units of information at a time It also lasts for about 20 seconds at most without rehearsal Reason Human Memory is Reconstructive Number 1 Only a small amount of sensory information makes it from sensory memory to working memory And most information in working memory is lost because It isn t rehearsed focused on The Cognitive Miser Theory This pops up all over psychology It s the idea that the brain has a limited capacity to process information so the brain is to be efficient in how it uses its resources Hence we have to filter most information out The Cognitive Miser There are rare cases of individuals with nearly perfect memory for things they have seen However it causes problems with other types of memory What determines What Goes From Working to Long Term Memory 1 Rehearsal 2 Depth of Processing The more meaningful something is the more easily it is stored You will remember the gist of the story long after you forget the exact wordings Gist vs Verbatim Memory Read a newspaper article Then play a computer game or something for 10 minutes Can you tell someone else what the articles were about Probably Can you recite the article word for word Meaning is stored more readily than exact detail and forgotten more slowly If you want to remember a list of words or numbers you will have more luck if you make the information meaningful Long Term Memory Implicit Memory Explicit Memory Memory Problems Information is stored in long term memory The structure of long term memory has long been up for debate but the model in the book and the one most used in our labs at UT comes from Endel Tulving Explicit Memory vs Implicit Memory Explicit memory is memory that we consciously try to retrieve Implicit memory is memory for things we do automatically Procedural memory is a form of implicit memory This is unconscious memory for motor skills Priming is when we can identify a stimulus more quickly after previous exposure to it Semantic Memory Memory for facts word meanings general knowledge Episodic memory Memory for events from our lives We learn much about memory by learning about memory problems We will look at forgetting brain damage and false memories Forgetting Forgetting can be caused by a failure to store information in the long term memory or an inability to retrieve information Interfering with Encoding Interfering with Retrieval Preventing rehearsal e g Operators saying good day after giving a phone number Cramming Too much information too soon limits how much is stored Proactive interference Earlier learning interferences with new learning Retroactive Interference New learning makes it hard to recall old learning Encoding Specificity It is harder to recall information when you are in a different place mood or state of mind than when you learned it Trace decay If you don t use information the structures of the neurons containing that info may degrade Recall More Susceptible to Forgetting It is easier to recognize correct answers to questions than it is to retrieve a correct answer Part of it is that recognition allows you to eliminate answers you know are wrong Part of it is that it requires multiple steps to recall and recall often requires a cue Semantic memory is often conceptualized as a network of