Conceive of memory 

3 basic processes

1. we must encode the event (get in into memory)

2. Store it (retain it in memory)

3. retrieve the event (get it out of memory)

Encoding- How we Encode

1. Automatic Processing

2. Effortful processing

1. we uncosciously and efffortless encode and reain a vast amount of incidental inofrmtion. (space, time, and frequency)

2. encoding and retaining novel information (like learning a concept from a textbook) requires attention and conscious effort.

Effortful Processing

1.Herman Ebinghaus- Nonsense syllables-procedure

2.The serial position effect- Craik and Watknis (1973)

1. created nonsense syllables

he rehearsed to the beat of metronome the next day he tried to recall the list but if he was unsuccessful he would repeat till he recall them perfect.

2. refers to our tendency to reacll best the first (primacy effect: items at the beggining of the list receive the most rehearsal) and last items (recency effect: working memory after a brief delay because they were prevented from rehearsing the effect disappears) on a list.

1. More effort (maintenance rehearsal) goes into processing the information. 

2. Study is distributed over time (several highly focused bouts of studying are better than a long, unfocused session). ( The spacing effect: the tendency for distributed study to yield better long-term retetion through massed study (cramming)

3.It is processed more deeply (don't just read the information over and over; rather, connect it to other concepts).

4. It is made personally relevant ( try to connect the concept with something from your own life)

5. It is eleborated upon (try to come up with several examples of the concept instead of "just memorizing" it).

6. It is associated with a mental picture.

1. Shallow Processing: emphasizes the physical struture of the stimulus. (ex. Is the word written in captical letter? word flashed: Chair)

2. Intermediate processing: phonemic encoding: emphasizes what words sound like. (ex. does the word rhyme with train? Word flashed: Brain)

3. Deep Processing: Semantic encoding: emphasizes the meaning of the verbal input. (ex. would the word fit in this sentence? The girl put the ___ on the table. word flashed: book)

What we Encode -ELABORATIVE ENCODING

palmere et. al (1983) -procedure

refers to the process of linking a stimulus to each information.

Palmere et. al particpats read an essay that consisted of either: main idea+ one ex., main idea + 2 ex. , main idea + 3 ex. and the result was that the participats remembered the main idea that consisted of 3 ex.

What we encode- Visual Imagery Encoding

Paivio et. al (1968)- procedure

it refers to the process of associating concept with a mental picture.

Paivio et al (1968) participants asked to learn a list of pairs of words. The pairs of words varied in terms of their imagery potential. they were asked to recall as many pairing as possible.

particpants recalled those items with the highest imageray potential best wheas they recalled with the lowest imagry potential worst.

Storage- SENSORY MEMORY

George Sperling (1960)-procedure

refers to the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Iconic- (eye) .5 sec long

Echoic (ear) 3-4 sec. long

Hepatic( hand) <1 sec. long

Procedure- the longer the delay between the presentation of the array and the tone the greater the memory loss.

It refers to a store where we briefly hold a few items (digits of telephone number) before the information is either transferred to long-term memory or forgotten.

George Miller (1956)- found participants could recall on average 7 +/- 2 letters/ "chucks"

Chunking is the process by which we (automatically) organize items into familiar manageable units.

It refers to a relatively permanent and limitless store house that retains all our knowledge, skills and experiences.

It is essentially an unlimited capacity and duration store.

with mnemonic devices (memory aids that use organizational techniques and vivid imagery), our ability to remember.

1. Implicit Memory- seems to be associated with the cerebellum as damage to the cerebellum people cannot develop certain condtinoned reflexes.

2. Explicit Memory- seems to be associated with the hippocampus as damage to the hippocampus results in anterograde amnesia- the inability to form new memories. Still can form implicit memories. retrograde- inablility to recall past memories.

Memories are not stored in the hippocampus itself!

0. Amygdala-> formation and retrieval of emotional memories

1.Frontal lobes-> short-term memory and working memory taks

2.Prefrontal cortex, parts of temporal lobes-> efficient encoding of words,pictures

3. Hippocampus-> formation of long-term declarative memories; may bind together diverse elements of memory so that it can be retrieved later as a coherent entity

4. Cerebellum-> formation and retention of simple classically conditioned responses

5. Cerebral cortex-> storage of long-term memories

Recall- is a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier

Recognition- is a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned.

Retrieval- ENCONDING SPECIFICITY

State-Dependent Memory

Mood-Congruent Memory

Is the idea that retrieval will be best if the context at retrieval matches the context at encoding.

State-Dependent Memory: the tendency to remember something better when the rememberer is in the the same physical or metal state (when angry) as during the original encoding of the experiencce (were angry).

Mood- Congruent Memory: tendency to remember experiences( happy Events) that are consistent with ones current mood (happy) and overlook or forget experiences that are not (sad events).

Retrieval- PROCESSING EFFECTS

Transfer appropritate processing

Failures of Retrieval- REASONS FOR FORGETTING

1. Cue-Dependent Forgetting

2.Encoding Failure

3. Storage Decay

4. Replacement

5. Interference

1. the inability to retrieve information because of a lack of retrieval cues.

2. information might not have been effectively encoded to begin with- we connot remember what we do not encode!

3. The observation that retention of information seems to decay over time.

4. the observation that new inforamation entering memory can wipe out old information.

5. occurs when learning some items interferes with retrieving others.

1. The context at retrieval matches the context at encoding

2. the processing done at retrieval matches the processing donee at encoding 

3. there is less interferencce with the information 1) try not to study things that are too similar back to back 2) take a nap after studying and try to study just before going to sleep.

It refers to vivid and detailed memories that are formed upon experiencing emotional or important events.

Flash memories appear, then, to be quite fallible- reeconstructed like every other memory.

Memory is an imaginative reconstrucction of experience.

Memory as a Resconstructive act- SCHEMA EFFECTS

A schema is a concept or frame work consisting of our knowledge, built up from experience, about any object, event, person or group.

Shemas help us to interpret and organize information, which ultimately makes it more memorable.

The schemas we invoke at encoding and retrieval can bias the kind of information we remember-towards remembering information that is consistent with out schemas.

Reality Monitoring- Differentiating between external and internal sources

Reality monitoring- refers to the process by which we distiguish between something that actually occurred (a real memory) and something that we only imagined occureed (a false memory).

Confabulating- refers to the process by which we confuse an event that happnened to someone else with one that happened to you, or a belief that you remember something when it never actually happened.

Real events are: 1) more vivid 2) more detailed 3) suported by other memories 4) more plausible