Unit 7 Memory

Important Vocabulary
Encoding/processing: take information from short term memory
and transfer it into long term memory, giving it meaning and
process it; we establish that is has some kind of importance so
we remember it
Retrieval: remember something from long term memory and
bring into short term memory and then its kind of forgotten
-recall: just happens; randomly remember something
-recognition: when you are primed to remember something
(multiple choice)

Memory: how we retain information and retrieve it and our

capacity for remembering & the structures that account for this
capacity
State congruent memory: must be in same state of mind to
remember when you lost something (lose something when youre
drunk, find it when youre drunk)
How to Manufacture Memory
Human memory is reconstructive: add, delete, change elements
Flashbulb memory: emotionally powerful, vivid, often
embellished or changed over time (John said in 2nd grade his
friend rammed into a metal beam, cut his head open, started
gushing blood, and the teacher had blood all over her shirt --probably not)
-tend to embellish things bc our memory isnt great so our
memory reconstructs it for us so that it makes sense
Source Misattribution: inability to distinguish information stored
during an event from information added later
Graph
Sensory register: contains sensory capacity, we forget other
environmental information unless we bring to our short term
memory if we decide its important
Short term memory: lasts 30 seconds, limited capacity
Mnemonic devices, rhymes, etc. goes into long term memory
Long term memory: unlimited capacity, but we dont recall
everything; basics that we learn about things are layered upon
(how to play a sport), information is organized and fixed
Unconscious Processing
The Conditions of Confabulation
Confusion of imagined events with real ones
Confusing an event that happened to someone else with one that
happened to you

Likelihood when confabulation occurs is when the event you are

describing is more likely (can happen with dreams)
Example of this is when witnesses in the video were so sure the
woman in the crime was wearing white
Memory & the Power of Suggestion
We start to question what is there and what is notinfluences us
Better when you have eyewitnesses to interview them by
themselves in an area where they can not overhear anyone so
their information isnt influenced by anyone else
Never ask the question: what was the race of the individual that
you saw
Eyewitness testimony is vulnerable to error when:
-The suspects ethnicity differs from the witnesss
-Leading questions are asked (ex. Was the person wearing a red
shirt)
-Witnesses are given misleading information
Children are extremely susceptible to eyewitness testimony
Children are suggestible when:
-Questions blur the lines between reality and fantasy
-Leading questions are used
-Obedience to authority: pressured, urged, and threatened
Children experience confabulationmake the worst
eyewitnesses
In Pursuit of Memory
We want to be able to measure memory: psychometrics
Brain unconsciously creates memories because there is some
emotional attachment to it (implicit)
Implicit memory: unconsciously, measure indirectly, priming,
affected by past experiences
Explicit Memory (intentional): conscious, intentional, better
recognition than recall
Models of memory: how are we encoding, processing,
remembering, retrieving, etc.
- Parallel Processing: understanding multiple aspects of a
problems simultaneously
Types of Memory
Short term memory
-chunk information to make it easier to retain
-retains information up to 30 seconds
-decide if its important enough to move to long term
memoryinfo goes to procedural (ride a bike, brush teeth, tie
shoes, etc.: require set of steps or muscle memory) or
declarative memories (facts, information that you generally
know: area codes, zip codes)

Long term memory

-a network of interrelated concepts that includes procedural
memories, declarative memories,
-serial position effect
-Declarative memories: Semantic: general facts (Obama, zip
codes, etc.: stuff everybody should know)
-Declarative memories: Episodic: emotional experiences that you
have as well as facts about yourself
-Declarative memories take effort
-Serial position effect: (helps and hinders us): grocery list you
only remember the top and the bottom
Changes in Neurons and Synapses
STM: temporary changesonly remember 30 seconds unless you
make it go to long term, you dont need it and its forgotten
LTM: lasting structural changes: long term potentiation
-long-term potentiation: long lasting increase in the strength of
synaptic responsiveness and seems to be a biological
mechanism of LTM: neural networks are used over and over
again (bike path); if you do something long enough the neurons
and brain will change so that you have quicker and better access
to that particular neural pathway (can be declarative and
procedural memories)
Consolidation: the process by which a LTM becomes durable and
stable
Locating Memories
Difficult to pinpoint one specific place where we store
memorieswe think its a collective effort
Frontal lobes: active during STM
-making decision is this information important
Neural networks: formation of LTMs and storage of them
-long term potentiation
Hippocampus: formation of LTM declarative memories (semantic
and episodic)
Cerebellum: crucial for procedural memories
-most of those memories are things we need balance and
coordination for
Hormones and Memory
Adrenal glands
-stress and emotional arousal
-epinephrine and some steroids: enhance memory
Very high hormone levels can interfere with the retention of
information
-moderate level is optimal for learning new tasks

When the sympathetic nervous system releases some adrenaline

it enhances our memory (before a roller coaster)
How We Remember
Rehearsal
-keeps info in STM longer (30 seconds)
-increases the chances of retention
Elaborative rehearsal
-more likely to result in transfer to LTM
-saying over and over again (constant discussion of deep
processing)
-interchangeable with deep processing
Deep processing
-more effective than shallow processing (crammingunderstanding the words and trying to memorize definition vs.
trying to give your own explanation of something)
-making connections
Mnemonics
-strategies or tricks for improving memory
Why We Forget
Amnesia: due to disease/injury to the brain
-brief, resides once swelling/disease subsides
-usually not long term or specific (not just going to forget one
thing; all or none)
-sometimes cant make new memories, sometimes cant
remember old memories or something that has just recently
happened to us
Cue-dependent forgetting: insufficient recall cues
State dependent memory: physical/mental state
- ex. forget you wanted a glass of water
-need to be in the physical state that you were in
-lack of cues helps us forget things (if there were empty glasses
on the table it could have reminded you to get the drink)
Mood congruent memory: mood=emotional nature of the
information
-if youre happy youll remember happy things
-if youre mad, youll remember bad things
Decay theory: Dont use it, lose it, sensory and STM
-STMdecideif its crapwe lose it
-might be ruled out for LTM
Interference
How we remember and encode things
PORN (proactive interference old wins) (retroactive interference
new wins)

Proactive interference: old information interferes us

remembering new information (change your password, next time
you go to put it in you type the old one; typing 2015 instead of
2016)
Retroactive: new information prevents us from remembering old
information (couldnt remember your old address)
Autobiographical Memories
Most affected by reconstruction of memories as well as other
people
Childhood amnesia: biological (cant form memories until about 6)
& also psychologically and maturity wise:
-children dont understand they arent the only person in the
universe until they are about 2 or 3, dont have encoding
abilities, most little kids focus on routine, dont have cognitive
schemas (categories that we put things in; you have a dog with
spots, call a cow a dog)
Up until 5 or 6 years old
Memory and Narrative
A persons narrative organizes remembered life vents and gives
them meaning
-we dont remember things that dont give our life much meaning
Adult memories can reveal as much about the present as they do
about the past
-memories reveal about who we are, who we think we were, &
our past
Our memories are prone to reconstruction and mood, especially
when theyre about ourselves
Ways to Enhance Memories
Rehearsal: repeating
Overlearning: excessive rehearsal (practice math problems in
class and at home)
Distributed practice: doing a little bit each night
Minimizing interference: turn off TV, making sure there arent
distractions
Deep processing:
The Link Method: linking all things in a list
Method of Loci: Ron White visualization method
Peg Word Method: have specific set of words that rhyme to help
you remember (1: bun 2: shoe)
Rhymes: in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Narrative Methods: make a story
Acronyms: words that mean different things (OCEAN, PORN,
CANOE)

Acrostics: sentences that mean something else (Please Excuse

My Dear Aunt Sally)

Thinking, Problem Solving, Creativity, &

Language

Thought Element of cognition

Thinking: mental manipulation of information
Concept: mental category that groups objects, relations,
activities, abstractions, or qualities
-basic concepts: have a moderate number of instances and are
easier to acquire than those having either few or many instances
-when we are not sophisticated enough, we believe everything to
be the same (cant differentiate dog bed and beanbag)
-we can have multiple concepts that fall under one big umbrella
(schoolcollege, high school, elementary, etc.)
Prototype: mental image or best example (What we think a high
school looks like is very different than what other people do)
-best image: what you expect to see
Chart (example: teacher)
Concepts: eats apples, shares knowledge, gives homework,
grades tests
Mental images: well dressed, old, blazers
Cognitive schemas: all the prototypes that fit that schema
(schema: teacher) schema expands when something is not what
you expected from your prototypes
Reasoning Rationally
Reasoning: purposeful mental activity that involves drawing
inferences and conclusions from observations of propositions
Thinking rationally: trying to look at other things weve done that
are similar so that way we can make the right decision
Problem Solving
Strategies
-Algorithms: step by by step procedure that guarantees a
solution
-Heuristics: rule of thumb (5-second rule, raise your hand in
classroom to ask question, etc.)susceptible to error
-Insight: a-ha moment to remember how to do something
Creativity
-Sternbergs 5 components of creative: expertise, imaginative
thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, a
creative environment
-Expertise
-Imaginative thinking skills

-A venturesome personality: be willing to fail so you can start

again
-Intrinsic motivation: if you dont you experience overjustification effect
-A creative environment
Formal Reason Problems
Algorithm: logical process
Deductive reasoning: Law of Syllogism, try to make statements
and conclusions true
Inductive reasoning: finding a pattern, leaves us with doubt,
could be false, susceptible to error
Deductive Reasoning
Premise true + premise true = conclusion must be true
Laws of logic/Transversal (Law of Syllogism)
A type of logic in which one goes from a general statement to a
specific instance
Process of elimination based on true statements
Inductive Reasoning
Premise true + premise true + possibility of discrepant
information = conclusion must be true
Based on pattern
Can be different/have more answers
Where Problems Occur
Confirmation bias: find information that supports your
hypothesis; make the assumption that you already know
something is true; ex. Oh its a multiple choice test, I dont have
to read the directions
Fixation: inability to see a problem from a new perspective (only
think post it notes are for taking notes when you can use them
for anything)
-mental set: approach a problem in a particular way
-functional fixedness: think of things only in terms of their usual
functions (Pinterest shows that we can avoid functional
fixedness)
The Hindsight Bias
I knew it all along phenomenon
Common in political judgments, medical judgments, military
decisions
Overcoming Cognitive Biases
Tends to diminish when people are doing things that they have
expertise in or that have serious consequences
Once a bias is understood, with mindful effort and thought, it can
be reduced or eliminated
Heuristics

Heuristics: quick, easy problems solving methods

Representativeness: our prototype
-judging likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to
match prototypes
-ignore important infocan cause us to be incorrect
Availability
-likelihood of events based on their available memory
-presume events are common
-take something thats readily available
Decisions, decisions
Overconfidence: tendency to be more confident than correct
Belief perseverance: clinging to ones initial conceptions
Intuition: Good or Bad?
An effortless, immediate automatic feeling or thought
Could lead us awry
Our gut tells us the right thing sometimes
Can lead to self fulfilling prophecies (I have a gut feeling that this
person is sketchy)
Structure of Language (not on quiz)
Phonemes
-smallest sound unit
Morphemes
-smallest u nit that carries meaning
Grammarrules of language
-semantics
-syntax