Human Memory

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Lecturer: Pn. Naqiah Puaad

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In this lecture, we will discuss:

 Modal model of memory

 Sensory Memory
 Short-term memory
 Differences between short-term memory and long-
term memory
 The serial position effect
 Differences in coding
 Characteristics of Short-term memory

 Working memory
 3 components of working memory
 Working memory in the brain

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Human Memory: a Definition

 Processes involved in retaining, retrieving

and using information about stimuli,
images, events, ideas and skills after the
original information is no longer present

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Modal Model of Memory

 Proposed by Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)

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Modal Model of Memory
 Sensory Memory- hold information for seconds

 Short-term memory (STM) – holds information

for 15-30 seconds

 Long-term memory (LTM) – holds information for

years

 Control processes- active processes controlled by

the person eg. Rehearsal

 Retrieval – process of remembering information

in LTM (must go through STM again)
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Sensory Memory
 Retention of information for very brief time
 Eg. The sparkler effect
 retention of perception of light in your mind
= persistence of vision

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Sensory Memory

 Eg. Watching a movie in the cinema

 The film projector’s shutters open to project the mage
on the film to the screen then it closes so the film moves
to the next frame
 In the cinema, this process is repeated so fast at 24
times per second
 Effect: we don’t see the dark parts in between the
images because of the persistence of vision effect helps
us to retain the image from the previous frame

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Sensory Memory
 Sperling’s study on sensory memory

 Results:
 sensory memory lasts only for a very short
time
 It registers information received by visual
senses but
 This information decays within less than a
second

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 Sensory memory
for visual
information – iconic
memory

 Sensory memory
for sounds – echoic
memory
(persistence of
sound)
Sensory Memory

 Important for:
 Collecting information to be processed

 Holding information for a short time while

early processing of information takes place

 Fill in the blanks when stimulation is

intermittent (bersela)

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 Carrot

STM vs LTM Apple

Diet
Door
Mouse
 Demonstration of STM vs LTM Berry
Gold

 1. The serial position curve Menu

Rope
(Murdoch, 1962) Meter
 Memory for a list of words is Penny
better for words at the beginning Plate

or end of the list Kettle

Sun
Train
Egg
Fish
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Toy
STM vs LTM

Serial-position curve (Murdoch, 1962). Notice that memory is better for

words presented at the beginning of the list (primacy effect) and at the
end (recency effect).

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STM vs LTM
 Primacy effect (due to LTM)
 memory better for words at the beginning of
the list
 These words have been rehearsed more often
 Transferred to LTM

 Recency effect (due to STM)

 memory better for words at the end of the list
 These words were presented most recently
 Still present in STM

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STM vs LTM

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STM vs LTM

 2. Differences in Coding
 Coding- the way information is
represented

Common -STM

Common-LTM

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STM vs LTM: Evidence from
Neuropsychological ( Brain Damage) Studies

 Case of patients who have functioning

STM but poor LTM
 Clive Wearing- musician, lost memory to a
disease (viral encephalitis)
 H.M. – suffered from epilepsy (penyakit
sawan), had surgery to remove his
hippocampus
 BUT hippocampus is responsible for
formation of new LTM

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Cross-section of the brain showing some of the key structures that
are involved in memory.
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Short-term memory (STM)
 STM- window on the present

 How much information can it store?

 Capacity of STM:
 George Miller (1956)
 The magical number seven plus or minus two
 5-9 items

 Chunking can increase STM ability

 Chunking – small items can be combined into larger
meaningful units
 Helps STM’s limited capacity to handle large amount of
information

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Short-term memory (STM)
 How long can STM lasts?

 Who did a study on sensory memory? (slide #8)

 Brown, and Peterson & Peterson’s experiment

(1959)

 Results:
 STM can last about 15-20 seconds without rehearsal

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Working Memory

 Limited capacity system for

temporary storage and manipulation
of information for complex tasks
(comprehension, learning, reasoning)

 Working memory is different from STM:

 Not just to store information for a short time
but to manipulate information to help us
carry out complex cognitive tasks

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Working Memory

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Working Memory

3 components:

1. Phonological Loop
 Holds verbal and auditory information
 Has two parts:
 Storage - holds memory traces, fades in 2
seconds unless refreshed. Passive
 Rehearsal – practise repeating a memory
trace, refreshes the memory trace. Active
part

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Working Memory

2. Visuospatial Sketch Pad

 Holds visual and spatial information

 Eg allows us to solves puzzles or find our way
around our university campus

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Tasks handled by components of working memory. (a) The
phonological loop handles language. Reading is shown here, but
the phonological loop also handles information that is received
verbally as when listening to someone speak. (b) The visuospatial
sketch pad handles visual and spatial information.
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Working Memory

3. Central Executive

 Major part of working memory

 Obtains information from LTM
 Coordinates activities of phonological loop and
visuospatial sketch pad
 Eg. listening to directions a you drive in a new
city

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Tasks processed by the
phonological loop
(hearing directions) and
visuospatial sketch pad
(visualizing the route)
being coordinated by
the central executive

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Working Memory & the Brain
 Studies on working memory carried out on
monkeys
 Delayed response task – monkey has to learn
to hold information in working memory during
a delay period

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Working Memory & the Brain

 Monkeys can be trained to perform this

task if their pre-frontal (PF) cortex is okay
 Damage to PF => this ability drops
 PF is important for holding information for
short time
 PF is important for working memory
 But other areas of the brain are also
involved

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Working Memory & the Human Brain

Some of the areas in the cortex that have been shown by

brain-imaging research to be involved in working memory
(Adapted from Fiez, 2001). 29
Summary

 Modal model of memory

 Sensory Memory
 Short-term memory
 LTM
 Differences between short-term memory and long-term
memory
 The serial position effect
 Differences in coding

 Working memory
 3 components of working memory- phonological loop,
visuospatial sketchpad, central executive
 Working memory in the brain can be located in the pre-
frontal cortex

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Readings for this lecture:

 Textbook by Goldstein – Chapter 5

 Create a Concept Map/ Mindmap of

Chapter 5

 Participate in COGLAB – Operation Span

(page 110)

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Happy Reading
&
Good Luck

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