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"How does information get into..."

"What are some potential real-world..."

Human Memory: Basic Questions

Figure 7.2 Three key processes in memory. Memory depends on three sequential processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Some theorists have drawn an analogy between these processes and elements of information processing by computers as depicted here. The analogies for encoding and retrieval work pretty well, but the storage analogy is somewhat misleading. When information is stored on a hard drive, it remains unchanged indefinitely and you can retrieve an exact copy. As you will learn in this chapter, memory storage is a much more dynamic process. Our memories change over time and are rough reconstructions rather than exact copies of past events.

Encoding: Getting Information Into Memory

Levels of Processing

Figure 7.3 Levels-of-processing theory. According to Craik and Lockhart (1972), structural, phonemic, and semantic encoding—which can be elicited by questions such as those shown on the right—involve progressively deeper levels of processing, which should result in more durable memories.

Enriching Encoding

Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory

Figure 7.6 The Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory storage. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971) proposed that memory is made up of three information stores. Sensory memory can hold a large amount of information just long enough (a fraction of a second) for a small portion of it to be selected for longer storage. Short-term memory has a limited capacity, and unless aided by rehearsal, its storage duration is brief. Long-term memory can store an apparently unlimited amount of information for indeterminate periods.

Sensory Memory

Short Term Memory (STM)

Short-Term Memory as “Working Memory”

Figure 7.7 Short-term memory as working memory. This diagram depicts the revised model of the short-term store proposed by Alan Baddeley. According to Baddeley (2001), working memory includes four components: a phonological rehearsal loop, a visuospatial sketchpad, an executive control system, and an episodic buffer.

Long-Term Memory

Is exposure enough for remembering?

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"You are going to go..."

How Is Knowledge Represented and Organized in Memory?

Figure 7.8 A semantic network. Much of the organization of long-term memory depends on networks of associations among concepts. In this highly simplified depiction of a fragment of a semantic network, the shorter the line linking any two concepts, the stronger the association between them. The coloration of the concept boxes represents activation of the concepts. This is how the network might look just after a person hears the words fire engine.
Source: Adapted from Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. (1975). A spreading activation theory of semantic processing. Psychological Review, 82, 407–428. Copyright © 1975 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted by permission of the authors.

Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory

Figure 7.9 The misinformation effect. In an experiment by Loftus and Palmer (1974), participants who were asked leading questions in which cars were described as hitting or smashing each other were prone to recall the same accident differently one week later, demonstrating the reconstructive nature of memory.

A Brief Assignment

"Write down the names of..."

The U.S. Presidents

"Serial Position Effect"

Forgetting: When Memory Lapses

Figure 7.10 Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve for nonsense syllables. From his experiments on himself, Ebbinghaus concluded that forgetting is extremely rapid immediately after the original learning and then levels off. Although this generalization remains true, subsequent research has shown that forgetting curves for nonsense syllables are unusually steep. (Data from Ebbinghaus, 1885)

Why We Forget

Figure 7.11 Effects of interference. According to interference theory, more interference from competing information should produce more forgetting. McGeoch and McDonald (1931) controlled the amount of interference with a learning task by varying the similarity of an intervening task. The results were consistent with interference theory. The amount of interference is greatest at the left of the graph, as is the amount of forgetting. As interference decreases (moving to the right on the graph), retention improves. (Data from McGeoch & McDonald, 1931)

Figure 7.12 Retroactive and proactive interference. Retroactive interference occurs when learning produces a “backward” effect, reducing recall of previously learned material. Proactive interference occurs when learning produces a “forward” effect, reducing recall of subsequently learned material. For example, if you were to prepare for an economics test and then study psychology, the interference from the psychology study would be retroactive interference. However, if you studied psychology first and then economics, the interference from the psychology study would be proactive interference

The Repressed Memories Controversy

Figure 7.15 Retrograde versus anterograde amnesia. In retrograde amnesia, memory for events that occurred prior to the onset of amnesia is lost. In anterograde amnesia, memory for events that occur subsequent to the onset of amnesia suffers.

In Search of the Memory Trace: The Physiology of Memory

Figure 7.16 The anatomy of memory. All the brain structures identified here have been implicated in efforts to discover the anatomical structures involved in memory. Although its exact contribution to memory remains the subject of debate, the hippocampus is thought to play an especially central role in memory.
Photo: Wadsworth collection.

Are There Multiple Memory Systems?