6. ‘Explaining’ the Dissociation between
Implicit & Explicit
• Hypothesis 1: The different types of implicit learning all
share a common learning mechanism.
• Hypothesis 2: The only real commonality between the
different types of implicit learning is the absence of
episodic learning – Baddeley likes this view.
– Episodic learning: a system that glues together events that
we experience at the same time.
13. Plasticity revisited
• taxi drivers had greater volume
in the posterior hippocampus
• but non taxi drivers had greater
volume in the anterior
hippocampus
19. How can we improve memory?
• Elaboration
– linking information at the time
encoding
• Thinking of examples
20. How can we improve memory?
• Elaboration
– linking information at the time
encoding
• Thinking of examples
• Self-Referent Encoding
– Making information personally
meaningful
22. Distributed vs. Massed Practice
Rate of learning a
typing skill for a range
of training schedules:
(1 × 1 equals one session of 1 hour per day,
2 × 1 equals two such sessions, 1 × 2 is one
session of 2 hours and 2 × 2 two 2-hour
sessions.)
Mirror tracing task
•20 trials of learning
• Massed
• 1 min between trials
• 1 day between trials
23. The Distributed Practice Effect
Spaced presentation (i.e.
study) enhances memory
for a variety of materials
Successfully testing yourself
strengthens memories more
than passively studying items
Spacing Effect Generation Effect
24. Study & Retrieval Match
• Encoding specificity
• Transfer-appropriate
processing
25. Forgetting
If we remembered everything, we should on most
occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing.
William James
27. Testing the Rate of Learning
• The Total Time Hypothesis:
– The amount learned depends on
the time spent learning
• The Experiment:
– Ebbinghaus learned a new list of
syllables
– 24 hours later, he determined
how many additional trials he
needed to relearn the list (called
savings).
• The more trials necessary, the
worse his memory was.
The Results:
– Learning was
linearly related to
amount of study.
30. Baddeley
Clayton
Loftus
Recall – Coming up with an item from
scratch
Cue Dependent Recall – Coming up
with an item after a hint is given
Recognition – Identifying an item from
a list of items
Types of Retrieval
32. Types of Retrieval Failure
• Decay
– Memory traces erode with the passage of time
– No longer a valid theory of forgetting
• Interference
– Influenced by type of information
33. Interference theory
• Forgetting is a result of some memories
interfering with others
– Proactive interference
• Old memories interfere with ability to remember
new memories
– Retroactive interference
• New memories interfere with ability to remember
old memories
– Interference is stronger when material is similar
If you call your new girlfriend
your old girlfriend’s name.
34. Retrieval Failure
• The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
(TOT)
• Retrieval cues
–Information associated with stored
information that helps bring it to mind
• False memories
36. Role of hippocampus in memory
• Rats w/hippocampal lesions can’t perform radial maze
task
– no spatial memory
• Alzheimer’s begins with severe hippocampal damage
• Lesions in monkeys impair discrimination memory
– Lesions impair declarative memory, not procedural memory
• Lesions impair long-term memory storage, but short-
term memory seems to be normal
• Critical in the consolidation of LTM.
37. Role of the frontal cortex in memory
• Evidence for this comes from Phineas Gage, Patient
K.C., patients, & animal models.
• Prefrontal cortex deteriorates in older age. Aged
monkeys perform more poorly on many of the same
tasks as do monkeys with prefrontal cortex damage.
