The document discusses key aspects of human memory, including its three measures (recall, recognition, relearning), models of memory (sensory, short-term, working, and long-term memory), and strategies for improving memory through effortful processing like chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, distributed practice, and deep levels of processing. It also covers differences between explicit and implicit memory formed through effortful vs. automatic processing.

1. PART 9
MEMORY
SECTIONS
Ѱ
9
Psychology, Twelfth Edition (Myers, D. G.)
© T.G. Lane 2018

2. PART9
• Discuss the three measures of memory retention.
• Discuss how psychologists describe the human memory system.
• Discuss the differences between sensory, short-term, long-
term, and working memory.
• Discuss the differences between effortful and automatic
processing.
• Discuss the differences between explicit and implicit memory.
• Discuss how the brain stores information.
© T.G. Lane 2018
MEMORY

3. PART9
• Explain how forgetting and memory construction errors
occur in the human two-track mind.
• Discuss effective strategies for improving one’s memory
based on scientific research.
© T.G. Lane 2018
MEMORY

4. CHAPTER8
SECTION
MEMORY
© T.G. Lane 2018

5. 1
What is memory and how is it measured?
• Research on memory’s extremes has helped to better
understand how memory works.
• memory: the persistence of learning over time through
the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART9:MEMORYSTUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
• Some individuals have extraordinary memory ability while
others lack in how well they can retrieve past information.

6. 1
• To a psychologist, evidence that learning persists includes
three measures of retention: information recall,
recognition, and relearning.
• recall: a measure of memory in which the person must
retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-
blank test
MEASURE RETENTION
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
• recognition: a measure of memory in which the person
only needs to identify information/items previously
learned, as on a multiple-choice test
• relearning: a measure of memory that assesses the
amount of time saved when learning material again
• Tests of recognition and of time spent relearning
demonstrate that we remember more than we can recall.
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7. 1
MEMORY MODELS
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
How do psychologists describe the human memory system?
• An information-processing model likens human memory to
computer operations; it involves encoding, storage and
retrieval information.
• encoding: the processing of information into the
memory system—for example, by extracting meaning
• storage: the process of retaining encoded information
over time
• retrieval: the process of getting information out of
memory storage
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8. 1
MEMORY MODELS
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
How do psychologists describe the human memory system?
• Computers process information sequentially; however, the
human brain processes many things simultaneously (some
of them unconsciously) by means of parallel processing.
• parallel processing: the processing of many aspects of
a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode
of information processing for many functions
• One information processing model, connectionism,
views memories as products of interconnected
neural networks; this model supports the idea that
memories are formed through parallel processing.
• Every time new information is learned, the
brains neural connections change.
PART9:MEMORY

9. 1
MEMORY MODELS
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
• Early researchers explained the memory forming process
using a three-stage model that includes, sensory memory,
short-term memory, and long-term memory.
• sensory memory: the immediate, very brief recording
of sensory information in the memory system
• short-term memory: activated memory that holds a
few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone
number while calling, before the information is stored
or forgotten
• long-term memory: the relatively perman-
ent and limitless storehouse of the memory
system. Includes knowledge, skills, and
experiences
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10. 1
MEMORY MODELS
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
• Other psychologists have updated this model with important
newer concepts, including working memory and automatic
processing (i.e. information that slips into long-term memory via
a “back door,” without conscious awareness).
• working memory: a newer understanding of short-term
memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of
incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and
of information retrieved from long-term memory.
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11. 1
WORKING MEMORY
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
• Short-term memory is seen as as a small, brief storage space for
recent thoughts and experiences; as well as an active desktop
where the brain processes information by making sense of new
input and linking it with long-term memories.
PART9:MEMORY

12. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Dual-Track Memory: Effortful Versus Automatic Processing
How do explicit and implicit memories differ?
• The three-stage memory model focuses on how humans
process explicit memories.
• explicit memory: memory of facts and experiences that
one can consciously know and “declare” (also called
declarative memory)
• Explicit memories are encoded through conscious effortful
processing.
• effortful processing: encoding that requires attention
and conscious effort
PART9:MEMORY

13. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Dual-Track Memory: Effortful Versus Automatic Processing (Cont’d…)
• Behind the scenes, other information skips the conscious
encoding track and barges directly into storage through
automatic processing.
• automatic processing: unconscious encoding of inciden-
tal information, such as space, time, and frequency, and
of well-learned information, such as word meanings
• Automatic processing produces implicit memories.
• implicit memory: retention of learned
skills or classically conditioned
associations independent of conscious
recollection (also called nondeclarative
memory)
PART9:MEMORY

14. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories
What information do we process automatically?
• Our implicit memories include procedural memory for auto-
matic skills (such as how to ride a bike) and classically condit-
ioned associations among stimuli (e.g. previous dog bite).
• Without conscious effort we also automatically process
information about:
• space (i.e. encoding our visual surroundings)
• time (i.e. noting sequence of events during the day)
• frequency (i.e. keeping track of how many times things
happen)
PART9:MEMORY

15. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories
• Learning to read is not automatic, but with experience and
practice, reading becomes automatic.
• After enough practice some tasks become much more
automatic; We develop many skills in this way: driving,
texting, and speaking a new language.
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16. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories (Cont’d…)
Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory feeds our active working memory, recording
momentary images of scenes or echoes of sounds.
How does sensory memory work?
• Humans have iconic memory and echoic memory.
• iconic memory: a momentary sensory memory of visual
stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting
no more than a few tenths of a second
• echoic memory: a momentary sensory memory of
auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and
words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
PART9:MEMORY

17. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Effortful Processing Strategies
What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remem-
ber new information?
• There are several effortful processing strategies that can
boost our ability to form new memories.
Chunking
• One effortful processing
strategy is chunking.
• chunking: organizing
items into familiar,
manageable units– it
often occurs
automatically
Example
PART9:MEMORY

18. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Effortful Processing Strategies (Cont’d…)
Mnemonics
• To help them encode lengthy passages and speeches, ancient
Greek scholars and orators developed mnemonics.
• mnemonics: memory aids, especially those techniques
that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Example
PART9:MEMORY

19. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Effortful Processing Strategies (Cont’d…)
Hierarchies
• When people develop expertise in an area, they process
information not only in chunks but also in hierarchies composed
of a few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower
concepts and facts
Example
PART9:MEMORY

20. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Effortful Processing Strategies (Cont’d…)
Hierarchies (Cont’d)
• Two additional strategies that aid storing information into long-
term memory include space effect and testing effect.
Distributed Practice
• space effect: the tendency for distributed study or
practice to yield better long-term retention than is
achieved through massed study or practice (e.g.
studying over a long period rather than cramming)
• testing effect: enhanced memory after retrieving, rather
than simply rereading, information (i.e. repeated self-
testing)
PART9:MEMORY

21. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Levels of Processing
What are the levels of processing, and how do they affect encoding?
• Memory researchers have discovered that we process verbal
information at different levels, and that depth of processing
affects our long-term retention; these levels include shallow
processing and deep processing.
• deep processing: encoding semantically,
based on the meaning of the words;
tends to yield the best retention
• shallow processing: encoding on a basic
level based on the structure or appear-
ance of words (i.e. letters of words)
PART9:MEMORY

22. 1
ENCODING MEMORIES
© T.G. Lane 2018
STUDYING AND ENCODING MEMORY
Levels of Processing (Cont’d…)
Making Material Personally Meaningful
• If new information is not meaningful or related to our
experience, we have trouble processing/remembering it.
• Also, we have especially good recall for information we can
meaningfully relate to ourselves.
Example
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you
arrange things into different groups. Of course,
one pile may be sufficient depending on how
much there is to do…. After the procedure is
completed, one arranges the materials into
different groups again. Then they can be put into
their appropriate places. Eventually they will be
used once more and the whole cycle will then
have to be repeated. However, that is part of life.
PART9:MEMORY

23. PART9
SECTION
MEMORY
© T.G. Lane 2018

24. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
What is the capacity of long-term memory? Are our long-term memories
processed and stored in a particular location?
• Humans’ capacity for storing long-term memories is essentially
limitless.
• Despite the brain’s vast storage
capacity, we do not store inform-
ation as libraries store their books, in
single, precise locations; instead,
brain networks encode, store, and
retrieve the information that forms
our complex memories.
Retaining Information in the Brain
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIESPART9:MEMORY

25. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
What are the roles of the frontal lobes and hippocampus in memory
processing?
• Left damage: trouble recalling verbal
information
• The network that processes and stores your explicit memories for
facts and episodes includes your frontal lobes and hippocampus.
Retaining Information in the Brain (Cont’d…)
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
Explicit Memory System: The Frontal Lobes and Hippocampus
• hippocampus: a neural center located in
the limbic system; helps process explicit
memories for storage
• Right damage: trouble recalling visual
designs and locations
PART9:MEMORY

26. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
• Subregions of the hippocampus also serve different
functions:
Retaining Information in the Brain (Cont’d…)
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
Explicit Memory System: The Frontal Lobes and Hippocampus (Cont’d)
• One part is active as people learn
to associate names with faces.
• Another part is active as memory
champions engage in spatial
mnemonics.
• The rear area, which processes
spatial memory, grows bigger the
more you navigate through new
areas
hippocampus
PART9:MEMORY

27. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
• Memories are not permanently stored in the hippocampus.
Instead, the hippocampus seems to act as a loading dock
where the brain registers and temporarily holds the elements
of a remembered episode—its smell, feel, sound, and location;
memories eventually migrate for long-term storage to the
cortex through the memory consolidation storage process.
Retaining Information in the Brain (Cont’d…)
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
Explicit Memory System: The Frontal Lobes and Hippocampus (Cont’d)
• memory consolidation: the neural storage of a long-
term memory
hippocampus
PART9:MEMORY

28. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
What roles do the cerebellum and basal ganglia play in memory
processing?
• Your hippocampus and frontal lobes are processing sites for your
explicit memories. But you could lose those areas and still, thanks
to automatic (not effortful) processing, lay down implicit
memories for skills and newly conditioned associations.
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
• implicit memory: retention of
learned skills or classically
conditioned associations
independent of conscious
recollection (also called
nondeclarative memory).
PART9:MEMORY

29. Cerebellum
2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
• The cerebellum plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit
memories created by classical conditioning; with a damaged
cerebellum, people cannot develop certain conditioned reflexes.
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
• The basal ganglia, deep brain
structures involved in motor
movement, facilitate formation of
procedural memories for skills. The
basal ganglia receive input from the
cortex but does not send information
back to the cortex for conscious
awareness of procedural learning
(e.g. learning to ride a bike).
Cerebellum
Basal Ganglia
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30. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
How do emotions effect our memory processing?
• Emotions trigger stress hormones that influence memory
formation; stress hormones focus memory.
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
• Emotion-triggered hormonal changes help explain why
one long remembers exciting or shocking events (e.g. first
kiss, location during 9/11); this is a type of flashbulb
memory.
The Amygdala, Emotions, and Memory
• flashbulb memory: clear memory of an
emotionally significant event
PART9:MEMORY

31. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
How do changes at the synapse level affect our memory processing?
• Given increased activity in particular pathways, neural
interconnections are forming and strengthening.
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
• Experience and learning can increase—
even double—the number of synapses,
making the synapse more efficient at
transmitting signals.
Synaptic Changes
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32. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
• Rapidly stimulating certain memory circuits connections in
humans can increase the connection’s sensitivity; the
increased efficiency of potential neural firing demonstrates
long-term potentiation (LTP).
Synaptic Changes (Cont’d…)
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
• long-term potentiation (LPT): an increase in a cell’s
firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; believed
to be a neural basis for learning and memory
• One approach to improving memory focuses
on drugs that boost the LPT enhancing neuro-
transmitter glutamate; another approach
involves developing drug that boost
production of CREB, a protein that also
enhances the LTP process
PART9:MEMORY

33. 2
MEMORY STORAGE
© T.G. Lane 2018
STORING AND RETRIEVING MEMORIES
Summary of Two-Track Memory Processing and Storage System
PART9:MEMORY

34. PART9
SECTION
MEMORY
© T.G. Lane 2018

35. 3
• For some, memory loss can be severe and permanent; two
types of memory loss can include anterograde amnesia and
retrograde amnesia.
• retrograde amnesia: inability to retrieve information
form one’s past
FORGETTING
© T.G. Lane 2018
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Forgetting and the Two-Track Mind
• anterograde amnesia: an inability to form new mem-
ories (resulting from damage to the hippocampus)
• Humans have two distinct memory systems,
controlled by different part of the brain; those
with anterograde amnesia have an inability to
form new explicit memories; however, these
individuals’ automatic (previously learned)
processing ability can remain intact.
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36. 3
• We cannot remember what we have not encoded.
FORGETTING
© T.G. Lane 2018
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Encoding Failure
• But no matter how young we are, we selectively attend to few
of the many sights and sounds continually bombarding us.
Example:
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37. 3
• Even after encoding something well, humans sometimes
forget it; memory for novel (unique) information fades quickly,
then levels out (e.g. learning Spanish vocabulary in H.S. vs. 3
years later)
FORGETTING
© T.G. Lane 2018
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Storage Decay
• One explanation for the forgetting curves is a gradual fading of
the physical memory trace.
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38. 3
• Often, forgetting is not memories faded but memories
unretrieved; one stores in long-term memory what is
important to them or what one has rehearsed; but sometimes
important events defy one’s attempts to access them.
FORGETTING
© T.G. Lane 2018
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Retrieval Failure
• Retrieval cues (hints) can make it easier to retrieve stored
memories (e.g. a person’s name on the tip of one’s tongue).
PART9:MEMORY

39. 3
FORGETTING
© T.G. Lane 2018
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Retrieval Failure (Cont’d…)
• As an individual collects more and more information, one’s
mental attic never fills– it does get cluttered though; an
ability to tune out clutter helps people to focus, and focusing
helps us recall information; sometimes, however, clutter
wins, and new learning and old collide through proactive and
retroactive interference.
Interference
• proactive interference: the forward-acting disruptive effect
of prior learning on the recall of new information (e.g. old
combination lock number interferes with new lock)
• retroactive interference: the backward-acting disruptive
effect of new learning on the recall of old information
(new song lyrics interferes with old song lyrics)
PART9:MEMORY

40. 3
FORGETTING
© T.G. Lane 2018
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Retrieval Failure (Cont’d)
• To remember one’s past is often to
revise it; memories fail in part
because they are “unreliable, self-
serving historians”
Motivated Forgetting
• As one processes information, they
filter, alter, or lose much of it; it is
hard to say either memory failure is
a result of encoding, storage, and/or
retrieval problems.
PART9:MEMORY

41. 3
© T.G. Lane 2018
How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our
memory construction? How do we decide whether a memory is real?
• When we “replay” a memory, we often replace the original with a
slightly modified version; memory researchers call this
reconsolidation.
• reconsolidation: a process in which previously stored
memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before
being stored again
MEMORY CONSTRUCTION ERRORS
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
• There have been cases during
police lineups that witnesses
have falsely identify a suspect;
this can be do to a real memory
being replaced with a false one.
PART9:MEMORY

42. 3
© T.G. Lane 2018
• Eyewitnesses that receive misleading information may
experience errors in their memory on events; this is an
example of the misinformation effect.
• misinformation effect: when leading information has
corrupted one’s memory of an event
MEMORY CONSTRUCTION ERRORS
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Misinformation and Imagination Effects (Cont’d…)
Example:
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43. 3
© T.G. Lane 2018
• Repeatedly imagining nonexistent actions and events can
create false memories.
• Misinformation and imagination effects
occur partly because visualizing something
and actually perceiving it activate similar
brain areas; the more vividly one can
imagine things, the more likely they are to
become memories
MEMORY CONSTRUCTION ERRORS
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Misinformation and Imagination Effects
PART9:MEMORY

44. 3
© T.G. Lane 2018
• Among the frailest parts of a memory is its source; for example,
one may recognize someone but have no idea where they have
seen the person– source amnesia.
MEMORY CONSTRUCTION ERRORS
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
Source Amnesia
• source amnesia: attributing to the wrong source an event
one has experienced, heard about, read about, or
imagined
• Source amnesia, along with the
misinformation effect, is at the
heart of many false memories.
PART9:MEMORY

45. 3
© T.G. Lane 2018
1. Rehearse repeatedly.
2. Make the material meaningful.
3. Activate retrieval cues.
4. Use mnemonic devices.
5. Minimize interference.
6. Sleep more.
7. Test you knowledge, both to
rehearse it and to find out
what is not yet known.
IMPROVING MEMORY
FORGETTING, MEMORY CONSTRUCTION…
How can you use memory research findings to do better in this and
other courses?
PART9:MEMORY