Memor

y
Close your eyes in a minute. Then try to
recall the most memorable time you had
with your family.
And what event, where and why?

Then find a partner and talk about it with

him or her for 3 minutes.
Memory – is the ability to
remember information, events
and experiences
• An Information-Processing Model
• The Sensory Memory
• Short-Term Memory
• Long-Term Memory
 Memory Processes
1. Encoding--transforming sensory input or
information into a code so that the nervous
system can process it.
3 Codes used in remembering:
a. acoustic codes – saying out loud or to ourselves
repeatedly
b. visual codes – keeping a mental image of the
object
c. semantic codes – making meaning on objects to
remember it.
 Memory Processes
2. Storage—encoded information is saved over a
period of time, it can remain for few seconds or
much longer depending on how important it is.

3. Retrieval—also called “recalling”, process of

bringing to mind that which has been stored in
memory.
Information-Processing Model of
Memory

● A model of memory in which information must

pass through discrete stages via the processes of
attention, encoding, storage, and retrieval.
Three Stages of Memory
1. Sensory Memory
2. Short Term Memory/Working Memory
3. Long Term Memory
1. Sensory Memory - brief storage that immediately
follow initial stimulation of
receptor

● Capacity—large
● can hold many items at once
● Duration—very brief retention of
Sensory images
● .3 sec for visual info
Sensory ● 2 sec for auditory info
Input
Memory
● Attention is needed to transfer
information to working memory
Types of Sensory Memory
● Iconic memory - visual sensory memory,
hold visual information up to a second
● Echoic memory – auditory information for 1
to 2 seconds
● Haptic memory – for touch
● Gustic memory – for taste
● Olfactic memory – for smell
2. Short-Term Memory/Working
Memory
● Function—store the things we have in our
awareness or consciousness
● Capacity—limited (holds 7 to 8 items)
● Duration—brief storage (about 30 seconds)
Ex. Hearing a song that is interesting to you.

Sensory Attention Working or

Sensory
Short-term
Input Memory
Memory
 3. Long-Term Memory
● Function—organizes and stores information
● Preserving unlimited items of info over long period of time
● Unlimited capacity
● Duration—thought by some to be permanent
Maintenance Rehearsal

Encoding
Sensory Attention
Sensory Working or Long-term
Memory Short-term memory
Input
Memory Retrieval
Types of Long-Term Memory
● Explicit memory—memory with
awareness; information can be consciously
recollected; also called declarative memory
● Implicit memory—memory without
awareness; memory that affects behavior
but cannot consciously be recalled; also
called nondeclarative memory
 Explicit Memory
1. Episodic memory— Memory tied to your
own personal experiences within a definited
period of time.
Ex. Birthday, anniversary
2. Semantic memory—information about facts,
general knowledge, school work
Ex. What is psychology?
 Autobiographical Memory
Memorable Transitions
● Autobiographical Memory
● The recollections people

have of their own personal

experiences and
observations.
● People’s memories are most
vivid for times of transition.
● In college, these are memories
from the beginning of the first
year and end of the last year.
Autobiographical Memory

● Flashbulb Memories
● Highly vivid and enduring memories, typically for
events that are dramatic and emotional
● Childhood Amnesia
● The inability of most people to recall events from
before the age of three or four
● Hindsight Bias
● The tendency to think after an event that one knew
in advance what was going to happen
Why do we forget?
Sensory memory
The senses momentarily register
amazing detail

Short-term memory
● Forgetting
A few items are both noticed
and encoded
can occur
at any
Long-term storage memory
Some items are altered or lost
stage
Retrieval from long-term
memory
Depending on interference, retrieval
cues, moods, and motives, some
things get retrieved, some don’t
Forgetting as retrieval failure
● Retrieval—process of accessing stored
information
● Sometimes info IS encoded into LTM, but we
can’t retrieve it
Encoding
Short-term Long-term
memory memory
X
Retrieval

Retrieval failure
leads to forgetting
Measures of Retrieval
● Recall—retrieving what is stored in the LTM
without any reminder cues.
Ex. Essay and enumeration test
2 types of recall
1. Free recall – answers can be given in no particular
order
2. Serial recall – answer requires specific arrangement

● Recognition—test of LTM that involves identifying

correct information from a series of possible choices
Ex. Multiple choice
Memory Distortion

● Memory can be distorted as people

try to fit new info into existing
schemas
● Giving misleading information after
an event causes subjects to
unknowingly distort their memories
to incorporate the new misleading
information
Forgetting Theories

● Encoding
failure
● Interference
theories
● Motivated
forgetting
● Decay
1. Encoding Failures

Even though you’ve seen

thousands of pennies, you’ve
probably never looked at one
closely to encode specific
features
2. Interference Theories

● “Memories interfering with

memories”
● Forgetting NOT caused by mere
passage of time
● Caused by one memory competing
with or replacing another memory
● Two types of interference
Two Types of Interference

Types of Interference

Retroactive Proactive
Interference Interference
1. Retroactive Interference

● New information blocks our recall

of previously learned information
● Example: forgetting your old
number because of your new one.
 2. Proactive Interference
● Old information hinder us
from recalling new events and
information
● Forgetting the new one
because you are used of the
old ones.
● Example: Memories of where
you parked your car on
campus the past week
interferes with ability find car
today
3. Motivated Forgetting
Undesired memory is held back from
awareness
● Suppression—conscious forgetting
● Repression—unconscious forgetting (Freudian)
4. Decay Theories
● Memories fade away 10
0
%
or decay gradually if Average
percentage
unused of
information
● Time plays critical retained

role
● Ability to retrieve
info declines with 20 1 8 24 2 6
mins hr hrs hrs days days days
31

time after original Interval between original learning

of nonsense syllables and memory
encoding test
 Long-Term Memory
Reconstruction
“Office” Schema

● Study this picture for

30 seconds.
List as many objects as you can
recall from the photograph you just
saw.
Practice testing and distributed
practce

Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin

 8 ways to improve memory
1. Focus on it
2. Sleep after learning
3. Visualize – using Loci method
4. Chunk – dividing large amount of info into smaller chuck
5. Take break – put some time spacing
6. Organize and connect it
7. Generate and test yourself – self questioning and
answering
8. Use mnemonic devices – acronym, rhyme, song or images
9. Eat healthy food

Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin

 Techniques to improve memory
● Maintenance Rehearsal-mental or verbal
repetition of information
● Chunking- Process of grouping distinct bits of

information into larger wholes to increase

short-term memory capacity.
● Method of Loci – visualizing object in familiar
places
● Mnemonics
● Memory aids designed to facilitate the recall of new
information.
• Maintenance Rehearsal
● Mental or verbal repetition of information allows
information to remain in working memory longer than
the usual 30 seconds
Ex. Repeating the lyrics of the song until u memorize
it --- STORED in Long Term Memory
Maintenance Rehearsal

Sensory Attention
Sensory Working or
Memory Short-term
Input
Memory
Chunking Method

1 -9-6-9-4-8-12-16 -10- 6- 6
Chunking method
1. Moon landing – 1969
2. Multiples of 4 – 4,8,12,16
3. Battle of hasting - 1066

Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin

Method of Loci
● Geoffrey ChaucerWilliam Shakespeare
● Nathaniel Hawthorne
● Pearl S. Buck
● Ernest Hemingway
● Arthur Miller
● Stephen King

Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin

● On the stairs is Geoffrey Chaucer, whose name sounds like saucer.
So picture Chaucer sitting on the stairs holding a saucer or, better yet,
landing a flying saucer carefully on the top step. (Remember, the sillier
an image is, the easier it will be for you to remember it!)
● In the entryway is William Shakespeare. This one is easy – picture
him shaking a spear at you, trying to prevent you from getting into
your own home.
● Now you go into your living room, where you see a big hawthorn
bush blooming, which reminds you that the next author on your list
is Nathanial Hawthorne.
● To link the dining room to author Pearl S. Buck, you could picture a
buck deer standing in the room with a pearl necklace draped around his
antlers. (There's something you don't see every day!)
● The office is where you place author Arthur Miller. You could
picture a giant miller (another word for a moth) fluttering around your
office, or you could picture a miller grinding corn at your desk.
● In the bathroom, you need to link Stephen King. Hmm…this one is
appropriate. Just picture King Stephen on his "throne" in your
bathroom!

Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin