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The document discusses various aspects of memory, including the distinction between true and false memories, the types of memory (sensory, working, and long-term), and factors affecting memory retention and recall. It highlights the importance of consistent practice for strengthening memories and the impact of emotional intensity on memory formation. Additionally, it addresses the phenomenon of misinformation and the reliability of memory, particularly in eyewitness testimonies.

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3 views

Copy of More Memory Stuff

The document discusses various aspects of memory, including the distinction between true and false memories, the types of memory (sensory, working, and long-term), and factors affecting memory retention and recall. It highlights the importance of consistent practice for strengthening memories and the impact of emotional intensity on memory formation. Additionally, it addresses the phenomenon of misinformation and the reliability of memory, particularly in eyewitness testimonies.

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analysis.datastats
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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More Memory Stuff Brief notes

Recalls brief belief:


● Many memories are not real memories, but false memories created
after you were told about the past (especially for early memories
like childhood).
● Memory can be corrupted over time.
● Emotionally intense moments will create stronger memories.
● After 1 year about half of your memory is incorrect
● Consistent recall and practice is important for strengthening
memories and makes them more likely to get transferred to our
long-term storage.
● Mindfulness meditation can help improve memory. I forgot which
study, but college students who took the class ended up having a
higher GER score.
● According to the characteristics of memory content, the
researchers divided it into two categories, namely, explicit memory
and implicit memory.
● new and/or false details can appear in memory over time as the
connection is weakened

Memory is the basis for knowing your friends, your neighbors, the
English language, the national anthem, and yourself.
If memory was nonexistent, everyone would be a stranger to you; every
language foreign; every task new; and even you yourself would be a
stranger.

Hyperthymesia
● Superior autobiographical memory
● Seems to be related to obsessive compulsive disorder

Types of Memory
The Model of Memory Formation:
Sensory Memory – the immediate, very brief recording of sensory
information in the memory system
Working Memory (formerly Short Term Memory)– activated memory
that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or
forgotten
Such as the digits of a phone number while dialing
Long-term Memory – the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse
of the memory system
Sensory Memories
The duration of sensory memory varies for the different senses.

A Simple Demo in Iconic Memory


● Take a moment to look at an image—for no more than 2-5 seconds
—and close your eyes.
● Can you recall an image of the object you were looking at? The
image will likely fade within a single second or less.

Working Memory
● Working memory, the new name for short-term memory, has a
limited capacity (7±2) and a short duration (20 seconds).
● People can remember between 5-9 “chunks” of information.

Capacity
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our
Capacity for Processing Information (1956).
According to Miller’s theory you should be able to “recall 7±2 letters”.
Chunking
The capacity of the working memory may be increased by “Chunking.”
Typical span is around seven for digits, around six for letters, and around
five for words.

S K L N I E C N A D S M E I D

If you are well versed with American history, chunk the numbers
together and see if you can recall them better. 1776 1492 1812 1941.

Long-Term Memory
Unlimited capacity store. Estimates on capacity range from 1,000 billion
to 1,000,000 billion bits of information (Landauer, 1986). The capacity
and duration of long-term memory is essentially limitless.

Feats of Memory
Russian journalist Shereshevskii
● Didn’t have to take notes like other reporters
● Could repeat up to 70 random digits or words backwards &
forwards
● And could still recall them 15 years later
● And recall details about these experiences
● Unable to distinguish between conversations 5 minutes ago and 5
years ago, he ended up in an asylum

Rajan Mahadevan
● Recited the license plates of 40 different cars when he was 5 years
old
● Recited 31,811 digits of pi in 3 hours 49 minutes (3.5 digits per
second)
● He doesn’t use any mnemonics
● “There’s something about the way the numbers sound”
● His memory for non-numerical information is average

You have 30 seconds to memorize the following 30 random numbers in


order:
216964615199725246801296160894

4-9 is average/10-19 is extraordinary/20-30 is superior

Forgetting
An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or
retrieval.

Three “sins” of forgetting:


● Absent-mindedness – inattention to details produces encoding
failure
● Transience – storage decay over time
● Blocking – inaccessibility of stored information

Encoding Failure
Nickerson and Adams found that very few of the U.S. participants they
tested could identify the right one.

Why? We see pennies a lot, but we don’t bother to encode their features.

Storage Decay
Harry Bahrick (1984) showed a pattern of forgetting and retaining over
50 years.

Retrieval Failure
Although the information is retained in the memory store, it cannot be
accessed.

Tip-of-the-tongue - retrieval failure phenomenon


In tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon we are certain that we know something
that we are trying to recall but cannot quite come up with it.

Memory Construction
While recalling our memories, we filter out or fill in missing pieces of
information to make our recall more coherent.

Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's


memory of an event.

The misinformation effect illustrates how easily memories can be


influenced. It also raises concerns about the reliability of memory—
particularly when the memories of eyewitnesses (eyewitness testimony)
is used to determine criminal guilt.

Misinformation
Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each
other?

Group B estimated significantly higher speeds and more financial


damage than Group A.

Source Amnesia
● Source Amnesia: Attributing an event to the wrong source that we
experienced, heard, read, or imagined ( source misattribution).
●
● Recognizing someone but not remembering where you met them
● Imagining or dreaming an event and not being sure if it really
happened

Discerning True & False Memories


True or False Memories?
● Both can be equally persistent, vivid, and feel real.
● Real memories are usually more detailed, false memories are
usually limited to the gist of the event.
● False memories are easily constructed from misleading or
suggestive questions (“Did you hear a loud noise?”).

Police detectives are now trained in cognitive interview techniques to


increase accuracy of recall. The cognitive interview (CI) is a questioning
technique used to enhance retrieval of information about a crime scene
from the eyewitnesses and victim's memory. The following four basic
principles are used: mental reinstatement; report everything; change
order; and change perspective.
Constructed Memories
Elizabeth Loftus’ research shows that if false memories (i.e lost at the
mall or damaging computer) are implanted in individuals, they construct
(fabricate) their memories.

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