Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Basics Of Psychological
Processes( PSYC153)

Module 4- Memory
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Definition

Memory is our ability to encode, store,retain and subsequently recall

information and past experiences in the human brain.

Ryburn defines memory as “the power we have to store our

experiences and to bring them into the field of consciousness
sometimes after the experiences have occurred”

The process of memorization , can not be viewed merely in terms of

reproduction or revival of past experiences or learning. It is quite a
complex process which involves factors like learning, retention, recall
and recognition .
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 Memory is the sum total of what we remember , and gives us the

capability to learn and adapt from previous experiences as well as
to build relationships.

 It is the ability to remember past experiences , and the power or

process of recalling to mind previously learned facts, experiences,
impressions, skills and habits.
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Types of Memory

Sensory Memory:
Storing an exact copy of incoming information for a few
seconds; the first stage of memory

Capacity: larger Capacity

Encoding: Sense Specific
Duration: ¼ to ½ Second
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Types of Sensory Memory:

• Iconic: A fleeting mental image or visual representation
Example: “You look around the room, quickly surveying objects that
you see on the floor, end tables, dresser, and bed, before quickly shutting
your eyes. The memory of what your room looked like during your
observation is an example of iconic memory.”
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Echoic: After a sound is heard, a brief continuation of the sound in the

auditory system.
Example: “Spoken language is a common example. When someone
discuss, your echoic memory remembers each individual syllable. Your
brain identifies words by connecting each syllable to the earlier one.
Each word is also stored in echoic memory, which permits your brain to
comprehend a full sentence”.
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Short-Term Memory (STM) / Primary Memory:

• Short term memory has three key aspects:
• Limited capacity : 7+/-2 items can be stores at a time
• Limited duration : duration of STM seems to be
between 15 and 30 seconds
• Encoding (primarily acoustic, even translating visual
information into sounds).

Miller: Magic Number 7 (Plus or Minus 2): STM is limited

to holding seven (plus or minus two) information bits at
once
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Working Memory
• Working memory is primary memory (STM). Instead of all
information going into one single store, there are different
systems for different types of information.
• Working memory contains of a central executive which
controls and co-ordinates the operation of two subsystems:
• 1- Phonological loop and
• 2- Visuo-spatial sketchpad.
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Working Memory
• Central Executive: Drives the whole system (e.g. the boss of
working memory) and allocates data to the subsystems (VSS & PL).
It also deals with cognitive tasks such as problem solving and mental
arithmetic.
• A. Visuo-Spatial Sketch Pad (inner eye): Stores and processes
information in a visual or spatial form. The VSS is used for
navigation.
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Serial Position Effect and Rehearsal

• One example of the role of rehearsal comes from the serial

position effect. If subjects hear a list of words and recall
them immediately, they recall more words from the
commencement and from the end of the list than from the
middle.
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Primacy and Recency Effect

• Primacy: The better recall of the first few words, called the primacy
effect, reflects the extra maintenance rehearsal they receive. The first
word gets the most extra time for rehearsal, because it's the only one
the participants have. The second word in the list shares rehearsal time
with the first, the third word shares with the first two, and so on.
• Recency: Often the last bit of information is remembered better
because not much time has past.
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Serial Position Effect

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Chunking
• Chunking is the process of taking individual pieces of information
and grouping them into larger units. With this techniques you can
improve the amount of information you can remember.
• For example, a phone number sequence of 2-3-2-3-1-2-3 would be
chunked into 2323-123.
• Chunking is a useful techniques in learning large amounts of
information. By splitting different individual elements into larger
group, information becomes easier to store and retrive.
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Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Storing information relatively permanently

Information stored on the basis of meaning and importance

Another name of LTM is Secondary Memory

Unlimited Storage of Information

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Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Procedural memory / Implicit memory

Involves “how to do things” It includes Skills, such as “knowing how”
to playing the Guitar, ride a bike; tie your shoes and other motor skills. It
does not involve conscious thought. For Example: “we brush our teeth
or drive a car with little or no awareness of the skills involved”.
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Declarative memory / Explicit memory:

Involves “Knowing that” for example Tokyo is the capital of Japan,
Horses are animal, your mums birthday etc. Recalling information from
declarative memory involves some degree of conscious efforts –
information is consciously brought to mind and “declared”
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Types of Declarative / Explicit memory

Semantic memory includes things that are common knowledge, such as
capitals of countries, the sounds of letters, names of states etc.
Episodic Memory is a individual's unique recollections of a particular
event or an incident. People are usually able to connect particular details
with an episodic memory, such as the place and time, how they felt and
other particulars.
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Some examples of episodic memory:

• Where you were and the people you were with

• Your beach vacations of last summer
• The first time you travelled by plane
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 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

STM V/S LTM

Particulars STM LTM
Timing Max 30 Sec. Whole life
Decay Rehearsal Time Gap / Interruption

Storage Capacity 7+-2 unlimited

Forgetting Trace dependent Retrieval cues
Forgetting
Recall Easy & Automatic Efforts
Encoding Acoustic Coding Semantic Coding
Effect Recency Primacy
Indexing Not required Mandatory
Handle Frontal lobes Hippocampus
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 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Retrieval Cue

A Retrieval Cue is always help us to remember the information. When we store a

new information, we associate information with cues these cues help us to access
the memory.
For example: “when someone is introduced to us at a party, we don't only store the
name and appearance of the new acquaintance in our memory. We also contain
external cues about the situation like what kind of party it was, what cocktails were
served, who made the introduction and what music was playing”.
We also include internal cues such as what mood you were in at the time, or what
you thought of the person being introduced. When we try to recall a person, these
cues help us to remember better.
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Context-dependent memory
• Godden & Baddeley (1975) & Smith, Glenberg & Bjork, (1978)
“suggested that recall will be more when a person tries to recall the
information in the same environment that they learned it in”.
• For example: “when a student tries to recall information in an exam,
they will be able to recall it best if they learned it in an environment
which is similar to the exam environment”.
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State-dependent memory
State-dependent memory is where a individual’s physical state
can impact their ability to recall information; if they are in the
same state when they learn and recall information, they will
recall more than if they are in a different state for learning and
recalling.
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Information Processing Model-Norman

and Waugh
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Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is the subjective feeling that individual

have confident that he or she know the exact word for which they are
probing, yet they are not able to recall this word. They are able to recall
words of similar sounds and meaning, but not the exact word. TOT is
an experience with memory recollection involving difficulty retrieving a
well-known word or familiar name.
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Flashbulb memories
The term “flashbulb memory” was introduced in 1977 by Roger Brown
and James Kulik.
Flashbulb memories, which are memories of learning something so
shocking or surprising that it creates a strong and seemingly very accurate
memory of learning about the individual but not the event itself.
Common examples of such Memories: “include the memory of 9/11
attacks, a school shooting, college graduation, or even the birth of one's
child”.
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 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Levels of Processing
• The levels of processing model (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) is worked
on the depth of processing involved in memory, the deeper the
information is processed it will remain longer.
• Instead of concentrating on the structure / stores involved in primary
Memory and Secondary Memory, this theory concentrate on the
process involved in memory.
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3 Ways of Processing Information

Shallow Processing
• 1. Structural processing (appearance) which is when we encode only
the physical qualities of something. such as the general appearance of
an image or word.

• 2. Phonemic processing – The mind encodes the auditory elements of

the content, such as the pronunciation of a word, or how music or speech
sounds.
Deep Processing:
 Semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of
a word and relate it to similar words with similar meaning.
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Forgetting

Forgetting refers to the loss of information that was previously stored in

memory. For example: “if you can’t recall the name of your play school or
if you can’t remember how to play a song on the piano that you knew last
year. Some memories are completely erased when forgotten, but in many
cases a trace of the memory remains”.

.
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 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Retrieval Failure Theory

• Retrieval failure is where the information is stored in secondary memory,

but cannot be retrieve. Such information is available but not accessible. It
cannot be recover because the retrieval cues are not present.
• When we create a new memory we also store information about the
situation and it is known as retrieval cues. When we are in the similar
situation again, these retrieval cues can activate the memory of the
situation. Retrieval cues can be:
External / Context - in the environment, e.g. smell, place, object etc.
Internal / State- inside of us, e.g. physical, emotional, mood, drunk etc.
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• Trace decay theory focuses on the time and the limited duration
of short term memory
• Memory tends to get worse the longer the delay between learning
and recall
• The longer the time, more the memory trace decays and as a
consequences more information is forgotten.
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 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Interference theory

The interference theory of forgetting explain that forgetting can

be caused by two competing memories.
Retroactive interference occurs when new information interferes
with the retrieval of old information.
Proactive interference occurs when old information interferes with
the retrieval of new information.
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FIGURE 7.15 Retroactive and proactive interference. The order of learning and testing shows whether interference is retroactive
(backward) or proactive (forward).
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Ways to Improve Memory

• Knowledge of Results: Feedback allowing you to check your progress
• Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are rehearsing material
• Elaborative Rehearsal: Look for connections to existing knowledge
• Selection: Selecting most important concepts to memorize
• Organization: Organizing difficult items into chunks; a type of
reordering
• Part Learning: Studying subparts of a larger body of information
(like text chapters)
• Progressive Part Learning: Breaking learning task into a series of
short sections
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Sources
• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/introduction-to-
memory/#:~:text=Memory%20is%20the%20ability%20to%20take%20in%20info
rmation%2C%20store%20it,any%20stage%20of%20the%20process
.
• https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-memory-2795006
• https://www.simplypsychology.org/memory.html
• https://www.britannica.com/science/memory-psychology
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSycdIx-C48
• https://nobaproject.com/modules/memory-encoding-storage-retrieval
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/three-stages-of-memory-in-psychology-explana
tion-lesson-quiz.html
• With regards
Jalendu Dhamija