UNIT FIVE: MEMORY AND

FORGETTING

Prepared by all Lecturers teaching

EDP1141
 Section 1: Nature and definition of
memory
• Memory can be conceptualised as an
interconnected stores that process and keep
information.
• Memory in psychology is defined as a mental
ability to encode, store and retrieve information
(Melton, 1963).
• According to Melton (1963), any successful act
of memorizing requires that all the three stages
of memory process be
intact: : encoding, storage, and retrieval.
 The 3 Stage Processing Model of
Memory: encoding, storage &
retrieval
• Encoding refers to the initial learning of
information;
• storage is about maintaining information
over time;
• retrieval is the ability to access
information when you need it.
• A great way to understand the 3 stages
processing model of memory is to think of
your brain as a computer.
• For computers, information is input via
external devices like a webcam, keyboard
or controller. For humans, the senses are
the way we receive information. Through
sight, hearing and touch etc.
• Computers have to store information, like
documents you are working on. In the
same way, our brains store the encoded
information coming from the environment.
• Eventually, a computer will be used to
output what was stored. This may look like
a printout of an important document. Our
brains can also output specific information
we may need, this is known as retrieval.
• The three stages—encoding, storage,
and retrieval—of the memory process
affect one another, and are inextricably
bound together. How we encode
information determines how it will be
stored and what cues will be effective
when we try to retrieve it.
1. Encoding:
• Encoding is the memory process that converts
incoming information into a format that can be stored
by the brain.
• It is a fundamental step in the creation of memories.
• Once the information has been encoded, it is then
able to be retrieved from either the long-term memory
or the short-term memory.
• There are three ways in which information is usually
encoded:
 Acoustic (Sound)
 Visual (image)
 Semantic (Meaning)
• Let's say that you're working on a
document to hand in for homework.
However, you feel like you have done
enough for the day and want to continue
working the next day. In this situation, you
would hit "save" on the document to be
able to access it the next day.
• In the simplest sense, memory encoding
works in the same way. If the information
has been encoded successfully, it will be
able to be retrieved.
• Unless an event is encoded in some
fashion, it will not be successfully
remembered later.
• However, just because an event is
encoded (even if it is encoded well),
there’s no guarantee that it will be
remembered later.
• Now imagine that you have just arrived at the
airport in a country you have never visited.
You're extremely hungry and decide to get
some food. However, as you're about to pay,
the cashier tells you that they don't accept
your currency. You then have to convert your
currency into one that is accepted.
• This is similar to memory encoding. The
incoming information from external stimuli has
to be converted into a format that the
brain can store.
a) Acoustic Encoding
• Acoustic encoding deals with the
processing and encoding of sounds.
• When something is heard and processed
into our memory, the memory will be
based on the sound that was heard. The
sound will be associated with that memory.
b) Visual Encoding
• Visual encoding is the encoding and
processing of images and visual sensory
information.
• Since the memories are stored as images,
when you try to retrieve that memory you will
be able to visualize the information in the
memory. For example, if you try to remember
how many pens you left on your desk. You will
most likely be able to 'see' your desk to count
the pens.
c) Semantic Encoding
• The word "semantic" refers to the meaning
and interpretation of words. Semantic
encoding deals with sensory input that has
a specific meaning or can be placed into a
certain context.
2. Storage: Every experience we have
changes our brains. We encode each of our
experiences within the structures of the
nervous system, making new impressions in
the process—and each of those impressions
involves changes in the brain.
• Psychologists (and neurobiologists) say
that experiences leave memory traces.
• Memories have to be stored somewhere in
the brain, so in order to do so, the brain
biochemically alters itself and its neural
tissue.
• Just like you might write yourself a note to
remind you of something, the brain “writes”
a memory trace, changing its own physical
composition to do so.
• The basic idea is that events (occurrences
in our environment) create engrams
through a process of consolidation: the
neural changes that occur after learning to
create the memory trace of an experience.
• For psychologists, the term memory
trace simply refers to the physical change
in the nervous system (whatever that may
be, exactly) that represents our
experience.
3. Retrieval:
• If information were encoded and stored
but could not be retrieved, it would be
useless.
• As discussed previously in this module,
we encode and store thousands of events
—conversations, sights and sounds—
every day, creating memory traces.
However, we later access only a tiny
portion of what we’ve taken in.
• Most of our memories will never be used—
in the sense of being brought back to
mind, consciously.
• All those events that happened to you in
the fourth grade that seemed so important
then? Now, many years later, you would
struggle to remember even a few. You may
wonder if the traces of those memories still
exist in some latent form.
• Psychologists distinguish information that
is available in memory from that which is
accessible (Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966).
• Available information is the information
that is stored in memory—but precisely
how much and what types are stored
cannot be known.
• Accessible information represents only a
tiny slice of the information available in our
brains. Most of us have had the
experience of trying to remember some
fact or event, giving up, and then—all of a
sudden!—it comes to us at a later time,
even after we’ve stopped trying to
remember it.
• Similarly, we all know the experience of
failing to recall a fact, but then, if we are
given several choices (as in a multiple-
choice test), we are easily able to
recognize it.
• We can’t know the entirety of what is in
our memory, but only that portion we can
actually retrieve.

• Retrieval is the cognitive process of

bringing stored information into
consciousness.
Section 2: Different Types of Memory

• The three major classifications of memory that the

scientific community deals with today are as
follows: sensory memory, short-term memory,
and long-term memory.
• Information from the world around us begins to be
stored by sensory memory, making it possible for
this information to be accessible in the future.
Short-term memory refers to the information
processed by the individual in a short period of
time. Working memory performs this processing.
Long-term memory allows us to store information
for long periods of time. This information may be
retrieved consciously (explicit memory) or
 Sensory Memory
“Sensory memory is the capacity for briefly
retaining the large amounts of information that
people encounter daily” (Siegler and Alibali, 2005).
There are three types of sensory memory: echoic
memory, iconic memory, and haptic memory.
Iconic memory retains information that is
gathered through sight, echoic memory retains
information gathered through auditory stimuli, and
haptic memory retains data acquired through
touch.
• In the Atkinson-Shiffrin model, stimuli from the
environment are processed first in sensory
memory: storage of brief sensory events, such
as sights, sounds, and tastes. It is very brief
storage—up to a couple of seconds.
• We are constantly bombarded with sensory
information. We cannot absorb all of it, or even
most of it. And most of it has no impact on our
lives. For example, what was your professor
wearing the last class period? As long as the
professor was dressed appropriately, it does
not really matter what she was wearing.
• Sensory information about sights, sounds,
smells, and even textures, which we do
not view as valuable information, we
discard. If we view something as valuable,
the information will move into our short-
term memory system.
• Sensory memory contains one register for
each sense and serves as a short lasting
buffer-zone before the information can
enter short-term memory.
Short-term memory
• Short-term memory is a temporal storage for
new information before it enters long-term
memory, but it is also used for cognitive tasks,
understanding and learning.
• Short-term memory (STM) is a temporary
storage system that processes incoming
sensory memory; sometimes it is called
working memory. Short-term memory takes
information from sensory memory and
sometimes connects that memory to
something already in long-term memory.
• Short-term memory storage lasts about 20
seconds.
• George Miller (1956), in his research on
the capacity of memory, found that most
people can retain about 7 items in STM.
Some remember 5, some 9, so he called
the capacity of STM 7 plus or minus 2.
• We can think of short-term memory as the
information you have displayed on your
computer screen— a document, a
spreadsheet, or a web page. Then,
information in short-term memory goes to
long-term memory (you save it to your hard
drive), or it is discarded (you delete a
document or close a web browser).
• This step of rehearsal, the conscious
repetition of information to be remembered, to
move STM into long-term memory is called
memory consolidation.
The difference between Working Memory and Short-Term Memory

• Today, many theorists use the concept of

working memory (WM) to replace the
concept of Short Term Memory. This new
model of STM “shifted the focus from
memory structure to memory processes
and functions”. To put it another way, WM
refers to both structures and processes
used for storing and manipulating
information.
• STM refers to the ability to hold information
in mind over a brief period of time. As concept
of STM has expanded and it includes more
than just the temporary storage of
information, psychologists have created new
terminology, working memory. The term WM
is now commonly used to refer to a broader
system that both stores information and
manipulates it. However, STM and WM are
sometimes used interchangeably.
Components of STM/WM: Baddeley's model of working memory

• STM/WM consists of more components.

Based on experiments demonstrating
connections between LTM and STM, as
well as experiments indicating that STM
consists of more components, Alan
Baddeley and Graham Hitch proposed a
multi-component working memory model in
1974. The new term working memory was
supposed to emphasize the importance of
this system in cognitive processing.
• Baddeley and Hitch suggested that
working memory is composed of three
parts: the central executive, a system
that controls the phonological loop (a
subsystem for remembering phonological
information such as language by constant
refreshing through repetition in the loop),
and the visuospatial sketch pad (a
subsystem for storing visual information).
• This model was later revised and
improved by Baddeley but also contributed
by other authors, which resulted in
additional component of episodic buffer
in year 2000 and more detailed functions
and analysis of other components, as
described in table below.
Schematic of Baddaley's model

Visual –
spatial
sketchpad

Central Episodic
Executive buffer

Phonological
loop
Baddaley's model of WM

Central Central executive's functions include attention and

executive focusing, active inhibition of stimuli, planning and
decision-making, sequencing, updating, maintenance
and integration of information from phonological loop
and visuospatial sketchpad. These functions also
include communication with long-term memory and
connections to language understanding and
production centers.

Episodic Episodic buffer has the role of integrating the

buffer information from phonological loop and visuospatial
sketchpad, but also from long-term memory. It serves
as the storage component of central executive, or
otherwise information integration wouldn't be
possible.
 Baddaley's model of WM (cont)

Phonological According to Baddeley, phonological loop consists of

loop two components: a sound storage which lasts just a
few seconds and an articulatory processor which
maintains sound information in the storage by vocal
or sub vocal repetition. Verbal information seems to
be automatically processed by phonological loop and
it also plays an important, maybe even key role in
language learning and speech production. It can also
help in memorizing information from the visuospatial
sketchpad.
Visuospatial This construct according to Baddeley enables
sketchpad temporary storing, maintaining and manipulating of
visuospatial information. It is important in spatial
orientation and solving visuospatial problems.
Studies have indicated that visuospatial sketchpad
might actually be containing two different systems:
one for spatial information and processes and the
other for visual information and processes.
 Long –Term Memory
• Although we may forget at least some
information after we learn it, other things will
stay with us forever.
• Long-term memory (LTM) is the continuous
storage of information. Unlike short-term
memory, the storage capacity of LTM has no
limits. It encompasses all the things you can
remember that happened more than just a few
minutes ago, all of the things happened days,
weeks, months and years ago.
• In keeping with the computer analogy, the
information in your LTM would be like the
information you have saved on the hard
drive. It isn’t there on your desktop (your
short-term memory) right now, but you can
pull up this information when you want it,
at least most of the time.
• Long-term memory is divided into two types: explicit
and implicit.
• Explicit memories are those we consciously try to
remember and recall. For example, if you are studying
for your chemistry exam, the material you are learning
will be part of your explicit memory. (Note:
Sometimes, but not always, the terms explicit memory
and declarative memory are used interchangeably.)
• Implicit memories are memories that are not part of
our consciousness. They are memories formed from
behaviors. Implicit memory is also called non-
declarative memory.
Declarative memory
• Declarative memory has to do with the
storage of facts and events we personally
experienced.
• Explicit (declarative) memory has two
parts: semantic memory and episodic
memory.
• Semantic means having to do with
language and knowledge about language.
An example would be the question “what
does argumentative mean?”
• Stored in our semantic memory is
knowledge about words, concepts, and
language-based knowledge and facts. For
example, answers to the following
questions are stored in your semantic
memory:
• Who was the first President of Rwnda?
• What is memory?
• What is the longest river in the world?
• Episodic memory is information about events we
have personally experienced. The concept of
episodic memory was first proposed about 50
years ago (Tulving, 1972). Since then, Tulving and
others have looked at scientific evidence and
reformulated the theory.
• Currently, scientists believe that episodic memory
is memory about happenings in particular places
at particular times, the what, where, and when of
an event (Tulving, 2002). It involves recollection of
visual imagery as well as the feeling of familiarity
(Hassabis & Maguire, 2007).
Implicit Memory

• While explicit memory consists of the things that we

can consciously report that we know, implicit
memory refers to knowledge that we cannot
consciously access. However, implicit
• memory is nevertheless exceedingly important to us
because it has a direct effect on our behavior.
Implicit memory refers to the influence of experience
on behavior, even if the individual is not aware of
those influences. There are three general types of
implicit memory: procedural memory, classical
conditioning effects, and priming.
• Procedural memory refers to our often
unexplainable knowledge of how to do things.
When we walk from one place to another,
speak to another person in English, dial a cell
phone, or play a video game, we are using
procedural memory. Procedural memory
allows us to perform complex tasks, even
though we may not be able to explain to others
how we do them. For example, there is no way
to tell someone how to ride a bicycle; a person
has to learn by doing it.
• The idea of implicit memory helps explain
how infants are able to learn. The ability to
crawl, walk, and talk are procedures, and
these skills are easily and efficiently
developed while we are children despite
the fact that as adults we have no
conscious memory of having learned
them.
• A second type of implicit memory is classical
conditioning effects, in which we learn, often
without effort or awareness, to associate
neutral stimuli (such as a sound or a light) with
another stimulus (such as food), which creates
a naturally occurring response, such as
enjoyment or salivation. The memory for the
association is demonstrated when the
conditioned stimulus (the sound) begins to
create the same response as the unconditioned
stimulus (the food) did before the learning.
• The final type of implicit memory is known as
priming, or changes in behavior as a result
of experiences that have happened frequently
or recently. Priming refers both to the
activation of knowledge (e.g., we can prime
the concept of “kindness” by presenting
people with words related to kindness) and to
the influence of that activation on behavior
(people who are primed with the concept of
kindness may act more kindly).
• Our everyday behaviors are influenced by priming
in a wide variety of situations. Seeing an
advertisement for cigarettes may make us start
smoking, seeing the flag of our home country may
arouse our patriotism, and seeing a student from a
rival school may arouse our competitive spirit. And
these influences on our behaviors may occur
without our being aware of them.
• One of the most important characteristics of
implicit memories is that they are frequently
formed and used automatically, without much
effort or awareness on our part.
 There are two components of long-term memory: explicit and implicit.

Long-Term
Memory

Implicit (Non-
Explicit (Declarative)
Declarative)

Semantic
Episodic Procedural
(Knowledge Emotional
(Experienced (Skills and
and Conditioning
events) Actions)
Concepts)

Explicit memory includes episodic and semantic memory.

Implicit memory includes procedural memory and things
Section 3: Forgetting
• Memories are not necessarily permanent:
they can disappear over time. This
process is called forgetting. But why do we
forget?
• There are several theories that address
why we forget memories and information
over time, including trace decay theory,
interference theory, and cue-dependent
forgetting.
Trace Decay Theory
• The trace decay theory of forgetting states
that all memories fade automatically as a
function of time. Under this theory, you
need to follow a certain pathway, or trace,
to recall a memory. If this pathway goes
unused for some amount of time, the
memory decays, which leads to difficulty
recalling, or the inability to recall, the
memory.
• Rehearsal, or mentally going over a
memory, can slow this process. But disuse
of a trace will lead to memory decay,
which will ultimately cause retrieval failure.
This process begins almost immediately if
the information is not used: for example,
sometimes we forget a person’s name
even though we have just met them.
• Over time, a memory becomes harder to
remember. A memory is most easily
recalled when it is brand new, and without
rehearsal, begins to be forgotten.
Interference Theory
• It is easier to remember recent events
than those further in the past. ” Transience
” refers to the general deterioration of a
specific memory over time. Under
interference theory, transience occurs
because all memories interfere with the
ability to recall other memories.
• Proactive and retroactive interference can
impact how well we are able to recall a
memory, and sometimes cause us to
forget things permanently.
• Memory interference: Both old and new
memories can impact how well we are
able to recall a memory. This is known as
proactive and retroactive interference.
Proactive Interference

Proactive interference occurs when old

memories hinder the ability to make new
memories. In this type of interference, old
information inhibits the ability to remember
new information.
This often occurs when memories are
learned in similar contexts, or regarding
similar things.
• It’s when we have preconceived notions
about situations and events, and apply them
to current situations and events. An example
would be growing up being taught that Pluto
is a planet in our solar system, then being
told as an adult that Pluto is no longer
considered a planet. Having such a strong
memory would negatively impact the recall of
the new information, and when asked how
many planets there are, someone who grew
up thinking of Pluto as a planet might say
nine instead of eight.
Retroactive Interference
• Retroactive interference occurs when old
memories are changed by new ones,
sometimes so much that the original
memory is forgotten. This is when newly
learned information interferes with and
impedes the recall of previously learned
information. The ability to recall previously
learned information is greatly reduced if
that information is not utilized, and there is
substantial new information being
presented.
• This often occurs when hearing recent
news figures, then trying to remember
earlier facts and figures. An example of
this would be learning a new way to make
a paper airplane, and then being unable to
remember the way you used to make
them.
Cue-Dependent Forgetting
• When we store a memory, we not only
record all sensory data, we also store our
mood and emotional state. Our current
mood thus will affect the memories that
are most effortlessly available to us, such
that when we are in a good mood, we
recollect good memories, and when we
are in a bad mood, we recollect bad ones.
• This suggests that we are sometimes cued
to remember certain things by, for
example, our emotional state or our
environment.
• Cue-dependent forgetting, also known as
retrieval failure, is the failure to recall
information in the absence of memory
cues.
There are three types of cues that can stop
this type of forgetting:
• i) Semantic cues are used when a
memory is retrieved because of its
association with another memory. For
example, someone forgets everything about
his trip to Ohio until he is reminded that he
visited a certain friend there, and that cue
causes him to recollect many more events of
the trip.
•ii) State-dependent cues are governed by
the state of mind at the time of encoding.
The emotional or mental state of the person
(such as being inebriated, drugged, upset,
anxious, or happy) is key to establishing
cues. Under cue-dependent forgetting
theory, a memory might be forgotten until a
person is in the same state.
•iii) Context-dependent cues depend on
the environment and situation. Memory
retrieval can be facilitated or triggered by
replication of the context in which the
memory was encoded. Such conditions can
include weather, company, location, the
smell of a particular odor, hearing a certain
song, or even tasting a specific flavor.
Other Types of Forgetting
• Trace decay, interference, and lack of
cues are not the only ways that memories
can fail to be retrieved. Memory’s complex
interactions with sensation, perception,
and attention sometimes render certain
memories irretrievable. Therefore, many
other types of forgetting may occur such
as: absentmindedness, blocking,
amnesia,...
Absentmindedness
• If you’ve ever put down your keys when
you entered your house and then couldn’t
find them later, you have experienced
absentmindedness.
• Attention and memory are closely related,
and absentmindedness involves problems
at the point where attention and memory
interface.
• Common errors of Absentmindedness
include misplacing objects or forgetting
appointments.
• Absentmindedness occurs because at the
time of encoding, sufficient attention was
not paid to what would later need to be
recalled.
Blocking
• Occasionally, a person will experience a
specific type of retrieval failure called
blocking.
• Blocking is when the brain tries to retrieve
or encode information, but another
memory interferes with it. Blocking is a
primary cause of the tip-of-the-tongue
phenomenon.
• Blocking is the failure to retrieve a word
from memory, combined with partial recall
and the feeling that retrieval is imminent.
People who experience this can often
recall one or more features of the target
word, such as the first letter, words that
sound similar, or words that have a similar
meaning. Sometimes a hint can help them
remember: another example of cued
memory.
Amnesia
• “Amnesia” is a general term for the
inability to recall certain memories, or in
some cases, the inability to form new
memories. Some types of amnesia are
due to neurological trauma; but in other
cases, the term “amnesia” is just used to
describe normal memory loss, such as not
remembering childhood memories.
Amnesia from Brain Damage:
• Amnesia typically occurs when there is
damage to a variety of regions of the
temporal lobe or the hippocampus,
causing the inability to recall memories
before, or after, an (often traumatic) event.
There are two main forms of amnesia:
retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde Amnesia
• Retrograde amnesia is the inability to
recall memories made before the onset of
amnesia.
• Retrograde amnesia is usually caused by
head trauma or brain damage to parts of
the brain other than the hippocampus
(which is involved with the encoding
process of new memories).
• Brain damage causing retrograde amnesia
can be as varied as a cerebrovascular
accident,
• stroke, tumor, hypoxia, encephalitis, or
chronic alcoholism.
• Retrograde amnesia is usually temporary,
and can often be treated by exposing the
sufferer to
• cues for memories of the period of time
that has been forgotten.
Anterograde Amnesia
• Anterograde amnesia is the inability to
create new memories after the onset of
amnesia, while memories from before the
event remain intact. Brain regions related
to this condition include the medial
temporal lobe, medial diencephalon, and
hippocampus.
• Anterograde amnesia can be caused by
the effects of long-term alcoholism, severe
malnutrition, stroke, head trauma, surgery,
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome,
cerebrovascular events, anoxia, or other
trauma.
• Anterograde amnesia cannot be treated
with pharmaceuticals because of the
damage to brain tissue.
• However, people sufferering from
anterograde amnesia can be treated
through education to define their daily
routines: typically, procedural memories
(motor skills and routines like tying shoes
or playing an instrument) suffer less than
declarative memories (facts and events).
Additionally, social and emotional support
is important to improve the quality of life of
those suffering from anterograde amnesia.
 Other Types of Amnesia
• Some types of forgetting are not due to
traumatic brain injury, but instead are the
result of the changes the human brain goes
through over the course of a lifetime:
• i) Childhood Amnesia: Childhood amnesia,
also called infantile amnesia, is the inability of
adults to retrieve memories before the age of
2–4. This is because for the first year or two of
life, brain structures such as the limbic system
(which holds the hippocampus and the
amygdala and is vital t0 memory storage) are
not yet fully developed.
• Do you remember anything from when you
were six months old? How about two
years old? There’s a reason that nobody
does. Research has shown that children
have the capacity to remember events that
happened to them from age 1 and before
while they are still relatively young, but as
they get older they tend to be unable to
recall memories from their youngest years.
Neurocognitive Disorders
• Neurocognitive disorders are a broad
category of brain diseases typical to old
age that cause a long-term and often
gradual decrease in the ability to think and
recall memories, such that a person’s daily
functioning is affected. “Neurocognitive
disorder” is synonymous with “dementia”
and “senility,” but these terms are no
longer used in the DSM-5.
• The most common type of dementia is
Alzheimer’s disease, which makes up
50% to 70% of cases. Its most common
symptoms are short-term memory loss
and word-finding difficulties.
• People with Alzheimer’s also have trouble
with visual-spatial areas (for example, they
may get lost often), reasoning, judgement,
and insight into whether they are
experiencing memory loss at all.
Section 4: Ways of improving memory
The ability to keep memories and pull them
up when necessary is likely to improve our
learning achievement and other aspects of
personal and social life.
What could make people improve their
memory capacity? There is no magical elixir
that will overcome the limits on memory,
allowing you to retain every information (and
that would not be a good outcome anyway).
But, there is something you can do to
mitigate the consequences of such limits.
Memory Techniques
• Most of us suffer from memory failures of
one kind or another, and most of us would
like to improve our memories so that we
don’t forget where we put the car keys or,
more importantly, the material we need to
know for an exam. In this section, we’ll
look at some ways to help you remember
better, and at some strategies for more
effective studying.
 Memory-Enhancing Strategies: Rehearsal
• What are some everyday ways we can
improve our memory, including recall? To help
make sure information goes from short-term
memory to long-term memory, you can use
memory-enhancing strategies.
• One strategy is rehearsal, or the conscious
repetition of information to be remembered
(Craik & Watkins, 1973). Think about how you
learned your multiplication tables as a child.
You may recall that 6 x 6 = 36, 6 x 7 = 42, and
6 x 8 = 48. Memorizing these facts is
rehearsal.
Memory-Enhancing Strategies: Expressive
writing and saying words aloud
• Expressive writing helps boost your short-
term memory capacity.
• A series of studies (MacLeod, Gopie,
Hourihan, Neary, & Ozubko, 2010) found
that saying a word out loud improves your
memory for the word because it increases
the word’s distinctiveness. Using these
techniques increased learners’ memory for
the words by more than 10%.
 Memory-Enhancing Strategies: Chunking
• Another strategy is chunking: You organize
information into manageable bits or chunks
(Bodie, Powers, & Fitch-Hauser, 2006).
Chunking is useful when trying to remember
information like dates and phone numbers.
• Instead of trying to remember 5205550467,
you remember the number as 520-555-0467.
So, if you met an interesting person at a party
and you wanted to remember his phone
number, you would naturally chunk it, and you
could repeat the number over and over, which
is the rehearsal strategy.
 Memory-Enhancing Strategies: Elaborative rehearsal
• You could also enhance memory by using
elaborative rehearsal: a technique in which
you think about the meaning of the new
information and its relation to knowledge
already stored in your memory (Tigner, 1999).
• For example, in this case, you could
remember that 520 is an area code for
Arizona and the person you met is from
Arizona. This would help you better
remember the 520 prefix. If the information is
retained, it goes into long-term memory.
Memory-Enhancing Strategies: Mnemonic devices

• Mnemonic devices are memory aids that

help us organize information for encoding.
They are especially useful when we want
to recall larger bits of information such as
steps, stages, phases, and parts of a
system (Bellezza, 1981).
• Mbambari needs to learn the order of the
planets in the solar system, but he’s
having a hard time remembering the
correct order. His friend Maconori
suggests a mnemonic device that can help
him remember.
• Maconori tells Mbambari to simply
remember the name Mr. VEM J. SUN, and
he can easily recall the correct order of the
planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
• You might use a mnemonic device to help
you remember someone’s name, a
mathematical formula, or the seven levels
of Bloom’s taxonomy.
 Memory-Enhancing Strategies: Self-reference effect
• Make the material you are trying to memorize
personally meaningful to you. In other words,
make use of the self-reference effect.
• Write notes in your own words. Write
definitions from the text, and then rewrite them
in your own words. Relate the material to
something you already know or have learned
for another class, or think how you can apply
the concepts to your own life. When you do
this, you are building a web of retrieval cues
that will help you access the material when
you want to remember it.
• However, in concluding this section, we would
reason that forgetting that occurs in response
to a deliberate attempt to keep an event out of
mind is a good thing. It would be difficult to
function in one’s everyday life if a person was
constantly distracted by a flood of information
and associations that sprung to mind. This
suggests that remembering everything is not
always a good thing. Thus, at some extent
forgetting can be considered as adaptive,
allowing us to be efficient and hold onto only
the most relevant memories (Bjork,1989;
Anderson & Milson, 1989).