Raihana Sharmin

Lecturer
North South University
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U
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 Process of Memory
Memory
Process by which we encode, store, and retrieve information.
Encoding
The initial process of recording information in a form usable to
memory. The first stage in remembering something.

Storage
The maintenance of material saved in memory. If the material is
not stored adequately, it cannot be recalled later.

Retrieval
● Material in memory storage has to be located and brought into
awareness to be useful.
● Memories are brought back from long-term memory into
consciousness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUoJc0NPajQ&t=130s
 3 System Approach to Memory
3 separate memory stores through which information must travel if
it is to be remembered.

(Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968)

 Sensory Memory

● Initial, momentary storage of information that lasts only an

instant, less than 1 second. Exact replica of the stimulus
recorded by a person’s sensory system.

• Hold information until transfer to Short-term Memory. If

information does not pass into short-term memory, it is lost for
good.
Short-term memory (STM)
● Memory store in which information first has meaning, rather
than as mere sensory stimulation.
● Capacity to hold information is of either 7 +/- 2 items or
'chunks' : a group of separate pieces of information stored as a
single unit in short-term memory.

● PBSFOXCNNABCCBSMTVNBC
● PBS FOX CNN ABC CBS MTV NBC (Chunks)

● Duration of about 15-25 seconds, unless it’s transferred to the

Long-term Memory.

https://humanbenchmark.com/dashboard
Rehearsal: the repetition of information that has entered short-
term memory.

Rehearsal accomplishes 2 things:

● Allows us to transfer the information into long-term memory
● Information will be maintained in the STM as long it’s
repeated,

Elaborative
Rehearsal
Elaborative Rehearsal
● Elaborative rehearsal occurs when the information is considered
and organized in some fashion including expanding the
information to make it fit into a logical framework, linking it to
another memory, turning it into an image, or transforming it in
some other way.
Example of Elaborative Rehearsal

A list of vegetables to be purchased at a store could be woven

together in memory as items being used to prepare an elaborate
salad, could be linked to the items bought on an earlier shopping
trip, or could be thought of in terms of the image of a farm with
rows of each item.
 Long-term Memory
● Almost unlimited capacity and unlimited duration
● Information is saved and retrieved from LTM
● Declarative memory is memory for factual information: names,
faces, dates, and facts, such as “a bike has two wheels.”

● The information stored in declarative memory can be verbally

communicated to others and is sometimes called “explicit
memory.” Information about things is stored.

● Procedural memory (sometimes called implicit memory) refers

to memory for skills and habits. Information about how to do
things (procedures) is stored in procedural memory.
● Declarative memory can be subdivided into semantic memory and
episodic memory.

● Semantic memory is memory for general knowledge and facts about

the world, as well as memory for the rules of logic.

● Episodic memory is the memory for events that occur in a particular

time, place, or context. For example, recalling your first day at school or
the birth of your sibling.
Semantic
Memory

Episodic
Memory
 Sensory STM LTM
Unknown capacity but can Capacity of 7 +/- 2 items Capacity is unknown,
handle any number of or 'chunks' but it is thought by
sensory inputs. many psychologists to
be unlimited
Hold information for a fraction Duration of about 30 Information in LTM is
of a second (approximately seconds processed
500 milliseconds) semantically (by
meaning).
The key process here The key process in STM Elaborative rehearsal
is Attention. If you don’t pay is Rehearsal
attention, it will not transfer to
STM.
Unnoticed information lost Displacement (when its •Interference
immediately to Decay. place in STM is dislodged •Decay .
by another item or chunk) •Retrieval failure is
or Decay (the memory sometimes known
trace is lost, or forgotten). as cue-dependent
forgetting
● What are the tasks that we can do “simultaneously”?
● What are the tasks that we can NOT do “simultaneously”?

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 Working Memory Model
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed an alternative model of short-
term memory, which they called the working memory model.
● Working memory is the memory system that holds information
temporarily while actively manipulating and rehearsing that
information.
If you use the analogy of a computer, working memory is the
processing that occurs in an open window on your desktop, as
compared with the long-term storage of information in the
computer’s hard drive.

Long-term Memory Working Memory

● The Central Executive

➢ Central executive processor that is involved in reasoning, decision

making, and planning. The central executive integrates and
coordinates information from three distinct subsystems, and it
determines what we pay attention to and what we ignore.

➢ Decides on the relevant material to send, and where in working

memory to send it.

➢ Functions like the 'boss' of short-term memory processing.

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRJfITV0i0o&t=14s (3.43)
3 subsystems:

● Visual store: The visual store specializes in visual and spatial

information. It comes into action with visual stimuli like a map, or a
diagram, or a painting or somebody's face.

● Verbal store: holds and manipulates material relating to language,

including speech, words, and numbers.

● Episodic buffer: contains information that represents events and

occurrences—things that happen to us

● 3 subsystems serve as storage-and-rehearsal systems

 Flashbulb memories
● Remember an event which is emotionally strong to you.

● Flashbulb memories are memories related to a specific, important, or

surprising event that are so vivid that they represent a virtual snapshot
of the event.

● Details recalled in flashbulb memories are often inaccurate,

particularly when they involve highly emotional events.

● Memories that are exceptional are more easily retrieved (although

not necessarily accurately) than are those relating to events that are
commonplace.
● The more distinctive a stimulus is and the more personal relevance
the event has, the more likely we are to recall it later
 Schema
● Memory is a Constructive process of memory (processes in
which memories are influenced by the meaning we give to
events)
● Proposed by British Psychologist Frederic Bartlett.

● SCHEMAS- organized bodies of information stored in memory

that bias the way new information is interpreted, stored, and
recalled.

● Schemas are based on past experiences and provide a

framework for future understanding.
 How does Schema work?

● As active processors of information, humans integrate new

information with existing, stored information.

● Schema theory predict that what we already know will

influence the outcome of information processing.

● New information is processed in the light of exiting schema.

● A father with his son had a terrible road accident and the
father immediately died. The son was taken to the
hospital fro a surgery. In the operating room, a doctor
came in, looked at the boy and said, “I can’t operate on
him. He is my son”.

● How is that possible?

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F624Baz-Vzk
● This is actually a dessert in Peru. Now that you know about such
DESSERTS, you might add this to your SCHEMA!!
 Is Memory Reliable???

Let’s Play “Telephone Game”

● Whisper a sentence to the person sitting next to you.

 MEMORY IN THE COURTROOM

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-SBTRLoPuo

False Memory

● False memories develop when people are unable to recall

the source of a memory of a particular event about which
they have only vague recollections.

● When the source of the memory becomes unclear or

ambiguous, people may become confused about whether
they actually experienced the event or whether it was
imagined.
 Forgetting
● The first attempts to study forgetting were made by German
psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus about 100 years ago.

● Forgetting helps keep unwanted and unnecessary information from

interfering with retrieving information that is wanted and necessary.

● Forgetting also permits us to form general impressions and

recollections.

● Forgetting provides a practical educational benefit: When we have

forgotten something and then are forced to relearn it, we’re more
likely to remember it better in the future.
 What causes difficulties in remembering?
● Suppose, you met your childhood friend with whom you didn’t have
contact for ages. You know his/her name but can’t remember right now
no matter how hard you tried: This common occurrence—known as the
tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.

● A retrieval cue is a stimulus that allows us to recall more easily

information that is in long-term memory.

● For example, the mention of a school picnic may evoke memories of that
friend and you can remember his/her name.

● We forget when there are insufficient retrieval cues to rekindle

information that is in memory.
 Why do we forget?
Case of Henry Molaison (HM)

● Failure of ENCODING

● DECAY is the loss of information in memory through non-use.

Memory traces, the physical changes that take place in the
brain when new material is learned, simply fade away or
disintegrate over time.

● Interference: information stored in memory disrupts the recall

of other information stored in memory.
 Interference

Proactive Retroactive
interference interference

● In proactive interference, information learned earlier disrupts the

recall of newer material. Proactive interference progresses in
time—the past interferes with the present.

● Retroactive interference occurs when material that was learned

later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned earlier.