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Memory Chapter Notes

Definition of Memory
There are two different ways to define memory, both of which are separate thought
processes:

A.) Remembering – Ability to recall

B.) Forgetting – Inability to recall

** The lost memory: Different from forgetting – A memory you once had, but
you lost it; never to get it back or retrieve it. This almost always happens after
some sort of physical brain tissue loss. **

Remembering
The process of remembering is a three stage process:

1.) Encoding: Encode experience (transform event into some sort of storable
form in the brain).

♦ Engram: Any memory trace encoded, in any way in the brain

♦ Auditory Engram: Also known as echo (a memory connection with

some sort of sound)

♦ Visual Code: Also known as icon (a memory connection with some sort
of imagery)

** The strongest of memories, are the ones where you, or your

subconscious mind, put the most importance on (ex: mother’s death;
first girlfriend). **

2.) Storage: Occurs in the outer brain: the cerebral cortex (in the FULL cerebral
cortex, all over it

♦ The storage of memories in the brain is systematized (to aid stage

three).

3.) Retrieval: Finding information that has been stored, and making them of use

** Views of Memory * *

 How long does memory last?

Types of Memory Registers:

1.) Sensory Register: Memories in this register tend to last 3-5 seconds

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2.) Short Term Memory [STM]: Memories in this register can last up to 30
seconds

Also known as working memory

Maintenance Rehearsal – Repeating a STM over and over again by

“juggling” it to remember it for a longer amount of time, not
necessarily turning it into a LTM

3.) Long Term Memory [LTM]: Memories that can last up to a lifetime, (if
necessary); depending on importance put on memories upon you and
your mind

Elaborate Rehearsal – The process of adding “significance” or

“importance” to STMs in order to turn them into LTMs

Long Term Memory

Skill Memory:

 Also known as Procedural Memory

 All skill memories are implicit (automatic, or automatically retrieved)

 Memories for:
o Conditioned Responses

o Learned Skills

Declarative Memory:

 Memories for facts or factual information

o Dates

o Names

o Ideas

o Places

o Other things of this nature

A. Semantic Memory:

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a. Memories that are hard to forget

b. Must develop a strategy to forget

B. Episodic Memory:

a. Memories for events or experiences

in your life that can be tied to
places and/or times

Explicit Memory:

 Memories that might difficult to recall

 A person must work to retrieve them

Flash Bulb Memory:

 Very specific memory image with details intact, tied to a specific

event or place

Relearning:

 The time it will take to relearn a skill or ability after one has forgotten,
will be less, and/or shorter the second or third time around

Iedetic Imagery:

 Also known as photographic memory

 20% of all preschool children are believed to exhibit this ability

 Theory on why this ability is lost later on in life: information

interference

Strategies for Remembering

 Using mnemonics: Associating images or other things with certain memories
to increase the ability to recall
them

**EBINGHOUSE**

→ He completed his research in

1885

→ Followed learning to a 100%

criterion; then study the rate

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of forgetting over a 30 day

period.

→ Most of (a very high

percentage) the forgetting of
one’s memories happens
within the FIRST HOUR; then
ending gradually at about 30
days (forgetting after this time
is insignificant)

Forgetting
 The explanation or discussion of how memories are forgotten, is almost
always a elaboration on THEORIES of how memories are forgotten

1.) Encoding Failure: The original experience was never originally “encoded”
or stored

2.) Decay Theory: (intuitively appealing theory) Time, and time alone, will be the end of
all your memories

a. Very effective at explaining the cause of forgetting for sensory and

STM memories

b. Also, highly ineffective at explain forgetting for LTMs

3.) Disuse Theory: Similar to the “Use it or lose it” term; Not recalling on
memories will eventually lead the mind to forget them

4.) Interference/Inhibition Theory: The inability to recall or difficulty to

remember, is derived from too many other memories interfering the retrieval
process

a. Proactive Interference/Inhibition*PAST* – Another, older memory is

messing up the remembering process

b. Retroactive Interference/Inhibition*PRESENT* – A recent memory is

interfering with the remembering process

5.) Amnesia: Loss of memories as a result of some sort of psychological trauma

6.) Retrograde Amnesia*SHORT TERM*: Loss of memory and events leading UP TO

a trauma

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7.) Anterograde Amnesia*SHORT TERM*: Inability to form and make new memories
after a trauma

8.) State Dependent Learning: The process of learning and recalling based on
a physical or mental state (ex: Drunks remember events when they were
drunk, but can’t when they are sober)

9.) Cue Dependent Forgetting: Something, a cue, or stimuli that unleash a

slew of memories or emotions. This is due to the fact that the cue was
present at the time of encoding, and without it, retrieval is highly unlikely.
Also known as “retrieval failure”.

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Tips on how to IMPROVE MEMORY

A. Anytime you can retrieve your “knowledge of results” [KR]: get them as
soon as possible

B. Recite Recitation and Retrieval – Increasing the amount of times you

recall a memory, will increase your ability to recall this memory later on in
the future

C. Whole/Part learning – Breaking up things into smaller pieces to learn

remember them easier

D. Serial Position Effect – When one forgets items in a list of things, the
possibility to forget items in the middle, are higher than forgetting items in
the top/beginning and bottom/end

E. Over-learning:

a. Learning a newly acquired skill well beyond initial mastery

b. Study the material until you can confidently say to yourself “I kno dis
shit”

F. Space/Mass Practice – Spacing out the learning process into intervals (ex:
over time)

G. Sleeping – Getting adequate sleep is essential; retrieval is much easier on

the rested mind

H. Eating – Eating healthy foods and eating often