Levels of Processing Model: the more deeply an item is encoded and the more meaning it has,
the better it is remembered
Maintenance Rehearsal: repeating the item over and over
Elaborative Rehearsal:
The more deeply you work with information
AC
FB
IS
Chunking: organizing information into meaningful units to make it easier to remember
Atkinson and Shiffrin:
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s three-part model consists of:
Sensory Memory
Short-term Memory
Long-term memory
Sensory Memory: a memory system that very briefly stores a sensory information in close to its
original sensory form
Sensory memory consists of brief traces on the nervous system that reflect perceptual
processes
Iconic Memory(150-250ms)
Sensory memory functions to make a continuous stream of thought
Material is passes from sensory memory to short-term memory
Short Term Memory: a memory storage system that briefly holds a limited amount of
information in awareness (7 items for 30 Seconds)
Working Memory:
Long Term Memory: the storage of information that last from minutes to forever
-Long-term memory enables you to remember stuff for a long time
Serial position effect: the idea that the ability to recall items form a list depends on the order of
presentation, with items presented early or late in the list remembered better than those in the
middle
Primary effect: better memory for items at the beginning of the list
Consolidation: the gradual process of memory storage in the brain
Consolidation involves a gradual process of strengthening
- The gradual process of strengthening connections between neurons results in some
events being stored and others forgotten
o Important: or repeating events
Long-Term potentiation (LTP): strengthening of a synaptic connection, making the postsynaptic
neurons more easily activated by presynaptic neurons
Flashbulb memories: vivid episodic memories for circumstances in which people first learned of
a surprising and consequential or emotionally arousing event
Shocking memories may be persistent because
Reconsolidation: the re-storage of memory after retrieval
-Memory updating new information may be incorporated into the original memory
when recalled
-Memory strengthening: retrieval vs. Recall
Retrieval practice: the strategy of bringing information to mind by deliberately
trying to recall it; improves classroom learning more than reviewing material
Retrieval Cue: anything that helps a person (or a nonhuman animal) recall a memory
-Retrieval cues, including contextual cues and internal states, helps us access stored
information.
Encoding specificity principle:
Memory may be enhanced by:
-Context-dependent memory: when the recall situation is similar to the encoding
situation
-Land vs. Water
State-dependent memory: when a person’s internal states match during encoding and recall
-Alert vs. relaxed
Forgetting is the inability to retrieve a memory from long-term storage.
The ability to forget is as important as the ability to remember.
What would life be like if you could not forget?
Proactive interference: interference that occurs when prior information inhibits the ability to
remember new information
Retroactive interference: interference that occurs when new information inhibits the ability to
remember old information
People tend to recall their past beliefs and past attitudes as being consistent with their current
ones.
-Memory Bias: the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with
your current attitudes
Cryptomnesia: a type of misattribution that occurs when a person thinks her or she has come
up with a new idea, yet has only retrieved a stored idea and failed to attribute the idea to its
proper source
This mistake can lead to plagiarism.
Loftus’s studies on suggestibility concluded that people can “remember” seeing nonexistent
objects.
Different
Memories can be distorted, or even implanted, by false information.
-Imagining an event might lead to confusion of the mental image with a real memory
-Children are particularly susceptible to false memories being induced.
“lost in the mall” incident
Loftus Disney stories- people thought they saw Buggs Bunny at Disney World
