Memory

Course: Experimental Psychology-1 Instructor: Aqsa Mehar Khan

Class: BS 3rd C
 Introduction
• Memory is our cognitive system (or systems) for storing and retrieving
information.
• In Psychology, memory is an organism’s ability to store, retain, and recall
information.
• It is truly a crucial aspect of our cognition. If we did not possess memory, we
would be unable to remember the past, retain new information, and solve
problems or plan for future.
• We use memory for a large number of purposes. We are able to benefit from
our learning and experience only because of our memory.
 DEFINITIONS OF MEMORY
• According to C.G. Morris, “Memory is a process by which learned material is
retained.”

• According to Lefton (1985), “Memory is the ability to recall or remember past

events or previously learned information or skills.”

• According to Baron (1995), “Memory is the capacity to retain and later retrieve
information.”
 Types/Compartments of Memory
Sensory Memory /or Immediate Memory/Sensory Register/Sensory Stores:
The information initially acquired from the environment via the sense organs is
placed into a short-lasting memory called sensory memory.
Sensory memory provides temporary storage of information brought to us by our
senses. After an item/stimuli is perceived, it lasts in sensory memory for
approximately 200–500 milliseconds.
Sensory memory can hold a large number of items, but each item fades away
extremely quickly—in less than two seconds. Information held in the sensory
register remains there only briefly, usually less than a second for visual stimuli
and less than four seconds for auditory stimuli.
Sensory memory related to to vision or visual stimuli is called Iconic Memory and
sensory memory related to to auditory stimuli is called Echoic Memory
Short-term memory (STM)
For the information to be transferred to the next level, that is short-term memory
store, it is important that the information in the sensory memory store is attended to.
Short-term memory has the following characteristics:
• it can be roughly identified with consciousness; information in short-term memory is
information that you are conscious of. In Freudian terms, this is conscious memory.
• Short-term memory is also called “working memory” and relates to what we are
thinking about at any given moment in time.
• information in short-term memory can last for over a period of approximately 20 - 30
seconds.
• information can be prevented from decaying if it is rehearsed, that is, repeated over
and over.
• information that is rehearsed or that undergoes other forms of processing,
collectively known as elaboration (for example, being transformed into a suitable
visual image) is transferred from short-term memory into the third repository of
information, long-term store.
There are two kinds of memory rehearsal: elaborative rehearsal and
maintenance rehearsal.
Maintenance rehearsal is just temporarily maintaining the new information in
the short-term memory. It usually works by repetition. When someone asks you
to remember a phone number they need you to dial, you typically repeat the
phone number over and over again until they ask you for it.

Elaborative rehearsal is when we think about its meaning and relate it to other
information already in long-term memory.
Elaborative rehearsal is exactly like its name suggests: a more elaborate, or
complex, process. It involves using concepts that are already in your long-term
memory to remember concepts that are only in your short-term memory.
• For working memory, most normal adults have a capacity of 7 ± 2 items.
• However, memory capacity can be increased through a process called
chunking. Chunking is the process of grouping different bits of information
together into more manageable or meaningful chunks.
• For example, in recalling a 10-digit telephone number, a person could chunk
the digits into three groups: first, the area code (such as 215), then a three-
digit chunk (123) and lastly a four-digit chunk (4567). This method of
remembering telephone numbers is far more effective than attempting to
remember a string of 10 digits.
Long-term memory (LTM)
Long-term memory is, as the name implies, the large repository of information
in which is maintained all information that is generally available to us.
information enters LTM via various kinds of elaborative processes, from short-
term memory.
Long-term memory has unlimited capacity. It allows us to retain vast or huge
amounts of information for very long periods of time. It stores memories that
are decades old, as well as memories that arrived a few minutes ago.
Information is acquired from long-term store via the process of retrieval and
placed back into short-term memory where it can be manipulated and used to
carry out the task at hand.
 THREE STAGES OF MEMORY
Memory requires or involves three stages: Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval.
These three stages are closely linked together. In order for the information to be
retrieved, it must have been stored previously.

Encoding: During encoding, we transfer sensory stimuli or the information

coming to our senses into a form that can be placed in memory. Encoding or
registration involves receiving, processing and combining of received
information.
Encoding means converting information into a form that can be entered into
memory.
The methods we use to carry out this process such as naming objects or mentally
picturing words or vivid imagery are called encoding strategies.
Effortful encoding is an active process and involves willful or voluntary or
deliberate attempt to put something into memory. We deliberately try to encode
the details of an event; we actively work to place them into short-term memory.
A second kind of encoding, that is also very common, is automatic encoding; a
kind of encoding that seems to happen with no deliberate effort. It is as if our
memory just soaks up this kind of data with no conscious effort.
Storage: means creation of a permanent record of the encoded information. In
other words, it means retaining information over varying periods of time. Usually
the incoming material remains there until it is either needed or lost altogether.
Once information has been attended to and encoded, it must be kept active in
short-term memory in order to be retained. Information entering short-term
memory is lost rather quickly unless it is renewed through rehearsal.
Retrieval: we successfully retrieve information or locate the item or information
and use it. Retrieval, recall or recollection means calling back the stored
information in response to some cue for use in a process or activity.
Psychologists have studied two basic kinds of retrieval from long-term storage
—recognition and recall.
“Recognition” involves deciding whether you have ever encountered a
particular stimulus before or the awareness that an object or event is one that
has been previously seen, experienced, or learned.
“Recall”, in contrast, is the process of retrieving information from
memory. It entails retrieving specific pieces of information, usually guided by
retrieval cues.
Free/Spontaneous recall: requires the generation of items from memory
without any help. Cued recall: retrieval cues are provided to remind us of the
items to be recalled (for example, mou... as a cue for the word mouth).
Classification/Types of Memory
Explicit Memory (Declarative memory)
Explicit long-term memories are memories we consciously and deliberately took
time to form and recall. Explicit memory holds information such as your best
friend’s birthday or your phone number. It often includes major milestones in
your life, such as childhood events, graduation dates, or academic work you
learned in school.
• Episodic Memory: When a person recalls a particular event (or “episode”)
experienced in the past, it is called episodic memory. it is concerned with
information specific to a particular context, such as a time and place.
Episodic memories are formed from particular episodes in your life.
Examples of episodic memory include the first time you rode a bike or your
first day at school.
Autobiographical memory—memory for particular events within one’s own
life—is generally viewed as either equivalent to, or a subset of, episodic
memory.
 • Semantic Memory: Semantic memory is someone’s long-term store of
knowledge: It’s composed of pieces of information such as facts learned in
school, what concepts mean and how they are related, or the definition of a
particular word. Semantic memory includes remembering...What year it
currently is(e.g. 2023), The capital of a foreign country (e.g. Paris is the
capital of France) etc.
Implicit Memory (Non-declarative memory):
Implicit memories form unconsciously and might affect the way a person thinks
and behaves. Implicit memory often comes into play when we are learning
motor skills like walking or riding a bike. If you learned how to ride a bike when
you were 10 and only ever pick it up again when you are 20, implicit memory
helps you remember how to ride it.
• Procedural Memory: The term describes long-term memory for how to do
things, both physical and mental, and is involved in the process of learning
motor skills. e.g tying your shoes, sending an email or shooting a
basketball or driving a car etc.
• Priming: Priming memory, or just ‘priming‘, is an unconscious form of
memory that aids in identifying objects or words based on previous
exposure to similar stimuli. Priming is not conscious, meaning you can be
primed to think about something due to your environment without even
realizing it.
• e.g. Being primed with the color yellow will make a person more likely to
recall yellow objects, such as lemons or bananas.
• When a person is in a negative mood, they are more likely to remember
events in their past that were unpleasant.
 Theories/Models of Memory
Atkinson-Shiffrin model

Richard Atkinson and Richard

Shiffrin developed the theory in
1968 and theorized that
information is processed in the
sensory organs first, then moves
through a short term memory
process, until it is finally stored in
long term memory.
• Information in sensory memory enters short-term memory when it becomes
the focus of our attention, whereas sensory impressions that do not engage
attention fade and quickly disappear.
• Information in short-term memory enters long-term storage through
elaborative rehearsal. Elaborative rehearsal is when we think about its
meaning and relate it to other information already in long-term memory.
Unless we engage in such cognitive effort, information in short-term memory
also quickly fades away and is lost.
• It does not, however, explain decay theory, or why we forget things as time
goes on.
Working memory model
In 1974, Baddeley and Hitch proposed a working memory model which replaced
the concept of general short-term memory with specific, active components.
In this model, working memory consists of three basic stores/components: the
central executive, the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad.
In 2000, this model was expanded with a new component known as episodic
buffer.
• Central executive: A hypothetical mechanism which is believed to be in overall
control of the working memory. It is assumed to control a variety of tasks, such
as decision-making, problem-solving and selective attention. The central
executive essentially acts as attention. It channels information to the three
component processes: the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, and
the episodic buffer.
• Phonological loop: A hypothetical component of working memory, which is
assumed to provide brief storage for verbally presented items. The
phonological loop stores auditory information by silently rehearsing sounds or
words in a continuous loop (for example, the repetition of a telephone number
over and over again).
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad: A hypothetical component of working memory, which
is assumed to provide brief storage for visually presented items. The
visuospatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial information. It is engaged when
performing spatial tasks (such as judging distances) or visual ones (such as
counting the windows on a house or imagining images).
• Episodic buffer: A hypothetical component of working memory which
integrates information from different sense modalities, and provides a link with
the LTM.
The working memory model explains many practical observations, such as why it
is easier to do two different tasks (one verbal and one visual) than two similar
tasks (for example, two visual)
Levels of processing
Craik and Lockhart (1972) proposed that it is the method and depth of
processing that affects how an experience is stored in memory, rather than
rehearsal.
• (i) Organisation: Mandler (1967) gave participants a pack of word cards and
asked them to sort them into any number of piles using any system of
categorisation they liked. When they were later asked to recall as many of the
words as they could, those who used more categories remembered more
words. This study suggested that the act of organising information makes it
more memorable.
• (ii) Distinctiveness: Eysenck and Eysenck (1980) asked participants to say
words in a distinctive way, for example, spell the words out loud. Such
participants recalled the words better than those who simply read them off a
list.
• (iii) Effort: Tyler et al. (1979) had participants solve a series of anagrams,some
easy (FAHTER) and some difficult (HREFAT). The participantsrecalled the
difficult anagrams better, presumably because they put more effort into them.

• (iv) Elaboration: Palmere et al. (1983) gave participants descriptive

paragraphs of a fictitious African nation. There were some short paragraphs
and some with extra sentences elaborating the main idea. Recall was higher
for the ideas in the elaborated paragraphs.
Serial Position Effect states that people are more likely to remember
information depending on it's position in a list.
• The Primacy Effect is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when
participants are more likely to remember the beginning item of a list more
than items in the middle.
• The Recency effect suggests that when you learn information in a list, the
items at the bottom of the list are easiest to recall.

German Psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus’s work and experimentation in

memory is the basis of these effects.
 FORGETTING
Psychologists generally use the term “forgetting” to refer to apparent loss of
information already encoded and stored in long-term memory.
“Forgetting” (retention loss) refers to apparent loss of information already encoded
and stored in an individual’s long-term memory.
Forgetting is the failure to recall what was once learnt, retained, and experienced.
Reasons for Forgetting
Decay Theory
The theory of decay was first discussed by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885. According
to this theory, a memory trace is created every time a new theory is formed. Decay
theory suggests that over time, these memory traces begin to fade and disappear. If
information is not retrieved and rehearsed, it will eventually be lost.
Interference Theory
It was assumed that memory can be disrupted or interfered with by what we have
previously learned or by what we will learn in the future. This idea suggests that
information in long term memory may become confused or combined with other
information during encoding thus distorting or disrupting memories.
Interference theory states that forgetting occurs because memories interfere with
and disrupt one another, in other words forgetting occurs because of interference
from other memories
There are two ways in which interference can cause forgetting:
Proactive interference (pro=forward) occurs when you cannot learn a new task
because of an old task that had been learned. When what we already know
interferes with what we are currently learning – where old memories disrupt new
memories.
Retroactive interference (retro=backward) occurs when you forget a previously
learned task due to the learning of a new task. In other words, later learning
interferes with earlier learning – where new memories disrupt old memories.
Organic cause:
Forgetting that occurs through physiological damage or impairment to the brain is
referred to as “organic” causes of forgetting.
Certain physical illnesses or diseases, age, accidents, and the like can cause some form
of damage to brain tissue and can alter the functioning of the brain and nervous system
which results in forgetting or amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia: A person cannot remember new information but can remember
events from before the onset of amnesia. Retrograde amnesia: A person can remember
new information but cannot remember events from before the onset of amnesia.

Trace & Cue-dependent Forgetting

“Trace-dependent forgetting” occurs because the memory trace has deteriorated or

decayed or required information or material has been lost from the memory system.
Physiological traces in the brain are not available at the time of recall or retrieval.
“Cue-dependent forgetting” occurs when the memory trace still exists, but
there is no suitable retrieval cue to trigger off the memory. The information is
not accessible. It is a kind of forgetting in which the required information or
material is in the LTM store, but cannot be retrieved without a suitable retrieval
cue.
MOTIVATED FORGETTING OR REPRESSION: states that unhappy memories are
easily forgotten, that is forgetting is a motivated and intentional process. This
theory was put forward by Sigmund Freud. According to him, forgetting is due to
conscious repression or suppression by the person. “Repression” is a mental
function which cushions the mind against the unpleasant effect of painful,
traumatic, and unacceptable experiences, events, memories or conflicts.
Additional concepts related to Forgetting
Tip-of-the-tongue Phenomenon (TOT)
TOT refers to the common experience in which individuals have the feeling that
they know the correct information (e.g., a person’s name, a relatively low-
frequency word), yet they are unable to recall it explicitly.

Flashbulb Memories:
Exceptionally clear memories of emotionally significant events are called
flashbulb memories.
They’re called so because they are typically very vivid and detailed, much like a
photograph, and often relate to surprising, important, and emotionally arousing
events, such as hearing about a national tragedy or experiencing a personal
milestone.
 Mnemonics: ways of improving memory
Mnemonic devices are methods for storing memories so that they will be
easier to recall. Mnemonic devices are strategies for improving retrieval that
take advantage of existing memories in order to make new material more
meaningful.
Method of Loci
The method of loci is a mnemonic memory strategy to help people remember
new information in sequential order. The technique involves imagining yourself
placing new information around a room and then visualizing going back and
picking it up in the order you put it down.
E.g. Making a grocery list: Imagine each item on your grocery list as objects
placed along a route in your home or outside. For example, visualize a loaf of
bread on the doormat, a carton of milk on the stairs, and so on. It can help you
remember all the items on the list when you get to the store.
First Letter Technique or Acronym Method
A widely used mnemonic is called “first letter technique” or acronyms or words
formed on the basis of the first letters in a phrase or group of words. In this
method, the first letters of each word in a list are combined to form an
acronym. e.g. Acronym BHAJSA to remember sequence of Mughal kings—
Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb.
Acronyms are even more useful if they form a real word.
Narrative Technique
In this technique, you create a story in which the characters move through
various experiences and create a story or narrative chaining. “Narrative
chaining” is the mnemonic device of relating words together in a story, thus
organising them in a meaningful way.
Method of PQRST
This is used to help students in studying their textbooks and remembering more.
The acronym PQRST refers to five stages of studying a textbook. They are:
• Preview,
• Question,
• Read,
• Self-recitation, and
• Test
The SQ3R Method
The task of learning and remembering relatively long and complicated material
can be eased by the use of a method of study known as “SQ3R”, which stands for
Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review.