Memory Questions

Front 1

How do psychologists describe the human memory system?

Back 1

Memory is the persistence of learning over time. The Atkinson-Shiffrin classic three-stage memory model (encoding, storage, and retrieval) suggests that we (1) register fleeting sensory memories, some of which are (2) processed into on-screen short-term memories, a tiny fraction of which are (3) encoded for long-term memory and, possibly, later retrieval. Contemporary memory researchers note that we also register some information automatically, bypassing the first two stages. And they prefer the term working memory (rather than short-term memory) to emphasize the active processing in the second stage.

Front 2

What information do we encode automatically? What information do we encode effortfully, and how does the distribution of practice influence retention?

Back 2

Automatic processing happens unconsciously, as we absorb information (space, time, frequency, well-learned material) in our environment. Effortful processing (of meaning, imagery, organization) requires conscious attention and deliberate effort. The spacing effect is our tendency to retain information more easily if we practice it repeatedly (spaced study) than if we practice it in one long session (massed practice, or cramming). The serial position effect is our tendency to recall the first item (the primacy effect) and the last item (the recency effect) in a long list more easily than we recall the intervening items.

Front 3

What effortful processing methods aid in forming memories?

Back 3

Visual encoding (of images) and acoustic encoding (of sounds) engage shallower processing than semantic encoding (of meaning). We process verbal information best when we make it relevant to ourselves (the self-reference effect). Encoding imagery, as when using some mnemonic devices, also supports memory, because vivid images are memorable. Chunking and hierarchies help organize information for easier retrieval.

Front 4

What is sensory memory?

Back 4

As information enters the memory system through our sense, we briefly register and store visual images via iconic memory, in which picture images last no more than a few tenths of a second. We register and store sounds via echoic memory, where echoes of auditory stimuli may linger as long as 3 or 4 seconds.

Front 5

What are the duration and capacity of short-term and of long-term memory?

Back 5

At any given time, we can focus on and process only about seven items of information (either new or retrieved from memory store). Without rehearsal, information disappears from short-term memory within seconds. Our capacity for storing information permanently in long-term memory is essentially unlimited.

Front 6

How does the brain store our memories?

Back 6

Researchers are exploring memory-relate changes within an between single neurons. Long-term potentiation (LTP) appears to be the neural basis of learning and memory. Stress triggers hormonal changes that arouse brain areas and can produce indelible memories. We are particularly likely to remember vivid events that form flashbulb memories. We have two memory systems. Explicit (declarative) memories of general knowledge, facts, and experiences are processed by the hippocampus. Implicit (nondeclarative) memories of skills and conditioned responses are processed by other parts of the brain, including the cerebellum.

Front 7

How do we get information out of memory?

Back 7

Recall is the ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness; a fill-in-the-blank question tests recall. Recognition is the ability to identify items previously learned; a multiple-choice question tests recognition. Relearning is the ability to master previously stored information more quickly than you originally learned it. Retrieval cues catch our attention and tweak our web of associations, helping to move target information into conscious awareness. Priming is the process of activating associations (often unconsciously).

Front 8

How do external contexts and internal emotions influence memory retrieval?

Back 8

The context in which we originally experienced an event or encoded a thought can flood our memories with retrieval cues, leading us to the target memory. In a different but similar context, such cues may trick us into retrieving a memory, a feeling known as deja vu. Specific emotions can prime us to retrieve memories consistent with that state. Mood-congruent memory, for example, primes us to interpret others' behavior in ways consistent with our current emotions.

Front 9

Why do we forget?

Back 9

We may fail to encode information for entry into our memory system. Memories may fade after storage - rapidly at first, and then leveling off, a trend know as the forgetting curve. We may experience retrieval failure, when old and new material compete, when we don't have adequate retrieval cues, or possibly, in rare instances, because of motivated forgetting, or repression. In proactive interference, something learned in the past interferes with our ability to recall something recently learned. In retroactive interference, something recently learned interferes with something learned in the past.

Front 10

How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction? How real-seeming are false memories?

Back 10

If children or adults are subtly exposed to misinformation after an event, or if they repeatedly imagine and rehearse an event that never occurred, they may incorporate misleading details into their memory of what actually happened. When we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may successfully retrieve something we have heard, read or imagine, but attribute it to the wrong source (source amnesia). False memories feel like true memories and are equally durable. Constructed memories are usually limited to the gist of the event.

Front 11

What is the controversy related to claims of repressed and recovered memories?

Back 11

This controversy between memory researchers and some well-meaning therapists is related to whether most memories of early childhood abuse are repressed an can be recovered by means of leading questions and/or hypnosis during therapy. Psychologists now tend to agree that: (1) Abuse happens, and can leave lasting scars. (2) Some innocent people have been falsely convicted of abuse that never happened, and some true abusers have used the controversy over recovered memories to avoid punishment. (3) Forgetting isolated past events, good or bad, is an ordinary part of life. (4) Recovering good and bad memories, triggered by some memory cue, is commonplace. (5) Infantile amnesia - the inability to recall memories from the first three years of life - makes recovery of very early childhood memories unlikely. (6) Memories obtained under the influence of hypnosis or drugs or therapy are unreliable. (7) Both real and fake memories cause stress and suffering.

Front 12

How can an understanding of memory contribute to more effective study techniques?

Back 12

Research on memory suggests concrete strategies for improving memory. These include studying repeatedly, making material personally meaningful, activating retrieval cues, using mnemonic devices, minimizing interference, getting adequate sleep, and self-testing.