MEMORY I:Functions of Memory, Encoding and Recoding, Retrieval

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Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Lesson 23

MEMORY I

Memory refers to the processes by which people and other organisms encode, store, and retrieve

information. Memory is critical to humans and all other living organisms. Practically all of our daily

activities--talking, understanding, reading, and socializing--depend on our having learnt and stored

information about our environments. Memory allows us to retrieve events from the distant past or from

moments ago. It enables us to learn new skills and to form habits. Without the ability to access past

experiences or information, we would be unable to comprehend language, recognize our friends and family

members, find our way home, or even tie a shoelace. Life would be a series of disconnected experiences,

each one new and unfamiliar. Without any sort of memory, it would be impossible for humans to survive.

Philosophers, psychologists, writers, and other thinkers have long been fascinated by memory. They have

always been wondering about, and working on problems like:

·How does the brain store memories?

·Why do people remember some bits of information but not others?

·Can people improve their memories?

·What is the capacity of memory?

Memory also, frequently, is a subject of controversy because of questions about its accuracy. An

eyewitness's memory of a crime can play a crucial role in determining a suspect's guilt or innocence.

Psychologists agree that people do not always recall events as they actually happened, and sometimes people

mistakenly recall events that had never happened.

Memory and Learning are Closely Related

The two terms often describe roughly the same processes. The term learning is often used to refer to

processes involved in the initial acquisition or encoding of information, whereas the term memory more

often refers to later storage and retrieval of information. However, this distinction is not hard and fast.

After all, information is learned so that it can be retrieved later, and retrieval cannot occur unless

information was learned. Thus, psychologists often refer to the learning/memory process as a means of

incorporating all facets of encoding, storage, and retrieval.

· Memory is usually considered as the storehouse of information alone but, as just mentioned, it

is more than just that.

· Memory is the process of encoding, storing and retrieving information.

Woodworth defined memory as:

Memory = L - I - R

Where;

"L" is the act of "learning".

"I" is the time interval, or duration between the act of learning and remembering; and

"R" refers to the act of "remembering".

The recollection and reinstatement of the past experiences is a part of memory, in which the new

conscious experiences also are, or may be, added all the time.

Functions of Memory

i. Encoding

Storage

ii. Storage

iii. Retrieval

Retrieval

Encoding

Memory

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Encoding and Recoding

The process of initial recording of information: information is recorded in a form that is ready for use by

our memory any time.

Encoding is the process of perceiving information and bringing it into the memory system. Encoding is not

simply copying information directly from the outside world into the brain. Rather, the process is properly

conceived as recoding, or converting information from one form to another. The human visual system

provides an example of how information can change forms. Light from the outside world enters the eye in

the form of waves of electromagnetic radiation. The retina of the eye converts this radiation into

bioelectrical signals that the brain interprets as visual images. Similarly, when people encode information

into memory, they convert it from one form to another to help them remember it later.

Storage

In the storage part of the memory processes information saved in the memory is maintained in an

identifiable form.

Retrieval

The information recorded and stored is approached, located, brought into awareness, and used under the

memory retrieval system.

Encoding and storage are necessary to acquire and retain information. But the crucial process in

remembering is retrieval, without which we cannot access our memories. Unless we retrieve an experience,

we do not really remember it. In the broadest sense, retrieval refers to the use of stored information.

For many years, psychologists considered memory retrieval to be the deliberate recollection of facts or past

experiences. However, in the early 1980s, psychologists began to realize that people could be influenced by

past experiences without any awareness that they are remembering them. For example, a series of

experiments showed that brain-damaged amnesic patients, who had lost certain types of memory functions,

were influenced by previously viewed information even though they had no conscious memory of having

seen the information before. Based on these and other findings, psychologists now distinguish two main

classes of retrieval processes: explicit memory and implicit memory, i.e., one that is vividly remembered and

the other that is not.

The Memory Storage Systems: Memory Storehouses

i. Sensory Memory

ii. Short - term Memory

iii. Long - term Memory

The Memory Storage Systems: Memory Storehouses

Sensory

Short-term

Long- term

Memory

These three are not separate, mutually exclusive, entities found in separate brain centers;

They differ in terms of the functions they perform and their capacity for retaining information

for a specific period of time i.e., for how long can they keep the information stored.

· These are abstract divisions on the basis of their primary characteristics.

Sensory Memory

· Storage of memory lasting for a while; this is the initial momentary stage.

· Sensory memory refers to the initial, momentary recording of information in our sensory systems.

When sensations strike our eyes, they linger briefly in the visual system. This kind of sensory memory

is called iconic memory and refers to the usually brief visual persistence of information as it is being

interpreted by the visual system. Echoic memory is the name applied to the same phenomenon in the

auditory domain: the brief mental echo that persists after information has been heard. Similar systems

are assumed to exist for other sensory systems (touch, taste, and smell). However researchers have

studied these senses less thoroughly. American psychologist George Sperling demonstrated the

existence of sensory memory in an experiment in 1960.

· The person's sensory system records information as a raw and non-meaningful stimulus: e.g., a fly

that sat on your nose in the park this morning, the sound of the car that passed by you, or the feel of

the dry leaf that landed on your head when you were waiting for the bus.

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Sensory memory systems typically function outside of awareness and store information for only a

very short time. Iconic memory seems to last less than a second. Echoic memory probably lasts a bit

longer; estimates range up to three or four seconds. Usually the incoming sensory information

replaces the old information. For example, when we move our eyes, new visual input masks or erases

the first image. The information in sensory memory vanishes unless it captures our attention and

enters the working memory.

Types of Sensory Memories

i. Iconic Memory

ii. Echoic Memory

iii. Memories related to other senses

Iconic Memory

The information gathered by our visual sense is reflected by the iconic memory; memory in the visual

domain

Echoic Memory

The information coming from our auditory sense is dealt with by the echoic memory; i.e., Memory for

sounds:

· Sensory memory is short lived. Ranging from just about one second to a few seconds, its

duration depends upon the intensity of the stimulus too.

· Iconic memory may fade in less than a second, whereas the echoic memory may last for 3-4

seconds.

· The stimuli that have a high intensity may stay for a bit longer

· Sensory memory is like a temporary image that may vanish forever, and may be replaced by

another if it is not shifted to another processing system or memory storehouse

The representation of the world around us captured by sensory memory is relatively complete, full and

detailed.

Short-term Memory/ Working Memory

· Psychologists originally used the term short-term memory to refer to the ability to hold information in

mind over a brief period of time. As conceptions of short-term memory expanded to include more

than just the brief storage of information, psychologists created new terminology. The term working

memory is now commonly used to refer to a broader system that both stores information briefly and

allows manipulation and use of the stored information.

· This system is higher in functioning than sensory memory, as it stores information in terms of

meaning and not just simple sensory stimulation.

· Sensory information is meaningless and therefore discarded.

· If it is sent to the short- term memory then a meaning is added to it.

· Since now it is meaningful it will be retained, though for not very long.

· Short-term memory retains information for 15 to 25 seconds, unless it is moved into the long- term

memory.

How is sensory memory transformed into short-term memory?

o The exact process is not yet clearly known

o There are two main theories in this regard:

a) The transformation takes place when the sensory stimulus is converted into words

b) The transformation takes place after the sensory information is converted into graphic

representations or images.

Chunking and the capacity of Short-term memory

· The information stored in short-term memory is in the form of a single unit, comprising

several chunks.

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A chunk is an understandable or meaningful set or grouping of stimuli e.g., "001023" can be

learnt as "0 0 1 0 2 3" OR "00 10 23".

Short-term memory can carry seven chunks at a time on average; the capacity may be two more

or two less than seven (George Miller).

Chunking is a process whereby the items to be learnt are configured by grouping them considering their

similarity, or combining them into larger patterns based upon information residing in long-term

memory, or on the basis of some other principle of organization.

For example see "111222333444"; you do not usually learn it as "11 12 22 33 34 44"; but as "111 222 333

444" Or even as: "triple one, triple two, triple three, and triple four".

No restrictions on the size of the chunks.

The Role of Rehearsal in Short-term memory

How can short-term memory be more effective, considering its limited capacity?

If the material in the short-term memory is rehearsed, or repeated, it may enter the long-term

memory; but not necessarily, not always e.g., learning someone's e-mail address, or a phone

number.

The information may be with you just temporarily.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU GET OUT OF THE EXAMINATION ROOM?

CAN YOU TAKE THE SAME TEST AGAIN, SOON AFTER YOU HAVE JUST FINISHED

IT?

Several repetitions help retain information in the short-term memory but do not ensure its

admittance to long-term memory.

For transferring short-term memory information into long-term memory we need other aids and

processes like elaborative rehearsal and mnemonics.

Elaborative Rehearsal

o A technique or process whereby the material to be learnt or remembered is elaborated upon in

order to improve encoding of information.

o The information is organized in a manner easy to be stored or encoded.

Examples of Elaborative Rehearsal

o Imagining a relationship that strengthens the association between material to be learnt e.g., learning

a new name by relating it to an emperor with the same name.

o The information may be expanded to fit into an already existing logical framework e.g., learning a

car's number "2346" by considering the relationship i.e., 23 x 2 = 46

o Making a story line also helps e.g., "foot-in-the-door" can be remembered by forming a story in

mind.

o Forming a mental image can also be used e.g., if you forgot to make a list of toiletries to be bought

from the super market, you can simply imagine your toilet from corner to corner and see what

items are required for which point.

Mnemonics

o Strategies used for organizing material to be learnt in such a way that encoding and recall is

facilitated.

o These are short, verbal devices that help form association between material to be learnt and

material that is familiar and is already stored in memory.

Method of loci

o Associating names, people, or objects to be remembered with places you are familiar with e.g. you

have to learn names of six famous people. You mentally place each one in separate room of your

home. For learning you start, mentally, and enter from the main door and using the way you usually

do; you find one person in one room. The same is repeated for recall.

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Ancient Greeks used this method. Loci is the plural of locus i.e., place.

Acrostic-like Mnemonic

o Learning material by using the first letter of each word to be learnt as a cue e.g., BODMAS, or

USA, or MIS (the names of the tiny bones in the ear).

Acronym Mnemonics

o Each letter in a word to be retained in memory represents a name or familiar piece of information

e.g., Joseph L.D can be learnt with reference to your friends Javed, Omer, Sana, Ehsan, Pasha, and

Hassan who live in Lahore's Defense.

o Or the famous example by Zimbardo and Gerrig: Roy G.Biv can be associated with the colors in

the spectrum i.e., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Short-term Memory As Working Memory

· Short-term memory is not a single system but a process that consists of a number of

components.

· Alan Baddeley's Theory

· Short-term memory is a three-part working memory'.

Components of Working Memory

· Central Executive

Coordination of material to focus on during reasoning and decision making; two sub components.

· Visuospatial Sketch Pad

Concentrates upon visual and spatial information.

· Phonological loop

Holds and manipulates material related to speech, words, and numbers

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