Chapter 6: Memory Processes

1
Chapter 6 Memory Processes
2
Memory Processes
3
Encoding Processes

• Creating an acoustic code
• What it sounds like
• Creating a semantic code
• What it means
• Creating a visual code
• What it looks like

4
Encoding Types and STM

• Type of code may rely on type of task
• STM refers to memory that is held temporarily
• Evidence exists for a variety of encoding types
  in STM

5
Evidence for Acoustic Encoding in STM

• Conrad (1964)
• Visually present a series of letters briefly
• Immediately write the letters viewed once series
  is complete (Try it - Starts on next click)

Write down letters
B
C
F
M
P
S
T
V
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Conrad (1964)

• You Viewed B C F M N P N S T V
• What errors did you make?
• F for S
• B for V
• P for B
• Not visual errors (e.g., E for F, O for Q, R for
  P)
• Thus, items acoustically even though stimuli were
  presented visually

7
Shulman (1970)

• Evidence for semantic encoding in STM
• Participants viewed 10-word lists
• Given a recognition test using visually
  represented "probe words" which were either
• Homonyms - e.g. "bawl" for "ball"
• Synonyms - e.g. "talk" for "speak" or
• Identical to the original word

8
Shulman (1970) Results

• The Homonym and Synonym probes produced similar
  error rates - suggesting that an equal amount of
  acoustic and semantic processing must be taking
  place
• Homonyms - e.g. "bawl" for "ball"
• Synonyms - e.g. "talk" for "speak"
• Identical to the original word

9
Posner Keele (1967)

• Evidence for visual encoding in STM
• Letter matching task
• Two letters separated by brief interval
• Participant had to indicate if same letter
• A-a Yes
• A-A Yes
• A-M No
• Measure reaction time

10
Posner Keele (1967) Results

• If letters were the same visually (a-a)
  participants were faster than if the letters were
  not the same visually (A-a)
• Results indicate that visual code was also
  present for STM

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Encoding Types LTM

• Type of code may rely on type of task
• LTM refers to memory that may be held permanently
  
• Evidence exists for a variety of encoding types
  for LTM

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Semantic Encoding in LTM

• Grossman Eagle (1970)
• Study 41 different words
• Given recognition test after delay
• 9 of the distractors were semantically related to
  words on list
• 9 of the distractors were not
• False alarms for each type 1.83 of synonyms, but
  only 1.05 of unrelated

13
Visual Encoding in LTM

• Frost (1972)
• Participants studied 16 drawings
• Manipulated visual orientation and semantic
  category
• After a delay, participants were asked if they
  had studied an object with the same name as the
  test object
• Reaction time was measured
• Participants responded faster to identical
  drawings than drawings in a different orientation
• This result indicates visual encoding occurred

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Acoustic Encoding in LTM

• Evidence of very long-term memory for songs
• Rubin (1977)
• Participants recall more of the text when
  provided with the melody of a well-learned song
  ("Star Spangled Banner") than when given no cue

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Transfer from STM to LTM

• Consolidation
• Integrating new information into stored
  information
• Disruption of consolidation is studied in
  amnesiacs
• ECT patients (Squire)

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Metamemory

• Knowing what you know
• Knowing how your memory works
• Being able to assess your own memory
• Young children lack metamemory skills

17
Principles to Strengthen Memory

• Elaborative rehearsal is better than maintenance
  rehearsal
• Distributed practice is better than massed
  practice
• Spacing effect
• Organizing information enhances memory

18
What causes the spacing effect?

• Multiple encoding contexts theory
• Multiple study sessions lead to multiple types of
  encoding, thus more possibility of matching
  during test conditions
• REM Theory
• The more REM sessions following study sessions,
  the more consolidation that occurs

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Mnemonic Devices to Aid Memory

• Categorical clustering
• Interactive images
• Pegword system
• Method of loci
• Acronyms
• Acrostics
• Keyword system

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Which Mnemonic is the Best?

• Roediger (1980)

Insert Table 6.2
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Prospective Memory

• The ability to remember a future intention
• Buying bread on your way home from work
• Going to the dentist on Wednesday
• Retrospective memory is memory of the past

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Retrieval Processes

• Getting information back out
• Multiple processes can be used to enhance
  retrieval
• Different strategies are used for short term
  storage and long term storage
• Matching the type of processes done during
  encoding with the type of processes done at
  retrieval increases success

23
Retrieval from STM

• Is the search serial or parallel?
• Serial indicates one by one search
• Parallel means all items are processed at once
• Is the search exhaustive or self-terminating?
• Exhaustive indicates that all items in the set
  are examined
• Self-terminating means that after target is found
  the search stops

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Studying Searching in STM
0

• Saul Sternberg (1967)
• Memorize a set of numbers (6,3,8,2,7)
• Shown a probe digit
• Participant must indicate if the probe was in the
  set
• Time to respond is measured

2
6,5,8,2,7
Yes
25
Sternberg (1967)
0

• 3 critical factors manipulated
• How many items were in the set the participants
  had to memorize
• Whether the probe was in the list
• The probes location in the set

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Sternberg (1967)

• Possible Result Patterns
• A represents parallel processing
• B illustrates serial processing
• C illustrates exhaustive serial processing
• D illustrates self-terminating serial processing

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Sternbergs Conclusion

• A serial exhaustive model
• But.
• Corcoran (1971) proposed that a parallel model
  could also explain the pattern found
• Townsend (1971) stated it was mathematically
  impossible to distinguish parallel from serial
• Thus, both models still exist

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Retrieval from LTM

• The types of cues you use to retrieve may affect
  what you can retrieve
• Free recall vs Categorized recall
• Study random list or an organized list
• What is the impact on memory?

29
Bower, Clark, Lesgold, and Winzenz (1969)

• Randomized list

• Naples World Italy Americas
• Montreal Bristol Washington Ottowa
• Orlando England Europe Dallas
• Liverpool Winnipeg Rome USA
• London Florence Canada

• Organized list

• World
• Europe Americas
• England Italy USA
  Canada
• London Rome Washington Ottowa
• Liverpool Florence Dallas
  Montreal
• Bristol Naples Orlando Winnipeg

30
Bower Associates (1969)

• Participants remembered 65 of the organized
  list, only 19 of the random list
• Thus, Organization helps memory retrieval

31
Chechile (2004)

• Manipulated time to retrieve and probablility of
  retrieval
• Little time, fewer words recalled
• More time, more words recalled

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If You Cannot Retrieve from LTM

• Has the memory disappeared?
• Is the memory available but not accessible?

33
Evidence Supporting Still There Theory Nelson
(1971)

• Paired associate List
• 43-house
• 67-dog
• 38-dress
• 77-sissors
• Cued recall test
• 43- ________
• 67- ________

• Two week delay
• Subjects recalled 75 of items on list
• But focus was on 25 they forgot.

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Nelson (1971) Critical Manipulation

• If participants forgot 38-dress and
  77-sissors then participants relearned either
  same pairs or changed pairs

  25 forgotten Relearned Results
Same 38-dress 77-sissors 38-dress 77-sissors
Changed 38-dress 77-sissors 38-apple 77-kettle
78
43
The better performance of participants in the
same condition indicate that there was some
memory left for forgotten items. Otherwise
both groups would remember the same amount.
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Theories about Forgetting

• Decay theory
• Memory is weakened with disuse
• Simply passage of time
• Interference theory
• Proactive old memories interfere with recall of
  new information
• Retroactive new memories interfere with recall
  of old information

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Interference versus Decay in STM

• Brown-Peterson Paradigm
• Participants were given 3 consonants to try to
  remember (e.g., FRL)
• Participants were then given a 3 digit number
  (294) asked to count backwards by threes (e.g.,
  291, 288, 285)
• After varying delays (3-18 seconds) participants
  were asked to recall the 3 letters

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Brown-Peterson results (1959)

• Trigrams were forgotten by 18 seconds due to
  retroactive interference of counting backwards

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Proactive Interference in STM
0

• Keppel Underwood (1962)
• Replicated the Peterson Peterson Task varying
  the time delay to recall
• Analysis was done by trial number (1st trial, 2nd
  trial, 3rd trial, etc.)
• Found support for proactive interference

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Retroactive Interference from LTM
0
Experimental group Learn List A Learn List B Delay Test for Memory A
Control group Learn List A ------------ Delay Test for Memory A
The experimental group will remember less
material from the tested list A compared to the
control group Information learned afterwards
interferes with retrieval of List A.
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Proactive Interference from LTM
Experimental group Learn List A Learn List B Delay Test for Memory B
Control group No study Learn List B Delay Test for Memory B
The experimental group remembers less material
from the tested list B than the control
group Information previously learned (list A)
interferes with retrieval of List B
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Lets Test Your LTM!

• You will see several words, one at a time
• Do whatever you can to try and remember as many
  of the words as you can
• At the end of the list, try to recall as many
  words as you can

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BED
43
CLOCK
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DREAM
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NIGHT
46
TURN
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MATTRESS
48
SNOOZE
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NOD
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TIRED
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NIGHT
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ARTICHOKE
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INSOMNIA
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REST
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TOSS
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NIGHT
57
ALARM
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NAP
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SNORE
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PILLOW
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Write down the words you saw
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Here are the words in the order viewed
BED
CLOCK
DREAM
NIGHT
TURN
MATTRESS
SNOOZE
NOD
TIRED
NIGHT
ARTICHOKE
INSOMNIA
REST
TOSS
NIGHT
ALARM
NAP
SNORE
PILLOW
Did you recall? Explanation
Bed? Clock?
Primacy Effect
Snore? Pillow?
Recency Effect
Spacing Effect
Night?
Artichoke?
Distinctiveness
Toss? Toss Turn?
Clustering
False Memory
Sleep?
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Serial Position Curve
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Autobiographical Memory

• Memory of personal history
• Constructive in nature

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Constructive Nature of LTM

• Bartlett (1932) was the first to demonstrate
  distortions for prose
• Read stories about Native Americans
• Subjects were good at recalling gist
  information
• Omission of detail was systematic
• Tended to omit information that did not make
  sense to the participants

66
Constructive Nature of LTM

• Prior experience influences how we recall
  information
• Having retrieval cues can help us recall more
  information, but cues can also lead to errors

67
Owens, Bower and Black (1979)
Nancy arrived at the cocktail party. She looked
around the room to see who was there. She went
to talk with her professor. She felt she had to
talk to him but was a little nervous about just
what to say. A group of people started to play
charades. Nancy went over and had some
refreshments. The hors doevres were good but
she was interested in talking to the rest of the
people at the party. After a while, she decided
shed had enough and left the party. Some
participants also heard that passage, but w/ this
theme Nancy woke up feeling sick and she
wondered if she really were pregnant. How could
she tell the professor she had been seeing? And
the money was another problem. Participants were
then asked to recall as much about the story as
they could
68
Owens, Bower and Black (1979) Results
Theme No Theme
Studied Propositions 29.2 20.3
Inferred Propositions 15.2 3.7

• The theme offered some background information
  and some retrieval cues, which increased recall.
  
• However, the background info also led to more
  intrusions (memory for information not present),
  such as The professor got Nancy pregnant.

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Memory Distortion

• Simply recalling may distort your memory
• Simple suggestion may distort your memory
• Memory is constructive in nature

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Schacters Seven Sins of Memory

1. Memories are transient (fade with time)
2. We do not remember what we do not pay attention
   to
3. Our memories can be temporarily blocked
4. We can misattribute the source of memory
5. We are suggestible in our memories
6. We can show memory distortion (bias)
7. We often fail to forget the things we would like
   not to recall (persistence of memory)

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Eyewitness memory

• The single greatest cause of wrongful convictions
  nationwide, playing a role in more than 75 of
  convictions overturned through DNA testing.
• http//www.innocenceproject.org/

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Loftus Palmer (1974)

• Participants were all shown the same video of an
  accident between two cars
• Some subjects asked How fast were the cars
  going when they smashed into each other?
• Others were asked How fast were the cars going
  when they hit each other?

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Loftus Palmer (1974)
How fast were the cars going when they ________
into each other?
Word Used Average Speed Estimated
Smashed 41 m.p.h.
Collided 39 m.p.h.
Bumped 38 m.p.h.
Hit 34 m.p.h.
Contacted 32 m.p.h.
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Problems with Lineups

• Assumption that perpetrator is in lineup
• Distractor selection is also important
• Police behavior may also influence

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Childrens Eyewitness Memory

• Be wary of repeated questioning
• Leading questions may distort memory
• Younger children are more suggestible

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False Memories / Memory Illusions

• Roediger McDermott (1995)
• Present a list of associated words, missing one
  target word (e.g., tired, bed, night, dream,
  etc., but not SLEEP)
• With immediate recall, participants tend to
  recall the non-presented target item
• More importantly, when asked whether they
  remember or know the word was on the list,
  they report an actual memory for the item

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False Memory contd

• Garry, Manning, Loftus Sherman (1996)
• Participants complete Life Events Inventory (LEI)
• Then are led through imagination exercises
• Fill out LEI again
• The results show that when participants imagine
  events that they said did not happen to them,
  they are more likely to say they did happen to
  them

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Repressed or Recovered Memories of Abuse

• A person remembers now that 20 years ago, someone
  sexually abused them
• Traumatic memory was previously repressed, but
  was recovered (often) under hypnosis in therapy
• Validity of recovered memories?
• Empirical evidence for Freudian repression?

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Can Painful Abuse Memories be Repressed?

• Skeptics argue that repression (or in some cases
  dissociation) of sexual memories is a concept
  without any scientific merit
• If repression does not exist, there can be no
  such thing as a recovered repressed memory
  rather, a recovered memory of abuse can only be a
  false memory of abuse

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False Memory vs. Repressed Memory Issue

• Evidence for suggested false memory is not
  automatically evidence against repressed-recovered
  memories, and vise versa

81
No Consensus on the Issue

• Results vary dependent upon characteristics
  sample (volunteers, children, child services,
  adult recall, etc.)
• Some abuse memories are not traumatic, and thus
  are presumably not repressed, rather they may be
  forgotten, like any memory
• Post-traumatic stress syndrome may also occur
• One symptom is recurrent, intrusive thoughts
  about the traumatic incidentthis is the opposite
  of repression
• Some may handle memory of sexual abuse by
  blocking out of mind either by repression or
  dissociation

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Flashbulb Memories

• Some researchers propose that events that are
  particularly surprising or arousing will yield
  flashbulb memories
• Where were you when the
• Challenger explosion occurred?
• OJ verdict was read?
• JFK was assassinated?
• Bombing of the twin towers?

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Flashbulb Memories

• Some research proposes good memory for
• Place where you learned of information
• What you were doing when you heard it
• Where you heard the information from
• Emotions in self and others
• The aftermath

84
Emotion and Memory

• There is a strong relationship (.90) between the
  emotionality and vividness of memory
• This does not mean that the memory is accurate
• Emotional events seem to be less resistant to
  forgetting over time
• Perhaps they are perceived better
• Perhaps we think about them more

85
Flashbulb Memory Results

• Neisser and Harsch (1992)
• Tested immediate memory for Shuttle Explosion,
  and then tested it again 3 years later
• There was little agreement with the two
  memories despite the confidence of the
  participants

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Encoding Specificity

• Memory is improved when information available at
  encoding is also available at retrieval

87
Amabile Rovee-Collier (1991)

• The match between encoding and test for babies is
  very important
• 3 6 month old infants were taught in crib with
  a particular bumper background to kick to move
  the mobile

88
Amabile Rovee-Collier (1991)

• Infants kicked more strongly in the same context
• However, you can teach infants in multiple
  contexts to weaken the encoding specificity

89
Encoding Specificity Tulving Thompson (1973)

• 1st Study list Learn target words in capital
  letters
• Cue Target
• head LIGHT
• grasp BABY
• 2nd Free association Generate 6 words for each
  word presented
• Word Possible Generations
• dark light, black, room.
• infant sleeping, bottle, baby.

90

• 3rd Recognition Test Circle any generated words
  that were in the study list in capital letters
• Word Possible Generations
• dark light, black, room.
• infant sleeping, bottle, baby.
• 4th Recall Recall the words from the study list
  in capital letters, using these cues that they
  were studied with
• Word Possible Generations
• grasp ________
• head ________

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Tulving Thompson (1973) Results
100
They recalled more than they recognized!
50
Percentage of words Recalled / Recognized
0
Free Association Recognition test
Study List Recall test
92
Encoding Specificity

• Tulving (1983)
• People encode the context with the target
  material
• Physical match (class, diving, smell)
• Emotional match (happy, depressed)
• Understanding match (childhood amnesia, under the
  influence of drugs match)

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Memory Development--Kail

• Asked participants aged 6 to 21 to do mental
  addition to a memory search
• Found age-related increases in the amount of
  information that could be held in memory
• Is it the capacity that increases or the ability
  to use the capacity?

94
Kail Hall (1999)

• 12 boys and 12 girls at ages 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12
  years
• Given simple addition and subtraction word
  problems
• Nancy has 6 marbles. Eve has 3 marbles. How many
  marbles does Nancy need to give away to have as
  many as Eve?

95
Results

• Both domain-specific and general
  information-processing skills contribute to
  children's success on word problems
• Thus, older children holding larger and more
  complex bits of information

96
Metamemory Knowledge in Children

• Young children
• Underuse strategies
• Have little connection between memory awareness
  and memory strategies
• Less likely to spontaneously use memory
  strategies

97
Appel, Cooper, McCarrell, SimsKnight, Yussen
Flavell (1972)

• Preschoolers (4 yrs old), First Graders (7 yrs
  old) and fifth graders (11 yrs old)
• Given either a Look or a Remember task
• 9-15 Pictures of vehicles, clothes, food were
  displayed
• Children were observed to see if they showed any
  behaviors indicating a memory strategy during the
  look and memory task

98
Appel et al. Results

• If told to look, no one used a memory strategy
• If told to remember, older children used a
  strategy to help, preschoolers did not
• Older children remembered more

99
Cognitive Monitoring

• What you know and what you do not know
• Flavell, Friedrichs Hoyt (1970)
• Preschool and elementary children asked to study
  a set of items until they were sure they could
  recall them perfectly
• When tested, elementary children could recall
  pretty well, the preschool children could not.

100
Memory in Adulthood

• Cohen (1992)
• Older university students received better
  coursework grades than younger students
• However, if timed recall was required, they did
  less well.
• Most age decline can be compensated for by
  expertise