MEMORY

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MEMORY

• Can be studied from 2 perspectives
• Information-processing research (software)
• uses computer concepts such as encoding, storage,
  and retrieval
• Biological research (hardware)
• maps the physical structures and wiring of the
  brain and nervous system
• Each has produced an independent line of
• research.

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INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH SOFTWARE OF
MEMORY

• its goal is to discover what people do with
  information from the time they perceive it until
  they use it
• particularly suited to describing changes that
  take place over the lifespan
• can distinguish between functions that change a
  great deal and those that change very little,
  either in one person or in comparison with another

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INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH SOFTWARE OF
MEMORY (Contd)

• assumes that people can handle only a limited
  amount of information at a given time
• assumes that information that comes in through
  the senses is transformed by a series of mental
  processes into a form suitable for storage and
  later recall

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INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH SOFTWARE OF
MEMORY (Contd)

• Most information-processing studies are
• cross-sectional
• findings may reflect cohort differences rather
  than age-related changes

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Processes Encoding, Storage and Retrieval

• 3 step filing system encoding, storage,
• retrieval
• Before encoding
• sensory input, attention, begin processing (do I
  want to keep this? for how long?)
• encoding the process by which information is
  prepared for long-term storage and later
  retrieval
• attaches a code or label to the information
  to prepare it for storage will be easier to find
  when needed
• storage the process by, or location in which,
  memories are retained for future use

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• retrieval the process by which information is
  recalled from storage
• The precise mechanisms involved in encoding,
• storage, and retrieval may vary with the
  situation,
• the type of information and how the information
  is
• to be used. Difficulties in any of these steps
  may
• impair memory.
• the ability to retrieve newly encountered
  information seems to drop off with age
• younger adults can remember word pairs or
  recognize pictures better than older people.

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• More sophisticated strategies to encode
• information for long-term storage are
• Organization encoding strategy or mnemonic
  device, consisting of arranging or categorizing
  material to be remembered
• Elaboration consisting of making associations,
  often between new information and information
  already in memory
• the capacity of working memory to hold and
  process information is widely believed to shrink
  with age

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• Encoding Problems
• older adults seem to be less efficient than
  younger ones at encoding new information to make
  it easier to remember (e.g. less likely to
  spontaneously arrange material in alphabetical
  order to create mental associations)
• older adults can improve their encoding skills
  through training or instruction (how much they
  benefit depends on task)
• older peoples encoding seems to be less precise,
  may reflect less education

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• key factor complexity of the task (effort)
• Tasks that require reorganization, elaboration,
  or mental manipulation show the greatest falloff
• Some researchers suggest that as people get older
  they have less attentional resources to focus on
  a task

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• Storage Problems
• stored material may deteriorate to the point
  where retrieval becomes difficult or impossible
• a small increase in storage failure may occur
  with age

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• Retrieval Problems
• older adults may be able to answer a multiple
  choice question but not an open-ended one
  (recognition)
• have more trouble recalling items (pure recall
  vs. cued recall)
• do as well in recognizing items they know
• takes longer to search their memories
• age differences are minimized when older adults
• are familiar with the material
• have an opportunity to practice, and
• can work at their own pace

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• Storehouses Sensory, Short-term
• (STM), and Long-term (LTM)
• If you tried to assimilate all the sensory inputs
  that flood your brain daily, you would suffer
  from information overload and be unable to focus.
• Sensory memory is fleeting to avoid this problem

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• Processing begins in short-term memory
• STM
• temporary storage (20-30 sec.) If content not
  rehearsed and processed further, it disappears.
• Newer concept WORKING MEMORY
• (WM) Intermediate Short-Term Storage
• working memory current thoughts and processes.
  Whether from sensory storage or from long-term
  storage.
• this information is consciously manipulated or
  reorganized.

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• working memory capacity varies across
  individuals, related to intelligence.
• better, more complex processing
• more attentional resources
• more items that can be brought out from storage
  (retrieval)
• juggling many balls at once
• working memory contains whatever is in
  consciousness at a given moment

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WORKING MEMORY
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• can normally hold only about 5-9 separate chunks
  of information at a time
• possible to increase the amount of material held
  in working memory by grouping items into larger
  chunks
• items will remain in working memory only about 30
  seconds unless you engage in rehearsal or some
  other purposeful effort

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• other processes become automatic, so as to free
  space in working memory the more automatization,
  the better working memory works, e.g.
  multiplication tables
• simple STM no age differences
• working memory age differences
• working memory for spatial tasks declines more
  than for verbal tasks
• some areas decline more than others

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• memories not lost in STM are assumed to be stored
  in LTM
• so how come we cant remember so many things?
• problems with retrieval bringing contents from
  LTM into working memory. Its there, but
  inaccessible.

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• Many reasons for retrieval failure
• poorly encoded
• interference of other material
• conflicting emotions
• lack of practice
• Types of retrieval
• recognition
• recall
• cued recall

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• LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM)
• very large capacity (unlimited?) Everything that
  has been stored at any time in ones life.
• multiple systems with different brain parts
  involved
• each system involved in a different type of
  memory
• difficult to study in the laboratory artificial
  situation unlike real life, DVs not
  representative of everyday life
• some research with real life variables difficult
  to pick the right ones, more difficult to
  ascertain verosimilitude

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• LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM)
• impossible to function without it at any age!
• important for sense of self (predicament of
  amnesia sufferers).
• Pure memory exercises in remembering lists,
  words, numbers, etc. (most of lab research)
• Applied memory necessary for social
  interaction, enjoyment of life and daily
  functioning in any area

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• TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM)
• DECLARATIVE (you say something you remember)
• NON-DECLARATIVE OR PROCEDURAL (you do something
  you remember) Some of this bypasses working
  memory.
• EXPLICIT MEMORY conscious most declarative
• IMPLICIT unintentional, unconscious most
  procedural

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• TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM)
• DECLARATIVE EPISODIC AND
• SEMANTIC
• Episodic events, activities, personal
  experiences, discrete episodes affected by age,
  similar events merge as one
• Semantic general knowledge, can be from
  accumulation of many episodic events (language
  part of this), little decline except for names

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• TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM)
• PROCEDURAL MOTOR, PERCEPTUAL
• AND CONDITIONED
• Motor riding bike, playing instrument, automatic
  
• Perceptual recall of features we were not
  focusing on
• Conditioned classical conditioning

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• Examples of Differing Contents of Declarative and
  Nondeclarative Memory
• Declarative Nondeclarative
• Facts Habits
• Language Motor skills
• Social Customs Perceptual skills
• Personal episodes Conditioned responses

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• Relationship Between Aging and Performance in
  Various Types of Memory
• Sensory No change or small decline
• Working
• Organization Moderate to large decline
• Elaboration Moderate to large decline

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• Long-term
• Declarative
• Episodic
• Memory for experience and activities
• moderate to large decline
• Personal history
• moderate to large decline
• Semantic
• World knowledge increases with age
• Vocabulary increases with age

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• Nondeclarative
• Skills
• no change or small decline
• Perceptual skills
• no change or small decline
• Motor learning
• no change or small decline
• Classical conditioning
• no change or small decline

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• TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY (LTM)
• PROSPECTIVE MEMORY
• remembering to do something in the future
• AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY
• events from ones life, hard to check out.
  Moderately traumatic events remembered more than
  extremely traumatic events (repression). Also
  important historical events (very talked about at
  the time) or any event with high emotional
  content.
• Flashbulb memories very vivid, photo or
  video-like. More from 10-20 years of age than
  from later, for both young and old adults.
• Very long term memories sometimes called remote
  or tertiary.

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• Age differences in episodic
• Recall older adults worse off
• omit more information
• include more extraneous material
• repeat previously recalled items
• Cued recall some improvement
• Recognition better, but still slightly worse
• than young

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• Some variables that affect episodic memory
• tests
• attentional factors
• encoding strategies (e.g. imagery, mnemonic aids
  such as method of loci)
• level of arousal
• time and speed, pacing
• cautiousness
• meaningfulness of material
• motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic)

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• Some variables that affect episodic memory
• tests (Contd)
• incentives
• health status
• previous experience with test
• how organized is the material
• expectations
• SES
• interference proactive (old material affects
  new) and retroactive (new affects old), the first
  is stronger in older adults

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• Some variables that affect episodic memory
• tests (Contd)
• expertise
• self-efficacy (confidence in self)
• anxiety, stress and depression
• exercise
• nutrition (B vitamins)
• alcohol and other drugs
• medical drugs (interactions)
• smoking

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• Priming an increase in ability to do a
  previously encountered task or to remember
  previously encountered material
• Both declarative and nondeclarative memory can
  show effects of priming
• An unconscious, automatic process
• Speed is one indication that priming has occurred
• To be effective, earlier and later stimuli should
  be as close to identical as possible
• Seems to be equally efficient in younger and
  older adults
• Normal older people whose episodic memory has
  weakened can benefit as much from priming as
  younger ones

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• Long-term Memory Inactive Storage
• Not all contents within the long-term memory are
  equally accessible
• Long-term memory is divided into rooms with
  different kinds of contents, and aging affects
  them differently

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• Overall, age is NOT a good predictor of
• memory and learning capacity.
• Importance of psychosocial and cultural factors
  if good expectations of elders, good memory

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• HARDWARE OF MEMORY
• There are several memory systems
• These systems are anatomically different
• They are involved in acquiring and storing
  different kinds of information
• Currently studied using
• MRI magnetic resonance imaging
• fMRI functional MRI, taken during brain activity
• PET positron emission tomography
• EEG electroencephalograph still used

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• BIOPHYSIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS
• OF MEMORY
• HIPPOCAMPUS and other structures in the medial
  temporal lobe. Old brain
• FRONTAL LOBES executive function
• Hippocampus crucial for memory formation except
  unconscious memory formation.
• Hippocampus forms and activates cortical
  connections
• Once memories are well stored, hippocampus not
  necessary for recall

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THE HUMAN BRAIN
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THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
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• With related structures in the cortex, it acts
  like a switchboard, controlling the ability to
  remember many kinds of declarative information
• Is vital to the encoding functions of working
  memory
• Its role is temporary
• Is involved in the creation and immediate
  retrieval of new memories
• Loses an estimated 20 of its nerve cells with
  advancing age

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• Particularly vulnerable to injury from changes in
  blood pressure that often occur during adulthood
  and to stress
• If older adults suffer hippocampal deterioration,
  the alertness, concentration, and organizational
  abilities needed to process new information
  efficiently may decline
• Recall of prior learning (independent of the
  hippocampus) may improve as a result of the
  growing complexity of neural connections in the
  cortex

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• A continuous stream of stress hormones appears to
  affect the hippocampus, reducing performance on
  tests of attention and memory
• Encodes consciously perceived information
  rapidly, almost automatically, and without
  organization

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• Hippocampal deterioration can be due to
• blood pressure problems
• stress
• oxygen deprivation
• accumulation of lipofuscin
• insufficient stimulation
• decrease in neurotransmitters production
• Affects
• alertness
• attentional factors
• concentration
• organization
• Works in conjunction with the RAS (reticular
  activating
• system)

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• Non-declarative memory (motor skills, habits) are
  not dependent on the hippocampus. Instead, on the
  cerebellum and neostriatum
• Emotional responses amygdala. Independent from
  conscious memory systems

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• Frontal lobes front portions of the brains
  cerebral cortex, which form and direct strategies
  for encoding, storage, and retrieval of memories
• Play a role in both normal and pathological
  memory changes
• They coordinate, interpret, and elaborate
  information to provide proper instructions for
  encoding and retrieval

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• It is the operations of this strategic frontal
  system that you are aware of in searching your
  memory
• They constantly evaluate the output of the
  hippocampal system
• Evidence implicates the frontal lobes in
  selective declines in normal cognitive
  functioning
• The ability to remember when and where you
  learned something seems to be related to the
  functioning of the frontal lobes

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• Learning that requires organization and
  elaboration is related to the frontal lobes
• Damage does not usually hamper learning of
  information that can be encoded without creating
  new categories or associations
• Loss of neurons in the frontal lobes (50) may be
  related to commonly observed deficits in working
  memory in older adults
• Help focus attention and inhibit irrelevant
  responses

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• Structures Controlling
• Unconscious Memory
• Perceptual and motor skills seem to depend on the
  neostriatum.
• Neostriatum a subcortical structure above the
  hippocampus, which controls motor activity

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• Muscular conditioning or changes in heart rate
  due to conditioned fear appears to be linked to
  the cerebellum.
• Cerebellum the brains coordinating center for
  muscular activity, which lies below the cortex
  near the back of the head.

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• Tricks memory can play
• Source memory
• Where did I hear this? who told me? Older adults
  less accurate.
• False memory
• Remembering things that didnt happen. Older
  adults higher incidence. Con artists take
  advantage.
• Due to not trusting ones memory?
• Not remembering information that conflicts with
  previously held beliefs. More pronounced in older
  adults.

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• Importance of memory self-efficacy
• Belief in ones memory capacity. Influences
  actual performance in memory tasks and determines
  whether older adult retreats from new
  situations/tasks or not.
• Memory and Mental Health
• Stress
• Depression
• Dementia

memory deficits
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• Memory and Drugs
• Alcohol
• Tranquilizers and sedatives
• Antipsychotic drugs
• Memory and Nutrition
• Vitamin B complex very important for CNS
  (central nervous system)
• Memory and Physical Exercise
• More oxygen to brain
• More endorphins mood enhancer, helps cognitive
  function, increased confidence

memory deficits
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• Long-term Memory Inactive Storage
• Not all contents within the long-term memory are
  equally accessible
• Long-term memory is divided into rooms with
  different kinds of contents, and aging affects
  them differently

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• Metamemory The View From Within
• Metamemory beliefs or knowledge about how memory
  works
• Related to metamemory mnemonics

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• Mnemonics Making the Most of Changing Memory
• Mnemonics strategies to enhance encoding,
  storage, and recall
• May help adults make the most of changing memory
• E-I-E-I-O model model for classifying mnemonic
  techniques according to type of processing
  (explicit or implicit) and initial site of
  storage (external or internal)
• Allows us to be precise about which storage sites
  and which memory processes are being tapped

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• Explicit External Aids
• Devices outside the person that assist with
  conscious learning or retrieval of facts
• Notes, lists, calendars
• Written reminders are the most popular (for all
  ages)
• Particularly helpful to older adults to
  supplement limited or declining attention and
  storage space in working memory
• Sensory or object cues can compensate for the
  blurring of episodic memory

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• Explicit Internal Aids
• Mental imaging
• A more common use of visual images is in
  remembering names
• Older adults are less likely than younger adults
  to use such imaging strategies spontaneously
• When used by older adults, images tend to be
  relevant to their experience rather than made-up

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• Method of loci a series of places (loci) are
  associated with items to be remembered and then
  mentally revisited during recall
• Works for prospective actions
• Rehearsal, organization and elaboration are
  explicit internal aids
• Takes conscious effort on the part of working
  memory
• Are more useful to younger adults than to older
  ones
• Older trainees show less improvement, especially
  for different tasks
• Without monitoring and support, older adults tend
  to stop using the techniques (effort may be too
  great)

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• Implicit External Aids
• Sensory cues offer promise for improving implicit
  memory in older adults (especially those with
  memory impairments) e.g. labelling cupboards

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• Implicit Internal Aids
• Other memories can be effective for older adults
  (especially those with memory impairment whose
  unconscious memory functioning is likely to be
  relatively intact) e.g. ironing, showing by doing
• Spaced retrieval involves priming or classical
  conditioning in which people are trained to
  recall information for an increasingly long time
• Has proved effective with Alzheimers patients

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• Forgetting and its Surprising Benefits
• Difference between human beings and computers is
  the ability to forget
• Memory is a dynamic, ever changing synthesis of
  remembering and forgetting
• Forgetting clears the way for freshness,
  creativity, and innovation
• Forgetting the minds overflow valve
• A mind that couldnt forget would contain an
  indiscriminate jumble of the important and
  unimportant, the relevant and irrelevant
• Difficulty generalizing (a person who couldnt
  forget details)

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• Forgetting and its Surprising Benefits (Cont.)
• Older people may be more likely to forget in
  everyday life
• Older people may shift to a strategy of selective
  forgetting so they can use their mental energy
  and attention more efficiently for the tasks that
  matter at their time of life
• From a lifespan perspective, forgetting may be
  the price for a developmental change that enables
  wisdom to emerge

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• Summing up Memory and Age
• Information-processing theory and research
  suggest that memory is a highly complex set of
  processes and storage systems
• Aging does negatively affect the capacity of
  working memory to process certain kinds of
  declarative information and to access it in
  long-term memory
• Older adults may have less attentional resources
  to focus on manipulating information and may not
  use the most effective strategies for encoding it

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• Summing up Memory and Age (Cont.)
• After years of living, recollection of specific
  episodes begins to fade and events tend to run
  together in memory
• The ability to call on general knowledge
  increases (the ability to express it verbally may
  not)
• Unconscious remembering, usually of skills or
  procedures, generally holds up well with age

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• The Art of Aging
• The Best Memory Aid
• A Healthy Lifestyle
• Cigarette smoking has negative effects on complex
  problem solving that makes high demands on
  working memory and long-term memory
• Getting enough sleep and eating the right foods
  can make a positive difference in how well memory
  works across the adult lifespan

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• REM sleep is an important time for consolidation
  of new learning
• Aspartame, and artificial sweeteners, contains
  phenylalanine, the amino acid involved in
  phenylketonuria (PKU), an enzyme disorder than
  can cause developmental disabilities
• An excess of diet soda can impair mental
  performance, especially when accompanied by other
  sweets
• Zinc is crucial to nerve cells in the cortex that
  control memory and high-level thinking but
• Too much zinc can be toxic and may be associated
  with Picks disease

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• The Multicultural Context
• Memory and Culture
• People tend to remember what they are familiar
  with and interested in
• Peoples knowledge base, which influences what
  they remember, varies from culture to culture
• Adults tend to excel in the skills which their
  culture encourages