The learning that contributes to memory comes in three forms. First there is recall, which is retrieving information not currently in your conscious awareness; an example is when you get a fill in the blank question on the test, you weren't thinking about the answer until you saw the question, but now that you have the question in front of you the answer pops in your mind, or your conscious mind. The second type of learning for memory is recognition. Recognition is identifying things you have previously learned, like seeing a multiple choice question on the test and being able to choose the right answer. The last form of learning for memory is relearning. This one is pretty self explanatory, learning is easier the second time around. You are more likely to remember things on the final exam that you already learned in class or previously read opposed to the things you are just cramming in for the first time. If you're studying for a test, you want to try to use the method of recall. It is always better than you can think of the answer without having to see it and recognize it or having to relearn it!
Psychology has used many different models to explain the human memory system; here are a few:
One memory model comes in three sections: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Pretend for a moment that you are a computer, not a lap top but one of those old big ones with the tower, (so old fashioned yes yes I know, haha.) Encoding information would be like typing on the keyboard, it is the initial time where you acquire and process information. Next the tower would store the information, just like our brain does when we aren't using it. And finally the way we retrieve information is similar to pulling something up on the computer screen when you need it. Even though the process of memory works like a computer, does it really work as well as a computer pulling up a document? Not even close!
Two psychologists by the names of Richard Akins and Richard Shiffrin created this next model in 1968. They said that we first record information from external events as a fleeting sensory memories. A sensory memory is that very first brief recording of information into the memory system. Next we turn that information into a short-term memory. Short-term memory is an active memory that holds information there for a few moments before it is either stored or forgotten. If the memory is stored, it goes to your long-term memory. Your long-term memory is pretty much permanent and limitless and lets you store your knowledge, skills, experiences and so on!
A man named Alan Baddeley decided to challenge the two Richards stance on short-term memory. He discovered working memory. In working memory it isn't just a brief recording like the short-term memory, but working memory focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spacial information. Working memory focuses on the content of the information perceived. For example, if you hear "eye-scream" it will depend on the situation if you will hear "ice cream," or "I scream."
You usually don't notice when you hear ice cream or I scream, it just happens automatically. There are other types of automatic processes that work with memory. Procedural memory is a memory of an automatic still such as how to ride a bike. Procedural memory is also how you remember things that you were classically conditioned to do (see last blog post for more information on classical conditioning.) Examples of procedural memory that happens automatically without conscious effort are things like the space between words on a page, the time that goes by in a day and what you do during them, and frequency, such as having the thought "That is the third time I have ran into him today!" Automatic processing is almost impossible to turn off! When you pass a truck on the highway with words on the back of it, you will usually read them automatically without realizing it. Reading the words is automatic, but your initial learning to read, was not!
But what about the things that aren't automatic? This is called effortful processing; effortful processing is encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. Does something have to remain effortful or automatic? NO! When you first started learning to read, it was an effortful process, but now it is automatic--practice makes perfect! Or in this case, automatic. Effortful processing begins with our sensory memory.
In 1960, a psychologist by the name of George Sperling did a study where he took a group of people and showed them a group of nine letters for one-twentieth of a second. After he took down the letters, the people could only remember about half of the letters. This led to the question, was one-twentieth of a second not a long enough time to see all of the letters? The remarkable fact, is no, it is actually plenty of time to see all of them! Sperling proved this by showing the slide again then directly after having the participant listen to a high, medium or low tone to indicate which line to recall, and they got it right almost every time! Showing that all 9 letters were in their short term memory.
Chunking: this is where you organize items into familiar units
Mnemonics: this is where you use vivid imagery to memorize and organize things
Hierarchies: this is where you don't only chunk information, but you categorize it and subcategorize it to help remember it
Distributed practice: we remember things better when we see them over a period of time, such as hearing a classmates name on different days. This is considered a spacing effect.
One last easy effective way to remember things, is to make them personal! In class we did a test where our professor said 20 words aloud then asked us to write down as many of them as we could remember. One of the words was "dog," and he asked afterwards if most of the people remembered the word dog because they thought of their own dog, and it turns out he was right!
Have you ever seen someone play music from memory? Sometimes they can know hundreds of songs at the drop of a hat. But where do they store all of this information? The frontal lobes, and the hippocampus. (If you're thinking....what? You aren't alone!)
The parts of the brain that store your explicit memories (facts and experiences that you can consciously know) are the frontal lobes and the hippocampus. It is interesting to see which types of memories are stored where. For example, a password might be stored in left frontal lobe whereas a visual party scene would be in your right frontal lobe. The hippocampus is a temporal-lobe neural center that is located in the limbic system. I will be honest...most of that means nothing to me. So basically remember it like this, the hippocampus is the brain's "save" button. It saves new memories you make of names, images, events etc. Memories are not stored in the hippocampus, it is just used as a "loading dock" to get the memories to the frontal lobes. If someone has damage to their hippocampus it is possible for them to not be able to make new memories while still giving the person access to the memories they made before the damage was done to their hippocampus.
Our memories can also be triggered by emotions. The part of our brain that is used to feel emotions is the amygdala. When we go through a tragic or shocking event where our emotions are heightened, this is called a flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memories are actually usually more reliable than our everyday memories. For example, most people of a certain age, can tell you exactly where they were on 9/11 and what they were doing--that is a flashbulb memory.
Every time I smell wood burning, I think of winter and Christmas at my parents house growing up and smelling the wood stove we used for heat; so now I LOVE the smell of burning wood it brings back so many good memories. When a sensation like a smell or taste brings back memories it is called priming. Another way to prime your memory is to put yourself back into the mindset and context you where you were when you acquired the memory. Good and bad memories can also be triggered depending on the mood you are in.
An interesting memory trend is that people tend to remember the first and last items in a list the best, while the middle items get lost somewhere. This is called the Serial Position Effect. When you see the first word on a list you are trying to remember you will try hard to remember the first few, and those will end up being stored in your long term memories, somewhere in the middle you won't be able to remember them fast enough, then you will be abel to remember the words at the end because they will still be in your short term memory.
If you're still with me at this point, you've read a lot of my rambling interpretation of psychology, and everything you have read was in your mind when you read it, but how much of it can you recall now? What causes us to forget so quickly?
Forgetting, is something humans pretty much need to survive. There are a few cases of people that can remember everything they have ever done. One example is Jill Price, she remembers everything, she has done on every day and the emotions she has felt on every day of her life, and she says it is exhausting! Humans aren't built to withstand that many memories flooding their brains!
We forget things, sometimes more than we realize! Take this simple test for example! You have seen SO many pennies in your lifetime, which is a correct depiction of the penny? (answer at the bottom of the blog entry.)
Have you ever had to read a sentence over and over just to understand it and remember it the first time? Sometimes, you don't actually forget things, it is just that your memory never really receives the information in the first place. You can't forget something you failed to remember in the first place!
Our memories, are never as accurate as they think they are.
Elizabeth Loftus did an extremely large experiment (20k+ people) where she showed them a video of a traffic accident, then asked them a series of questions, some worded differently than others. One of the questions was: "How fast were the cars going when they _____ into each other." The blank was filled by either smashed, collided, bumped, hit or contacted. The answers were given as shown below:
A week later, the participants were asked if they had seen any broken glass in the video. The participants who read "smashed" were twice as likely to report seeing broken glass, (even though there was no glass in the video.)
The above study, is an example of the misinformation effect.
There is a difference however between all of the above examples, and having actual memory loss problems. When I think of memory loss I think of a sweet old lady with Alzheimer's, but there are many different types of memory loss. Retrograde amnesia is something you might have heard of, it is where someone cannot retrieve information from their past. Anterograde amnesia, however, is where someone cannot form new memories. People usually struggle making new memories when there has been damage done to their hippocampus.
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Well everyone! Thanks for studying with me! I feel a lot better about this test tomorrow, and I hope along the way you learned something you found helpful or interesting!
(All information was gathered from: Modules 23-26 of David G. Myers' Psychology Tenth Edition in Modules) (Penny answer: A)
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