Human Memory

Learning and Memory

What is learning?
What is memory?
Is memorization different from
learning? If so, why is it different?

Storage and Encoding

Storage
putting new
information
My birthday is January
16, 1981

Encoding

Store the information more

quickly
Changing the form of
information
My ATM pin code is
810116
Simplifying the information
Mr. X just came back from
Chicago, New York, and
California
You know that he came
from the US but you may
forget the states that he
visited

 William James- after image, primary

memory, and secondary memory
Richard Atkinson and Richard
Shiffrin- dual store model

Characteristics of the Sensory

Register
Capacity- unlimited, brief
Forms of storage- holds information
before it is encoded
Duration- how long? visual vs.
auditory

Nature of Attention

Selective attention
Cocktail party phenomenon
Shadowing
Filter (analogy: TV)
Limited processing capacity

 Motion

S z
i

Attention

INTENSITY
!!!!
Novelty

In c on gruit y
Emtin

Personal
Significance
Social Cues

Short-Term/ Working
Memory
Where thinking occurs

Sensory register- what warrants attention

Saves the information for a longer period
of time, and process it further
Long-Term Memory- process and retrieves
information
CENTRAL EXECUTIVE- controlling and
monitoring the flow and use of information
throughout the memory system
Increases sophistication through age

Factors Affecting Long-Term

Memory Storage

Working memory
Prior knowledge
Prior misconceptions
Expectations
Verbalization-(including selfexplanation)
Enactment
Repetition and Review
Development of automaticity

Expectations

Inibig ko ang Pilipinas

Ito ang ating lupang sinilangan
Ito ang tahanin ng aking lahi
Akoy kanyang kinikopkop at
tinutulungan
Upang maging malakas, maligya, at
kapakibakinabang

Short-Term/ Working
Memory
Forms of storage- phonological loop
(information through repetition),
visuospatial sketchpad (manipulation
and retention of visual information),
episodic buffer (multiple modalities
can be integrated into an overall
understanding of a particular
situation)
Duration

Control Process in Working

Memory
Home of many proceses important
for learning, thinking and behavior
such as directing attention, making
sense of attention, making sense of
situations, drawing inferences,
reasoning, planning, making
decisions, solving problems, and
inhibiting irrelevant thoughts and
actions

Control Process in Working

Memory
Organization- chunking, attaching meaning
Retrieval- scanning the contents of the
working memory, successively, and
exhaustively, until the desired information
is found
Maintenance rehearsal- repetition but
information disappears once rehearsal
stops
- Word length effect

Long-Term Memory
How things are or were- declarative
knowledge
How to do things- procedural
knowledge
Capacity- unlimited
Will it be harder to store additional
information if there are already a lot of
information that has already been
stored?

Long-Term Memory
Forms of Storage- based on
idiosyncratic interpretations
Explicit knowledge and implicit
knowledge
Interconnectedness
Is memory (in some instances) not
permanent?

Alternative Views of Human

Memory
Levels of processing model
Activation model

Levels of Processing
How long and how well information is
remembered depends on how
thoroughly the central processor deals
with it
Processed superficially (appearance,
brightness) may last a few seconds
Deep processing interpreted,
understood, and related to previously
learned information

 Turnure, Buium, and Thurlow (1976)

1.Labels, repeated the names of the objects
2.Sentence generation, made up sentences
that included both objects in a pair
3.Sentence repetition, repeated
experimenter generated sentences that
stated a relationship between 2 objects
4.What question- answered a question
about a relationship between objects
5.Why question- answered a question
concerning why a particular relationship
existed between the objects

Activation Model
Working and long term memory are not
necessarily separate but reflect different
activation states of a single memory
Active state, incoming information and
information previously stored in the memory
Inactive, bulk of information
Activation almost invariably spreads from
one piece of information to associated
pieces
Priming

Activation Model
Memory is stored in the active and
inactive state
Differen stimuli different areas of
the brain
Priming (Ratcliff and McKoon, 1981)

Long-Term Memory Storage

Process
Selection
Rehearsal
Internal Organizationinterconnection
Elaboration
Visual Imagery

Factors Affecting Long-Term

Memory Storage

Working Memory
Prior Knowledge
Prior Misconceptions
Expectations- halo effect/horns effect
Verbalization
Enactment
Repetition and Review

Retrieval
How well it was stored
Related pieces of information are stored
in close association with one another
Encoding specificity
Spreading activation
Retrieval cues- where to look in the long
term memory
- identity cues, associate
cues,
frame, contextual cues

Forgetting

Decay (verbatim & gist)

Interference (fan effect)
Failure to Retrieve
Repression
Construction
Failure to Store on Consolidate
* Infantile amnesia

Interference
A hippie is in the park
A hippie is in the church
A policeman is in the
park
A sailor is in the park

RIY
SEY
WSP
LXK
DRW
PUQ
NIQ
ZOP
TPR

Hermmann Ebbibghaus

Learning curve
Forgetting curve
Spacing effect- finding that information,
which is presented over spaced intervals
is learned and retained more easily and
more effectively
Serial position effect: primacy and
recency effect
Savings effect
Overlearning effect

Elizabeth Loftus
False memories
Gary Ramona
Lost in a shopping mall

Implication To The
Psychologist/Educator
How can overt behaviors affect longterm storage?
How can the knowledge regarding
the memory process help you assist
your client (student)?