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We rather retrieve relevant information that my allow us to answer to a question Relate new events to prior knowledge in order to understand them Third function of memory is to deliver relevant knowledge when it is needed To store and retrieve new information Information from the future, because it provides us with a sense of continuity over time Processes of Memory o Encoding- Decode information in a useful way o Storage - Is there a capacity or limit to memory o Retrieval - Retrieve memory at relevant times Short-term Memory o The mechanism that keeps information active and available(also called primary memory) o If you recall some info into short term, it is available for further processing o Characteristics of ST memory One can maintain memory for a few letters One can imprint the knowledge into short-term memory by repeating it over and over(known as maintenance rehearsal) Short term memory has an extremely small capacity Most people cannot keep 10 words in ST Memory o Coding in ST The semantic aspect of items affects ST memory When set is from new category, recall increases back to level achieved for the first set o Limitations and Chunking Chunking- Coding you use to remember these groups of information(Chunk refers to any meaningful group of info) George Miller - Magical number seven plus or minus two Chunking allows us to keep track of much more info and have it available for processing o Working Memory This memory refers to a brain and cog sys that provides temporary storage and manipulation of info that is necessary for a variety of complex cog tasks At least 2 separate parts: One for verbal and one for visual Working Memory Theory = One control system and 2 specialized subsystems Phonological Loop - Store which holds speech-based info for 2 seconds and articular control process which produces the inner speech we hear in ourselves The more material the faster the rate The memory performance was higher for words that could be quickly pronounced

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It is crucial of how long it takes to rehearse the info, not the number of chunks The phonological loop according to tests, must not me necessary for language comprehension Can be used for learning a new language especially new words Visuospatial Sketchpad - allows us to maintain and manipulate visual and spatial images May be involved in planning and executing spatial tasks May even play a crucial role in many acts of creativity Central Executive - Importance of being able to coordinate these subsystems can be seen(not yet well understood) The future of working memory Visuospatial sketchpad is likely to consist of two very different subsystems with visual and spatial representations Baddeley acknowledges the possibility of further subsystems Episodic buffer - which allows for info from long-term memory to be incorporated by central exec into working memory activities Long-Term Memory o One technique that has proven useful in analyzing memory is known as free recall o The probability of recalling an item depends on where it appeared in the list, a phenomenon reffered to as the serial possition effect o Increased recall for items at beginning of list is known as primacy effect o Increased recall for the items at the end is the recency effect o Items very early in the list generally will be retained longer in short-term memory o Encoding - Referes to this initial processing of the tiem that leads to a representation of it in memory Levels of processing = argued that we should be focusing not only on the material being learned but also on how the person encodes such info Incidental Learning - procedure in that the subjects were not aware that they would be required to remember the words for the later test Knowledge about a final test appears to have little effect on memory whereas the level to which the material is processes has a large effect Memory for meaning = The extent to which the goal of understanding affects what is remembered can be investigated b the errors people make when tested for their memory of meaningful material Organization = Our encoding of certain memories depend on the others that are present, if the items can be organized in some way, performance often increases=Organization will help memory Organization of the memory at encoding can greatly help performance

Chapter 5

Elaboration - We elaborate or explain on certain information that we are presented with. These elaborations provide a means of integrating and retaining info to the extent that they help relate the current info to our knowledge Elaborations that help to integrate the materials with prior knowledge facilitate memory for the materials Older people may get help from memory elaborations Elaborations can be viewed as helping to augment and interpret the info that is we take incomplete info presented, augment it with further info from our memory and interpret it Retrieval - Some parts may not be recalled when you try to remember about a certain event A different way of ordering would be to think of the events as they happened in chronological order and recall events in order which will INCREASE the number of events recalled Recall is much higher if someone has a retrieval plan - an organized set of cues to use to retrieve info 2 characteristics of plan : Various cues in the plan should be organized so that no cue is likely to be forgotten and each cue in the plan should be able to lead to the recall of a number of items not recallable from the other cues and also do so in as systemic a way as possible Encoding-Retrieval Interactions - Major principle is that recall or recognition of an event usually increases with the amount of the original context that is supplied at the time when retention is tested If one thinks of primary use of memory as retrieving relevant info then similar context is a good clue to relevance of info Recognition is generally believed to be easier and more accurate than recall Encoding specify - Recognition may be harder than recall because the encoding isn't consistent with the recognition, but consistent with the recall ----Encoding specify effect = difference between the encodings are much more subtle Also relevant of how well the study encoding matches the test The match between encoding and retrieval context is crucial for understanding how well items are remembered - the encoding specificity test Encoding-retrieval interactions are powerful enough to override some other types of memory effects Encoding in terms of meaning tends to lead better memory than encoding by rhyme Context Change - Context refers to all the info that might be encoded aside from the item of interest

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Context effects refer to the improvement in memory of having info occur with the same context Recall is facilitated if the test occurs in the same room as the learning If the environment is attended to during learning, it can affect retrieval as well State-dependent recall - influence on memory on matching internal contexts of alcohol or drug states because the memory is influenced by one's internal state of mind Memory is very sensitive to the subtle changes of how an item is encoded and retrieved Spacing effect - Refers to the common observation that memory is better for the repeated info if the repetitions occur spaced over time than if they occur massed one after the other You can learn better by spreading out your learning hours rather than having them all together Experimentally manipulating the encoding of items changes the spacing effect Different encodings led to better recall and that the effect of the different encodings was larger on the massed items which would usually be encoded in the same way otherwise Spacing effect may depend on repetition reminding the learner of the earlier representation Occur only for items recognized on the second presentation The greater the spacing between study intervals the greater the recall and this effect persisted at the end of 5 years Forgetting - Not Remembering vs permanently forgetting - Most items are not lost but rather may be retrievable only under some circumstances. Much of what seems to be lost under some circumstances is retrievable under other circumstances Retrieval failure cannot be equated to the loss from memory One of the many kinds of experiments leading the idea that memory is permanent has to do with the possibility of intentional forgetting Causes of Forgetting - How forgetting occurs = decay, interference, and overwriting . Law of disuse says that if memories are not used or recalled for a while they go through an automatic process of decay and lose strength Memory Decay Hypothesis = activities that might in themselves influence forgetting Retroactive interference is the forgetting caused by later learning Proactive interference = Earlier leaning may interfere with memory for related material learned later

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