Process by which information is acquired (encoding), stored in the brain, later retrieved, and possibly forgotten.

I. Information Processing Model

We process info in 3 separate stages:

A. Sensory memory: holds a large amount of perceptual input for a very brief time (on average, less than 1 sec)

• Automatically occurs when perceptual areas of the brain are stimulated by a stimulus
• Echoic memory: auditory (3 or 4 seconds in duration until the sound fades); iconic memory: visual (0.3 seconds until image fades)

• Consciousness of information seems to be located in STM
• Limited capacity: we can hold about 7 (+/- 2) “chunks” of information in STM
• CHUNK: Unit of information (e.g., words, numbers)
• Holds info for up to 30 seconds
• BUT, with rehearsal you can keep info in STM (repeating info over & over again in STM), while transferring it to…

C. Long-Term Memory (LTM): Holds huge amounts of information for a long time, from hours to years.

• Meaning and memories of information are stored here
• Is believed to be unlimited
• Dynamic nature of relationship b/w STM & LTM
• Encoding: the process by STM of organizing and transforming incoming information from Sensory Memory so that it can be entered into LTM memory, either to be stored or to be compared with previously stored information
• Maintenance rehearsal: simple repetition of info in STM to encode it into LTM
• Elaborative rehearsal: actively organizing new information, attaching meaning to STM info and integrate it with pre-existing LTM information
• Self-referent effect: Type of elaborative rehearsal technique where we deal with new information by relating it to ourselves; people recall more information when they try to relate that information to themselves; the self serves as a rich and organized source of internal associations; has been demonstrated repeatedly among many age groups
• Two kinds of long term memory
• Declarative (Explicit): Verbal and visual memories of facts that can be retrieved at will and represented in STM
• Semantic: general knowledge, such as memory of word meaning, concepts, and general facts
• Episodic: personal experiences tied to places, times, & circumstances
• Procedural (Implicit): memories of behaviors, skills, etc.
• Demonstrated through classical conditioned learning, habits, and priming

Semantic network theory: nodes represent information stored in LTM that are organized into hierarchical categories

• Spreading activation of nodes: when you are asked to think about an animal, several types of animals come to mind

You have a schema for a football game which facilitates memory and processing of info; if you are a great fan of football, you’re going to be able to process and subsequently remember more about a game than a non-football fan

• Primacy effect: increased memory for the first few stimuli in a set
• Can occur when we have more time to rehearse the set of items: the first few items then collect the most time rehearsed in STM
• Recency effect: increased memory for the last few stimuli in a set
• Can occur when we don’t have enough time to rehearse all items in a set – if a list of items is presented quickly, the last few items become the only ones available in STM
• Von Restoff effect: a unique item embedded in an otherwise homogeneous list is recalled better than the average homogeneous items (e.g., Lincoln in middle of list)

• Recognition is usually easier because only familiarity of context for information is needed for identifying a match between encoding and storage, while recall requires more information to be pulled out of LTM storage.

• Reminders of information to be remembered
• Encoding specificity: recall is best when cues present at encoding are also present at retrieval
• Context dependent: when you go back to your homecoming, the environment triggers old memories
• State dependent: recall is better if it occurs in the same psychological state or mood as when the information was first encoded.
• If someone drinks alcohol when that person encodes information, he/she will recall that info better when he/she is drinking later…the same goes for what type of mood you’re in as well.

• Mnemonic devices: strategies that improve memory, typically by using effective organization and integration
• Method of loci: visualizing a set of locations and mentally placing “objects” of info in those locations (e.g., you can memorize terms by associating them with places/landmarks on the campus)
• Acronyms (e.g., “Roy G Biv” for colors of ranbow)
• Pegword system: similar to method of loci, where you assign words to the object to be remembered; the pegword should be paired with the object in a meaningful way.
• Link method: connect, in sequence, images of items to be memorized
• Narratives: create a story from these connections