More Memory

A. Review:
1. Stages of Information Processing

a. Sensory
b. Short term
c. Long term (Consolidation)
2. Biology of Memory...
3. Helping consolidation through active processing:
Example of Mnemonic Strategy..
 
B. Forgetting:  What happens when memory "doesn't work?"

1. Maybe you never learned it?

The Penny.
2. Maybe you haven't really rehearsed it?
The challenge of remembering lists: The serial position effect
a. Primacy: You remember the first few items.
b. Recency: You remember the last few items (for a while).
c. Oops: You forget the ones in the middle.

Example from remembering a list of 20 random words.
Example from Tony Wright's Lab: Pigeons, Monkeys, Children.
(Aside: Notice that Primacy grows with the delay in testing...)

3. Maybe there's Interference with your remembering
a. Retroactive Interference:
G1: Learn A  Learn B  Test A
G2: Learn A  Nothing  Test A

Result: G2 remembers better.
Interpretation: B interferes with remembering A

b. Proactive Interference:
G1: Learn A  Learn B  Test B
G2: Nothing  Learn B  Test B

Result: G2 remembers better.
Interpretation: A interferes with remembering B

c. Implications for Studying:
Message from Retroactive Interference: Study then Sleep.
Message from Proactive Interference: Study "distinctly"
4. Ebbinghaus's Research in the 1890's: The Forgetting Curve
He learned a list of nonsense syllables until 100%
He tested his memory of the list (% correct)
Result:
Most forgetting occurred early (1 hour)
Some memory a month later.
5. Organization of Long Term Memory
a. Procedural Memory for Sensory/Motor Skills
b. Declarative Memory for things you can describe (verbal)
1) Semantic Memory for Facts ("undated" network of associations)
2) Episodic Memory for Experiences ("dated" associations)
6. Retrieving from Long Term Memory (Friday)