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1. Chapter 7 Introduction to Human Memory

2. Ever felt like this?

3. Want to transform your memory into a super memory?

4. Open up the potential of the human mind?

5. Here is the answer

6. Learn everything in this chapter, and practice it, a lot

7. Sorry, there is no shortcut or magic pill, yet.

8. So how does memory work? More to the point, why does it fail sometimes?

9. Human memory does not work like a tape recorder or video camera.

10. A better analogy is that memory is like a net, and attention is like a rake.

11. Think about a sticky net. The more it collects, the more it can collect because there is more stuck to it.

12. The weft of the net can also get tighter or looser depending on things like your attention, interest, prior knowledge, repeated experience…

13. Attention is important. Part of attention is like the tines on a rake. If you put them all on the ground and they catch a few leaves, the other leaves are easier to catch.

14. But this metaphor only applies to intense attention, when you really focus on what you’re studying. Otherwise, your “memory rakes” may be closer to these

15. Like all metaphors, these do not quite match what we know about memory.

16. Process Models How Psychologists Think About Memory

17. First, “memory” is not just one topic. As researchers investigated memory phenomena, the picture continued to get more and more complicated. Your text breaks down the topic in a couple ways. Ebbinghaus Elizabeth Loftus George Miller Michael Posner Alan Baddeley

18. Breaking “Memory” into a Series of Steps in a Process We are going to break up memory a couple times. This is the most basic version, to get you started exploring how memory really works.

19. Breaking “Memory” into a Series of Steps in a Process Think about memory as several steps in a process. For everything to work well, they all have to happen.

20. Breaking “Memory” into a Series of Steps in a Process This is more complex than just thinking that you either “remember” or “don’t remember.”

21. Breaking “Memory” into a Series of Steps in a Process Three steps, or stages. You put stuff in. (encoding) It stays there. (storage) You get it out. (retrieval)

22. Notice that any of these could lead to“Not Remembering” Problems leading you to “not remember” for each step: You never get information into memory. The memory fades, decays, is pushed out, is altered… The memory is there, but you can’t get to it.

23. or How to Study Encoding

24. Attention That is the first topic, not a warning. The first part of encoding is paying attention.

25. Attention is Complex Sometimes… Attention is automatic. If a window shatters behind you, you react fast.

26. Attention is Complex Sometimes… Attention is controlled. You can focus your attention, like directing a spotlight.

27. Attention is Complex Sometimes… Attention is controlled. Example: Think of trying to locate a lost contact lens on shaggy carpet. That is focused, controlled attention.

28. Believe it or not, researchers have worked for years to figure out just how you do what you do. Computers and robots still cannot match you.

29. Your attention can easily be strained beyond your limits. Are these color changes annoying? Distracting? Attention is a Limited Resource

30. Attention is a Limited Resource Better? To focus on the ideas that you are reading, boring screens are probably better.

31. Attention is a Limited Resource Unfortunately (from my perspective as your instructor), you probably grew up watching media designed to keep your attention. Shows and commercials offer an unending stream of slick, flashy, animated graphics and sound effects.

32. Attention is a Limited Resource They are designed to keep your attention. One limit of attention is that it can be fleeting. Moment to moment, new things compete for your attention.

33. Even news programs use these techniques to keep your attention.

34. Seriously, do theme songs and swooshy graphics really improve the quality of news reporting?

35. No. They keep you from switching channels

36. This brings us to a problem with attention. More specifically, it is a problem of confusing one type of attention with another.

37. “Being Stimulated” is not the same as“Being Focused” Flashy media techniques primarily capture automatic attention processes, which involve minimal effort.

38. “Being Stimulated” is not the same as“Being Focused” They do stimulate your senses, however. They keep you interested. They essentially keep a steady stream of activity pumping into your cortex.

39. “Being Stimulated” is not the same as“Being Focused” Focusing attention involves more effort. You have to train your spotlight onto a target, hold it there, and investigate what the light reveals.

40. “Being Stimulated” is not the same as“Being Focused” This requires control, effort, dedication, and perseverance. Few TV shows or commercials require this.

41. Review The first step of encoding (putting information into memory) is Attention. Attention comes in different forms, some are automatic and some are controlled or effortful. Attention is a limited resource.

42. Attention is a Limited Resource You may not like the next way that Attention is limited. This is the reason that texting and driving is stupid, or that web-surfing while studying is a bad idea.

43. Attention is a Limited Resource Humans are horrible at multitasking.

44. Attention is a Limited Resource Remember the distinction between “Being Stimulated” and “Being Focused.” Multitasking is Highly Stimulating

45. Attention is a Limited Resource Focus and performance are sacrificed.

46. Attention is a Limited Resource There is no way around this. Research has repeatedly found that people are not as good as they think they are at multitasking. It feels effective, but if you make a person do the tasks separately, one at a time, they do better at each task.

47. How you Focus Attention Matters. Let’s move on. You begin by focusing your attention. This is controlled attention, and you are not multitasking. What do you do next?

48. How you Focus Attention Matters. More is better. In your textbook, this is where the Depth of Processing topic fits. See your text and the resources on Blackboard for more details. The basic idea is that the more focused the attention, the better.

49. How you Focus Attention Matters. Again, this is where TV shows, Facebook statuses, and Tweets do not serve you well. Deep processing involves a conscious and effortful focus on information.

50. Example Have you ever studied for an exam and then been blindsided by a low grade? You know you studied… You spent time reading… You felt like you “got it” while you read. How could this happen!!

51. Example This can happen for many reasons. One applies to this topic: Many students do not know how to tell when they gave material enough attention, or more specifically, if they have encoded the information into memory.

52. Example What sign do you use to indicate that you have studied enough?

53. “Feeling of Knowing” Many students read until they get a “feeling of knowing.” You read; it makes sense. Is that a good sign that you “get it?” Are you done?

54. “Feeling of Knowing” This happens a lot in math classes. You read how to do a problem. It makes sense, and each step is clear. You see a teacher work the problem; it all makes sense. Then when it is time to do the problem on your own, … umm… how did that go again?

55. Feeling of Knowing ≠ Encoding Researchers have asked students to rate their “feeling of knowing” on topics and then compared these to their scores on those exam items. The correlation is low. Feeling of knowing does not predict exam scores very well.

56. Feeling of Knowing ≠ Encoding Reading how to do something, and feeling that you get it, can be very passive. You aren’t really participating. You’re along for the ride. You may, or may not, be focusing attention deeply.

57. Example Have you ever ridden to a friend’s place with someone else driving, and then not been able to find the place later when you are driving on your own?

58. Example “Feeling of knowing” when reading or studying is about as informative as “riding in a car” is for learning directions.

59. Example If you were carefully noting each turn along the way, rehearsing them, and really trying…you may remember the directions from the ride. However, you could have been riding along carefree, paying little attention.

60. Example Being in a car that is moving is not what matters. Learning the directions depends on what you do while you ride. Similarly, scanning your eyes over words isn’t what matters. Your memory depends on what you do while you read.

61. An important part of learning to study is learning how to tell when you are paying attention and when you are doing enough work with information to encode it.

62. The best method to improve your skills at this is to quiz yourself as you read. Quizzing, asking questions, and working to figure out the correct answers is very active. It can lead to richer encoding of memories.

63. Review The first step of Encoding is Attention. Attention can be automatic or effortful. Effortful Attention is better for studying Deeper processing while paying attention leads to better encoding. Don’t be satisfied with feeling that you know something when you read, quiz yourself to make sure.

64. More Tools to Enrich Encoding Quizzing is not your only tool. Your textbook has an entire section on ways to enrich your encoding. These are excellent strategies to use as you prepare for your exams. Practice each technique as you prepare for the next exam.

65. Storage

66. The Standard Model Your book offers you this new model diagram

67. Unfortunately, the boxes do not line up with our first model. This is because you are incredibly complex.

68. On the next three slides, I try to draw you a map to understand how the new model is built off of your first, simple model below.

69. Both of these boxes apply to encoding

70. Your main memory storage is here.

72. As you read in your textbook, I recommend referring back to the standard model to help you picture how the topics fit together.

73. Did you notice that we can talk about encoding in far more precise terms?

74. Our first model was a metaphor from computer science, and here is where it breaks down. The line between encoding and storage is not as clear cut as the diagram below suggests.

75. There are two phenomena that appear to be limited “storage” devices in your brain, although very brief types of storage.

76. Sensory Memory is the first. This is a fleeting echo from your senses. As you read about it, notice that it is technically a type of storage, but a really brief one.

77. The next is short-term memory. This is a type of storage because it involves the ability to hold information. As you read, learn about the capacity and limits of short-term memory.

78. Our computer metaphor (encoding – storage – retrieval) doesn’t fit at this point. Most people do not think about sensory or short-term memory as “storage.”

79. Most people think about “storage” as their long-term memory. When you say that you “know” something, you typically mean that you have a long-term memory of it.

80. As you read this section, focus on expanding how you think about storing memories in long-term memory. We need to include some ideas from “encoding” and some ideas from “storage” from our computer metaphor.

81. The key question is how do you put information into long-term memory. In the last section, we talked about depth of processing, quizzing yourself, and enriching encoding.

82. Each of these helps create long-term memories.

83. Working Memory This brings us to yet another, newer model of how memory works. This is an expansion of the more simple idea of short-term memory. On the next slide, notice how the working memory model on the bottom is more detailed than the short-term memory model, above it.

85. What many people mean when they say “pay attention” or “study harder” is actually an order to do more with your working memory.

86. Working Memory

87. When we talked about “focusing attention,” we actually started talking about the abilities of your central executive. Your ability to quiz yourself, stop reading, think of examples, make a summary, etc… is your central executive taking charge.

89. Deploys Attention

90. Focuses Attention

91. Switches Tasks

93. Remember: The phonological loop can work with auditory, or sound, information. Your visuospatial sketchpad includes your ability to form mental pictures of things, manipulate them in space, or navigate through them. Visuospatial Sketchpad

94. Visuospatial Sketchpad Example: Have you tried to do long division in your head? Some people actually picture a paper with the numbers written on it. This would use your visuospatial sketchpad.

95. Episodic Buffer This one is harder to describe. You do not experience the world as just sound, and then just sight, and then only smell. You are able to bind them all together seamlessly.

96. Episodic Buffer The episodic buffer is your ability to bring to mind integrated sequences of events, focus on them, play out alternative scenarios…

97. Example: Have you ever tried to talk to an attractive person, and then re-played the events in your mind? You can even imagine things going differently. Episodic Buffer

98. This involves focusing attention with your central executive, accessing long-term memory with the episodic buffer, and then going back and forth between central executive and episodic buffer. Episodic Buffer

99. Take home message: You can do a lot with working memory.

100. Expanding your memory abilities involves expanding how well you use these resources. Studying more effectively involves using more of these resources.

101. Long-Term Memory

102. Long-Term Memory You have several ways to store long-term memories.

103. As you read your textbook, be sure to focus on the different ways that memories are stored. For studying, keep in mind that the more ways that you try to form memories, the better. Use all of your skills. Unfortunately this takes effort, but it can be worth it.

104. Review Storage comes in brief, limited versions (sensory and short-term memory) and unlimited, long-term versions (long-term memory) A more detailed model of short-term memory is working memory. Working memory is what you use to study for this course. Long-term memory stores several types of information, all of which can be used to study more effectively.

105. Getting Memories Back Out Retrieval

106. Ever had trouble getting something out of computer memory?

107. What about your memory? Unlike a computer, you can know that you know something… and not be able to get to it. This is called the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.

108. What about your memory? If this happens during a test, it can be horribly frustrating.

109. In this section of your textbook, you see several techniques for getting information back out of memory.

110. The next topic in your textbook is related. Forgetting Why do you sometimes no longer have a memory?

111. Forgetting

112. Most Forgetting is Pseudoforgetting Pseudoforgetting is not really forgetting. The information never made it into memory. Reasons: Lack of attention Ineffective encoding

113. Most Forgetting is Pseudoforgetting When studying, many students who read through material once, or who rely on unelaborated rehearsal, may never actually create a memory. They don’t forget material during the test. They never knew the material.

114. There are other important topics in this section. See your textbook.

115. Review

116. Review A general metaphor for memory is a computer system.

117. Review - Encoding The first step of Encoding is Attention. Attention can be automatic or effortful. Effortful Attention is better for studying Deeper processing while paying attention leads to better encoding. Don’t be satisfied with feeling that you know something when you read, quiz yourself to make sure.

118. Review – Storage Storage comes in brief, limited versions (sensory and short-term memory) and unlimited, long-term versions (long-term memory) A more detailed model of short-term memory is working memory. Working memory is what you use to study for this course. Long-term memory stores several types of information, all of which can be used to study more effectively.

119. Review – Retrieval and Forgetting Your textbook includes several tools to help you retrieve information. You also have several topics to learn about forgetting.

120. You have the basic ideas now. Use your textbook and the online resources to help you learn the rest of the material for this chapter.

121. Remember: You can unlock all of your potential

122. The Secret Is Now Yours

123. Elaborately encode everything in this chapter, and practice it, a lot