Chapter 7. HUMAN MEMORY
7.1 Encoding: Getting Information into Memory
● Involves forming a memory code
● usually requires attention
A. The Role of Attention
● attention → involves focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli
or events → selection of input
● divided attention → negative impact on the performance of quite a
variety of tasks (esp when it’s complex/unfamiliar) → cost: profound
implications for the advisability
● human brain effectively handle 1 attention-consuming task at a time
● multitask → switching their attention back and forth among tasks,
rather than processing them simultaneously
B. Levels of Processing
● attention → critical to the encoding of memories, but not all is created
equal
● how people attend to information → main factors of influencing how
much they remember
● levels of processing: [deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory
codes]
1. structural encoding → shallow processing → emphasize the physical
structure of the stimulus
2. phonemic encoding → intermediate processing → emphasize what a
word sounds like (naming, saying)
3. semantic encoding → deep processing → emphasizes the meaning of
verbal input (thinking about the object and actions the words represent
C. Enriching Encoding
● elaboration → semantic encoding often be enhanced → the linking of a
stimulus to the other information at the time of encoding
● visual imagery → the creation of visual images to represent the words to
be remembered, can also be used to enrich encoding → facilitates
memory because it provides a second kind of memory code (2 codes
better than 1)
● self-referent encoding → involves deciding how or whether information is
personally relevant
● dual coding theory holds that memory is enhanced by forming both semantic
and visual codes since either can lead to recall
7.2 Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory
● involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time
● information storage isn’t enough to guarantee that you’ll remember
something → you need to be able to get information out of storage
A. Sensory Memory
● preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a
fraction of a second
, ● allows the sensation of a visual pattern, sound, or touch to linger for a brief
moment after the sensory stimulation is over
● perceive an afterimage rather than the actual stimulus
● stimulus persistence may be more like an echo than a memory
B. Short-term memory
● limited capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to about
20 seconds
● rehearsal → the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about
information
● without active rehearsal → information in STM is lost in about 20
seconds
● chunk → a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit
● working memory → a modular system for temporary storage and
manipulation of information
● Baddeley’s model of working memory: phonological loop (represented all of STM
in earlier models), visuospatial sketchpad (permits people to temporarily hold and
manipulate visual images), central executive system (controls the deployment of
attention, switching the focus of attention, and dividing attention as needed), and
episodic buffer (temporary, limited-capacity store that allows the various of
components of working memory to integrate information)
● working memory capacity → one’s ability to hold and manipulate
information in conscious attention → stable personal trait that appears
to be influenced to a considerable degree by heredity → temporarily
reduced by situational factors (anxiety, rumination) → critical to
complex recognition
C. Long-term memory
● unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time
(permanent)
● forgetting occurs only because people sometimes cannot retrieve needed
information from LTM
● flashbulb memories → one piece of evidence that has been cited to
support the notion that long-term memory storage may be permanent
→ thought to be unusually vivid & detailed recollections of the
circumstances in which one learned of momentous, newsworthy events
→ conflict with the “memory storage is permanent”
D. How is Knowledge Represented in Memory
● clustering → the tendency to remember similar or related items in
groups
● conceptual hierarchy → multilevel classification system based on
common properties among items → organizing information into a
conceptual hierarchy can improve recall dramatically
● schema → an organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object
or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event
→ information that really clashes with a schema may attract extra
7.1 Encoding: Getting Information into Memory
● Involves forming a memory code
● usually requires attention
A. The Role of Attention
● attention → involves focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli
or events → selection of input
● divided attention → negative impact on the performance of quite a
variety of tasks (esp when it’s complex/unfamiliar) → cost: profound
implications for the advisability
● human brain effectively handle 1 attention-consuming task at a time
● multitask → switching their attention back and forth among tasks,
rather than processing them simultaneously
B. Levels of Processing
● attention → critical to the encoding of memories, but not all is created
equal
● how people attend to information → main factors of influencing how
much they remember
● levels of processing: [deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory
codes]
1. structural encoding → shallow processing → emphasize the physical
structure of the stimulus
2. phonemic encoding → intermediate processing → emphasize what a
word sounds like (naming, saying)
3. semantic encoding → deep processing → emphasizes the meaning of
verbal input (thinking about the object and actions the words represent
C. Enriching Encoding
● elaboration → semantic encoding often be enhanced → the linking of a
stimulus to the other information at the time of encoding
● visual imagery → the creation of visual images to represent the words to
be remembered, can also be used to enrich encoding → facilitates
memory because it provides a second kind of memory code (2 codes
better than 1)
● self-referent encoding → involves deciding how or whether information is
personally relevant
● dual coding theory holds that memory is enhanced by forming both semantic
and visual codes since either can lead to recall
7.2 Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory
● involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time
● information storage isn’t enough to guarantee that you’ll remember
something → you need to be able to get information out of storage
A. Sensory Memory
● preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a
fraction of a second
, ● allows the sensation of a visual pattern, sound, or touch to linger for a brief
moment after the sensory stimulation is over
● perceive an afterimage rather than the actual stimulus
● stimulus persistence may be more like an echo than a memory
B. Short-term memory
● limited capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to about
20 seconds
● rehearsal → the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about
information
● without active rehearsal → information in STM is lost in about 20
seconds
● chunk → a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit
● working memory → a modular system for temporary storage and
manipulation of information
● Baddeley’s model of working memory: phonological loop (represented all of STM
in earlier models), visuospatial sketchpad (permits people to temporarily hold and
manipulate visual images), central executive system (controls the deployment of
attention, switching the focus of attention, and dividing attention as needed), and
episodic buffer (temporary, limited-capacity store that allows the various of
components of working memory to integrate information)
● working memory capacity → one’s ability to hold and manipulate
information in conscious attention → stable personal trait that appears
to be influenced to a considerable degree by heredity → temporarily
reduced by situational factors (anxiety, rumination) → critical to
complex recognition
C. Long-term memory
● unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time
(permanent)
● forgetting occurs only because people sometimes cannot retrieve needed
information from LTM
● flashbulb memories → one piece of evidence that has been cited to
support the notion that long-term memory storage may be permanent
→ thought to be unusually vivid & detailed recollections of the
circumstances in which one learned of momentous, newsworthy events
→ conflict with the “memory storage is permanent”
D. How is Knowledge Represented in Memory
● clustering → the tendency to remember similar or related items in
groups
● conceptual hierarchy → multilevel classification system based on
common properties among items → organizing information into a
conceptual hierarchy can improve recall dramatically
● schema → an organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object
or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event
→ information that really clashes with a schema may attract extra
