Lecture 08 - Memory
The Modal Model of Memory
🧠 Sensory Memory
○ all sensory info gets taken in into this
system
○ really big, holds onto lots of info but
only for a short while
🧠 attention
○ pulls out only the important information from the sensory memory and sends it to the
working memory
🧠 Working Memory
○ transforms/manipulates info for next-steps (determining what to do with the provided
info)
■ i.e. hearing a loud crash, the working memory tries to figure out what the loud
crash was and if it poses potential danger
○ considered anactive mental space
○ also holds onto the information for a brief moment
■ this is a good thing, clears space for necessary things in the long-term rather than
taking up space with unnecessary things
🧠 encoding
○ putting important information into the long term (for long lasting memory)
🧠 Long-Term Memory
○ storage unit for long lasting memories
○ information placed here can be recalled (“pulled back out”) back into the working
memory
○ this part of the system is only useful if the information can be recalled
🧠 retrieval
○ pulling out information/memories from the long-term memory into the working
memory
○ a memory process
🧠 sensory memory and working memory arebidirectional
○ goals in working memory can guide/drive our attention to pay attention to certain
sensory stimuli in the environment
, ■ i.e. remembering you let the milk sit out all day yesterday before putting it in the
fridge so you think about smelling the milk before using it to make cake
(promotion of gaining sensory information)
Baddeley’s Model of Working Memory (WM)
🧠 his original model didn’t account for episodic [personal] memory
🧠 Baddely believed that the main two senses were:visualandverbal
○ a smell can conjure a visual image (picture of a pumpkin pie) or a verbal response
(“that’s smells like a pumpkin pie”)
🧠 working memory has limited capacity of what it can hold onto
🧠 central executive
○ attention to external/environmental
stimuli
○ what should be holding attention
(usually goals
○ splits into 3processes
■ visuospatial sketchpad
■ episodic buffer
■ phonological loop
🧠 visuospatial sketchpad
○ the visual working memory
○ conjuring images in the mind
🧠 phonological loop
○ verbal working memory
○ internal dialogue
○ sound based, no only language
🧠 episodic buffer
○ crucial for creating and pulling out episodic (personal memory)
🧠 the processes then filter into thememory stores
○ visuospatial sketchpad → visual semantics
■ what things look like
○ phonological loop → lexicon
■ knowledge of language/words
○ episodic buffer → where episodic memories get stored
🧠 once the specific process reaches the memory stores, it can mix within the 3 stores
🧠 the working memory is more than just one area of the brain, it’s a network
The Modal Model of Memory
🧠 Sensory Memory
○ all sensory info gets taken in into this
system
○ really big, holds onto lots of info but
only for a short while
🧠 attention
○ pulls out only the important information from the sensory memory and sends it to the
working memory
🧠 Working Memory
○ transforms/manipulates info for next-steps (determining what to do with the provided
info)
■ i.e. hearing a loud crash, the working memory tries to figure out what the loud
crash was and if it poses potential danger
○ considered anactive mental space
○ also holds onto the information for a brief moment
■ this is a good thing, clears space for necessary things in the long-term rather than
taking up space with unnecessary things
🧠 encoding
○ putting important information into the long term (for long lasting memory)
🧠 Long-Term Memory
○ storage unit for long lasting memories
○ information placed here can be recalled (“pulled back out”) back into the working
memory
○ this part of the system is only useful if the information can be recalled
🧠 retrieval
○ pulling out information/memories from the long-term memory into the working
memory
○ a memory process
🧠 sensory memory and working memory arebidirectional
○ goals in working memory can guide/drive our attention to pay attention to certain
sensory stimuli in the environment
, ■ i.e. remembering you let the milk sit out all day yesterday before putting it in the
fridge so you think about smelling the milk before using it to make cake
(promotion of gaining sensory information)
Baddeley’s Model of Working Memory (WM)
🧠 his original model didn’t account for episodic [personal] memory
🧠 Baddely believed that the main two senses were:visualandverbal
○ a smell can conjure a visual image (picture of a pumpkin pie) or a verbal response
(“that’s smells like a pumpkin pie”)
🧠 working memory has limited capacity of what it can hold onto
🧠 central executive
○ attention to external/environmental
stimuli
○ what should be holding attention
(usually goals
○ splits into 3processes
■ visuospatial sketchpad
■ episodic buffer
■ phonological loop
🧠 visuospatial sketchpad
○ the visual working memory
○ conjuring images in the mind
🧠 phonological loop
○ verbal working memory
○ internal dialogue
○ sound based, no only language
🧠 episodic buffer
○ crucial for creating and pulling out episodic (personal memory)
🧠 the processes then filter into thememory stores
○ visuospatial sketchpad → visual semantics
■ what things look like
○ phonological loop → lexicon
■ knowledge of language/words
○ episodic buffer → where episodic memories get stored
🧠 once the specific process reaches the memory stores, it can mix within the 3 stores
🧠 the working memory is more than just one area of the brain, it’s a network
