Psychology 001Introduction to Psychology

Christopher Gade, PhDOffice: 621 Heafey

Office hours: F 3-6 and by apt. Email: gadecj@gmail.com

Class WF 7:00-8:30 Heafey 650

What’s on tap?• In today’s class, we’re going to discuss the

topic of memory. In this lecture we’ll be addressing…

– The pioneer in research done on memory

– Different tests of memory

– Different memory time frames and concepts

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)• Sought to examine the

concept of memory from a purely scientific viewpoint

• Had only one subject in almost all of his studies on memory… himself

• In these studies, he used lists of nonsense syllables in his attempts to examine how our memories work

Ebbinghaus (cont.)• His research was based on discovering how fast a “normal”

individual can learn, and forget information. From this, he was able to generate both– Learning curves– Forgetting curves

• Ebbinghaus conducted experiments that varied in the– # of syllables in the list– length of time before checking his memory after “learning” the

syllables– length of time before checking his memory after reading the syllables

• This variation in timing and the fact that he measure memory after both introduction and memorization of information provided us with a great starting block when it came to examining memory

One of Ebbinghaus’ Remembering Curves

One of Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curves

Another One of Ebbinghaus’Forgetting Curve

Let’s attempt a replication of one of Ebbinghaus’ experiment...

• Listen to the list of nonsense syllables that are about to be read to you. Do not write them down until you are instructed to do so.

So what? What does that mean?

• Ebbinghaus’ work led us to conclusions about how the mind functions when storing meaningless information that we are asked to recall. It also led other researchers to begin exploring memory in a more systematic way.

• However, his work didn’t tell us about…– our memories for meaningful information.– the different types of memory that we have.– our ability to remember information when we are asked to

reproduce it in a different manner.– how our reproduction of information might be altered.

Different Types of Memory Tests• Free Recall

– Ebbinghaus’ work

• Cued Recall– Famous authors

• Recognition– Name the dwarfs

• Savings– Name the capitols

• Implicit Memory Performance– Impaired memory example

Cued Recall

Example

Cued Recall

Example

Recognition Task

Grouchy Gabby Fearful Sleepy

Smiley Jumpy Hopeful Shy

Droopy Dopey Sniffy Wishful

Puffy Dumpy Sneezy Lazy

Pop Grumpy Bashful Cheerful

Teach Shorty Nifty Happy

Wheezy Doc Stubby

Externalevents

Sensorymemory

Short-termmemory

Long-termmemory

Sensory inputAttention to importantor novel information

Encoding

Encoding

Retrieving

Different types of memory categorized by length of storage (temporal)

Sensory Memory• First temporal category of memory

• Capacity is thought to be infinite (or at least really large)

• Attention to this information lasts only a fraction of a second

• After this fraction of a second, your brain breaks down the information and attends to / remembers only the information deemed relevant

• Involves not only vision, but all of our senses

• Is unfiltered by any portion of our brain

Lets test whether or not sensory memory exists…

VM

UAF B

EX

W Q H K

BT

ZXA D

FM

O Y R G

HN

QSP E

LW

B C I U

RG

VHK W

UN

P X Z M

RD

WOS A

NP

M Q E I

Sperling’s Sensory Memory Experiment

Short-Term Memory(aka Working Memory)

• Said to have a capacity of 7 + or – 2 items.– Nonsense syllables example

• Contains information from our sensory store that our brain has deemed relevant (at least for the time being).

• Information can be stored in this stage of memory from anywhere between 10 seconds to a few days (some scientists even argue that this can last up to 6 years).

• After that, the memories stored are either forgotten (information not regarded as important), or placed in our long-term memory store.

Long-Term Memory• A collection of information that we value, have time to

remember, and feel like it will be of use in the future.• Information in this part of our memory is often very

complex, but also subject to distortions or complete fabrications.

• There is debate as to whether or not we actually ever forget information once it’s stored on long term memory.– Permanent storage that sometimes needs cues to recall

information.– Mixture of memories that are sometimes forgotten or

changed. This change/forgetting can be due to• Decay of neural connections• Rewriting of neural connections (computer example)

The Differences Between Our Memory Systems

memories

Explicit(declarative)

With consciousrecall

Implicit(nondeclarative)

Without conscious recall

Facts-generalknowledge(“semanticmemory”)

Personally experienced

events(“episodic memory”)

Skills-motorand cognitive

Dispositions-classical and

operant conditioning

effects

An Extra Breakdown of Long-Term Memory

Moving on…

• In the next class, we’ll be examining how our memory might go awry, how we can improve our memories, and how we can use our understanding of memory to predict behavior.

• See you then.