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Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Unit 6: Memory
Unit 6: Memory
Part 1: 3-Store Model of
Memory
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
Activity 5
Lecture
Part 2: Why We Forget
Part 3: Biology of
Memory
Part 4: Manufacture of
Memory
Part 5: Autobiographical
Memories
Quiz #4
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Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Unit 6: Memory
It is incomprehensible to think about life without memory. Memory is central to
learning, and our memories are also a cental part of our sense of identity. Humans,
however, do not have just one form of memory. And the kind of memory that is most
important for our sense of identity—our long-term memory for life experiences—is much
more subject to disruption and distortion than most people would like to believe.
READING: Chapter 10
During this unit, we will look at the following topics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The 3-Store Model of Memory
Why We Forget
The Biology of Memory
The Manufacture of Memory
Autobiographical Memories: The Stories of Our Lives
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Part 1: The 3-Store Model of Memory (pp. 364–371)
Measuring Memory (p. 362)
Recall, recognition, and implicit memory priming
Sensory Memory: Fleeting Impressions (p. 366)
Short-term Memory (STM): Memory’s Scratch Pad (p. 367)
We are rarely aware of the functioning of our sensory memory, and its importance to our
functioning remains a controversial topic. However, there is no question about the
importance of short-term memory. Indeed, its characteristics affect virtually everything
that we do.
Definition: STM is a memory system that holds information for a limited time in an
active state. By definition, information in STM is immediately retrievable. In other words,
information in STM is in conscious awareness at the moment or else immediately
available to conscious awareness.
Characteristics of STM
Getting information into STM (activity)
STM’s close connection with conscious awareness (activity)
Capacity of STM (activity)
Duration: Information begins to decay from STM after about 15 seconds
Increasing STM capacity: Chunking (activity)
STM as a working memory (activity)
Long-Term Memory (pp. 368–371)
Organization in LTM (p. 368)
Types of LTM (p. 369)
Transfer of information from STM (p. 371)
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ACTIVITY 1: Getting Information into STM
Try this amazing little trick:
http://www.uncg.edu/~regutten/dcl121/memory/magicstm.htm
[Insert the card trick from Rob’s site and place it in the DCL site.]
Short-term Memory
AUDIO LECTURE: Click here for the lecture on short-term memory tests.
[insert audio, “Short-term Memory Tests”]
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ACTIVITY 2: STM’s Close Connection with Conscious Awareness
Try this exercise that will test your ability to pay close attention.
There is a link below that will take you to a short video. Don’t click on the link until you
read ALL the instructions.
In the video, you’ll see people passing a basketball. There are two teams of players. One
team is wearing white T-shirts, the other is wearing black T-shirts. Your task is to keep
track of how often people on the WHITE team catch the ball. It counts as a “catch” each
time the ball enters someone’s hands. So, for example, if one person passes to another
person, a catch occurs when the second person touches the ball. A catch also occurs,
however, if someone bounces the ball and then catches it again. So if I dribble the ball
once and then pass it to someone who catches it, that is two “catches.” This is harder than
you think, so keep careful track, updating the number by holding that information in your
STM while you watch for the next pass or dribble. When you’re ready, click on the link
below.
VIDEO: Attention Video [rob, this cannot be found]
After watching the video, click here to find out how many “catches” there were.
[after students watch the video, this text goes after. It’s the “click here” text.}
STM: Updating Information in Conscious Awareness
Did you notice anything strange happening during the video? Most people don't.
(Typically about 25% of people notice that something unusual happened.) Go back and
watch the video again. This time, just sit back and watch. What you will see (if you didn't
see it before) is that part way through the video, a person comes out and walks through all
the players dressed in a gorilla suit! Obviously, anyone watching the video must have
seen the man in the gorilla suit. How, then, is it possible that most people do not notice
the man in the gorilla suit? The answer is—selective attention. Most of what we see we
do not pay attention to. Only that which we attend to gets transferred into STM memory
for analysis by conscious awareness.
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ACTIVITY 3: How Big Is Your STM Capacity?
Measuring STM—the Memory Span Task
Psychologists test the capacity of STM using what is call a Memory Span Test. In this
memory span test, you will listen to a sequence of random numbers and then you’ll hear
the word “stop.” At that point, write down the numbers (if you can). By definition, if all
the numbers are still in STM at the end, your performance will be perfect. The first list is
short, and easy. Each succeeding list is longer and harder. You will be able to check
yourself by listening to each list again, after you have written down all the numbers that
you can remember from the list.
LIST 1 [record the sequence “5-0 –3 stop” like you did the pronunciation in Paris, so
students can click on it again.]
LIST 2 [record the sequence “6-2-8-5-1 stop” as above]
LIST 3 [record the sequence “2-0-8-3-1-7-3 stop” as above]
LIST 4 [record the sequence “7-9-4-1-8-3-2-0-6-4 stop” as above]
[insert STOP sign and message below:]
STOP! Do not proceed until you finish the exercise.
Then read down the page to find the answer.
[Josh, put this a little farther down the page so students can’t see it when they do the
exercise.]
STM Capacity
How did you do? Most adults can remember lists 1 and 2 perfectly, but have trouble with
list 3 and forget many of the numbers in list 4.
What does this tell us about STM? It tells us that the capacity of STM is very limited. The
capacity of a typical adult’s STM is 5–7 items of information—enough to remember a
phone number for a short time while you rush to get a pencil to write the number down.
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ACTIVITY 4: Increasing STM Capacity
Try this memory span test for random letters. The list is long—but try it anyway. You
just might be able to do it. Remember: Listen to the list, then try to write the letters
down in order.
LETTER LIST [Josh: Record the letters in order, reading each slowly and evenly to
avoid chunking: “D-A-V-E-M-A-T-T-H-E-W-S-M-U-S-I-C-S-U-C-K-S stop.” Record as
in Paris, so students can play again, if necessary.]
[Insert STOP sign with message:]
STOP! Do not proceed until you complete the exercise.
Then read down the page to find the answer.
Chunking in STM
Even though there were 22 letters, some people can remembers all the letters perfectly.
How do they do it? By organizing the letters into larger units—into words. If you didn’t
notice, try it again, and this time, try to notice that the letters spell out a four-word
sentence.
The process of organizing units of information together into larger units is called
chunking. STM has a very limited capacity, but its capacity is limited to a certain number
of chunks of information. The way to hold more information in STM is by organizing the
information into larger meaningful units.
ANSWER: If you still can’t figure out the letters’ message, click here.
[Josh, insert –pop-up answer: DAVE MATTHEWS’ MUSIC SUCKS.]
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ACTIVITY 5: STM as a Working Memory
Try these MENTAL multiplication problems (no pencil and paper or calculators
allowed).
•
•
•
6 x 17 = _____
14 x 18 = _____
117 x 19 = _____
Could you do them? Most people can do the first one, some can do the second, and very
few can do the third. The question of interest is—why are these so difficult? The reason
is that the place where you do your thinking is—STM. And STM has a very limited
capacity. In addition, you have to use that capacity for more than just remembering the
problem. You also must bring your knowledge of HOW to do the problems into STM.
And you must do the work of working through the problems in STM also. That is why
STM is often referred to as “working memory.” It is the place where we do our conscious
mental work, and its limited capacity must be used for temporary storage of problem
information, for storage of knowledge of how to perform the problem, for storage of
intermediate outcomes during the process of problem solving, and some space must be
left over for doing the mental work itself. No wonder mental multiplication is so hard!
ANSWERS: In case you’re wondering, click here for the answers.
[Josh, insert link and do answers as pop-up:
•
•
•
6 x 17 = 102
14 x 18 = 252
117 x 19 = 2,223]
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LECTURE: Types of LTM
Three Types of LTM
You have already learned about the three basic types of human memory: sensory
memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory (LTM). There are also three types
of LTM. Episodic LTM refers to our memory for personally experienced events: your
memory for having eaten at a restaurant last night, your memory for what you did on
your last birthday, etc. Semantic LTM refers to our general world knowledge: your
knowledge that grass is green or that the world is round, etc. Usually, in our everyday
lives, when people talk about “remembering,” they are referring to episodic LTM. It
would be sort of odd, for example, to say that you “remember” that dogs have four legs.
Instead, we usually use the word “know” when referring to our ability to remember a
piece of factual information. Together, episodic and semantic LTM are sometimes called
“declarative” memories.
Procedural LTM contains our LTM for how to perform well-learned perceptual motor
skills, and there are a couple of ways in which procedural LTM is very different from the
two forms of declarative LTM. First, procedural LTM is less reliant on conscious
awareness than is the case for declarative LTMs. As you all know, when you are walking
you are not thinking consciously about how to move your legs. The movements are
being controlled by information in procedural LTM, and that information can be used to
regulate your movements with only minimal reliance on conscious awareness. Even a
complex skill like driving can become so well practiced that it can occur without very
much reliance on conscious awareness. On long highway drives, for example, an
unfortunately fairly common phenomenon is the one in which the driver’s mind will
wander for a period of time. At some point the driver will suddenly pay attention to
driving again and will realize that he or she has been driving “automatically” for the past
couple of minutes.
A second difference between procedural LTM and the two types of declarative LTM is
that procedural LTM is less likely to be affected by a number of serious amnesic
syndromes or disorders of memory. You’ve already learned, for example, about the case
of H.M., the man whose hippocampus was removed to control debilitating seizures that
were originating in that part of his brain. Before the surgery, no one knew that the
hippocampus played a role in the formation of new LTMs. The surgery was successful in
controlling H.M.’s seizures, but since the operation, he has been unable to form any new
declarative memories. He can retrieve declarative memories formed before the operation,
and his STM was unaffected by the surgery, but he can’t remember any of his life
experience since the operation.
H.M.’s procedural LTM was not, however, affected by the operation He can perform the
skills he had learned before the surgery and he can develop new skills (like keyboarding)
that he has been taught since the operation. Like anyone else, he gets better at these skills
with practice. The difference is that he has no conscious memory of learning the skills
and has no knowledge that he can perform these new skills!
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A similar pattern of deficits occurs in the case of a disorder called Korsakoff’s syndrome.
Korsakoff’s syndrome is caused by a lifetime of heavy alcohol consumption. The typical
Korsokoff’s patient is a man in his 60’s or 70’s who has been drinking heavily his entire
adult life—including frequent binges in which he has drunk himself into a state of
unconsciousness. At some point, the individual goes on a heave binge of drinking, and
then wakes up with severe memory problems. As is the case with H.M., the most severe
problem is an almost total inability to form new declarative memories. Korsokoff’s
patients are worse off than H.M., however, because they also typically have a somewhat
diminished STM capacity and a somewhat diminished ability to recall episodic memories
for events from before the onset of the disorder. Importantly for this discussion,
Korsokoff’s patients are also similar to H.M. in the fact that their procedural memory
system seems to function normally. They can perform skills they acquired before the
onset of the disorder, and they can learn new skills. For example, some patients who
could not type have been taught to type after the onset of the disorder. They practice a
few times per week, and get better with practice. They do not, however, remember
practicing, and they think that they can’t type. But when they sit down at a typewriter or
keyboard, they can type quite well!
The Man With No Episodic Memory
H.M. and Kosokoff’s patients cannot form new declarative memories. They can,
however, recall events from earlier in their lives. In the video segment you’ll be
watching next, you will see the case of a man who, as a result of a viral infection of his
brain, lost all episodic memory. His case helps demonstrate how important episodic
memory is, not just as a way of keeping track of what has happened in our lives, but for
our entire sense of self. As is noted in the video, it is our episodic memory that gives us a
sense of having a personal past—and a personal future. The patient in the video cannot
remember anything from his past life, and because of that, he does not think about the
future either. Note, though, that he did not lose his semantic memory for information
acquired before the infection, and his procedural memory appears to have been
unaffected by the infection. Certainly, he can still walk and perform other motor skills,
and he can even still conduct music. He had been a conductor of considerable renown,
and as you will see in the video, even though he has no conscious memory of ever having
conducted music before, when he sits before musicians, he can “automatically” begin to
conduct their playing! For him, the basics of conducting have been stored in procedural
LTM.
VIDEO LECTURE: Click here to learn about the man with no episodic memory.
[insert lecture]
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Part 2: Why We Forget (pp. 379–383)
VIDEO LECTURE: Click here to lean about forgetting, the TOT phenomenon, and
mnemonic devices.
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Part 3: The Biology of Memory (pp. 372–375)
This topic is covered in p ages 372–375 of your textbook.
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Part 4: The Manufacture of Memory (pp. 353–361, 383–389)
ACTIVITY: We’re going to start with another memory test. When you click each of the
links below, you will hear a list of words. After listening to each list, write down as many
of the words as you can from that list. After you have completed BOTH lists, go down to
check how many of the words you remembered correctly.
LIST 1 [record the following list as in the Paris class, so it can be clicked again: thread,
pin, eye, sewing, sharp, pint, thimble, haystack, thorn, hurt, injection, syringe, cloth,
knitting]
LIST 2 [record the following list as in Paris: sour, candy, sugar, bitter, good, taste,
tooth, nice, honey, soda, chocolate, heart, cake, tart, pie]
[insert a stop sign with message:]
STOP! Do not proceed until you’ve completed the exercise.
[Josh, put this farther down the page so students can’t see it when they do the exercise.]
The Manufacture of Memory
The lists were:
LIST 1: thread, pin, eye, sewing, sharp, pint, thimble, haystack, thorn, hurt, injection,
syringe, cloth, knitting
LIST 2: sour, candy, sugar, bitter, good, taste, tooth, nice, honey, soda, chocolate, heart,
cake, tart, pie
These lists were used as part of an experiment by Henry Roediger and Kathleen
McDermott that was published in 1994. Roediger and McDermott were not really
interested in how many words people were able to remember. Instead, they were
interested in whether people would manufacture a memory of words that were not on the
list at all. In fact, they found that most people “remembered” the word NEEDLE as part
of list 1 and SWEET as part of list 2. Did you? Those words were not, however, on the
lists. Instead, they were the result of our general tendency to manufacture memories—and
sometimes what we manufacture involves the creation of memories for events that never
occurred or involves changes and modifications to our basic memories of what did occur.
The manufacture and modification of memories is not limited to something as trivial as a
false memory for a word on a study list. The most common cause of false convictions of
the innocent are faulty eyewitness accounts of the crime—sometimes by the victims
themselves. One of the most well known such case occurred in North Carolina. You can
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read about the case in the textbook and at the web sites below. Start by reading the
summary of the case, then the interviews with the victim (Jennifer Thompson), the
accused (Ronald Cotton), the lead detective on the case (Mike Gauldin), a research
psychologist who specializes in the study of false memories (Elizabeth Loftus), and the
attorneys (Philip Moseley, Richard Rosen, Barry Scheck*, and Peter Neufeld). Then you
should be ready to look at the composite picture of the assailant that was created from the
victim’s description. You can make your own judgments about who looked most like the
composite picture: Ronald Cotton (who was wrongfully convicted) or Bobby Poole (the
real assailant in the case).
Our tendency to modify memories is so strong that even just the way in which a question
is asked may change our memory for a prior event, as demonstrated in a series of classic
experiments by Elizabeth Loftus (see pp. 358–359 in your textbook). Moreover, very
young children appear to be particularly susceptible to the memory modifying effects of
leading questions and other methods of suggestion (pp. 359–361). It is not that young
children are never accurate in their memories. On the contrary, their memories are
usually accurate. However, under conditions of social pressure, repeated questioning, and
the use of leading questions, children (like adults) may end up manufacturing a memory
whose content is very different from what actually occurred.
AUDIO LECTURE: Click here video segment from a Greensboro news story on the
fallibility of eyewitness testimony.
[Xinxin, not sure of the title of this video.”]
*Barry Scheck, a member of O.J. Simpson’s “dream team” of lawyers, and Peter Neufeld
are founders of The Innocence Project, a legal defense effort to use postconviction DNA
testing to free those who have been wrongly convicted. To learn more about the project,
visit their website at http://www.innocenceproject.org/.
Ronald Cotton Case
WEBLINK: What Jennifer saw
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/
WEBLINK: Summary of the case
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/cotton/summary.html
WEBLINK: Interviews
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/interviews/
WEBLINK: Look at the composite picture
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/photos/
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Part 5: Autobiographical Memories: The Stories of Our Lives (pp. 383–388)
VIDEO LECTURE: Click here to see the video on repression and recovered
memories.
[insert video of above title]
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Quiz #3
DIRECTIONS. Quiz #3 covers all the material you’ve learned in Units 5 and 6,
including lectures, videos, and readings in your textbook:
•
•
Chapter 7: Learning and Conditioning
Chapter 10: Memory
Be sure you review all this material before taking Quiz #3.
QUIZ #3: Click here to take Quiz #3. [insert link]
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