Memory Processes

1
Memory Processes

• What roles does memory serve?
• How do those memory processes affect what we
  remember?

2
Functions of memory

• Encoding - How do we convert information from
  sensory energy into a usable representation?
• Storage - How is information retained?
• Retrieval - How do we get information back?

3
Interference Theory

• Two types of memory interference
• - Retroactive Learning a later item interferes
  with an item we learned earlier.
• - Proactive Learning an early item interferes
  with learning of a later item.
• Why does interference happen?
• What does it say about encoding?

4
Retroactive interference and the phonological loop

• Conrad (1964) Errors recalling visually
  presented letters are more likely to be a
  substitution of acoustically similar letters
  (I.e. P for B, F for S, etc.)
• Baddeley (1966) Recall of a list of acoustically
  similar words is worse than recall of
  acoustically distinct words.

5
Retrieval

• How accurate is memory retrieval?
• Loftuss car accident video
• Depending on the verb used, people reported
  different speeds
• Smashed 40.8 mph
• Collided 39.3
• Bumped 38.1
• Hit 34
• Contacted 31.8
• People also differentially remembered broken
  glass based on the verb (N50 in each group)
• Smashed 16 yes, 34 no
• Hit 7 yes, 43 no
• No question 6 yes, 44 no.
• Loftuss Lost in the Mall study.

6
Structures that affect retrieval

• Schema - Memory structure that organizes
  information about static situations
• Script - Memory structure that organizes
  information about dynamic situations

7
Schemas

• Broad term that encompasses a number of different
  ways of organizing information.
• In its simplest form - A way of representing the
  typical something.
• e.g., the dog schema, the office schema, the
  bathroom schema, etc.

8
Scripts

• Scripts are very similar to schemas, but they are
  used to store generic versions of common
  episodes.
• e.g., the restaurant script

9
Constructed Memory

• Is memory just a videotape, playing back what we
  actually remember?
• Or do we construct it, based partly on events,
  but also based on expectations and beliefs?
• In other words, does memory work bottom-up or
  top-down?