Chapter 5:Memory

1. Basic Memory Processes:
     A. Encoding - change information into a form that the memory system uses
     B. Storage - maintaining information over a period of time
     C. Retrieval - locating information being stored in memory and bringing into awareness

2. Three Memory Systems
     A. Sensory Memory - sensory inputs are briefly held for approximately 1/2 - 2 seconds in sensory registers. Information is encoded/processed and transferred into short-term memory or decays and is lost forever.
              1. Icon - visual memory and lasts for approximately 1/2 second
              2. Echo - auditory memory and lasts for approximately 2 seconds
              3. De Ja vu' - memory theorists believe this is caused by a short circuit in sensory memory and the information is being reprocessed which is what gives you that uncanny feeling that you have experienced something before.
     B. Short term Memory - also referred to as working information
            1. Information stays here for approximately 18-30 seconds.
            2. Limited capacity - 7 items + or -2 (5-9 items).
            3. Helps you think & solve problems by organizing and integrating information.
            4. Strategies can be used to help increase short-term capacity and duration of time.
                  Chunking - organizing several bits of information into one piece

                   Ex: area codes and exchanges of phone numbers
                   Maintenance Rehearsal - rote repetition over and over again
                   Elaborative Rehearsal - associate new information & existing knowledge
     C. Long-term Memory - Storage of Information Indefinitely
             1. Theoretically has an unlimited capacity
             2. 3 types
                  * Semantic memories - general knowledge, facts, and concepts
                  * Procedural memories - how to do something
                  * Episodic memories - personally relevant experiences
3. Biological Bases of Memory
           1. Short-term memory involves changes in the neurochemistry
               * increased synaptic responsiveness
               * Neurotransmitters directly involved - glutamate & acetylcholine
           2. Long-term memory - involves structural changes in the dendrite
               * 2 week consolidation/stabilization period before memory becomes permanent
           3. Hippocampus - gateway to memory
               * episodic and semantic memories
           4. Other areas: regions of the cerebral cortex (the temporal lobe) and the thalamus
4. Theories of Forgetting
         1. Decay Theory: "don't use it you lose it." Unused material fades with time.
         2. Interference: one piece of information impairs the recollection of another
                             Retroactive interference: new learning/information interferes with old
                             Proactive interference: old learning/information interferes with new
         3. Motivated forgetting - Repression - information is psychologically painful
         4. Retrieval Cue Failure - Can't recall how you stored or filed the information
         5. State Dependent Memory - Not in the same psychological or physical state when you first learned the material
         6. Organic/biological problems caused by depression, malnutrition, Alzheimer
5. Improving Memory
     1. Rehearsal:
               Maintenance - rote repetition
               Elaborative - association with previously learned information
     2. Deep Processing - make information personally relevant
     3. Distributed practice (small quantities over time) - vs. - massed practice ***DO NOT CRAM***      
     4. Mnemonics - Strategies for organizing information so it can be remembered * words, rhymes or jingles
     5. Effective reading of the text - PQ4R
              * Preview - survey the chapter before you read
              * Question - ask yourself questions
              * Read
              * Reflect 
              * Recite 
              * Review 
     6. Take good lecture notes & rewrite notes to practice learning the information.