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Chapter 6 - Memory

Objective 6.1 Discuss memory and the information-processing model. Describe the role of the sensory registers and the length of time information remains there. Distinguish between the icon and the echo.

-        Memory is the ability to recall things that have been experienced, learned, and imagined. It involves being able to retain and then remember information. Memory is used to remember how to play a sport or your first day in high school.

-        Memory is seen as a series of steps used to process information like a computer. These steps construct the information processing model of memory. This is a computer like model used to describe the way humans encode, store, and retrieve information, which are the three main stages of memory.

-        The senses provide raw information which flows from them to sensory registers, entry points for short term memory that takes in raw information from the five senses. Even though sensory registers have unlimited capacity, information disappears from them rapidly as sensory information is usually held there for only a few seconds.

- The main parts of the sensory registers are visual memory, known as iconic memory, and auditory memory, known as echoic memory.

·       Iconic memory is how the brain remembers an object we have seen in the environment around us. The visual image is referred to as an icon, and after a few seconds it fades. For example, if an image pops up on your laptop screen and you quickly press the X at the top corner, you will be left with image that you only saw for a quick second.

·       Echoic memory stores audio information from sense of hearing. This auditory information is referred to as an echo, which lasts for several seconds. An example of echoic memory is when you are talking to someone, and you can hear the emphasis made on different words that the person says.

Objective 6.2 Define attention. Discuss Broadbent and Teisman’s theories of attention. Explain what is meant by the “cocktail-party phenomenon” and “inattentional blindness”

•    Attention is selectively looking, listening, smelling, tasting and feeling. It also is focusing attention on selective stimuli from among many and directs the extraction of the meaningful information from the sensory registers and transfers it to short-term memory.

•    Donald Broadbent theory suggests that a filtering process is at the entrance to the nervous system that only allows those stimuli that meet certain requirements to pass through. Those stimuli that do get through are compared to what is already known to piece together what they mean.

•    Anne Teisman Theory states that her theory is a modified version of Broadbent’s filter theory. Teisman believe that the filter isn’t about an on or off situation but like a volume on a radio. This then doesn’t reject the information completely but when meaningful information is said, even if you are not paying attention, it can shift your attention if something meaningful is said. For example hearing your name in a conversation. Additionally, it can work when one is asleep. For example, parents asleep but waking up when they hear their child cry.

•    Cocktail-party Phenomenon is when you are at a party/restaurant you and your friend are having a conversation, you filter out the conversation around you and focus your attention on what is being said by your companion.

•    Inattentional Blindness is the process of looking at and listening to something but not giving it your full attention. This is also a failure to notice or be aware of something that is in plain sight. For example, driving and on a phone call. Research shows that attending to something auditory reduces the ability to process visual information.

Objective 6.3 Define what is short term memory and explain why it is called working memory.

Short-term memory (STM) holds the information that we are thinking about or are aware of at any given moment. Short-term memory has two primary tasks: to store new infor- mation briefly and to work on that (and other) information. Short-term memory is sometimes called working memory, to emphasize the active or working component of this memory system. The working memory aspect of STM plays a key role in directing our attention to specific stimuli, briefly storing and combining the selected stimuli with other information, and actively rehearsing this information to help us solve problems and find solutions.

Objective 6.5 Define long-term memory (LTM), including the capacity of LTM and the way information is encoded in LTM. Explain the serial position effect.

-        Long-term memory (LTM) is the portion of memory that we hold for longer than just a few seconds. This memory become more of less permanent as it incorporates everything we know and learned. Through this memory we can remember how to ride a bike or recite all the words of our favorite song.

-        Long-term memory can store a large amount of information for years. This allows us to remember the names of childhood friends that we have not seen for a long time.

-        Memories are encoded in LTM by shapes, sounds, smell, tastes and meaning. If certain material is recognizable, such as the national pledge or the Our Father Prayer, it will be stored word for word in LTM and you would be able to recover it when it is needed. In LTM, the information is encoded by meaning, so one would recall the important details and main message rather than the small points.

-        Short-term and long-term memory work together to explain the serial position effect. The serial position effect is used to describe the phenomena of when asked to recall a list of unlike items, the performance is better for the items at the beginning and end rather than for the ones in the middle.

-        The items at the end of the list are contained in STM due to the recency effect as they were recently seen and can be recalled.

-        The items at the beginning of the list may be transferred to LTM due to the repetition of the first few items on the list which is the primacy effect.

Objective 6.12 “Describe the influence of culture on memory.”

The term "cultural influences" refers to historical, geographical, and familial factors that influence assessment and intervention processes. Shared experiences are shaped by culture. As a result, cultural memory helps us understand the past as well as the values and norms of the group (or groups) to which we belong. It also establishes a shared identity and a means of communicating that identity to new members. If your culture values social interactions, you will remember those interactions better than a culture that values individual perceptions.

Culture is variable and ever-changing, and its impact on memory development frequently reflects the characteristics of these changes across time. This might range from the language one uses at any given time to geopolitical policies that effect an entire country. Culture also has an impact on how we encode information that we perceive. Wang, a researcher, cites studies that show that while Westerners frequently focus on individual objects (analytic perception), East Asians pay attention to the context in which an object is presented (holistic perception). This has an impact on what people remember.

Objective 6.13 Define autobiographical memory,  and describe the several theories that attempt to explain childhood amnesia

Autobiographical memory refers to the memories of important personal events and experiences from one's life. It's a form of episodic memory. It's basically a detailed collection of major valued experiences in one's life. And may be triggered by a sight, thought and much more.

Several theories attempts of childhood amnesia....

A possible explanation on childhood amnesia would be the lack of neurological development. The development of brain sections that are in charge of storage and retrieval of episodic memory. According to Freud, child amnesia occurs not due to the loss of memories over time but rather the lack of storage for memories. This is caused because of brain immaturity, a infant's or toddler's brain isn't fully developed in every area, it is still growing daily. Maturation of brain structures provides for creation,storage and recall memories from infant stage to early childhood. The lack of thus explains the topic of childhood amnesia.