PSYCH 2H03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Memory Rehearsal, Long-Term Memory, Free Recall
12 Jun 2018
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PSYCH 2H03 Chapter 6
The Acquisition of Memories and the Working-Memory System
Definitions
- Acquisition: The process of gaining information and placing it into memory
- Storage: Holding the information until it’s needed
- Retrieval: Locate information in the vast warehouse of memory and bring it into active use
THE ROUTE INTO MEMORY
- Information processing: A particular approach to theorizing in which complex mental events – learning,
remembering & deciding – are understood as built up out of a large number of discrete steps
o These steps occur one by one, with each providing at its “output” the input to the next step in the
sequence
- Modal Model – consensus between the Waugh/Norman and Atkinson/Shiffrin models
o Nickname for a specific conception of the architecture of memory
o Working memory is storage site for material currently being contemplated and “loading platform” for
long term memory
▪ Can reach working memory through processes of perception or can be drawn from working
memory
▪ Once in working memory, material can be further processed, or it can be recycled for future use
o Encouraged a lot of valuable research but is now largely set aside to a different concept of working
memory.
Updating the Modal Memory
- Different kinds of memory:
o Sensory – raw, sensory important
▪ Iconic – visual
▪ Echoic – auditory
o Short-term memory (aka Working Memory) holds information while you’re working on it – decided by
selection and interpretation
o Long-term memory – larger and more permanent storage place
▪ Vast repository that contains all your knowledge and beliefs (happen to not currently be working
on it)
- Retrieval involves moving information from long-term memory to working memory
o Working memory is a status in contemporary memory theories
o Getting/finding information into working memory easy, it’s hard to get into long-term memory
- Working memory is fragile and easily replaced by more pressing/recent information
Working Memory and Long-Term Memory: One Memory or Two?
- Free recall – repeat back words in any order you choose (12-5/30 normally)
o Primacy – extremely likely to remember the first few words; earlier words receive more attention that
can shift to long-term memory
▪ Memory rehearsal – mental activity that keeps information in working memory: 2 types of
rehearsal
• i. Maintenance
o Rote, mechanical process in which items are continually cycled through working
memory, merely by being repeated over and over again – AKA – “Item-specific
rehearsal”
• ii. Elaborative
o A way of engaging materials to be remembered, such that you pay attention to
meaning and how they’re related to each other, or to other things in the
surrounding or other things you already know
▪ Superior to maintenance; thinking about something mechanically will not
establish it in long-term memory
o Recency – most likely to remember the last few words; working memory
▪ 6-7 most recent words are in working memory
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Acquisition: the process of gaining information and placing it into memory. Storage: holding the information until it"s needed. Retrieval: locate information in the vast warehouse of memory and bring it into active use. Different kinds of memory: sensory raw, sensory important. Retrieval involves moving information from long-term memory to working memory: working memory is a status in contemporary memory theories, getting/finding information into working memory easy, it"s hard to get into long-term memory. Working memory is fragile and easily replaced by more pressing/recent information. Long-term memory and working memory use different parts of the brain. Use when you have multiple ideas in mind especially if combining and/or comparing them. Task: read a series 9of digits and must immediately repeat them back. Central executive mechanisms and processes that run the show. Articulatory rehearsal loop storing verbal materials: sends the first step of the process to one of the ce helpers so that the ce can do the rest of the work.
