5/28/24, 6:09 AM Psycholinguistics: An Introduction to Memory
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to Memory
Psycholinguistics: An Introduction to Memory
Memory
Human beings are born with a complex, interrelated system for categorizing and storing
every event experienced throughout life. Audio, visual, sensory, and emotional information is
integrated, yielding images that are linked to lexical items as events. These are stored in
memory.
Not all information is equally easy to recall, since different types of events are stored in
different parts of memory, based on significance.
The most current and widely accepted model of memory consists of three general
stages: sensory (events that are experienced in real time), short term (which holds a limited
amount of information for a limited time period), and long term (which stores events and is
composed of layers of levels, based on the nature of the input.
As an event is experienced, neurons are fired, encoded, and stored in the area of the brain
responsible for the corresponding type of information. During a memory search (lexical
retrieval), encoded neurons are activated in order to reconstruct the past event.
Lexical retrieval and discourse comprehension are highly dependent upon both short-term
and long-term memory. Studies in memory give insight into:
Lexical storage and retrieval
Categorization of lexical items
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Pathways of retrieval
Levels of Memory
Sensory memory (SM) involves the storage of sensory ‘events’, those that are perceived by
any of the five senses in real time. SM is the shortest type of memory, such that sensory
information may only be retained for .2 to .5 of a second, since it is quickly replaced by
subsequent input. Furthermore, SM has no rehearsal component so stimuli cannot be stored.
Unless intentionally ignored, sensory information is processed automatically. This is why we
sometimes experience ‘sensory overload’. This occurs when our senses are bombarded with
too much incoming sensory information. Instead of processing everything, we either select
what we want to experience, or abandon the source of the overload and shut out all
perceptions. When our senses receive a manageable amount of stimuli, one of three
processes can occur. SM can deliberately disregard information such that it disappears, or
perceive information, at which point it will either decay (be quickly forgotten). Perceived
information that receives attention or focus will move on to short-term memory.
Visual stimuli are processed by the iconic memory, aural by echoic memory, and touch by
haptic memory. Memory associated with taste is processed by the ‘taste’ cortex, whereas
smell or odor memory seems to be in a class of its own. This storage of this type of stimuli are
processed by the olfactory bulb and olfactory cortex, which are very close to areas of the
brain involved in memory. This most likely accounts for why we remember smells so vividly,
and why certain odors remind us of places, people, and experiences.
Short-Term Memory
Information in SM that receives our attention is moved along to short-term memory (STM).
STM holds information recently processed, for relatively immediate use and is limited in terms
of the amount of information it can store at any given time. Its job is primarily to keep
information active and readily accessible.
In other words, STM can be described as a finite amount of temporary, limited storage space
where sounds and words are held while sentence processing takes place. So ,when you are
listening to a sentence, you need to ‘store’ the first few words while you process the rest. This
is also where information is stored during any learning process. Initial information, i.e., such
how to draw a syntax tree, must be stored so that subsequent material, i.e., the components
of a noun phrase, can be related back to earlier input. This is why some students take notes.
Since STM holds a limited amount of information, new stimuli will replace the older such that
one forgets what was said 5 minutes previously.
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Miller (1956) showed that humans can remember 5-9 chunks of information at a time. STM is
used up more quickly if the processing system is doing too many tasks at once, or if one
overly demanding task is being performed, like trying to memorize a lengthy list of items.
STM does not store complete concepts, but holds the most important information readily
available. In the event that this is not needed immediately, the stimuli will move to long-term
memory.
PET scans show evidence of separate components of STM as different areas are activated
during different tasks.
Working Memory
Working memory (WM) is the fundamental component of STM, so much so, that these two
terms are often used interchangeably. WM is often referred to as the ‘search engine’ of the
brain. It is characterized by four crucial components. WM operates over a matter of seconds,
it provides temporary storage for incoming stimuli, it is the holding place for information that
receives the most focus, or attention, and it is the component of the brain where information is
manipulated.
In response to Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model of memory, Baddeley and
Hitch (1974) developed a model of WM composed of 3 sections in which the central
executive controls the two ‘slave systems’: the phonological loop, and visuo-sketchpad.
The Central Executive is located in the frontal cortex and handles higher-level cognitive tasks.
Its functions include extracting, holding, and coordinating audio and visual representations
during the processes of perception, comprehension, and reasoning. Incoming information
received from its ‘slave systems’ is temporarily stored as coherent, episodic instances that
can be retrieved and updated.
The Central Executive also plays an important role in coordinating retrieval by directing
attention to relevant information, and suppressing irrelevant information
The Slave Systems
The Phonological Loopconsists of two components that maintain and rehearse acoustic
input.
Audio stimuli (speech sounds) enter the phonological short-term store, and then move to the
articulatory rehearsal component where they are refreshed through repetition or ‘rehearsal’.
The memory traces of sounds temporarily stored here are reactivated as needed. For
instance, as you process speech (production and perception), you are constantly monitoring
all sounds that belong to the words and phrases being formed. Evidence for these
components lie in the fact that both speakers and listeners often catch themselves, or others
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producing speech errors, at which point reactivation occurs in order to retrieve the intended
speech sounds.
Evidence for the Phonological LoopBaddeley et al.
(1975) conducted a study in which participants were
asked to say words out loud that had nothing to do
with the list of words they were trying to recall. This
showed that when two sources of unrelated input are
being processed, the articulatory rehearsal process
was impeded, resulting in the decay of memory
traces in the phonological loop.
Other studies have shown that the recall of a list of
similar sounding words takes longer than words that
sound different from each other. This is due to the fact that sounds rehearsed for one word
may be rehearsed as if they belonged to another. In this type of scenario, the idea or concept
(semantic content) is not lost; information is lost at the sub-vocal rehearsal component of the
loop.
The Visual Spatial Sketchpadretains and processes visual and spatial information by means
analogous to the phonological loop; a short-term store, the inner scribe, refreshes visual and
spatial representations through rehearsal. It stores information accumulated visually (shapes,
colors, location, speed, etc.). The visual cache or storage occurs in the occipital and visual
cortex. Spatial rehearsal takes place in the parietal lobe. Logie (1995) posited that
information is maintained by a spatial rehearsal component subdivided into:
The visual cache – form and color
The inner scribe – rehearses information in the visual cache; special and movement
information Distinction between visual and spatial components is supported by the fact
that brain damage to one area does not affect the other.
Evidence for Phonological Loop and Visual-Spatial Sketchpad as Separate Components
of Memory
Quinn and McConnel (1996) conducted a study in which participants were asked to
memorize a list of words using either imagery or phonological input. Three modes were
tested. Tasks were performed without any interference, with simultaneous visual noise
(changing patterns of dots), with simultaneous verbal noise, unrecognizable speech signal,
e.g., foreign language.
The results showed that visual recall was not affected by a concurrent visual task. The
opposite was found in phonological rehearsal condition. When concurrent processing was
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elicited by tasks using the same component, performance deteriorated.
The Episodic Buffer
In 2000, Baddeley extended the WM model
by adding the episodic buffer, a type of
holding tank for all information on a fairly
short-term basis. It integrates information
from the 2 slave systems (phonological,
visual, and spatial) and stores these
representations as ‘episodes’. The episodic
buffer combines all information into a single
episodic representation – it integrates
information between visual, spatial, and
verbal components of a chronological event,
i.e., a story line. Thus rather than conceiving WM as several sub-components having specific
functions, Baddeley’s addition of the episodic buffer generates a system that assimilates all
stimuli concerning any given event. It could also be the storage component of information not
covered by the slave systems, e.g., semantic, musical, etc.,
Amnesiacs who have lost their long-term memory can still store and retrieve from information
in STM.
Long-Term Memory
Long-Term Memory (LTM) holds unlimited amounts of information indeterminately. Even
though no one can remember every minute detail of every moment throughout a lifetime, it is
generally believed that LTM stores all meaningful episodic events, i.e., those that have
received adequate attention, have been sufficiently rehearsed, and have been attributed
semantic properties.
So why do you not remember what you ate for breakfast December 20 of 2002? Even though
LTM is good at integrating and synthesizing information, it is less able to keep smaller bits of
information distinct from each other. Recall of any given event is based on its perceived
importance and rehearsal. So, while you may not remember your breakfast on a non-descript
day, you are more apt to remember that which you consumed on a special holiday
(importance). An individual who learns a foreign language as a child, however does not try
use it until adulthood, will struggle to remember that which s/he learned. Yet, as soon as a
certain amount of studying (rehearsal) occurs, this language competence is restored, or
remembered.
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The retrieval of information stored in LTM involves incorporating real-world knowledge, from
which inferences are drawn and connections are made, again, based on semantic
relationships.
There are two main storage components in
LTM:
Explicit memory is conscious awareness of
facts and events (Declarative Memory).
Episodic Memory: the ability to recall
personal experiences and events as
images; details about past experiences.
Semantic Memory: the ability to recall
personal experiences and events that
are meaningful in terms of connections
between sources of recurring information which has been learned
Implicit Memory is unconscious and holds procedural information.
Procedural Memory: the ability to remember strategies in task performance as
sequential events or as sets of stimulus-responses.
Let’s look at a few of the more prominent studies in memory:
Word Order over Meaning
Sachs (1967) showed that in memory recall tasks, word meaning is retained over word order.
Sachs tested participants’ ability to recognize the word order of four different sentences in
which each was presented with varying degrees of intervening syllables. Participants were
able to recall word order successfully when there were few intervening syllables. However, he
found a correspondence between longer the gaps, created by the increase of intervening
syllables, and a decrease in recall of word order. Interestingly, participants showed a
significant sensitivity to changes in semantic content.
Sentence (1) was embedded in a story.
(1) He sent a letter about it to Galileo, a great Italian scientist.
Participants were then tested on their ability to distinguish from (1) from (2) – (4).
(2) He sent Galileo, a great scientist, a letter about it. (formal word order variation)
(3) A letter about it was sent to Galileo, a great Italian scientist. (syntactic variation)
(4) Galileo, the great Italian scientist, sent him a letter about it. (semantic variation)
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Subjects were asked to focus on word-order differences. Their ability to detect changes in
word order rapidly declined in correspondence to length of time delays. Eventually, the
distinction in word order was completely lost. However, the shift in meaning between (1) and
(4) was recalled even after the longest time lapse.
Context
Bransofrd and Johnson (1973) showed that when stories were not contextualized by prior
knowledge, subjects remembered 3.6 ideas out of 14. When stories were contextualized, 8
ideas were recalled out of 14.
Presence vs. Absence
Kaup and Zwaan found that when a concept is present in the utterance (1), it is recalled after
delay as opposed to an utterance in which the item referred to is not present (2). Here the
concept refers to the pink dress.
(1) Vlad was relieved that Agnes was wearing her pink dress.
(2) Vlad was relieved that Agnes was not wearing her pink dress.
In (1), Agnes is wearing her pink dress, thus the concept is present, thus recall rates were
higher then when Agnes decides not to wear the pink dress (2).
Phonological Similarity Effect
Larsen, Baddeley and Andrade (2000) found that similar word recall was 25% slower than
dissimilar recall. When participants were asked to serially recall a word list, they performed
better when words were phonologically dissimilar.
When stimuli were phonologically similar, the task was more difficult, e.g., knee, he, lee, she,
me is more difficult than odd, shy, up, bay, hoe.
For more reading on this subject, click here!
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