MEMORY

The explanatory
power of the - Without memory, we would have no
self concept, no abilities, no
Atkinson-Shiffrin
relationships, no understandings.
multi-store model
of memory in the
encoding, storage - No memory at all would mean you
and retrieval of were unconscious or dead.
stored information
in sensory, short-
term and long- - Memory – the encoding, storage and
term memory retrieval of information acquired through
stores. learning.
ATKINSON-SHIFFRIN MODEL OF
MEMORY

-Model considers - Three distinct - Information - Encoding - the - Storage - Retrieval -

memory as a memory stores. moves between process of Storage refers to Retrieval is the
processing the different converting the idea that these process of
system – stores. information into encoded locating and
encodes, stores a useable form or representations recovering the
and retrieves ‘code’ so that it are retained in stored
info. can enter and be memory over information from
stored in time. memory so that
memory. we are
consciously
aware of it.
 - The entry point of memory where new incoming sensory info is stored
briefly – 0.2 – 4 seconds.

- Info is stored long enough for each impression to slightly overlap the next,
allowing us to perceive the world as continuous.

SENSORY - It remains long enough for us to attend to and select info that is important.

MEMORY - Info is an exact copy of raw sensory form.

- No conscious awareness of info unless we attend to it and it moves into

short-term memory.

-Different senses have different sensory registers.

- Iconic memory – visual sensory memory.

- Held for 0.2 – 0.4 second.

- Echoic memory – auditory information.

SENSORY
- Held for 3 – 4 seconds. REGISTERS
- Held for long enough to select what has been heard for further
processing and interpretation.

- Longer duration is important for understanding speech. Words

can’t be identified until all sounds have been hear.
Capacity – sensory memory is believed to
hold an unlimited amount of info.

SENSORY
The information fades rapidly to make way
for new sensory information. MEMORY
CONT…
Information that is not attended to disappears
forever.
 Info from sensory information that is attended to is transferred
to short-term memory (STM).

SHORT- Info is encoded, no longer in its raw form.

TERM
MEMORY
Holds all info that you are consciously aware of at a give time
– the place where all conscious perceiving, thinking, feeling,
reasoning, etc. takes place.

Number recall -
 Duration and Capacity of STM
DURATION – recall starts to decline after 12 seconds, disappears after 18 – 30 seconds.

CAPACITY – 7 plus or minus 2

The length of the list that participants can remember half the time is considered to represent the capacity of their STM.

When STM is full, new info can only be added by pushing old items out.

Space is also filled when we think and when info is retrieved from LTM to be used or updated.

Info is lost primarily by decay (not being used) and by displacement (being pushed out). Decay occurs when info is not
maintained by rehearsal and fades with time. Displacement was shown in research using directory assistance to get phone
numbers. If the operator said ‘have a nice day’, recall was reduced.
 - Relatively
- Primarily
permanent,
interacts with
unlimited memory
STM.
system.

LONG TERM
MEMORY - Inactive – we are
not consciously - Organised to
aware of info held allow for efficient
there unless we retrieval of info.
retrieve it.
 Strengths:

It distinguishes between different stores.

It outlines the duration and capacity of each store.

The It provides an explanation of the structure and process of memory.

explanatory Research findings support the distinction between STM and LTM. It can help explain
why amnesia patients might have difficulty retrieving from LTM or encoding into LTM.

power of the Limitation:

It is oversimplified.

Atkinson- STM is more complex than is acknowledged – there may be different components
within STM.

Shiffrin model It ignores factors like motivation and strategies that can enhance learning and encoding
from STM to LTM.

Studies show that transfer can happen without rehearsal.

It doesn’t account for individual differences.

 Types of long-term memories –
The roles of the
-IMPLICIT MEMORY – a type of long-term
hippocampus, memory that is unconsciously retrieved.
amygdala, Includes procedural memories and classically
neocortex, basal conditioned memories.
ganglia and
cerebellum in long- -EXPLICIT MEMORY – a type of long-term
memory that is consciously retrieved. Also
term implicit and
known as declarative memory.
explicit memories.
IMPLICIT MEMORY

-PROCEDURAL MEMORY: the memory of actions and skills which have been learned. Knowing how to do
something. Also called implicit memory because info can be retrieved through performance rather than
intentional conscious recall or recognition. Procedural memories are often difficult to put into words.

-CLASSICALLY CONDIITONED MEMORY: memories that involve involuntary responses, including fear, to a
stimulus that has been repeatedly associated with an emotionally-arousing stimulus.

Responses are usually emotionally charged and involve strong feelings.

Can include the formation of a fear response or involuntary habits associated with anxiety inducing
situations.
  Episodic memory: the declarative memory of specific events or
personal experiences. Memories often include details of the
time, place, psychological and physiological state of the person

Types of when the event occurred. Considered to be like a mental diary,

recording the autobiographical episodes we experience.

explicit  Semantic memory: the declarative memory of info we have

about the world. Includes the specialised knowledge in areas

memories of expertise, academic knowledge, everyday general

knowledge, meanings of words. Memories involve facts not
dependent on a particular time or place.
The Neocortex
 The cerebral cortex contains the Neocortex

 A brain structure that stores explicit memories.

 Contains six layers.

 Covers most of the brain’s surface and consists of four lobes, with specific
types of memories being stored in different locations depending on the
type of memory and where it was processed.

 The frontal and temporal lobes are the main storage sites of semantic and
episodic memories.

 Neural connections are formed between different memories to link them,

attach meaning and enhance understanding of the interrelatedness of
different concepts.
  Structures in the medial temporal lobe, including the
hippocampus, play a critical role in memory formation and
storage.

 Neuroimaging shows that the hippocampus receives input

from areas of the cortex that initially receive and process the
features that comprise the memory. The hippocampus
integrates this info to form a memory of a single multi-faceted

The 
event rather than a collection of separate memories.

Also believed to receive info about emotions generated by a

Hippocampus particular event from the amygdala and integrate it into the
memory.

 If the hippocampus is damaged, specific types of new info may

not be able to enter the memory system and new explicit
memories may not be formed, particularly episodic memories.

 Plays a role in the consolidation of memories, a process that

transfers info between the STM and the LTM.
 Plays a key role in memory, learning and initiating emotional responses, particularly related
to aggression and fear.

Neural connections to the brainstem, hippocampus and the cortex, so receives and integrates
sensory input from all senses at a time.

Evaluates environmental stimuli for danger or threat. Determines the emotional significance
of a stimulus before the cerebral cortex receives the info and regulates our emotional
response to it.
Influences memories of emotionally arousing experiences associates with facial recognition
and identification of threatening stimuli.

The Amygdala Helps strengthen memory and make it more memorable by adding emotional element.

Believed to be involved in fear conditioning (association of a stimulus with fear) due to it

automatically responding to threatening stimuli.

Damage to amygdala can cause inappropriate emotional responses and the inability to
perceive the emotional responses of others. Risk assessment and fear response is impaired
and threatening stimuli may be ignored.
Higher activation of the amygdala by emotional arousal during encoding leads to higher
recall.
The Basal Ganglia
- A brain structure involved in encoding and storing procedural
memories and classically conditioned memories associated with
unconscious habits, behaviours or procedures.

Located in the middle of the brain and connected to the

cerebellum.

Encodes and stores responses learned through classical

conditioning.
 Involved in encoding implicit memories,
especially procedural memories.

The The storage site for implicit procedural

Cerebellum memories.

Involved in motor control and balance.

The role of episodic and semantic memory in
retrieving autobiographical events and in
constructing possible imagined futures, including
evidence from brain imaging and post-mortem
studies of brain lesions in people with Alzheimer’s
disease and aphantasia as an example of individual
differences in the experience of mental imagery.
Autobiographical Events

 Autobiographical events are lived experiences.

 These are stored in long-term memory and retrieved when you think about them.

 The hippocampus is involved in retrieving episodic memories while the frontal and temporal lobes are
involved in retrieving semantic memories.

 Autobiographical events involve both semantic and episodic memories. Semantic information includes
dates and locations, and other factual information. Episodic information includes emotions and personal
components or experiences of the event.
 Constructing possible imagined futures
• Possible imagined futures are hypothetical experiences and situations that you might conceptualise in your
mind. For example, you might imagine how you will deal with a difficult conversation with your parents.

• Episodic memory is involved when you draw on past experiences that help you predict or imagine what
might happen in the scenario you are imagining.

• Semantic memory is involved when you construct imaginings that draw on what you know about the world.

• People who have damage to their hippocampus struggle to imagine future scenarios.
  ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE – The most common form of dementia. A
neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of neurons
in the brain. Causes cognitive and behavioural decline.

 Shrinkage of the brain, with the earliest damage occurring in the

hippocampus (causes impaired memory formation). Anterograde
amnesia occurs first, followed by the onset of retrograde amnesia in the
later stages as neurons in the cerebral cortex are damaged and lost.

NEURODEGENRATI  Symptoms include: decreased cognitive functions, changes in mood and

emotion, confusion and disorientation, difficulty with language.
VE DISEASE
 Post-mortem examinations and neuroimaging show lesions (areas of
damaged tissue). Types of lesions include:

 Amyloid plaques – abnormal clusters of beta-amyloid protein fragments

collect on the outside of and between nerve cells, destroying synapses
and disrupting communication between neurons.

 Neurofibrillary tangles – twisted fibres of tau protein. Disrupts the

normal organisation of and communication between brain cells.
Impact of Alzheimer’s on
episodic and semantic memory
- Damage occurs to the hippocampus which leads to difficulty
retrieving semantic and episodic memories.

- People with Alzheimer’s also struggle to draw on semantic

and episodic memories to plan and construct new future
scenarios.
MOVIE: STILL ALICE
 What happens when you read?

Imagine…
Imagine a place where you
feel at peace. Describe what it
looks like
Aphantasia
A phenomenon where individuals are unable to generate mental images.

Mental imagery are visual representations and sensory experiences without the presence of visual
stimuli.

People use past experiences from long term memory to recreate perceptual experiences in their short
term memory. They draw from both semantic and episodic memories to do this.

There is no known cause for aphantasia. People can be born with it or acquire it later in life.

People with aphantasia can struggle to retrieve autobiographical events and construct possible imagined
futures. This may be because they are unable to generate detailed imagery of past events from LTM.
Also, because they can’t generate imagery about past events, they can’t generate images about possible
future events to help them anticipate what they might be like. They can still use non visual information
to do these things.
 The use of mnemonics (acronyms,
acrostics and the method of loci) by
written cutlures to increase the
encoding, storage and retrieval of
information as compared with the use
of mnemonics such as sung narrative
used by oral cultures, including
Aboriginal peoples’ use of songlines.
Mnemonics used by written
traditions
Written traditions are practices where knowledge,
stories and customs are kept and shared using
writing.

These are considered as distinct from oral cultures

but most cultures actually have both written and
oral components.

Mnemonics are techniques that help people

remember things more effectively. They can help
with encoding, storage and retrieval of information.
Acronyms
A mnemonic device where the first letters of each word form a
pronounceable word.

Examples: BODMAS, ANZAC.

They aid encoding of information as they link information to

words we already know. The letters act as retrieval cues.
ACROSTICS

A mnemonic device
where the first letters of Can be particularly
Examples: Never East
items create a phrase, helpful if you need to
Soggy WeetBix.
rhyme or poem to aid remember things in order.
memory.
The method of Loci
A M N E M O N I C D E V I C E W H E R E Y O U A S S O C I AT E A N I T E M W I T H A S P E C I F I C
PLACE ON A WELL-KNOWN ROUTE TO HELP YOU REMEMBER THEM.

THERE ARE FIVE STEPS –

1. VI SUALI SE A FAMI LI AR ROUT E

2. SELECT SEVERAL MEMORABLE PLACES ON THE ROUTE

3. C R E AT E V I S U A L I M A G E R Y F O R E A C H I T E M T H AT N E E D S T O B E
REMEMBERED

4. LINK EACH ITEM TO A LANDMARK

5. IMAGINE WAL KI NG THE ROUTE AND RE TRIEVI NG EACH IT EM AL ONG

T H E W A Y.

H E L P S W I T H E N C O D I N G A N D S TO R A G E B Y V I S U A L LY L I N K I N G I N F O TO
FAMI LIAR PLA CE S. HEL PS WHEN IT EMS NEED TO BE RE MEMBERED IN
ORDER.
Mnemonics Oral traditions are practices where
used by knowledge, stories and customs are
Aboriginal kept and shared using spoken word and
movement (dance, etc.).
and Torres
Strait Islander
Oral traditions exist and are connected
communities with non-oral forms of cultural
(oral knowledge and practices.
traditions)
Sung narratives
Stories that share information through the use of singing, harmony and
rhythm.

Narration and rhythm in Sung narratives enhance encoding by using the

elements of the singing and/or music as cues.

Sung narratives have been used to communicate vital cultural and survival
information.

The repetition of singing help them to be strengthened in memory.

Traditional law dictates how Sung narratives are communicated, who can
sing them to whom, where and when they are sung, etc.
 Multimodal performances conducted as a
family or community travels through They include the songs and
Country and spaces in the landscape that
record journeys, link important sites, and performances conducted by the group
describe ways to live, care for, and nurture and the path they travelled.
Country.

Songlines
They are expressions of ecological and
spiritual knowledge and tell of safe
Use rhythm and narrative to
pathways, safe camping and meeting
communicate information and enhance
places, sacred sites, places to avoid,
encoding.
waterholes and locations for needed
items such as food.