PowerPoint Presentation

Hermann

Ebbinghaus

(1850-1909)

Experiments on Memory

First half of 20th century

•Methods based on associationism

•Strength of associations

•Forgetting

Second half of 20th century

•Information processing (based on computermodel)

•Memory systems (iconic, working, long-termmemory)

Storage(Maintain inmemory)

Retrieval(Recover frommemory)

Encoding(Code and put intomemory)

Basic Memory Processes

COMPUTER VS. HUMAN MEMORY

COMPUTER HUMAN

PERMANENT X

PERFECT X

PARTIALX

VARIES WITH TIMEX

LOCALIZED X

UNLIMITED CAPACITYX

INFLUENCED BY MEANINGX

Chinese Room Problem

Chinese text

Man in room is a fluentChinese-Englishinterpreter

English text

Chinese text

Man in room full ofChinese-Englishtranslation books. Manknows no Chinese.

English text

Do both men know Chinese?

Three Types of Memory

•Iconic (Sensory) Memory: 100-300 msec.

• Short Term (Working) Memory: 1-30 sec.

• Long Term Memory: > 2 min.

INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL OFMEMORY

Serial Position Curve

Contribution of Rehearsal to SerialPosition Effect

Effect of Rate Presentationon Serial Position Effect

Manipulating the Recency Effect

“Shallow”

Are these words in the same typeface?

“HOUSE-trick”

“Medium”

Do these words rhyme?

“BALL-TALL”

“Deep”

Are these words synonyms?

“CAR-AUTOMOBILE”

Different Levels of Processing inWorking Memory

Which is the Real Penny?

Maintenance Rehearsal

–sheer repetition

–mechanical

–no attention to meaning

–little effort

Elaborative rehearsal

–focus on meaning

–relations between items

–organization

B K V J

YES NO

S B

YES NO

C K W N T L

YES NO

L D Z

YES NO

9 D 4 8 C 5 B X K8

YES NO

Parallel Processing

•All items perceived simultaneously.

•Reaction time is not influenced by # ofitems.

Serial Processing

•Items perceived successively.

•Reaction time is influenced by # of items.

Serial ProcessingSelf-terminating search

•Items perceived successively.

•Reaction time on “no” trials should betwice as long as on “yes” trials.

Serial ProcessingSerial exhaustive search

•Items perceived successively.

•Reaction time on “yes” trials should besame as on “no” trials.

brain, memory disorders 000002A8MorsellaCourses B8745E0F:

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Two Types of Amnesia

HM A 29 year old motor-winder who had been rendered incapableof work by his frequent severe seizures. Because of his desperatecondition, Dr. Scoville carried out a radical bilateral medialtemporal-lobe resection on Sept 1, 1953.

He knew that he had had a brain operation, but I think only becausethe possibility had been entertained for so many years before theoperation was finally performed. He kept saying, “It is as though Iam just waking up from a dream; it seems as though it has justhappened.”

As far as we can tell this man has retained little if anythingof the events subsequent to operation, although his IQrating is actually slightly higher than before. Ten monthsbefore I examined him his family had moved from their oldhouse to a new one a few blocks away on the same street.He still has not learned the new address, thoughremembering the old one perfectly nor can he be trusted tofind his way home alone. He does not know where objectsconstantly in use are kept; for example, his mother still hasto tell him where to find the lawnmower, even though hemay have been using it only the day before. She alsostates that he will do the same jigsaw puzzles day after daywithout showing any practice effect and that he will readthe same magazines over and over without finding theircontents familiar. [Milner, 1959, p. 49]