Memory Information Processing Approach
5 Steps in Information ato Processing 1 Sensory Transduction Data first enters sensory register lasts 1 2secs
C O N S O L I D A T I O N 5 Steps in Information ato Processing 1 Sensory Transduction Data first enters sensory memory lasts 1 2secs 2 Attention ENCODING Basically arousal (including ability to focus) In some respects, STM only holds approx 7 bits of information 3 Short Term Memory (STM) Typical range (5 9) Only lasts about 18 24 secs ( short term!) 4 Long Term Memory (LTM) Assimilation tying new info to existing memory *Accommodation creating a new category in memory
Types of LTM IMPLICIT MEMORY Procedural /Skill Memory Basic conditioned responses Remains intact and capacity does not change over the lifespan EXPLICIT MEMORY Semantic Fact memory Episodic Life event memory Damage to the medial temporal brain structures t can impair i creation of episodic memories Capacity of explicit memory increases from infancy to adulthood
C O N S O L I D A T I O N 5 Steps in Information ato Processing 1 Sensory Transduction Data first enters sensory memory lasts 1 2secs 2 Attention ENCODING Basically arousal (including ability to focus) In some respects, STM only holds approx 7 bits of information 3 Short Term Memory (STM) Typical range (5 9) Only lasts about 18 24 secs ( short term!) g STORAGE 4 Long Term Memory (LTM) Assimilation tying new info to existing memory *Accommodation creating a new category in memory 5 Retrieval
Types of Retrieval 1 Recognition Cue is present and recognized Cued Recall Memory A cue related to the answer is given. 2 Recall Cue is NOT present and retrieved cold
The Infant Memory Researchers use imitation to assess their memory capabilities Neonates will stick out their tongues and move their mouths in ways consistent with a model Infants as young as 6 months display deferred imitation, the ability to imitate a novel act after a delay
The Infant Memory Researchers use the following in infant memory studies: Habituation Operant conditioning» Rovee Collier and colleagues tied a ribbon to infants ankles and to mobiles
The Infant Recall and Problem Solving As infants age, they demonstrate recall or deferred imitation it ti over longer periods At 6 months can imitate novel behaviors after a 24 hour delay By 2, events can be recalled for months and is less cue dependent Language helps memory performance By 14 months, have learned that adults can help them solve problems Infants pay attention to cues provided by adults and will solicit help from adults by pointing, etc.
The Child Explaining Memory Development Four major hypotheses explaining improvements in learning & memory during childhood Changes in basic capacities Changes in memory strategies Increased knowledge about memory Increased knowledge about the world
The Child Explaining Memory Development Improvements in the capacity of short term memory between ages 6 7 and ages 12 1313 More developed hippocampus Speed and efficiency of short term term memory improves with age Basic mental processes become automatic (frees up working memory for other purposes) Greater knowledge of a domain (e.g., math) increases the speed with which new, related information can be processed Changes correspond to maturation of the frontal lobes of the brain All of the above allow simultaneous mental operations
The Child Explaining Memory Development Memory strategies develop in predictable order during childhood Children increase their use of rehearsal with age Repeating items to be learned and remembered Children master organization later in childhood Classifying items into meaningful groups Elaboration is the last strategy to develop Actively ceat creating meaningful links between ee items to be remembered
The Child Explaining Memory Development Children s knowledge of a content area (knowledge base) affects learning and memory performance Expertise allows children to form more and larger mental chunks, which allows them to remember more
Autobiographical Memories Older children and adults have childhood or infantile il amnesia why? Infantile limits on STM abilities Those limits impede encoding & consolidation Language skills lacking Early memories are unstable and likely to be lost
Autobiographical Memories Scripts Children construct scripts of routine activities Represent the typical sequence and guide future behaviors Children as young as 3 years use scripts to report familiar events reporting on what happens in general, rather than exactly what occurred during a specific event!
Autobiographical Memories Eyewitness Memory Scripts have implications for eyewitness memory Children can demonstrate accurate recall when asked clear and unbiased questions Research has demonstrated that children s memory of past events can be affected by prompting, by directed questions, and by repeated questioning
The Adolescent Basic Capacities Adolescents can perform cognitive operations more quickly than children do Brain development makes information processing faster and allows simultaneously processing of more information
The Adolescent Strategies New strategies emerge Elaboration Note taking and other strategies relevant to school learning Strategies used deliberately and selectively Better at moving irrelevant information from STM so it doesn t interfere with performance Adolescents perform better because they know more Can tailor reading strategies to different purposes (skimming vs. studying) Elaboration is recognized as more effective than rote repetition Can monitor whether study time is sufficient
The Adult Memory and Aging Older adults learn new material more slowly, may learn it less well, and may remember less perform poorer when memory is time tested perform poorer when material to be learned is unfamiliar or cannot be linked to existing knowledge (it is meaningless) perform significantly worse in laboratory contexts and often perform better in naturalistic i contexts are likely to be more deficient on tasks requiring recall (than recognition) retrieval issues have more trouble with explicit memory tasks (than with implicit memory tasks) have fairly good semantic memory but show steady declines in episodic memory
The Adult Explaining Declines in Old Age Problems are not caused by deficiencies in knowledge base Expectations Memory strategies not used well Ineffective retrieval Illustrated by tip of the tongue episodes Decline in working memory Trouble ignoring irrelevant task information Declines in sensory abilities Visual and auditory skills are often better predictors of cognition among older adults (opposed to processing speed!) Characteristics of the learner Education, IQ, health, lifestyle tied to abilities in old age!
The Adult Developing Expertise Adults often function best cognitively in domains in which h they have expertise! Takes about 10 years to become an expert and to build a rich, well organized knowledge base The expert knows more and thinks more effectively than a non expert Remembers more new information Able to solve problems effectively and efficiently i Expertise can compensate to some extent for age related losses in information processing i capacities!