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MEMORY:THE NATURE OF FORGETTING, Release from PI, Central Executive

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Cognitive Psychology ­ PSY 504
VU
Lesson 27
MEMORY
This following model is showing the whole process of memory. First of all there is sensory
memory. Information from environment comes in sensory memory then those information receive
attention goes to short term memory. After elaborative rehearsal the information transfers short
term memory to the long term memory. The descriptions of all these memories are given in the
figure.
THE NATURE OF FORGETTING
Decay Theory - forgetting occurs due to passage of time.
Interference Theory - memory for other things or performance of another task interferes with
memory. Two types of interferences are given below;
Retroactive interference: later occurring information interferes with earlier information.
Proactive interference: earlier occurring information interferes with later information.
Keppel & Underwood:
Items on trials 1-3 are similar and on trial 4 they may be similar or may be different. When items
are similar they interfere with one another; when they are different they are more readily recalled.
This is called proactive interference.
Release from PI
Wickens, Born & Allen (1963) conducted an experiment to show the proactive interference. They
showed 3 numbers or 3 words. They showed words or numbers for 20 second interval (another
task).
In experimental group, after number they showed words. And after words they showed
numbers. The performance of that group was 85%,40%,30%,84%
In control Group, they showed words after words and numbers after numbers. The
performance was 85%, 40%, 30%, 25%.
Release from PI
Another experiment was conducted by Gunter, Clifford & Berry (1980). In that experiment three
items in TV news were presented. One group was shown sports news and other group was
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Cognitive Psychology ­ PSY 504
VU
shown political news. In experiment first of all three political items were presented to the political
news group and then they were shown a sports news item. In other condition three sports items
were shown to the sports group and then they were presented a political news items.
The results of that experiment was
Control Group performance in four trials: 87%, 67%, 55%, 43%
Experimental Group performance in four trials : 82%, 67%, 55%, 74%
Implications
The implications of these experiments are
Interference can be reduced by studying different things at the same time.
Similar things might interfere with each other.
But this is not to be confused with studying which requires similar things to be grouped
together for better recall.
STM strategies
It is OK to study similar things together.
When you feel these are interfering with further learning, switch to something else.
STM & Working Memory
A different point of view is whether the STM and working memory are same or different.
Klapp, Marshburn & Lester (1983) said Working Memory is different from STM?
A model proposed by Engle, Kane & Tuholski (1998) suggests not Short Term Memory
necessarily different from the working memory but it is a part of working memory.
Working Memory
Engle's Model:
1. Central Executive
(Working memory capacity, controlled attention) attention is a part of working memory. The task
of central executive is to achieve activation through controlled retrieval.
Another task of central executive is to maintain activation.
Another function of central executive is to block interference through inhibition of distractors.
2. Short Term Memory
Central executive moves toward STM. In short term memory traces become active above
threshold, with loss due to decay or interference.
Some traces receive further activation by becoming the focus of attention. Trace consists of a
pointer to a region of Long Term Memory. Trace is not a part of long term memory from short
term memory. Trace is a pattern and it ahs a indicator of information.
3. Grouping Skills, coding strategies and procedures for maintaining activation
Information could be phonological, visual, spatial, motoric, auditory, etc.
Grouping skills, strategies, and procedures for maintaining activation are more or less attention
demanding on the task and the subject.
The important thing of this model is it gives a prominent role to the central executive. It is a
decision making personality.
In Engle's model the prominent Role was also given to Central Executive.
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Cognitive Psychology ­ PSY 504
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The Central Executive manages controlled attention ­ capacity model of attention and allocation
of attention in working memory can be explored.
Another important thing in this model is STM maintains activated memory traces. Like
Phonological loop, scratchpad, touch short term memory etc.
A model of Consciousness
Another perspective of short term working memory is that it is also related to the consciousness.
Working memory is a way of looking toward the consciousness. Working Memory should rekindle
discussion of consciousness.
STM determines the limits of the present. The Psychological Time of short term memory is from 1
second to 20 seconds. The stream of consciousness made up not of past events but on present
discrete time units.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION:Historical Background
  2. THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH
  3. COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY:Brains of Dead People, The Neuron
  4. COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY (CONTINUED):The Eye, The visual pathway
  5. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY (CONTINUED):Hubel & Wiesel, Sensory Memory
  6. VISUAL SENSORY MEMORY EXPERIMENTS (CONTINUED):Psychological Time
  7. ATTENTION:Single-mindedness, In Shadowing Paradigm, Attention and meaning
  8. ATTENTION (continued):Implications, Treisman’s Model, Norman’s Model
  9. ATTENTION (continued):Capacity Models, Arousal, Multimode Theory
  10. ATTENTION:Subsidiary Task, Capacity Theory, Reaction Time & Accuracy, Implications
  11. RECAP OF LAST LESSONS:AUTOMATICITY, Automatic Processing
  12. AUTOMATICITY (continued):Experiment, Implications, Task interference
  13. AUTOMATICITY (continued):Predicting flight performance, Thought suppression
  14. PATTERN RECOGNITION:Template Matching Models, Human flexibility
  15. PATTERN RECOGNITION:Implications, Phonemes, Voicing, Place of articulation
  16. PATTERN RECOGNITION (continued):Adaptation paradigm
  17. PATTERN RECOGNITION (continued):Gestalt Theory of Perception
  18. PATTERN RECOGNITION (continued):Queen Elizabeth’s vase, Palmer (1977)
  19. OBJECT PERCEPTION (continued):Segmentation, Recognition of object
  20. ATTENTION & PATTERN RECOGNITION:Word Superiority Effect
  21. PATTERN RECOGNITION (CONTINUED):Neural Networks, Patterns of connections
  22. PATTERN RECOGNITION (CONTINUED):Effects of Sentence Context
  23. MEMORY:Short Term Working Memory, Atkinson & Shiffrin Model
  24. MEMORY:Rate of forgetting, Size of memory set
  25. Memory:Activation in a network, Magic number 7, Chunking
  26. Memory:Chunking, Individual differences in chunking
  27. MEMORY:THE NATURE OF FORGETTING, Release from PI, Central Executive
  28. Memory:Atkinson & Shiffrin Model, Long Term Memory, Different kinds of LTM
  29. Memory:Spread of Activation, Associative Priming, Implications, More Priming
  30. Memory:Interference, The Critical Assumption, Limited capacity
  31. Memory:Interference, Historical Memories, Recall versus Recognition
  32. Memory:Are forgotten memories lost forever?
  33. Memory:Recognition of lost memories, Representation of knowledge
  34. Memory:Benefits of Categorization, Levels of Categories
  35. Memory:Prototype, Rosch and Colleagues, Experiments of Stephen Read
  36. Memory:Schema Theory, A European Solution, Generalization hierarchies
  37. Memory:Superset Schemas, Part hierarchy, Slots Have More Schemas
  38. MEMORY:Representation of knowledge (continued), Memory for stories
  39. Memory:Representation of knowledge, PQ4R Method, Elaboration
  40. Memory:Study Methods, Analyze Story Structure, Use Multiple Modalities
  41. Memory:Mental Imagery, More evidence, Kosslyn yet again, Image Comparison
  42. Mental Imagery:Eidetic Imagery, Eidetic Psychotherapy, Hot and cold imagery
  43. Language and thought:Productivity & Regularity, Linguistic Intuition
  44. Cognitive development:Assimilation, Accommodation, Stage Theory
  45. Cognitive Development:Gender Identity, Learning Mathematics, Sensory Memory