Memory – an introduction

Memory – an introduction

One of the most fasc= inating areas of psychology is the study of memory – why do we remember the things that we do, yet forget vital pieces of information like anniversaries… dentist’s appointments… names… child= ren? What causes our memory to fail as we get older? And are our memories always= as accurate as we think they are?

Over the next few cl= asses, we will examine the processes involved in ‘memory’, different t= ypes of memory, and some of the problems which can affect our memory functions.<= o:p>

Test your memory

To get us started, let’s try the following exercises.

Your tutor will pass round a jar. Write do= wn what you smell from the ja= r (I promise it will be pleasant!).

Look at the following list of numbers:

3 &= nbsp; 4 &= nbsp; 8 &= nbsp; 3 &= nbsp; 1 &= nbsp; 0 &= nbsp; 9 &= nbsp; 6 &= nbsp; 2 &= nbsp; 8

Study the numbers for 30 seconds and then cover them up.

Write down as many as you can remember, in order.

You will need to get up from your chair an= d move around the class for this exercise. Working in pairs, find the three people in the class who are closest to you in height and find out their mother’s maiden name. Do= not write it down!

Christmas as a child. What do you remember= ? Make notes below.

Types of memory

Psychologists have identified a number of different types of memory, which can generally be categorised into three subsystems:

Sensory memory&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Short term memory &n= bsp; Long term memory

Of these, the first = – ‘sensory memory’ – was demonstrated in question 1. While = we are aware of sensory input such as light, colour, smell or taste, we don’t process this information as such, and unless it has some meanin= g to us – perhaps we are hungry and smell food, or we smell burning –= ; we don’t hold on to this information.

Short term memory has traditionally been seen as a very limited storage space, for example, the numbers presented to you in Q2. Can you remember them now? Unless you have = an exceptional memory (perhaps you are a mneumonist – someone with exceptional powers of recall), the answer is probably not. You studied them, processed them sufficiently to hold them in your head for a few seconds, and jotted them down as quickly as possible. One feature you may have noticed w= as that of primacy and recency – that you are more likely to recall item= s at the beginning and end of the list. We also came across the primacy and rece= ncy effect in interpersonal perception – do you see a connection?

We can see with that= more processing has taken place with short term memory than with sensory memory.= We can demonstrate this below:

= Encoding &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Storage &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Retrieval

In this case, there = was only a very short period, probably less than 10 seconds, between encoding/storag= e of the information, and retrieval, and, as we have seen, storage was only short term.

Baddeley and Hitch (= 1974) have expanded our understanding of short term memory, arguing that it shoul= d be seen as a ‘workbench’, storing ‘work in progress’ to enable us to carry out other tasks. So in question 3, for example, you were (hopefully!) able to store one person’s name while looking for the ne= xt person. Baddeley and Hitch argue that we use short term memory in this way = when solving puzzles, doing calculations or working on a computer programme R= 11; we ‘hold’ one piece of information in our heads just long enough for us to complete the task in hand.

The last task involv= ed long term memory – retrieving memories that may have lain dormant for seve= ral decades! Psychologists differ in their explanations of how we are able to achieve such a feat – some argue that ‘autobiographical’ memories related to childhood experiences such as Christmas may be ‘constructed’ in line with our expectations of what we should remember, which in turn are shaped by our culture and society, and by the family – do you have a favourite family tale which seems to grow taller on each telling? Others point to cues such as smells, tastes and images, which may stimulate particular memories.

Exercise 1

Look back at your an= swers to question 4. What did you recall first? Did this help to ‘cue’ o= ther memories?

Compare your answers= with a partner. Did you have similar memories? To what extent do you think that th= ese are ‘socially constructed memories’, and to what extent are they specific to your own individual experiences?

Exercise 2

A few questions to g= et you thinking about memory and how it works – we will visit these in more detail at the next class.

How do you think information moves from sh= ort term to long term memory? Why does some information seem to move across relatively easily, while other information seems to slip away?

What do you think happens at the encoding, storage and retrieval stages? Are these three separate stages, or are = they interlinked?