Invitation to Psychology

COn

C

ept Map

Cha

P

te

R

8

Memory

ChaPteR 8 Memory 305

The Biology of Memory

Changes in Neurons and Synapses

• In short-term memory, neurons temporarily
  change in their ability to release neurotransmit-
  ters.


• In long-term memory, dendrites grow and branch
  out, certain synapses increase in number, and
  some synaptic pathways become more excitable.
  These neuronal changes are known as long-term
  potentiation. They require some time for
  completion, during which memories undergo
  consolidation.

Locating Memories

• The amygdala is involved in the formation,
  consolidation, and retrieval of fearful and other
  emotional memories.


• The frontal lobes are involved in STM and
  working memory.


• The hippocampus is critical to the formation and
  retrieval of long-term declarative memories.


• The cerebellum helps form and retain certain
  procedural memories.


• The ultimate destinations of declarative memories
  lie in parts of the cerebral cortex.

Hormones, Emotion, and Memory

• Hormones released by the adrenal glands can
  enhance memory.


• Extreme arousal, however, often impairs memory.

The Repression Controversy

• Amnesia typically occurs as a result of brain disease or head injury and is
  usually temporary.


• Psychogenic amnesia has psychological causes and involves a loss of
  personal identity.


• Traumatic amnesia, which allegedly involves the burying of specific
  traumatic events for long periods of time, is highly controversial, as is
  repression, the psychodynamic explanation of traumatic amnesia.


• Critics argue that many therapists, unaware of the power of suggestion
  and the dangers of confabulation, have encouraged false memories of
  victimization.


• Decay theory holds that a memory eventually disappears if it is not
  accessed; it applies best to sensory and short-term memory.


• Forgetting may occur when old information is replaced by new informa-
  tion.


• Forgetting may occur because of proactive and retroactive interfer-
  ence in storage or retrieval.


• Cue-dependent forgetting occurs because of inadequate retrieval cues.
  When your physical or mental state acts as a retrieval cue, state-
  dependent memory may result. Similarly, when your mood is consistent
  with the emotional nature of the material you are trying to remember,
  mood-congruent memory may result.

Why We Forget

• Mnemonics are strategies or tricks for improving memory.


• Rehearsal of information keeps it in STM longer and increases the
  chances of retention.


• Elaborative rehearsal is more likely to result in transfer to LTM than
  is maintenance rehearsal.


• Deep processing is usually more effective than shallow processing.


• Retrieval practice aids consolidation of memories.


• Read-recite-review and other effective study strategies encourage active
  learning and are more effective than passively reading the material.

How We Remember

Childhood Amnesia

Childhood amnesia may be

explained by:

• the immaturity of brain parts
  involved in memory.


• cognitive factors, such as lack
  of a self-concept and limited
  language skills necessary for
  forming cognitive schemas
  useful for later recall.


• social factors, such as a lack of
  mastery of social conventions
  for reporting events to others.

Memory and Narrative

• A person’s narrative (life
  story) organizes remembered
  life events and gives them
  meaning.


• Adult memories can reveal as
  much about the present as
  they do about the past.

Autobiographical Memories

LONG-TERM MEMORY

PROCEDURAL MEMORIES

(“Knowing how”)

DECLARATIVE MEMORIES

(“Knowing that”)

SEMANTIC MEMORIES(General knowledge) EPISODIC MEMORIES(Personal recollections)